"I don't marvel at this," said Parma, "for certainly the poor city is
most forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it."
It was not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the
presence of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men,
were indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital.
Its downfall was instantaneous. The merchants and industrious artisans
all wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide
traffic. Civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the
citadel and the Jesuits. By express command of Philip, that order,
banished so recently, was reinstated in Antwerp, as well as throughout
the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed
under its especial care. No children could be thenceforth instructed
except by the lips of those fathers. Here was a curb more efficacious
even than the citadel. That fortress was at first garrisoned with
Walloons and Germans. "I have not yet induced the citizens," said Parma,
"to accept a Spanish garrison, nor am I surprised; so many of them
remembering past events (alluding to the 'Spanish fury,' but not
mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the
present time. Before long, I expect, however, to make the Spaniards as
acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves."

It may easily be supposed that Philip was pleased with the triumphs that
had thus been achieved. He was even grateful, or affected to be
grateful, to him who had achieved them. He awarded great praise to
Alexander for his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack
upon the bridge, and the battle of the Kowenstyn; but censured him
affectionately for so rashly exposing his life. "I have no words,"
he said, "to render the thanks which are merited for all that you have
been doing. I recommend you earnestly however to have a care for the
security of your person, for that is of more consequence than all the