f all that you in
your old age should have been my enemies' companion, when we have been
brought up together in our youth." The Elector answered almost in a
whisper, and left "like a skinned cat," the Emperor half raising his
cap, but no one else. He was ordered to go to Granvelle, and the
minister played the doctor and healed the wound. He returned with tears
in his eyes, and then Charles forgave him. "My cousin, I am content that
your past deserts toward me should cancel the errors which you have
recently committed." Henceforth the old friendship was renewed.

Ulrich of Wuertemberg escaped less lightly. He paid a large indemnity,
received Spanish garrisons in his fortresses, and engaged to serve
against his late allies. He had no resource, for his subjects hated him;
from the windows of the cottages fluttered the red and white Burgundian
colors as a token of what was in the peasants' hearts. Ferdinand pressed
warmly for the restoration of the duchy to Austria, but Charles replied
that the aim of the war was the service of God and the revival of
imperial authority: to seek their private advantage would only quicken
the envy with which neighboring powers regarded the house of Hapsburg.
Farther north the octogenarian of the Elector of Cologne resigned his
see, and the evangelization of the Middle Rhine was at an end. Ulm gave
in with a good grace, but Augsburg long delayed. Charles' original
intention was, apparently, to garrison these towns, as Milan and Naples,
with reliable Spanish troops, and perhaps to destroy their walls and
dominate them by fortresses. But he treated the cities leniently. He
left here and there companies of imperial troops, levied moderate
contributions, replaced at Ulm and Augsburg the democratic constitution
of the trades by the old wealthy aristocracies, but promised to respect
the existing religion. Strasburg, which, in spite of French entreaties,
capitulated in February, 1547, was almost exempt from punishment; it was
feared that the distant, wealthy, and headstrong city might hold out a
hand to the Swiss and become a canton.

In Southern and Western Germany there was no longer an enemy in the
field, but, in the North, Maurice's treachery had brought its penalty.
John Frederick, acting with unusual vigor, recovered his dominions,
received homage from the feudatories of Halberstadt and Magdeburg, and
overran Maurice's territories, until he was checked before the walls of
Leipsic. When Ferdina