Netherlands.

As De Bruxelles finished, there was a buzz of admiration throughout the
assembly, mingled with murmurs of regret, that in the present great
danger upon the frontiers from the belligerent King of France and his
warlike and restless nation, the provinces should be left without their
ancient and puissant defender. The emperor then rose to his feet.
Leaning on his crutch, he beckoned from his seat the personage upon whose
arm he had leaned as he entered the hall. A tall, handsome youth of
twenty-two came forward--a man whose name from that time forward, and as
long as history shall endure, has been, and will be, more familiar than
any other in the mouths of Netherlanders. At that day he had rather a
southern than a German or Flemish appearance. He had a Spanish cast of
features, dark, well chiselled, and symmetrical. His head was small and
well placed upon his shoulders. His hair was dark brown, as were also
his moustache and peaked beard. His forehead was lofty, spacious, and
already prematurely engraved with the anxious lines of thought. His eyes
were full, brown, well opened, and expressive of profound reflection.
He was dressed in the magnificent apparel for which the Netherlanders
were celebrated above all other nations, and which the ceremony rendered
necessary. His presence being considered indispensable at this great
ceremony, he had been summoned but recently from the camp on the
frontier, where, notwithstanding his youth, the emperor had appointed him
to command his army in chief against such antagonists as Admiral Coligny
and the Due de Nevers.

Thus supported upon his crutch and upon the shoulder of William of
Orange, the Emperor proceeded to address the states, by the aid of a
closely-written brief which he held in his hand. He reviewed rapidly the
progress of events from his seventeenth year up to that day. He spoke of