Book Excerpt: ither means or steadiness to carry them out,by his perpetual impecuniosity and slippery dealing; and in his oldage he has become rather the laughing-stock of historians.But there is much that is melancholy in the sight of a man endowedwith genius, unbalanced by the force of character that securessuccess, and with an ardent nature whose intention overleaptobstacles that in practice he found insuperable. At home Maximilianraised the Imperial power from a mere cipher to considerable weight.We judge him as if he had been born in the purple and succeeded to adefined power like his descendants. We forget that the head of theHoly Roman Empire had been, ever since the extinction of the Swabianline, a mere mark for ambitious princes to shoot at, with everythingexpected from him, and no means to do anything. Maximilian's ownfather was an avaricious, undignified old man, not until near hisdeath Archduke of even all Austria, and with anarchy prevailingeverywhere under his nominal rule. It was in theRead More