direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the
obedient Flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as
copy can ever recall inimitable original. Old men in the Netherlands;
who remembered in how short a time Philip had succeeded, by the baleful
effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the
previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings
in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent
years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads
when they saw this new representative of Spanish authority. It would
have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for Albert to take
the Emperor Charles for his model, who had always the power of making his
tyranny acceptable to the Flemings, through the adroitness with which he
seemed to be entirely a Fleming himself.

But Albert, although a German, valued himself on appearing like a
Spaniard. He was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating
and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. He spoke German,
Spanish, and Latin, and understood French and Italian. He had at times
been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. He
was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who
imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe
no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them
the will of the Almighty. To Philip and the Pope he was ever faithful.
He was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity,
slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the
field. Henry IV., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that
of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which
nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that Queen
Elizabeth deserved her title of the, throned vestal, that he was himself
a good Catholic, and that Cardinal Albert was a good general. It is