immediately set out on his journey if the king considered it necessary; nay, if he could not go on horseback, he would ride in a carriage; or, if he could not ride in a carriage, he would be borne by men, but he would never neglect the cause of his majesty for the sake of his own health; but in his opinion the journey was not at all necessary, as he had already settled all the negotiations with the king of Poland with respect to the recent change in the position of affairs. He even showed reasons why an embassy should not be sent, which reasons Ferdinand finally agreed to, and the idea was given up.
Herberstein now begged permission to retire to his own estate for some time that he might recover his health, which permission was granted to him after the Russian embassy had left. Before his departure, however, Ferdinand honoured him with the public expression of a threefold thanksgiving: firstly, for the settlement of the affairs of the peace embassy in Moscow; secondly, for the attention paid to the interests of his masters in Poland; and, thirdly, for the offer of undertaking a new journey in spite of his bad health. From Prague he went to Vienna, where he lay ill for four weeks.
After the death of Louis, John Zapolski put himself at the head of an army of forty thousand men, and succeeded in obtaining possession of the throne of Hungary; so that Ferdinand, who had already been crowned in Prague, and taken possession of Moravia and Silesia, was obliged to enter Hungary with a powerful army, in order to enforce his clainis upon
