se, Gustavus knew the character of his
people. They were particularly prone to sentiment. A few sham tears or
an exuberant display of wrath had more effect upon them than the most
sagacious argument that the monarch could employ. His policy, therefore,
was to stir their feelings, and then withdraw to watch their feelings
effervesce. It is not too much to say that no monarch has ever in so
short a time effected greater change in sentiment than Gustavus effected
among the members of this diet.

Before the delegates departed, a letter was issued by all the bishops
present, and by representatives of the absent bishops, declaring to the
people that Gustavus had portrayed in graphic terms the evil inflicted
on the crown in former times by bishops; and that the lay members had
voted, to prevent such danger in the future, that the bishops' retinues
should be limited thereafter by the king, and that all their superfluous
rents and castles, as well as the superfluous rents of the cathedrals
and chapters, should be surrendered to the crown. "To this," the humbled
prelates added, "we could not, even if we would, object, for we wish to
dispel the notion that our power and castles are a menace to the realm.
We shall be satisfied whether we are rich or poor." To one who reads
between these lines, it is easy to discern the language of the king. He
also wrote, above his own name, to the people, informing them that the
diet had been held; and for details of the proceedings he referred them
to a letter which the Cabinet had penned.[167]

There was one man on whom the diet of Vesteras had fallen like a clap of
thunder from on high. His cherished dream of finally restoring Romanism
to her old position in the eyes of men was now no more. The knell of
popery had been sounded, and nothing remained for the aged bishop but
despair. True to the spirit of the ancient Church, he had looked askance
on every effort to discuss her faith. The doctrines handed down through
centuries appeared to him so sacred that in his eyes it was sacrilege to
open them again. In answer to the monarch's oft-repeated counsel that
the Church reform her doctrines, he had steadily asserted his
unwillingness to take that step, "for these new doctrines," he declared,
"have been investigated frequently in other countries and have been
condemned. No man of wisdom, I believe, will champion a doctrine that is
contrary to the mandates of the Christian Church." This constant
oppo