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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4849.txt b/4849.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..670e3cb --- /dev/null +++ b/4849.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1465 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1586 +#49 in our series by John Lothrop Motley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1586 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4849] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 49 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1586 + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Should Elizabeth accept the Sovereignty?--The Effects of her Anger-- + Quarrels between the Earl and the Staten--The Earl's three + Counsellors--Leicester's Finance--Chamber--Discontent of the + Mercantile Classes--Paul Buys and the Opposition--Been Insight of + Paul Buys--Truchsess becomes a Spy upon him--Intrigues of Buys with + Denmark--His Imprisonment--The Earl's Unpopularity--His Quarrels + with the States--And with the Norrises--His Counsellors Wilkes and + Clerke--Letter from the Queen to Leicester--A Supper Party at + Hohenlo's--A drunken Quarrel--Hohenlo's Assault upon Edward Norris-- + Ill Effects of the Riot. + +The brief period of sunshine had been swiftly followed by storms. The +Governor Absolute had, from the outset, been placed in a false position. +Before he came to the Netherlands the Queen had refused the sovereignty. +Perhaps it was wise in her to decline so magnificent an offer; yet +certainly her acceptance would have been perfectly honourable. The +constituted authorities of the Provinces formally made the proposition. +There is no doubt whatever that the whole population ardently desired to +become her subjects. So far as the Netherlands were concerned, then, she +would have been fully justified in extending her sceptre over a free +people, who, under no compulsion and without any, diplomatic chicane, had +selected her for their hereditary chief. So far as regarded England, the +annexation to that country of a continental cluster of states, inhabited +by a race closely allied to it by blood, religion, and the instinct for +political freedom, seemed, on the whole, desirable. + +In a financial point of view, England would certainly lose nothing by the +union. The resources of the Provinces were at leant equal to her own. +We have seen the astonishment which the wealth and strength of the +Netherlands excited in their English visitors. They were amazed by the +evidences of commercial and manufacturing prosperity, by the spectacle of +luxury and advanced culture, which met them on every side. Had the +Queen--as it had been generally supposed--desired to learn whether the +Provinces were able and willing to pay the expenses of their own defence +before she should definitely decide on, their offer of sovereignty, she +was soon thoroughly enlightened upon the subject. Her confidential +agents all--held one language. If she would only, accept the +sovereignty, the amount which the Provinces would pay was in a manner +boundless. She was assured that the revenue of her own hereditary realm +was much inferior to that of the possessions thus offered to her sway. + +In regard to constitutional polity, the condition of the Netherlands was +at least, as satisfactory as that of England. The great amount of civil +freedom enjoyed by those countries--although perhaps an objection--in the +eyes of Elizabeth Tudor--should certainly have been a recommendation +to her liberty-loving subjects. The question of defence had been +satisfactorily answered. The Provinces, if an integral part of the +English empire, could protect themselves, and would become an additional +element of strength--not a troublesome encumbrance. + +The difference of language was far, less than that which already existed +between the English and their Irish fellow-subjects, while it was +counterbalanced by sympathy, instead of being aggravated by mutual +hostility in the matter of religion. + +With regard to the great question of abstract sovereignty, it was +certainly impolitic for an absolute monarch to recognize the right of a +nation to repudiate its natural allegiance. But Elizabeth had already +countenanced that step by assisting the rebellion against Philip. To +allow the rebels to transfer their obedience from the King of Spain to +herself was only another step in the same direction. The Queen, should +she annex the Provinces, would certainly be accused by the world of +ambition; but the ambition was a noble one, if, by thus consenting to the +urgent solicitations of a free people, she extended the region of civil +and religious liberty, and raised up a permanent bulwark against +sacerdotal and royal absolutism. + +A war between herself and Spain was inevitable if she accepted the +sovereignty, but peace had been already rendered impossible by the treaty +of alliance. It is true that the Queen imagined the possibility of +combining her engagements towards the States with a conciliatory attitude +towards their ancient master, but it was here that she committed the +gravest error. The negotiations of Parma and his sovereign with the +English court were a masterpiece of deceit on the part of Spain. We have +shown, by the secret correspondence, and we shall in the sequel make it +still clearer, that Philip only intended to amuse his antagonists; that +he had already prepared his plan for the conquest of England, down to the +minutest details; that the idea of tolerating religious liberty had never +entered his mind; and that his fixed purpose was not only thoroughly to +chastise the Dutch rebels, but to deprive the heretic Queen who had +fostered their rebellion both of throne and life. So far as regarded the +Spanish King, then, the quarrel between him and Elizabeth was already +mortal; while in a religious, moral, political, and financial point of +view, it would be difficult to show that it was wrong, or imprudent for +England to accept the sovereignty over his ancient subjects. The cause +of human, freedom seemed likely to gain by the step, for the States did +not consider themselves strong enough to maintain the independent +republic which had already risen. + +It might be a question whether, on the whole, Elizabeth made a mistake in +declining the sovereignty. She was certainly wrong, however, in wishing +the lieutenant-general of her six thousand auxiliary troops to be +clothed, as such, with vice-regal powers. The States-General, in a +moment of enthusiasm, appointed him governor absolute, and placed in his +hands, not only the command of the forces, but the entire control of +their revenues, imposts, and customs, together with the appointment of +civil and military officers. Such an amount of power could only be +delegated by the sovereign. Elizabeth had refused the sovereignty: it +then rested with the States. They only, therefore, were competent to +confer the power which Elizabeth wished her favourite to exercise simply +as her lieutenant-general. + +Her wrathful and vituperative language damaged her cause and that of the +Netherlands more severely than can now be accurately estimated. The Earl +was placed at once in a false, a humiliating, almost a ridiculous +position. The authority which the States had thus a second time offered +to England was a second time and most scornfully thrust back upon them. +Elizabeth was indignant that "her own man" should clothe himself in the +supreme attributes which she had refused. The States were forced by the +violence of the Queen to take the authority into their own hands again, +and Leicester was looked upon as a disgraced man. + +Then came the neglect with which the Earl was treated by her Majesty and +her ill-timed parsimony towards the cause. No letters to him in four +months, no remittances for the English troops, not a penny of salary for +him. The whole expense of the war was thrown for the time upon their +hands, and the English soldiers seemed only a few thousand starving, +naked, dying vagrants, an incumbrance instead of an aid. + +The States, in their turn, drew the purse-strings. The two hundred +thousand florins monthly were paid. The four hundred thousand florins +which had been voted as an additional supply were for a time held back, +as Leicester expressly stated, because of the discredit which had been +thrown upon him from home. + + [Strangely enough, Elizabeth was under the impression that the extra + grant of 400,000 florins (L40,000) for four months was four hundred + thousand pounds sterling. "The rest that was granted by the States, + as extraordinary to levy an army, which was 400,000 florins, not + pounds, as I hear your Majesty taketh it. It is forty thousand + pounds, and to be paid In March, April, May, and June last," &c. + Leicester to the Queen, l1 Oct. 1586. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +The military operations were crippled for want of funds, but more fatal +than everything else were the secret negotiations for peace. Subordinate +individuals, like Grafigni and De Loo, went up and down, bringing +presents out of England for Alexander Farnese, and bragging that Parma +and themselves could have peace whenever they liked to make it, and +affirming that Leicester's opinions were of no account whatever. +Elizabeth's coldness to the Earl and to the Netherlands was affirmed to +be the Prince of Parma's sheet-anchor; while meantime a house was +ostentatiously prepared in Brussels by their direction for the reception +of an English ambassador, who was every moment expected to arrive. Under +such circumstances it was in, vain for the governor-general to protest +that the accounts of secret negotiations were false, and quite natural +that the States should lose their confidence in the Queen. An unfriendly +and suspicious attitude towards her representative was a necessary +result, and the demonstrations against the common enemy became still more +languid. But for these underhand dealings, Grave, Venlo, and Neusz, +might have been saved, and the current 'of the Meuse and Rhine have +remained in the hands of the patriots. + +The Earl was industrious, generous, and desirous of playing well his +part. His personal courage was undoubted, and, in the opinion of his +admirers--themselves, some of them, men of large military experience--his +ability as a commander was of a high order. The valour displayed by the +English nobles and gentlemen who accompanied him was magnificent, worthy +the descendants of the victors at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt; and the +good behaviour of their followers--with a few rare exceptions--had been +equally signal. But now the army was dwindling to a ghastly array of +scarecrows, and the recruits, as they came from England, were appalled by +the spectacle presented by their predecessors. "Our old ragged rogues +here have so discouraged our new men," said Leicester; "as I protest to +you they look like dead men." Out of eleven hundred freshly-arrived +Englishmen, five hundred ran away in two days. Some were caught and +hanged, and all seemed to prefer hanging to remaining in the service, +while the Earl declared that he would be hanged as well rather than again +undertake such a charge without being assured payment for his troops +beforehand! + +The valour of Sidney and Essex, Willoughby and Pelham, Roger Williams +and Martin Schenk, was set at nought by such untoward circumstances. +Had not Philip also left his army to starve and Alexander Farnese to +work miracles, it would have fared still worse with Holland and England, +and with the cause of civil and religious liberty in the year 1586. + +The States having resumed, as much as possible; their former authority, +were on very unsatisfactory terms with the governor-general. Before +long, it was impossible for the, twenty or thirty individuals called the +States to be in the same town with the man whom, at the commencement of +the, year, they had greeted so warmly. The hatred between the Leicester +faction and the municipalities became intense, for the foundation of the +two great parties which were long to divide the Netherland commonwealth +was already laid. The mercantile patrician interest, embodied in the +states of Holland and Zeeland and inclined to a large toleration in the +matter of religion, which afterwards took the form of Arminianism, was +opposed by a strict Calvinist party, which desired to subject the +political commonwealth to the reformed church; which nevertheless +indulged in very democratic views of the social compact; and which was +controlled by a few refugees from Flanders and Brabant, who had succeeded +in obtaining the confidence of Leicester. + +Thus the Earl was the nominal head of the Calvinist democratic party; +while young Maurice of Nassau; stadholder of Holland and Zeeland, and +guided by Barneveld, Buys, and other leading statesmen of these +Provinces; was in an attitude precisely the reverse of the one which he +was destined at a later and equally memorable epoch to assume. The +chiefs of the faction which had now succeeded in gaining the confidence +of Leicester were Reingault, Burgrave, and Deventer, all refugees. + +The laws of Holland and of the other United States were very strict on +the subject of citizenship, and no one but a native was competent to hold +office in each Province. Doubtless, such regulations were narrow- +spirited; but to fly in the face of them was the act of a despot, and +this is what Leicester did. Reingault was a Fleming. He was a bankrupt +merchant, who had been taken into the protection of Lamoral Egmont, and +by that nobleman recommended to Granvelle for an office under the +Cardinal's government. The refusal of this favour was one of the +original causes of Egmont's hostility to Granvelle. Reingault +subsequently entered the service of the Cardinal, however, and rewarded +the kindness of his former benefactor by great exertions in finding, or +inventing, evidence to justify the execution of that unfortunate +nobleman. He was afterwards much employed by the Duke of Alva and by the +Grand Commander Requesens; but after the pacification of Ghent he had +been completely thrown out of service. He had recently, in a subordinate +capacity, accompanied the legations of the States to France and to +England, and had now contrived to ingratiate himself with the Earl of +Leicester. He affected great zeal for the Calvinistic religion--an +exhibition which, in the old servant of Granvelle and Alva, was far from +edifying--and would employ no man or maid-servant in his household until +their religious principles had been thoroughly examined by one or two +clergymen. In brief, he was one of those, who, according to a homely +Flemish proverb, are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope; but, with +the exception of this brief interlude in his career, he lived and died a +Papist. + +Gerard Proninck, called Deventer, was a respectable inhabitant of Bois- +le-Duc, who had left that city after it had again become subject to the +authority of Spain. He was of decent life and conversation, but a +restless and ambitious demagogue. As a Brabantine, he was unfit for +office; and yet, through Leicester's influence and the intrigues of the +democratic party, he obtained the appointment of burgomaster in the city +of Utrecht. The States-General, however, always refused to allow him to +appear at their sessions as representative of that city. + +Daniel de Burgrave was a Flemish mechanic, who, by the exertion of much +energy and talent, had risen to the poet of procureur-general of +Flanders. After the conquest of the principal portion of that Province +by Parma, he had made himself useful to the English governor-general in +various ways, and particularly as a linguist. He spoke English--a tongue +with which few Netherlanders of that day were familiar--and as the Earl +knew no other, except (very imperfectly) Italian, he found his services +in speaking and writing a variety of languages very convenient. He was +the governor's private secretary, and, of course, had no entrance to the +council of state, but he was accused of frequently thrusting himself into +their hall of sessions, where, under pretence of arranging the Earl's +table, or portfolio, or papers, he was much addicted to whispering into +his master's ear, listening to conversation,--to eaves-dropping; in +short, and general intrusiveness. + +"A most faithful, honest servant is Burgrave," said Leicester; "a +substantial, wise man. 'Tis as sufficient a man as ever I met withal of +any nation; very well learned, exceeding wise, and sincere in religion. +I cannot commend the man too much. He is the only comfort I have had of +any of this nation." + +These three personages were the leaders of the Leicester faction. They +had much, influence with all the refugees from Flanders, Brabant, and the +Walloon Provinces. In Utrecht, especially, where the Earl mainly +resided, their intrigues were very successful. Deventer was appointed, +as already stated, to the important post of burgomaster; many, of the +influential citizens were banished, without cause or, trial; the upper +branch of the municipal government, consisting of the clerical delegates +of the colleges, was in an arbitrary manner abolished; and, finally, the +absolute sovereignty of, the Province, without condition, was offered to +the Queen, of England. + +Leicester was now determined to carry out one of the great objects which +the Queen had in view when she sent him to the Netherlands. She desired +thoroughly to ascertain the financial resources of the Provinces, and +their capacity to defend themselves. It was supposed by the States, and +hoped by the Earl and by a majority of the Netherland people, that she +would, in case the results were satisfactory, accept, after all, the +sovereignty. She certainly was not to be blamed that she wished to make +this most important investigation, but it was her own fault that any new +machinery had been rendered necessary. The whole control of the finances +had, in the beginning of the year, been placed in the Earl's hands, and +it was only by her violently depriving him of his credit and of the +confidence of the country that he had not retained it. He now +established a finance-chamber, under the chief control of Reingault, who +promised him mountains of money, and who was to be chief treasurer. Paul +Buys was appointed by Leicester to fill a subordinate position in the new +council. He spurned the offer with great indignation, saying that +Reingault was not fit to be his clerk, and that he was not likely +himself, therefore, to accept a humble post under the administration of +such an individual. This scornful refusal filled to the full the hatred +of Leicester against the ex-Advocate of Holland. + +The mercantile interest at once took the alarm, because it was supposed +that the finance-chamber, was intended to crush the merchants. Early in +April an Act had been passed by the state-council, prohibiting commerce +with the Spanish possessions. The embargo was intended to injure the +obedient Provinces and their sovereign, but it was shown that its effect +would be to blast the commerce of Holland. It forbade the exportation +from the republic not only of all provisions and munitions of war, but of +all goods and merchandize whatever, to Spain, Portugal, the Spanish +Netherlands, or any other of Philip's territories, either in Dutch or +neutral vessel. It would certainly seem, at first sight, that such an +act was reasonable, although the result would really be, not to deprive +the enemy of supplies, but to throw the whole Baltic trade into the hands +of the Bremen, Hamburg, and "Osterling" merchants. Leicester expected to +derive a considerable revenue by granting passports and licenses to such +neutral traders, but the edict became so unpopular that it was never +thoroughly enforced, and was before long rescinded. + +The odium of the measure was thrown upon the governor-general, yet he had +in truth opposed it in the state-council, and was influential in +procuring its repeal. + +Another important Act had been directed against the mercantile interest, +and excited much general discontent. The Netherlands wished the staple +of the English cloth manufacture to be removed from Emden--the petty, +sovereign of which place was the humble servant of Spain--to Amsterdam or +Delft. The desire was certainly, natural, and the Dutch merchants sent a +committee to confer with Leicester. He was much impressed with their +views, and with the sagacity of their chairman, one Mylward, "a wise +fellow and well languaged, an ancient man and very, religious," as the +Earl pronounced him to be. + +Notwithstanding the wisdom however, of this well-languaged fellow, +the Queen, for some strange reason, could not be induced to change the +staple from Emden, although it was shown that the public revenue of the +Netherlands would gain twenty thousand pounds a year by the measure. +"All Holland will cry out for it," said Leicester; "but I had rather they +cried than that England should weep." + +Thus the mercantile community, and especially the patrician families of +Holland and Zeeland, all engaged in trade, became more and more hostile +to the governor-general and to his financial trio, who were soon almost +as unpopular as the famous Consults of Cardinal Granvelle had been. It +was the custom of the States to consider the men who surrounded the Earl +as needy and unprincipled renegades and adventurers. It was the policy +of his advisers to represent the merchants and the States--which mainly +consisted of, or were controlled by merchants--as a body of corrupt, +selfish, greedy money-getters. + +The calumnies put in circulation against the States by Reingault and his +associates grew at last so outrageous, and the prejudice created in the +mind of Leicester and his immediate English adherents so intense, that it +was rendered necessary for the States, of Holland and Zeeland to write to +their agent Ortell in London, that he might forestall the effect of these +perpetual misrepresentations on her Majesty's government. Leicester, on +the other hand, under the inspiration; of his artful advisers, was +vehement in his entreaties that Ortell should be sent away from England. + +The ablest and busiest of the opposition-party, the "nimblest head" in +the States-General was the ex-Advocate of Holland; Paul Buys. This man +was then the foremost statesman in, the Netherlands. He had been the +firmest friend to the English alliance; he had resigned his office when +the States were-offering the sovereignty to France, and had been on the +point of taking service in Denmark. He had afterwards been prominent in +the legation which offered the sovereignty to Elizabeth, and, for a long +time, had been the most firm, earnest, and eloquent advocate of the +English policy. Leicester had originally courted him, caressed him, +especially recommended him to the Queen's favour, given him money--as he +said, "two hundred pounds sterling thick at a time"--and openly +pronounced him to be "in ability above all men." "No man hath ever +sought a man," he said, "as I have sought P. B." + +The period of their friendship was, however, very brief. Before many +weeks had passed there was no vituperative epithet that Leicester was not +in the daily habit of bestowing upon Paul. The Earl's vocabulary of +abuse was not a limited one, but he exhausted it on the head of the +Advocate. He lacked at last words and breath to utter what was like him. +He pronounced his former friend "a very dangerous man, altogether hated +of the people and the States;"--"a lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions; +a most covetous, bribing fellow, caring for nothing but to bear the sway +and grow rich;"--"a man who had played many parts, both lewd and +audacious;"--"a very knave, a traitor to his country;"--"the most +ungrateful wretch alive, a hater of the Queen and of all the English; +a most unthankful man to her Majesty; a practiser to make himself rich +and great, and nobody else;"--"among all villains the greatest;"-- +"a bolsterer of all papists and ill men, a dissembler, a devil, an +atheist," a "most naughty man, and a most notorious drunkard in the worst +degree." + +Where the Earl hated, his hatred was apt to be deadly, and he was +determined, if possible, to have the life of the detested Paul. "You +shall see I will do well enough with him, and that shortly," he said. +"I will course him as he was not so this twenty year. I will warrant him +hanged and one or two of his fellows, but you must not tell your shirt of +this yet;" and when he was congratulating the government on his having at +length procured the execution of Captain Hemart, the surrenderer of +Grave, he added, pithily, "and you shall hear that Mr. P. B. shall +follow." + +Yet the Earl's real griefs against Buys may be easily summed up. The +lewd sinner, nursled in revolutions, had detected the secret policy of +the Queen's government, and was therefore perpetually denouncing the +intrigues going on with Spain. He complained that her Majesty was tired +of having engaged in the Netherland enterprise; he declared that she +would be glad to get fairly out of it; that her reluctance to spend a +farthing more in the cause than she was obliged to do was hourly +increasing upon her; that she was deceiving and misleading the States- +General; and that she was hankering after a peace. He said that the Earl +had a secret intention to possess himself of certain towns in Holland, +in which case the whole question of peace and war would be in the hands +of the Queen, who would also have it thus in her power to reimburse +herself at once for all expenses that she had incurred. + +It would be difficult to show that there was anything very calumnious in +these charges, which, no doubt, Paul was in the habit of making. As to +the economical tendencies of her Majesty, sufficient evidence has been +given already from Leicester's private letters. "Rather than spend one +hundred pounds," said Walsingham, "she can be content to be deceived of +five thousand." That she had been concealing from the Staten, from +Walsingham, from Leicester, during the whole summer, her secret +negotiations with Spain, has also been made apparent. That she was +disgusted with the enterprise in which she had embarked, Walsingham, +Burghley, Hatton, and all the other statesmen of England, most abundantly +testified. Whether Leicester had really an intention to possess himself +of certain cities in Holland--a charge made by Paul Buys, and denounced +as especially slanderous by the Earl--may better appear from his own +private statements. + +"This I will do," he wrote to the Queen, "and I hope not to fail of it, +to get into my hands three or four most principal places in North +Holland; which will be such a strength and assurance for your Majesty, +as you shall see you shall both rule these men and make war or peace as +you list, always provided--whatsoever you hear, or is--part not with the +Brill; and having these places in your hands, whatsoever should chance to +these countries, your Majesty, I will warrant sure enough to make what +peace you will in an hour, and to have your debts and charges readily +answered." At a somewhat later moment it will be seen what came of these +secret designs. For the present, Leicester was very angry with Paul for +daring to suspect him of such treachery. + +The Earl complained, too, that the influence of Buys with Hohenlo and +young Maurice of Nassau was most pernicious. Hohenlo had formerly stood +high in Leicester's opinion. He was a "plain, faithful soldier, a most +valiant gentleman," and he was still more important, because about to +marry Mary of Nassau; eldest slaughter, of William the Silent, and +coheiress with Philip William, to the Buren property. But he had been +tampered with by the intriguing Paul Buys, and had then wished to resign +his office under Leicester. Being pressed for reasons, he had "grown +solemn," and withdrawn himself almost entirely. + +Maurice; with his "solemn, sly wit," also gave the Earl much trouble, +saying little; but thinking much, and listening to the insidious Paul. +He "stood much on making or marring," so Leicester thought, "as he met +with good counsel." He had formerly been on intimate terms with the +governor-general, who affected to call him his son; but he had +subsequently kept aloof, and in three months had not come near him. +The Earl thought that money might do much, and was anxious for Sir +Francis Drake to come home from the Indies with millions of gold, that +the Queen might make both Hohenlo and Maurice a handsome present before +it should be too late. + +Meantime he did what he could with Elector Truchsess to lure them back +again. That forlorn little prelate was now poorer and more wretched than +ever. He was becoming paralytic, though young, and his heart was broken +through want. Leicester, always generous as the sun, gave him money, +four thousand florins at a time, and was most earnest that the Queen +should put him on her pension list. "His wisdom, his behaviour, his +languages, his person," said the Earl, "all would like her well. He is +in great melancholy for his town of Neusz, and for his poverty, having a +very noble mind. If, he be lost, her Majesty had better lose a hundred +thousand pounds." + +The melancholy Truchsess now became a spy and a go-between. He +insinuated himself into the confidence of Paul Buys, wormed his secrets +from him, and then communicated them to Hohenlo and to Leicester; "but he +did it very wisely," said the Earl, "so that he was not mistrusted." The +governor always affected, in order to screen the elector from suspicion, +to obtain his information from persons in Utrecht; and he had indeed many +spies in that city; who diligently reported Paul's table-talk. +Nevertheless, that "noble gentleman, the elector," said Leicester, "hath +dealt most deeply with him, to seek out the bottom." As the ex-Advocate +of Holland was very communicative in his cups, and very bitter against +the governor-general, there was soon such a fund of information collected +on the subject by various eaves-droppers, that Leicester was in hopes of +very soon hanging Mr. Paul Buys, as we have already seen. + +The burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that +the Provinces would be gone if her Majesty did not declare herself, +vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the +perpetual cry of Leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in +that. That noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the +hangman his trouble, having so dealt with Hohenlo as to "bring him into +as good a mind as ever he was;" and the first fruits of this good mind +were, that the honest Count--a man of prompt dealings--walked straight to +Paul's house in order to kill him on the spot. Something fortunately +prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the +energetic Count continued to be "governed greatly" by the ex-archbishop, +and "did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart." + +Thus the "deep wise Truxy," as Leicester called him, continued to earn +golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of Hohenlo by undertaking +to "bring Maurice into tune again also," and the young Prince was soon on +better terms with his "affectionate father" than he had ever been before. +Paul Buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so +thoroughly gained over. Before the end of the season Maurice stood in +his old position, the nominal head of the Holland or patrician party, +chief of the opposition to Leicester, while Hohenlo had become more +bitter than ever against the Earl. The quarrel between himself and +Edward Norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase +the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood Leicester's +sentiments throughout the whole affair. Hohenlo recovered of his wound +before Zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever. The +Earl was obliged at last to confess that "he was a very dangerous man, +inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to +the cause. There is no dealing to win him," he added, "I have sought it +to my cost. His best friends tell me he is not to be trusted." + +Meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable Paul, was plotting +desperately--so Leicester said and believed--to transfer the sovereignty +of the Provinces to the King of Denmark. Buys, who was privately of +opinion that the States required an absolute head, "though it were but an +onion's head," and that they would thankfully continue under Leicester as +governor absolute if Elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up +his mind that the Queen would never take that step. He was therefore +disposed to offer the crown to the King of Denmark, and was believed to +have brought Maurice--who was to espouse that King's daughter--to the +same way of thinking. Young Count Rantzan, son of a distinguished Danish +statesman, made a visit to the Netherlands in order to confer with Buys. +Paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to Denmark, ostensibly to +arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the King had long before +promised for the assistance of the Provinces, but in reality, to examine +the details of this new project; and Leicester represented to the Queen +very earnestly how powerful the Danish monarch would become, thus +rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to England. + +In the midst of these plottings, real or supposed, a party of armed men, +one fine summer's morning, suddenly entered Paul's bedroom as he lay +asleep at the house of the burgomaster, seized his papers, and threw him: +into prison in the wine-cellar of the town-house. "Oh my papers, oh my +papers!" cried the unfortunate politician, according to Leicester's +statement, "the Queen of England will for ever hate me." The Earl +disavowed all, participation in the arrest; but he was not believed. He +declared himself not sorry that the measure had been taken, and promised +that he would not "be hasty to release him," not doubting that "he would +be found faulty enough." Leicester maintained that there was stuff +enough discovered to cost Paul his head; but he never lost his head, +nor was anything treasonable or criminal ever found against him. The +intrigue with Denmark--never proved--and commenced, if undertaken at all, +in utter despair of Elizabeth's accepting the sovereignty, was the +gravest charge. He remained, however, six months in prison, and at the +beginning of 1587 was released, without trial or accusation, at the +request of the English Queen. + +The States could hardly be blamed for their opposition to the Earl's +administration, for he had thrown himself completely into the arms of a +faction, whose object was to vilipend and traduce them, and it was now +difficult for him to recover the functions of which the Queen had +deprived him. "The government they had given from themselves to me stuck +in their stomachs always," he said. Thus on the one side, the States +were," growing more stately than ever," and were-always "jumbling +underhand," while the aristocratic Earl, on, his part, was resolute not +to be put down by "churls and tinkers." He was sure that the people were +with him, and that, "having always been governed by some prince, they, +never did nor could consent to be ruled by bakers, brewers, and hired +advocates. I know they hate them," said this high-born tribune of the +people. He was much disgusted with the many-headed chimaera, the +monstrous republic, with which he found himself in such unceasing +conflict, and was disposed to take a manful stand. "I have been fain of +late," he said, "to set the better leg foremost, to handle some of my +masters somewhat plainly; for they thought I would droop; and whatsoever +becomes of me, you shall hear I will keep my reputation, or die for it." + +But one great accusation, made against the churls and tinkers, and bakers +and hired advocates, and Mr. Paul Buys at their head, was that they were +liberal towards the Papists. They were willing that Catholics should +remain in the country and exercise the rights of citizens, provided they, +conducted themselves like good citizens. For this toleration--a lesson +which statesmen like Buys and Barneveld had learned in the school of +William the Silent--the opposition-party were denounced as bolsterers of +Papists, and Papists themselves at heart, and "worshippers of idolatrous +idols." + +From words, too, the government of Leicester passed to acts. Seventy +papists were banished from the city of Utrecht at the time of the arrest +of Buys. The Queen had constantly enforced upon Leicester the importance +of dealing justly with the Catholics in the Netherlands, on the ground +that they might be as good patriots and were as much interested in the +welfare of their country as were the Protestants; and he was especially +enjoined "not to meddle in matters of religion." This wholesome advice +it would have been quite impossible for the Earl, under the guidance of +Reingault, Burgrave, and Stephen Perret, to carry out. He protested that +he should have liked to treat Papists and Calvinists "with indifference," +but that it had proved impossible; that the Catholics were perpetually +plotting with the Spanish faction, and that no towns were safe except +those in which Papists had been excluded from office. "They love the +Pope above all," he said, "and the Prince of Parma hath continual +intelligence with them." Nor was it Catholics alone who gave the +governor trouble. He was likewise very busy in putting down other +denominations that differed from the Calvinists. "Your Majesty will not +believe," he said, "the number of sects that are in most towns; +especially Anabaptists, Families of Love, Georgians; and I know not what. +The godly and good ministers were molested by them in many places, and +ready to give over; and even such diversities grew among magistrates in +towns, being caused by some sedition-sowers here." It is however, +satisfactory to reflect that the anabaptists and families of love, +although discouraged and frowned upon, were not burned alive, buried +alive, drowned in dungeons, and roasted at slow fires, as had been the +case with them and with every other species of Protestants, by thousands +and tens of thousands, so long as Charles V. and Philip II. had ruled the +territory of that commonwealth. Humanity had acquired something by the +war which the Netherlanders had been waging for twenty years, and no man +or woman was ever put to death for religious causes after the +establishment of the republic. + +With his hands thus full of business, it was difficult for the Earl to +obey the Queen's command not to meddle in religious matters; for he was +not of the stature of William the Silent, and could not comprehend that +the great lesson taught by the sixteenth century was that men were not to +meddle with men in matters of religion. + +But besides his especial nightmare--Mr. Paul Buys--the governor-general +had a whole set of incubi in the Norris family. Probably no two persons +ever detested each other more cordially than did Leicester and Sir John +Norris. Sir John had been commander of the forces in the Netherlands +before Leicester's arrival, and was unquestionably a man of larger +experience than the Earl. He had, however, as Walsingham complained, +acquired by his services in "countries where neither discipline military +nor religion carried any sway," a very rude and licentious kind of +government. "Would to God," said the secretary, "that, with his value +and courage, he carried the mind and reputation of a religious soldier." +But that was past praying for. Sir John was proud, untractable, +turbulent, very difficult to manage. He hated Leicester, and was furious +with Sir William Pelham, whom Leicester had made marshal of the camp. He +complained, not unjustly, that from the first place in the army, which he +had occupied in the Netherlands, he had been reduced to the fifth. The +governor-general--who chose to call Sir John the son of his ancient +enemy, the Earl of Sussex--often denounced him in good set terms. "His +brother Edward is as ill as he," he said, "but John is right the late +Earl of Sussex' son; he will so dissemble and crouch, and so cunningly +carry his doings, as no man living would imagine that there were half +the malice or vindictive mind that plainly his words prove to be." +Leicester accused him of constant insubordination, insolence, and malice, +complained of being traduced by him everywhere in the Netherlands and in +England, and declared that he was followed about by "a pack of lewd +audacious fellows," whom the Earl vowed he would hang, one and all, +before he had done with them. He swore openly, in presence of all his +camp, that he would hang Sir John likewise; so that both the brothers, +who had never been afraid of anything since they had been born into the +world, affected to be in danger of their lives. + +The Norrises were on bad terms with many officers--with Sir William +Pelham of course, with "old Reade," Lord North, Roger Williams, Hohenlo, +Essex, and other nobles--but with Sir Philip Sidney, the gentle and +chivalrous, they were friends. Sir John had quarrelled in former times-- +according to Leicester--with Hohenlo and even with the "good and brave" +La None, of the iron arm; "for his pride," said the Earl, "was the spirit +of the devil." The governor complained every day of his malignity, and +vowed that he "neither regarded the cause of God, nor of his prince, nor +country." + +He consorted chiefly with Sir Thomas Cecil, governor of Brill, son of +Lord Burghley, and therefore no friend to Leicester; but the Earl +protested that "Master Thomas should bear small rule," so long as he was +himself governor-general. "Now I have Pelham and Stanley, we shall do +well enough," he said, "though my young master would countenance him. +I will be master while I remain here, will they, nill they." + +Edward Norris, brother of Sir John, gave the governor almost as much +trouble as he; but the treasurer Norris, uncle to them both, was, if +possible, more odious to him than all. He was--if half Leicester's +accusations are to be believed--a most infamous peculator. One-third of +the money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fingers. He +paid them their wretched four-pence a-day in depreciated coin, so that +for their "naughty money they could get but naughty ware." Never was +such "fleecing of poor soldiers," said Leicester. + +On the other hand, Sir John maintained that his uncle's accounts were +always ready for examination, and earnestly begged the home-government +not to condemn that functionary without a hearing. For himself, he +complained that he was uniformly kept in the background, left in +ignorance of important enterprises, and sent on difficult duty with +inadequate forces. It was believed that Leicester's course was inspired +by envy, lest any military triumph that might be gained should redound to +the glory of Sir John, one of the first commanders of the age, rather +than to that of the governor-general. He was perpetually thwarted, +crossed, calumniated, subjected to coarse and indecent insults, even from +such brave men as Lord North and Roger Williams, and in the very presence +of the commander-in-chief, so that his talents were of no avail, and he +was most anxious to be gone from the country. + +Thus with the tremendous opposition formed to his government in the +States-General, the incessant bickerings with the Norrises, the +peculations of the treasurer, the secret negotiations with Spain, and +the impossibility of obtaining money from home for himself or for his +starving little army, the Earl was in anything but a comfortable +position. He was severely censured in England; but he doubted, with much +reason, whether there were many who would take his office, and spend +twenty thousand pounds sterling out of their own pockets, as he had done. +The Earl was generous and brave as man could be, full of wit, quick of +apprehension; but inordinately vain, arrogant, and withal easily led by +designing persons. He stood up manfully for the cause in which he was +embarked, and was most strenuous in his demands for money. "Personally +he cared," he said, "not sixpence for his post; but would give five +thousand sixpences, and six thousand shillings beside, to be rid of it;" +but it was contrary to his dignity to "stand bucking with the States" for +his salary. "Is it reason," he asked, "that I, being sent from so great +a prince as our sovereign is, must come to strangers to beg my +entertainment: If they are to pay me, why is there no remembrance made +of it by her Majesty's letters, or some of the lords?" + +The Earl and those around him perpetually and vehemently urged upon the +Queen to reconsider her decision, and accept the sovereignty of the +Provinces at once. There was no other remedy for the distracted state +of the country--no other safeguard for England. The Netherland people +anxiously, eagerly desired it. Her Majesty was adored by all the +inhabitants, who would gladly hang the fellows called the States. Lord +North was of this opinion--so was Cavendish. Leicester had always held +it. "Sure I am," he said, "there is but one way for our safety, and that +is, that her Majesty may take that upon her which I fear she will not." +Thomas Wilkes, who now made his appearance on the scene, held the same +language. This distinguished civilian had been sent by the Queen, early +in August, to look into the state of Netherland affairs. Leicester +having expressly urged the importance of selecting as wise a politician +as could be found--because the best man in England would hardly be found +a match for the dullards and drunkards, as it was the fashion there to +call the Dutch statesmen--had selected Wilkes. After fulfilling this +important special mission, he was immediately afterwards to return to the +Netherlands as English member of the state-council, at forty shillings +a-day, in the place of "little Hal Killigrew," whom Leicester pronounced +a "quicker and stouter fellow" than he had at first taken him for, +although he had always thought well of him. The other English +counsellor, Dr. Bartholomew Clerk, was to remain, and the Earl declared +that he too, whom he had formerly undervalued, and thought to have +"little stuff in him," was now "increasing greatly in understanding." +But notwithstanding this intellectual progress, poor Bartholomew, who +was no beginner, was most anxious to retire. He was a man of peace, +a professor, a doctor of laws, fonder of the learned leisure and the +trim gardens of England than of the scenes which now surrounded him. +"I beseech your good Lordship to consider," he dismally observed to +Burghley, "what a hard case it is for a man that these fifteen years hath +had vitam sedentariam, unworthily in a place judicial, always in his long +robe, and who, twenty-four years since, was a public reader in the +University (and therefore cannot be young), to come now among guns and +drums, tumbling up and down, day and night, over waters and banks, dykes +and ditches, upon every occasion that falleth out; hearing many +insolences with silence, bearing many hard measures with patience-- +a course most different from my nature, and most unmeet for him that +hath ever professed learning." + +Wilkes was of sterner stuff. Always ready to follow the camp and to +face the guns and drums with equanimity, and endowed beside with keen +political insight, he was more competent than most men to unravel the +confused skein of Netherland politics. He soon found that the Queen's +secret negotiations with Spain, and the general distrust of her +intentions in regard to the Provinces, were like to have fatal +consequences. Both he and Leicester painted the anxiety of the +Netherland people as to the intention of her Majesty in vivid colours. + +The Queen could not make up her mind--in the very midst of the Greenwich +secret conferences, already described--to accept the Netherland +sovereignty. "She gathereth from your letter," wrote Walsingham, "that +the only salve for this sore is to make herself proprietary of the +country, and to put in such an army as may be able to make head to the +enemy. These two things being so contrary to her Majesty's disposition-- +the one, for that it breedeth a doubt of a perpetual war, the other, for +that it requireth an increase of charges--do marvellously distract her, +and make her repent that ever she entered into the action." + +Upon the great subject of the sovereignty, therefore, she was unable to +adopt the resolution so much desired by Leicester and by the people of +the Provinces; but she answered the Earl's communications concerning +Maurice and Hohenlo, Sir John Norris and the treasurer, in characteristic +but affectionate language. And thus she wrote: + +"Rob, I am afraid you will suppose, by my wandering writings, that a +midsummer's moon hath taken large possession of my brains this month; but +you must needs take things as they come in my head, though order be left +behind me. When I remember your request to have a discreet and honest +man that may carry my mind, and see how all goes there, I have chosen +this bearer (Thomas Wilkes), whom you know and have made good trial of. +I have fraught him full of my conceipts of those country matters, and +imparted what way I mind to take and what is fit for you to use. I am +sure you can credit him, and so I will be short with these few notes. +First, that Count Maurice and Count Hollock (Hohenlo) find themselves +trusted of you, esteemed of me, and to be carefully regarded, if ever +peace should happen, and of that assure them on my word, that yet never +deceived any. And for Norris and other captains that voluntarily, +without commandment, have many years ventured their lives and won our +nation honour and themselves fame, let them not be discouraged by any +means, neither by new-come men nor by old trained soldiers elsewhere. +If there be fault in using of soldiers, or making of profit by them, let +them hear of it without open shame, and doubt not I will well chasten +them therefore. It frets me not a little that the poor soldiers that +hourly venture life should want their due, that well deserve rather +reward; and look, in whom the fault may truly be proved, let them smart +therefore. And if the treasurer be found untrue or negligent, according +to desert he shall be used. But you know my old wont, that love not to +discharge from office without desert. God forbid! I pray you let this +bearer know what may be learned herein, and for the treasure I have +joined Sir Thomas Shirley to see all this money discharged in due sort, +where it needeth and behoveth. + +"Now will I end, that do imagine I talk still with you, and therefore +loathly say farewell one hundred thousand times; though ever I pray God +bless you from all harm, and save you from all foes. With my million and +legion of thanks for all your pains and cares, + + "As you know ever the same, + + "E. R. + +"P. S. Let Wilkes see that he is acceptable to you. If anything there +be that W. shall desire answer of be such as you would have but me to +know, write it to myself. You know I can keep both others' counsel and +mine own. Mistrust not that anything you would have kept shall be +disclosed by me, for although this bearer ask many things, yet you may +answer him such as you shall think meet, and write to me the rest." + +Thus, not even her favourite Leicester's misrepresentations could make +the Queen forget her ancient friendship for "her own crow;" but meantime +the relations between that "bunch of brethren," black Norris and the +rest, and Pelham, Hollock, and other high officers in Leicester's army, +had grown worse than ever. + +One August evening there was a supper-party at Count Hollock's quarters +in Gertruydenberg. A military foray into Brabant had just taken place, +under the lead of the Count, and of the Lord Marshal, Sir William Pelham. +The marshal had requested Lord Willoughby, with his troop of horse and +five hundred foot, to join in the enterprise, but, as usual, particular +pains had been taken that Sir John Norris should know nothing of the +affair. Pelham and Hollock--who was "greatly in love with Mr. Pelham"-- +had invited several other gentlemen high in Leicester's confidence to +accompany the expedition; and, among the rest, Sir Philip Sidney, telling +him that he "should see some good service." Sidney came accordingly, in +great haste, from Flushing, bringing along with him Edward Norris--that +hot-headed young man, who, according to Leicester, "greatly governed his +elder brother"--but they arrived at Gertruydenberg too late. The foray +was over, and the party--"having burned a village, and killed some boors" +--were on their return. Sidney, not perhaps much regretting the loss of +his share in this rather inglorious shooting party, went down to the +water-side, accompanied by Captain Norris, to meet Hollock and the other +commanders. + +As the Count stepped on shore he scowled ominously, and looked very much +out of temper. + +"What has come to Hollock?" whispered Captain Patton, a Scotchman, +to Sidney. "Has he a quarrel with any of the party? Look at his face! +He means mischief to somebody." + +But Sidney was equally amazed at the sudden change in the German +general's countenance, and as unable to explain it. + +Soon afterwards, the whole party, Hollock, Lewis William of Nassau, Lord +Carew, Lord Essex, Lord Willoughby, both the Sidneys, Roger Williams, +Pelham, Edward Norris, and the rest, went to the Count's lodgings, where +they supped, and afterwards set themselves seriously to drinking. + +Norris soon perceived that he was no welcome guest; for he was not--like +Sidney--a stranger to the deep animosity which had long existed between +Sir John Norris and Sir William Pelham and his friends. The carouse was +a tremendous one, as usually was the case where Hollock was the +Amphitryon, and, as the potations grew deeper, an intention became +evident on the part of some of the company to behave unhandsomely to +Norris. + +For a time the young Captain ostentatiously restrained himself, very much +after the fashion of those meek individuals who lay their swords on the +tavern-table, with "God grant I may have no need of thee!" The custom +was then prevalent at banquets for the revellers to pledge each other in +rotation, each draining a great cup, and exacting the same feat from his +neighbour, who then emptied his goblet as a challenge to his next +comrade. + +The Lord Marshal took a beaker, and called out to Edward Norris. +"I drink to the health of my Lord Norris, and of my lady; your mother." +So saying, he emptied his glass. + +The young man did not accept the pledge. + +"Your Lordship knows," he said somewhat sullenly, "that I am not wont to +drink deep. Mr. Sidney there can tell you that, for my health's sake, +I have drank no wine these eight days. If your Lordship desires the +pleasure of seeing me drunk, I am not of the same mind. I pray you at +least to take a smaller glass." + +Sir William insisted on the pledge. Norris then, in no very good humour, +emptied his cup to the Earl of Essex. + +Essex responded by draining a goblet to Count Hollock. + +"A Norris's father," said the young Earl; as he pledged the Count, who +was already very drunk, and looking blacker than ever. + +"An 'orse's father--an 'orse's father!" growled' Hollock; "I never drink +to horses, nor to their fathers either:" and with this wonderful +witticism he declined the pledge. + +Essex explained that the toast was Lord Norris, father of the Captain; +but the Count refused to understand, and held fiercely, and with damnable +iteration, to his jest. + +The Earl repeated his explanation several times with no better success. +Norris meanwhile sat swelling with wrath, but said nothing. + +Again the Lord Marshal took the same great glass, and emptied it to the +young Captain. + +Norris, not knowing exactly what course to take, placed the glass at the +side of his plate, and glared grimly at Sir William. + +Pelham was furious. Reaching over the table, he shoved the glass towards +Norris with an angry gesture. + +"Take your glass, Captain Norris," he cried; "and if you have a mind to +jest, seek other companions. I am not to be trifled with; therefore, I +say, pledge me at once." + +"Your Lordship shall not force me to drink more wine than I list," +returned the other. "It is your pleasure to take advantage of your +military rank. Were we both at home, you would be glad to be my +companion." + +Norris was hard beset, and although his language was studiously moderate, +it was not surprising that his manner should be somewhat insolent. The +veteran Lord Marshal, on the other hand, had distinguished himself on +many battle-fields, but his deportment at this banqueting-table was not +much to his credit. He paused a moment, and Norris, too, held his peace, +thinking that his enemy would desist. + +It was but for a moment. + +"Captain Norris," cried Pelham, "I bid you pledge me without more ado. +Neither you nor your best friends shall use me as you list. I am better +born than you and your brother, the colonel-general, and the whole of +you." + +"I warn you to say nothing disrespectful against my brother," replied the +Captain. "As for yourself, I know how to respect your age and superior +rank." + +"Drink, drink, drink!" roared the old Marshal. "I tell you I am better +born than the best of you. I have advanced you all too, and you know it; +therefore drink to me." + +Sir William was as logical as men in their cups are prone to be. + +"Indeed, you have behaved well to my brother Thomas," answered Norris, +suddenly becoming very courteous, "and for this I have ever loved your +Lordship, and would, do you any service." + +"Well, then," said the Marshal, becoming tender in his turn, "forget what +hath past this night, and do as you would have done before." + +"Very well said, indeed!" cried Sir Philip Sidney, trying to help the +natter into the smoother channel towards which it was tending. + +Norris, seeing that the eyes of the whole company were upon them; took +the glass accordingly, and rose to his feet. + +"My Lord Marshal," he said, "you have done me more wrong this night than +you can easily make satisfaction for. But I am unwilling that any +trouble or offence should grow through me. Therefore once more I pledge +you." + +He raised the cup to his lips. At that instant Hollock, to whom nothing +had been said, and who had spoken no word since his happy remark about +the horse's father, suddenly indulged in a more practical jest; and +seizing the heavy gilt cover of a silver vase, hurled it at the head of +Norris. It struck him full on the forehead, cutting him to the bone. +The Captain, stunned for a moment, fell back in his chair, with the blood +running down his eyes and face. The Count, always a man of few words, +but prompt in action, now drew his dagger, and strode forward, with the +intention of despatching him upon the spot. Sir Philip Sidney threw his +arms around Hollock, however, and, with the assistance of others in the +company, succeeded in dragging him from the room. The affair was over in +a few seconds. + +Norris, coming back to consciousness, sat for a moment as one amazed, +rubbing the blood out of his eyes; then rose from the table to seek his +adversary; but he was gone. + +Soon afterwards he went to his lodgings. The next morning he was advised +to leave the town as speedily as possible; for as it was under the +government of Hollock, and filled with his soldiers, he was warned that +his life would not be safe there an hour. Accordingly he went to his +boat, accompanied only by his man and his page, and so departed with his +broken head, breathing vengeance against Hollock, Pelham, Leicester, and +the whole crew, by whom he had been thus abused. + +The next evening there was another tremendous carouse at the Count's, +and, says the reporter of the preceding scene, "they were all on such +good terms, that not one of the company had falling band or ruff left +about his neck. All were clean torn away, and yet there was no blood +drawn." + +Edward Norris--so soon as might be afterwards--sent a cartel to the +Count, demanding mortal combat with sword and dagger. Sir Philip Sidney +bore the message. Sir John Norris, of course warmly and violently +espoused the cause of his brother, and was naturally more incensed +against the Lord Marshal than ever, for Sir William Pelham was considered +the cause of the whole affray. "Even if the quarrel is to be excused by +drink," said an eye-witness, "'tis but a slender defence for my Lord to +excuse himself by his cups; and often drink doth bewray men's humours and +unmask their malice. Certainly the Count Hollock thought to have done a +pleasure to the company in killing him." + +Nothing could be more ill-timed than this quarrel, or more vexatious to +Leicester. The Count--although considering himself excessively injured +at being challenged by a simple captain and an untitled gentleman, whom +he had attempted to murder--consented to waive his privilege, and grant +the meeting. + +Leicester interposed, however, to delay, and, if possible, to patch up +the affair. They were on the eve of active military operations, and it +was most vexatious for the commander-in-chief to see, as he said, "the +quarrel with the enemy changed to private revenge among ourselves." The +intended duel did not take place; for various influential personages +succeeded in deferring the meeting. Then came the battle of Zutphen. + +Sidney fell, and Hollock was dangerously wounded in the attack which was +soon afterwards made upon the fort. He was still pressed to afford the +promised satisfaction, however, and agreed to do so whenever he should +rise from his bed. + +Strange to say, the Count considered Leicester, throughout the whole +business, to have taken part against him. + +Yet there is no doubt whatever that the Earl--who detested the Norrises, +and was fonder of Pelham than of any man living--uniformly narrated +the story most unjustly, to the discredit of the young Captain. +He considered him extremely troublesome, represented him as always +quarrelling with some one--with Colonel Morgan, Roger Williams, old +Reade, and all the rest--while the Lord Marshal, on the contrary, was +depicted as the mildest of men. "This I must say," he observed, "that +all present, except my two nephews (the Sidneys), who are not here yet, +declare the greatest fault to be in Edward Norris, and that he did most +arrogantly use the Marshal." + +It is plain, however, that the old Marshal, under the influence of wine, +was at least quite as much to blame as the young Captain; and Sir Philip +Sidney sufficiently showed his sense of the matter by being the bearer of +Edward Norris's cartel. After Sidney's death, Sir John Norris, in his +letter of condolence to Walsingham for the death of his illustrious son- +in-law, expressed the deeper regret at his loss because Sir Philip's +opinion had been that the Norrises were wronged. Hollock had conducted +himself like a lunatic, but this he was apt to do whether in his cups or +not. He was always for killing some one or another on the slightest +provocation, and, while the dog-star of 1586 was raging, it was not his +fault if he had not already despatched both Edward Norris and the +objectionable "Mr. P. B." + +For these energetic demonstrations against Leicester's enemies he +considered himself entitled to the Earl's eternal gratitude, and was +deeply disgusted at his apparent coldness. The governor was driven +almost to despair by these quarrels. + +His colonel-general, his lord marshal, his lieutenant-general, were all +at daggers drawn. "Would God I were rid of this place!" he exclaimed. +"What man living would go to the field and have his officers divided +almost into mortal quarrel? One blow but by any of their lackeys brings +us altogether by the ears." + +It was clear that there was not room enough on the Netherland soil for +the Earl of Leicester and the brothers Norris. The queen, while +apparently siding with the Earl, intimated to Sir John that she did not +disapprove his conduct, that she should probably recall him to England, +and that she should send him back to the Provinces after the Earl had +left that country. + +Such had been the position of the governor-general towards the Queen, +towards the States-General, and towards his own countrymen, during the +year 1586. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Are wont to hang their piety on the bell-rope +Arminianism +As logical as men in their cups are prone to be +Tolerating religious liberty had never entered his mind + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586 *** + +********** This file should be named 4849.txt or 4849.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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