states-general, and was Governor of Gravelines. On promise of
forgiveness for all past disloyalty, of being continued in the same
military posts under Philip which he then held for the patriots, and of a
"merced" large enough to satisfy his most avaricious dreams, he went over
to the royal government. The negotiation was conducted by Alonzo Curiel,
financial agent of the King, and was not very nicely handled. The
paymaster, looking at the affair purely as a money transaction--which in
truth it was--had been disposed to drive rather too hard a bargain. He
offered only fifty thousand crowns for La Motte and his friend Baron
Montigny, and assured his government that those gentlemen, with the
soldiers under their command, were very dear at the price. La Motte
higgled very hard for more, and talked pathetically of his services and
his wounds--for he had been a most distinguished and courageous
campaigner--but Alonzo was implacable. Moreover, one Robert Bien-Aime,
Prior of Renty, was present at all the conferences. This ecclesiastic
was a busy intriguer, but not very adroit. He was disposed to make
himself useful to government, for he had set his heart upon putting the
mitre of Saint Omer upon his head, and he had accordingly composed a very
ingenious libel upon the Prince of Orange, in which production, "although
the Prior did not pretend to be Apelles or Lysippus," he hoped that the
Governor-General would recognize a portrait colored to the life. This
accomplished artist was, however, not so successful as he was picturesque
and industrious. He was inordinately vain of his services, thinking
himself, said Alonzo, splenetically, worthy to be carried in a procession
like a little saint, and as he had a busy brain, but an unruly tongue,
it will be seen that he possessed a remarkable faculty of making himself
unpleasant. This was not the way to earn his bishopric. La Motte,
through the candid communications of the Prior, found himself the subject
of mockery in Parma's camp and cabinet, where treachery to one's country
and party was not, it seemed, regarded as one of the loftier virtues,