by its promise of rest and
all the solaces of retirement.

In 1555 the Emperor held the solemn ceremony of abdication at Brussels,
for he paid especial honour to his subjects of the Netherlands. He sat
in a chair of state surrounded by a splendid retinue and recounted the
famous deeds of his administration with a natural pride, dwelling on
the hardships of constant journeying because he had been unwilling to
trust the affairs of government to any other. Turning to Philip he
bade him hold the laws of his country sacred and to maintain the
Catholic faith in all its purity. As he spoke, all his hearers melted
into tears, for the people of the Netherlands owed much gratitude to
their ruler. And the ceremony which attended the transference of the
Spanish crown to Philip was no less moving. Charles had chosen the
monastery of San Yuste as his last dwelling on account of its warm, dry
climate. After {72} a tender farewell to his family he set out there
in some state, many attendants going into retreat with him. Yuste was
a pleasant peaceful village near the Spanish city of Plasencia. Deep
silence brooded over it, and was only broken by the bells of the
convent the Emperor was entering. He found that a building had been
erected for his "palace" in a garden planted with orange trees and
myrtles. This was sumptuously furnished according to the monks' ideas,
for Charles did not intend to adopt the simplicity of these brothers of
St Jerome. Velvet canopies, rich tapestries, and Turkey carpets had
been brought for the rooms which were prepared for a royal inmate. The
walls of the Emperor's bedchamber were hung in black in token of his
deep mourning for his mother, but many pictures from the brush of
Titian were hung in that apartment. As Charles lay in bed he could see
the famous "Gloria," which represented the emperor and empress of a
bygone age in the midst of a throng of angels. He could also join in
the chants of the monks without rising, if he were suffering from gout,
for a window opened directly from his room into the chapel of the
monastery. Sixty attendants were still in the service of the recluse,
and those in the culinary office found it hard to satisfy the appetite
of a monarch who, if he had given up his throne, had not by any means
renounced the pleasures of the table.

A Keeper of the Wardrobe had been brought to Yuste, although Charles
was plain in his attire and had somewhat disdained the personal v