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
been defeated by the Suisses he sent the Seigneur de Contay his Favorite to Louis the XI at Lyons to court his Friendship in the most humble and submissive Terms imaginable contrary to his usual Custom upon which Philip de Comines says these very Words If a Prince would take my Advice he should behave himself with so much Moderation in Prosperity that he should never be forced to change his Language in Adversity He adds that the Seigneur de Contay as he pass'd through Lyons had the Mortification to hear Songs sung in honour of the victorious Suisses and to the disgrace of his Master whom they had routed But most Princes and Ministers display all their Sails to the favourable Gales of good Fortune without thinking of contrary Winds which often shipwrack them Since we have been talking of the Sieur Beuningen or Boudin in French I make this Observation that at the Beginning of the War the principal Officers and Ministers of Holland had very odd pleasant Names Their great manager of Business was the Sieur de Boudin in English Pudding their Mareschal de Camp the Sieur Urst dead lately at Hamburgh he was of Holstein of mean Birth and raised his Reputation by defending Cracovia so long time for the Swedes against the Imperialists Urst in Dutch signifies Hogs Guts season'd their other General that defended Groeningen and retook Grave was the Sieur de Rabenhaupt which is Ravens-Head and one of their Colonels was Paen Bread and Vin Wine who had his Head cut off 'T was observed also that the Swedish Ministers and Commanders had strange Names Oxenstiern signifies Ox-forehead One of their most Famous Colonels was called Douffell which is Devil who was killed at the Battle of Leipsick and another Sthtang a Serpent and Colonel Wolfe who defended Stetin so bravely I am of Opinion these Digressions will not be disagreeable to the Reader which serve to divert and refresh him after he has been tir'd with Narrations all of the same Nature This has been practised by Herodotus and others with general Approbation But to return to our principal Subject the Affairs of the Low Countries Don Iohn of Austria natural Son to Charles the V. Famous for the Victory of Lepanto succeeded the Commander de Requesens in the Government of the Netherlands and arrived at Luxemburg the very day that Antwerp was sack'd He went Incognito through France and passed for an Attendant of Octavio de Gonzague and saw Henry the III. at Dinner and at Paris he was informed of the State of the Low Countries by Don Diego de Zunega the Spanish Embassador Don Iohn of Austria despised the Dutch and thought them very easy to be imposed upon as did the Duke of Alva who used to say he would stifle the Hollanders in their Butter But these heavy stupid Men as he thought them having more Solidity and good Sense than florid Wit easily discovered that he had a design to deceive them by fair Words and affected Civilities He was at that time thirty years old a man of high and ambitious Thoughts He had formed a Project of making himself King of Tunis by the Assistance of the Pope but King Philip would never hearken to it Afterwards being made Governour of the Low-Countries he had a design to depose Queen Elizabeth and rescue Mary Queen of Scots whom he pretended to marry by the Favour of the Guises her Relations who encouraged him to this Attempt for their own private Interests These vast Designs gave great Jealousy to King Philip who was apprehensive with Reason left a war-like Prince as he was and who had won so much Reputation over all Europe by gaining the Battle of Lepanto by this new Accession of Power suffering himself to be hurried away with his Ambition and the natural desire of Empire should one day endeavour to make himself Master of his Dominions to the prejudice of his Children These Thoughts frightned him extreamly with Reflection on the old Example of Iugurtha who though a Bastard possessed himself of the Kingdom of Masinissa by the Murder of the lawful Heir and the fresher Instance in his own Family of Henry the Bastard his Predecessor who dispossessed and put to death Pedro the Cruel the lawful King of Castile King Philip who to rid himself of the like Fears had not spared his own Son Don Carlos had more Wit than to suffer any longer the just Grounds of Suspicion which his bastard Brother gave him he resolved to set himself at ease of that side Iohn d' Estovedo Secretary to Don Iohn who was accused of inspiring his Master with these ambitious Designs being dispatched into Spain about some Affairs of consequence he was privately assassinated by Antonio Perez Secretary of State and Favorite to King Philip by his Orders whose death made all the World believe that Iohn's which happened not long after had been hastned Upon Iohn's arrival into the Netherlands his favouring the Spaniards who were declared publick Enemies made a Rupture between him and the States who took up Arms against him by the Advice of the Prince of Orange He earnestly exhorted them not to suffer themselves to be deceived by the false Hopes which Don Iohn gave them from the Part of the King of Spain representing to them that angry Princes dissemble for some time but they never forget an Injury but when 't is out of their Power to revenge it and that they are sparing of no Words nor Promises to conceal their Resentments quoting that Maxim of the Roman Emperours that They who had offended their Princes ought to be numbered among the dead In fine the perpetual Edict was concluded between the States on one side and Don Iohn on the other in the Name of the King by the Mediation of the Emperour Rodolphus and the Duke of Cleves and Iuliers on the 17th of Febr. An. Dom. 1577. By this the Treaty of Ghent was ratified a general Amnesty granted and the holding of the States The Departure of the Spaniards and Germans out of the Low-Countries was agreed to and that they should leave behind them all the Provisions Ammunitions and Atillery which were in their Garrisons The Spaniards promised to punish the Soldiers who had been guilty of so many Outrages and to set at Liberty the Count de Burin Prisoner in Spain But the Prince of Orange and the States of Holland and Zealand entered their Protestation against the Edict maintaining That a great many things particularly those which related to Religion had not been sufficiently explained In pursuance of this perpetual Edict the Spaniards went out of the Castle of Antwerp and Philip de Croy Duke of Arschoite was made Governour of it who took an Oath publickly bare-headed to Iohn Escovedo that he would keep the Castle of Antwerp for King Philip his Master and deliver it up to no Man but Himself or his Successors but by his express Command to which Escovedo replyed If you perform what you promise God will
that he had four Wives His first Wife was Anne D' Egmont Daughter to Maximilian D' Egmont Count of Burem and Leerdam a great Heiress whom he married by the Favour of Charles V. and had by her a Son and Daughter The Son was Philip William Prince of Orange of whom more hereafter and the Daughter Mary de Nassaw who was married to Philip Count de Hohenlo commonly called de Holac a great General who after the unexpected Death of the Prince of Orange which put the United Provinces into a strange Consternation generously resisted all the Efforts of the Spaniards and taught the first Rudiments of War to Prince Maurice his Brother in Law who was at the College at the time of this unhappy Accident His second Wife was Anne of Saxony Daughter to the Great Maurice Elector of Saxony who made head against the Emperor Charles the V. by whom he had the Famous Maurice of whom we shall give a very large Relation and a Daughter named Emilia de Nassau who married Emanuel King of Portugal Son to King Anthony of Portugal who was dispossessed by King Philip the II. This Prince Emmanuel won so much on the Princess by his Civility Courtship and Addresses that she chose him for her Husband as poor as he was and of a contrary Religion and tho' Prince Maurice opposed the Match as advantageous to neither They had two Sons whom I knew in my youth one of whom left a Son among other Children who went lately into Holland to demand of the Prince of Orange the Remainder of his Grandmother's Fortune and many Daughters some of whom were married to Persons of a very unsuitable Quality She was a very good Princess but about the end of her Life having fallen out with the Prince of Orange her Brother she retired to Geneva An. Dom. 1623. and died shortly after of Melancholy leaving six Daughters whom I saw at Geneva An. Dom. 1624. She was Godmother to one of my Sisters and gave her Her Name Emilia who is still alive and is married to the Seigneur de Montrevil near Menetoon in Champagne Her Godfather was the Count de Culembourg Son to Florent de Pallant Count de Culembourg whose House at Brussels was pulled down by Order of the Duke of Alva and who having done nothing after the Address of the Nobility retired into Holland and lived so privately that he died unknown to those of his own Party The third Wife of William Prince of Orange was Charlotte de Bourbon of the House of Montpensier whom I have declared before to have been a Religieuse or Abbess of Iouarre But the Love of Liberty which is an invaluable Blessing prevailed over all the Vows she had made in her youth which she pleaded she had been forced to and had made several Protestations against She died of a Pleurisy at Antwerp A. D. 1582. leaving six Daughters behind her The eldest Lovise Iulienne de Nassau was married to Frederick the IV. Elector Palatine Father to Frederick the V. Elected King of Bohemia who by the Princess Elizabeth of England Sister to Charles the I. King of Great Britain had many Princes and Princesses The eldest Henry Frederick Design'd King of Bohemia with his Father A. D. 1620. was a very handsom and hopeful Prince He studied at Leyden and Our Tutor Benjamin Prioleau Author of the Latin History of the last Regency carried us duely every Sunday after Dinner to play with this young Prince who loved us extreamly which made us the more regret his Death when we afterwards heard of it He perished unhappily in the Sea of Haerlem going in Company with the King his Father to see the Spanish Galleons laden with an inestimable Booty which had been taken by Peter Hain the Dutch Admiral near the Island of Cuba A Vessel by Night sailing full Speed having fall'n soul on his split it in two thus the Prince and all that were in it were drowned except the King his Father who by great Fortune having caught hold of a Rope that was thrown out to him from the Ship was miraculously drawn aboard The Second is the present Elector Palatine who has several Children by the Princess of Hesse among others Madam the Dutchess of Orleans a Princess of great Wit and Judgment who has already Children who are the first Princes of the Blood in France The third is the Famous Prince Robert who has won so much Reputation by Sea and Land having not deceived the hopes which he had given in his Infancy by the Martial and Manly Look which was then taken notice of The fourth was called Edward who lived a long time in France where turning Catholick he married the Princess Anne de Gonzague Daughter to the late Duke of Mantua Montferrat and Lions and Sister to Maria Louise Q. of Poland and Wife to two Brothers Uladislaus and Casimir Kings of Poland She was celebrated for her Beauty under the Name of the Princess Maria. Concerning whom I add this by the way that having been designed Queen of Poland and understanding that I was very well acquainted with the State of that Kingdom where I had been twice she desired me by the Duke de Noailles to give her some Instructions of it which I did several Afternoons and in Token of her Acknowledgment she would be Godmother to my eldest Daughter with Monsieur the Coadjutor of Paris then Archbishop of Corinth who is the famous Cardinal de Retz the learnedst Prelate in the Kingdom But to return to the Prince Palatine Edward He left three Daughters by the Princess Anne of Mantua the eldest of whom is Madam the Dutchess of Enguien already the Mother of several Princes and Princesses of the Blood The other married the Duke of Brunswick Hanouer who had only Daughters and the third the Prince of Solme who was made prisoner at the Battle of Seneff If I well remember for I write all this by my memory which is very good without the Assistance of any Book there was another Son of the King of Bohemia a very handsom Man Godson to Prince Maurice of Nassau called Maurice I saw another Son of his called Philip who retired to Venice for an Action which 't is better to pass over in Silence than mention Another Son was called Louis who died young whom my Father named so for the late King who was his Godfather by an Order of his Majesty which follows Monsieur de Maurier BEing acquainted with the Desire my Cousin the Count Palatine of the Rhine has to invite me to be Godfather to the last Son which God has given him I shall be extreamly glad to pay him this Testimony of my Friendship and good Affection and that you should perform this Office in my Name when the time is first informing him of the Charge I have given you and renewing the Assurances of my Affection to him Referring this to your Care I desire God Monsieur Maurier to keep and preserve you Written at Paris
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
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
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