the young Duke of Lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the
daughter of Henry the considered highly desirable by the Prince. Philip
and the Duchess Margaret of Parma both approved, or pretended to approve,
the match. At the same time the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine, mother of
the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the
Regency of the Netherlands. Being a woman of restless ambition, and
intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of William's station
and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes.
On the other hand, Philip--who had made open protestation of his desire
to connect the Prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly
recommended the match to the young lady's mother--soon afterwards, while
walking one day with the Prince in the park at Brussels, announced to him
that the Duchess of Lorraine had declined his proposals. Such a result
astonished the Prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and
had been urging her appointment to the Regency with all his-influence,
having entirely withdrawn his own claims to that office. No satisfactory
explanation was ever given of this singular conclusion to a courtship,
begun with the apparent consent of all parties. It was hinted that the
young lady did not fancy the Prince; but, as it was not known that a word
had ever been exchanged between them, as the Prince, in appearance and
reputation, was one of the most brilliant cavaliers of the age, and as
the approval of the bride was not usually a matter of primary consequence
in such marriages of state, the mystery seemed to require a further
solution. The Prince suspected Granvelle and the King, who were believed
to have held mature and secret deliberation together, of insincerity.
The Bishop was said to have expressed the opinion, that although the
friendship he bore the Prince would induce him to urge the marriage,
yet his duty to his master made him think it questionable whether it
were right to advance a personage already placed so high by birth,
wealth, and popularity, still higher by so near an alliance with his