time the French still advanced on that side where the Imperialists lay posted but Count Souches instead of ranging his men in Battel quitted his post and passed the River in so much haste that he left some pieces of Cannon behind him which his Highness had sent him and cou'd not be recover'd without extream danger By this means the Prince of Conde having an open passage entred the Town with part of his Army and he had certainly gained that Advantage as to cut off all mannâ—… of Communication between the Confederates had it not been for a great Fog that arose on the sudden and prevented his design The Prince of Orange considering the present state of his affairs was of opinion that it was the best way to draw off and so followed after the Imperialists and the Spaniards whom he joyn'd within a league of Oudenard but finding that by reason of the great opiniatrete of the former he should be able to effect nothing here he was resolved to return the same way to Grave where his presence was so necessary to carry on the Siege leaving Count Waldeck to command the Army in his absence The Prince arrived befor this place on the ninth of October with sixty Troops of Horse and tho the Besieged who were now reduced to great extremities defended themselves with great vigour and resolution till the 25th of the same month yet the Marquess de Chamilly seeing it was impossible to hold out against a general assault because of the great breaches in the works demanded a cessation of Arms for three or four hours and after Hostages on both sides the City surrendred on very honourable conditions and thus ended this Campaign The year 1675 began with the Addresses of the Burghers wherein they thanked his Highness for the mighty services he had done them in delivering them from the calamities and miseries they had suffered under the tyranny of a foreign Enemy In consideration of which they offer'd him the Soveraignty of the Dutchy of Gueldres and Earldom of Zutphen with the Titles of Duke of Gueldres and Count of Zutphen But the Prince reflecting with himself that the accepting of this offer would give matter of jealousy to some persons and give others occasion to infer that he only aimed at his own Grandeur in this war to convince the world of the sincerity of his intentions he judged it the best way to refuse these Honours but at the same time did not refuse the offer they made him of being hereditary Governour of that Province This he readily accepted and after he had taken the Oaths reformed several abuses that had got footing during the Enemy's usurpation there And now by reason of the continual alarms the People were in upon the occasion of the French King's resolutions who was to open the Campaign himself in Person in the beginningâ—… of the Spring he continually applied his thoughts upon the war and for that end always assisted at those Conferences where they debated upon their military affairs He was at Cleve to confer with the Elector of Brandenburgh who entertained him with great magnificence and soon after his arrival at the Hague fell ill of the Small-pox which news caused so much the greater consternain the United Provinces because that disease had been fatal to his Family in the Person of his Father his Mother and the Duke of Glocester but by the care and prudence of an able Physician and by the assistance of some remedies which the Elector of Brandenburgh sent him he recovered his health to the universal joy not only of Holland but all the Confederates No sooner was he perfectly recovered but he repaired to the general rendezvous at Rosendael for the King of France being now upon his march in Brabant it was necessary for the Prince to observe his motions and so much the more because Limburg which was besieged by the Marquis de Rochefort demanded a speedy relief For this reason his Highness parting with his Army from Duffel joyn'd the Dukes of Lunenburg and Lorrain at Gangelt with a resolution to raise the Siege And in all probability it had come to a Battel between the French King and the Prince since the King who was then at Maestricht having received advice of the Prince's march had repassed the Meuse at Viset to oppose his design but the City not being any longer able to sustain the great numbers of their Enemies surrendred sooner than was expected After the taking of Limbug the King of France encamped near Tillemont ravaging all the Country round about Louvain Brussels and Malines He had a mighty desire to make himself master of Louvain but his Highness and the Duke de Villa Hermosa watched him all along so narrowly that he durst not undertake it so that finding he was able to do no more content with having gained Limburg he returned to Paris leaving the Prince of Conde to observe the Prince of Orange And to say the truth both these wary Generals watched one another so carefully that they cou'd not gain the least advantage one over the other But the Prince of Conde was soon commanded to go into Alsatia after the death of the Mareschal de Turenne Our Prince therefore had now to do with a new General the Duke of Luxemburgh but who in prudence and conduct was by no means inferiour to his great Predecessor His Highness had nevertheless this advantage over him that he hindred him from ravaging the territory of Triers so that after the fatal and entire routing of Monsieur de Crequi that City fell into the hands of the Imperialists France having thus sustained two mighty losses in the death of Turenne and the Defeat of Crequi the D. of Luxemburg rather than run the hazard of receiving a third which perhaps might have proved mortal suffer'd the Prince of Orange to take Bins before his face when there were 350 men in Garrison and great store of Provisions His Highness ordered all its Fortifications to be demolished to render it unserviceable to the Enemy and finding the season now well advanced dispersed his Army and came back to the Hague The calamities of war which had for some years afflicted and depopulated the greatest part of Europe were so extremely great and deplorable that several Princes moved with compassion did deliberate of the most proper means to stop the progress of those miseries under which the people languished Tho this design was so highly advantageous to Christendom in general yet it did but slowly advance till at last the K. of Great Britain having concluded a peace with Holland resolved to offer his Mediatorship to procure an universal peace amongst all the Christian Princes which having at last been submitted to the City of Nimeguen was chosen for the place of Treaty where all the Plenipotentiaries met towards the beginning of the year 1676. This hindred neither party from making as mighty preparations to renew the War in the Spring as if there were not
this fine Hexameter Qui deditante duas triplicem dabit ille Coronam The Fury of the Leaguers thus paraphrased it in the following Distick Qui deditante duas unam abstulit altera nutat Tertia tonsoris est facienda manu Besides this in a private Cabal held by those of that party where this Execrable Design was proposed it hapning that one in the companâ—… who was more moderate than the rest demanded Who should be the Man that durst put the King in a Cloyster The Cardinal of Guise who was of a hot fiery constitution after he had reproached him for his faint â—…eartedness roundly told him That were the King in his hands he would for his head between his knees and immediately make him a Monk's Crown with the point of a Poiniard An Aâ—…r 〈◊〉 cost him very dear for after Henry III had caus'd Monsieur de Guise his Brother to be executed and was considering with himself what he should do with the Cardinal whom he had order'd to be apprehended Col. Alphonso d' Ornano Father to the Mareschal of that Name having put him in mind of these cruel words and remonstrated to him That the living Brother was infinitely more dangerous than he that was now dead had ever been the King swore he should dye and immediately sent Monsieur de Gaast Captain of the Guards with positive Orders to dispatch him This secret Solicitation of Henry III. against Mary Stuart his own Sister in Law Queen of Scotland and Dowager of France makes it appear That to preserve our selves we often sacrifice our Allies and Relations and even Religion it self to Interest and Reason of State Witness what the aforesaid Q. Elizabeth heretofore told my Father That she held her Life by the Courtesie of King Philip II. her Brother in Law although he was the greatest Enemy she had Upon this consideration she kept his Picture in her Bed-chamber and made him be looked upon by all the World as her Saviour And in effect he hinder'd her Sister Mary from putting her to death For Q. Mary Second Wife to K. Philip being a great Catholic and very infirm had reason to fear that her Sister Elizabeth who was a Protestant when she came to succeed her would banish the Catholic Religion out of England theâ—…ower â—…ower of London But. K. Philip oâ—…d the motion with all his power fearing lest Mary Stuart Heir to Q. Elizabeth who then was marry'd to K. Francis II. should one day becoâ—… Queen of Great Britain by Right of Succession and joyning it to France as it would unqueâ—…ionably happen if she had any children by tâ—…e Union of so many Kingdoms a formidable power would be erected that would uâ—…erly ruin and confound his vast design of an Universal Monarchy At this very juncture the Spaniards make Religion truckle to Interest and those Grave Gentlemen who have so often in their Writings reproached us for our Alliances with Hereticks and particularly with Holland and Sweden in order to recommend themselves with a better grace to the Court of Rome at present look upon the Hollanders as the greatest support of their Monarchy permitting them to preach publickly in their Cities Nay to show what a consideration they have for these people Admiral d'Ruyter a little before his death got a great Number of Hungarian Ministers to be released out of the Gallys of Naples whither the Emperour had sent them at one word's speaking to the Marquiss de Los-Velez the Viceroy Thus any body may perceive that 't is Interest only that governs the World and that a great Captain had reason to say That Princes commanded the People but that Interest commanded Princes Which is so palpable so apparent a Truth that the most sacred things among men have been often devoted to this wicked principle and the greatest part of Crown'd Heads observe the Rules of Iustice and Religion no farther than they find them consistent with their dearly beloved Interest As for what remains if any scrupulous person shall think sit to quarrel with my Memoirs for comparing William Prince of Orange and Admiral Colligny who were both Hereticks and both Rebels to the greatest Heroes of Antiquity yet I would not have him conclude that I have the least leaning towards Heresy and Rebellion to which I have an equal Aversion My meaning is That it is a Sign of as much if not more Vertue to make ones self a Prince of a private person than to be one and being weak to resist mighty powers than to gain Batles being born to a Scepter as Alexander and Gustavus Adolphus were Kings owe their Victories to the Valour of their Captains and Troops and sometimes to the Winds and to the Sun that is to meer Fortune Thus Cicero speaking to Caesar tells him That he acquired more glory in pardoning Marcellus and restoring his Enemy to his Estate and Dignities than if he had gained a great many Battels because his Soldiers and Officers would attribute the principal honour of it to themselves and for an undeniable Argument That the gaining of a Battle is owine to the Experience and Courage of the Soldery the Prince of Conde who had as much personal Bravery as ever any man in the World had after he had defeated at Rocroy the old disciplined Regiments of the Low-Countries and those of the Empire at Nordlingue durst not appear in Guyenne before the Count of Harcourt who had but a small Body of old experienced Troops with him altho the Prince had twice the Number of New raised men Difference in Religion ought not to diminish our Esteem of any man We have seen several good Catholicks of very shallow Understandings as for Instance the Cardinal de Pelleve who as he was once haranguing the States General broke off abruptly and made nothing on 't which gave occasion to the following Lines Seigneurs Etats excusez le bon-homme Il a laissé son Calepin à Rome On the other hand we have seen some Huguenots as for Instance Monsieur de la None whom the most celebrated Writers have compared to the greatest men of former Ages As for my self I adore extraordinary Merit where-ever I find it be it in an Heretic in a Rebel nay even in an Enemy The Duke of Lesse Viceroy of Naples has left an Eternal Monument of this Generous Maxim behind him by erecting a magnificent Tomb in St. Maries de la Nove at Naples to Peter of Navarr with this Inscription Petro Navarro Cantabro solertissimo in expugnandis Urbibus duci Consalvus Ferdinandus Luessae Princeps Ludovici filius Magni Consalvi Nepos quamvis Gallorum partes secutum Pio Sepulchri muncrum honestavit cum hoc habeat in se praeclara virtus ut ctiam in hoste sit admirabilis This Hero honour'd Vertue in an Enemy in a Rebel and in a Deserter and not thinking it sufficient to commend him in private erected a Noble Mausoleum to his Memory Caesar was not less regarded at Rome because he was
Prince who was his Nephew and had been bred up with him at Sedan and the Duke discovered some Ambition to have his Nephew a King when he wrote to some Friends at Paris that whilst Lewis was making Knights at Fountainbleau he was making Kings in Germany But this Royalty did not continue above 6 months so that his Enemies called him a King of Snow because the single battle of Prague in the beginning of the year 1621 lost him all Bohemia Silesia Lusatia Moravia with the adjoyning Provinces and the year following the Spanish Forces marching from the Low Countries deprived him of the Palatinate itself in which he was not re-established but by Adolphus's Descent into Germany Charles Duke of Lorrain who died many years after one of the oldest Captains of the age signalized himself very much at the Battle of Pragne where Count Harcourt was likewise tho very young But to return to Prince Maurice France being so apparently inclined to the Interests of Barnevelt's Party its Ministers which were then in Holland used to say that Prince Maurice would have pretended to the Soveraignty of the United Provinces but that such People who in the beginning had been hottest against Mr. Barnevelt and most devoted to the Prince yet when they fathom'd his designs became averse to them notwithstanding their former obligations besides the Exile Death and Imprisonment of persons who had been so considerable in the State and had likewise a great many Friends and Dependants wrought a mighty change in the Peoples affections to the Prince which appeared very visibly for whereas before when he went through the Towns of Holland every body came out of their houses praying for him with extraordinary Acclamations now as he was one day going through the Market-place at Gorcum which was full of people there was scarce a single man that pull'd his Hat off to him For the common people were so variable that the very Writings which heretofore had made Mr. Barnevelt become suspected by them were now produced as so many motives for their pity and compassion towards him To this they added that the assistance which probably he might have hop'd for from the Elector Palatine was since the loss of the battle of Prague no longer to be expected and the Emperor Ferdinand the 2d having by the happy success of his Generals Count Tilly and Wallestein made himself absolute Master of all Germany even to the Baltick Sea where he established an Admiralty at Wismar reduced all the Princes and Imperial Towns under his Obedience Prince Maurice could no longer expect Succors from Germany whatever Friends he might heretofore have had there But those who adhered to the Interests of Prince Maurice and the House of Orange acquitted him of a Design so prejudicial to the good of the United Provinces by maintaining that it was a perfect Artifice of his Enemies to make him become odious to the People of the Low Countries for said they what probability was there that Prince Maurice ever had it in his thoughts to become Soveraign of his Country since after the extirpation of Barnevelt and his party he never made one step towards it which he might have done having then no farther obstacles Prince Maurice did not long survive a great Conspiracy which the Sieur de Stautemburg youngest Son of Mr. Barnevelt had laid against his Life which being happily discovered some hours before its execution obliged him to punish a great number of the Conspirators throughout the pincipal Towns of Holland The Prince was never married but had several Natural Children the most considerable of them all was Mousieur de Beververt a man very well made and very brave he was Governor of Bolduc after whose death the Prince of Tarentum had that Government and was succeeded by Collonel Fitz Patrick a Scotchman Prince Maurice died in the Spring of the Year 1625 when the Marquess Spinola besieged the Town of Breda And as some pretended it was for grief that he did not succeed in the Soveraignty so others said that it was because he could not relieve that place which was his own propriety and had been surprized by him 34 years before FREDERICK HENRY Prince of Orange Henry Frederick of Nassau Prince of Orange and his Posterity THis Prince was born the 28th of February 1584. He was of a good mein and of a strong make and his parts were as eminent as his person was agreeable He was a very great Captain and equall'd the Glory of his Brother Maurice who taught him the Art of War and lead him into the most dangerous Adventures and amongst others at the battle of Newport where though he was very young he contributed much by his Valor to the gaining that great Victory in a conjuncture where the Army of the States General had before them a powerful body of men commanded by Albert the Arch-duke in person and the Sea behind them so that it was absolutely necessary either to make themselves Conquerors or to perish When Prince Maurice died in the year 1625 he advised his Brother Henry Frederick his chief Heir to marry Madam de Solmes who was come into Holland with the Queen of Bohemia whose Beauty and good Carriage were accompanied with a great deal of Modesty and Prudence she died a little while ago being very antient and her Name was Amelia Daughter to Iohn Albert Count de Solmes This Prince had one Son and four Daughters the eldest of these Ladies married Frederick William the Elector of Brandenburg by whom she had several Children This Prince has the greatest Territories in all Germany they reaching from the Low Countries to Poland and Curland The 2d Daughter Henrietta Emilia married the Count de Nassau The 3d Henrietta Catherina married Iohn George Prince of Anhalt and the 4th married the Duke of Simeren the youngest Son of the House Palatine who died a little while ago The Son was called William was born in 1626 and died the 6th of November 1650 after the business of Amsterdam He was a Prince naturally ambitious and of great Courage so that his Enemies reported of him that though he was so young yet he aimed at the execution of that design which had been laid to Prince Maurice's charge by Barnevelt and his Adherents His sudden death changed the whole face of affairs in the Low Countries He had great prospects from his alliance of England having married Princess Mary Daughter of Charles the first King of Great Britain by whom he left Prince William Henry of Nassau now King of England c. who was born the 14th of November 1650 some days after the death of his Father This young Prince William was very remarkable in his Infancy for his reservedness and moderation his Prudence increased as he grew up and such people as were nice observers of merit and took great notice of him have affirmed that never Prince gave greater hopes than he even in the most tender years He suffered with an admirable temper
belief when King Philip was going aboard the Ship at Flushing which was to carry him into Spain The King looking on him with a great deal of anger reproach'd him with hindring the execution of his designs by his private intrigues The Prince replying with much submission that the States had done every thing voluntarily and of their own accord the King took him by the hand and shaking it answer'd in Spanish No los Estadós mas vos vos vos repeating the word vos several times which the Spaniards use by way of contempt as we say in French Toy Ioy Thou thou This particular I had from my Father who learn'd it from a Confident of the Prince of Orange who was present The Prince after this publick affront had more wit than to conduct the King aboard his Vessel but contented himself with taking leave of him and wishing him a good Voyage into Spain For he was secure enough in the City where he was well beloved and where there was a great concourse of people from all parts to see the King 's Embarkment As a further proof of his disgrace instead of having the Government of the Netherlands conferr'd on him which his Ancestors had enjoy'd and which he passionately desired he saw Cardinal Granville his Enemy at the Helm intrusted with all the secrets of the Court of Spain under Margaret of Austria Duchess of Parma and Governess of the Netherlands who had particular Orders to have an eye on his Actions and to communicate no affair of importance to him which made him resolve for the preservation of his Honour and his Life too which he saw openly threatned to support himself with the love of the People and court Foreign Alliances From hence 't is reasonable enough to conclude that King Philip by his ill usage of the Prince of Orange who had done such great Services to the Emperour his Father was himself the cause of all the Disorders in the Low-Countries For had he continued a favourable Treatment to the Prince of Orange according to the advice and example of his Father he had without dispute been a good Subject and never had taken those desperate resolutions which kindled a fire that lasted above a Hundred years and cost the Lives of so many Thousand Men and drain'd the Treasure of the Indies This ought to be a warning never to drive great Courages to despair We meet with a Thousand instances of this nature in History but particularly of Narses This famous Eunuch after all his great Services were slighted for the Empress Sophia Wife of Iustin the Second had sent him word that she would make him Spin with her Women replied That he would weave such a Web that she and the whole Empire should never be able to cover And to make his Threatnings good he call'd the Lombards into Italy who conquer'd the best part of it to which they left their Name This done without returning to Constantinople he stay'd some time at Naples where he died quietly in his Bed in spite of all the designs of this proud Empress who had sent Longinus a wicked and cruel Man to succeed him with Orders to dispatch him But before I enter upon the General History of the Actions of this Prince 't will be proper to say something of his Family leaving the Particulars which would be too tedious to the Genealogists The House of Nassaw is without contradiction one of the greatest and ancientest in all Germany For besides its high Alliances the number of its Branches and the honour of giving an Emperour near Four hundred years since it has this particular advantage to have continued Ten entire Ages and to boast with the State of Venice as a Learned Man says That its Government is founded upon a Basis of a Thousand years standing Count Oiho of Nassaw who liv'd Six hundred years since had two Wives The first brought him in Marriage the Country of Gueldres and the other Zulphen which were preserved Three Ages in the House of Nassaw After him another Count Otho of Nassaw Married the Countess of Viandden who had great Estates in the Netherlands above Three hundred years since His Grandson Engilbert the first of that Name Count of Nassaw Married the Heiress of Laeke and Breda A. D. 1404 and was Grandfather to Engilbert of Nassaw the second of that Name This Prince was great in War and Peace He won the Battle of Guinegaste punish'd the Rebellion of Bruges and was Governour-General of the Netherlands under Maximilian the First He died without Children and made his Brother Iohn Heir of all his Estates This Count Iohn had two Sons Henry and William The Lands in the Low-Countries fell to Henry's share the Eldest William the Youngest had those of Germany This is that Henry Count of Nassaw to whose strong Solicitations against Francis the Fifth Charles the Fifth owed his Empire This was he who on the Day of his Coronation put the Imperial Crown upon his Head Nevertheless after the conclusion of Peace between those great Princes when he was sent by the Emperour to do Homage for the Counties of Flanders and Artois King Francis by an incredible generosity forgetting all what was pass'd Married him to Claude de Chalon only Sister to Philibert de Chalon Prince of Orange who had been brought up by Ann of Bretan his Mother-in-law By this means Rene de Nassaw and of Chalons his only Son was Prince of Orange after the Death of his Uncle Philibert de Chalons who died without Issue William Count of Nassaw Brother to Count Henry embraced the reform'd Religion and banish'd the Catholick out of his Dominions 'T was he who was the Father of the great William of Nassaw whose Life I am writing who became Prince of Orange and Lord of all the Estates of the House of Chalons by the Will of Rene de Nassaw and de Chalon his Cosin German who was kill'd at the Siege of St. Desier A. D. 1544. and left no Children behind him The Emperour Charles the fifth who was so much obliged to the House of Nassaw was extreamly concern'd to see this young Prince bred up a Heretick with much ado he removed him from his Father and placed him near his Person in order to his Conversion to the Catholick Religion which indeed the Prince made a publick profession of as long as the Emperour liv'd and in the beginning of the Reign of Philip the Third But the prejudice of the Education and the new Religion which he had suck'd in with his Milk and had a taste of afterwards at the Court of France where the new Opinions were very much in Vogue when he was a Hostage at Paris for the Peace of Cambray made so strong an Impression on him that he could never wear it off His Father Count William of Nassaw had Five Sons and seven Daughters by Iulienne Countess of Stolbourg The eldest was this William of Nassaw Prine of Orange The youngest was Iohn Count
Canon But this proved a long and a bloody Siege having lasted from December 1572. to Iuly 1573. The Spaniards lost above Four thousand Men before it among others the Sieur Crossonier Great Master of the Artillery and Bartholomew Campi de Besoro an excellent Engineer There was so great a Famine in the City that a little Child Three years old was dug up by its Parents some days after it was buried to prolong their miserable Life During this Siege Don Frederick tired with its length and despairing of good Success talked of returning into Brabant but the Duke of Alva blaming his impatience sent him word that if he resolved to raise the Siege he himself would come in Person sick as he was to carry it on But if his Indisposition hindred him he would send into Spain for his Mother to supply the place of her Son This reproach made Don Frederick resolve to continue the Siege In the heat of the Siege the Spaniards having thrown into the City the Head of a Man with this Inscription The Head of Philip Konigs id est King who came to relieve Harlem with an Army of Two thousand Men and aftewards another with this Inscription The Head of Anthony le Peintre who betrayed Mons to the French The Inhabitants of Harlem put to Death eleven Spanish Prisoners and put their Heads into a Barrel which by Night they rolled into the Enemies Camp With this Inscription The Citizens of Harlem pay the Duke of Alva ten Heads that he may no longer make Waer upon them for the Payment of the Tenth penny which they have not yet paid and for Interest they give him the Eleventh Head As they had hopes that the Siege would be raised they suffered themselves to be transported to prophane Mockeries making the Images of Priests Monks Cardinals and Popes and then tumbled them down from the top of the Walls after they had stabbed them in a hundred places At last the City being reduced to the greatest extremity by an unheard of Famine which swept away above Thirteen thousand Persons and all hopes of relief being vanished by the defeat of the Succours which the Count de la Mark and the Baron de Balemberg were bringing to the City they were obliged to surrender at Discretion by the Crys of the Women and Children for the Men had resolved to Sally out in a Body and cut out an honourable passage with their Swords through the Enemies Army The Spaniards forced the Citizens to pay a great Summ of Money to hinder the entire Destruction of the place and hang'd and drown'd above Two thousand Persons in some few days among others all the Ministers the principal Men of the City and the Officers of the Troops Wibald Riperda Governour and Lancelot a Bastard Son to Brederode were both beheaded The Cruelty of the Spaniards at Harlem instead of doing their Cause Service ruin'd it and made the People resolve rather to suffer the last Miseries than submit to so Cruel and Tyrannical a Government Thus the little City of Alkmar bravely repulsed all their Attacks and the Prince of Orange surprized Gertrudemberg which belonged to him in his own Right and which covered Dordrecht About the same time Maximilian de Henin Count de Bossut a famous Captain and very much valued by the Duke of Alva who was made Governour of Holland was taken in the Zuider-Zee which is the Sea of Amsterdam and his Fleet defeated by that of the Prince of Orange His great Ship was also taken which he called the Inquisition to reproach the Dutch with the principal Cause of their revolt This Count was carried to Horn where he remained Prisoner Four years till the Pacification of Ghent The Spaniards having taken Prisoner at the Hague Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde Minister of State to the Prince of Orange he assured the Duke of Alva that he would treat the Count de Bossut in the same manner as he did St. Aldegonde The Prince of Orange can never be enough commended for his good Nature in treating the Count with so much Kindness and Civility though not long before he had corrupted a Burgomaster of Delft and prevailed upon him to betray the Prince and deliver him into his hands whilst he was walking out of the City But the Conspiracy was discovered by a Letter intercepted from the Count to the Burgomaster About that time the Duke of Alva and his Son were recalled into Spain King Philip having found out too late that their Cruelty confirmed the Low-Countries in their Rebellion Lewis de Requesens great Commander of the Order of St. Iames in Castile and Governour of Milan who had a great share in the famous Victory of Lepanto succeeded the Duke of Alva in the Government of the Netherlands The Duke at his Departure boasted that he had put to Death by the hands of the Hangman above Eighteen thousand Men yet cruel Vargas who returned into Spain with him cryed at parting that his Clemency and Gentleness had lost the King the Netherlands A. D. 1574. Middleburg the Capital City of Zealand having been a long time defended by that renowned Captain Christopher de Mondragon and endured a great Famine and after the defeat of the Spanish Fleets who attempted in vain to relieâ—…e it was reunited to the rest of the Province This Siege lasted two years and the Spaniards spent above Seven Millions in the several Fleets they set out to Succour it The Prince of Orange so successful at Sea had always ill Luck at Land For the fourth Army which Count Lodowick of Nassau brought him out of Germany to assist him in driving out the Spaniards from the rest of Holland was defeated near Nimeguen by Sancho D'Avila a General of great Experience who from a private Souldier had advanced himself through all the Degrees and Employments of War to that great Command The Germans of Count Lodowicks Army instead of providing for their own and their General 's Defences fell to Mutiny according to their usual Custom and demand their Pay In this Action Count Lodowick and his Brother Count Henry of Nassau and Christopher Count Palatine were all three killed D'Avila remained Master of the Field of Battel of Sixteen pieces of Canon and all the Baggage This Battel was fought in the beginning of the Government of Requesens The Prince of Orange who loved his Brothers tenderly was sensibly afflicted with this loss But he abated nothing of his Constancy and Courage A. D. 1575. the Spaniards encouraged by the defeat and death of the two Brothers of the Prince of Orange laid Siege to the City of Leyden which after a long and unparallell'd Famine was miraculously saved by breaking down the Banks which drowned a great many Spaniards and by the Succours which was conveyed into the City by an infinite number of Boats that swam on the Lands that were overflown When the Prince represented to the States the Damage which the breaking down the Dikes
February following eight days after the Defeat made sufficient amends for this Loss Don Iohn encouraged by this great Success and hoping that this Victory would be the Instrument of another advanced with great Forces to attack the Army of the States at Rimenant near Malines commanded by the Count de Bossut But the Count had intrenched himself so strongly that Don Iohn was obliged to retire in great Confusion and considerable Loss And 't was agreed on by all Hands that if the Count de Bossut had marched out of his Camp he would have intirely defeated Don Iohn who had a Crucifix in his Colours with this Motto With this Sign I have beaten the Turks and with This I will beat the Hereticks In Iuly the States-General consented to a Toleration of both Religions in the Provinces which was called the Peace of Religion which all Men were not satisfied with by this means a Third Party sprung up called the Malecontents the principal of which were Emanuel de Lalain Baron de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Governour of Artois Valentine de Pardieu Sieur de la Motte Governour of Gavelines the Baron de Capres and others Thus the Provinces of Artois and Hainault returned to the Obedience of the King notwithstanding all the Remonstrances which the States made to them by Letters and Deputies About this time the States coined Money with the Bodies of Count Horn and Count Egmont and their Heads upon Stakes on one side and on the reverse two Horsemen and two Footmen fighting with this Inscription praestat pugnare pro patriâ quam simulatâ pace decipi It is better to fight for our Country than be deceived by a feigned peace The Malecontents to secure themselves against the States desired that the Foreign Troops might be recalled into the Netherlands contrary to the Pacification of Ghent and the perpetual Edict On the other side the States in order to their Defence treated with the Duke of Alencon whom they call'd the Defender of the Belgick Liberty upon condition that he should supply them with 10000 Foot and 2000 Horse paid at his own Charge This Treaty was concluded by the Means of the Queen of Navarre his Sister who in her Journey to the Spaw-Waters had drawn over a great number of Men to the party of her Brother whom she loved so tenderly among others the Count de Lalain and the Sieur D' Enchy Governour of Cambray A. D. 1578. in September died Don Iohn of Austria in the Camp at Namur of Grief for being suspected in Spain where his Secretary had been Assassinated or of Poyson as many are of Opinion Immediately after died the Count de Bossut General of the States who after his Death desired Mr. de la Nove Bras de fer in Consideration of his Reputation Valour Conduct and Experience in War to take upon him the Charge of Mareschal de Camp of their Army Alexander Farneze Prince of Parma succeeded Don Iohn in the Government of the Low Countries and by his Civility and obliging Carriage to all Men added to the great Promises he made strengthened the Party of the Male-Contents and weakened the power of the States About this time the 22d of Ianuary A. D. 1579. the Prince of Orange laid the first Foundation of the Commonwealth of the united Provinces by the strict Union which he made at Utrecht between the Provinces of Gueldres Zutphen Holland Zealand Friezland and the Ommelands consisting of Twenty six Articles the chief of which were these The Provinces made an Alliance against the common Enemy and promised mutually to assist each other and never to treat of Peace or War but by common Consent And all this without prejudice to the Statutes Privileges and Customs of every particular Province Which Article was broken under the Government of Prince Maurice when the States General assumed a Jurisdiction over all the Subjects of the Provinces who till that time had no other Lords than the particular States of the Province This Treaty was called the Union of Utrecht because 't was made in that City It was râ—…tified by all the Governours of the Provinces and the States to show how necessary a perfect Union was to their Preservation took those words of Micipsa in Salust for their device Concordiâ res parvae crescunt little Things become great by Concord That Year Maestricht was taken by Storm by the Duke of Parma after a Siege of four Months and a Treaty of Peace was set afoot at Cologne by the Mediation of the Emperor Rodolphus but the King of Spain refusing to grant a Toleration of Religion in the Netherlands though it had been allowed in France and Germany the design did not take effect Under the Government of the Duke of Parma many Actions passed between the Male-Contents and the Troops of the States commanded by Mr. de la Nove who surprized Ninove in Flanders and took in their Beds Count Egmont his Wife and Mother with Count Charles his Brother and carried them Prisoners to Ghent where the People as they passed through the Streets threw Dirt upon them and treated them with a thousand Indignities and abuses upbraiding them with abandoning their Country to joyn with the Executioners of their Fathers But Monsieur de la Nove after great Success was surprized himself with the few Men he had with him by the Viscount of Ghent and Marquess of Risbourg The Cause of this Accident was the Sieur Marquette's not obeying Monsieur Nove's Orders in breaking down the Bridge which led to him By order of the Duke of Parma he was carried Prisoner to the Castle of Limburg where he was barbarously treated by the Spaniards who offered to set him at Liberty provided they might put out his Eyes From whence 't is visible how apprehensive they were of this great Captain At last after a long Imprisonment he was exchang'd upon Count Egmont's Swearing never more to bear Arms against Spain of which the Duke of Lorrain and many other Lords and Princes were Guarrantees Besides his great Skill in the Art of War which is celebrated by all Historians never was a Man of so clear and dis-interested a Vertue which he gave continual proofs of during the whole Course of his Life but among the rest one very remarkable Instance Monsieur de la Nove Bras de fer was a Gentleman of Bretaigne and had a Sister married to Monsieur de Vezins a Man of Quality and Fortune in Anjou who had by her a Son and two Daughters this Sister had 20000 Crowns for her Fortune but dying young Monsieur de Vezins married a Woman who was one of her Attendants by whom he had several Children This Megere after the Death of her Husband desiring to secure to her Children the great Estate of the House of Vezins could think of no more effectual way than by delivering the Children of the first Wife her Mistress to an English Merchant for a Sum of Money upon Condition that she
nothing left to preserve the Memory of the Spaniards but their Bones and their Graves As for the Address which they make a Crime of he thinks it as advantageous to his own Credit and Honour as to the King's Service and the Interest of the Provinces to have advised the presenting it as a certain method to divert the Deluge of these infinite Disorders which afterwards happened And as for the Protestant Sermons he advised Madam de Parma to permit them things being in such a posture that they could not be hindered without a manifest danger of the entire Subversion of the Government When the King says that the Care and Providence of Madam de Parma was so great that he was obliged to quit the Netherlands he owns that the Charge would be true if his Treachery and Disloyalty had been the Cause of it but that a year before he would willingly have retired and surrendred all his Employments When he saw that Monsieur de Bergues and Montigny had lost their Lives in Spain and Gibbets were erected and Fires kindled all over the Country he thought it high time to put himself in a place of Security without trusting to the King's Lerters full of fair Promises and Offers the better to deceive him That they had fallen upon his Person and Estate That neither the Consideration of the Privileges of the University of Louvain nor the Province of Brabant could hinder them from carrying his Son Prisoner into Spain And that by so rigorous and unjust a Treatment he was absolved from all his Oaths and had good Ground to make War upon his Enemy which was objected to him as a Crime That the King laid nothing to his Charge but what his Predecessor Henry of Castile had been guilty of who tho' a Bastard rebell'd against his lawful Prince Don Pedro King of Castile and Leon and kill'd him with his ownhand If the King answers that Don Pedro was a Tyrant and that he possessed Castile only by that Title wherefore says the Prince should not the King of Spain be used in the same manner for there never was a Tyrant who subverted the Laws and Constitutions of the Country with more Arrogance or broke his Oath with more Impudence than King Philip. And that at least Don Pedro was neither guilty of Incest nor a Parricide nor a Murtherer of his Wife And though he was born the King's Subject and should take up Arms against him 't was no more than Albert the first Duke of Austria formerly Count of Hapsburg his Predecessor had done against the Emperor Adolphus of Nassaw his Lord one of the Prince's Ancestors The Prince affirms that there is an origiginal mutual Contract between the Dukes of Brabant and their Vassals that they owe Obedience to their Prince who on his side is bound to preserve their Privileges the chief of which are That the Dukes cannot change the Constitution of the Province by any Decree That they are to be satisfied with their ordinary Revenue That they can lay no new Impositions nor bring any Troops into the Province without the Consent of the States nor alter the Price of Money nor imprison any man without the Information of the Magistrate of the place nor send him out of the Country The Lords of the Provinces are obliged by their Oath to maintain and assert these Privileges because by their Prerogative they have the Charge of the Militia and the Arms of the Province and not doing it they are to be accounted Perjur'd and Enemies of their Country That the King has not violated only one of these Privileges but all and many times over He has seiz'd upon his Estates his Dignities and his Son contrary to his Immunities That for this Reason he was absolved from his Oath of Allegiance and by Consequence had a right to defend himself by Force of Arms and above all because the King would never redress and make Amends for his Faults having rejected the Intercessions of the Emperor Maximilian and the Petitions of his Subjects who deputed to him the principal Lords of the Netherlands which he put to Death by the Hands of the Hangman against the Law of Nations as he had served all others whom he could seize on by his Artifices and who were too credulous in believing his false Promises This abundantly justifies the Prince for taking up Arms for his own and his Country's Preservation and if he could not take footing in the Netherlands at his first Entry as the King reproaches to him 't was no more than what had happened to the greatest Generals and to the King himself who has often invaded Holland and Zealand and been driven shamefully out without being able to make himself Master of one Inch of Ground And in regard by his Oath he dispenses with his Subjects from obeying him if he acts contrary to the Laws why is he so impudent to say that the Prince has taken up Arms against him unjustly To that Article in which the King says he returned into Holland and Zealand by Bribery and Corrupting the Inhabitants he makes answer that he went there at the Instance and Sollicitation of the principal Men of the Province which he is able to make appear by their Letters When the King accuses him of having persecuted the Church-men driven out the Catholicks and banished that Religion he replies That all this had been done by a common Consent to preserve their Lives and Privileges against Men who had taken an Oath to the Pope and were setting all Engines a work to subvert their Liberties and the newly established Religion Which was represented at the Treaty of Peace at Breda where this Article of Religion was confirmed by the Decree and Seal of all the Cities and that 't was not fair to impute that to him which was done by an unanimous consent of the whole Country When he reproaches him for granting Liberty of Conscience he answers that he had always been as averse to the Burning so many Men as the Duke had taken pleasure in it and that he was of Opinion to put a Stop to all Persecutions He ingenuously owns that the King before the holding of the States at Ghent and his Departure into Spain had commanded him to put to Death many good Men suspected to favour the new Religion but he never put these cruel Orders in Execution but gave them notice of it not being able to do it with a safe Conscience and chusing rather to obey God than Man He says that they do him Wrong in laying the Murther of some Ecclesiasticks to his Charge for he punished the Criminals with Death and those who were of an illustrious Family as the Count de la Mark convicted of those Outrages were condemned only to Imprisonment and loss of their Employments in Consideration of their great Alliances To that Head wherein the King declares that he did not command the Duke of Alva to establish the Imposition of the 10th and 20th
Mergus with this Motto Saevis tranquillus in Undis Undisturb'd in the midst of the stormy Waves He behaved himself with so much Sweetness and Civility to the common People that he never wore his Hat as he walked through the Streets where People of all Ages and Sexes crowded to see him His most intimate Friends assured my Father that in his Passage through the Streets if he heard a Noise in any House and saw a Husband and Wife quarrelling he entred heard the Difference patiently perswaded them to a Reconciliation with incredible Sweetness The Breach made up the Master of the House asked him if he would not taste his Beer the Prince said yes the Beer brought the Burgher according to the Fashion of the Country begins the Prince's Health in a Gup which they call a Cann and which is usually of blew Earth then wiping off the Froth with the palm of his Hand presented the Can to the Prince who pledged him And when his Confidents told him that he condescended too much to Men of such mean Quality and treated them with too much Civility the Prince used to answer that what was gained by pulling off a Hat or a little Complaisance was bought at a very easy Rate No wonder after this that he was so universally lamented by the People when he was unhappily assassinated in the 51st year of his Age. 'T was done by one Baltazar de Guerard a Gentleman of the Franche Comtè and Native of Villefons in the County of Burgundy who in Hopes of a Reward or pretending to merit Heaven by taking out of the World an Enemy to the King and the Catholick Religion killed him at Delft as he rose from Table with a Pistol Shot loaded with three Bullets of which he died without saying any thing more than Lord have Mercy on my Soul and this poor People This dismal Accident happened in the presence of Louise de Coligny his fourth Wife and the Countess of Schouarzebourg his Sister whom he loved very tenderly and who never forsook him and was present at Antwerp when Iouregny wounded him This Villain had insinuated himself into the Acquaintance of the Prince under the name of Francis Guyon Son to Peter Guyon of Besancon who suffered for Religion He had always the Huguenot Psalms in his Hands and was a constant Frequenter of Sermons the better to conceal his Design Insomuch as the Prince trusted him and sent him upon several Dispatches and at the very Moment he assassinated him he demanded of the Prince a Pass-port to go somewhere where the Prince was sending him He was but 22 years old and made appear as much Constancy and Resolution in suffering the Punishment of his Crime as Boldness in undertaking it He repeated a hundred times that if he had not done it he would do it again and when his Flesh was plucked off his Limbs with burning Pincers he did not utter the least Cry or Groan which made the Hollanders believe he was possessed by the Devil and the Spaniards that he was assisted by God Almighty so different are the Opinions and Passions of Mankind The Marks of the Balls which entred into a Stone of the Gate after they had gone through the Body of the Prince are shown to Strangers at this day in Delft in Holland and I my self saw them when I was young Thus died William of Nassaw Prince of Orange and these are his principal Actions which are like so many solid Pillars upon which he has erected the great Fabrick of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces There was need of as vast a Genius and Capacity as his was to undertake so great and difficult a Work an unparallelled Courage to carry it on to the End and an unheard of Constancy in arriving to it in spite of the formidable Power of Spain and the domestick Treasons which crossed his generous Designs After this I believe no Man will accuse me of an Hyperbole for ranking this great Man among the Heroes of Antiquity and asserting that the Life and Vertue of the Admiral de Coligny bore a great Resemblance with that of the Prince of Orange They had both a very great share of Conduct Wisdom and Moderation They both had the Address to clear up and unravel the most perplexed and embroiled Affairs Both heard more than they talk'd They had both the Art of persuading and were full of good Counsels Both possessed the Hearts the Esteem and the Veneration of all those of their Party Their Courage was above their Misfortunes and their Constancy in supporting them was admirable Both were often routed and still found some glorious Resources in all their Adversities Both had to do with the most powerful Kings of Christendom Both made use of the Assistance of England and Germany to maintain themselves Both lived in the same Time and out-lived 50 years Both supported the same Religion and established it one in France the other in the Low-Countries Both were proscribed and Prices set on their Heads The Prince was seconded in his Wars by the Courage of Count Lodowick Adolphus and Henry of Nassaw his Brothers And the Admiral was supported in his by the Counsels of Odel de Coligny Cardinal de Chatillon and by the Valour of Francis de Coligny Seigneur d' Andelot Colonel-General of the French Infantry his two Brothers In fine both died a violent Death and by Treason and both equally dreaded The powerful Princes whom they had attacked not thinking themselves secure till they had cut off these two great Men and not being able to compass it by open Force and War made use of Treachery and Fraud to bring it about The Prince would never have perished as the Admiral did for he would never have committed himself to the Power of his Enemies being of the same Opinion with the Man who said that when a Subject draws his Sword against his King he ought to throw away the Scabbard The Prince died by giving all sorts of Persons too free Access to his Person at a time when Superstition was the Motive to such horrible Attempts and perhaps by being of Caesar's Opinion who told his Friends when they advised him to guard himself and make himself fear'd That 't was better to die once than live in continual Apprehensions of Death As soon as the News of his Murder was spread about nothing was to be seen over all Parts in the Cities but Tears nothing to be heard over all the Villages of the Country but Lamentations as if all had lost what was most dear to them The People of the United Provinces in the Celebration of his Funeral shewed the greatest Mourning which was ever heard of and their Affliction went even to Despair The Funeral Pomp was very Magnificent all the Nobility assisted at it and the chief Men of the Provinces in deep Mourning followed by an incredible Number of People of all Conditions Prince Maurice his Son followed the Corps having on his Right Hand
shall speak hereafter Besides his celebrated Posterity of legitimate Children the Prince of Orange left a Natural Son called Iustin de Nassau who led a considerable Body of Men to the Assistance of King Henry the IV. before the Peace of Vervins He was a Brave Vertuous Man and died Governour of Breda I have heard my Father say that in the year 1616. having dispatched to Court upon some important Affair a Garson Captain named Lanchere famous in the Netherlands where he served This Courier in his Return passing through Breda Monsieur Iustin de Nassau asked him what News He answered nothing considerable but the Imprisonment of the Count D' Auvergne since Duke of Angoulesme Iustin de Nassau asking him the Reason he replied bluntly striking him on the Back for he was acquainted with his true Extraction Don't you know Sir that a Son of a Whore was never good for any thing A Fault which the poor Lanchere confessed to my Father when he knew that he was a Bastard Which is a proof that 't is good to be informed of Pedigrees and Alliances otherwise we are liable to Mistakes and to offend innocently Persons of Quality The End of the Life of William of Nassau Prince of Orange THE LIFE OF LOVISE de COLIGNY THE Fourth and Last Wife of WILLIAM of NASSAU Prince of ORANGE THIS Lady had very excellent Vertues without having the least Mixture of any Weakness incident to her Sex through the Course of her whole Life though it was very long She had been married to Monsieur de Teligny before the Famous Day of St. Bartholomew which was in 1572. and she died in 1620. The Admiral her Father esteem'd her very much both for her Modesty and Prudence She gain'd every Body's Heart and Affection by her Way of Conversation which was easy and graceful and had an universal Respect as well for her true Sence as her extraordinary good Nature She was very well shap'd though her Stature was but low her Eyes were very beautiful and her Complexion lively The Admiral who loved her tenderly and passionately desired to have her well disposed of after having cast his Eyes upon all the Persons of Quality that were of his own Religion and Party he found none so deserving to marry this excellent Lady as Monsieur de Teligny Son of Monsieur de Teligny a Famous Captain in the Wars of Italy in whom he had observed more Valour and Conduct than in any other Gentleman of his time besides his Vertues were so considerable that those who writ in Favour of Queen Catharine Queen of Medices who mortally hated the Admiral have confessed that she and the King her Son had very great Difficulty to consent to the Death of Monsieur de Teligny who had rendred himself agreeable to both of them by his handsom Deportment and by his sincere and noble Way of Acting which shews that Vertue is always attractive from whencesoever it proceeds and that it has uncommon Charms to make it self admired and favoured though in the Person of an Enemy The Admiral then advised this beautiful Lady to accept of Monsieur de Teligny and to preferr a Man indued with so many good Qualities though of moderate Fortune to others who though they had greater Riches and Titles were still less worthy to possess her But she soon lost so good a Husband together with the Admiral her Father in the cruel Day of St. Bartholomew Having heard of this Misfortune in Burgundy her Mother-in-Law and she with the young Lord of Chatillon her Brother had much ado to get into Switzerland to secure their Lives the Massacre of the Protestants being universal throughout all France This great Admiral was Son of another Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chatillon upon Loyr Mareschal of France under Louis the XII a Famous General who died at Aix as he was commanding the French Army against the Spaniards and of Louise de Montmorency Sister to Anne de Montmorency Constable of France He left behind him three Sons that were very considerable Odet Cardinal of Chatillon the eldest who was Patron to all the Wits and Learned Persons of his Age Iasper Admiral of France who before that had been Governour of Paris and Picardy and lastly Francis de Coligny Lord of Andelot Colonel General of the French Infantry A Son of the Admiral named Francis was likewise Colonel of the French Infantry he signalized himself as well upon the Bridge of Tours by saving the Persons of Henry the III. and the King of Navarre from the Forces of the League and afterwards in the Battle of Arques by which he gained the Reputation of surpassing the Admiral He left two Sons by a Daughter of the House of Chaune de Pequigny the eldest who promised much was taken off by a Cannon Bullet at the Siege of Ostend the other was the Mareschal de Chatillon Father to the Count de Coligny that died young and the Duke de Chatillon who was killed at Charenton The Mareschal Chatillon had likewise two Daughters one married to the Prince of Montbeliard and the other named Henrietta Countess of Adinton and Suze had so great a Genius for Poetry that she has out done Sappho her self by her exquisite Works which are the Delight of all such as are Lovers of Gallantry Madam de Teligny having lived during her Widowhood with a Conduct that made her admired by the whole World she was sought to by Prince William of Orange after the Death of Charlotte de Bourbon and he married her in the year 1583. upon the Reputation of her Vertue But soon after by a Fatality that usually snatches from us That which is most dear she saw him assassinated before her own Eyes having had but one Son by him born a little before his Father's Death who was the Famous Henry Frederick Prince of Orange She had this Advantage to be Sprung from the greatest Man in Europe and to have had two Husbands of very eminent Vertues the last of which left behind him an immortal Reputation but she had likewise the Misfortune to lose them all three by hasty and violent Deaths her Life having been nothing but a continued Series of Afflictions able to make any one sink under them but a Soul that like hers had resigned her self up so totally to the will of Heaven She has told my Father freely that at her coming into Holland she was very much surprized at their Rude Way of Living so different from that in France and whereas she had been used to a Coach she was there put into a Dutch Waggon open at Top guided by a Vourman where she sate upon a Board and that in going from Roterdam to Delft which is but two Leagues she was crippled and almost Frozen to death There never was one of a more noble Soul or a truer Lover of Justice than this Princess But it was observable during the great Differences between Maurice Prince of Orange her Son-in-Law and Monsieur
Barneveldt she took part with the latter and used all her Endeavours to save his Life having founded her good Opinion of him upon his having been one of the chiefest Confidents of the Prince her Husband This Princess was my Father's greatest Support in his Long Embassy and rendred him always agreeable to the House of Orange This was a Favour which at that time he stood mightily in need of for the Court would suffer no person there but one that stood fair in the Opinion of that Family This Protection was so much the more advantageous and necessary to him because there were several Persons of Quality in France that were Brothers-in-Law or Cousins to Prince Maurice who used all their Endeavours to render him suspected and to have him recalled from that Employment which was the most considerable that could be hoped for from France in that Conjuncture All Europe was then in a profound Peace so all Embassies at other Courts lay dead and had no Action stirring that was considerable That of Holland only was of Importance by reason of the War which on their part was managed under the Conduct of that Famous Captain Count Maurice and in Flanders by the great General Ambrose Spinola a Genoese The English Scotch Danes Swedes the Germans those that were Protestants and the French went thither to learn the Rudiments of War under the Count and the Germans the Italians the Sicilians the Polanders and the Spaniards that were Catholicks did the same under the Marquess so it seemed as if all the whole Christian World was met in this little Corner of the Earth to learn how to fight against one another France then maintaining divers Companies of Foot and some Troops of Horse in that Countrey being very much interested in what concerned the Good of the United Provinces who then Employed the Arms of the Spaniards their ancient Enemies and having likewise very often an Occasion for the Assistance of the Dutch Men of War the Embassador had continually some matter of Importance to write to Court and to dispatch his Couriers thither Besides the King every year gave large Sums to the Hollanders for the Payment of the French Troops and the Embassador besides the Allowance for his Employment and his Pensions from Court had moreover fourscore thousand Livres a year as Treasurer in Holland and all the Money went through his Hand Besides the great Profit of this Employment there was likewise much Honour and Pleasure in the Service for all the French Nobility when they came from the University went to learn the Art of War under Prince Maurice as heretofore they had done in Piedmont under the great Mareschal Brisac In Winter the Hague was full of French Lords and Gentlemen who to honour their King and the Person of his Minister used to accompany him to his Audience of the States-General and it not being possible to provide Coaches for two or three hundred Gentlemen and Officers that sometimes came together the Embassador himself used to march on Foot at the Head of so splendid a Company and his Coach to follow after empty I shall spend no more time upon the Concerns of my Fathers Embassy or his Obligations to the Princess Louise of Orange but return to my principal Matter and relate what I know concerning Philip Prince of Orange eldest Son to William of Nassau by his first Wife Anne of Egmont PHILLIP WILLIAM Prince of Orange Philip William of Nassau Prince of Orange and Eleanor of Bourbon his Wife THis Prince was Godson to King Philip the Second and when Prince William his Father was forced to take Arms in his own Defence he studied in the Colledge of Lovaine where amongst other priviledges it is not permitted to arrest any person upon what account soever Notwithstanding this Iohn Vargas a Spaniard accompanied with several Souldiers of the same Nation took him thence by force pursuant to an Order from the Duke of Alva in spite of all the clamours of the Rector of the University who complaining vehemently and in good Latin that their Priviledges were violated was answered by Vargas very incongâ—…uously in this Barbarous expression Non curamus Privilegios vestros The Prince of Orange his Father complained of it by Publick Manifesto's which set forth the Cruelty of the Spaniards and proved that there were neither Laws nor Priviledges nor Innocence of Age that could exempt any person from their Tyranny This poor Child was carried Prisoner into Spain at 13 years old and shut up in a Castle in the Country where he could have no Education and where he pass'd the greatest part of his time in playing at Chess which the Governour of the Castle had taught him Towards the end of his Imprisonment which was about 30 years they allow'd him a little more Liberty This Prince was naturally Complaisant his Body sat and wore a very large Beard Being carried young into Spain he continued a Catholick so the Spaniards to justifie this unjust detention said they had brought him thither only to preserve him from the poyson of Heresie and to keep him in security from it During his stay in Spain the Captain who guarded him having spoke much to the disadvantage of Prince William his Father this generous Son push'd on by affection for his Father which animated him to resentment took him about the middle threw him out of the Window and broke his Neck He thought that so bold an action would bring him into trouble and indeed upon this occasion there were different advices given in King Philips Council but at last it was resolved to use mildness and indulgence in this encounter Gabriel Osorio a young Gentleman who was present at the action having reported it in favour of the Prince said the Governour had been wanting in his respect towards him so this death was allowed to his just resentment The Prince thought himself so obliged to Osorio for this favorable representation which he had made of him that he ever after kept him near his Person and bestow'd on him a great many favours At last King Philip II. either moved by so long a Captivity or weary of punishing the pretended Iniquity of the Father upon the Son that was Innocent or rather hoping that his deliverance would raise jealousies and divisions amongst the Brothers of the House of Orange as the escape of Monsieur de Guise from the Castle of Tours had caused amongst the heads of the League resolved to release him after so long an Imprisonment Then Count Maurice shewed upon this occasion that he had a Soul that was wholly disinterested and let him enjoy all the Estates which were then in his Possession as Breda and other places and Madam the Countess of Holoc his Sister by Father and Mother used him very generously making him a Thousand fair Offers and rich Presents upon his arrival in the Low Countries where they two met at Cleves but Count Maurice for fear of being suspected satisfied himself with
that I am truly your very humble and very affectionate Servant From Poitiers Jan. 20th 1616. Puysieux Prince Philip and Madame his Princess had so much goodness as to disabuse the Princes and Grandees who had raised a war which they called the War of the Henrys because the greater part of the Heads of that Party were so called Mounseir the Prince was called Henry of Bourbon Monsieur du Mayne Henry of Lorrain Monsieur du Longeville Henry of Orleans and the Duke of Bovillon Henry de la Tour. They told them all that these injurious Speeches were pure inventions to animate them against my Father They acquainted them likewise that whilst he acquitted himself of his duty he all along continued to preserve that respect which was due to them That for what remained there was no reason to object it to him as a crime to have served his Master faithfully And that he could not without betraying his trust and endangering his own ruine but execute such orders as came to him from Court I remember that I saw them at our House in my infancy and particularly the Princess who had the goodness to make very much of us and did my Father the favor to think fit that one of my Sisters who was born at that time should have the honor of bearing her Name of Eleanor She was presented in Baptism by Prince Henry Frederick of Orange who was her Godfather This Daughter was married to the Baron de Mauzè near Rochelle Brother to the Marquess de la Villedieu and died without Children in 1660. She was a Woman who painted the best in France and writ the most correctly whose Letters were all of a vigorous and masculine Stile without one word that was unnecessary Prince Philip died at Brussels in the beginning of the Year 1618. He had the Hemorrhoids very much inâ—…amed and Gregory a German Chyrurgeon having hurt him with the Syringe whilst he gave him a Clyster a Gangreen insued and it was impossible to save him The Princess his Wife died likewise in the same Year After his Death Count Maurice his Brother took upon him the Quality of Prince of Orange and inherited his whole Estate whereas before he was contented with the bare Title of Count. Maurice of Nassau Prince of Orange THis great Captain has falsified the Proverb which says The Children of Heroes are generally good for nothing for though he was the Son of a most excellent Father who left behind him an immortal Glory yet he has not only equall'd him in his prudence and greatness of Soul but has likewise surpassed him in the Art Military and great Performances As the Father for 20 years together made the discourse of all Europe so the Son for 40 years successively did it much more than all the crown'd Heads in Europe for from the Year 1584 when he came first into action to 1625 when he died Prince Maurice was never mentioned without admiration and astonishment as being held for one of the greatest Captains that has ever yet appeared In truth though Nature does not always make extraordinary efforts to produce great men in the same family and succession yet the great Actions of the Father are powerful Incentives to stir up their Children to imitate them The Glory of their Ancestors being a Light which directs their posterity to march in those generous paths which they have trod before them If the vertue of strangers has often stirred up some couragious Souls to do great things as that Greek whose rest was discomposed by the Triumphs of Miltiades sure domestick examples must be much more moving that they may not incur the shame of having degenerated Upon this occasion I shall here relate what I have often heard my Father say in his latter years That he had undoubtedly past his life in the Country like some of his predecessors had not it been for the example of Iames Aubrey his great Unkle who by his Vertue his Knowledge and his Eloquence discharged the office of Advocate General to the Parliament of Paris was Lieutenant Civil of the Council to Henry the Second and his Ambassador Extraordinary to England where he concluded a Peace between Henry the Second and Edward the Sixth and left behind him the reputation of being the French Demosthenes and Cicero by that famous Plea which he made pursuant to an order of the King for the people of Cabrieres and Merindol and which Monsieur the Chancellor de Hopital admired so much that he has translated great part of it into Latin verse My Father therefore thought that by his labour he might arrive to honourable employments and so well ordered the Talents which God had given him that he likewise was employed in Embassies and admitted to the Council of his Princes Prince Maurice of Orange from his very childhood discovered the passionate desire he had to follow the glorious steps of his Father and took for the body of his Device the Trunk of a Tree cut off so as to seem about two foot high from whence there grew a vigorous Sprout which apparently would renew the noble Tree which had produced it with these words Tandem fit circulus arbor At last the Sprout becomes a Tree To show that he would revive the glories of his Father I do not pretend to represent the great Actions of this Prince in all the particulars I shan't say any thing that may be found in common Annals nor add to the number of those who transcribe other People my design is only to draw the Portraicture of his Person and his Manners to inform the World of some transactions of his Life which are not known and to set forth the causes of those great differences which hapned between him and Mr. Barneveld which as it was thought would have overturn'd the Commonwealth by an intestine division that has remained almost to this day and threaten'd its ruine if it had not been prevented But before we come to these things it is necessary briefly to represent his principal Actions and to tell you That Prince Maurice had a great stock of Constancy and Courage from the 17th year of his age when he was called to the government of Affairs upon the decease of his Father for he was not cast down by that torrent of Success which attended Alexander Farnese Duke of Parma Governor and Captain General for the King of Spain who had then taken Bruges Ghent Dendermond Deventer Nimeghen the Grave with a great many other places and even Antwerp it self which was held for impregnable by a Siege which was looked upon as a Miracle of the Age having stopped the River Schelde and repell'd the force of the Sea by a Dyke which was then held as a thing impossible and which afterwards set an Example for undertaking the same thing at Rochel Prince Maurice was not more disturbed by the confusion and disorder that had reigned for a long time in the Common-wealth occasioned by the haughty conduct
accompanied by a great many young Gentlemen of the United Provinces a Hollander who was in the Ambassadors Train at their first Audience having looked earnestly upon the Queen told an English Gentleman with whom he had been acquainted in Holland that he saw no reason why the Queens Beauty should be generally spoke of to so much disadvantage that he thought People much to blame for doing it that to him she seemed very agreeable and that if he durst he would let her see what passions she was able to raise in a young Gentleman with several other such like discourses often looking upon the Queen and then applying himself to the Englishman The Queen who took more exact notice of the private persons than the Ambassadors as soon as the Audience was ended sent for the Englishman and commanded him on pain of her displeasure to tell her what his discourse was with the Hollander being certain that it was concerning her as was evident by their mein and behavior The Gentleman made a great many excuses saying it was not worth her Majesties knowledge at last the Queen being very urgent he was forced to declare the whole matter and confess the extream passion which the Hollander had testified for her Royal person The event of the affair was this that the Ambassadors were each of them presented with a Chain of Gold worth 800 Crowns and every one of their Retinue with one of 100 Crowns but the Hollander who thought the Queen so handsom had a Chain of 1600 Crowns which he wore about his Neck as long as he lived This Queen who had a Thousand great qualities had still the vanity of being thought handsom by all the world and I have heard my Father say upon this occasion that being sent to her in every Audience that he had she would pull her Glove off a hundred times to show her hands which were very white and handsom But to return to the character of Prince Maurice he was naturally good and just and died with the reputation of an exemplary Honesty to show that he deserved this character I need only relate the following Story Two of his Domestics who were Frenchmen one called Iohn de Paris who waited upon him in his Chamber the other one of his Halberdeers named Iohn de la Vigne having assassinated a Jeweller of Amsterdam who had Stones of a great Value which he would have sold the Prince he was so far from protecting them as several Persons of Quality would have thought it concerned their Honor to do that on the contrary he himself prosecuted the Actors of so inhumane a Butchery and made them both be broke alive upon the Wheel If this great and just character of Prince Maurice might be any way in the least sullied in the opinion of some persons it was occasioned by his contests with Monsieur Barnevelt who had been one of the principal Ministers and Confidents of Prince William his Father and who after his Death got the soveraign Command both by Sea and Land to be put into the hands of Prince Maurice for People being in a terrible confusion after that disaster and several seeing themselves deprived of their principal support being desirous to have recourse to the Amnesty which King Philip offered them he said publicly that matters were not in so desperate a condition that they ought to take courage they had indeed lost a real support by the Death of the Father but that he had left a Son then studying at Leyden who was capable to fill his place and gave very great Testimonies of his inclination to Vertue so by the Perswasion and Authority of this great Man Prince Maurice was no sooner come out of the Colledg but he was placed as Commander at the Head of Armies upon this account the Prince looked upon him as his Benefactor till time made him think he had reason to alter his opinion and use other measures towards him Whilst Monsieur de Barnevelt was for the continuance of the War which the Prince desired to uphold his Authority they kept a very fair Correspondence as likewise in the year 1598 when he met King Henry IV. in Brittain to diswade him from making the Peace of Vervins But when Barnevelt shew'd himself inclinable to a Truce after a War of 40 years which had so exhausted the State that it was impossible by reason of the prodigious number of Debts to have the War continue any longer it was then that this Prince who thought the Truce would give a mortal blow to his Glory and his Interests could no longer conceal his resentment but fell openly at variance with Monsieur de Barnevelt even in publick Conferences so far as to give him the Lye and one time to lift up his hand against him Prince Maurice used all imaginable endeavours to perswade King Henry IV. to break the design of the Truce as inconsistent with the welfare of France since the Spaniards being no longer engaged against the United Provinces would without all doubt turn their whole Forces against his Kingdom He spread several Papers which accused those who were for the Truce of being Traytors and holding aCorrespondence with the Spaniards but Monsieur de Barnevelt made it be represented to the King by such Ambassadors as had their dependance upon himself what he had several times before told to Mr. Buzanval his Ambassador and Monsieur the President Iavin who had been dispatched Extraordinary Envoy into Holland That it was necessary for the United Provinces to use the King in the same method that sick and wounded persons do their Physicians or their Chyrurgions That is to discover plainly their Wounds and Infirmities whereby his Majesty may see if it lay in his power to afford them such remedies as would heal them That their State was charged with excessive Debts whose Interest was to be paid to private persons that had lent their Money to the Public and had scarce any thing else remaining for their own subsistence and that except that Interest was exactly paid the greatest part of them must be left to starve That the several Imposts which were established to maintain the charges of the War were not sufficient for its continuance and that 13 or 14 Hundred Thousand Crowns were over and above necessary to pay the Interest of their Debts and the Troops which were then in their Service but that if his Majesty would supply them with what was necessary for their continuance of the War with Spain they would pursue it more vigorously now than ever The King whose Treasure was exhausted seeing that he would be obliged to furnish them every year with at least 4 Millions of Livres consented to the proposal of the Truce which was concluded by his Authority notwithstanding the perpetual opposition which Prince Maurice made to it by his Creatures So the Truce being concluded in the year 1609 by Monsieur Barnevelt's perswasions it is not to be admired if the Prince of Orange
the injuries of Barnevelt's Party which revived itself in the persons of the two De-wits who were Brothers expecting with a silent patience which was greater much than that of his Ancestor the great Prince William what time would produce and what favorable occasions might occur at last for his Re-establishment for having by a solemn sentence been deprived of all the Employments of his Family after the sudden death of the Prince his Father he was restored to them again at the beginning of the last war by an Ordinance that was made on purpose for it His Rise and Re-establishment were owing to France which having made great Conquests for almost 8 years together the greatest part of the Frontier Towns and several capital places of the Provinces Utrecht and Zutphen among others were rendered up at the very sight of their Armies though these places were provided with large Garrisons yet being composed of Officers and Men without any experience the King of France became Master of more than 40 places in less than two months These misfortunes which seemed to be the presages of greater and had put the United Provinces into the utmost consternation gave occasion to the People to complain of the ill conduct of the two De Wits who governed till that time and furnished those who adhered to the House of Nassau with a reasonable pretext to affirm that the Princes of Orange were only able to uphold their tottering State and defend them against their most potent Enemies and that as heretofore they had protected them against the Tyranny of Spain so it was they alone who could preserve them from the Fury and Violence of the French Armies The Grand-mother of this young Prince who was a Woman of a Masculine courage and suffered the indignities that had been offered to the House of Orange with great impatience having beheld it in its greatest splendour was not a little serviceable in stirring up all the creatures and dependants on the House of Nassau who were very numerous these people being angry to see themselves fallen from their credit the principal employments being given to the Sons of Burgomasters and seconded by the fury of the people that were grown out of all patience at so many disasters and the sight of a victorious Army through the very bowels of the Countrey massacred the Enemies of the Young Prince who was afterwards restored to the possession of all the dignities that had belonged to his Ancestors which is to say that of General of their Forces Stadt-holder and Admiral which were moreover by a solemn decree made hereditary to his Family Upon this occasion it cannot but be admired how so powerful a State that had made head for Fourscore years against the Crown of Spain had taken such large Towns and gained so many Battels and had become formidable at Sea to all the Princes of the world having carried its Arms and Victory to the farthest part of the Earth that this State I say which had rendred itself so famous by the long defence of Ostend which has equall'd the reputation of the famous Sieges of Tire and the ancient Troy should be reduced in less than two months to the very brink of its ruine and it had assuredly been destroyed in the year 1672 if by a desperate resolution it had not resolved to save itself by drowning part of the Country as a Pilot who throws all his Cargo overboard during a furious Storm that so he may preserve his Men and Vessel But those who knew the constitution of these Provinces and were not ignorant that discord is the plague and certain destruction of the most flourishing States were not so much amazed considering it was more than Threescore years since that Country had been torn in pieces by two contrary Factions which threatned its subversion without any Foreign Forces This Gangreen likewise had so seized upon the most noble parts of the United Provinces that in the year 1672 by a strange fatality and an unaccountable passion the greatest part of the chief Persons in that Country desired the loss of their Land Army and the defeat of the Prince of Orange whose Rise and Power they so much envied For this reason they had not sufficiently provided his Army with necessary provisions whilst they applied their principal cares to increase the Fleet to resist the Kings of England and France who attacked them jointly with a Navy of above Fourscore Men of War But it is not less surprizing to consider the expedition the French made in this Campaign when as these people for fear of becoming subject to the House of Orange allied to these great Monarchs had committed a considerable fault in their Politicks for after the Peace of Munster imagining themselves to be in perfect security and that they had nothing more to be afraid of and being acknowledged Soveraigns by Spain they might rather give Laws than receive them from any body They disbanded the greatest part of their old Forces that were Strangers and those experienced Officers who had gained so great Glory to their Country imagining that the surest means of freeing themselves from the Slavery which they thought themselves threatened with was to take from the Prince of Orange the support of his Government by reforming those Troops which looked upon him as their Master having taken an Oath to him and were devoted perfectly to his service Besides the principal men in the Country had as they thought some interest in this change for they gave all the Commands in the Army and the Government of places to their own Relations thinking by the assistance of this Souldiery to sortifie themselves and at the same time to weaken the House of Orange but they found by sad experience that endeavoring to avoid one inconvenience they fell quickly into a greater For having given the great Employments in the Army and Government of places to Sons of Burgomasters and Deputies of Towns People without any experience and who wanted Tutors for themselves rather than to be Commanders when a strong and powerful Enemy made War against them these young men show'd none of their Northern courage in this storm and danger for there were places that were garrisoned with 5000 Foot and 800 Horse that rendred themselves all Prisoners of War at the very sight of the French Army without making any resistance My Brother de la Villaumaine who came into France a little before this last War giving me an account of the state of the Army in Holland told me that if a powerful Enemy should attack them the Officers must resolve to perish and bear the brunt in their own persons having no confidence in the Souldiers they commanded who did not know how to manage their Arms a Prophecy which was since accomplished at the expence of his Life A little before he told me likewise that the Dutch Horse were so ill equipped that 50 Reyters of Munster would put to flight two or three Hundred Dutch
Cardinal having some difference with Mary de Medicis the Queen Mother who being of the house of Austria by the mothers side was upheld by all the power of Spain and Germany he was forced to have recourse to foreign Alliances and to caress those whom he had before despised and offended This storm which was raising against the Cardinal for his destruction as well within as without the Kingdom obliged him to seek the friendship of the Prince of Orange who tho he had not the title of Soveraign disposed of all things belonging to the United Provinces There was a Treaty concluded between France and the States General by which they were to attack the Spaniards and to divide the Conquest of the Low Countries which they had already devoured in their imaginations the Prince of Orange was to enter Holland with the Dutch Army and France was to joyn him with thirty thousand Men and the French Generals had orders from the King to obey the Prince of Orange so much it seems at that time they thought him necessary to their affairs In short the Spring following the year 1635 the French Army under the Command of the Marshals Chatillon and Breze enter'd the Low Countries and defeated the Spanish Forces at Avein commanded by Prince Thomas of Savoy who afterwards took the name of Prince of Carignon all the Baggage and Cannon remained in the possession of the French with abundance of Prisoners several of which that were of the best quality were carried to Maestricht These Generals after this Victory joined the Prince of Orange and sacked part of Brabant but the Prince who did not love the Neighbourhood of the French better than that of the Spaniard and had still the remembrance of the affair at Orange very fresh in his mind for want of victuals and subsistence ruin'd the French Army that had been so victorious which being retired into Holland after raising the Siege of Lovain under pretence of the approach of Picolomini with a German Army the greater part of it perished there with Hunger and Sickness the sixth part of it never returning back again into their own Kingdom The Prince of Orange looked upon Cardinal Richelieu as an Enemy that was reconcil'd to him only out of the necessity that he had for him in his present circumstances and for this reason he under-hand did him all the displeasure and gave him all the mortification that he could possibly granting a favourable reception to such as had been disgrac'd by him in France honouring them with his confidence and considerable imployments as amongst others it appeared by Mr. Hauterive and Mr. Beringhen whom he respected not only in spight of the Cardinal but because they deserved it and Cardinal Richelieu as powerful as he was was forced to swallow those Pills having necessary occasion for Holland to make some diversions which conduced to the good of his other affairs this made the Cardinal know that it was not good to offend people of courage and being a very great Politician he could dissemble so far as not to be angry at this ill treatment so he continued to seek the Prince of Orange's Friendship and it was agreed that each should attack the common Enemy from his own side he maintained a faithful and perfect correspondence with the French and the Prince who was sufficiently revenged and drew great advantages from his alliance with France executed the Treaties he had made with great sincerity The same year in which happened the battle of Avein and the Siege of Louvain the Spaniards surprized the Fort of Skink by means of Lieutenant Collonel Enhold who made himself Master of it by a party of the Garrison of Guelders whom he made use of to execute so bold an Enterprize The Sieur Veld the Governour being waked with the noise of the attack and rising in his Shirt had his Arm immediately broken and being in despair to see himself surprized would not render himself Prisoner whatever offers of quarter they could make him still defending himself till he was overwhelm'd with blows The Father of this Enhold had been beheaded at the Hague for some Crime and the Son to revenge the death of his Father quitted the Dutch service and put himself under the Spaniard which happened very luckily for him for by the surprize of so important a place beside the inward satisfaction which he had to cause so great a loss to the States the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand of Austria being newly arrived in the Low Countries where he had the Soveraign Command presented him for so bold and happy an action with a Chain of Gold of great value and gave him the summ of fifty thousand Livres But Prince Henry was so set upon the regaining of this place that he gave the Spaniards free entrance into the Countries of Guelders and Utrecht having besieged it in the month of August 1635 he re-took it in April 1636 by a Siege of six months In the year 1637 Cardinal Richelieu to oblige the Prince of Orange gave him the Title of Highness in a discourse made on purpose by Monsieur de Charnasse Ambassadour of France to Holland in the Name of his Majesty and at an Assembly of the States General which was soon after printed In which he was followed by the Ambassadors of all other Princes who before had used no other Title but that of Excellence In the same year 1637 Prince Henry by a Siege of four months re-took the Town and Castle of Breda which the Marquis Ambrose Spinola had conquered in the year 1625 by a long Blockade of a whole year with incredible Expences although this place was defended by France England and Denmark so the Marquis put over one of the Gates of the Town that he had carry'd it tribus Regibus frustra renitentibus notwithstanding the Resistance of three Kings It was at this last Siege of Breda that Monsieur de Charnasse was killed for though he was Ambassadour of France yet he would serve at the Head of his Regiment which he had in the Low Countries hoping to become a Mareschal of France by the favour of the Mareschal de Breze whose Aunt he had married and who had gained him his Employments In the year 1639 the Hollanders gained a considerable Victory at Sea over the Spaniards the Fleet of Don Antonio Doquendo consisting of 67 Men of War that had been equipping so long in Spain joyned to some Vessels from Dunkirk who were considerable in that time came for some great design which none yet have ever penetrated were stopped in St. George's Channel by the Renowned Admiral Martin Erpez Tromp with only-twelve Ships but being afterwards reinforced with ninety Men of War and several Fire-ships that came from diverse places he encompassed the Spanish Fleet that had put itself into the Downes near the Fleet of the King of Great Britain as thinking itself to be there in safety and then attacqued it with so great resolution that after a
long Combat where abundance of persons of France England and the Low Countries ran from all parts to see from the shore so extraordinary a spectacle The greatest part of so powerful a Fleet was burnt destroyed or separated and those which escaped put themselves under the covert of some English Vessels and so retreated into the River of Thames or some Port in Flanders The Spaniards lost above 7000 men that were burnt or drowned besides 2000 who were made Prisoners by the Hollanders This Victory was very great and memorable for there were 40 large Vessels sunk burnt or taken and amongst others the great Galeon of Portugal called Mater Tereza was burnt which was 62 foot broad and had 800 men on board who all perished This Tromp was the Father of Count Tromp who was engaged in the King of Denmark's service and gained great advantages over the Swedes In the year 1641 Prince Henry Frederick married his only Son Prince William to the Princess Mary of England eldest Daughter to Charles I. King of Great Britain and Madam Henrietta of France and this Marriage was celebrated with a great deal of Pomp and Magnificence The year 1645 was remarkable for the taking of the important Town of Hulsh in Flanders which was carried in spite of the Spaniards who could neither put succors into it nor make Prince Henry raise the Siege This Prince during the space of two and twenty years that he had the Government in his hands was remarkable for his wife and moderate conduct Because the Princess Louise de Coligny his Mother had maintained Barnevelt's Party some people thought that the Prince following his Mothers inclinations would re-establish that Party and recall such of them as had been banished and among others Mr Grotius But this Prince like a good Politician thought it better to let things continue in the posture he found them in than to embroil'em afresh by bringing a prevailing party upon his back I have seen Mr. Grotius in a great passion upon this occasion and he has spoke very ill of the Prince accusing him of Ingratitude and of having no respect for those who had been Friends to his Mother Prince Henry was very rich but instead of finding any support from England he was forc'd to help King Charles in his necessity with all his ready Money The greatest part of which has been repaid by the King of England since his Restauration to his Nephew the Prince of Orange Henry Frederick died the 14th of March 1647 and was buried with a great deal of State Besides his Children that we have mentioned before he left a Natural Son remarkable for his Valor his name was Mr. Zulestein Collonel of the Dutch Infantry who died at the attack of Vorden Prince William of Orange laid the Foundation of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces and was their first Founder his eldest Son Maurice secured and established this Commonwealth by his Victories which forced the Spaniards in the Treaty of Truce for 12 years to acknowledge the United Provinces for a free State and Henry Frederick Brother to Maurice and Grandfather to the present King of England by the continuation of his Conquests at last forced the Spaniards to renounce entirely the right which they had pretended to that Country so that we may say with reason and justice that this illustrious Father and his two generous Sons who have imitated his Vertues are the Founders of this Commonwealth which sends Ambassadors that are covered before the most powerful Kings in Christendom even before the King of Spain himself whose Vassals they were about 100 years ago Henry Frederick had for his devise this word Patriaeque Patrique intimating thereby that he thought of nothing but serving his Country and revenging the Death of his Father WILLIAM II Prince of Orange THE LIFE OF WILLIAM II. Prince of Orange THis Prince was born in the year 1626 the States General were his Godfathers and by the appointment of his Father was called William after the name of his Illustrious Grandfather In the year 1630 this young Prince was declared General of the Cavalry of the Low Countries and the year following the States granted him the Survivorship of the Government of their Province He was no sooner of Age to bear Arms but he followed his Father to the Army and was present at the Siege of Breda giving great proofs of his Courage though but 13 years old Immediately upon the death of his Father Frederick Henry he took the Oath of Fidelity to the States for the Government of which they had granted him the Reversion All Europe was in a profound Peace upon conclusion of the Treaty at Munster which was done the next year after Prince Henry's death The States considering the vast Debts they had contracted by the extraordinary Expences they had been obliged to make resolved to retrench all unnecessary ones having a great number of Troops in their pay that were of no use now the War was at an end they proposed to disband a considerable part of them William the Second who had succeeded in all the Places of the Prince his Father and knowing very well that nothing but the Army could support the credit of the Places he was possessed of made a strong opposition to this design of the States General He represented that it was against all the Rules of Policy to disband Troops who had been so faithful to the Provinces and that France or Spain might make use of this opportunity to fall upon their Common-wealth in a time when they could not be in a condition to defend themselves The States who were already resolved to break 120 Companies to make some sort of satisfaction to the Prince offered to continue the ordinary Pay to the disbanded Officers The Prince agreed to this proposal but the Province of Guelders and the City of Amsterdam opposed and protested against it for several reasons They who were in the Prince's Interests advised him to visit the principal Cities of the Netherlands to perswade the Magistrates to take a Resolution of leaving not only the Officers but the Troops in the same condition they were in before the War that they might be in a readiness to serve where-ever there was occasion Pursuant to this advice the Prince having sent for the principal Collonels of the Army went in person to four or fiveCities of Holland The Burghers of Amsterdam who were well assured that the Prince would visit them too and apprehending his presence would cross the Resolutions they had taken desired him by their Deputies to put off his intended Journey to this City for several Reasons which they gave him Haerlem Medemblic and several other places followed the Example of Amsterdam The Proceedings of these Cities was so considerable an Affliction to the Prince and incensed him so much that in a meeting of the States General he resented it with inexpressible concern He endeavoured to insinuate to them by a great number of Reasons
that the Affront they had put upon him in refusing to give him Audience was designed only to lessen his Authority that nothing but a publick satisfaction would make him amends for this Affront which he demanded earnestly of the States The Deputies of Amsterdam and other Cities answered this Remonstrance by a long Manifesto wherein they alledged the Reasons that induced them to make the Prince that Request this touched him to the quick and made him continue more obstinate against disbanding the Souldiers and transported him so much that he Arrested six of the principal Magistrates and sent them Prisoners immediately after into the Castle of Lovestein This violent proceeding of the Prince alarm'd all Holland The people were generally apprehensive that he aspired to the Soveraignty of the United Provinces and that he opposed the disbanding the Troops for no other reason All Europe said something and tho probably the Prince had no such design the attempt that he made upon Amsterdam confirmed the suspicions all men had entertained of him that he was too arrogant to obey the orders of a popular Government But those who judge impartially of this action are of opinion that he never aim'd at making himself King and that he had no other prospect in besieging Amsterdam but to revenge some private affronts and support his authority and credit by humbling such a powerful City Whatever his reasons were he resolved to besiege it and actually perform'd it on the 30th of Iuly 1650 he narrowly miss'd of surprizing it for the Citizens had not the least apprehension of such a design The Troops appointed for this enterprize put their orders so punctually in execution and met so exactly at their rendezvous that the City must unavoidably have fallen into the Prince's hands but for the Hamburgh Courier who passed through the Prince's Army without being perceived and gave timely notice of it to the Magistrates The City immediately took the alarm the Council of Thirty six met the Burghers run to their Arms the Bridges were drawn up the Cannon mounted upon the Ramparts and the City put in a posture of defence Deputies were dispatched to the Prince with proposals which took up all the next day which was done to gain time for the opening of their Sluces The Prince seeing all the Country under water and the impossibility of continuing a long Siege and the firm resolution of the Burghers hearkened to a Treaty of accommodation which was concluded three days after very much to his advantage The Prince was sensible the States would resent this attempt and the better to make his peace with them he released the Prisoners out of the Castle of Lovestein upon condition that they should be for ever unqualified for any public employments or places and at the same time presented a Memorial to the States with a particular account of the motives he had to form this Siege The States sent it back without opening it assuring him that there needed no justification since the difference had been so soon adjusted About a month after the Prince assisted at a particular Assembly in the Dutchy of Guelders where by his prudence and good conduct he entirely quieted all the jealousies they had entertained of him He returned to the Hague about the beginning of November and went to bed very weary with his Journey He had been observed to be melancholy ever since the miscarriage of his design upon Amsterdam for which reason the Court was not alarm'd with this little indisposition He was let blood the next day and the day after the Small Pox appeared and proved so violent that the Physicians believed him in danger he died the 6th day in the Twenty fourth year of his age on the 6th of November 1650. There wanted but three things to make his memory immortal viz. The Continuation of the War which he passionately desired a longer Life and a little more Deference to the State whom he treated with too much authority for he was Master of a great many good qualities and eminently possessed the advantages of body and mind He was a great General and would have been as renowned for all civil and military vertues as the Heroes of his Family He had a vast comprehensive Genius and learned in his Youth the Mathematics and spoke English French Italian Spanish and High Dutch as readily and fluently as his Mother Tongue He was buried at Delf in the magnificent Tomb of the Princes of Orange in great state He married Mary Stuart eldest Daughter to Charles I. King of Great Britain An Illustrious Birth Interest of State and Glory are the three ordinary motives which sway Princes in the choice of their alliances and all three concur in the making this match for the Glory of the immortal actions of his Father Frederick were spread over all Europe William his Son had given a Thousand proofs that he did not degenerate from the Valour and Vertue of his Ancestors and the Family of Nassau had given five Electors to Cologne and Ments and an Emperor to Germany The proposals were no sooner made but they were accepted and the Marriage was celebrated at London with great magnificence From this Marriage was born William III. whose History we are now entring upon WILLIAM III. KING of ENGLAND Prince of Orange etc. THE HISTORY OF WILLIAM III. Prince of Orange AND King of GREAT BRITAIN Out of the French by Mr. Brown THe sudden and unexpected death of William II. who died in the 24th year of his age threw the Court and Friends of the House of Nassau into such a consternation as is not easie to be exprest But to moderate their grief the Princess Royal within eight days after was delivered of William Henry a Prince in whom the valour and all the other qualities of his glorious ancestors revived and who may justly be stiled the Restorer of that flourishing Republick whereof his Fathers were the Architects and Founders He was born on the fourteenth of November 1650 and had for his Godfathers the States of Holland and of Zealand the Cities of Delf Leiden and Amsterdam As it was his misfortune to be born at a calamitous conjuncture when his enemies were furnished with a plausible pretence to deprive him of those Dignities which his Ancestors had enjoy'd the States General finding themselves now at liberty by the death of William II. and concluding from the enterprize of Amsterdam what they might expect from a single Governour resolved to remedy all inconveniences that might for the future happen upon this occasion and so appointed a General Assembly to meet at the Hague This Assembly began on the eighteenth of Ianuary 1651 and did not end till the month of August the same year In the first Session it was resolved That since the Country was now without a Governour by the death of the Prince the choice of all Officers and Magistrates for the time to come should be in the disposal of the Cities and that not only
to force the Prince out of his retrenchments they were forced to retire with loss and to abandon their works All this while the frontier Towns and Garrisons in the Province of Holland sell every day into the hands of the Enemy which made the people complain openly and distrust the fidelity of those that governed The Inhabitants of Dort were the first that rose and sent one of their Captains to the Magistrates to know whether they were resolved to defend the City or to sit still The Magistrates answered that they were ready to resist the efforts of those that should attaque them and to do all that could be expected from them the people demanded at the same time to see the Magazines But the Keys being missing this put the Mobb into so great a serment that there were a thousand voices crying out at the same time That there was Treachery in the case That they would have the Prince of Orange to be their Head and Governour threatning to murder the Magistrates upon the spot if they did not immediately comply with their demands These menaces so terribly alarmed the Magistrates that they dispatched Commissioners that very moment to his Highness desiring him to come to their City with all possible haste to prevent by his presence the insurrection of the people The Prince alledged several reasons to them to convince them how dangerous it was for him to leave the Army but all was to no purpose they persisted still in their demand till at last the Prince resolved to grant what they desired Being therefore with great solemnity conducted to the Town-Hall they intreated him to signify his pleasure to them To which his Highness answered that it belonged to them to make proposals to him since they were the occasion of his coming After some demur they requested him that for the satisfaction of the People he would be pleased to visit the Fortifications and Magazines of the City without taking the least notice of making him Stadt-holder to which the Prince freely consented and to that effect made the tour of the Town immediately But at his return the people suspecting that the Magistrates had deceived them as well as they had done the Prince flocked in great multitudes about his Coach and boldly asked him but with a great deal of respect for his person whether the Magistrates had made him their Governour or no His Highness having modestly answered That he was content with the honour they had already done him and that he had as much as he cou'd desire they unanimously declared That they wou'd not lay down their Arms till they had chose him Stadt-holder So that at last the Magistrates terrified with the menaces of the people and not knowing what other measures to take in so critical a juncture were not without some repugnance constrained to accomplish what they had before only done by halves So difficult a matter it is for men to lay aside a settled hatred and aversion that has once taken root in their hearts Upon this they passed an Ordinance to abolish the perpetual Edict which the Prince refused to own unless they would absolve him of the Oath he had taken when he accepted the Charge only of Captain General which they gave him likewise by this Ordinance So they immediately made another Act which was read in the great Hall by the Secretary by which the Magistrates declared his Highness the Prince of Orange to be Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of all their forces as well by Sea as by Land and gave him all the power dignity and authority which his Ancestors of glorious memory had enjoy'd After this the whole City rang with acclamations of an universal joy and the arms of the House of Orange were immediately placed upon the Towers and Ramparts Only Cornelius de Wit an ancient Burghermaster coming from the Fleet sick and indisposed said he wou'd never sign the Act whatever instances were made him to do it He was pressed after an extraordinary manner not to refuse the signing of it but neither the perswasions of the chief men of the City nor the threatnings of the people who were ready to plunder his house nor the tears of his Wife who was sensible of the great danger he was in cou'd prevail with him to alter his resolutions Nay it went so far that his Wife threatned to show her self at the Window and declare her own innocence and that of her Children and to abandon him to the fury of the populace but all this made no impression upon him Dort was not the only place that rose up after this manner All the Cities of Holland and Zealand where the Burghers took notice of the ill conduct of their Magistrates did almost the same thing So that upon a report made by the Deputies of the respective Cities the States of Holland Zealand and Friesland did not only confirm what had been done by the City of Dort but in a full Assembly of the States they presented his Highness with some publick Acts by which the Prince was absolved from his first Oath of Captain General and at the same time was invested with the Dignity of Stadt-holder together with all the rights jurisdictions and priviledges heretofore granted to his Predecessors In conseâ—…ence of which his Highness the very same day in the Hall of Audience took the place of Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of the United Provinces with the usual Ceremonies and afterwards returned to the Army that was encamped at Bodegrave From this very moment as if the re-establishment of the Prince had inspired the people with new Courage a body of five thousand French were twice repulsed before Ardemburgh and without counting those that were killed upon the place were forced to leave five hundred Prisoners behind them amongst which were several Officers and persons of Quality and all this effected by the extraordinary bravery of no more than two hundred Burghers 'T is true that the Women and Boys assisted them no body being spared upon this occasion which will be an everlasting disgrace to France that looked upon the City as good as in their own possession The Burghers of Groningen did not defend themselves with less Courage and good fortune against the Bishop of Munster than those of Ardemburgh had done against the King of France For that Bishop having besieg'd this City with an Army of twenty five or thirty thousand men he was obliged to raise the Siege with the loss of almost half his Souldiers after he had been at a prodigious expence in buying all sorts of Ammunition and Instâ—…ments of War necessary to make himself master of that important place In the midst of this extraordinary zeal the people show'd for the Prince an accident happen'd that served to confirm him more effectually in their affection and occasioned the death of two of his greatest enemies For a Chyrurgion having accused Cornelius de Wit Bailiff of Putten with having secretly proposed
recruits on that side sent three fresh Battalions to support his own as likewise to guard the plain that was behind the Hedges But the two first Regiments basely quitted their Post upon the first approach of the Enemy so that the other three Regiments that were sent to their assistance having not sufficient time to adjust themselves and seeing the two first Battalions run away betook themselves to their Heels and breaking into their own Squadrons that stood there to cover them occasioned an extraordinary confusion Upon this the French Cavalry coming to advance and being supported by the Infantry that made perpetual firing the Prince's Squadrons were beaten back but they did not go far and soon rallied again and poured so vigorously upon the French that they made them fly in their their turn In the mean time the Enemy's Foot being advanced above and having possessed the Hedges where the Prince's men were posted before they cou'd not possibly make a long resistance nor hinder the rest of the Foot from being attacked in the Flank as well as the Front So that the Foot after they had done their duty extremely well saw themselves obliged to quit their post and the Prince repassing the Rivet retir'd in very good order to Steenword and from thence to Poperdingue the Enemy having been so rudely handled by Count Waldeck who commanded the Prince's Right Wing that they had no desire to pursue him And this was the issue of the battel at Mont cassel The Prince having retired in this manner as we have related it the French King pursued the Siege of the Cittadel of Cambray with all imaginable vigor and it fell out very unfortunately for the besieged that a Bomb set fire on one of their Magazines where the Granadoes and other warlike Provisions lay and utterly consumed it However the besieged continued to defend themselves bravely and recompenced their loss in some manner by the death of the Marquess de Renel one of the French King's Lieutenant Generals who was slain by a Cannon-shot from the Castle But at last the French having made several breaches and the Governour of the Cittadel being wounded they were constrained to yield to the great number and continual attacks of the Enemy and to surrender the Castle which was done on very honorable conditions To return to the Duke of Orleans altho victorious he was so afraid lest the Prince should once more attempt to throw relief into St Omers that he durst not quit the field where the battle was fought but kept himself upon his guard for eight days successively But when he received the News that his Highness had passed the Canal of Ghent with all his Forces he returned before the Town which he besieged with his whole Army and after a gallant resistance which cost him several of his best Officers they were forced against their will to surrender upon good terms After the taking of these places the French heat began to be somewhat abated and those that were so forward to attack others were now content to act on the defensive all the rest of the Summer and durst never put it to the hazard of a battle altho it was often presented to them So that after several tedious marches and counter-marches on both sides and the Confederates ineffectual laying Siege to Charleroy which for several weighty considerations they thought expedient to raise the Prince returned to the Hague being accompanied by the Earl of Ossory Don Carlos the Duke of Albemarle and several other Persons of Quality After he had given the States General an account of the last Campaign with the reasons that obliged him to raise the Siege of Charleroy and not to attack the Enemy who were not only superior to him in number but posted to the greatest advantage Their High and Mightinesses thanked him for his conduct and indefatigable pains humbly beseeching him still to continue his zeal for the public Interest A little after his return to the Hague several of the English Nobility arrived at the Prince's Court who in an Assembly of the States General gave them to understand that his Unkle the King of Great Britain earnestly desired him to make a Voyage into England in hopes that his presence there would not a little contribute to the Peace then in agitation which would be of such mighty advantage to the Republic Thus his Highness took his leave of the States and of all theColledges on the 17th of October and being accompany'd by the Earl of Ossory Monsieur d' Odyk the Count de Nassau and several other persons of condition he embarqued at Hellevoetsluys in one of his Majesties Yatchs and arrived at Harwich on the 19th about ten in the morning where the Duke of Albemarle and the Master of the Ceremonies attended him in the King's Coaches and conducted him the same evening to the King and his Royal Highness at Ipswich who received him with all the testimonies of a particular kindness and affection On the 23d he arrived with the two Royal Brothers at Whitehall and was lodged in the Duke of York's apartment who retired to St. Iames's What was at first nothing but a bare surmize was soon after confirmed by the King himself For on the first of November his Majesty acquainted the Council with his design to marry the Prince of Orange to his Royal Highness's eldest Daughter declaring that he hoped this Alliance would facilitate the accomplishment of a General Peace which his Majesty was resolved to advance as far as the Interest of his Kingdoms did engage him After this the whole Council went in a body to compliment the Princess and afterwards the Prince the rest of the Nobility did the same after their example The Prince of Orange acquainted the States with it by an Express giving them to understand that after he had maturely weigh'd the reasons which might incline him to marry he thought he could not make a better choice than the Princess Mary that he had already demanded her in Marriage of the King and his Royal Highness her Father who immediately gave their consent that he judged it advisable to inform them of it expecting their approbation of the Match with all speed that he might the sooner repair to them for the service of his Country Hereupon the States General were assembled and seriously considering the reasons of State upon which this Marriage was founded with the great advantages it might produce as for instance a confirmation of that strict Union that was between the King of Great Britain and the States of the United Provinces the establishment of the ancient House of Orange and the conclusion of the Peace so earnestly desired I say after they had seriously considered all this but especially the happy choice his Highness had made of a Princess who besides her natural sweetness possessed all the virtues that a Husband could desire testified their approbation by a public Edict in terms full of joy and satisfaction declaring