days in all the zealous extravagance which may be well imagined
to characterize such a scene.

The citizens of Antwerp were terrified for the safety of the place,
and courier after courier was despatched to the stadtholderess at
Brussels to implore her presence. The duchess, not daring to
take such a step without the authority of the king, sent Count
Meghem as her representative, with proposals to the magistrates
to call out the garrison. The populace soon understood the object
of this messenger; and assailing him with a violent outcry, forced
him to fly from the city. Then the Calvinists petitioned the
magistrates for permission to openly exercise their religion,
and for the grant of a temple in which to celebrate its rites.
The magistrates in this conjuncture renewed their application to
the stadtholderess, and entreated her to send the Prince of Orange,
as the only person capable of saving the city from destruction.
The duchess was forced to adopt this bitter alternative; and the
prince, after repeated refusals to mix again in public affairs,
yielded, at length, less to the supplications of the stadtholderess
than to his own wishes to do another service to the cause of his
country. At half a league from the city he was met by De Brederode,
with an immense concourse of people of all sects and opinions,
who hailed him as a protector from the tyranny of the king, and
a savior from the dangers of their own excess. Nothing could
exceed the wisdom, the firmness, and the benevolence, with which
he managed all conflicting interests, and preserved tranquillity
amid a chaos of opposing prejudices and passions.

From the first establishment of the field-preachings the
stadtholderess had implored the confederate lords to aid her for