would have consented at almost any moment to peace. His arms were ever
open. Let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or
epigram. Stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings
are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was
the one simple dogma always propounded by Philip. Grimace had done its
worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the
Netherlands. The king and the Dutchmen understood each other; and the
plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers
of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not
entirely unwholesome in diplomacy.

It is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy
atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous
trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of
pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend
into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes
almost too foul for ordinary human organisation.

Heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. William the Silent
was dead. De la Noue was dead. Duplessis-Mornay was living, but his
influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. Cecil, Hatton,
Essex, Howard, Raleigh, James Croft, Valentine Dale, John Norris, Roger
Williams, the "Virgin Queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in
public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of
that heroic whole which the England of the sixteenth century presents to
every imagination? Maurice of Nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as
he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the
heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a
man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial Lewis William
ever at his side. Olden-Barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed,