greatness of this alliance. Charles V. had, in the year 1518, conferred on him, at Utrecht, the order of the Golden Fleece; the wars of this Emperor were the school of his military genius, and the battle of St. Quentin and Gravelines made him the hero of his age. Every blessing of peace, for which a commercial people feel most grateful, brought to mind the remembrance of the victory by which it was ac celerated, and Flemish pride, like a fond mother, exulted over the illustrious son of their country, who had filled all Europe with admiration. Nine children who grew up under the eyes of their fellow citizens, multiplied and drew closer the ties between him and his fatherland, and the people's grateful affection for the father, was kept alive by the sight of those who were dearest to him. Every appearance of Egmont in public, was a triumphal procession; every eye which was fastened upon him, recounted his history; his deeds lived in the plaudits of his companions in arms; at the games of chivalry, mothers pointed him out to their children. Affability, a noble and courteous demeanour, the amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits. His liberal soul shone forth on his open brow; his frankheartedness managed his secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was no sooner his, than it was the property of all. His religion was gentle and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from the heart, and not from his understanding. Egmont possessed more of conscience, than of fixed principles; his head had not given him a code of its own, but had merely learnt it by rote; the mere name of an action, therefore, was often with him sufficient for its condemnation. In his judgment, men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not something bad or something good; in this system of morals, there was no middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently, a single good trait often decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince of Orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the world as it really was; Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an imagination, that embellished all that it reflected. Men, whom fortune has surprised with a reward for which they can find no adequate ground in their actions, are, for the most part, very apt to forget the necessary con

nexion between cause and effect, and to insert in the uatural consequences of things a higher miraculous power, to which, as Cæsar to his fortune, they at last insanely trust. Such a character was Egmont. Intoxicated with the idea of his own merits, which the love and gratitude of his fellow citizens had exaggerated, he staggered on in this sweet reverie, as in a delightful world of dreams. He feared not, because he trusted to the deceitful pledge which destiny had given him of her favour, in the general love of the people, and he believed in its justice, because he himself was prosperous. Even the most terrible experience of Spanish perfidy, could not afterwards eradicate this confidence from his soul, and on the scaffold itself, his latest feeling was hope. A tender fear for his family kept his patriotic courage fettered by lower duties Because he trembled for property and life, he could not venture much for the republic. William of Orange broke with the throne, because its arbitrary power was offensive to his pride; Egmont was vain, and therefore valued the favours of the monarch. The former was a citizen of the world; Egmont had never been more than a Fleming.

Philip II. still stood indebted to the hero of St. Quentin, and the supreme stadtholdership of the Netherlands appeared the only appropriate reward for such great services. Birth and high station, the voice of the nation and personal abilities, spoke as loudly for Egmont as for Orange; and if the latter was to be passed by, it seemed that the former alone could supplant him.

Two such competitors, so equal in merit, might have embarrassed Philip in his choice, if he had ever seriously thought of selecting either of them for the appointment. But the pre-eminent qualities by which they supported their claim to this office, were the very cause of their rejection; and it was precisely the ardent desire of the nation for their election to it, that irrevocably annulled their title to the appointment. Philip's purpose would not be answered by a stadtholder in the Netherlands, who could command the good will and the energies of the people. Egmont's descent from the Duke of Gueldres, made him an hereditary foe of the house of Spain, and it seemed impolitic to place the supreme power in the hands of a man, to whom the idea might occur of revenging on the son of the oppressor, the oppression of

his ancestor. The slight put on their favourites could give no just offence either to the nation or to themselves, for it might be pretended that the king passed over both, because he would not show a preference to either.

The disappointment of his hopes of gaining the regency, did not deprive the Prince of Orange of all expectation of establishing, more firmly, his influence in the Netherlands. Among the other candidates for this office, was also Christina, Duchess of Lorraine, and aunt of the king, who, as mediatrix of the peace of Chateau Cambray, had rendered important service to the crown. William aimed at the hand of her daughter, and he hoped to promote his suit by actively interposing his good offices for the mother; but he did not reflect that, through this very intercession, he ruined her cause. The Duchess Christina was rejected, not so much for the reason alleged, namely, the dependence of her territories on France made her an object of suspicion to the Spanish court, as because she was acceptable to the people of the Netherlands and the Prince of Orange.

MARGARET OF PARMA, REGENT OF THE NETHERLANDS.

While the general expectation was on the stretch, as to whom the future destinies of the provinces would be committed, there appeared on the frontiers of the country the Duchess Margaret of Parma, having been summoned by the king from Italy, to assume the government.

Margaret was a natural daughter of Charles V. and of a noble Flemish lady, named Vangeest, and born 1522. Out of regard for the honour of her mother's house, she was at first educated in obscurity; but her mother, who possessed more vanity than honour, was not very anxious to preserve the secret of her origin, and a princely education betrayed the daughter of the Emperor. While yet a child, she was intrusted to the Regent Margaret, her great aunt, to be brought up at Brussels, under her eye. This guardian she lost in her eighth year, and the care of her education devolved on Queen Mary of Hungary, the successor of Margaret in the regency. Her father had already affianced her, while yet in her fourth year, to a Prince of Ferrara; but this alliance

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being subsequently dissolved, she was betrothed to Alexander de Medicis, the new Duke of Florence, which marriage was, after the victorious return of the Emperor from Africa, actually consummated in Naples. In the first year of this unfortunate union, a violent death removed from her a husband who could not love her, and for the third time her hand was disposed of to serve the policy of her father. Octavius Farnese, a prince of thirteen years of age, and nephew of Paul III., obtained, with her person, the duchies of Parma, and Piacenza as her portion. Thus, by a strange destiny, Margaret, at the age of maturity, was contracted to a boy, as in the years of infancy she had been sold to a man. Her disposition, which was anything but feminine, made this last alliance still more unnatural, for her taste and inclinations were masculine, and the whole tenour of her life belied her sex. After the example of her instructress, the Queen of Hungary, and her great aunt, the Duchess Mary of Burgundy, who met her death in this favourite sport, she was passionately fond of hunting, and had acquired in this pursuit such bodily vigour, that few men were better able to undergo its hardships and fatigues.

Her gait itself was so devoid of grace, that one was far more tempted to take her for a disguised man, than for a masculine woman; and Nature, whom she had derided by thus transgressing the limits of her sex, revenged itself finally upon her by a disease peculiar to men-the gout.

These unusual qualities were crowned by a monkish superstition, which was infused into her mind by Ignatius Loyola, her confessor and teacher. Among the charitable works and penances with which she mortified her vanity, one of the mos remarkable was, that during Passion-Week, she yearly washed, with her own hands, the feet of a number of poor men, (who were most strictly forbidden to cleanse themselves beforohand,) waited on them at table like a servant, and sent them away with rich presents.

Nothing more is requisite than this last feature in her cha racter, to account for the preference which the king gave her over all her rivals; but his choice was at the same time justi. fied by excellent reasons of state. Margaret was born and also educated in the Netherlands. She had spent her early youth among the people, and had acquired much of their national

manners. Two regents, (Duchess Margaret, and Queen Mary of Hungary,) under whose eyes she had grown up, had gradually initiated her into the maxims by which this peculiar people might be most easily governed; and they would also serve her as models. She did not want either in talents; and possessed, moreover, a particular turn for business, which she had acquired from her instructors, and had afterwards carried to greater perfection in the Italian school. The Netherlands had been, for a number of years, accustomed to female government; and Philip hoped, perhaps, that the sharp iron of tyranny, which he was about to use against them, would cut more gently, if wielded by the hands of a woman. Some regard for his father, who at the time was still living, and was much attached to Margaret, may have in a measure, as it is asserted, influenced this choice; as it is also probable that the king wished to oblige the Duke of Parma, through this mark of attention to his wife, and thus to compensate for denying a request, which he was just then compelled to refuse him. As the territories of the duchess were surrounded by Philip's Italian States, and at all times exposed to nis arms, he could, with the less danger, entrust the supreme power into her hands. For his full security, her son, Alexander Farnese, was to remain at his court as a pledge for her loyalty All these reasons were alone sufficiently weighty to turn the king's decision in her favour; but they became irresistible, when supported by the Bishop of Arras and the Duke of Alva The latter, as it appears, because he hated or envied all the other competitors; the former, because even then, in all probability, he anticipated, from the wavering disposition of this princess, abundant gratification for his ambition.

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Philip received the new regent on the frontiers with & splendid cortège, and conducted her with magnificent pomp. to Ghent, where the States General had been convoked. he did not intend to return soon to the Netherlands, he desired, before he left them, to gratify the nation for once, by holding a solemn Diet, and thus giving a solemn sanction and the force of law to his previous regulations For the last time, he showed himself to his Netherlandish people, whose destinies were, from henceforth, to be dispensed from a myste rious distance. To enhance the splendour of this solemn day, Philip invested eleven knights with the Order of the