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

310 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
the Emperor as early as the end of January,^ although it was
hardly to be hoped that this mission would meet with any
decisive success. Pius IV., who was going on with his work of
reform, certainly did not himself expect that he would be able
thus to silence the petulant demands of the powers. On the
strength of previous experience, he suddenly proposed to try
the effect of the intervention of a distinguished ecclesiastical
dignitary, who should possess the respect and confidence of
the Emperor. 2 On February loth he urgently begged Cardinal
Gonzaga to go as soon as possible to Innsbruck.^ The
president of the legates at Trent seemed, in virtue of his
family relationship with Ferdinand, and his tact and skill,
admirably suited to influence the Emperor and to demon-
strate to him the readiness of Pius IV. to carry out a decisive
reform. Gonzaga, however, declined in a letter of February
19th. This refusal was probably to be accounted for by the
complete failure of the mission of Commendone, as well as the
failing health of the Cardinal himself. *
When Guise returned to Trent on February 27th, he found
the first president of the Council already very ill. A fever
which he had contracted on February 23rd rapidly wasted the
strength of the fifty-eight-year-old Cardinal, already worn out
by the exertions and anxieties of the Council. On the evening
of March 2nd, this distinguished ecclesiastic, who had worn
the purple for thirty-six years, and for whom many had
prophesied the tiara, ^ breathed forth his noble soul. The last
sacraments were administered to him by the General of the
Jesuits, who had returned a short time before from Mantua,
^Cf. Pallavicini, 20, i; Pogiani Epist., III., 242 n. ;
SxEiNHERZ, III., 180 seq., 182 seq., 185 seq., 191 seq., 198 seq. ;
SusTA, III., 173, 183 seq., 208, 232 seq. The instruction for
Commendone dated January 28, 1563, in Dollinger, Beitrage,
III., 316 seq.
* See RiTTER, I., 171 ; Sagmuller, Papstwahlbullen, 141 seq.
* See SusTA, III., 224 seq.
* Cj. Pallavicini, 20, 6, 4
* See the interesting **report of Fr. Tonina dated Rome,
; Susta, III., 229.
January 23, 1563 (Gonzaga Archives, Mantua).