he would succeed in that scheme of universal monarchy, to which his illustrious father had vainly aspired. The House of Bourbon was the only power capable of resisting the ambition of the Spanish Monarch; but the pride of France had been humbled by the memorable defeat at Paria. That gallant and highly spirited nation, after having broken the peace of Vaucelles, determined, once more, to try the fortune of arms; but they were destined to sustain a further disgrace; and the mortification which Henry experienced by the loss of the battle of St. Quentin, was rendered doubly galling by the capture of the Constable, Montmorency, and of most of the first nobility in his kingdom. Had Philip possessed an enlightened mind, the resources which he possessed, would have ensured the complete ascendancy of his country in the European Commonwealth; but he was a slave to superstition, and so miserably sunk in bigotry, that he exhausted the treasures which would have crushed the House of Bourbon, in a vain attempt at imposing his own religious opinions on the bravest and most industrious of his subjects. Charles was born at Ghent, and during his reign, he showed a strong partiality to the people of the Netherlands; he was so sensible of their value, that he continually took occa

sion to impress on the mind of his son, the policy of preserving their rights and privileges. But the education of Philip destroyed the wise counsel of his prudent father; his ecclesiastical preceptors had taught him that the first duty of a king was to maintain the authority of the Holy See; and along with these notions of submission to the Church, they had inflamed his imagination with the most preposterous ideas of the extent of the royal prerogative. Philip did not suffer the grass to grow under his feet; and as he panted for an opportunity to testify the sincerity of his faith, and his devotion to the Court of Rome, he resolved, throughout the whole of his extensive dominions, to suppress the reformed opinions, which were rapidly diffusing themselves. For this purpose, he published his edicts against heresy, and conferred on his name an immortal degradation by founding the Inquisition. "Persons were committed to prison on bare suspicion, and put to the torture on the slightest evidence. The accused were not confronted with their accusers, or made acquainted with the crimes for which they suffered. The civil judges were not allowed to take any further concern in prosecutions for heresy, than to execute the sentences, which the inquisitors had pronounced. The possessions of the sufferers were confis

cated, and informers were encouraged by an assurance of impunity, in case they themselves were guilty, and by the promise of rewards."*

The cruelties perpetrated by this execrable tribunal, became at length intolerable, and as the inquisitors were independent of the civil jurisdiction, an appeal was made to Philip by the leading men in the Netherlands. But the monarch who had witnessed an autò da fè, had long since expelled from his dark and unfeeling mind, every sentiment of humanity, and without even investigating the complaints of the petitioners, he pronounced in favour of the Inquisition, assuming that heretics were unworthy of belief, and undeserving of compassion. The refusal of the King to redress the grievances of the complainants, emboldened the ecclesiastics to further acts of barbarity;

* Watson's Life of Philip II. vol. 2, p. 114.

+ Among the Protestants condemned, there was a nobleman, named Don Carlos di Steasa, who, when the executioners were conducting him to the stake, called out to the King for mercy, saying, "And canst thou, O King! witness the torments of thy subjects? save us from this cruel death, we do not deserve it." "No," Philip sternly replied, "I would myself carry wood to burn my own son, were he such a wretch as thou." After which he beheld the horrid spectacle that followed, with a composure and tranquillity that betokened the most unfeeling heart.

but the people of the Netherlands, instead of yielding submission through despair, determined to convince their sovereign, that protection and allegiance were reciprocal obligations, and that the withdrawing of the one justified the refusal of the other. The Prince of Orange, and the Counts Egmont and Horn, the most popular and most able noblemen in the provinces, applauded and encouraged the resolutions of their countrymen, who, finding at length that all remonstrances were unavailing, resolved to assert the liberty of conscience by an appeal to arms. In the protracted struggle which ensued, the reformers had to contend against the armaments, and treasures, and disciplined troops of Philip, with scarcely any resources, except those which constancy and courage always impart to men who prefer a glorious death to an ignominious slavery. The heroic fortitude, the dignified magnanimity, the intrepid valour, and undaunted perseverance displayed by the people of the Netherlands, far exceed the proudest examples of Grecian or Roman story; and when the reader considers that the detestable Duke of Alva was, during the greatest period of the contest, at the head of the Spanish forces, his admiration of those brave defenders of liberty will be increased, who, without money, arms, or troops, could, by their own energies, resist

the most consummate general of the most powerful monarchy in the world.

The political consequences of this Catholic crusade against the religious opinions of the provinces, justified the prediction of Charles the Fifth. Spain lost by the separation of the Netherlands, the grand source of her power: she gradually became more bigoted, and her influence in the affairs of Europe gradually declined as superstition triumphed. Among the remarkable vicissitudes of empires, there is none which presents a more awful warning than the fall of Spain. It appears almost romantic, that during the memorable war of the succession, that once mighty kingdom should have been reduced to the state of a province of France, and still more wonderful, that the low countries, that small appendage of the rich inheritance which Charles left his son, should have acquired such an ascendancy in the politics of the Continent, as to enable them to dictate the terms of peace to Louis the Fourteenth, who had seated his own grandson on the throne of the conquerors of Pavia and St. Quentin.

The separation of the united provinces from Spain was not the only calamity which the