He therefore sent his emissaries among them to encourage them
with assurances of his sympathy and aid. The diet which Rhodolph had
summoned, separated without coming to other result than rousing
thoroughly the spirit of the Protestants. They boldly called another
diet to meet in May, in the city of Prague itself, under the very shadow
of the palace of Rhodolph, and sent deputies to Matthias, and to the
Protestant princes generally of the German empire, soliciting their
support. Rhodolph issued a proclamation forbidding them to meet.
Regardless of this injunction they met, at the appointed time and place,
opened the meeting with imposing ceremonies, and made quiet preparation
to repel force with force. These preparations were so effectually made
that upon an alarm being given that the troops of Rhodolph were
approaching to disperse the assembly, in less than an hour twelve
hundred mounted knights and more than ten thousand foot soldiers
surrounded their hall as a guard.
This was a very broad hint to the emperor, and it surprisingly
enlightened him. He began to bow and to apologize, and to asserverate
upon his word of honor that he meant to do what was right, and from
denunciations, he passed by a single step to cajolery and fawning.
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