[136] "Cammina che non pare che tocchi terra; è tutto nervo con poca carne." Relazione di Bernardo Navagero.
[137] "Servì lungo tempore l'Imperatore, ma con infelicissimo evento, non avendo potuto avere alcuna ricompensa, come egli stesso diceva, in premio della sua miglior etá, e di molte fatiche, e pericoli sostenuti, se non spese, danni, disfavore, esilio ed ultimamente un ingiustissima prigionia." Nores, Guerra fra Paolo Quarto e Filippo Secondo, MS.—Relazione di Bernardo Navagero.
[138] Nores, Guerra fra Paolo Quarto e Filippo Secondo, MS.—Summonte, Historia della Città e Regno di Napoli, (Napoli, 1675,) tom. IV. p. 278.—Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, tom. X. p. 20.
[139] Brantôme, who has introduced the constable into his gallery of portraits, has not omitted this characteristic anecdote. "On disait qu'il se falloit garder des patenostres de M. le connestable, car en les disant et marmottant lors que les ocasions se presentoient, comme force desbordemens et desordres y arrivent maintenant, il disoit: Allez moy pendre un tel; attachez celuy là à cet arbre; faictes passer cestuy là par les picques tout à ceste heure, ou les harquebuses tout devant moy; taillez moy en pieces tous ces marauts," etc. Brantôme Œuvres (Paris, 1822,) tom. II. p. 372.
[140] Nores, Guerra fra Paolo Quarto e Filippo Secondo, MS.—Summonte, Historia di Napoli, tom. IV. p. 280.—Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, tom. X. p. 21.—De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. III. p. 23 et seq.
[141] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli tom. X. p. 19.
[142] Nores, Guerra fra Paolo Quarto e Filippo Secondo, MS.—Carta del Duque de Alba à la Gobernadora, 28 de Julio, 1556, MS.—Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, tom. X. pp. 15, 16.
[143] I have three biographies of the duke of Alva, which give a view of his whole career. The most important is one in Latin, by a Spanish Jesuit named Ossorio, and entitled Ferdinandi Toletani Albæ Ducis Vita et Res Gestæ (Salmanticiæ, 1669). The author wrote nearly a century after the time of his hero. But as he seems to have had access to the best sources of information, his narrative may be said to rest on a good foundation. He writes in a sensible and business-like manner, more often found among the Jesuits than among the members of the other orders. It is not surprising that the harsher features of the portrait should be smoothed down under the friendly hand of the Jesuit commemorating the deeds of the great champion of Catholicism.
A French life of the duke, printed some thirty years later, is only a translation of the preceding, Histoire de Ferdinand-Alvarez de Toledo, Duc d'Albe (Paris, 1699). A work of more pretension is entitled Resultas de la Vida de Fernando Alvarez tercero Duque de Alva, escrita por Don Juan Antonio de Vera y Figueroa, Conde de la Roca (1643). It belongs, apparently, to a class of works not uncommon in Spain, in which vague and uncertain statements take the place of simple narrative, and the writer covers up his stilted panegyric with the solemn garb of moral philosophy.
[144] Giannone, Istoria di Napoli, tom. X. p. 27.—Consulta hecha a varios letrados y téologos relativamente a las desavenencias con el Papa, MS. This document is preserved in the archives of Simancas.