The year 1514 presents us with more that is worthy of notice. We now begin to find him invested with great honours, and raised to a position which shows the confidence reposed in him at so early an age as twenty-eight. It was a high distinction at such an age to be made standard-bearer,-an honour which he held as a glorious remembrance till his death, and was proud of leaving it, amongst many other glorious reminiscences, to his descendants. The fortress of Maran, in Friuli, was besieged by the Venetians, and the inhabitants suffered the most dreadful famine, upon which Maximilian ordered Herberstein and his brother George to raise troops in Styria in order to relieve the place, and to convey provisions into it. Herberstein repulsed the enemy on the 12th of July, and took the leader, Giovanni Vittoria, prisoner. The remembrance of this exploit must have been dear to Herberstein in his old age, as he has immortalized it in two wood-cuts. Immediately after the campaign, the emperor summoned him to Innspruck, where the court was then held, and knighted him, as a reward for his distinguished services, and gave him a yearly salary of three hundred florins. He also gave him rank immediately below his own officers, and not long after he took him into the Imperial Council.

Even so early as the year 1515 Herberstein was employed in important diplomatic missions to the Archbishop of Salzburg; and afterwards to Ulm, Eichstatt, and Bavaria. At the end of the year, he went to Innspruck, where the emperor then was, and re

ceived from him an expression of his satisfaction, together with an order to remain at court, as his services would shortly be again put into requisition.

With the year 1516 really begins the great diplomatic and active career of Herberstein, as he then undertook the first journey to Russia. Before starting on this, however, he was employed on a mission, the management of which was also very difficult, and required extraordinary prudence and perseverance. Christian II of Denmark had two years before married Isabella, second daughter of Philip of Spain, a princess adorned with all the good qualities of her race; but that her lot could not be a happy one, may be judged from the character and public actions of that voluptuous tyrant. She complained to Charles of Burgundy, and to her powerful grandfather, the emperor Maximilian, of the shameful neglect she suffered on account of the ill-famed Dyveke and her mother Siegbrit, for the former of whom the king was possessed with a most infatuated affection. The queen also even complained of being personally illtreated. The two monarchs, thus appealed to by their relative, resolved to send ambassadors to Christian, in order to remonstrate with him, and to require that he should show better treatment to his wife; and this very difficult and, in any case, ungrateful office was assigned by the emperor to Herberstein. He left the court in January 1516, and after fulfilling various commissions assigned to him by the way, came to Nykoping, where the unfortunate Queen Isabella then resided. Here he found also two ambassadors

from Charles of Spain, who were waiting for him. The king arrived shortly after, and without much delay granted Herberstein an audience, not however, as one would suppose, in the Royal Palace, but in a convent of the Cordeliers, at a short distance from Herberstein's hotel. This may probably have been caused by a suspicion of the purpose of Herberstein's mission, and a wish to avoid having witnesses to so disagreeable a conference. Indeed, the king on this occasion was told such things as he had never heard from any one before, for Herberstein's own words are, "I have told the king that he had acted unfairly, unjustly, and dishonestly, against the emperor and his friends. The king listened to me standing, and when I uttered these sharp words, I read them from a paper, that I might not say too much or too little." His majesty allowed him to conclude without interruption; and then the other ambassadors, who stood at each side of him, declared that what he had said conveyed the sentiments of their own masters also. The king must have been moved, or at least embarrassed, by the noble boldness of Herberstein, for he did not give his answer immediately, but said that he would reply on a future occasion. Soon after, Herberstein was admitted, together with the Spanish and Netherlands ambassadors, to an audience of the queen, on which occasion he received the honourable distinction of being permitted to read his address sitting, whereas the others were obliged to read their's in a kneeling posture. At length the king sent for Herberstein, and gave him a verbal answer for the

emperor, but of too evasive and vague a character to satisfy the shrewd and resolute diplomatist. He had, therefore, the courage to tell the king, that neither the emperor nor the prince of Spain expected such an answer; nor would they believe that His Majesty would set a higher value upon a low woman than upon his own conscience, the laws of God, Christian order, his own honour, and the feelings of friendship. Herberstein demanded that at least the king's answer should be written down and sealed with the king's seal, but this Christian declined to do. All that Herberstein could obtain, after long parleying, was a short and unmeaning letter from the chancellor ; but it seems that the king, although his honour was insulted, could not but appreciate the straightforwardness of the honest ambassador, for he sent him, as a present, a beautiful horse with saddle and equipments complete.

On the 10th of April he returned to Germany. He found the emperor at Tannheim, in the Tyrol, whom, after having reported the result of his mission, he was obliged to follow to Constanz.

After this, in the course of the same year he was sent several times to Zurich; and finally, at the close of the year, was sent on the most important mission upon which he had yet been engaged, namely, an embassy to Moscow, which expedition had been set on foot for a twofold purpose. It has been already mentioned, that in consequence of the marriage of the daughter of Vladislas with John Zapolski, the emperor entertained fears of his claim to the throne of Hungary being set

aside, a fear which was increased by the position assumed by Sigismund, king of Poland, who had married Barbara, John Zapolski's sister. Sigismund himself likewise laid claim to some provinces in Hungary, which had not been renounced by his mother, Elizabeth of Austria, on her marriage,-the arms of which he included in his heraldic coat. The emperor, therefore, endeavoured to weaken the power of Sigismund by engaging the grand-prince of Russia in a war with that sovereign. Subsequently, however, he resorted to a different line of policy, and thought of gaining his point by bringing about marriages between his own family and that of Hungary and Poland.

One of these plans was, that Sigismund should marry Maximilian's granddaughter Bona, the daughter of John Galeozzi Sforza, Duke of Milan. With this new view, therefore, the emperor resolved upon sending an embassy to Moscow to mediate for Sigismund. Eighteen months, however, transpired, to the emperor's dissatisfaction, before the embassy started on its journey; for Christoff Rauber, bishop of Laybach, who had been appointed chief ambassador (Herberstein being only his second), made so many excuses, and, in spite of the instigations of the ambassador of Poland, who had been ordered at the same time for Moscow, and urged his speedy departure, took so long a time in preparing for his journey, that the emperor altered his plan, and charged Herberstein temporarily with the conduct of this embassy, in company with one Peter Mraxi, bailiff of Guntz. As a source of