confessor, has been discontinued." This source of revenue, it seemed,
was found in "a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces
of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver." The composition was
said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire. Partly in
consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition
from the states, a project formed by the King to pay his army with this
kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned. The invention, however, was so
very agreeable to the King, and the inventor had received such liberal
rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of
scarcity his Majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance.

It is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the
events of the years 1560 and 1561, to allude to an important affair
which occupied much attention during the whole of this period. This
is the celebrated marriage of the Prince of Orange with the Princess
Anna of Saxony. By many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great
Netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with
this distinguished Lutheran house. One must have studied the characters
and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible
that much influence could be exerted on the mind of William of Orange by
such natures as those of Anna of Saxony, or of her uncle the Elector
Augustus, surnamed "the Pious."

The Prince had become a widower in 1558, at the age of twenty-five.
Granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first
marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired,
an alliance with Mademoiselle Renee, daughter of the Duchess de Lorraine,
and granddaughter of Christiern the Third of Denmark, and his wife
Isabella, sister of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Such a connexion,
not only with the royal house of Spain but with that of France--for,