ondum_"--"Not yet"--was the motto which he adopted for his
maiden shield, when but eighteen years old, at a tournament at
Valladolid.

[Sidenote: HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.]

But when the death of the Flemish minister had released the young
monarch from this state of dependence, he took the reins into his own
hands, as Louis the Fourteenth did on the death of Mazarin. He now
showed himself in an entirely new aspect. He even displayed greater
independence than his predecessors had done. He no longer trusted
everything, like them, to a council of state. He trusted only to
himself; and if he freely communicated with some one favorite minister,
like the elder Granvelle, and the cardinal, his son, it was in order to
be counselled, not to be controlled by their judgments. He patiently
informed himself of public affairs; and when foreign envoys had their
audiences of him, they were surprised to find him possessed of
everything relating to their own courts and the objects of their
mission.

Yet he did not seem to be quick of apprehension, or, to speak more
correctly, he was slow in arriving at his results. He would keep the
courier waiting for days before he could come to a decision. When he did
come to it, no person on earth could shake it. Talking one day with the
Venetian Contarini about this habit of his mind, the courtly minister
remarked, that "it was not obstinacy to adhere to sound opinions."
"True," said Charles, "but I sometimes adhere to those that are
unsound."[349]

His indefatigable activity both of mind and body formed a strong
contrast to the lethargy of early years. His widely scattered empire,
spreading over the Low Countries, Spain, Germany, and the New World,
presented embarrassments which most princes would have found it
impossible to overcome. At least they would have been compelled to
govern, in a great measure, by deputy,--to transact their business by
agents. But Charles chose to do everything himself,--to devise his own
plans, and to execute them in person. The number of his journeys by land
and by water, as noticed in his farewell address, is truly wonderful;
for that was not the day of steamboats and railways. He seemed to lead
the life of a courier. But it was for no trivial object that he made
these expeditions. He knew where his presence was needed; and his
promptness and punctuality brought him, at the right time, on the right
spot. No spot in his broad empire was far removed from him. He seem