idea of personal aggrandizement, although he professed at the same time
the utmost deference to William of Orange. He expressed the hope that he
and the Prince "should be but two heads under one hat;" but he would have
done well to ask himself whether his own contribution to this partnership
of brains would very much enrich the silent statesman. Orange himself
regarded him with respectful contempt, and considered his interference
with Netherland matters but as an additional element of mischief. The
Duke's right hand man, however, Peter Peutterich, the "equestrian
doctor"--as Sir Philip Sydney called him--equally skilful with the sword
as with the pen, had succeeded, while on a mission to England, in
acquiring the Queen's favor for his master. To Casimir, therefore, had
been entrusted the command of the levies, and the principal expenditure
of the subsidies which she had placed at the disposition of the states.
Upon Casimir she relied, as a counterweight to the Duke of Alencon, who,
as she knew, had already entered the provinces at the secret solicitation
of a large faction among the nobles. She had as much confidence as ever
in Orange, but she imagined herself to be strengthening his cause by
providing him with such a lieutenant. Casimir's immediate friends had
but little respect for his abilities. His father-in-law, Augustus of
Saxony, did not approve his expedition. The Landgrave William, to whom
he wrote for counsel, answered, in his quaint manner, that it was always
difficult for one friend to advise another in three matters--to wit, in
taking a wife, going to sea, and going to war; but that, nevertheless,
despite the ancient proverb, he would assume the responsibility of
warning Casimir not to plunge into what he was pleased to call the
"'confusum chaos' of Netherland politics." The Duke felt no inclination,
however, to take the advice which he had solicited. He had been stung by
the sarcasm which Alva had once uttered, that the German potentates
carried plenty of lions, dragons, eagles, and griffins on their shields;
but that these ferocious animals were not given to biting or scratching.