the conquerors. Isabella wept at the sight. She had cause to weep.
Upon that miserable sandbank more than a hundred thousand men had laid
down their lives by her decree, in order that she and her husband might
at last take possession of a most barren prize. This insignificant
fragment of a sovereignty which her wicked old father had presented to
her on his deathbed--a sovereignty which he had no more moral right or
actual power to confer than if it had been in the planet Saturn--had at
last been appropriated at the cost of all this misery. It was of no
great value, although its acquisition had caused the expenditure of at
least eight millions of florins, divided in nearly equal proportions
between the two belligerents. It was in vain that great immunities were
offered to those who would remain, or who would consent to settle in the
foul Golgotha. The original population left the place in mass. No human
creatures were left save the wife of a freebooter and her paramour, a
journeyman blacksmith. This unsavoury couple, to whom entrance into the
purer atmosphere of Zeeland was denied, thenceforth shared with the
carrion crows the amenities of Ostend.




CHAPTER XLIV.

Equation between the contending powers--Treaty of peace between King
James and the archdukes and the King of Spain--Position of the
Provinces--States envoy in England to be styled ambassador--Protest
of the Spanish ambassador--Effect of James's peace-treaty on the
people of England--Public rejoicings for the victory at Sluys--
Spinola appointed commander-in-chief of the Spanish forces--
Preparations for a campaign against the States--Seizure of Dutch