What now was the disposition and what the means of the Provinces to do
their part in the contest? If the twain as Holland wished, had become of
one flesh, would England have been the loser? Was it quite sure that
Elizabeth--had she even accepted the less compromising title which she
refused--would not have been quite as much the protected as the
"protectress?"

It is very certain that the English, on their arrival in the Provinces,
were singularly impressed by the opulent and stately appearance of the
country and its inhabitants. Notwithstanding the tremendous war which
the Hollanders had been waging against Spain for twenty years, their
commerce had continued to thrive, and their resources to increase.
Leicester was in a state of constant rapture at the magnificence
which surrounded him, from his first entrance into the country.
Notwithstanding the admiration expressed by the Hollanders for the
individual sumptuousness of the Lieutenant-General; his followers, on
their part, were startled by the general luxury of their new allies.
"The realm is rich and full of men," said Wilford, "the sums men exceed
in apparel would bear the brunt of this war;" and again, "if the excess
used in sumptuous apparel were only abated, and that we could convert the
same to these wars, it would stop a great gap."

The favourable view taken by the English as to the resources and
inclination of the Netherland commonwealth was universal. "The general
wish and desire of these countrymen," wrote Sir Thomas Shirley, "is that
the amity begun between England and this nation may be everlasting, and
there is not any of our company of judgment but wish the same. For all
they that see the goodliness and stateliness of these towns, strengthened
both with fortification and natural situation, all able to defend