226. The Emperor Maximilian.
The Emperor Maximilian said, as Johannes Aventinus witnesseth, (De Bello Turcico,) that the Emperor of Germany was Rex Regum, meaning that his Princes were so great men. The King of Spain was Rex Hominum, because his People would obey their Prince in any reasonable moderation. The King of England was Rex Diabolorum, because the subjects had there divers times deprived their Kings of their crowns and dignity. But the King of France was Rex Asinorum, in as much as his people did bear very heavy burdens of taxes and impositions[1]."
Maximilian, when he thus quaintly characterized the people of the four great monarchies, would have been mortified could he have foreseen that the Emperor of Germany would one day be reduced to be Rex Servorum, and himself little better than the vassal of an upstart tyrant. Rex Asinorum the Ruler of France might well be stiled, if patience were the only crime of his subjects. The King of Spain is still Rex Hominum, for never since the commencement of human history have any people acted a more manly part than the Spaniards of our own days. As for the King of England, if folly and fanaticism continue to spread as they are spreading, he bids fair in half a century to be King of the Saints. 1812.
- ↑ Archbishop Abbot's brief Description of the Whole World.