1895.] Insanity in Royal Families. 123 
gloomy traditions of the Spanish Court had in forming the 
characters of the two Monarchs of the Austrian line, who re- 
mind one respectively of Don Carlos and Philip II; or how 
large a share might be ascribed to hereditary taint. 
Rudolf II (1576—1612) was the son of Maximilian II, one 
of the most enlightened and honorable princes of his time, and 
one who, strange to say, held the balance scrupulously even 
between his Protestant and Roman Catholic subjects. But 
Rudolf, unfortunately for himself and Germany, had been 
trained in the gloomy Court of Spain, and was a mere tool of 
the Jesuits. His temper was moody and variable, and he was 
subject to outbursts of uncontrollable passion, followed by ab- 
ject submission to his advisers, the Jesuits, who had gained 
complete ascendancy over him. 
If in Rudolf II we meet with many salient characteristics 
of Don Carlos, so in Ferdinand II. we have a type of character 
as inexpressibly odious as that of Philip II. To the ferocious 
bigotry of Ferdinand II, more than to any other cause, may 
be ascribed the Thirty Year’s War, one of the most hideous 
wars that history has ever recorded. More than twelve 
million of people, at a moderate estimate, perished in this 
fratricidal strife; wolves ravened through the burnt and de- 
serted villages; men killed their children and dug up the 
bodies of the dead for food; and, before its close, Germany lay 
bleeding and exhausted at the feet of France, and has only in 
this century recovered her strength. To ferocious bigotry 
Ferdinand added the blackest treachery and a cold blooded 
and diabolical cruelty. But atrocious as was his character we 
must remember that he, like Rudolf II was a tool of the 
Jesuits, then at the zenith of their power, and numbering in 
their ranks the most highly trained intellects of their time; 
whereas the cruelties and treacheries perpetrated by Philip II 
were spun out of his own brain. 
The immediate predecessor of the present distinguished 
wearer of the Austrian crown was certainly of weak intellect, 
weeping when his physicians forbade him a favorite dish 
“ Kaiser bin ich, und Nudeln muss ich haben” he sobbed. On 
another occasion his Minister hoped that the Emperor, who 
