in its full strength. The persecution of the Reformers, by the Spaniards, had the same effect as the persecution of the Christians by the Roman Emperors in the days of old. As the Christians of old were confirmed, strengthened, and united, by the common bond of suffering together in a righteous cause, so were the Dutch Reformers strengthened and united in feeling by the barbarities exercised against them on account of their religious opinions. It often needs adversity to bring out what is noblest and best in man's nature. Adversity had this effect on William of Orange, on whom all the hopes of the Reformers were centred. From henceforth, and to the end of his life, William the Silent showed all the forbearance, the patience, the endurance, and the trust in God of a deeply religious man. A hero and a statesman he had been before, and a valiant commander he was now about to prove himself. It is not necessary to give a review of the struggle in the Netherlands prior to 1598. Enough has been said to show the nature and aim of the struggle which all Protestant Europe sympathised with; and it only suffices to say, that in 1572 a band of brave Englishmen, commanded by Sir William Morgan, offered their services to Count Lewis of Nassau, to fight in the cause of civil and religious liberty. This band of volunteers was the nucleus of a powerful English force, which afterwards assisted the Netherlanders in their fight for freedom, and greatly contributed to their future success.1

It was not until after the assassination of William the Silent, which sad event occurred at Delft in July, 1584,2 that Queen Elizabeth openly assisted the Dutch.3

1 Churchyard's Civil Wars in the Netherlands, p. 18.

2 The Prince of Orange was shot in the Prinsenhof, or palace, by Gérard, on July 10, 1584, and was buried in the New Church, where is a splendid monument, erected to his memory in 1621.

3 Camden's Hist. of Queen Elizabeth, iii. p. 321.

In 1585, Elizabeth concluded a treaty with the States, and agreed to send them 5,000 foot and 1,000 horse, under the command of an English general. These troops were to be paid by her on condition that the general, and two others whom she should appoint, might be admitted into the Council of the States; that neither party should make peace without the consent of the other; that the Queen's expenses should be refunded after the conclusion of the war, and that the towns of Flushing, Bergen-op-zoom, and the Brille, with the Castle of Rammekins should be consigned into her hands by way of security.1 Each county in England furnished a proportion of the required number of men. "The Livery Companies of the city of London also provided each a limited number of men for this service," says the compiler of the history of the Third Regiment of Foot, "and the men furnished by the city, having been incorporated into the corps which is now the Third Regiment of Foot, or the Buffs, it was afterwards the practice for this regiment to recruit within the precincts of the city, and to enjoy the exclusive privilege2 of marching through the city of London, with drums beating and colours flying."3 Stow mentions that "on July 23, 1585,

1 Speed's Hist. of Great Britain, p. 1173.

2 This is a mistake, as the marines have the same privilege. They date their origin from the Third, the Admiral's, or Duke of York's Maritime Regt., levied in 1684 by Charles II. and sent to Holland, where it became altogether a land corps, and ultimately got incorporated with General Monk's Coldstreams. Like the old Holland Regt. (now 3rd Buffs) the Maritime Regt. was raised by the city of London; hence the privilege, shared with the Buffs, of marching through London with bands playing, colours flying, and bayonets fixed. An authenticated anecdote has it, that a detachment of marines parading down Cheapside, with beat of drum, were silenced by a city magnate, and told that none but the Old Buffs were allowed thus to disturb the "good citizens' " repose. "Sir, we are marines," replied the officer; "I did not know it," was the Alderman's rejoinder, "pray continue your route as you best please." See article in the Globe for July 2, 1878.

'Cannon's Records of the 3rd Regt. of Foot, p. 26.

certain soldiers were pressed in the severall wards of the citie of London, which souldiers were furnished for the warres, and cloathed in red coates, all at the charges of the companies and citizens; set foorth toward the seas on the 13 of August, and were transported over into Holland, Zealand, &c., as others, the like souldiers out of other partes of the realme, before had been transported to serve for the defence of the Lowe Countries, under General Norris and other approved Captaines." 1

During the winter Elizabeth sent an additional body of troops to the Low Countries, which amounted, in 1586, to 8,000 horse and foot. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was appointed to the command of these troops, and his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, the pink of chivalry, was appointed Governor of Flushing. A number of gallant Englishmen, of high birth and position, had commands in the States' army. Amongst the number may be mentioned Sir John Norris, Peregrine Bertie Lord Willoughby de Eresby, the Earl of Essex, Sir Robert Sidney, and last, but not least, the two brothers, Francis and Horace Vere.

The actions of the two last named heroes are inscribed on the brightest page of England's military history, and their names are synonymous with victory and glory. In 1586, we find Francis Vere 3 in command of a company at Bergenop-zoom, and when the Spaniards besieged Sluys he was removed thither, and highly distinguished himself in the defence of this town. In the following year Captain Vere was knighted for his gallantry at the defence of Bergen-opzoom, and during the campaign of 1589 he again highly distinguished himself by his successful defence of Bommel

1 Stow's Annals, p. 709.

2 Hollinshed's Chronicle, iii. p. 1413. See Dillingham's Commentaries of Sir Francis Vere, and the memoir of Vere in Biographia Britannica.

waert, an island formed by the Meuse and Waal in Dutch Guelderland. Ten years later Bommel was again the scene of a struggle between the Spaniards and Netherlanders. At this second siege of Bommel Sir Francis Vere commanded the English forces and was the right hand of Maurice of Nassau, the son of William the Silent, and the most successful general of his time.

Many stirring events had occurred from 1589 to 1599. The expedition to Cadiz in 1596,1 had taken place, and had been eminently successful. Could it have been otherwise when Howard of Effingham was at the helm, with Raleigh by his side, and such men as Essex and Vere at the prow? Zutphen, Deventer, and Gertruydenberg, in the Low Countries, had been besieged and nobly won by the Dutch and their brave English allies. Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, the Spanish Scipio who, of all Philip's generals, could best teach the stubborn foe to yield, had died, worn out with mental and bodily exertion. The Archduke-Cardinal, Albert of Austria, brother of the Emperor Rudolph, had been appointed Governor-General of the Netherlands in 1596, and two years later was married to the Infanta, Clara Eugenia Isabella of Spain, daughter of Philip II. The Netherlands had been graciously ceded by Philip to his daughter just before her marriage with the Archduke Albert. This important event was followed by Philip's illness and death.2 The horrible nature of this Monarch's last illness is unsurpassed in

' This may be called the second Cadiz expedition. In April, 1587, the English fleet, under Sir Francis Drake, entered the harbour of Cadiz and destroyed 10,000 tons of shipping, with their contents, in the very face of a dozen great galleys which the nimble English vessels soon drove under their forts for shelter.

? He was called, says Voltaire, the Devil of the South, because from the centre of Spain, which is the southern part of Europe, he gave disturbance to the dominions of every other Prince.-Nares' Burghley, iii. p. 491.

history. The death of Herod Agrippa I. was an awful one and somewhat similar to that of the Spanish king; but Herod's agony was soon over, whereas Philip lingered in indescribable torture for many weeks. Anyone who has

seen the picture of "The Dead Prelate," by Juan Valdes Leal, in the chapel of La Caridad at Seville,1 must shudder to think of the state the royal body of Charles the Fifth's royal son was reduced to before death.

In the summer of 1598 the Spanish troops in the Netherlands were reinforced, and Don Francis Mendoza, Admiral of Arragon, commander of the forces in the absence of Archduke Albert, threatened the United Provinces with an invasion. In the autumn of this year the admiral crossed the Meuse, at Roermond, with an army of 25,000 foot and 2,000 cavalry, and presented himself before a small town called Orsoy, on the Rhine. "It was his intention," says one of the historians of these events," to invade the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of the duke, and of the Spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who constituted a kind of regency. By obtaining possession of these important provinces-wedged as they were between the territory of the republic, the obedient Netherlands and Germany-an excellent military position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts from the east, for crushing Protestantism in the duchies, for holding important passages of the Rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the Protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old Duke of Cleves. Of course it was the determination of Maurice and the States-General to frustrate these operations."2

A well-painted but disgusting picture, which Murillo said he could not look at without holding his nose. This criticism from the great master was in itself a compliment to the painter's skill.

2 Motley's Hist. of the United Netherlands, iii. pp. 546-7. Sir Francis