redress of grievances was agreed on beforehand as the anticipated
answer to the coming demands.

Even while the council of state held its sittings, the report was
spread through Brussels that the confederates were approaching.
And at length they did enter the city, to the amount of some
hundreds of the representatives of the first families in the
country. On the following day, the 5th of April, 1566, they walked
in solemn procession to the palace. Their demeanor was highly
imposing, from their mingled air of forbearance and determination.
All Brussels thronged out to gaze and sympathize with this
extraordinary spectacle of men whose resolute step showed they
were no common suppliants, but whose modest bearing had none
of the seditious air of faction. The stadtholderess received
the distinguished petitioners with courtesy, listened to their
detail of grievances, and returned a moderate, conciliatory,
but evasive answer.

The confederation, which owed its birth to, and was cradled in
social enjoyments, was consolidated in the midst of a feast.
The day following this first deputation to the stadtholderess,
De Brederode gave a grand repast to his associates in the Hotel
de Culembourg. Three hundred guests were present. Inflamed by
joy and hope, their spirits rose high under the influence of
wine, and temperance gave way to temerity. In the midst of their
carousing, some of the members remarked that when the stadtholderess
received the written petition, Count Berlaimont observed to her
that "she had nothing to fear from such a band of beggars"
(_tas_de_GUEUX_). The fact was that many of the confederates
were, from individual extravagance and mismanagement, reduced to