CHAP. XIV.

THE PRINCESS CECILIA.

281

after having vindicated, as far as possible, the reputation of Cecilia, he was released from prison. He remained unmarried, and, taught discretion by the past, when that Princess came to Emden on a visit to her sister, he shunned her dangerous presence.' She herself married the Margrave Christopher of Baden, in 1564; after her husband's death embraced the Roman Catholic religion; and ended a giddy and dissolute life at the advanced age of eighty-seven."

Celsius, vol. ii. p. 345.

2 Geijer, vol. ii. p. 151.

CHAPTER XV.

His decline

Unhappiness of Gustavus's latter days His latest correspondence His last address to the States - Renewal of Eric's suit to Elizabeth of England The King's illness and death Peter Brahé's description of him - Review of his character.

IF Gustavus was born in 1496 he was in 1559 only sixty-three years old, but the anxieties of a difficult government, and the heavy weight of domestic sorrow, began to tell upon both body and mind. His strength visibly declined, and he became querulous and melancholy. His cheerful temper seldom shone out with its former brightness after the death of his beloved Margaret, and even as early as 1554 we find him declaring to his sons that he no longer took any pleasure in music, of which he had once been fond, and sending back to them, as better suited to their age and circumstances, some trumpeters and other musicians whom they had procured for his amusement.1

The loss of Margaret was followed by that of many of his contemporaries in the State Council, among the rest of Lars Siggéson (Sparré), his fellowprisoner in Denmark. Christina Gyllenstjerna, to

Gripsholm, December 25th, 1554; Appendix to Chron. Laurent. Petri, in Rerum Suec. Script., vol. ii. p. 153. See Appendix.

CHAP. XV.

HIS DECLINE.

283

whom he was much attached, died in 1559; then came the death of the King of Denmark, from which he anticipated much evil, and in whom he regretted a good friend and neighbour. Finally, the disgrace of Cecilia cut him to the quick. No one of his age had been less superstitious, perhaps (overwhelmed as he had been with business) we might say less thoughtful, on the subject of omens; but now he considered every memorial of life's mutability and vanity as a sign for himself, and said, "That is meant for me; God grant me time to make myself ready." Fears for the Reformation and for the future peace and union of his family made the prospect of death still more gloomy. His memory, once so tenacious, began to fail him he confused names. Something of his former decision was wanting: contrary to his wont he occasionally changed his orders. His natural defects appeared more prominently. He became habitually more irritable, and more exacting with his bailiffs and employés.'

:

On the 24th of April, 1560, he was taken ill at Juleta, but recovered sufficiently to proceed in the following month to Eskiltuna, where he had the satisfaction of again embracing his favourite son John, just returned from his embassy to England.2

He came to Stockholm on the 16th of June to attend the Diet, which had been convoked there " on

Collection Hist. Polit. MS. in Bibliothecâ Com. Piper; apud Dalin, vol. iii. ch. viii.

* Tegel, 1560.

account of the King's age and weakness, and the many weighty affairs not yet brought to an end." He had written to Eric on the 3rd of June entreating him to be present, assuring him that he was not dissatisfied with him personally, though he was dissatisfied with his advisers. On the day following he wrote to John complaining of those toads who took advantage of Eric's naturally suspicious temper to persuade him to set spies upon his father, and to lead him into other inconceivable extravagancies.'

These are the last letters preserved, probably the last written, by that sagacious pen which had been employed for nearly forty years with such indefatigable diligence and with such fruitful, and, generally speaking, with such beneficial results. On the 25th of June Gustavus, in the presence of his four sons, of whom the youngest, still a child, stood at his knee, after his testament had been read, approved, and confirmed by oath, addressed the States in their hall of assembly:-" I thank Almighty God," he said, "for that in my person he hath restored to the Swedish throne the ancient race of Magnus Ladulås and Charles Knutson. Those of you who are somewhat advanced in years can still remember the time when our beloved country groaned beneath the sway of foreign oppressors, and especially of the cruel tyrant Christian, and how it pleased God by my hand to free it from such tyranny. Therefore ought we all, high and low, master and servant, young and old, Geijer, vol. ii. p. 157.

CHAP. XV. HIS LAST ADDRESS TO THE STATES. 285

ever gratefully to remember that providential deliverance. For what was I, that I should dethrone so mighty a lord, the king of three kingdoms, allied and related to the Emperor and the most powerful princes of the earth? Little could I have expected that honour when in the forest and the wilderness I hid myself from the bloodthirsty sword of the enemy. But God prospered the work, and made me his minister in whom to reveal his almighty power, so that I may well compare myself to David, whom the Lord raised up from a poor shepherd to be king over the people.

"I thank you for having chosen me your hereditary sovereign, and for having loyally supported me in my government. That during my reign it has pleased God to introduce here his pure and holy word, and to bless us at the same time so highly with all temporal blessings, let us all, as is our bounden duty, humbly and thankfully praise him. I am well aware that in the opinion of many I have been a harsh king, but the time will come when the Swedes would gladly pluck me from the grave if it were in their power. I scruple not, however, to acknowledge many sins and frailties-for none is perfect and without spot- and I pray you as loyal subjects to pardon the faults and imperfections which you have found in my government. My design at least has invariably been the good of my kingdom, and my grey hairs and wrinkled forehead sufficiently prove the many dangers, troubles, and sorrows I have experienced in