n by the hardy pleasures
of the chase, to which, however, he was but little addicted as he
advanced in years.

But, besides these personal accomplishments, no one was better qualified
than Zuniga to instruct his people in the duties belonging to his royal
station. He was a man of ancient family, and had passed much of his life
in courts. But he had none of the duplicity or of the suppleness which
often marks the character of the courtier. He possessed too high a
sentiment of honor to allow him to trifle with truth. He spoke his mind
plainly, too plainly sometimes for the taste of his pupil. Charles, who
understood the character of Zuniga, wrote to his son to honor and to
cherish him. "If he deals plainly with you," he said, "it is for the
love he bears you. If he were to flatter you, and be only solicitous of
ministering to your wishes, he would be like all the rest of the world,
and you would have no one near to tell you the truth;--and a worse thing
cannot happen to any man, old or young; but most of all to the young,
from their want of experience to discern truth from error." The wise
emperor, who knew how rarely it is that truth is permitted to find its
way to royal ears, set a just value on the man who had the courage to
speak it.[17]

Under the influence of these teachers, and, still more, of the
circumstances in which he was placed,--the most potent teachers of
all,--Philip grew in years, and slowly unfolded the peculiar qualities
of his disposition. He seemed cautious and reserved in his demeanor, and
slow of speech; yet what he said had a character of thought beyond his
age. At no time did he discover that buoyancy of spirit, or was he
betrayed into those sallies of temper, which belong to a bold and
adventurous, and often to a generous nature. His deportment was marked
by a seriousness that to some might seem to savor of melancholy. He was
self-possessed, so that even as a boy he was rarely off his guard.[18]

The emperor, whose affairs called him away from Spain much the greater
part of his time, had not the power of personally superintending the
education of his son. Unfortunately for the latter, his excellent mother
died when he was but twelve years old. Charles, who loved his wife as
much as a man is capable of loving whose soul is filled with schemes of
boundless ambition, was at Madrid when he received tidings of her
illness. He posted in all haste to Toledo, where the queen then was, but
arrived ther