to make such long orations as you do, but you ought to be content with
the few words that we bestow upon you, and make yourself quiet thereby.

"If I ever do anything for you again, I choose to be treated more
honourably. I shall therefore appoint some personages of my council to
communicate with you. And in the first place I choose to hear and see
for myself what has taken place already, and have satisfaction about
that, before I make any reply to what you have said to me as to greater
assistance. And so I will leave you to-day, without troubling you
further."

With this her Majesty swept from the apartment, leaving the deputies
somewhat astounded at the fierce but adroit manner in which the tables
had for a moment been turned upon them.

It was certainly a most unexpected blow, this charge of the States having
left the English soldiers--whose numbers the Queen had so suddenly
multiplied by three--unpaid and unfed. Those Englishmen who, as
individuals, had entered the States' service, had been--like all the
other troops regularly paid. This distinctly appeared from the
statements of her own counsellors and generals. On the other hand,
the Queen's contingent, now dwindled to about half their original
number, had been notoriously unpaid for nearly six months.

This has already been made sufficiently clear from the private letters
of most responsible persons. That these soldiers were starving,
deserting; and pillaging, was, alas! too true; but the envoys of the
States hardly expected to be censured by her Majesty, because she had
neglected to pay her own troops. It was one of the points concerning
which they had been especially enjoined to complain, that the English