[881] "Quasi verò, inquit, vestra conditio eadem hodie sit, ac nudiustertius. Serò sapitis Valencenates: ego certè conditionibus non transigo cadente cum hoste." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 314.
[882] "Feruntque ter millies explosas murales machinas, mœnium quàm hominum majori strage." Ibid., ubi supra.
[883] So states Margaret's historian, who would not be likely to exaggerate the number of those who suffered. The loyal president of Mechlin dismisses the matter more summarily, without specifying any number of victims. "El señor de Noilcarmes se aseguró de muchos prisioneros principales Borgeses y de otros que avian sido los autores de la rebelion, á los quales se hizo luego en diligencia su pleyto." (Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.) Brandt, the historian of the Reformation, (vol. I. p. 251,) tells us that two hundred were said to have perished by the hands of the hangman at Valenciennes, on account of the religious troubles, in the course of this year.
[884] For information, more or less minute, in regard to the siege of Valenciennes, see Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 303-315.—Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, pp. 319-322.—Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 49.—Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 501.—Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
[885] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 315-323 et seq.
[886] "Il ne comprenait pas pourquoi la gouvernante insistait, après qu'il lui avait écrit une lettre de sa main, contenant tout ce que S. A. pouvait désirer d'un gentilhomme d'honneur, chevalier de l'Ordre, naturel vassal du Roi, et qui toute sa vie avait fait le devoir d'homme de bien, comme il le faisait encore journellement." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 321.
[887] "Ferez cesser les calumnies que dictes se semer contre vous, ensamble tous ces bruits que scavez courrir de vous, encoires que en mon endroict je les tiens faulx et que à tort ils se dyent; ne pouvant croire que en ung cœur noble et de telle extraction que vous estes, successeur des Seigneurs," etc. Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 44.
[888] "Servir et m'employer envers et contre tous, et comme me sera ordonné de sa part, sans limitation ou restrinction." Ibid., ubi supra.
[889] "Je seroys aulcunement obligé et constrainct, le cas advenant, que on me viendroict à commander chose qui pourroit venir contre ma conscience ou au déservice de Sa Maté et du pays." Ibid., p. 46.
[890] "Vous asseurant que, où que seray, n'espargneray jamais mon corps ni mon bien pour le service de Sa Maté et le bien commun de ces pays." Ibid., p. 47.
[891] Ibid., p. 42.
[892] "In ansehung das wir in dissen länden allein seindt, und in höchsten nöten und gefehrden leibs und lebens stecken, und keinen vertrauwen freundt umb uns haben, deme wir unser gemüthe und hertz recht eröffnen dörffen." Ibid., p. 39.
[893] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 319.
[894] "Orasse ilium, subduceret sese, gravidamque cruore tempestatem ab Hispaniâ impendentem Belgarum Procerum capitibus ne opperiretur." Ibid., p. 321.
[895] "Perdet te, inquit Orangius, hæc quam jactas dementia Regis, Egmonti; ac videor mihi providere animo, utinam falso, te pontem scilicet futurum, quo Hispani calcato, in Belgium transmittant." Ibid., ubi supra.
[896] The secretary Pratz, in a letter of the 14th of April, thus kindly notices William's departure: "The prince has gone, taking along with him half a dozen heretical doctors and a good number of other seditious rogues." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 526.
[897] "Tibi vero hoc persuade amiciorem me te habere neminem cui quidvis libere imperare potes. Amor enim tui eas egit radices in animo meo ut minui nullo temporis aut locorum intervallo possit." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 70.
It is not easy to understand why William should have resorted to Latin in his correspondence with Egmont.
[898] "Ayant tousjours porté en vostre endroit l'affection que je pourrois faire pour ung mien fils, ou parent bien proche. Et vous vous povez de ce confier, toutes les fois que les occasions se présenteront, que feray le mesme." Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II. p. 371.
[899] William's only daughter was maid of honor to the regent, who made no objection to her accompanying her father, saying that, on the young lady's return she would find no diminution of the love that had been always shown to her. Ibid., ubi supra.
[900] According to Strada, some thought that William knew well what he was about when he left his son behind him at Louvain; and that he would have had no objection that the boy should be removed to Madrid,—considering that, if things went badly with himself, it would be well for the heir of the house to have a hold on the monarch's favor. This is rather a cool way of proceeding for a parent, it must be admitted. Yet it is not very dissimilar from that pursued by William's own father, who, a stanch Lutheran himself, allowed his son to form part of the imperial household, and to be there nurtured in the Roman Catholic faith. See Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 373.
[901] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 100.
[902] "Pour ne le jecter d'advantaige en désespoir et perdition, aussy en contemplation de ses parens et alliez, je n'ai peu excuser luy dire qu'il seroit doncques aînsy qu'il avoit faict, et qu'il revinst au conseil." Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 238.
[903] William was generous enough to commend Hoorne for this step, expressing the hope that it might induce such a spirit of harmony in the royal council as would promote the interests of both king and country. See the letter, written in Latin, dated from Breda, April 14, in Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau tom. III. p. 71.
[904] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 322.
[905] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 235.
[906] "Egit ipsa privatim magnæ Virgini grates, quòd ejus ope tantam urbem sine prælio ac sanguine, Religioni Regique reddidisset." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 328.
[907] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 254.
[908] Gachard has transferred to his notes the whole of this sanguinary document. See Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 550, 551.
[909] "La peine et le mécontentement qu'il a éprouvés, de ce que l'on a fait une chose si illicite, si indécente, et si contraire à la religion chrétienne." Ibid., ubi supra.
[910] Viglius was not too enlightened to enter his protest against the right to freedom of conscience, which, in a letter to his friend Hopper, he says may lead every one to set up his own gods—"lares aut lemures"—according to his fancy. Yet the president was wise enough to see that sufficient had been done at present in breaking up the preachings. "Time and Philip's presence must do the rest." (Epistolæ ad Hopperum, p. 433.) "Those," he says in another letter, "who have set the king against the edict have greatly deceived him. They are having their ovation before they have gained the victory. They think they can dispose of Flemish affairs as they like at Toledo, when hardly a Spaniard dares to show his head in Brussels." Ibid., p. 428.
[911] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. pp. 80-93.—Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 329.
[912] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 332.
[913] Groen's inestimable collection contains several of Brederode's letters, which may remind one in their tone of the dashing cavalier of the time of Charles the First. They come from the heart, mingling the spirit of daring enterprise with the careless gayety of the bon vivant, and throw far more light than the stiff, statesmanlike correspondence of the period on the character, not merely of the writer, but of the disjointed times in which he lived.
[914] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, vol. I. p. 255.—Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 50.—Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum, p. 327.—Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 533.
[915] Margaret's success draws forth an animated tribute from the president of Mechlin. "De manera que los negocios de los payses bajos por la gracia de Dios y la prudencia de esta virtuosa Dama y Princesa con la asistencia de los buenos consejeros y servidores del Rey en buenos terminos y en efecto remediados, las villas reveldes y alteradas amazadas, los gueuses reducidos ó huidos; los ministros y predicantes echados fuera ó presos; y la autoridad de su Magestad establecida otra vez." Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
[916] This was fulfilling the prophecy of the prince of Orange, who in his letter to Hoorne tells him, "In a short time we shall refuse neither bridle nor saddle. For myself," he adds, "I have not the strength to endure either." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 72.
[917] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.
[918] See Meteren, (Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 49,) who must have drawn somewhat on his fancy for these wholesale executions, which, if taken literally, would have gone nigh to depopulate the Netherlands.
[919] "Thus the gallowses were filled with carcasses, and Germany with exiles." Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 257.
[920] "Ex trabibus decidentium templorum, infelicia conformarent patibula, ex quibus ipsi templorum fabri cultoresque pendêrent." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 333.
[921] "Le bruit de l'arrivée prochaine du duc, à la tête d'une armée, fait fuir de toutes parts des gens, qui se retirent en France, en Angleterre, au pays de Clèves, en Allemagne et ailleurs." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 546.
[922] Ibid., ubi supra.
[923] "Par les restrictions extraordinaires que V. M. a mises à mon autorité, elle m'a enlevé tout pouvoir et m'a privée des moyens d'achever l'entier rétablissement des affaires de ce pays: à présent qu'elle voit ces affaires en un bon état, elle en veut donner l'honneur à d'autres, tandis que, moi seule, j'ai eu les fatigues et les dangers." Ibid., p. 523.
[924] "Où l'autorité du Roi est plus assurée qu'elle ne l'était au temps de l'Empereur." Ibid., p. 532.
[925] Brandt, Reformation in the Low Countries, tom. I. p. 258.
[926] "Ledit évêque, dans la première audience qu'il lui a donnée, a usé d'ailleurs de termes si étranges, qu'il l'a mis en colère, et que, s'il eût eu moins d'amour et de respect pour S. S., cela eût pu le faire revenir sur les résolutions qu'il a prises." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 488.
The tart remonstrance of Philip had its effect. Granvelle soon after wrote to the king, that his holiness was greatly disturbed by the manner in which his majesty had taken his rebuke. The pope, Granvelle added, was a person of the best intentions, but with very little knowledge of the world, and easily kept in check by those who show their teeth to him;—"reprimese quando se le muestran los dientes." Ibid., tom. II. p. lviii.
[927] "Que lui et le temps en valaient deux autres." Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 199.
The hesitation of the king drew on him a sharp rebuke from the audacious Fray Lorenzo Villavicencio, who showed as little ceremony in dealing with Philip as with his ministers. "If your majesty," he says, "consulting only your own ease, refuses to make this visit to Flanders, which so nearly concerns the honor of God, his blessed Mother, and all the saints, as well as the weal of Christendom, what is it but to declare that you are ready to accept the regal dignity which God has given you, and yet leave to him all the care and trouble that belong to that dignity? God would take this as ill of your majesty, as you would take it of those of your vassals whom you had raised to offices of trust and honor, and who took the offices, but left you to do the work for them! To offend God is a rash act, that must destroy both soul and body." Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Rapport, p. xlviii.
[928] "Ne extingui quidem posse sine ruinâ victoris." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 338.
Better expressed by the old Castilian proverb, "El vencido vencido, y el vencidor perdido."
[929] "At illos non armis sed beneficiis expugnari." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 339.
[930] Ibid., p. 340.
[931] "Ouy, et que plus est, oserions presques asseurer Vostre Majesté plusieurs des mauvais et des principaulx, voiant ledit prince de Heboli, se viendront réconcilier à luy, et le supplier avoir, par son moien, faveur vers Vostre Majesté." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 519.
[932] The debate is reported with sufficient minuteness both by Cabrera (Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 7,) and Strada (De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 338). They agree, however, neither in the names of the parties present, nor in the speeches they made. Yet their disagreement in these particulars is by no means so surprising as their agreement in the most improbable part of their account,—Philip's presence at the debate.
[933] "Comme si c'eust esté une saincte guerre." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.
[934] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 350.
[935] "Il répète," says Gachard, "dans une dépêche du 1er septembre, qu'au milieu des bruits contradictoires qui circulent à la cour, il est impossible de démêler la vérité." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I., Rapport, p. clvi.
[936] "Ceterùm, ut jam jamque iturus, legit comites, conquisivit impedimenta, adornavit naves: mox hiemem, aut negotia variè causatus, primó prudentes, dein vulgum, diutissimè provincias fefellit." Taciti Annales, I. xlvii.
[937] "Es la primera que se me da en mi vida de cosas desta cualidad en cuantas veces he servido, ni de su Magestad Cesárea que Dios tenga, ni de V. M." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 354.
[938] A magnanimous Castilian historian pronounces a swelling panegyric on this little army in a couple of lines: "Los Soldados podian ser Capitanes, los Capitanes Maestros de Campo, y los Maestros de Campo Generales." Hechos de Sancho Davila, (Valladolid, 1713,) p. 26.
The chivalrous Brantôme dwells with delight on the gallant bearing and brilliant appointments of these troops, whom he saw in their passage through Lorraine. "Tous vieux et aguerrys soldatz, tant bien en poinct d'habillement et d'armes, la pluspart dorées, et l'autre gravees, qu'on les prenoit plustost pour capitanes que soldats." Œuvres, tom. I. p. 60.
"Corpus in Italia est, tenet intestina Brabantus;
Ast animam nemo. Cur? quia non habuit."
Borgnet, Philippe II. et la Belgique, p. 60.
[940] No two writers, of course, agree in the account of Alva's forces. The exact returns of the amount of the whole army, as well as of each company, and the name of the officer who commanded it, are to be found in the Documentos Inéditos (tom. IV. p. 382). From this it appears that the precise number of horse was 1,250, and that of the foot 8,800, making a total of 10,050.
[941] A poem in ottava rima, commemorating Alva's expedition, appeared at Antwerp the year following, from the pen of one Balthazar de Vargas. It has more value in a historical point of view than in a poetical one. A single stanza, which the bard devotes to the victualling of the army, will probably satisfy the appetite of the reader:—
"Y por que la Savoya es montañosa,
Y an de passar por ella las legiones,
Seria la passada trabajosa
Si a la gente faltassen provisiones,
El real comissario no reposa.
Haze llevar de Italia municiones
Tantas que proveyo todo el camino
Que jamas falto el pan, y carno, y vino."
[942] Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 237.—Trillo, Rebelion y Guerras de Flandes, (Madrid, 1592,) fol. 17.—Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 490.
[943] So say Schiller, (Abfall der Niederlande, s. 363,). Cabrera, (Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15,) et auct. al. But every schoolboy knows that nothing is more unsettled than the route taken by Hannibal across the Alps. The two oldest authorities, Livy and Polybius, differ on the point, and it has remained a vexed question ever since,—the criticism of later years, indeed, leaning to still another route, that across the Little St. Bernard. The passage of Hannibal forms the subject of a curious discussion introduced into Gibbon's journal, when the young historian was in training for the mighty task of riper years. His reluctance, even at the close of his argument, to strike the balance, is singularly characteristic of his sceptical mind.
[944] "A suidar da quel nido di Demoni, le sceleraggini di tanti Appostati." Leti, Vita di Filippo II., tom. I. p. 487.
[945] The Huguenots even went so far as to attempt to engage the reformed in the Low Countries to join them in assaulting the duke in his march through Savoy. Their views were expressed in a work which circulated widely in the provinces, though it failed to rouse the people to throw off the Spanish yoke. Sec Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom. II. p. 194.
[946] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. pp. 350-354.—Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 232 et seq.—Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 26.—Trillo, Rebelion y Guerras de Flandes, fol. 16, 17.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15.—Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.—Lanario, Guerras de Flandes, fol. 15.—Renom de Francia, Alborotos de Flandes, MS.
Chronological accuracy was a thing altogether beneath the attention of a chronicler of the sixteenth century. In the confusion of dates in regard to Alva's movements, I have been guided as far as possible by his own despatches. See Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 349 et seq.
[947] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.—Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. I. p. 241.
[948] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 52.—Old Brantôme warms as he contemplates these Amazons, as beautiful and making as brave a show as princesses! "Plus il y avoit quatre cents courtisanes à cheval, belles et braves comme princesses, et huict cents à pied, bien en point aussi." Œuvres, tom. I. p. 62.
[949] "Ninguna Historia nos enseña haya passado un Exercito por Pais tan dilatado y marchas tan continuas, sin cometer excesso: La del Duque es la unica que nos la hace ver. Encantò à todo el mundo." Rustant, Historia del Duque de Alva, tom. II. p. 124.—So also Herrera, Historia General, tom. I. p. 650.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VII. cap. 15.—Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 354.
[950] "Comme le Duc le vid de long, il dit tout haut; Voicy le grand hereticque, dequoq le Comte s'espouvanta: neantmoins, pource qu'on le pouvoit entendre en deux façons, il l'interpreta de bonne part." Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 53.
[951] "Vimos los que allí estábamos que el Duque de Alba usó de grandísimos respetos y buenas crianzas, y que Madama estuvo muy severa y mas que cuando suelen negociar con ella Egmont y estos otros Señores de acá, cosa que fué muy notada de los que lo miraban."
A minute account of this interview, as given in the text, was sent to Philip by Mendivil, an officer of the artillery, and is inserted in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 397 et seq.
[952] This document, dated December 1, 1566, is not to be found in the Archives of Simancas, as we may infer from its having no place in the Documentos Inéditos, which contains the succeeding commission. A copy of it is in the Belgian Archives, and has been incorporated in Gachard's Correspondance de Philippe II. (tom. II., Appendix, No. 88.) It is possible that a copy of this commission was sent to Margaret, as it agrees so well with what the king had written to her on the subject.
[953] To this second commission, dated January 31, 1567, was appended a document, signed also by Philip, the purport of which seems to have been to explain more precisely the nature of the powers intrusted to the duke,—which it does in so liberal a fashion, that it may be said to double those powers. Both papers, the originals of which are preserved in Simancas, have been inserted in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 388-396.
[954] "Par quoy requerrons à ladicte dame duchesse, nostre seur, et commandons à tous nos vassaulx et subjectz, de obéyr audict duc d'Alve en ce qu'il leur commandera, et de par nous, come aïant telle charge, et comme à nostre propre personne."—This instrument, taken from the Belgian archives, is given entire by Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. II., Appendix, No. 102.
[955] "Despues que los han visto han quedado todos muy lastimados, y á todos cuantos Madama habla les dice que se quierre ir á su casa por los agravios que V. M. le ha hecho." Carta de Mendivil, ap. Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV p. 399.
[956] Ibid., p. 403.
[957] Ibid., p. 400.
[958] "En todo el sermon no trató cuasi de otra cosa sino de que los españoles eran traidores y ladrones, y forzadores de mugeres, y que totalmente el pais que los sufria era destruido, con tanto escándolo y maldad que merescia ser quemado." Ibid., p. 401.
[959] Yet there was danger in it, if, as Armenteros warned the duke, to leave his house would be at the risk of his life. "Tambien me ha dicho Tomás de Armenteros que diga al Duque de Alba que en ninguna manera como fuera de su casa porque si lo hace será con notable peligro de la vida." Ibid., ubi supra.
[960] "Despues de haberse sentado le dijo el contentamiento que tenia de su venida y que ningún otro pudiera venir con quien ella mas se holgara." Ibid., p. 404.
[961] "Que lo que principalmente traia era estar aquí con esta gente para que la justicia fuese obedecida y respetada, y los mandamientos de S. E. ejecutadas, y que S. M. á su venida hallase esto en la paz, tranquilidad y sosiego que era razon." Ibid., p. 406.
[962] "Podráse escusar con estos diciéndoles que yo soy cabezudo y que he estado muy opinatre en sacar de aquí esta gente, que yo huelgo de que á mí se me eche la culpa y de llevar el odio sobre mí á trueque de que V. E. quede descargada." Ibid., p. 408.
[963] Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 524.
[964] "Tenendo per certo che V. M. non vorrà desautorizarmi, per autorizare altri, poi che questo non e giusto, ne manco saria servitio suo, se non gran danno et inconveniente per tutti li negotii." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 505.
[965] "Il y est si odieux qu'il suffirait à y faire haïr toute la nation espagnole." Ibid., p. 556.
[966] Ibid., ubi supra.
[967] "Elle est affectée, jusqu'au fond de l'âme, de la conduite du Roi à son égard." Ibid., p. 567.
[968] Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pay-Bas, tom. II. p. 207.
[969] "Seu vera seu ficta, facilè Gandavensibus credita, ab iisque in reliquum Belgium cum Albani odio propagata." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 368.
[970] See his remarkable letter to the king, of October 21, 1563: "A los que destos merecen, quítenles las caveças, hasta poderlo hacer dissimular con ellos." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 233.
[971] "Les Espaignols font les plus grandes foulles qu'on ne sçauroit escryre; ils confisquent tout, à tort, à droit, disant que touts sont hérétiques, qui ont du bien, et ont à perdre."
The indignant writer does not omit to mention the "two thousand" strumpets who came in the duke's train; "so," he adds, "with what we have already, there will be no lack of this sort of wares in the country." Lettre de Jean de Hornes, Aug. 25, 1567, Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 565.
[972] Clough, Sir Thomas Gresham's agent, who was in the Low Countries at this time, mentions the licence of the Spaniards. It is but just to add, that he says the government took prompt measures to repress it, by ordering some of the principal offenders to the gibbet. Burgon, Life of Gresham, vol. II. pp. 229, 230.
[973] The duchess, in a letter to Philip, September 8, 1567, says that a hundred thousand people fled the country on the coming of Alva! (Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 357.) If this be thought a round exaggeration, dictated by policy or by fear, still there are positive proofs that the emigration at this period was excessive. Thus, by a return made of the population of London and its suburbs, this very year of 1567, it appears that the number of Flemings was as large as that of all other foreigners put together. See Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Bruxelles, tom. XIV. p. 127.
[974] Thus Jean de Hornes, Baron de Boxtel, writes to the prince of Orange: "J'ay prins une résolution pour mon faict et est que je fay tout effort de scavoir si l'on poulrast estre seurement en sa maison: si ainsy est, me retireray en une des miennes le plus abstractement que possible sera; sinon, regarderay de chercher quelque résidence en desoubs ung aultre Prince." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. III. p. 125.
[975] Göthe, in his noble tragedy of "Egmont," seems to have borrowed a hint from Shakespeare's "blanket of the dark," to depict the gloom of Brussels,—where he speaks of the heavens as wrapt in a dark pall from the fatal hour when the duke entered the city. Act IV. Scene I.
[976] Vera y Figueroa, Vida de Alva, p. 89.
[977] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 578.
[978] Ibid., p. 563.
[979] "Qu'il lui avait peiné infiniment que le Roi n'eût tenu compte de monseigneur et de ses services, comme il le méritait." Ibid., ubi supra.
[980] "Que s'il voyait M. de Hornes, il lui dirait des choses qui le satisferaient, et par lesquelles celui-ci connaîtrait qu'il n'avait pas été oublié de ses amis." Ibid., p. 564.
[981] According to Strada, Hoogstraten actually set out to return to Brussels, but, detained by illness or some other cause on the road, he fortunately received tidings of the fate of his friends in season to profit by it and make his escape. De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 358.
[982] Ibid., p. 359.—Ossorio, Albæ Vita, tom. II. p. 248. Also the memoirs of that "Thunderbolt of War," as his biographer styles him, Sancho Davila himself. Hechos de Sancho Davila, p. 29.
A report, sufficiently meagre, of the affair, was sent by Alva to the king. In this no mention is made of his having accompanied Egmont when he left the room where they had been conferring together. See Documentos Inéditos, tom. II. p. 418.