rapid headway among all classes. A medal was likewise struck, which bore
on one side the head of the king, on the other two clasped hands with
the inscription--_Fidèles au roy jusques à la besace_.

Thus was the opposition to the tyrannical measures of the government
organising itself in the spring of 1566. It is a great mistake to
suppose that the majority of those who signed "the Compromise" or
presented "the Request" were disloyal to their sovereign or converts to
the reformed faith. Among those who denounced the methods of the
Inquisition and of the Blood Placards were a large number, who without
ceasing to be Catholics, had been disillusioned by the abuses which had
crept into the Roman Church, desired their removal only to a less degree
than the Protestants themselves, and had no sympathy with the terrible
and remorseless persecution on Spanish lines, which sought to crush out
all liberty of thought and all efforts of religious reform by the stake
and the sword of the executioner. Nevertheless this league of the nobles
gave encouragement to the sectaries and was the signal for a great
increase in the number and activity of the Calvinist and Zwinglian
preachers, who flocked into the land from the neighbouring countries.
Such was the boldness of these preachers that, instead of being
contented with secret meetings, they began to hold their conventicles in
the fields or in the outskirts of the towns. Crowds of people thronged
to hear them, and the authority of the magistrates was defied and
flouted. The regent was in despair. Shortly after the presentation of
the Request it was determined by the advice of the council to send
special envoys to lay before the king once more the serious state of
things. The Marquis of Berghen and Baron Montigny consented with some
demur to undertake the mission, but for various reasons they did not
reach Madrid till some two months later. They were received with
apparent courtesy, and after several conferences the king, on July 31,