Battle of Senef p. 256. C. COligny Gaspor de His Character p. 3. Coeverden lost p. 231 retaken p. 232. Coligny Lovise de Her Life p. 137. Cambray besieged and surrendred p. 280. D. DOn Iohn of Austria made Governour of the Low Countreys p. 57. His Story p. 58 59 c. Surprises the Castle of Namur and Charlemont p. 61. Defeats the Army of the States at Gemblours p. 65. Dies of Grief p. 67. E. COunts Egmont and Horn Executed p. 20. Q. Elizabeth loved to be thought handsome p. 153 c. F. FRench King almost over-runs the United Provinces p. 214. G. CArdinal Granville his Character and Story p. 14 15 c. Name of Gueux or Beggars whence the Rise p. 17. Grave besieged p. 265. and taken p. 269. Ghent taken p. 291. H. HAerlem taken by Famine p. 42. Henry Frederick born p. 114. His Life p. 177 c. His Children p. 178. I. INquisition declares those guilty of High-Treason who had not opposed the Hereticks of the Netherlands p. 19. Ipres taken p. 291. L. COunt Lodovick c. presents a Petition to the Governess of the Low Countreys against the Inquisition New Bishops c. which at first is slighted p. 17 18 c. Lewis de Requesens made Governour in the place of the Duke of Alva p. 44. Leyden relieved by breaking down the Dykes p. 45 46. and the University settled there p. 47. M. MArgaret of Austria made absolute Governess of the Low Countreys with Orders to Establish the Spanish Inquisition and several new Bishopricks in the Netherlands p. 14. Mons surprised p. 32. and retaken by the Spaniards p. 34. Count de la Mark takes the Brill with several other Cities p. 36. Middburg taken by the Spaniards p. 44. Maurier traduced at the French Court c. p. 120 121 122. Maurice Prince of Orange his Character p. 125. raises the Siege of Berghen ap Zoom p. 129 and 140. takes Breda p. 130. and Sluise p. 134. defeats Arch Duke Albert p. 135. and the Lord de Balancon p. 138. his Description p. 148 149 150 c. Maestricht besieged by the French p. 235. and taken p. 236. Mansfeld's Story and Character p. 141 142 c. N. NArses the Eunuch his Story p. 8. House of Nassau their Genealogy p. 9 10 c. The Netherlands demanded to have all the ' Spanish Forces drawn out of the Low Countreys p. 14. Nimighen Treaty p. 273. O. OStend taken by the Spaniards p. 134. St. Omers surrendred to the French p. 285. P. KIng Philip the Cause of the Disorders in the Low Countreys p. 8. His Description p 13 14 c. Perpetual Edict concluded between the States and Don Iohn of Austria p. 60. Prince of Parma made Governour of the Low Countreys p. 68. King Philip published a Prescription against the Prince of Orange p. 74. Philip William of Nassau his Life p. 115. taken by force out of the Colledge of Lovaine by King Philip p. 115. shut up in a Castle in Spain at 13 Years Old p. 116. released and sent to bring the Infanta Isabella into the Low Countreys p. 117. marries Eleanor of Bourbon p. 118. S. STates General Consent to a Toleration of both Religions p. 66. Request the Duke of Anjou and Alemon to be their Lord and Protector p. 73. T. Treaty of Peace set on foot at Breda p. 48. Treaty of Peace at Ghent p. 50 51 â— Treaty of Peace at Nimighen concluded p. 297. V. MArquess Vitelli his Character and Epitaph p. 28. Valenciennes taken by the French p. 279. W. WIlliam the First of Nassau his Birth p. 3. the Favours show'd him by Charles 5th p. 4. made Generalissimo at 22 Years Old p. 5. builds Charlemont and Philipville p. 5. supports the Emperour at the Resignation of his Empire and is recommended by him to the King of Spain p. 6. his Description p. 12. Retires into Germany p. 19. Raises an Army there which is defeated near the River Ems p. 24. Raises another of Twenty Four Thousand German Horse and Foot p. 25. which refusing to follow him into France to assist the Hugonots he disbands p. 27. Enters the Low Countreys with a great Army and is received into Ruremond Malines c. p. 33. Acknowledg'd Governour of Holland Zealand c. by the States p. 38. banishes the Romish Ceremonies out of the Church p. 39. received into Brussels in great Triumph p. 62. lays the Common-Wealth of the United Provinces p. 68. publishes his Apology against King Philip's Prescription p. 75 76 77 c. Marries Lovise de Coligny p. 113. killed at Delft p. 115. his Funeral p. 119. William Count de Buren Eldest Son to Prince William seized at the Colledge of Lovain and carried Prisoner to Spain p. 23. William Henry of Nassau his Birth p. 211. deprived of the Offices belonging to his Family p. 212. chose General of the Army p. 215. and restored to all the other Commands belonging to him which Cornelius de Witt opposes p. 220. Prince William takes Naerden p. 237. falls sick of the Small-pox and recovers p. 270. besieges Maestricht p. 275. and raises it p. 277. Marries the Princess Mary p. 288. Attacks and almost Routs Luxemburgh near Mons p. 298. Cornelius de Witt and his Brother killed p. 224. William the Second born p. 203. besieges Amsterdam p. 206. dies of the Small-pox 208. THE Author's Preface THE Reader whoever he is must not expest in these Memoirs to find a gay or rather an impertinent Discourse fillâ—d with New Terms which some presumptuous little Authors who mind nothing but bare words call fine Language These people are to understand that I was never bred at a Colledge and that the little Skill I have in Languages I receiv'd from Masters at home or from common use in Conversation I never read one single Line of Priscian or of any other Grammarian Their Lexicons and their Syntaxes which my Father was used to call The Plague of Youth are as much unknown to me as the Isle of Pines I never was able to comprehend what a Gerund or a Supin meant and though perhaps I use them upon occasion I neither know how to define or describe them I have not without a great deal of pleasure read the Quintus Curtius of Monsieur de Vaugclas whose solid Vertue and extraordinary Sweetness as well as his inviolable Fidelity to his Friends I esteem although I was never able to edify much by his Remarks upon our Language And what is more than all this having had the misfortune to debauch my own Natural Language during my long abode in Forreign Countries where I was bred as also by my long stay at Mayne where their Language is extreamly vitious and thinking it not worth the while to spend money to no purpose at Court and to feed my self with Vain Expectations my Reader ought not to be surpris'd if he meets in this Work some terms and manners of speaking that have not receiv'd the
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
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
should never see them more The Merchant carried them immediately to Iersey and Guernsey No one knew what became of the Daughters but the Foreign Merchant having more good Nature than the Mother in Law took pity of the Boy and brought him with him to London where he bred him up and taught him the Trade of a Shoomaker This Boy when he was grown up travelling up and down the Country happened to be in Flanders at the time that Monsieur de la Nove commanded the Army of the States and bringing him some Shooes Monsieur de la Hove having narrowly view'd him told those that were about him that this young Lad had much of the Air Stature and Mien of his Brother in Law de Vezins Though he was exposed at the Age of 4 or 5 years he still retained some memory of his Name his Country and what he was and told him that his Name was Vezins and that he was a French Man by Birth But the great Business of Monsieur de la Nove hinder'd him from making further Enquiry into the Matter at that time Some years after being released from his Imprisonment at Limburg and retiring to Geneva this same young Man who travelled over the World as Apprentices do once more meeting him when he had no Affairs after having very well examined him and besides the general Resemblance discovered some particular Marks which those of the Family de Vezins bore he resolved to make him be acknowledged Heir of that House and in order to it contrary to his own Interest made all the necessary Proceedings in Anjou at the Council and Parliament for the recovery of the Estate but being kill'd at Lambette in Bretaigne with a Musquet Ball before the Affair was compleated his Son Odel de la Nove whom I have seen in my youth Embassador extraordinary into Holland a Man that pursued the generous Example of his Father put an end to the Process and by a famous Decree made him be declared Heir of the House of Vezins which the Children of his cruel Mother in Law had so long usurped These Heroick Actions of the Father and Son can never be sufficiently praised which the curious Reader will be glad to learn and the Example of so rare a Vertue may Spâ—…r on a generous Mind to an Emulation of such noble Performances In this time the Prince of Orange who had been made Governour of Flanders was at Ghent where he altered the Magistrates of the City erected contrary to their Privileges by the Violence of Iohn Imbese a turbulent daring Fellow who had at that time the chief Authority of the City Imbese retired into Germany to Prince Casimir Palatine who had formerly brought such a great Body of Horse to the Assistance of the States that they had much more been harass'd and inconvenienc'd by them than relieved or defended But he returned again to Ghent and domineered there for some time with a Guard of 30 Halberdiers who still accompanied him but in the end a contrary Faction setting up against him as nothing is more changeable than the Affections of the People he was arrested tryed and beheaded An. Dom. 1580. the Prince of Orange represented to the States-General that Considering the Desertion of some Provinces and the Falling off of a great many Men who quitted their Party to reconcile themselves to Spain by the means of the Duke of Parma they could no longer defend themselves against so powerful an Enemy and that they were obliged either to make an Accommodation with Spain which he would never advise them to do when they could have no Security for their Lives or Religion or else to chuse some neighbouring Prince for their Lord and that he could think of none more proper than the Duke of Anjou and Alencon only Brother to Henry the III. King of France Which Resolution the States approving of they sent Deputies into France the most considerable of whom was Philip de Mornix Seigneur de S. Aldegonde who made a Treaty with him in September An. Dom. 1580. at the Castle of Plessis les tours The Heads of which were That the States of Holland Brabant Flanders Zealand Utrecht and Friezland would acknowledge him for their Sovereign Prince and his Posterity after him upon Condition that he should leave Matters of Religion in the same Posture they were in at that time and preserve the Privileges of the Provinces That he should hold an Assembly of the States-General every year who nevertheless should have power to meet when they pleased That he should put no Man into any Employment Place or Government of the Provinces without their Consent And that if he invaded their Privileges and broke the Treaty he should forfeit his Right and that they should be absolved from their Oath of Fidelity and have power to elect a new Prince The Archduke seeing that there was no further Occasion for his Presence in the Netherlands and that they were looking out for a more powerful Protection withdrew after having received Thanks and many Presents according to their Abilities and the Times leaving behind him the Reputation of a good and moderate Prince But his Enemies in the End made him suspected of holding Intelligence with the Spaniards The Prince of Orange with all his Power sollicited the coming of the Duke of Alencon to support himself and his Country with so considerable a Prince but more particularly because in Iune 1580. the King had published a terrible Proscription against him in which he upbraids him with the Favours he had received from the Emperor among others for having secured to him the Succession of Renè de Nassaw and de Chalon Prince of Orange That he had made him Governour of Holland Zealand Utrecht and Burgundy Knight of the Golden-Fleece and Councellor of State That though he was a Stranger he had loaded him with Honours and Riches for which he made him very ungrateful Returns That by his Instigation the Nobility had presented the Address against the Inquisition That he had introduced the New Religion into the Low-Countries and disturb'd the Catholick Religion by the breaking of Images and demolishing Altars That he had made War upon his Lord That he had opposed all the Pacifications even that of Ghent and broken the perpetual Edict that in short he declared him an ungrateful Man a Rebel a Disturber of the publick Peace a Heretick a Hypocrite a Cain a Iudas one that had a hardned Conscience a profane Wretch who had taken a Nun out of the Cloister to marry her and had Children by her a wicked and perjur'd man the Head of the Troubles of the Netherlands the Plague of Christendom the common Enemy of Mankind That he out-law'd him and gave his Life his Body and Estate to him that could seize on it and to free the World from his Tyranny he promis'd upon the Word of a King and as a Servant of God Almighty to give 25000 Crowns to any man that should bring
had razed because the Nobility met there to draw up an Address against the Inquisition At that time all Men believed the King of Spain had entirely lost the Netherlands for he was forced to comply with the time and ratify and approve the Peace In pursuance of this Treaty the Castles of Ghent Valenciennes Cambray Utrceht and Groeningen were demolished all Friezeland declared for the States and Gaspar de Robb who had married the Heiress of Billy and Malepert Governour of the Province was laid close Prisoner in the Town-house of Groeningen with Irons on his Legs This Gaspar a Man of Sense and Courage was Son to King Philip's Nurse and Native of Robb in Portugal He was advanced and employed by Margaret of Parma and in her time was Governour of Philipville He was released out of Prison by Vertue of the perpetual Edict which was made under the Government of Don Iohn of Austria Christopher de Vasquez who had hid himself in the Monastery of the Cordeliers shaved and disguised like a Monk was also taken and carried in that Habit into the great Square of Groeningen the people crying out in Mockery that they had got a new Bishop favourer of the Inquisition Upon this Subject I cannot forbear observing how addicted the People of these Countries are to turn their Enemies into Ridicule upon the least good Success as they did after the taking of Levarden in Friezland for the States having surprized it they brought all the Monks and Priests into the great Square where their Troops were drawn up in Battalia and placed them by Ranks between the Ranks of the Souldiers and then conducted them out of the City in the same order at the sound of Fises and Drums with incredible Mockeries and there left them without doing them any other injury than laughing at them They had already given Proofs of this Inclination to Derision and Raillery after the surprizing of the Brill in that Picture which I mentioned before where Count de la Mark put Spectacles on the Duke of Alva's Nose and at Harlem where the Citizens believing That Don Frederick de Toledo would raise the Siege made Processions of Images clad like Monks Priests and Cardinals holding the Figures of the blessed Sacrament which they flung down from the tops of their Walls I my Self at Twelve years old observed the particular bent of this Nation to Mockery My Father who was Embassador into Holland had put to Board in the Year 1622. with Doctor Iohn Gerard Vossius a German and Native of Heidelburg who has published a vast number of Learned works My elder Brother my Self and my younger Brother called Daniel who was killed in the Battle of Harlingen in the Year 1645 who had so great a Genius for the Mathematicks that he would have equal'd the Reputation of Galileus and Archimedes if Death had not snatch'd him away in the flower of his Age. That Year 1622. Maurice Prince of Orange having forced the Marquess Ambrose Spinola to raise the Siege of Bergen-op-zoom assisted by Count Ernest of Mansfield and Duke Christian of Brunswick the Cities of the Low Countries were transported with inexpressible Joy Among others Leyden joyned Derision to its publick rejoycings This Doctor 's House stood before the Square of the Church call'd Hoguetanskirk where was one of the greatest Bonfires Upon the top of the Pile was placed a great Spinning Wheel which they call Spin in Dutch and round it little Tickets of Paper on which was written the Name of Spinola General of the Spanish Army Upon the Cord of the Wheel there were other Tickets with the Names of Gonsolvo de Cordoua one of the chief Commanders of the Spanish Army Upon the Wheel was a great Distaff loaded with Flax which they call Ulasque in Dutch and upon it was writ the Name of Don Louis de Valasco General of the Horse this done they put Fire to it and the People over-joy'd fancied they had burnt these Generals with their Names This bears some Resemblance with the Rebus's of Picardy and acquainted me at that time with the raillying Humour of these People Pursuant to this Inclination of the People 't was reported with probability some years since That the Sieur van Beuningen which is the Sieur du Boudon in French had caused himself to be ingraved an a Medal like another Ioshua making the Sun stand still meaning that he had put a stop to and been the Iupiter Stator of the French King's Conquests who had taken the Body of the Sun for his device But Persons very well informed have assured me that 't was a scandal fastned on him to cast an Odium upon him and his Nation at our Court and that the Medal was never seen nor had ever any Being unless in the Imaginations of those Men who contrived the Story It is true That the united Provinces after the Peace of Aix la Chapelle all the Honour of which they assum'd to themselves puffed up with the Glory of a Treaty which they imagined so advantageous to them Coyned Medals with a pompous Motto which their Enemies call'd proud and which as I am assured was this Assertis Legibus sacris Defensis exteris Regibus Vindicata perorbem Christianum Marium libertate Egregiâ pace virtute Armorum partâ Batavia P. Which I thus translate in favour of the Ladies Having vindicated our Religion and Laws And defended Foreign Kings our Allies And established the security of Navigation in the Seas of the Christian World and made a glorious Peace by the force of our Arms the States-General c. The Consideration of which made Monsieur de Lamoignon the greatest and most famous Man in France for his Learning and Vertue say to me that the Romans after the Destruction of Numantia and Carthage the Rival of their Empire could not have talked of their Victories in more lofty and magnificent Terms At the end of the Year 1671. the States-General seeing that those Medals drew upon them the Envy and Hatred of the most powerful Monarchs suppressed them as well as they could by breaking the Coins and Molds insomuch as there remain very few unless in the Hands of the Curious These proud Medals with the continual and insolent Reflections of the Amsterdam Gazzette which took a Liberty of openly rallying all things without sparing Crowned Heads which ought always to be respected was not the least Motive of the last War 'T is this gave credit to the imaginary Medal of the Sieur Van Beuningen whose Airy and Extravagant Discourses made any thing to be believed of him Upon this Subject I may affirm with Reason that those Men are the wisest who are never arrogant in good Fortune which many easily change into bad by the ordinary Revolutions of the Affairs of this World which suffer nothing to be settled or lasting Besides Moderation make Men lamented when they are unhappy but we rejoice at the Misfortune of Insolent persons When Duke Charles of Burgundy had
help you if not the Devil take you Body and Soul and all the standers by cryed Amen By Virtue of this Edict all Prisoners were released on both sides the Count Egmont the Sieur de S. Goignie the Sieur de Capres and others in the Custody of the Spaniards and Gaspar de Robb and others by the States This done Don Iohn was received into Brussels in great State as Governour-general of the Low-Countries But beginning to oppress the Provinces pursuant to the private Orders he received from the Court of Spain which were discovered by several Letters intercepted which Don Iohn and his Secretary Escovedo writ in Cyphers to the King and his Ministers which Philip de Mornix Seignieur de St. Aldegonde decyphered This made them resolve to oppose his pernicious Designs by Force of Arms. Don Iohn under a pretence that they had a Design upon his Person retired from Brussels and having received the Queen of Navarre into Namur surprized the Castle of Namur and then Charlemont and made preparations for War and recalled the Spanish and German Troops He called that day he seized the Gastle of Namur the first of his Government as Henry the III. afterwards called the Day of the Murther of the Duke of Guise the first of his Reign The States took up Arms on their side demolished the Castle of Antwerp and joined themselves to the Prince of Orange But the States-General assembled at Brussels demanding the free Exercise of the Catholick Religion in Holland and Zealand he made answer that he could make no Alterations in that Affair without consulting the States of these two Provinces who had the sole and absolute Power of doing it This was a fundamental Maxim of that State which was afterwards changed by the Factions and Force of Arms under the Government of Prince Maurice his Son as I shall manifest in his Life Prince William of Orange being arrived at Breda with his third Wife Charlotte de Bourbon he was invited by the States to come and encourage them by his Presence For this Effect the Burghers of Antwerp went out to meet him and conducted him into their City where the States-General deputed to him the Abbots of Villiers and Marotes the Barons de Fresin and Capres to beseech him to come in all haste to Brussels The Prince went to Brussels through the New-Canal attended by the Burghers of Antwerp who marched in good Order on one side of the Canal and on the other side by the Burghers of Brussels all in gilt Armour who came out of their City to meet him He was receiv'd into Brussels with great magnificence and Triumph with incredible Acclamations of Joy by all the World Immediately he was declared Governour of Brabant and Superintendant of the Finances of the Provinces Upon this we may observe that tho' the Life of this Prince has been cross'd by strange Disappointments and Misfortunes capable of sinking a Man of less Resolution than himself Yet these Accidents were sweeted from time to time with those secret pleasures and Delights which the most Stoical and insensible Men are overjoyed at as the Acclamations and Applauses of the People whose Hearts and Affections he entirely possess'd Other Princes command only the Bodies of their Subjects without having any Empire over their Minds which ought to make up the noblest part of their Dominions But as Envy is the inseparable Companion of Vertue and a great Reputation is often more dangerous than a bad one this pompous Reception of the Prince of Orange added to the Authority his great Birth Experience and Merit gained him in the States and in the Hearts of the People procured him the Jealousy of many Lords and Gentlemen of Quality the chief of whom were the Duke Arschot newly made Governour of Flanders the Marquess of Havret his Brother the Count de Lalain and his Brother the Siegneur de Montigny the Viscount of Ghent Count Egmont the Sieurs de Compigny de Rassinguem and de Sueveguem and many others This jealous Party dispatched privately the Sieur de Malstede to offer the Government of the Low-Countries to the Archduke Matthias Brother to the Emperor Rodolphus He made so much hast and pressed the Archduke so strongly to depart that he was arrived at Cologne from Vienna before 't was known that they had sent for him These Gentlemen imagined that they should have all the Management of the Government under the Archduke who would consider them as the Authors of his Establishment and at the same time should ruine the Authority of the Prince of Orange by giving him a Superiour of that Quality But the Prince of Orange who had the Art of Complying with all Times and turning Poison into Antidotes made a Modest Complement to the States General for not acquainting him with so important a Resolution as they had taken of sending for the Archduke whereas nothing ought to be transacted without the common Consent of all especially Matters of such Consequence But he made no Opposition to the Reception or Establishment of the Archduke Then having brought over to his party the Count de Lalain who had the chief Command of the Army he managed Matters so well by his Address and Submissions that he gained the Archduke who was made Governour of the Netherlands upon certain Conditions and he himself was declared Lieutenant-General by majority of Voices in the States and the Archduke in consideration of his great Abilities trusted him with the intire Management of Affairs In this manner the Prince of Orange by his good Conduct and Prudence turn'd that Storm upon his Enemies which they raised with Design to ruin him For the Duke of Arschot the head of the Faction had the Mortification to be seized in the Capital City of his Government Ghent by a Creature of the Prince of Orange Rehove who bore the greatest Sway in that large City And to make his Grief the more sensible his best Friends the Bishops of Bruges and Ypres and the Sieurs de Ressinguem and de Sueveguein and many others of his Dependants were seiz'd on at the same time Don Iohn of Austria having been declar'd Enemy of the Low-Countries by the States-General the 7th of September 1577. recall'd all the Spanish and Italian Troops who had retired out of the Netherlands in pursuance to the perpetual Edict with a great Body of Germans under the Command of Alexander Farneze Duke of Parma Son to Margaret of Austria formerly Governess of the Netherlands With this Reinforcement the last day of Ianuary An. Dom. 1578. he defeated the Army of the States at Gemblours commanded by the Sieur de Goiguin in the Absence of the Count de Lalain and the principal Officers who were at a Wedding in Brussels for which they were extreamly censured All the Cannon was taken with 30 Colours and 4 Cornets But the Reduction of the Famous City of Amsterdam which surrender'd to the States and was united to the Body of Holland the 8th of
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
visiting him by an Envoy Prince Philip came into Flanders with Albert the Arch-Duke who a little while after sent him back to Spain to bring the Infanta Isabella afterwards his â—…se into the Low Countries to whom her Father Philip gave in Marriage the Soveraignty of the Seventeen Provinces all Europe was very much astonished that the Son of a man so odious to Spain should be chose to execute so important a Commission which could not be given him without a large Testimony both of Esteem and Confidence He lived afterwards in the Court of Brussels with the Arch-Dukes of Flanders for the States of the United Provinces conceived such a distrust of him by reason of this employment and because King Philip had reestablished him in his Lands situated in the Spanish Low Countries and in the Franche Comte which had been confiscated that they would never let him come to visit their Provinces much less to continue there though he had often testified his desire of it He never appeared there before the Year 1608 when the Truce with the Spaniards was almost concluded and in this Journey he did nothing else but reconcile the Princess Emilia his Sister with his Brother Count Maurice who would never see her since her Marriage with Prince Emanuel of Portugal because it had been concluded without his consent He married Eleanor of Bourbon the Sister of the deceased Prince of Conde a very virtuous Princess by whom he had no Children This Marriage with the first Princess of the Blood of France put him in possession of his Principality and Town of Orange where the Sieur de Blacons who was Governor of it as being a Kinsman of Monsieur the Marshal des Lesdiguierres who commanded absolutely in Dauphiny would not let him enter but the Sieur de Blacons had so many express orders from the King to leave the place and Monsieur des Lesdiguierres had an order to make them be precisely obeyed that at last the Prince saw himself possess'd both of the Place and his Soveraignty for before he had been look'd upon as an Enemy having followed the Arch-Duke Albert when he was at Calais and would make King Henry IV. raise the Seige of Amiens Prince Philip farther confess'd to his most intimate Friends That in his whole Life he was never in so great pain and such strange uneasiness as at the time when the battle of Newport was fought for the Arch-Duke who presumed very far upon his own Forces thinking them as much superior in Valor as they were in Number to those of the Hollanders had boasted that if he had gained the day he would send the two Brothers Maurice and Henry Frederick bound hand and foot as his Prisoners into Spain So he sent out his Scouts on every side kept all his Horses ready sadled and bridled in his Stable and his People all in a condition to retire suddenly into some place of safety thinking that his Brothers being lost he likewise must perish by the Spaniards so that during the whole fight he was at his Prayers and made ardent and continual Vows that his Brothers might obtain the Victory During the Truce which was concluded for 12 years he made a Voyage into Holland in the Year 1615 with Madam the Princess his Wife and they lived generally at Breda My Father had the honor to see them and converse with them often and he was so far in both their good graces that they helped him to overthrow a great many calumnies which had been invented to draw upon him the indignation of Monsieur the Prince of Conde and several other Lords and great Persons of the Kingdom who during the Minority of the late King had been several times in Arms upon diverse pretences it having been told them by my Fathers Enemies that during these commotions he had acted with too much heat and violence against them having caused several Vessels full of Arms to be seized and stopped divers Officers from Holland who would have come over to their Service to all these disobliging actions were added some discourses to the disparagement of these great Persons which my Fathers Enemies had likewise imputed to him These Princes had so far given credit to such Impostors that not being able to seize upon my Fathers Person they testified their resentment by sacking his Castle of Fountayne Dangé near Chateleraut which they pillaged by their Troops but Mary de Medices the Queen Mother who had knowledge of this disorder being then at Poitiers made him ample satisfaction so that he had no further loss than of several original Papers and ancient Titles which were not in her Majesties Power to repair The King himself upon this occasion wrote to my Father as follows Monsieur de Maurier Then after this are two pages in Cypher AS for what remains I am very sorry that your House has suffered for the Services you have rendred me I will takecare of my Servants and encourage them to do well by the Protection which I give both to their Persons and Estates The Sieur de Puysieux may acquaint you with what I have ordered upon this account continue only to serve me with care and fidelity as you do at present and you shall receive both the Honor and the Profit of it I pray God keep you Monsieur de Maurier under his holy and safe Protection Written at Poitiers Jan. 20 1616. Signed Lewis and a little lower Brulard The Queen likewise wrote him the following Letter Monsieur de Maurier THE King my Son answers your dispatch by this Bearer whose intentions I am assured you can so well execute as they may produce the effect which we desire pursuant to your good Counsels we confide therefore in your affection and care in this encounter nor shall I add any further Command You know likewise what considerations he has made you for the House which you have lost in his Service to which if you continue firm with the same fidelity and diligence you shall receive all possible Content and Advantage I pray God keep you Monsieur de Maurier in his holy and safe Protection Written at Poitiers the 20th of January 1616. Signed Mary and a little lower Brulard Monsieur de Puysieux writ to him likewise towards the end of a long dispatch AS to what concerns your Interests and the loss and damage you have sustained in your House of Fontayne I have not been wanting to represent it to their Majesties in all those circumstances which were requisite at which they are much concerned and do not intend that any of their Servants shall suffer upon account of the good services they have rendred them They have ordered you 2000 Crowns for a Recompence of your loss and would have you know they do it upon that consideration and have thought fit to encrease your Pension to 1000 Crowns a Year I wish I could still testifie more to your content the extream desire I have of serving you that you may know
their own bounds which was so true that when the States of the 17 Provinces assembled at Brussels having instantly demanded of Prince William of Orange that the Roman Catholic Religion might be exercised in his Governments returned answer That this depended only upon the States of Holland and Zealand That they appealed from these Judges as incompetent and visibly suspected of being their Enemies to such Judges as were natural and proper to their cause At the same time Prince Maurice with the States General called a National Synod in the Town of Dort and several Divines of Foreign Countries were invited thither in this Assembly the Opinion of Arminius was declared to be Heretical scandalous and tending to the Re establishment of Popery in the United Provinces and in pursuance of this decree Utembaugarts and all the other Ministers and Doctors suspected to be of that Opinion were dismissed from their Cures and banished the Country and forbid to return under pain of severe punishment After this Monsieur Barnevelt and the other Prisoners were tried before Judges nominated by the States General these Judges Condemned Monsieur Barnevelt to death upon the 12th of May 1619. My Father had several times interceeded for him in the Name of the French King and Monsieur de Boissise had been twice sent Envoy Extraordinary into Holland to exhort the States to consult their proper welfare and treat their Prisoners with moderation Pursuant to the Sentence he was executed in the Court of the Castle at the Hague being 66 years old where the Scaffold was raised against his Chamber Window opposite to the Prince's Apartment who was said to have beheld this Execution from his window by the help of a prospective upon which some people made their Reflections Prince Maurice and the States had less regard to the Intercession of France because the King of England was in their Interest as being perswaded that Monsieur Barnevelt was none of his Friends and that he had done him a sensible displeasure by causing the English Garrisons to retire from the Town of Flushing the Brill and the Castle of Ramekius which the English held for a security of those Sums which Queen Elizabeth had lent to the States General Monsieur Barnevelt being the chief of a very splendid Embassy made great Instances to the King to recall his Forces from their Towns King Iames promised him publickly and solemnly that he would do it provided they paid the Money due to him thinking he had imposed an impossible condition upon them considering how the Provinces had been exhausted by their Taxes but Monsieur Barnevelt having got the Kings word applyed himself with so much diligence to the collecting of the Money and by his Credit the people bled so freely that in a little time these vast Sums were carried into England which King Iames tho' very much surprized at was obliged to receive and consequently to recall his Garrisons and the remembrance of it stuck so close that he had always a great aversion for Monsieur Barnevelt Prince Maurice had another reason to make him have less regard to the intercession of France which was because he was not in the least afraid of their resentments Lewis the 13th was then come out of his Minority and a new Favorite was absolute Master of Affairs who had more regard to the raising of himself and two Brothers than to meddle with the Affairs of other Countries which appeared in the business of the Elector Palatine King of Bohemia for though by reasons of State he should have been maintained to weaken the House of Austria which at that time was become formidable and because this Elector was one of our principal Allies who might always have so divided Germany as that one of the Parties should have assisted us when we had occasion yet Monsieur de Luynes promised the Marquess de Mirabel the Spanish Ambassador then at Paris to ruin the Affairs of the Palatinate upon condition that Monsieur de Cadenet his Brother should marry Mademoiselle de Pecquigny and Chaulnâ—…s one of the most noble most beautiful and richest Heiresses of her time who was educated at Bruxels in the Family of the Infanta Isabella Upon these hopes which were not ill grounded for the Spaniards had given him their word Monsieur de Luynes sent a splendid Embassy into Germany consisting of Monsieurs d' Angouleme de Bethune and de Chateau-neuf who deceived the Protestant Princes that were armed for the defence of the Palatinate for it was concluded by the Treaty of Ulme where all the Princes of both Parties were assembled to hearken to the propositions of France That both Catholics and Protestants should lay down their Arms and the Quarrel be decided by the King of Bohemia and the Emperor only The Protestant Princes suffered themselves to be abused and did perform the Treaty honestly so that the Marquess of Ansbatch the General of their Forces had orders to disband them but the Duke of Bavaria and the other Catholic Princes of the same Parties sent their Troops by the Danube to the Emperor who overthrew the Prince Palatine at the battel of Prague After this Monsieur de Luynes having thus sufficiently raised his Family began to consider what might be for the Interest of the Kingdom and thereupon councelled the King to weaken the Hugonots who as he told his Majesty had the Insolence to make a distinct State within themselves and had hitherto been held invincible hereupon Monsieur de Luynes seized upon all their important places except Montauban from Saumur to the Pyreneans and after his death in the year 1622 pursuant to his Maxims Montpelier was taken and at last some time after Cardinal Richelieu counselled the King to attack Rochel which he gained and razed immediately and having in that destroyed the principal strength of the Hugonot Party their entire ruin soon followed upon the Duke of Rohans retreat to Venice who had a long time upheld them by his Valor and Industry Prince Maurice was sufficiently informed of this condition of France by the Dukes of Bovillon and dela Trimoille who had married his Sisters besides these he had a great many Friends in Germany where several of the Soveraign Princes were related to him either by his own side or his Mothers who was Daughter to Maurice Duke of Saxony The Elector Palatine was his Nephew likewise and he afterwards was chose King of Bohemia which he accepted as 't is said upon the advice of Prince Maurice and the persuasions of the Princess his Lady though contrary to the Counsels of King Iames his Father in-law who thought a young Prince was not capable to manage an Affair of such Importance and resist the power of the House of Austria protesting that he would neither succor him with men nor money except he quitted this design which would infallibly become his ruin but the Duke of Bovillon perswaded the Elector Palatine to the contrary as having some power over the young
with his Niece formed of himself a project of Peace which he sent to his Ambassador at Nimeguen there to be distributed amongst the other Ambassadors and Mediators by those of England The chief of these propositions were That the King of Sweden and the Duke of Gottorp should be intirely satisfied That the Prince and Bishop of Stasburg should be restored to all his Demains Goods Honours and Prerogatives and that his Brother Prince William of Furstemberg should be set at liberty That as for the Emperour he should alter nothing in the public Declarations that were made at the Treaty of Westphalia only he offer'd either to keep Philipsburg and give up Friburg or else to keep Friburg and give up Philipsburg That as for Spain he would restore Charleroy Aeth Oudenard Courtray Ghent and St. Guillain with their dependances but in recompence demanded all the Franche Comté Valenciennes Bouchain Condè Cambray Aire and St. Omers with all their dependances In a word all the Places he was in possession off except those above mentioned Besides he consented to surrender Charlemont or Dinant to the Catholic King provided the Bishop of Leige and the Emperor agreed to it That as for what concerned the States General besides the satisfaction he gave them by what he yielded up to Spain he wou'd restore Maestricht to them and continue the same treaty of Commerce they enjoy'd before And as for the Interests of the Duke of Lorrain he was willing to re-establish him according to the Pirenean Treaty or to surrender all his Territories to him except the City of Nancy but that by way of recompence he would give him Toul reserving nevertheless to himself a passage from his Frontiers into Alsatia and the Roads that would be necessary to him from France to Nancy and from Nancy to Mets Brisac and the Franche-Comte That the Confines between Spain and the Low-Countries to begin from the Sea should be the Meuse Nieuport Dixmuyde Courtrdy Oudenard Aeth Mons Charleroy and Namur and that these Confines should be secured by these Places since they had cost him some Millions to fortify and by quitting them he deprived himself of the advantage of marching up to the Gates of Brussels whenever he pleased These Conditions were liked by some but disapproved by others The States General for instance had no reason to reject them but the Ministers of the Allies in a conference at the Hague absolutely rejected them as unjust and unreasonable After several warm disputes upon this occasion the Spaniards began at last to comply and that the more because they saw both England and Holland consented to the proposals of France Besides this their Affairs grew every day worse and worse by the considerable loss of Fort Leeuw which was much about this time unfortunately surprized by the French But what served wholly to determine them was the return of the French King who besides an Army he had near Brussels had two more not far off one upon the Rhine and the other between the Meuse and the Sambre which threatned nothing less than the entire loss of the Spanish Netherlands in case the Hollanders made a Peace without them and continued Neuters after it during the course of this war to which the King of France earnestly perswaded them The Spaniards therefore being constrained to yield to the necessity of their Affairs declared they were ready to accept these Conditions of Peace Upon which the States General were very urgent with the other Allies to give their consent and upon the delay of the Ministers who amused themselves with making Memorials and Replies dispatched express Orders to their Ambassadors at Nimeguen to conclude the Treaty out of hand But they were extreamly surprized when the Plenipotentiares of France refused to sign it for they demanded that intire satisfaction should be given to the King of Sweden protesting that in case of refusal the King their master would conclude nothing This started new difficulties and gave occasion to the States General to make fresh complaints of the procedure of the King of France after they had so frankly submitted to the Conditions which he himself had proposed That King's answer was that he should come to St. Quintin where he wou'd carry six days for the Commissioners whom they should send to adjust this difference But the States thinking they had done enough on their part resolved in the presence of the Prince of Orange to send no body till the Treaty was signed The News of this difference and of the resolution of the Hollanders to continue the war unless the King of France would somewhat abate the interests of Sweden being arrived into England the Parliament who before had voted to disband the Army which the King had raised both by Sea and Land were now resolved to keep it on foot His Majesty sent part of the Army over to Flanders and made a League offensive and defensive with the United Provinces wherein a very short time was limited for the French King to sign the Treaty or declare his further pretensions This resolute conduct of the King of Great Britain put an end to this troublesome affair so the Treaty of Peace between France and Holland was signed on the 11th of August at midnight 'T is certain the French King had done better not to have refined so much in his Politics for it had like to have cost him the entire loss of the D. of Luxemburg's Army Mons had been a long time blocked up by the French and was now in a manner reduced to the last extremities when the Prince of Orange receiving advice that the Confederates had joined the Army of Spain and Holland which was near the Canal of Brussels he parted by night from the Hague on the 26 of Iuly Immediately after his arrival he call'd a Council of War with the Generals of the Allies where it was resolved that they should decamp and pursue the Duke of Luxemburg who marched by Mons with a design to hinder any relief from being put into the Town Thus resolved the Prince parted with the whole Army at the beginning of August and no sooner had he left Brussels but General Spaen joyned him with a reinforcement of six thousand men of the Elector of Brandenburg and the Bishop of Munster The French who had rested some days at Soignes hearing of the Prince of Orange's March suddenly decamped and the Confederate Army encamped in the very same place where the Enemy had been the day before His Highness marching from thence on the side of Rocles advanced with his left Wing as far as the Abby of St. Denys where the Duke of Luxemburg had his quarter And as this post was in a manner inaccessible by reason of the Woods the Briars and Precipices it was encompass'd with the Duke so little dreamt of being attack'd that he was at dinner when they brought him word that the Prince of Orange was coming to surprize him and so he was forced
to retire in some disorder The Prince had Castrau before his right Wing which the Duke had gained in great precipitation and it was happy for him that this place was as hard to be got to as the other he quitted In the mean time his Highness whom these difficulties did not discourage had no sooner drawn out his Army to battel but he was resolved to beat the Enemy out of his new post and sending for his Artillery ordered it to play upon the French who were posted a little higher on one side of a Cloister near St. Denys which the Duke of Luxemburg thought he might defend well enough with his Cannon But it was impossible for them to sustain the shock of the Confederate Dragoons who beat them from this Post and made themselves Masters of the Cloister while General Collier advanced on the side of the Abby and seconded by General Delwick broke through the narrow ways and mounting these horrible precipices with an invincible courage routed the Enemiy who for some time made a vigorous resistance in their lines In the midst of this engagement the Prince accompanied by the Duke of Monmouth who fought by his side all the day and encouraged with his good success cried out follow me follow me to encourage those Regimens that were to second the first Both sides were very liberal of their Powder and Ball and all the Regiments of the left Wing seconded one another till night with the same vigour and resolution Count Horn on his side approached nearer with his Cannon and ordered it to play on the French Battalions in the Valley where he caused a terrible slaughter From thence his Highness advanced with speed to Castrau which was attack'd by the Spaniards on the side of the right Wing where the Prince's Regiment of Guards led the Van under the command of Count Solmes who being seconded by the Duke of Holstein's Regiment and by the English forced the Enemies at last to quit the place The Regiment of Foot Guards continued in action with the French for the space of five hours and pursued them a quarter of a League through fields and precipices 'T is certainly a thing hardly to be believ'd that men should be capable of making such brave efforts in places so extremely disadvantageous and several persons who have viewed and examined them since say there are few places in the world naturally so strong The Earl of Ossory did wonders with his English at a small distance from the Foot Guards where the French lost abundance of Men. But the Prince in the heat of the Action advanced so far that he was in great danger of being lost had not Monsieur Onwerkerk come seasonably to his relief and killed an adventurous Captain that was just going to let fly a Pistol at him The Cavalry did nothing all this while by reason of the uneven scituation of the place so that all the execution lay upon the Infantry and Dragoons Night put an end to the dispute by the favour of which the Duke of Luxemburg made his retreat without noise and retired towards Mons and covered himself with a Wood on one side and a River on the other leaving to his Highness as marks of Victory the Field where the Battle was fought the greatest part of the wounded abundance of Tents and Baggage with a world of Powder and other Warlike Ammunition The States General receiving the News of so great a Success sent Commissioners to the Prince to congratulate him for the victory he had gained with so much Glory and Reputation and for the signal Actions by him performed in this last Battle to the great hazard of his life And to testify what a value they set upon his preservation they presented Monsieur Onwerkerk who had so generously opposed himself to the danger that threatned his Highness with a Sword whose handle was of massy gold a pair of Pistols set with gold and a whole Horse Furniture of the same metal The Prince of Orange having thus obliged the Duke of Luxemburg to retire had without question pushed his point and thrown relief into the Town but as he was consulting how to effect it word was brought him that the King of France and the States General had accommodated all differences The success of this Battle hasten'd the conclusion of the Treaty between Spain and France which was signed on the 17th of September to the great praise of the King of England who having joyn'd the terrour of his Arms to the authority of his Mediation had for his recompence the satisfaction to see the peace and general welfare of Europe given as a Portion with his Neice while the two great Alliances between France and Holland and between Spain and France were the and happy effects of the conjugal Alliance between his Highness and the Princess Mary of England The war being thus ended between France and the United Provinces his Highness had time now to breath himself after the fatigues and hurries of the last Campaigns for after the Ratification of the Peace and the Restitution of Mastricht to the States the King of France no more disturbed the Low Countries with the terrour of his Arms so that when his Highness had reformed all those innovations that had been introduced by the French when they were Masters of the Country the people began to enjoy the repose and tranquillity they had so long desired But matters were not so soon adjusted between the Kings of France and Spain By the Treaty concluded between the two Crowns it was agreed that Commissioners should meet at Cambray to regulate any disputes that might happen about the limits This was in the Year 1679. But after several tedious contests occasioned by the excessive pretentions of the French who demanded whole Provinces in the nature of dependances to be delivered into their hands the war was like to have kindled afresh till at last by the unwearied Mediation of the States General a Treaty was signed at the Hague on the 29th of Iune 1684 after which his most Christian Majesty having accommodated all differences with the Emperour by some other Articles of the same Nature a Truce of twenty years was agreed upon which being ratified tho not without some delays on the side of the Spaniards all those devastations and ravages that for the course of several years had ruin'd the finest Country in Europe began to cease In the midst of all these negotiations which the States seldom or never treated of but in the presence of the Prince of Orange whom they still consulted in the most difficult affairs his Highness show'd an extraordinary generosity for when every one was minding his particular Interests he neglected his own and preferr'd the peace and welfare of his Country to that reparation he might justly expect for the great losses he sustain'd in his own Demains For while the King of France burnt and ravaged the Low Countries in order to force the Spaniards to accept his offers a great part of the Prince's patrimony in Brabant underwent the common calamities The same thing happen'd when Luxemburg and the Franche-Comte came to change their Masters Prince d'Isenguyn supported by the authority of France exposed to Sale by sound of Trumpet all the Lands Furniture and Goods of his Highness as having been adjudged to him by a formal Decree of the Parliament of that Country The Provinces of Gueldres Zealand and Utrecht made great complaints in his Highnesses name but were not able to get satisfaction done him Nor suffer'd he less injustice in the Principality of Orange where the Walls of his Capital City were demolished the University disfranchized the Inhabitants barbarously plundered forced to send the young Students home to their Parents and forbidden to educate any of the Reformed Religion for the future all which was directly contrary to the Faith of the late Treaty But when the States represented the great injustice of this procedure the Court of France return'd them no other answer save only this viz. That they had good reasons for what they did As soon as the Truce was confirmed the States were of opinion they might now disband their supernumerary forces and the Deputies of Amsterdam wou'd without any further delay reform the recruits they had made the year before but all the members coming to this conclusion that nothing ought to be done without the advice of the Prince of Orange his Highness upon the mention of this proposal assured them that no one more earnestly desired the ease of the people than himself but however he wou'd never consent till their affairs both at home and abroad were in a better posture of security to leave the Country naked and defenceless The States were soon perswaded to follow this advice and accordingly resolved to keep their Troops as long as the necessity of their affairs demanded it And now from the conclusion of the Peace till the year 1688 when his Highness made his wonderful Expedition into England we have nothing remarkable in this Prince's History What was the success of that prodigious Descent and by what means the ensuing Revolution was carried on which has occasioned so mighty an alteration in this Western part of the World as it is sufficiently known to every English Reader So a just narration of all the surprizing incidents requires a person of more leisure and greater abilities than my self FINIS ☞ Excuse the man and don 't pronounce his doom Poor Soul he left his Calepine at Rome * According to the new Stile which I have all along followed with my Author * A great and stately City upon the Scheld built as 't is commonly pretended by the Emperour Valentinian * Sir W. Temple in his Memoirs represents this matter otherwise for there we are told that K. Ch. the 2d was so far from courting the Prince to come to visit him that he was apprehensive of his arrival
THE LIVES Of all the Princes of Orange FROM WILLIAM the Great Founder of the Common-wealth of the United Provinces Written in French by the Baron Maurier in the Year 1682 and published at Paris by Order of the French King To which is added the Life of His Present Majesty King William the Third from His Birth to His Landing in England By Mr. Thomas Brown Together with all the Princes Heads taken from Original Draughts Chara Deo Soboles Virgil. LONDON Printed for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. To his Honoured Friend THOMAS CHAMBERS OF Hanworth Esq SIR THough I know what a just aversion you have to the common strain of Dedications yet with the usual assurance of an Authour of the Town I have presumed to inscribe this History to you so much too powerful was either my gratitude or my interest for the Complaisance I ought to have had for your Modesty As I have received too many Obligations at your hands not to endeavour at some sort of a requital if Addresses of this Nature don't rather serve to increase the Debt than to acquit it so I am too well acquainted with your Temper to offer at any thing that may look like Flattery 'T is I confess somewhat hard to be avoided upon these occasions and few Patrons quarrel with the poor Slaves that make these Applications to them for being too liberal of their Incense But you need not fear any such dreadful Entertainment from me For contrary to the received Practise of all my Predecessors in Dedication I intend not to say one Word in your Praise Nay what is more surprizing instead of being a Panegyrist I here come publickly to reproach you and that freedom as gross as it looks I know you will much sooner excuse than being praised I must therefore though it is much against my inclination to be the bearer of ill News take the boldness to inform you that the World speaks very strange things of you and such as I am afraid you will find it a difficult matter to justifie without the affectation of being singular It complains in the first place that in a time of Universal perfidiousness and degeneracy when the profession of Friendship serves only to usher in some piece of Treachery with a better grace you have the opiniatreté to be sincere and undesigning that at an Age wherein others of your quality wholly abandon themselves to their pleasures and generously neglect the pursuit of every thing besides you are so ill-natured as to use them only en passant and cannot be brought to allow that Learning sits ill upon a Gentleman and lastly that amidst so vast a Wealth which uses to have no other effect upon the rest of Mankind but either to make them neglect themselves or despise others you obstinately continue to be unfashionably virtuous and condescending I could tell you of several other objections of the like terrible importance that are frequently made against you but as by these I have mention'd you may sufficiently judge what malicious Worlds thinks of you I shall forbear to recount the rest And now Sir if I may be permitted to speak something of the following Translation I hope it is a Present not altogether unworthy of your Acceptance There is this at least to be said in the behalf of it which very few done out of the same Language can pretend to and that is the extream Scarcity as well as Excellence of the Original there being as far as I can inform my self not above four or five of them in England That very Book which my Friends and I made use of for you must give me leave here to inform you that I have but a small share in this performance and is now in the Possession of a Learned Gentleman had formerly passed the Hands of King Charles the Second for he having received a mighty Character of it was so impatient to read it over that he could not stay to be furnished with one of them from France but sent to borrow this As for the Author though I ingenuously own that I am so uncharitable to his Country-men as to believe they are for the general part as unfit to write History as Dutch-men are to write Epic Poems for Dutch Epic Poetry is down-right History disguised with Metre and French History as far as Fiction will make it so is down-right Poetry yet he has happily escaped the Genius of the rest of his Nation who are so apt to run out into strange Love-adventures and other Chimera's even upon the most solemn occasions and as appears by his Writings was a Person of great Quality Probity and Experience If he has any fault 't is this that he is now and then too much upon the Narrative but his Old-Age will excuse that Infirmity As for the rest he was a passionate Lover of Truth and an Adorer of true Merit where-ever he found it whether in Catholic or Hugonot Difference in Religion not being able to prepossess him to any Man's disadvantage if he were otherwise valuable In short he has discovered several important Matters of State which till he revealed them were Mysteries to all the World and I shall but do him justice when I say that he has joyned the unaffected Simplicity of Philip de Comines to the Veracity of the great Thuanus The last Life has been done by a modern Hand but though it does not come up to the former seems to be written with great Impartiality and Freedom I have thus given you a short Account of the Author It now remains that I should conclude which I find I must do in a different manner from most Dedications For whereas they generally end with some devout Wishes for the Person to whom they address you have been so eminently well treated both by Nature and Fortune that I can wish you nothing but what you possess already Therefore not altogether to depart from so ancient and received a Custom I will pray but it shall be for my self who need it most My first Petition is that you would be pleased to forgive all the defects in the Translation I mean in my own Part of it and my second that when your Candor has forgiven them you would once more employ it and pardorn this Presumption in Sir Your most Humble and Most Obliged Servant T. Brown The TABLE A. DUke of Alva sent to succeed the Dutchess in the Government of the Low Countreys page 19. Establishes a Councel of Twelve called the Councel of Blood p. 20 21. The Arch-Duke Brother to the Emperour Rodolphus chosen Governour of the Netherlands p. 64. Amsterdam surrendred to the States p. 65. Duke of Anjou invited into Holland p. 73. Retires into France and dies p. 113. Arminius and Gomarus their Quarrel p. 160 161 c. B. BArnevelt's Story p. 156 157 c. Bon besieged p. 240 241. And taken p. 242. Marquess de Bellefonds banished by the French King p. 251.
absolutely Commanded half the Roman Legions who governed all the World With these great forces and advantages they entred upon the Stage made their first Victories the fore-runners to the next pursued their blow and one overthrew the Empire of the Persians and the other the Roman Commonwealth But Prince William has equall'd the Glory of these great Conquerors by attaquing the formidable Power of King Philip of Spain without any Army or Forces and by maintaining himself many years against him His Courage was always greater than his Misfortunes and when all the World thought him ruin'd and he was driven out of the Netherlands he entred 'em again immediately at the Head of a new Army and by his great Conduct laid the foundations of a Commonwealth that covers the Ocean with its Fleets and over-matches all Europe in the number and strength of its Naval Forces His Enemies had no other way to ruin him but by a base Treachery which he might have avoided if he had reposed less confidence in the love of the People who served him instead of Guards and considered him as the Father and Tutelar God of their Country After having reflected on all the Illustrious Persons that have lived before him I can meet with no one that equall'd his profound Wisdom heroick Courage and Constancy under all his Adversities but Gaspar de Coligny Lord of Chastillon Admiral of France so great a Man that D'Avila his Enemy was forc'd to own that he was more talk'd of in Europe than the King of France himself This Admiral after the loss of four Battles was so far from being broken or ruin'd and continued still so powerfull that his Enemies were oblig'd to grant him a Peace and had it not been for a Treachery whose Memory will be eternally abhorr'd by all good Men he might have ended his days in Peace and done great service to his Country by the Conquest of the Low-Countries which he propos'd at so favourable a conjuncture that we might easily have made our selves masters of ' em But the ill maxims of those Divines who would conform all Religion to the humours and passions of Princes and the Doctrine That no Faith ought to be kept with Rebels and Hereticks and that 't is lawfull to do a small evil to bring about a greater good added to the powerfull Motive of Revenge prevail'd over all the Ties of Honour and Faith which ought always to be sacred and inviolable William of Nassaw Prince of Orange was Born in the Year 1533 at the Castle of Dillembourgh in the County of Nassaw He was Nine years Page of Honour to the Emperour Charles the Fifth who continually admired his extraordinary good sense and modesty This great Prince took delight to communicate his most important affairs to him and instruct him and has often declar'd to those he was most familiar with That this young Prince furnish'd him with Expedients and Counsels that surpriz'd him and which otherwise he had never thought of When he gave private Audience to Foreign Princes and Ministers and Prince William was about to retire with the rest of the Company he usually bid him stay All the World was surpriz'd to see this great and wife Monarch esteem him above all those that were about him and trust him at so tender an Age with all the secrets of his Empire the management of Affairs and the weightiest Negotiations He was scarce Twenty years old when Charles the Fifth chose him out among all the great Lords of his Court to carry the Imperial Crown which he resign'd to his Brother Ferdinand An Office which he discharged with much unwillingness assuring his good Master That 't was an unwelcome Task he had imposed on him of carrying that Crown to another which his Uncle Henry Count of Nassaw had put upon his Head And for a proof that Charles the Fifth set on less a value on his Courage than his Prudence when Philibert Emanuel Duke of Savoy was obliged by his own private affairs to be absent some time from the Netherlands tho' the Prince was but 22 years old and was in Breda at that time Charles the Fifth of his own accord against the advice of all his Counsel made him Generalissimo to the prejudice of so many experienc'd Captains and among the rest of Count Egmont who was Twelve years older at a time when he had to deal with two great Generals Mounsieur de Nevers and the Admiral of France But the Prince was so far from receiving any blow that Campagn that he built Charlemont and Philipville in sight of the French Armies I do not pretend to relate all the Actions of the Prince of Orange which would require a Volume and which so many Historians have done in several Languages 'T would be a strange itch of writing and a manifest robbery to publish what may be met with in particular Books My design is only to make some Reflections and Observations on this great Prince and acquaint the World with some particulars of his Life which I learn'd from my Father and other eminent Men of that Age. But in order to make my History more intelligible and agreeable to those who have not read his Life I was engaged contrary to my former intentions by an Illustrious Person to whom I have too many Obligations to refuse him any thing to make a short Abridgment of his Life enough to give a general Idea of him as Geographers present us at one view all the Old and New World in a little Map not doubting but a Narrow Portraicture of so extraordinary a Man will cause these Particulars I know of his Life to be read with greater pleasure and besides will show to all the World upon what foundations this Prince has erected the powerfull Commonwealth of the United Provinces Besides the esteem the Emperour had for his Vertue there was no Man at his Court whom he lov'd so tenderly as the Prince of Orange Which he made appear to the last moment of his Administration For at the famous Assembly at Brussels A. D. 1555 when the Emperour resign'd all his Kingdoms to his Son Philip 't was remarkable that in so considerable an Action he was supported by the Prince of Orange All these marks of Confidence and professions of Friendship which the Emperour made him were the cause of his Misfortunes For tho' at his departure into Spain the Emperour recommended him particularly to the King his Son the Spaniards who govern'd him for he had been bred always in Spain being jealous of the growing Greatness and good Fortune of this young Prince made the King entertain such suspicions of him that his most innocent words and actions had an ill interpretation put upon 'em and the refusel which the States made of complying with the demands of the King was laid to his charge He easily perceived by the cold receptions of the King that his Enemies had ruin'd him in his good opinion But he was confirm'd in his
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
established and to make him more odious The Count de Bossut Governor of Holland for the Spaniards made a fruitless attempt to drive them out of the Brill Many other Cities of Holland viz Horn Alkmar Edam Goude Oudewater Leyden Gorcum Harlem and all Zealand except Middleburg following the Example of the Brill abandoned the Duke of Alva and declared for the Prince of Orange Flushing a considerable City and Port of Zealand was one of the first that revolted by the perswasion of the Priest who on Easter-day as he was saying Mass exhorted the People to recover their Liberty This Air of sedition having blown the People into a flame they immediately went to their Arms and forced the Spanish Garrison to leave the place But they arrested Alvarez Pacheco a Spaniard and Relation of the Duke of Alva who was superintendant of the Fortifications of the Cittadel which was building at Flushing He was immediately hanged by order of Treton who revenged on him the death of his brother who had been beheaded by the Duke of Alva at Brussels 4 years before Pacheco in vain represented that he was a Gentleman and desired the favour to be beheaded but he was hanged publickly on a Gibbet I wonder at the variety of opinions I have met with in the most famous Historians of the Netherlands concerning this Pacheco Grotius says he was a Savoyard though Benlivoglio Strada Meursius and Emanuel de Metteren do all agree he was a Spaniard Cardinal Bentivoglio says he was beheaded and others write that he was hanged on the other side Meursius calls this Gentleman who was executed a Relation of the Duke of Alva Pacioli although the others call him Pacheco confounding this Pacheco with Francis Paciotti of Urbin Count de Montefabre so famous for his skill in fortifications and other engines of War that when he had built the Cittadel at Antwerp his name was given to one of the Bastions by order of the Duke of Alva the four others were called the Duke Ferdinand Toledo and Alva not one by the name of the King his Master But to return to this Pacheco Emanuel de Metteren though a very exact Historian names him Pierre Pacheco though Famianus Strada who was better informed names him Alvarez Which shows that the greatest men are liable to mistakes The Sea Gueux in requital of the Duke of Alva's cruelty hanged all the Prisoners they made without distinction but the Spaniards they tyed by couples back to back and threw them into the Sea As soon as the Prince of Orange arrived in Holland and Zealand he made the Sieur Diederic or Theoderick de Sonoy a Friezland Gentleman his Lieutenant in North-Holland otherwise called Westfrise and Charles Bâ—…issol Governor of Flushing and his Brother Lewis Boissol Admiral These two Gentlemen were of Brussles and being condemned by the Duke of Alva follow'd the â—…ortunes of the Prince of Orange About that time the States of Holland and Zealand met at Dordrecht where they acknowledg'd the Prince of Orange for their Governour though he was absent and obliged themselves by oath never to abandon him and the Prince in like manner swore by his proxy Philip de Marnix Sieur de St. Aldegonde to continue inviolably devoted to their interests 'T was observed in this Assembly that St. Aldegonde gave his hand to all the Deputies of the States and they to him in token of their mutual confidence and fidelity William Count de la Mark then present was declared Lieutenant of the Prince of Orange but rebelling some time after against the Prince with his confidentt Bertel Entens as rash as himself they were both seized on and they would have proceeded to the Trial of the Count if the consideration of his alliances and great services had not pleaded for him for he had been guilty of great cruelties to some good Ecclesiasticks which deserved a severe punishment After he was out of Prison he retired to Leige where he died of the bite of one of his mad dogs The Prince did all things in the Name of the States though he had all the Power of the Government in his own hands such an intire confidence had the People in him There were anciently but six Cities in Holland that had right to vote in the States viz Dordrecht Harlem Leyden Delft Amsterdam and Goude the Prince added twelve others to these six viz Rotterdam Gorcum Schedam Sconen la Brille Alkmar Horn Enkhusen Edam Munikedam Medimblet and Purmerend that he might engage these Cities in his interest by the honour he had done them and that they might be the better affected to him in the assembly of the States and ease the publick miseries and grievances the more effectually by being acquainted with them He had the absolute disposal of all Employments and charges but refused the name of King and contented himself with the Power At that time he banished all the Romish Ceremonies out of the Churches that this difference of Religion might out off all means of an accommodation with the Spaniards who were sworn Enemies to the new opinions A. D. 1572 the Duke of Alva after the recovery of Mons being very much indisposed sent his Son Don Frederick de Toledo to take the Cities of Holland and Guelderland that had revolted from him Don Frederick resolved to make Malines an Example for opening its Gates to the Prince of Orange He did not think it enough to pillage the Town for several days together but permitted his Souldiers to commit all sorts of Cruelties and Barbarities even to ravish the Women without excepting the Nuns After this he marched against the Marquess of Bergues routed him and possessed himself of all the Towns he had won among the rest of Zutphen which he mercilesly gave up to the Plunder of his Army He retook Narden and intirely destroyed it cutting off the Innocent and Guilty without distinction of Age or Sex and contrary to the Promise which Iulian Romero a Spanish Colonel had made to the Burghers of saving their Lives He burnt the Houses razed the Walls let the dead Bodies lie Three whole Weeks in the Streets without Burial An excess of Barbarity which was considered by the most Cruel rather as a detestable Villainy than a just Punishment for their revolts This made Harlem take a Resolution to hold out to the last Extremity having to do with so Merciless a Conqueror The Dutch Historians write that the Art of Printing was begun at Harlem A. D. 1440. by Laurence le Contre and Thomas Pieterson his Son-in-Law but that their Factor Iohn Faustus betraying them carried away the Letters to Amsterdam then to Cologne and from thence to Mayence where he stopt and where Iohn Guttemburg a German Gentleman who is commonly reckoned the Inventor of Printing improved it very much Wibald Riperda a Friezland Gentleman Commanded in the City of Harlem and Don Frederick declared that he would make use of no other Keys to enter the City than his
the Cathedral Church of Paderburn This Saint Liberius had been Bishop of Mans. Such a beginning enticed him farther and knowing that at Munster there were 12 Apostles all of Silver of a prodigious bigness he went thither and seizing upon the place marched directly to the great Church called the Dome accompanied with all his Collonels and Captains made a Speech to these Apostles reproaching them with their Idleness and Disobedience in not observing the commands of their Master to go instantly through all the World in these words Go throughout all Nations swearing that he would make them Travellers and become obedient So he immediately commanded to coin them into Rix Dollars with which he paid his Army and so spread them throughout all Germany He had taken this for his Device Gottes freindt und der Psaffen feint which is to say Friend of God and Enemy of Priests whom he slew or at least guelt them without any remission at last this outragious Spirit departed in 1626 at Wolfenbottle of a burning Fever in the prime of his Youth After having raised the Seige of Berghen op Zoom Maurice Prince of Orange did nothing considerable besides the Project he laid for the surprize of Antwerp but Heaven and the Winds were opposite to his design he had given so good order for every thing the Undertaking was so well laid and he promised to himself such a happy Issue that he said that it was God alone that could hinder the Success Prince Maurice before he had resolved to ruine Mr. de Barneveld honored my Father with his esteem and confidence insomuch that he undertook his defence against those that had aspersed him as his elder Brother Prince Philip and his Princess had done before which was very well known to all those who were then in Holland and which appears evidently by a Letter which Prince Maurice writ to Monsieur de Villeroy after the Peace of Landau wherein he not only justifies my Fathers conduct but moreover tells him that the Court had no Person thereabouts who could serve France so much as my Father and that was so agreeable to him and the States General The Letter is this SIR AT my return from Zeland upon the instances that were made me by Monsieur de Maurier the Kings Ambassador for the Re-establishment of the French Officers in their Employments I used my endeavors for the satisfaction of their Majesties the States having taken the same Resolution their Act shall be executed I am very much pleased that the Troubles in your Kingdom have been so happily composed and particularly that your Labors have so well succeeded in it wishing that this repose may be of long continuance to the prosperity of their Majesties which is the thing that I desire besides although the Care and Diligence which Monsieur Maurier has show'd in his faithful Execution of the Kings Commands may speak sufficiently for themselves yet I must render this Testimony to his Behavior that it has been such as has served their Majesties heartily and to the purpose without giving any one reason to complain having managed all his Actions which are very well known to us with Modesty Respect and Honor and thus much I can give you certain assurance of whereas if any other reports may be spread to his Prejudice they must do great injustice to his Conduct and Integrity The States General and all of us are fully satisfied with his whole proceedings and think their Majesties cannot hereafter make use of any other Minister that will be more faithful and serviceable to themselves or more agreeable to this Commonwealth which as I have reason I must declare to be my own opinion and with that I shall conclude together with assurance of my desire to serve you and prayers to God to give you health and long life Sir your very affectionate Servant Maurice of Nassau This Letter and several others of the same Strain which Madam the Princess Dowager of Orange and the principal Persons in the Country had writ to Court contradicted the Aspersions of several Persons of Quality who had assured the Queen Mother and her Ministers that my Father was disagreeable to the Prince and States General In short Prince Maurice upon all occasions gave my Father very signal marks of his Esteem and Friendship so that in the Year 1615 having a Son born the Prince would be his Godfather and gave him his own name of Maurice with a little Picture of a great value this is he who has been known by the name of Villaumaine and who having past all his Life in Holland where he was born arriv'd by 40 years Service and his own Merit without any favor to the command of Collonel He had a mortal aversion for this last war for he drew his extraction from France where his Family was established on the other side he saw himself obliged to defend the place of his Birth where he had all his effects and where he was at last arrived to an honorable Post by an extraordinary Patience never Man had more true Friends than he and they of all Nations so that he gained the Esteem of all the considerable Frenchmen that had known him in Holland amongst others of Monsieur de Beringhen chief Querry to the King of Mr. de St. Romain who was Ambassador in Portugal and Switzerland and towards his latter days of the Princess of Tarentum He lived in great Esteem for his Valor and Fidelity and died at the Head of his Regiment in the Battle of Senef very much lamented by all that knew him and by the Prince of Orange himself who placed a great Confidence in him I hope I shall be pardoned for the tenderness I had for this only Brother that was left me which occasioned this digression But let us now come to the description of Prince Maurice's Person and Manners even to the secrets of his Life which have not hitherto been divulged as I have learnt them from my Father and several Noble Persons of that Country This Prince was very strong and indefatigable in Labor he appeared lesser than he was by being full and fat his Face was plump and ruddy his Beard fair which he wore very large and broad he always made use of little pleated Ruffs about his Neck He never clothed himself but after the same fashion with the same Stuff and that always of a sort of brown or musk color his Doublet was of Silk with Gold stripes the rest of his Cloaths were Woollen but his Cloaks or long Coats were faced with Velvet I speak of his common Habit and not of those that were designed for great Feasts and public Assemblies He often wore in his Hat a Band of Diamonds he was never without a Girdle to which was fastened a sort of Belt for his Sword that was gilt I never saw him in any other Habit and yet I have minded him a thousand times at the French Church in the Castle at the Hague
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