The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

Il6 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
He bore it, however, with resignation, for he saw in this
crushing blow, which destroyed all his plans for the elevation
of his nephew, a punishment from heaven for the exaggerated
concessions which he had made to the Spanish king^ with
regard to the use of ecclesiastical revenues, with the intention
of thereby promoting the interests of Federigo. The sudden
destruction of such brilliant hopes also made a deep impression
on Cardinal Borromeo,- all the more so as, almost at the same
time as he lost his beloved brother, the young son of the Duke
of Florence, who had received the Cardinal's hat at the same
time as himself, suddenly died after a three days' illness.^
The ascetic nature of Charles had for long resisted making
any concessions to the more worldly conceptions of Hfe,* and
now that the futility of all merely earthly aspirations was so
rudely brought before his eyes, he resolved to free himself
from the last traces of a worldly spirit, and to devote his life
exclusively to the supreme goal.
The worldty-minded members of the Curia, and, as was
Alf. Roselli of November 25, the Pope had then spoken in a
composed and courageous manner ; on December 5, however,
the same writer reports : " * H Papa non puo scordarsi la morte
del conte Federigo Borromeo, massime non sapendo risolversj
di soggetto per perpetuarvi la casa sua non inclinando al fratello "
(State Archives, Modena).
1 It was a question of the heavy tax on church property granted
for the fleet of Philip II. ;
see the *report of Alf. Roselli of Novem-
ber 21, 1562 (State Archives, Modena). Cf. with regard to this
affair, Vol. XVI. of this work.
2 See his letter to Cosimo in Sala, Docum., III., 241 seq. The
importance of this death has already been pointed out by Palla-
vicini (19, 4, 9). Ranke has underestimated it, as Sickel justly
remarks (Berichte III., 83). A contemporary portrait of Federigo
is in the Ambrosiana, and another in the castle of the Borromei
at Angera. Reproductions in San Carlo, 37, 55.
" Questi due si gravi colpi . . . erano
* BoNDONUS, 544.
veramente atti ad atterarmi affatto, se hen fossi stato assai piii
forte di quello ch'io sono," writes Borromeo on December 3, 1562,
to the Duke of Florence. Sala, Docum., III., 242.
^ Bascape, 8b.