1895.] ; Insanity in Royal Families. 121 
heroic bravery on the part of the doomed people. The case of 
Philip II may perhaps justly be considered one of moral in- 
sanity, for to the very end of his career he never showed the 
slightest consciousness of having done evil. Dying by inches 
in the slow torture of a most horrible disease, he displayed the 
utmost patience, fortitude and resignation to the will of God; 
his end was that of a saint and a martyr as he fixed his last 
expiring glances on the image of his crucified Saviour. This 
man who had caused rivers of blood to shed, who had 
brought fire, famine, torture and death in its most hideous 
forms to countless thousands of his fellow-creatures; who was 
treacherous to friends and foes alike; who was privy to the 
death of his own son; died in absolute peace with his con- 
science and his God! Those who ascribe infallible and di- 
vinely instilled instincts to conscience would do well to study 
the career of Philip IT. 
The career of Don John of Austria, half-brother to Philip II, 
may be noticed here, as illustrating the advantages of change 
of environment and of fresh blood where insanity is latent in 
a family. He was the son of Charles V by Barbara Blomberg, 
daughter of a respectful citizen of Ratisbon, and in his moral 
and mental qualities closely resembled his great grandfather, 
Maximilian, whose romantic early career earned him the title 
of the last of the knights-errant. His singularly brilliant 
career was ended by his too early death at the age of 33; the 
victim indirectly, if not directly, of the cold and cruel policy 
of his half-brother Philip II. As a mere youth, Don John of 
Austria had gained one of the decisive battles of the world, in 
the naval victory of Lepanto which rolled back that advance 
of Turkish power which was threatening the destruction of 
Europe. But this brilliant success raised the sleepless jealousy 
of his brother, and Don John was sent to the Netherlands, there 
to eat his heart out with repeated vexations and disappoint- 
ments, purposely inflicted by the cold, crafty tyrant of the Es- 
curial. No trace of the influence of his mad grandmother 
appeared in the buoyant spirits, the trusting, generous dis- 
position, and brilliant courage of this illfated young hero. 
