it was hardly probable that, with such advantages gained by the Queen,
she would be inclined to proceed in the path which had been just secretly
opened. Moreover, the Prince was in a state of alarm as to the
intentions of France. Mendoza and Tassis had given him to understand
that a very good feeling prevailed between the court of Henry and of
Elizabeth, and that the French were likely to come to a pacification
among themselves. In this the Spanish envoys were hardly anticipating so
great an effect as we have seen that they had the right to do from their
own indefatigable exertions; for, thanks to their zeal, backed by the
moderate subsidies furnished by their master, the civil war in France
already seemed likely to be as enduring as that of the Netherlands. But
Parma--still quite in the dark as to French politics--was haunted by the
vision of seventy thousand foot and six thousand horses ready to be let
slip upon him at any, moment, out of a pacified and harmonious France;
while he had nothing but a few starving and crippled regiments to
withstand such an invasion. When all these events should have taken
place, and France, in alliance with England, should have formally
declared war against Spain, Alexander protested that he should have
learned nothing new.

The Prince was somewhat mistaken as to political affairs; but his doubts
concerning his neighbours, blended with the forlorn condition of himself
and army, about which there was no doubt at all, showed the exigencies of
his situation. In the midst of such embarrassments it is impossible not
to admire his heroism as a military chieftain, and his singular
adroitness as a diplomatist. He had painted for his sovereign a most
faithful and horrible portrait of the obedient Provinces. The soil was
untilled; the manufactories had all stopped; trade had ceased to exist.
It was a pity only to look upon the raggedness of his soldiers. No
language could describe the misery of the reconciled Provinces--Artois,