And thus the son of William the Silent made his reappearance in the
streets of Brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in
the procession of the new viceroy. The cardinal-archduke came next, with
Fuentes riding at his left hand. That vigorous soldier and politician
soon afterwards left the Netherlands to assume the government of Milan.

There was a correspondence between the Prince of Orange and the States-
General, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves
towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him
plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in
the United Provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their
passports, possible. They were quite aware of the uses to which the king
was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the
great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the
threshold.

The Archduke Albert, born on 3rd of November, 1560, was now in his
thirty-sixth year. A small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and
beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging Burgundian
jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of
presence. His manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to
solemnity. He spoke very little and very slowly. He had resided long in
Spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man
could be a favourite with Philip--and he had carefully formed himself on
that royal model. He looked upon the King of Spain as the greatest,
wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of
kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. He did his best to look
sombre and Spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his
thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by