After a summer spent at Innsbrück, where he was attacked by an intermittent fever, the emperor travelled to Wels, in Upper Austria, hoping that the pure country air would restore his health. But the fever continued, aggravated, it is said, by too violent exercise, and an imprudent indulgence in melons. Soon dysentery supervened, and on the 12th of January 1519 he passed away in the sixtieth year of his age. As long as he had been able to do so, Maximilian bravely attended to public business, but racked with fever at night, and unable to sleep, he tried to soothe his weariness by having the history of the House of Austria and legends of the saints related to his house read aloud to him. Feeling that his end was near, he asked for a Carthusian monk from Brisgau. When the monk entered his room the emperor sat up and received him with every sign of joy, and turning to the officers standing round his bed he said: 'This is the man who will show me the way to heaven.' With an untroubled mind, and every semblance of piety, he received the last sacraments, and gave minute directions as to his burial, which he wished to be as simple as possible. To show the emptiness of human greatness he ordered that after death his teeth should be drawn, his body polled and shaved (_rasé et épilé_), and exposed for a whole day, then enclosed in a sack of quicklime and placed in a coffin which he had carried about with him since 1515, and buried in the church of the castle of Nieustad under the altar dedicated to Saint George, in such a position that his head should be under the feet of the celebrant. His heart he wished to be buried at Bruges, near his first wife, Mary of Burgundy, 'sa réelle épouse.' Having thus made all arrangements, he took leave of those present, raising his hand and giving them his blessing. 'Why do you weep,' he asked, 'because you see in me a mortal? Such tears suit women better than men.' And thus calmly and fearlessly Maximilian faced death, reverently responding to the monk's prayers until his voice failed; but when he could no longer utter, still showed by signs that he followed the holy office, until sinking into unconsciousness, with a smile upon his face, he passed away before the dawn. [Illustration: THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I AND HIS FAMILY FROM THE PAINTING BY BERNHARD STRIGEL IN THE IMPERIAL MUSEUM, VIENNA]