No matter how or what they protest;
Naught is the parchment they give thee,
’Though it be as large as thy round cloak,
And though they set a seal on it
As big as the brim of the moon,
Spite of all, it lacks all virtus (trustworthiness).
Confound them, Jesus Christus!”
PEASANT GIRL FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF BUDA-PESTH.
These overtures failed to lead to peace, and the struggle continued throughout the land, giving up to ruin what had been left intact by the Turkish slavery of a century and a half and the sixteen years’ war of liberation. The government was unable either to quell or to crush the rebellion, standing in need of all its strength for the struggle in the west. At this conjuncture Leopold I. descended into his grave in 1705, and his well-intentioned son, Joseph I., succeeded to the throne (1705-1711).