n; but Ferdinand held on to what
he possessed, with true Austrian tenacity. Had Charles kept the imperial
crown for his son, as he might have done, Philip's imperial position
must have sufficed to give him control of the civilized world. He would
have made himself master of both France and England, and must have
rendered the Reaction completely triumphant over the Reformation.
Fortunately, he failed to become Emperor, and during a portion of his
time the imperial throne was occupied by the best of all the Hapsburg
sovereigns,--the wise, the tolerant, the humane, and the upright
Maximillian II., who was the last man in Europe likely to give him any
aid in the prosecution of his vast tyrannical schemes. Besides, there
was a sort of coolness between the two branches of the great family,
that was not without its effect on the world's politics. Seldom has it
happened that a more important event has occurred than the election of
Ferdinand as King of the Romans. We are not to measure what might have
been done by Philip II. as Emperor, by what was done by Charles V.; for
Charles was a statesman, a politician, and, down to his latter years,
when his health was utterly gone, he was no fanatic; but Phillip was a
fanatic only, and a fierce one too, with a power of concentration such
as his father never possessed. Then the contest between the Catholics
and the Protestants was a far more serious one in Philip's time than it
had been in that of Charles, which alone would have sufficed to make his
occupation of the imperial throne, had he occupied it, a matter of the
last importance.

[29] The main line of the German Hapsburgs ended in 1619, with the death
of the Emperor Matthias. He was succeeded by Ferdinand II., grandson of
Ferdinand I., and son of that Archduke Charles who was sometimes spoken
of in connection with the possible marriage of Elizabeth of England. Out
of Ferdinand II.'s elevation grew a new union of the entire family of
Hapsburg. During the long ascendency of the Cardinal-Duke of Lerma in
the Spanish councils, _temp_. Philip III., the breach between the two
branches, which had been more apparent than real, and yet not
unimportant, was made complete by the minister's action, the policy he
pursued being such as was highly displeasing to the German Hapsburgs,
who had relapsed into bigotry. Philip III. set up pretensions to Hungary
and Bohemia, as grandson of Maximilian II. Ferdinand, who was not yet
either emperor or kin