He was therefore disposed, once for all, to show that the teeth and claws
of German princes could still be dangerous. Unfortunately, he was
destined to add a fresh element of confusion to the chaos, and to furnish
rather a proof than a refutation of the correctness of Alva's gibe.

This was the hero who was now thrust, head and shoulders as it were, into
the entangled affairs of the Netherlanders, and it was Elizabeth of
England, more than ever alarmed at the schemes of Alencon, who had pushed
forward this Protestant champion, notwithstanding the disinclination of
Orange.

The Queen was right in her uneasiness respecting the French prince. The
Catholic nobles, relying upon the strong feeling still rife throughout
the Walloon country against the Reformed religion, and inflamed more than
ever by their repugnance to Orange, whose genius threw them so completely
into the shade, had already drawn closer to the Duke. The same
influences were at work to introduce Alencon, which had formerly been
employed to bring Matthias from Vienna. Now that the Archduke, who was
to have been the rival, had become the dependent of William, they turned
their attention to the son of Catherine de Medici, Orange himself having
always kept the Duke in reserve, as an instrument to overcome the
political coquetry of Elizabeth. That great Princess never manifested
less greatness than in her earlier and most tormenting connexion with the
Netherlands. Having allured them for years with bright but changeful
face, she still looked coldly down upon the desolate sea where they were
drifting She had promised much; her performance had been nothing. Her
jealousy of French influence had at length been turned to account; a
subsidy and a levy extorted from her fears. Her ministers and prominent
advisers were one and all in favor of an open and generous support to the
provinces. Walsingham, Burleigh, Knollys, Davidson, Sidney, Leicester,