others, determined upon--Stealthy course of the government towards
them--Infatuation of Egmont--Warnings addressed to him by De Billy
and others--Measures to entrap Count Horn--Banquet of the Grand
Prior--The Grand Prior's warning to Egmont--Evil counsels of
Noircarmes--Arrests of Egmont, Horn, Bakkerzeel and Straalen--
Popular consternation--Petulant conduct of Duchess Margaret--
Characteristic comments of Granvelle--His secret machinations and
disclaimers--Berghen and Montigny--Last moments of Marquis Berghen--
Perfidy of Ruy Gomez--Establishment of the "Blood-Council"--Its
leading features--Insidious behavior of Viglius--Secret
correspondence, concerning the President, between Philip and Alva--
Members of the "Blood-Council"--Portraits of Vargas and Hessels--
Mode of proceeding adopted by the council--Wholesale executions--
Despair in the provinces--The resignation of Duchess Margaret
accepted--Her departure from the Netherlands--Renewed civil war in
France--Death of Montmorency--Auxiliary troops sent by Alva to
France--Erection of Antwerp citadel--Description of the citadel.

The armed invasion of the Netherlands was the necessary consequence of
all which had gone before. That the inevitable result had been so long
deferred lay rather in the incomprehensible tardiness of Philip's
character than in the circumstances of the case. Never did a monarch
hold so steadfastly to a deadly purpose, or proceed so languidly and with
so much circumvolution to his goal. The mask of benignity, of possible
clemency, was now thrown off, but the delusion of his intended visit to
the provinces was still maintained. He assured the Regent that he should
be governed by her advice, and as she had made all needful preparations
to receive him in Zeland, that it would be in Zeland he should arrive.

The same two men among Philip's advisers were prominent as at an earlier