CXXX11                          INTBODUCTION.
being certain that the archduke Ferdinand, who was
newly elected king of Bohemia, would also be entitled
to the crown of Hungary, he took advantage of his
knowledge of these circumstances to bespeak all the
consequent alterations in the relations between his
master and the king of Poland, so that when the
archduke's ambassador Johann Mraxi arrived, every-
thing was already prepared and settled; and as Mraxi
was taken ill immediately after his arrival in Cracow,
Herberstein took the management of the whole affair
which Mraxi had been commissioned to carry out.
The ambassadors then travelled by way of Silesia
to Prague, where they found the archduke Ferdinand,
who, by the free election of the States, was declared
king of Bohemia upon the death of Louis, and were
in time to be present at the celebration of his coro-
nation. The Russian ambassadors arrived soon after,
and Herberstein was sent to receive them, and to
escort them through the town of Prague as a guide
to show them the curiosities. The beautiful situa-
tion and the great size of Prague surprised one of the
ambassadors so much that he exclaimed, 6' This is
not a city, it is a kingdom; and a great thing it is to
acquire such a kingdom without bloodshed!"
When Herberstein reported the result of his mis-
sion to the archduke, and mentioned his negotiations
in Poland, Ferdinand considered it necessary imme-
diately to send another ambassador thither, and
proposed to Herberstein to undertake the journey.
The answer of this indefatigable servant of Ms royal
master was, that although he was very ill, he