lar--were favorite viands.
Eel pasty appealed strongly to his taste. Soles, lampreys, flounders
reached his kitchen from Seville and Portugal. The country around supplied
pork, mutton, and game. Sausages were sent him from a distance; olives
were brought from afar, as those near at hand were not to his liking.
Presents of sweetmeats and confectionery were sent him by ladies who
remembered his ancient tastes. In truth, Charles, tortured with gout, did
everything he well could to favor its attacks.

The retired emperor, though he made a monastery his abode, had no idea of
living like a monk. His apartments were richly furnished and hung with
handsome tapestry, and every attention was paid to his personal comfort.
Rich carpets, canopies of velvet, sofas and chairs of carved walnut, seats
amply garnished with cushions for the ease of his tender joints, gave a
luxurious aspect to his retirement. His wardrobe contained no less than
sixteen robes of silk and velvet, lined with ermine, eider-down, or the
soft hair of the Barbary goat. He could not endure cold weather, and had
fireplaces and chimneys constructed in every room, usually keeping his
apartments almost at furnace heat, much to the discomfort of his
household. With all this, and his wrappings of fur and eider-down, he
would often be in a shiver and complain that he was chilled to the bone.

His table was richly provided with plate, its service being of silver, as
were also the articles of the toilet, the basins, pitchers, and other
utensils of his bed-chamber. With these were articles of pure gold,
valuable for their curious workmanship. He had brought with him many
jewels of value, and a small but choice collection of paintings, some of
them among the noblest masterpieces of art. Among them were eight gems
from the hand of Titian. These were hung in rich frames around his rooms.
He was no reader, and had brought few books, his whole library comprising
but thirty-one volumes, and these mostly religious works, such as
psalters, missals, breviaries, and the like. There was some little science
and some little history, but the work which chiefly pleased him was a
French poem, "_Le Chevalier Delibere_," then popular, which celebrated the
exploits of the house of Burgundy, and especially of Charles the Bold.

And now it comes in place to say something of how Charles employed himself
at Yuste, aside from eating and drinking and shivering in his chimney
corner. The mode in w