shooting up of those three rockets from the cathedral-tower, on the
unlucky 10th May, had thus not only ruined the first assault against the
Kowenstyn, but also the second and the more promising adventure. Had the
four thousand bold Englishmen there enlisted, and who could have reached
the Provinces in time to cooperate in that great enterprise, have stood
side by side with the Hollanders, the Zeelanders, and the Antwerpers,
upon that fatal dyke, it is almost a certainty that Antwerp would have
been relieved, and the whole of Flanders and Brabant permanently annexed
to the independent commonwealth, which would have thus assumed at once
most imposing proportions.

It was a great blunder of Sainte Aldegonde to station in the cathedral,
on so important an occasion, watchmen in whose judgment he could not
thoroughly rely. It was a blunder in Gilpin, intelligent as he generally
showed himself, to write in such sanguine style before the event. But it
was the greatest blunder of all for Queen Elizabeth to suspend her
cooperation at the very instant when, as the result showed, it was likely
to prove most successful. It was a chapter of blunders from first to
last, but the most fatal of all the errors was the one thus prompted by
the great Queen's most traitorous characteristic, her obstinate
parsimony.

And now began a series of sharp chafferings on both sides, not very
much to the credit of either party. The kingdom of England, and the
rebellious Provinces of Spain, were drawn to each other by an
irresistible law of political attraction. Their absorption into each
other seemed natural and almost inevitable; and the weight of the strong
Protestant organism, had it been thus completed, might have balanced the
great Catholic League which was clustering about Spain.