THEODORE VAN CUERENHERT. 
After his accession to the pontificate, lie sent for his family to 
Rome, with orders that they should ajipear in a decent and modest 
manner. Accordingly his sister Camilla came thither, accompanied 
by her daughter and two grand-children. Some cardinals, to pay 
court to the pope, went out to meet her, and introduced her in a mag- 
niticent dress. Sixtus pretended not to know her, and asked two or 
three times who she was. Her conductors at last found it necessary 
to carry her to an inn, and strip her of her finery. When Camilla 
was again introduced, Sixtus embraced her tenderly, and said, “Now 
we know indeed it is our sister; nobody shall make a princess of you 
but ourselves.” He stipulated with his sister, that she should neither 
ask any favour in matters of government, nor intercede for criminals, 
nor interfere in the administration of justice, declaring that such 
re(|uest should meet with a certain refusal. These terms being agreed 
to, and punctually observed, he made the most ample provision, not 
only for Camilla, but for all his relations. 
This great man was also an encourager of learning. He caused an 
Italian translation of the Bible to be published, wliich raised a good 
deal of discontent among the Catholics. When some cardinals 
reproached him for his conduct in this respect, he replied, “ It wa.s 
published for the benefit of you cardinals who cannot read Latin.” 
He died twenty-seventh of August, 1590, after a reign of little more 
than five years. 
To the indulgence, of a disposition naturally severe, all the defects 
of this wonderful man are to be ascribed. Clemency was a stranger 
to his bosom; his punishments were often too cruel, and seemed 
sometimes to border on revenge. But though the conduct of Sixtus 
seldom excites love, it generally commands our esteem, and sometimes 
our admiration. He strenuously defended the cause of the poor, the 
widow, and the orphan ; he never refused audience to the injured, 
however wretched or forlorn. He never forgave those magistrates who 
were convicted of partiality or corruption ; nor suffered crimes to pass 
unpunished, whether couimitted by the rich or the poor. He was 
frugal, temperate, sober, and never neglected to reward the smallest 
favour which had been conferred on him before his exaltation. When 
he mounted the throne, the treasury was not only exhausted, but in 
debt; at his death it contained five millions of gold. Rome was 
indebted to him for several of her greatest embellishments, particularly 
the Vatican library ; it was by him, too, that trade was first introduced 
into the Ecclesiastical State. And he allotted 3000 crowns a year 
for the redemption of Christian slaves from the Turks. 
Theodore Van Cuerenhert, 
This very extraordinary man w^as born at Amsterdam, in 1522. 
Early in life he travelled into Spain and Portugal. He was a man of 
science, an engraver, and a good poet. These sister arts he first 
considered as an amusement only ; but in the end he was obliged to 
have recourse to engraving alone for his support. And though the 
different studies in which he employed his time, prevented his attach- 
ment to his profession from being so close as it ought to have been. 
