A great and good man whose life had been brim-full of noble deeds,
and who had been led astray from the path, not of virtue, but of sound
policy, by his own prejudices and by the fascination of an intellect even
more brilliant than his own, he at least enjoyed in his retirement
whatever good may come from hearty and genuine labor, and from the high
regard entertained for him by the noblest spirits among his
contemporaries.

"They tell me," said La Noue, "that the Seigneur de Ste. Aldegonde has
been suspected by the Hollanders and the English. I am deeply grieved,
for 'tis a personage worthy to be employed. I have always known him to
be a zealous friend of his religion and his country, and I will bear him
this testimony, that his hands and his heart are clean. Had it been
otherwise, I must have known it. His example has made me regret the
less the promise I was obliged to make, never to bear arms again in the
Netherlands. For I have thought that since this man, who has so much
credit and authority among your people, after having done his duty well,
has not failed to be calumniated and ejected from service, what would
they have done with me, who am a stranger, had I continued in their
employment? The consul Terentius Varro lost, by his fault, the battle of
Canna; nevertheless, when he returned to Rome, offering the remainder of
his life in the cause of his Republic reduced to extremity, he was not
rejected, but well received, because he hoped well for the country.
It is not to be imputed as blame to Ste. Aldegonde that he lost Antwerp,
for he surrendered when it could not be saved. What I now say is drawn
from me by the compassion I feel when persons of merit suffer without
cause at the hands of their fellow citizens. In these terrible tempests,
as it is a duty rigorously to punish the betrayers of their country, even
so it is an obligation upon us to honor good patriots, and to support
them in venial errors, that we may all encourage each other to do the