devils" whom he had left running loose in the Netherlands, while these
wild soldiers, on their part, being absolutely in a starving condition
--for there was little left for booty in a land which had been so often
plundered--now had the effrontery to apply to the Prince of Parma for
payment of their wages. Alexander Farnese laughed heartily at the
proposition, which he considered an excellent jest. It seemed in truth,
a jest, although but a sorry one. Parma replied to the messenger of
Maurice of Saxony who had made the proposition, that the Germans must be
mad to ask him for money, instead of offering to pay him, a heavy sum for
permission to leave the country. Nevertheless, he was willing to be so
far indulgent as to furnish them with passports, provided they departed
from the Netherlands instantly. Should they interpose the least delay,
he would set upon them without further preface, and he gave them notice,
with the arrogance becoming a Spanish general; that the courier was
already waiting to report to Spain the number of them left alive after
the encounter. Thus deserted by their chief, and hectored by the enemy,
the mercenaries, who had little stomach for fight without wages, accepted
the passports proffered by Parma. They revenged themselves for the harsh
treatment which they had received from Casimir and from the states-
general, by singing, everywhere as they retreated, a doggerel ballad
--half Flemish, half German--in which their wrongs were expressed with
uncouth vigor.

Casimir received the news of the departure of his ragged soldiery on the
very day which witnessed his investment with the Garter by the fair hands
of Elizabeth herself. A few days afterwards he left England,
accompanied by an escort of lords and gentlemen, especially appointed for
that purpose by the Queen. He landed in Flushing, where he was received
with distinguished hospitality, by order of the Prince of Orange, and on
the 14th of February, 1579, he passed through Utrecht. Here he conversed