the Empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or Madame
de Parma, or Madame de Lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern
the provinces than he pretended to be. "The people," said he, plainly,
"are beginning to abhor me, and I abhor them already." He entreated
Perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, "per fas aut
per nefas." His friends ought to procure his liberation, if they
wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy.
He expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his
correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release,
the letter might be shown to the King. In general, the Governor was
always willing that Perez should make what changes he thought advisable
in the letters for his Majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed
crude or harsh, provided always the main point--that of procuring his
recal--were steadily kept in view, in this, said the Governor,
vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to
the two first, I shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate
condition, I shall run great risk of losing the last.

On the other hand, Perez was profuse in his professions of friendship
both to Don John and to Escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the
difficulty of approaching the King upon the subject of his brother's
recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been
ventured which might not remain without effect. All these letters, were,
however, laid before Philip, for his approval, before being despatched,
and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them,
about which Perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to
his Majesty. He had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by
piece, to the King, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches
from the Netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the
Governor and Escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious