them—one on a fiery Spanish horse which he could not rein in, another The Rogation Days had come, and from Paris came forth a great procession of the Flagellants, headed by Frère Ange de Joyeuse. It represented the Passion: Frère Ange, clad in white, with a bloodstained robe, a crown of thorns, and hands bound, being the principal figure, stumbling under the lash of those who scourged him as he proceeded barefoot and weeping. It is the custom to look on all these desperate penances with contempt and almost horror as gross profanity, but in truth they were inexpressibly piteous efforts to show grief for the terrible weight of guilt which, alas! was not thrown off in the right manner. The representation that headed this procession no doubt was intended as an appeal to princes and people alike, showing Christ going to be crucified afresh by the cruelties His members inflicted when tearing one another to pieces. Of the sincerity of Frère Ange, a blameless youth, who had abandoned the world, broken-hearted by the loss of his saintly wife, there can be no doubt; yet, even he was derided by his kinsman, Crillon, the commander of the King's bodyguards and the unscrupulous minister of crimes of violence. 'Flog him well!" cried this man from the window; "he is a coward who puts on the monk's frock to escape bearing arms!" thus making him endure no simulated scorn. And though around him the procession was mournful and serious, in the rear there was utter buffoonery and mere burlesque-soldiers wearing kettles and caldrons on their heads as helmets, blowing goats' horns, and brandishing rusty old weapons. 66 Henri received them affectionately, as he did a deputation from the Parliament of Paris. He declared that if the people would return to their duty, he would forget the past. He was exceedingly depressed and melancholy, and thought himself ready to make any sacrifice to regain his popularity. Queen Catherine meantime remained at Paris, striving to obtain the best terms possible for him, and at last he agreed to all that had been asked of him—Epernon was deprived of Normandy, Guise was made Lieutenant-general of the kingdom, Cardinal de Bourbon was declared first prince of the blood, the crown was never to pass to a Huguenot, and the States-General were to meet at Blois. CAMEO XXV. Flagellant Procession. 1588. CAMEO Maurice of Nassau. 1584. THE United Provinces had long ago chosen as their badge a ship beating about in the midst of a stormy sea, and with the Prince of Orange they had lost their helmsman. He might truly be called their Palinurus, engulphed in the wild waves, and nothing but the sturdy resolution of the Dutch character could have borne them through the perils that followed. All was confusion and despair, and only in the two chief provinces, Holland and Zealand, did the chiefs retain their presence of mind. They at once elected as their Stadtholder and Captain-General, young Maurice of Nassau, though he was only eighteen years of age, giving him as his lieutenant the Count of Hohenlohe, the ablest man they could find. On this Utrecht, Guelderland, and Overyssel took courage and chose governors who had been trusted by their much lamented Prince. However, the Spaniards were expecting to carry all before them on the death of the champion to whom they ascribed all the resistance, and the Prince of Parma pushed on at once, resolving to strike a blow at Antwerp, which, in spite of all its misfortunes, was still the wealthiest city in the Netherlands. His first preparation consisted in cutting it off from all communication with Holland, Ghent, or the places above or below it on the river Scheldt. He laid siege to Liskenshonk and Tillo, both of which staunchly resisted him, but were forced at last to yield, after a siege of months. Parma did not permit such savage atrocities as Alva had done, and there was not the same despair to nerve the defenders. At each place he established forts, which much annoyed the shipping of Antwerp, and damaged the trade. Then he took Dendremond, which cut off the city from Ghent, and afterwards Vilvorde, by which he stopped its intercourse with Brussels; but finding that as long as the river itself remained free and open nothing was effectual, he proposed to build a huge bridge across the Scheldt, with forts all along and citadels at each end, so as to block up the stream. His council were at first startled by the boldness of the project, but he persuaded them into it, and the very sight of his preparations so much alarmed the citizens of Ghent that they offered to surrender on condition that their privileges were preserved to them. Marnix de St. Aldegonde was Governor of Antwerp, and, so far as his councils prevailed, all was done for the best. Just as the Duke of Parma had collected large stores, at Calle a dyke was cut, the floods came in, and all his timber, brick, and stone, were swept away into the sea. With equal perseverance, the Duke set his forces to dig a canal, which carried off the water, so that he could begin his bridge. This was seven months in hand, but the loss of the Prince of Orange was truly manifest, for none of the Dutch in Holland or Zealand made any attempt to molest the builders, and indeed it was strongly suspected that jealousy of the trade and power of Antwerp made the burghers of Amsterdam oppose any scheme for saving it. On the other hand, the burgomasters of Antwerp were not to be persuaded to lay in a supply of corn because the price happened to be high; and when some of the Zealanders actually brought in some loads, the citizens, knowing that they would not run the risk of taking it back, offered such low prices that the speculators vowed they would never come again to so bad a market. Moreover, when St. Aldegonde devised the cutting of another dyke, which would have carried off the bridge just as it was finished, these same Antwerp merchants refused their consent, because the country houses and farms must have been sacrificed. Thus there was no real preparation, and the citizens never realised that their supplies by water would be cut off by the bridge till it was finished and fortified; and the city was invested, so that they began to find themselves surrounded. Then indeed, when it was too late, they implored the Zealanders to break down the bridge, and it was decided to make the attempt. Admiral Treslong had, however, been affronted, and kept on putting off the matter till he was superseded, and Count Hohenlohe and Justin of Nassau placed in command. They showed much spirit, retook Liskenshonk, and destroyed some of Parma's forts; but they could not succeed in throwing succours into the city, as the bridge effectually stopped the passage of all boats or ships with grain or troops. The citizens began to devise schemes for destroying the bridge; and a Mantuan engineer, named Ginebelli, undertook to blow it up. The avarice of the merchants created the chief difficulties, but at last two ships were filled with combustibles, and at night were towed down by some smaller boats, so as to be launched against the bridge. САМЕО -- Siege of Antwerp. 1585. САМЕО XXVI. Surrender One exploded too soon and did no harm to the bridge; and others set fire to the outworks, and caused a fall of masonry which crushed or drowned 500 Spaniards. However, Parma was far more prompt in of Antwerp.repairing the damage than the citizens in taking advantage of it. Another such attempt was prevented by their fears. In fact, the resistance of Antwerp had been far more political than religious, and many Roman Catholics were there, who, so long as their privileges were preserved, had little objection to return to their natural lord. The want of a head was so severely felt that the States of Holland and Zealand had commissioned their ambassador, Jacob van Gryse, to offer the sovereignty to Queen Elizabeth; and though she hesitated to accept it, 4,000 men under Sir John Norreys were immediately sent to the relief of Antwerp but too late, for the city capitulated on the 17th of August, 1585, the Protestant inhabitants being allowed to migrate to Amsterdam. The deputies sent from Holland offered Elizabeth the sovereignty of the Netherlands; but this she thought it prudent to decline, though she made a treaty with them promising them aid, as she explained to her subjects, because of the ancient leagues between England and the Netherlands, which bound her to their support, and because, politically, the English naval power and that of Spain were so equally balanced, that whoever had the Dutch fleet with it would have the preponderance. She was to give them 5,000 foot and 1,300 horse during the war, and likewise a governor-general, who was to be an able captain and "well affected to the true religion," and to advance them the needful sums of money, which were to be repaid after the war, the strongholds of Flushing, Brill, and Rammekens being in the meantime placed in her hands as pledges. was The feeling of the whole nation was with the Dutch. Spenser allegorised the expedition in one of his cantos, and every one eager to volunteer upon it. On the other hand, Philip received investiture of Ireland from the Apostolic See, and the war which had smouldered for the last twenty years now broke out openly, although the ambassador, Mendoza, was not recalled from London. Sir Francis Drake, with twenty-one ships, for the first time made an authorised expedition to the West Indies. The great English sailors had not been idle in these last years. Sir Humfrey Gilbert had, in 1583, obtained permission to attempt to found a colony in Newfoundland. Raleigh, then in high favour, had so mentioned him to the Queen that she sent him a seal, engraven with an anchor guided by a lady, and desired him to leave his portrait with her. He took five ships with him, but they were mostly filled with adventurers, who went in the hope of pillage of the Spaniards, not of peaceful colonization. They hated the barren shore and fogs of Newfoundland, and clamoured to be taken home. One ship sailed direct with the sick, another was wrecked, and Gilbert with two more explored the coast on his way home. He was in the lesser ship, the Squirrel, and when some doubt arose as to her safety, he was implored In Walter Raleigh, however, went on with the same schemes, and obtained a charter from Elizabeth, granting him and his heirs six years government of any place where he might found a colony. He sent out two surveying ships, who, going much farther south than Gilbert had done, found odours from the coast wafted to them "like the smell of a delicate garden." Reporting well of the region, a party of colonists was sent out with Sir Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, to take possession of the country, which her Majesty condescended to name Virginia, in honour of her own celibacy. Sir Richard Grenville was much more of a pirate than a colonist, and kept a sharp look-out for Spanish ships. He was violent towards the natives, and soon quarrelled with Lane, whom he left with a hundred men in the new colony, while he came home, capturing a large Spanish ship on the way. Lane built a fort on the Isle of Roanoake, but did not trouble himself to sow any corn, trusting to supplies from the natives and from England, and letting himself be deluded by reports of gold ore, that chimera of the West. In consequence, he was nearly starved by the time Sir Francis Drake, who had been attacking and destroying the Spanish towns on the South American coast, came up to inquire after the fate of the colony. Lane and all his men gladly embarked, and were on their way to England when Sir Richard Grenville arrived with fresh supplies and men, fifteen of whom he left behind him in Lane's fort. It was from this expedition that tobacco was brought home and presented to Raleigh, who used to smoke it in a silver pipe. The Queen looked on at the performance, and laid a wager that he could not tell the weight of the smoke that escaped from his pipe. He replied that he could, convinced her, and she paid the bet. He was at this time regarded by Leicester as a rival, and was much disliked by many persons as being both supercilious and satirical. A story was told of him that when staying in a house where the lady was an active and somewhat noisy housewife, he overheard her early in the morning calling from her window, "Be the pigs fed?" and accordingly met her at breakfast with the question, "Be the pigs fed, madam?" thus giving great offence. Leicester had been somewhat under a cloud since the disclosure of his marriage with Lettice Knollys, the dowager Countess of Essex. CAMEO Loss of Sir |