[The first thing here is to settle the authorship of this anonymous tract; which was also anonymously entered at Stationers' Hall, probably from political reasons. From internal evidence at pp. [149], [155], [161], it is clear that the Writer was not one of the Fellowship of the English Merchant Adventurers in Antwerp; but was an Englishman who had arrived in that city on the 22nd October 1576. Who this Writer was would seem to be clearly settled by the following extracts from documents in the State Paper Office, London.
S. P. Foreign. Eliz. Vols. 139-140.
915. George Gascoigne to Lord Burghley.
From Paris, 15 September 1576.
The troubles and news of Flanders have set all the soldiers of this realm in a triumph....
But now I mean to become an eyed-witness of the stir in Flanders; and from thence your honour shall shortly (GOD willing) hear of me.
951.George Gascoigne to Lord Burghley.
From Paris, 7 October 1576.
Whereof I trust shortly to understand more, for to-morrow (GOD willing) I go towards the Low Countries; and mean to spend a month, [or] two, or three, as your Honours shall like, in those parts.
For I mean to spend this winter (or as long as shall be thought meet) in service of my country. I beseech your Honour to confer with Master Secretary [Sir Francis Walsingham] who can more at large make you privy to my intent.
955. Sir Amias Paulet, Ambassador for England
in France, to Sir Francis Walsingham.
From Paris, 12 October 1576.
Master Gascoigne is departed towards Flanders; having prayed me to recommend him unto you by my letters, and also to convey these letters enclosed unto you.
If this George Gascoigne, who, as his handwriting shows, is doubtless the Soldier-Poet, left Paris on the 8th October, he could very well have come to Antwerp, as the Writer of this narrative states, at page [149], he did, by the 22nd of that month.
Gascoigne the Poet was a very tall man, so that he was called "long George." This he seems to refer to at page [155], where he says, "I got up like a tall fellow."
For further confirmation of Gascoigne being the Author, see pp. [164-6] .
2. The best Plan of Antwerp, about the time of the Spanish Fury, that we have met with, is that of George Braun's Civitates Orbis Terrarum, Vol. I., Plan 17.
3. All the dates in the following narrative are Old Style.
4. It is to be specially noted that Antwerp was a Roman Catholic city that had never, in the least way possible, rebelled against Philip II.; and that its awful destruction was made, without the least provocation, by the soldiers of its Sovereign, that should have protected it. Its only crime was its great wealth. 5,000 merchants met in its Bourse, or Exchange, every week. It was then the Venice of the North, with about 125,000 inhabitants.
The following extract will explain the general position of affairs in Flanders about this time.