essary for him to submit to the
amputation of the limb. He submitted to the painful operation with the
greatest fortitude, and taking up his severed limb, with his accustomed
phlegm remarked to those standing by,

"What difference is there between an emperor and a peasant? Or rather,
is not a sound peasant better than a sick emperor? Yet I hope to enjoy
the greatest good which can happen to man--a happy exit from this
transitory life."

The shock of a second amputation, which from the vitiated state of his
blood seemed necessary, was too great for his enfeebled frame to bear.
He died August 19th, 1493, seventy-eight years of age, and after a reign
of fifty-three years. He was what would be called, in these days, an
ultra temperance man, never drinking even wine, and expressing ever the
strongest abhorrence of alcoholic drinks, calling them the parent of all
vices. He seems to have anticipated the future greatness of Austria; for
he had imprinted upon all his books, engraved upon his plate and carved
into the walls of his palace a mysterious species of anagram composed of
the five vowels, A, E, I, O, U.

The significance of this great secret no one could obtain from him. It
of course excited great curiosity, as it everywhere met the eye of the
public. After his death the riddle was solved by finding among his
papers the following interpretation--

_Austri Est Imperare Orbi Universo._

Austria Is To govern The world Universal.

Maximilian, in the prime of manhood, energetic, ambitious, and invested
with the imperial dignity, now assumed the government of the Austrian
States. The prospect of greatness was brilliant before Maximilian. The
crowns of Bohemia and Hungary were united in the person of Ladislaus,
who was without children. As Maximilian already enjoyed the title of
King of Hungary, no one enjoyed so good a chance as he of securing both
of those crowns so soon as they should fall from the brow of Ladislaus.

Europe was still trembling before the threatening cimeter of the Turk.
Mahomet II., having annihilated the Greek empire, and consolidated his
vast power, and checked in his career by the warlike barons of Hungary,
now cast a lustful eye across the Adriatic to the shores of Italy. He
crossed the sea, landed a powerful army and established twenty thousand
men, strongly garrisoned, at Otranto, and supplied with provisions for a
year. All Italy was in consternation, for a passage was now open
directly from