at Olmiitz, and ordered that all books sold in Moravia should 

 first be approved by a certain bigoted censor. 



Nevertheless, Rudolph was a grievous disappointment to 

 the intriguing Jesuits, owing to his vacillating conduct, and 

 his engrossing devotion to science and art within the pre- 

 cincts of the palace on the Hradschin. His unreliability as an 

 opponent of Protestantism was shown by his willingness to 

 meet persons of that faith in friendly discourse on his favorite 

 studies, and notably by his inviting to his court Kepler, who 

 had been driven out of Gratz on account of his adherence to 

 the reformed faith. Moreover among Rudolph's devoted sup- 

 porters were several Protestant princes. 



The death of the influential William von Rosenberg, in 

 1592, was a great blow to the Jesuit party, for he was suc- 

 ceeded by his nephew whose wife induced him to join the 

 Brotherhood. About the same time Rudolph dismissed from 

 office another champion of the Catholics, George von Lobko- 

 witz, transferring his estates to a man who was supposed to 

 be a zealous Catholic, but who proved to be friendly to the 

 Lutherans. 



With advancing years Rudolph's weakness as a ruler be- 

 came more conspicuous, his innate shy and melancholy dis- 

 position assuming a suspiciously morbid phase; he grew 

 hypochondriacal, irritable, and sometimes his mental condi- 

 tion bordered on insanity. As the poet expresses it: 



"Melancholy is the nurse of frenzy." 



His jester failed to amuse him, the little sense of humor in 

 his disposition abandoned him. His condition was aggra- 

 vated by increasing aversion to bodily exercise of any kind; 

 he had always been phlegmatic and never had taken much 

 interest in manly sports other than tennis and the chase, 

 and now he disliked to undertake even short journeys from 

 Prague, though a visit to the distant provinces of his exten- 



198 



