History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain Part 66 (2/2)

Among other freaks was that of a masquerade, at which a devil was seen pursuing a cardinal with a scourge of foxes'tails. ”Deinde sequebatur diabolus, equum dicti cardinalis caudis vulpinis fustigans, magna c.u.m totius populi admiratione et scandalo.” (Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII. p. 77.) The fox's tail was a punning allusion to Renard, who took a most active and venomous part in the paper war that opened the revolution. Renard, it may be remembered, was the imperial minister to England in Queen Mary's time. He was the implacable enemy of Granvelle, who had once been his benefactor.

[595] Strada, De Bello Belgico, pp. 161-164.--Vander Haer, De Initiis Tumultuum Belgicorum, p. 166.--Vandervynckt, Troubles des Pays-Bas, tom.

II. p. 53.--Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 294, 295.

[596] The date is given by the prince of Orange in a letter to the landgrave of Hesse, written a fortnight after the cardinal's departure.

(Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Na.s.sau, tom. I. p. 226.) This fact, public and notorious as it was, is nevertheless told with the greatest discrepancy of dates. Hopper, one of Granvelle's own friends, fixes the date of his departure at the latter end of May. (Recueil et Memorial, p.

36.) Such discrepancies will not seem strange to the student of history.

[597] ”Ejus inimici, qui in senatu erant, non aliter exultavere quam pueri abeunte ludimagistro.” Vita Viglii, p. 38.

Hoogstraten and Brederode indulged their wild humor, as they saw the cardinal leaving Brussels, by mounting a horse,--one in the saddle, the other _en croupe_,--and in this way, m.u.f.fled in their cloaks, accompanying the traveller along the heights for half a league or more.

Granvelle tells the story himself, in a letter to Margaret, but dismisses it as the madcap frolic of young men. Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 410, 426.

[598] Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Na.s.sau, tom. I. p. 226.

[599] ”Le comte d'Egmont lui a dit, entre autres, que, si le cardinal revenait, indubitablement il perdrait la vie, et mettrait le Roi en risque de perdre les Pays-Bas.” Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I.

p. 295.

[600] ”Je n'ay entendu de personne chose dont je peusse concevoir quelque doubte que vous ne fussiez, a l'endroit de mon service, tel que je vous ay cogneu, ny suis si legier de prester l'oreille a ceulx qui me tascheront de mettre en umbre d'ung personage de vostre qualite, et que je cognois si bien.” Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II.

p. 76.

[601] ”Quiero de aqui adelante hazerme ciego y sordo, y tractar con mis libros y negocios particulares, y dexar el publico a los que tanto saben y pueden, y componerme quanto al reposo y sossiego.” Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII, p. 91.--A pleasing illusion, as old as the time of Horace's ”_Beatus ille_,” &c.

[602] Gerlache, Royaume des Pays-Bas, tom. I. p. 79.

[603] ”Vela ma philosophie, et procurer avec tout cela de vivre le plus joyeus.e.m.e.nt que l'on peut, et se rire du monde, des appa.s.sionnez, et de ce qu'ilz dient sans fondement.” Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Na.s.sau, tom. I. p. 240.

[604] ”Ilz auront avant mon retour, que ne sera, a mon compte, plus tost que d'icy a deux mois, partant au commencement de juing.” Ibid., p. 236.

[605] This remarkable letter, dated Madrid, May 6, is to be found in the Supplement a Strada, tom. II. p. 346.

[606] Hopper does not hesitate to regard this circ.u.mstance as a leading cause of the discontents in Flanders. ”Se voyans desestimez ou pour mieux dire opprimez par les Seigneurs Espaignols, qui cha.s.sant les autres hors du Conseil du Roy, participent seulz avecq iceluy, et presument de commander aux Seigneurs et Chevaliers des Pays d'embas: ny plus ni moins qu'ilz font a aultres de Milan, Naples, et Sicille; ce que eulx ne veuillans souffrir en maniere que ce soit, a este et est la vraye ou du moins la princ.i.p.ale cause de ces maulx et alterations.”

Recueil et Memorial, p. 79.

[607] Viglius makes many pathetic complaints on this head, in his letters to Granvelle. See Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Na.s.sau, tom. I.

p. 319 et alibi.

[608] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. pp. 312, 332, et alibi.

[609] ”Il faudrait envoyer le cardinal a Rome.” Ibid., p. 329.

[610] Ibid., p. 295.

[611] Morillon, in a letter to Granvelle, dated July 9, 1564, tells him of the hearty hatred in which he is held by the d.u.c.h.ess; who, whether she has been told that the minister only made her his dupe, or from whatever cause, never hears his name without changing color. Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VIII. p. 131.

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