lucrative abbey of Saint Armand. Not that he would have accepted this
preferment, "could the abbey have been annexed to any of the new
bishoprics;" on the contrary, he assured the king that "to carry out so
holy a work as the erection of those new sees, he would willingly have
contributed even out of his own miserable pittance."

It not being considered expedient to confiscate the abbey to any
particular bishop, Philip accordingly presented it to the prelate of
Arras, together with a handsome sum of money in the shape of an "ayuda de
costa" beside. The thrifty bishop, who foresaw the advent of troublous
times in the Netherlands, however, took care in the letters by which he
sent his thanks, to instruct the King to secure the money upon crown
property in Arragon, Naples, and Sicily, as matters in the provinces were
beginning to look very precarious.

Such, at the commencement of the Duchess Margaret's administration, were
the characters and the previous histories of the persons into whose hands
the Netherlands were entrusted. None of them have been prejudged. We
have contented ourselves with stating the facts with regard to all, up to
the period at which we have arrived. Their characters have been
sketched, not according to subsequent developments, but as they appeared
at the opening of this important epoch.

The aspect of the country and its inhabitants offered many sharp
contrasts, and revealed many sources of future trouble.

The aristocracy of the Netherlands was excessively extravagant,
dissipated, and already considerably embarrassed in circumstances. It
had been the policy of the Emperor and of Philip to confer high offices,
civil, military, and diplomatic, upon the leading nobles, by which