CHAPTER XIII.

Barneveld's Influence in the Provinces--Unpopularity of Leicester

intrigues--of his Servants--Gossip of his Secretary--

Its mischievous Effects--The Quarrel of Norris and Hollock--

The Earl's Participation in the Affair--His increased Animosity to

Norris--Seizure of Deventer--Stanley appointed its Governor--York

and Stanley--Leicester's secret Instructions--Wilkes remonstrates

with Stanley--Stanley's Insolence and Equivocation--Painful Rumours

as to him and York--Duplicity of York--Stanley's Banquet at

Deventer--He surrenders the City to Tassis--Terms of the Bargain--

Feeble Defence of Stanley's Conduct--Subsequent Fate of Stanley and

York--Betrayal of Gelder to Parma--These Treasons cast Odium on the

English--Miserable Plight of the English Troops--Honesty and Energy

of Wilkes--Indignant Discussion in the Assembly.

The government had not been laid down by Leicester on his departure. It

had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the

state-council. In this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally

appointed by the Earl, on nomination by the States, several members were

friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. The

Staten of Holland, by whom the action of the States-General was mainly

controlled, were influenced in their action by Buys and Barneveld. Young

Maurice of Nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of Holland and

Zeeland. A florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of

sanguine-bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly

self-possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever

done, the appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "Count

Maurice saith but little, but I cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote

Leicester's eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. Mathematics, fortification, the

science of war--these were his daily pursuits. "The sapling was to become

the tree," and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny

which he felt, lay before him. To ponder over the works and the daring

conceptions of Stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of

mimic citadels; to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of

pewter soldiers; these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. Yet he

was hardly suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great

military commander. "Small desire hath Count Maurice to follow the wars,"

said one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch.

"And whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place,

he would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is

found by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his

entering into competition with the others." A modest young man, who could

bide his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was

doing his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of

the age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under

such a desperate fighter as Hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as

Barneveld. For at this epoch Olden-Barneveld was the preceptor, almost

the political patron of Maurice, and Maurice, the official head of the

Holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-Calvinist

organization. It is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow

the changes which time was to bring. Meantime it would be seen, perhaps

ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. As to

his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "Count

Maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who

did not love him, to Leicester, who loved him less: "He cometh every day

to the council, keeping no company with Count Hollock, nor with any of

them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do

every day among themselves."

Certainly the most profitable intercourse that Maurice could enjoy with

Hohenlo was upon the battle-field. In winter-quarters, that

hard-fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the

best Mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a

free commonwealth. After the campaigns were over--if they ever could be

over--the Count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to

indulge in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of

their nation and the age.

"Since your Excellency's departure," wrote Leicester's secretary, "there

hath been among the Dutch Counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the

grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of

it. Specially Count Hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight

together."

Leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the States-General, and

with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he

had deeply mortgaged his English estates in order to raise

funds to expend in the Netherland cause. Thirty thousand pounds

sterling--according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket,

and, unless the Queen would advance him the means to redeem his property;

his broad lands were to be brought to the hammer. But it was the Queen,

not the States-General, who owed the money; for the Earl had advanced

these sums as a portion of the royal contingent. Five hundred and sixty

thousand pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the

English governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty

thousand had been paid by England. There was a portion of the sum, over

and above their monthly levies; for which the States had contracted a

debt, and they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an

additional loan of fifty thousand pounds from Elizabeth; a favour

which--Elizabeth was very firmly determined not to grant. It was this

terror at the expense into which the Netherland war was plunging her,

which made the English sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the

anxious mind of Walsingham with the most painful forebodings.

Leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not

that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making

friends. No man made so many enemies. He was an excellent hater, and few

men have been more cordially hated in return. He was imperious, insolent,

hot-tempered. He could brook no equal. He had also the fatal defect of

enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. Adroit intriguers

burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their tool. And now

he had mortally offended Hohenlo, and Buys, and Barneveld, while he hated

Sir John Norris with a most passionate hatred. Wilkes, the English

representative, was already a special object of his aversion. The

unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense of

the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had

inspired Leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of

Wilkes trembled for his life.

["It is generally bruited here," wrote Henry Smith to his brother-

in-law Wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my Lord of

Leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath

protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more

enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my Lord Treasurer, and

Secretary Davison some injurious speeches (which I cannot report)

you should have used of them to him at your last being with him.

Furthermore some of the said Lord's secretaries have reported here

that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their Lord

be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry

there. These things thus coming to the ears of your friends have

stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you,

lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent

against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for

you." Smith to Wilkes, 26 Jan. 1587. (S. P. Office MS.)]

Cordiality between the governor-general and Count Maurice had become

impossible. As for Willoughby and Sir William Pelham, they were both

friendly to him, but Willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who

detested politics, and cared little for the Netherlands, except as the

best battle-field in Europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only

man that Leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken

down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence.

Besides Deventer of Utrecht, then, on whom, the Earl chiefly relied

during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two

or three members of the state-council. "Madame de Brederode hath sent

unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked

for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or

whatsoever. M. Meetkerke, M. Brederode, and Mr. Dorius, wish your return

with all, their hearts. For the rest I cannot tell, and will not swear.

But Mr. Barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof I can write no

more at this time."

This certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when

all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to

the governor. And thus the Earl was, at this most important crisis, to

depend upon the subtle and dangerous Deventer, and upon two inferior

personages, the "fellow Junius" and a non-descript, whom Hohenlo

characterized as a "long lean Englishman, with a little black beard."

This meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful

nationality. He called himself Otheman, claimed to be a Frenchman, had

lived much in England, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in

French and English, but was said, in reality, to be named Robert Dale.

It was not the best policy for the representative of the English Queen to

trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between

Holland and England were actively at work; and when the safety, almost

the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting

cordially in concert. "Overyssel, Utrecht, Friesland, and Gelderland,

have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her Majesty," said

Leicester. "I shall be able to make a better report of their love and

good inclination than I can of Holland." It was thought very desirable by

the English government that this great demonstration should be made once

more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her Majesty upon so

momentous a measure. It seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once

more proceed to England in order to confer with Elizabeth; but there was

much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence,

on the part of the Earl. The opposition came, of course, from the

Barneveld party. "They are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty,"

said Wilkes. "First some towns of Holland made bones thereat, and now

they say that Zeeland is not resolved."

The nature and the causes of the opposition offered by Barneveld and the

States of Holland have been sufficiently explained. Buys, maddened by his

long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the

express desire of Hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the

German and Dutch magnates; such as Moeurs and Overstein, and who even

much influenced Maurice and his cousin Count Lewis William, was himself

governed by Barneveld. It would have been far from impossible for

Leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. It was highly

desirable that he should do so, for not one of the Provinces where he

boasted his strength was quite secure for England. Count Moeurs, a potent

and wealthy noble, was governor of Utrecht and Gelderland, and he had

already begun to favour the party in Holland which claimed for that

Province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. Under

these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an

understanding as possible might be kept up with the Dutch and German

counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable.

Yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in

one year, the unlucky lean Englishman, with the black beard, who was the

Earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back

was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in

Holland. That this should be the direful spring of unutterable disasters,

social and political, was easy to foretell.

Just before the governor's departure Otheman came to pay his farewell

respects, and receive his last commands. He found Leicester seated at

chess with Sir Francis Drake.

"I do leave you here, my poor Otheman," said the Earl, "but so soon as I

leave you I know very well that nobody will give you a good look."

"Your Excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks

later, "for, my good Lord, I have been in as great danger of my life as

ever man was. I have been hunted at Delft from house to house, and then

besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though I had been the

greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land."

And why was the unfortunate Otheman thus hunted to his lair? Because he

had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited

the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the

English party to conciliate.

There had been gossip about the Princess of Chimay and one Calvaert, who

lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. One

day she complained bitterly to Master Otheman of the spiteful ways of the

world.

"I protest," said she, "that I am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have

my name thus called in question."

So said Otheman, in order to comfort her: "Your Highness is aware that

such things are said of all. I am sure I hear every day plenty of

speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. You have little

cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly,

and like a good Christian lady. Your Highness is not the only lady spoken

of."

The Princess listened with attention.

"Think of the stories about the Queen of England and my Lord of

Leicester!" said Otheman, with infinite tact. "No person is exempted from

the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all such

foolish matter under their feet. Then there is the Countess of Hoeurs,

how much evil talk does one hear about her!"

The Princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the

adroit Otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed

away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the

Princess and the Countess, with Madame de Meetkerke, who had sent

Leicester the rose from her garden.

But, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her Highness to Madame de

Moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and

informed her and the Count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the

vile Englishman, secretary to the odious Leicester, had just been there,

abusing and calumniating the Countess in most lewd and abominable

fashion. He had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the

ladies in the country." For her own part the Princess avowed her

determination to have him instantly murdered. Count Moeurs was quite of

the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his

executioners. Accordingly, the next Sunday, when the babbling secretary

had gone down to Delft to hear the French sermon, a select party,

consisting of Moeurs, Lewis William of Nassau, Count Overstein, and

others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and

brought him bodily before Princess Chimay. There, being called upon to

explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names

of several English captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in

England. "For if I had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would

have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." Upon

this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they

made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the

whole city of Delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings,

where they kept him besieged several hours. Through the intercession of

Wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he

succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was,

in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still

in daily danger of his life. "I pray God keep me hereafter from the anger

of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris."

He was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing

and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. His part was

afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men,

and by the university of Leyden. But it was well understood that the blow

and the affront had been levelled at the English governor and the English

nation.

"All your friends do see," said Otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant

so much to me as to your Excellency; the Dutch Earls having used such

speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such

violence to me, that your Excellency shall wonder to hear of it."

Now the Princess Chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a

sincere and exemplary member of the Calvinist church, and well inclined

to the Leicestrians. She was daughter of Count Meghem, one of the

earliest victims of Philip II., in the long tragedy of Netherland

independence, and widow of Lancelot Berlaymont. Count Moeurs was governor

of Utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough supporter of the

Holland party; but thenceforward he went off most abruptly from the party

of England, became hand and glove with Hohenlo, accepted the influence of

Barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city of Utrecht from English

authority. Such was the effect of the secretary's harmless gossip.

"I thought Count Moeurs and his wife better friends to your Excellency

than I do see them to be," said Otheman afterwards. "But he doth now

disgrace the English nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they

are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these

Englishmen that are at Arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town

to the enemy."

But the disgraceful squabble between Hohenlo and Edward Norris had been

more unlucky for Leicester than any other incident during the year, for

its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. Yet

the Earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction.

It has been seen that Sir Philip Sidney had borne Norris's cartel to

Hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. The Count had

promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack

on Fort Zutphen. Leicester afterwards did his best to keep Edward Norris

employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that Hohenlo, as

lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself

aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple English captain,

however deeply he might have injured him. The governor accordingly

induced the Queen to recall the young man to England, and invited

him--much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his

departure for that country.

The Captain then consulted with his brother Sir John, regarding the

pending dispute with Hohenlo. His brother advised that the Count should

be summoned to keep his promise, but that Lord Leicester's permission

should previously be requested.

A week before the governor's departure, accordingly, Edward Norris

presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the Earl

reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his

Lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation."

"The Count Hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and

banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad."

"And what way will you take?" inquired Leicester, "considering that he

keeps his house."

"'Twill be best, I thought," answered Norris, "to write unto him, to

perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field."

"To whom did he make that promise?" asked the Earl.

"To Sir Philip Sidney," answered the Captain.

"To my nephew Sidney," said Leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you

think best, and I will do for you what I can."

And the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest

he felt in the young man's reputation. Passing to other matters, Morris

then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of

having exchanged out of the States' service in order to accept a

commission from his Lordship to levy a company of horse. This levy had

cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been

able to "get one groat."

"I beseech your Lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the

meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as I."

"I can do but little for you before my departure," said Leicester; "but

at my return I will advise to do more."

After this amicable conversation Morris thanked his Lordship, took his

leave, and straightway wrote his letter to Count Hollock.

That personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that Norris should

summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him

the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be

sufficiently recovered. Morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous

promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health.

The state-council, sitting at the Hague, took up the matter at once

however, and requested immediate information of the Earl. He accordingly

sent for Norris and his brother Sir John, who waited upon him in his

bed-chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which

had moved them in the matter. This statement was accordingly furnished,

together with a copy of the correspondence. The Earl took the papers, and

promised to allow most honourably of it in the Council.

Such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by Sir John and

Edward Norris, in a solemn memorial to the Lords of Her Majesty's privy

council, as well as to the state-council of the United Provinces. A very

few days afterwards Leicester departed for England, taking Edward Norris

with him.

Count Hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite

language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'T was a matter

punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a

simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without

consent of the supreme authority. It was plain," he added, "that the

English governor-general had connived at the affront," for Norris had

been living in his family and dining at his table. Nay, more, Lord

Leicester had made him a knight at Flushing just before their voyage to

England. There seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the

brothers Norris, although, for the express purpose of screening

Leicester, Sir John represented at the time to Hohenlo and others that

the Earl had not been privy to the transaction. It is very certain,

however, that so soon as the general indignation of Hohenlo and his

partizans began to be directed against Leicester, he at once denied, in

passionate and abusive language, having had any knowledge whatever of

Norris's intentions. He protested that he learned, for the first time, of

the cartel from information furnished to the council of state.

The quarrel between Hohenlo and Norris was afterwards amicably arranged

by Lord Buckhurst, during his embassy to the States, at the express

desire of the Queen. Hohenlo and Sir John Norris became very good

friends, while the enmity between them and Leicester grew more deadly

every day. The Earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the

transaction, and denounced Sir John Norris as "a fool, liar, and coward"

on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, Buckhurst, Wilkes,

and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and

it is well known that the Earl was a master of Billingsgate.

"Hollock says that I did procure Edward Norris to send him his cartel,"

observed Leicester on one occasion, "wherein I protest before the Lord, I

was as ignorant as any man in England. His brother John can tell whether

I did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in very

truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was very

reasonably written, and I did consider also the great wrong offered him

by the Count, and so forbore it. I was so careful for the Count's safety

after the brawl between him and Norris, that I charged Sir John, if any

harm came to the Count's person by any of his or under him, that he

should answer it. Therefore, I take the story to be bred in the bosom of

some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were."

And all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the Earl's original

exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch

the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in

the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to England. The affair, in

itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late

day had it not been for its endless consequences. The ferocity with which

the Earl came to regard every prominent German, Hollander, and

Englishman, engaged in the service of the States, sprang very much from

the complications of this vulgar brawl. Norris, Hohenlo, Wilkes,

Buckhurst, were all denounced to the Queen as calumniators, traitors, and

villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must

have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of Elizabeth,

who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the Earl

the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. Hohenlo, with

Count Maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-English party,

and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be

judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred.

Leicester had always hated Sir John Norris, but he knew that the mother

had still much favour with the Queen, and he was therefore the more

vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty he found in

entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that

any other tongue but his should influence her Majesty. "The story of John

Norris about the cartel is, by the Lord God, most false," he exclaimed;

"I do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that especially her

Majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the mother's fair

speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other conceit of my

doings than I deserve."

He was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the

brothers, for he was more malignant towards Sir John than towards any man

in the world, not even excepting Wilkes. To the Queen, to the Lords of

the Privy Council, to Walsingham, to Burghley, he poured forth endless

quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest

men.

"The declaration of the two Norrises for the cartel is most false, as I

am a Christian," he said to Walsingham. "I have a dozen witnesses, as

good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present

when I misliked the writing of the letter before ever I saw it. And by

the allegiance I owe to her Majesty, I never knew of the letter, nor gave

consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from Count

Hollock. But, as they are false in this, so you will find J. N. as false

in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old

conceit hath made him past shame, I fear. His companions in Ireland, as

in these countries, report that Sir John Norris would often say that he

was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would

spare it. I remember I have heard that the Earl of Sussex would say so;

and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things."

But a very grave disaster to Holland and England was soon the fruit of

the hatred borne by Leicester to Sir John Norris. Immediately after the

battle of Zutphen and the investment of that town by the English and

Netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of Deventer.

This was, after Amsterdam and Antwerp, the most important mercantile

place in all the Provinces. It was a large prosperous commercial and

manufacturing capital, a member of the Hanseatic League, and the great

centre of the internal trade of the Netherlands with the Baltic nations.

There was a strong Catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were

disposed to side with Parma. It was notorious that provisions and

munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered Zutphen; and

Leicester despatched Sir William Pelham, accordingly, to bring the

inhabitants to reason. The stout Marshal made short work of it. Taking

Sir William Stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he

caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten

and fifteen. No objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the

city government. Then Stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the

Marshal in the evening, of the 20th of October. Pelham ordered the

magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told

them, with grim courtesy, that the Earl of Leicester excused himself from

making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of Sir Philip

Sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. His Excellency

had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an English

garrison. "So make up your minds, and delay not," said Pelham; "for I

have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his

Excellency at once. To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, I shall expect

your answer."

Next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six.

Stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that

the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had

chained the streets and locked the gates. At seven o'clock Pelham

proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his

appearance before the magisterial board. Then there was a knocking at the

door, and Sir William Stanley entered, having left a strong guard of

soldiers at the entrance to the hall.

"I am come for an answer," said the Lord Marshal; "tell me straight." The

magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped away.

"There's one of you gone," cried the Marshal. "Fetch him straight back;

or, by the living God, before whom I stand, there is not one of you shall

leave this place with life."

So the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned.

"Now, tell me," said Pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your

streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were

in the town? Do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our

goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by

you? Nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as

yourselves. Now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, as

he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch

Protestants.

"Give over your government to the men here nominated, Straight; dally

not!" The burgomasters signed the paper.

"Now," said Pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard,

bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings."

A magistrate departed on the errand.

"Now fetch me the keys of the gate," said Pelham, "and that straightway,

or, before God, you shall die."

The keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old Marshal. The old

board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones

installed, and Deventer was gained for the English and Protestant party.

There could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately

secured was worthy to be well guarded. There could be no doubt either

that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential Papists in

the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not

necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that,

under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be

important to place a garrison of Protestant soldiers there, under the

command of a Protestant officer of known fidelity.

To the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the Earl appointed Sir

William Stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a

garrison of twelve hundred wild Irishmen.

Sir William was a cadet of one of the noblest English houses. He was the

bravest of the brave. His gallantry at the famous Zutphen fight had

attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits,

but he was known to be an ardent Papist and a soldier of fortune, who had

fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the Netherlands under

the ferocious Alva. Was it strange that there should be murmurs at the

appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so

recently been secured?

The Irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, English

and Flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and

fiercest of barbarians. There was something grotesque, yet appalling, in

the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate raw

flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country,

burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of

constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the

republic. "It seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged

not to Christendom, but to Brazil." Moreover, they were all Papists, and,

however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of the

age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the councils

of Queen Elizabeth as in those of Philip--it was certainly a most fatal

policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in the

newly-acquired city. Yet Leicester, who had banished Papists from Utrecht

without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious Catholics in

Deventer.

Zutphen, which was still besieged by the English and the patriots, was

much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly

through the brilliant valour of Stanley's brother Edward, has already

been related. The possession of Deventer and of this fort gave the

control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if

it were not enough to place Deventer in the hands of Sir William Stanley,

Leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to Roland

York. Not a worse choice could be made in the whole army.

York was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. He

was a Londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by

the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. A man of

desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in

his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to

introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single

combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the English

to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the

girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the Netherland wars, with

the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions.

He had been lieutenant to the infamous John Van Imbyze, and had been

concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender Dendermonde and

Ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. York had been

thrown into prison at Brussels, but there had been some delay about his

execution, and the conquest of the city by Parma saved him from the

gibbet. He had then taken service under the Spanish commander-in-chief,

and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary

valour, having sprung on board the burning volcano-ship at the siege of

Antwerp. Subsequently returning to England, he had, on Leicester's

appointment, obtained the command of a company in the English contingent,

and had been conspicuous on the field of Warnsveld; for the courage which

he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity

with which he was ever ready to desert from it. Did it seem credible that

the fort of Zutphen should be placed in the hands of Roland York?

Remonstrances were made by the States-General at once. With regard to

Stanley, Leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest

man to take charge of the whole English army, during his absence in

England. In answer to a petition made by the States against the

appointment of York, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the

Earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own

brother; adding peremptorily--"Do you trust me? Then trust York."

But, besides his other qualifications for high command, Stanley possessed

an inestimable one in Leicester's eyes. He was, or at least had been, an

enemy of Sir John Norris. To be this made a Papist pardonable. It was

even better than to be a Puritan.

But the Earl did more than to appoint the traitor York and the Papist

Stanley to these important posts. On the very day of his departure, and

immediately after his final quarrel with Sir John about the Hohenlo

cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret

paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere

with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts,

or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent.

Now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council

by the Governor-General during his absence. Command in chief over all the

English forces, whether in the Queen's pay or the State's pay, had been

conferred upon Norris, while command over the Dutch and German troops

belonged to Hohenlo; but, by virtue of the Earl's secret paper, Stanley

and York were now made independent of all authority. The evil

consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying

themselves.

Stanley at once manifested great insolence towards Norris. That

distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. A post of

immense responsibility was confided to him. The honour of England's Queen

and of England's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment full

of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some

terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful

man in England was directing all his malice, and that the Queen, who was

wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most

fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "Well I know," said he

to Burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not

withered, but that I must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" and

he implored the Lord-Treasurer, that when his honour and reputation

should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to England

and clear himself. "For myself," said he, "I have not yet received any

commission, although I have attended his Lordship of Leicester to his

ship. It is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime I understand that

my Lord hath granted separate commissions to Sir William Stanley and

Roland York, exempting them from obeying of me. If this be true, 'tis

only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our

doings than before hath been." He earnestly requested to be furnished

with a commission directly from her Majesty. "The enemy is reinforcing,"

he added. "We are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months,

and we are grown odious, to our friends."

Honest Councillor Wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and

to do his duty to England and Holland, to Leicester and to Norris, had

the strongest sympathy with Sir John. "Truly, besides the value, wisdom,

and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "I have noted

wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent

injuries done unto him, which I have known to be countenanced and

nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. Please therefore

continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be

maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for I dare avouch, of my own

poor skill, that her Majesty hath not a second subject of his place and

quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . I doubt not God

will move her Majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he

deserves."

Sir John disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to Stanley's

appointment, but, within a week or two of the Earl's departure, he

already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "If it prove no

hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. I

desire that my doings may show what I am; neither will I seek, by

indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show

themselves."

Early in December he informed the Lord-Treasurer that Stanley's own men

were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his

own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of Deventer.

The burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of

their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of

his troops, and had appealed to Sir John; but the colonel-general's

remonstrances had been received by Sir William with contumely and abuse,

and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet

shown.

"Three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the

peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was

impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the Irish kernes. The

paymaster-general of the English forces was daily appealed to by Stanley

for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her

Majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there

"was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to

wait. At last the States-General sent him a month's pay for himself and

all his troops, although, as he was in the Queen's service, no claim

could justly be made upon them.

Wilkes, also, as English member of the state council, faithfully conveyed

to the governor-general in England the complaints which came up to all

the authorities of the republic, against Sir William Stanley's conduct in

Deventer. He had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the

towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he

had infringed all their privileges. Yet this was the board of

magistrates, expressly set up by Leicester, with the armed hand, by the

agency of Marshal Pelham and this very Colonel Stanley--a board of

Calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a

city of Catholic tendencies. And here was a papist commander displaying

Leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for

dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were

an officer of the Duke of Parma. It might easily be judged whether such

conduct were likely to win the hearts of Netherlanders to Leicester and

to England.

"Albeit, for my own part," said Wilkes, "I do hold Sir William Stanley to

be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when I consider that the magistracy

is such as was established by your Lordship, and of the religion, and

well affected to her Majesty, and that I see how heavily the matter is

conceived of here by the States and council, I do fear that all is not

well. The very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation.

Were it not that I doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that I

might be justly charged with negligence, if I should not advertise you

beforehand, I would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the

States are about to write to your Lordship and to her Majesty for

reformation in this matter." He added that he had already written

earnestly to Sir William, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand

over the people."

Thus wrote Councillor Wilkes, as in duty bound, to Lord Leicester, so

early as the 9th December, and the warning voice of Norris had made

itself heard in England quite as soon. Certainly the governor-general,

having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by

passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate

in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results.

And the conscientious Wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had

done, to the turbulent Stanley.

"Good Sir William," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of Deventer

complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the

keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to

terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the Irish

soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants,

that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against

their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the

inhabitants towards her Majesty will forsake the town. Whether any of

these things be true, yourself doth best know, but I do assure you that

the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful.

For mine own part, I have always known you for a gentleman of value,

wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing.

. . . . I earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to be

careful of the honour of her Majesty and the reputation of our nation.

You will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them

that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to

his Excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . I

know that Lord Leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of the

Provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. I know further that

your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle any

further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the town.

Well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to authorize you

in some larger sort, but, believe me, Sir, they will not warrant you

sufficiently to deal any further than I have said, for I have perused a

copy of your commission for that purpose. I know the name itself of a

governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been ever since the

remembrance of the Spanish government, and if we, by any lack of

foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make ourselves as

odious as they are; which God forbid.

"You are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their

defence only, but for the defence of her Majesty and our own native

country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon

the preserving of these. Wherefore I do eftsoons intreat and require you

to forbear to intermeddle any further. If there shall follow any

dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, I

shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but I shall be able to testify to

her Majesty that I have done my duty in admonishing you."

Thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of

England's honour and the good name of England's Queen.

But the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of

destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to

aggravate than to allay suspicion. "Finding," said Stanley, "that you

already threaten, I have gone so far as to scan the terms of my

commission, which I doubt not to execute, according to his Excellency's

meaning and mine honour. First, I assure you that I have maintained

justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been

contented with bread and bare cheese."

He acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended

it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who

thrust out the Spaniards and Almaynes, and afterwards never would obey

the Prince and States." "I would be," he said, "the sorriest man that

lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. Therefore I thought

good to seize the great tower and ports. If I meant evil, I needed no

keys, for here is force enough."

With much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his

courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very

magistrates who had been petitioning the States-General, the

state-council, and the English Queen, against his violence:

"For my courtesy and humanity," he said, "I refer me unto the magistrates

themselves. But I think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of

little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly I find your ears have been as

pitiful in so timorously condemning me. I assure you that her Majesty

hath not a better servant than I nor a more faithful in these parts. This

I will prove with my flesh and blood. Although I know there be divers

flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, I doubt

not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of little.

So, good Mr. Wilkes, I pray you, consider gravely, give ear discreetly,

and advertise into England soundly. For me, I have been and am your

friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as yourself."

He then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he

had been so contented of late, that if Mr. Wilkes would discharge him of

his promise to Lord Leicester, he would take his leave with all his

heart. Captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound

of cheese a day. For himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty

pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "This

my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet I will never

fail of my promise to his Excellency, whatsoever I endure. It is for her

Majesty's service and for the love I bear to him."

He bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to

furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before

Zutphen. "Had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of

myself, and patience of my brother, Yorke, that fort would have been in

danger. But, according to his desire and forethought, I furnished that

place with cavalry and infantry; for I know the troops there be

marvellous weak."

In reply, Wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no

rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he

relied so confidently) to the state-council. The councillor added, rather

tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, had been

"taken in so scoffing a manner," Sir William might be sure of not being

troubled with any more of his letters.

But, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to

Leicester very important letters addressed by the council of Gelderland

to Count Moeurs, stadholder of the Province, and by him forwarded to the

state-council. For there were now very grave rumours concerning the

fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother York," whom Stanley had

been so generously strengthening in Fort Zutphen. The lieutenant of York,

a certain Mr. Zouch, had been seen within the city of Zutphen, in close

conference with Colonel Tassis, Spanish governor of the place. Moreover

there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which the

horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between York on the outside

and Tassis within. The English commander sent baskets of venison, wild

fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a besieged town.

The Spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent wine and barrels

of beer. A very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to contemplate--as an

advance in civilization over the not very distant days of the Haarlem and

Leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut off, a dozen or two

at a time, were the social amenities usually exchanged between Spaniards

and Dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to those who had grown grey in this

horrible warfare.

The Irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and

were received there with as much fraternity by, the Catholic soldiers of

Tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which

seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the

advancement of the siege.

The state-council had written concerning these rumours to Roland York,

but the patient man had replied in a manner which Wilkes characterized as

"unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the Earl of

Leicester's authority." The councillor implored the governor-general

accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to

Roland York as to Sir William Stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly

warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances

of the state-council.

Thus again and again was Leicester--on whose head rested, by his own

deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great

mischief was impending. There was time enough even then--for it was but

the 16th December--to place full powers in the hands of the

state-council, of Norris, or of Hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to

secure the suspected persons, and avert the danger. Leicester did

nothing. How could he acknowledge his error? How could he manifest

confidence in the detested Norris? How appeal to the violent and deeply

incensed Hohenlo?

Three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring Roland York was still

in confidential correspondence with Leicester and Walsingham, although

his social intercourse with the Spanish governor of Zutphen continued to

be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. He was not quite

satisfied with the general, aspect of the Queen's cause in the

Netherlands, and wrote to the Secretary of State in a tone of

despondency, and mild expostulation. Walsingham would have been less

edified by these communications, had he been aware that York, upon first

entering Leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence

with the Duke of Parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his

object was to serve the cause of Spain. This was indeed the fact, as the

Duke informed the King, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless

dare-devil," said Parma, "that I hardly expected much of him." Thus the

astute Sir Francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous Roland, who was

perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the Spanish

commander-in-chief.

Meantime York informed his English patrons, on the 7th January, that

matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he

could wish. He had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so,

according to Lord Leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the

subject, which he begged Sir Francis to "peruse, add to, or take away

from," and then to inclose to the Earl. He hoped he should be forgiven if

the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he,

"the place where I am doth too much torment my memory, to call every

point to my remembrance."

It must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to

keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he

was carrying on with the Spanish and with the English government. Even a

cool head like Roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled.

"So if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to

Walsingham, "advertise me, and I will make it plainer." Nothing could be

more ingenuous. He confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "Please

your honour," said he, "I have taken great pains to make a bad place

something, and it has cost me all the money I had, and here I can receive

nothing but discontentment. I dare not write you all lest you should

think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even

Walsingham would have been astonished, had Roland written all. The game

playing by York and Stanley was not one to which English gentlemen were

much addicted.

"I trust the bearer, Edward Stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he

said, "with details." And the remark proves that the gallant youth who

had captured this very Fort Zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not

privy to the designs of his brother and of York; for the object of the

"discourse" was to deceive the English government.

"I humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded Roland, "for

true as I humbled my mind to please her Majesty, your honour, and the

dead, now am I content to humble myself lower to please myself, for now,

since his, Excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding neither

honourably nor honestly."

Three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the

republic. Suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to York and

Stanley, but as to all the English commanders, as to the whole English

nation. An Anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet

there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. In vain had

painstaking, truth-telling Wilkes summoned Stanley to his duty, and

called on Leicester, time after time, to interfere. In vain did Sir John

Norris, Sir John Conway, the members of the state-council, and all others

who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe.

Their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the 24th November. Most

anxiously did all implore the Earl of Leicester to return. Never was a

more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate.

Scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the

need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes,

and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a

commonwealth. But there was no such man, for the republic had lost its

chief when Orange died. There was much wisdom and patriotism now.

Olden-Barneveld was competent, and so was Buys, to direct the councils of

the republic, and there were few better soldiers than Norris and Hohenlo

to lead her armies against Spain. But the supreme authority had been

confided to Leicester. He had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily

qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his

departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless,

at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important.

At last, very late in January, one Hugh Overing, a haberdasher from

Ludgate Hill, was caught at Rotterdam, on his way to Ireland, with a

bundle of letters from Sir William Stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious

character, to the state-council at the Hague. On the same day, another

Englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little

red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained

to be in the service of Roland York and to have been the bearer of

letters to Brussels, also passed through Rotterdam. By connivance of the

innkeeper, one Joyce, also an Englishman, he succeeded in making his

escape. The information contained in the letters thus intercepted was

important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could

have acted without giving mortal offence to Elizabeth and to Leicester.

On the evening of 28th January (N. S.), Sir William Stanley entertained

the magistrates of Deventer at a splendid banquet. There was free

conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife

in the Provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had

been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought

necessary to adopt for the security of the city. He took that occasion to

assure his guests that the Queen of England had not a more loyal subject

than himself, nor the Netherlands a more devoted friend. The company

expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his character and

purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of faith and

friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home comfortably

to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with themselves.

Very late that same night, Stanley placed three hundred of his wild Irish

in the Noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the

Zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the

burgher-guards at their respective stations. Strong pickets of cavalry

were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. At three

o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was about

to leave Deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some

reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for

some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. His officers,

honest Englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their

chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and Sir William rode

deliberately out of Zutphen. After he had been absent an hour or two, the

clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and

presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and

three or four hundred troopers. It was still pitch dark; but, dimly

lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their

way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once

upon the Brink, or great square. Here, quietly and swiftly, they were

marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all

sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood Sir William

Stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the

central space immediately in front of the town-house.

The drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that

all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to

repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. As the

inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets

to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they

had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. Wild Irishmen, with

uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood

gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable Flemish faces of

the familiar burgher-guard. The chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily after

Sir William's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent a

militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and

monstrous proclamation. Day was breaking as the trusty captain made his

way to the scene of action. The wan light of a cold, drizzly January

morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees

and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral

through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and

banners resembled nothing that he remembered in Dutch and English

regiments. Fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling,

and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished

with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers,

with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden

reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing

gestures. As he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent,

many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the Netherlands--he

found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on

the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers,

in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself.

The Flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of

Stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him.

Taking him by the hand with much urbanity, Sir William led the

militia-man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to

the strange officer on horseback.

"Colonel Tassis," said he, "I recommend to you a very particular friend

of mine. Let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf."

"Ah God!" cried the honest burgher, "Tassis! Tassis! Then are we indeed

most miserably betrayed."

Even the Spanish colonel who was of Flemish origin, was affected by the

despair of the Netherlander.

"Let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he;

"my business here is to serve the King, my master."

"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the

things which are God's," said Stanley, with piety.

The burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the

city, but that it now belonged to his most Catholic Majesty of

Spain--Colonel Stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having

freely and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. He was then bid

to go and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates.

Presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same

board of strict Calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months

before by Leicester, through the agency of this very Stanley, who had so

summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night

before had so handsomely feasted themselves. They came forward, the tears

running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even Stanley

began to weep bitterly himself. "I have not done this," he sobbed, "for

power or pelf. Not the hope of reward, but the love of God hath moved

me."

Presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party

of leading citizens went into a private house with Tassis and Stanley to

hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were

possible.

Sir William, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through

an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by

love of lucre. But as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached

the point, Tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "Let us look after

our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul weather

half the night." So the Spanish troops, who had been, standing patiently

to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers had all

deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the

townspeople. Tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be

offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome

example, hung several Hibernians the same day who had been detected in

plundering the inhabitants.

The citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between

embracing the Catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval

being allowed them to wind up their affairs. They were also required to

furnish Stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their

service since coming to the Provinces, and to Tassis three months' wages

for his Spaniards in advance. Stanley offered his troops the privilege of

remaining with him in the service of Spain, or of taking their departure

unmolested. The Irish troops were quite willing to continue under their

old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that there was an

immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native island against the

tyrant Elizabeth, under the liberating banners of Philip. And certainly,

in an age where religion constituted country, these fervent Catholics

could scarcely be censured for taking arms against the sovereign who

persecuted their religion and themselves. These honest barbarians had

broken no oath, violated no trust, had never pretended sympathy with

freedom; or affection for their Queen. They had fought fiercely under the

chief who led them into battle--they had robbed and plundered voraciously

as opportunity served, and had been occasionally hanged for their

exploits; but Deventer and Fort Zutphen had not been confided to their

keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to them, that approaching invasion

of Ireland. "I will ruin the whole country from Holland to Friesland,"

said Stanley to Captain Newton, "and then I will play such a game in

Ireland as the Queen has never seen the like all the days of her life."

Newton had already been solicited by Roland York to take service under

Parma, and had indignantly declined. Sir Edmund Carey and his men, four

hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason,

and were allowed to leave the city. This was the case with all the

English officers. Stanley and York were the only gentlemen who on this

occasion sullied the honour of England.

Captain Henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days

before the surrender of Deventer, was now brought to that city, and

earnestly entreated by Tassis and by Stanley to seize this opportunity of

entering the service of Spain.

"You shall have great advancement and preferment," said Tassis. "His

Catholic Majesty has got ready very many ships for Ireland, and Sir

William Stanley is to be general of the expedition."

"And you shall choose your own preferment," said Stanley, "for I know you

to be a brave man."

"I would rather," replied Henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a

beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of

conscience."

"Continue so," replied Stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very

principle of my own enlargement: for, before, I served the devil, and now

I am serving God."

The offers and the arguments of the Spaniard and the renegade were

powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other

traitorous alledgements by Sir William for his most vile facts," as

Henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity

until such time as he could be exchanged.

Stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character.

He had a commission from Leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as

if the governor-general had contemplated his serving Philip II. with that

commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport

entitled him to take the city of Deventer along with him; he owed no

allegiance to the States; he was discharged from his promise to the Earl;

he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had

been compelled by his conscience and his duty to God to restore the city

to its lawful master, and so on, and so on.

But whether he owed the States allegiance or not, it is certain that he

had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days

before his treason. That Leicester had discharged him from his promises

to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his

honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to

conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy

awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months

before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of

Catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere

love of money, was doubtless true. Attachment to his religion, a desire

to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil

spirit, York, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the

prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs

that moved him. Sums--varying from L30,000 to a pension of 1500 pistolets

a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, by

Norris, Wilkes, Conway, and others; but the Duke of Parma, in narrating

the whole affair in a private letter to the King, explicitly stated that

he had found Stanley "singularly disinterested."

"The colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking

for no reward, except that he might serve in his Majesty's army

thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted."

At the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the Duke,

recommended, and that the King bestowed, a "merced," which Stanley did

not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world

was Philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, Flemish,

Walloon, or English, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to

serve under his own banners. Yet, strange to relate, almost at the very

moment that Stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order

that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant

destiny was about to dawn upon him. The Queen had it in contemplation, in

recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of Leicester, to

bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him Viceroy of

Ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to

his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade.

Stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. A price of 3000 florins was put by

the States upon his head and upon that of York. He went to Spain, and

afterwards returned to the Provinces. He was even reported to have

become, through the judgment of God, a lunatic, although the tale wanted

confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had

mustered his regiment under Farnese, prepared to join the Duke in the

great invasion of England.

Roland York, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his

crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of Deventer. He rode

up to the gates of that city on the morning of the 29th January, inquired

quietly whether Tassis was master of the place, and then galloped

furiously back the ten miles to his fort. Entering, he called his

soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of England, and

follow him into the city of Zutphen. Two companies of States' troops

offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were

overpowered by the English and Irish, assisted by a force of Spaniards,

who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. He

received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the Duke of Parma's

expectations, when he made his original offer of service. He died very

suddenly, after a great banquet at Deventer, in the course of the sane

year, not having succeeded in making his escape into Spain to live at

ease on his stipend. It was supposed that he was poisoned; but the charge

in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate the

subject. His body was subsequently exhumed when Deventer came into the

hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice hanged

upon a gibbet. This was the end of Roland York.

Parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful

results. "Thus Fort Zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so

many fisticuffs, and Deventer--which was the real object of the last

campaign, and which has cost the English so much blood and money, and is

the safety of Groningen and of all those Provinces--is now your

Majesty's. Moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great

distrust between the English and the rebels, who will henceforth never

know in whom they can confide."

Parma was very right in this conjuncture. Moreover, there was just then a

fearful run against the States. The castle of Wauw, within a league of

Bergen-op-Zoom, which had been entrusted to one Le Marchand, a Frenchman

in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to Parma for 16,000

florins. "'Tis a very important post," said the Duke, "and the money was

well laid out."

The loss of the city of Gelder, capital of the Province of the same name,

took place in the summer. This town belonged to the jurisdiction of

Martin Schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and

miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most

profitable, freebooting career. The Famous partisan was then absent,

engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. He had made a

contract--in a very-business-like way--with the States, to defend the

city of Rheinberg and all the country, round against the Duke of Parma,

pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of 3300 foot

and 700 horse. For this extensive and important operation, he was to

receive 20,000 florins a month from the general exchequer; and in

addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is to

say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels going

up and down the river before Rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in short,

upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary fashion. A

tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and although the

States considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by the job, it

was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the vigilant

Martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate fighter. A

more accomplished highwayman, artistically and enthusiastically devoted

to his pursuit, never lived. Nobody did his work more thoroughly--nobody

got himself better paid for his work--and Thomas Wilkes, that excellent

man of business, thought the States not likely to make much by their

contract. Nevertheless, it was a comfort to know that the work would not

be neglected.

Schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the Rheinberg siege, and in his

place one Aristotle Patton, a Scotch colonel in the States' service, was

commandant of Gelders. Now the thrifty Scot had an eye to business, too,

and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than Rowland York

himself. Moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his

place, for Leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him.

Patton had also a decided grudge against Schenk, for that truculent

personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he

had richly deserved. Accordingly, when; the Duke of Parma made a secret

offer to him of 36,000 florins if he would quietly surrender the city

entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of

circumventing Leicester, feeding his grudge against Martin, and making a

handsome fortune for himself. He knew his trade too well, however, to

accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and

to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the

36,000 florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other

moveables in the city belonging to Schenk, that he could lay his hands

upon. Here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault and

battery--for Schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune--and

accordingly the city, towards Midsummer, was surrendered to the Seigneur

d'Haultepenne. Moreover, the excellent Patton had another and a loftier

motive. He was in love. He had also a rival. The lady of his thoughts was

the widow of Pontus de Noyelle, Seigneur de Bours, who had once saved the

citadel of Antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and himself. His rival

was no other than the great Seigneur de Champagny, brother of Cardinal

Granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and financier, but now

growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much troubled with the

gout. Madame de Bours had, however, accepted his hand, and had fixed the

day for the wedding, when the Scotchman, thus suddenly enriched, renewed

a previously unsuccessful suit. The widow then, partially keeping her

promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the appointed evening; but,

to the surprise of the Provinces, she became not the 'haulte et puissante

dame de Champagny,' but Mrs. Aristotle Patton.

For this last treason neither Leicester nor the English were responsible.

Patton was not only a Scot, but a follower of Hohenlo, as Leicester

loudly protested. Le Merchant was a Frenchman. But Deventer and Zutphen

were places of vital importance, and Stanley an Englishman of highest

consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in

Leicester's absence. Moreover, a cornet in the service of the Earl's

nephew, Sir Robert Sidney, had been seen at Zutphen in conference with

Tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious

name of Sidney was to be polluted also. This fear was fortunately false,

although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had

been tampering; but the mere thought that Sir Robert Sidney could betray

the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied

corpse of his brother arise from the dead.

Parma was right when he said that all confidence of the Netherlanders in

the Englishmen would now be gone, and that the Provinces would begin to

doubt their best friends. No fresh treasons followed, but they were

expected every day. An organized plot to betray the country was believed

in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. The noble deeds of

Sidney and Willoughby, and Norris and Pelham, and Roger Williams, the

honest and valuable services of Wilkes, the generosity and courage of

Leicester, were for a season forgotten. The English were denounced in

every city and village of the Netherlands as traitors and miscreants.

Respectable English merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from

town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. The nation

was put under ban. A most melancholy change from the beginning of the

year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest

in hate, had been the warmest friends of Elizabeth, of England, and of

Leicester.

At Hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence

of Sir Roger Williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like

Stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of England, of such great

connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could

do so without the knowledge and consent of her Majesty.

Barneveld, in council of state, declared that Leicester, by his

restrictive letter of 24th November, had intended to carry the authority

over the republic into England, in order to dispose of everything at his

pleasure, in conjunction with the English cabinet-council, and that the

country had never been so cheated by the French as it had now been by the

English, and that their government had become insupportable.

Councillor Carl Roorda maintained at the table of Elector Truchsess that

the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had

spurned the oppression of the Spaniards and the French--that it was now

time to, rebel against the English. Barneveld and Buys loudly declared

that the Provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign

assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion

upon the public mind.

The whole college of the States-General came before the state-council,

and demanded the name of the man to whom the Earl's restrictive letter

had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared

surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to

that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated

crimes. After much colloquy the name of Brackel was given, and, had not

the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger,

for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated.

No language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason.

Unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the English troops had

been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional

cause of danger. Leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no

longer in the Netherlands, the Queen seemed to forget that there was a

single Englishman upon that fatal soil. In five months not one penny had

been sent to her troops. While the Earl had been there one hundred and

forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. After his

departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year.

The English soldiers, who had fought so well in every Flemish

battle-field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere

famishing half naked vagabonds and marauders. Brave soldiers had been

changed by their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium

which suddenly attached itself to the English name converted them into

outcasts. Forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the Provinces, but

were forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing

hen-roosts and pillaging the peasantry. Many deserted to the enemy. Many

begged their way to England, and even to the very gates of the palace,

and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good

Queen Bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for

bread in vain.

The English cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and

mutinous, made a foray into Holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers.

Count Maurice commanded their instant departure, and Hohenlo swore that

if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head

of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. A most painful and

humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of

their Queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the

parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled

to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their

homes to defend.

At last, honest Wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing

eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own

carcase" as he expressed himself. This gave the troopers about thirty

shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and

well disposed.

Is this picture exaggerated? Is it drawn by pencils hostile to the

English nation or the English Queen? It is her own generals and

confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful

details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. The

parsimony of the great Queen must ever remain a blemish on her character,

and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers

in Flanders in the year 1587. Thomas Wilkes, a man of truth, and a man of

accounts, had informed Elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war,

since Leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five

hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and

nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three

hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her

Majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the

States. These were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest

accountants rarely flatter, and Wilkes was not one of those financiers

who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. He had transmitted

the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by the treasurers

of the States and by the English paymasters, and the Queen was appalled

at the sum-totals. She could never proceed with such a war as that, she

said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which the States

requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling Robin a penny

to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, on which the

equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the slightest help

in furnishing him forth anew for the wars.

Yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these Netherland battles were

English battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the

Isle of Wight or the coast of Kent, the charts of which the statesmen and

generals of Spain were daily conning.

Wilkes, too, while defending Leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his

best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity,

and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much

ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. Although

assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the States "as a

schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the

disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence;

he had painted in darkest colours the results of the Deventer treason, he

had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and

vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the Queen, that

notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest

man to represent her in the Netherlands, and, that he could accomplish,

by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man

could do in a year. He bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which

existed between him and important personages in the Netherlands, he had

been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of

the States-General--to the great satisfaction of the Queen--but he had

not given up his friendship with Sir John Norris, because he said "the

virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and

because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to

admire him."

This was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the

truth about the accounts, Leicester denounced Wilkes to the Queen as a

traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. He

had even the meanness to prejudice Burghley against him--by insinuating

to the Lord-Treasurer that he too had been maligned by Wilkes--and thus

most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor

with the Queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he

plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as

doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant

unheard."

Immediate action was taken on the Deventer treason, and on the general

relations between the States-General and the English government.

Barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the Earl of Leicester.

On the 2nd February Wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the

States-General, with the rest of the councillors, and found Barneveld

just demanding the public reading of that document. The letter was read.

Wilkes then rose and made a few remarks.

"The letter seems rather sharp upon his Excellency," he observed. "There

is not a word in it," answered Barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly

true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon

other matters which were then before the assembly.

Wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public

feeling in England and upon his own position as English councillor,

waited immediately upon Count Maurice, President van der Myle, and upon

Villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the

transmission of the epistle. They promised to make an effort to delay its

despatch or to mitigate its tone. A fortnight afterwards, however, Wilkes

learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of which

will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination.

Meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of Count

Maurice was held, and it was determined that the Count should assume the

title of Prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that

the actual head of the Nassaus might be superior in rank to Leicester or

to any man who could be sent from England. Maurice was also appointed by

the States, provisionally, governor-general, with Hohenlo for his

lieutenant-general. That formidable personage, now fully restored to

health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the

party of Holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of

English tendencies. Especially he became most intimate with Count Moeurs,

stadholder of Utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his wife

towards Leicester and the English nation; springing originally from the

unfortunate babble of Otheman, had grown more intense than

ever,--"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a

scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of Utrecht was

to be annexed to Holland under the perpetual stadholderate of Prince

Maurice.

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station

The sapling was to become the tree

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, Volume 52, 1587