[629] "La dépense excède annuellement les revenus, de 600,000 florins." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 328.
[630] "Quant à la moyenne noblesse des Pays-Bas, les Seigneurs l'auront tantost à leur cordelle." Chantonnay to Granvelle, October 6, 1565, Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 426.
[631] That Granvelle understood well these consequences of convening the states-general is evident from the manner in which he repeatedly speaks of this event in his correspondence with the king. See, in particular, a letter to Philip, dated as early as August 20, 1563, where he sums up his remarks on the matter by saying: "In fine, they would entirely change the form of government, so that there would be little remaining for the regent to do, as the representative of your majesty, or for your majesty yourself to do, since they would have completely put you under guardianship." Papiers d'Etat de Granvelle, tom. VII. p. 186.
[632] Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 329.
[633] Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. VI. cap. 14, 16.—Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 176.
[634] Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 179.
[635] "Si, après avoir accepté le concile sans limitations dans tous ses autres royaumes et seigneuries, il allait y opposer des réserves aux Pays-Bas, cela produirait un fâcheux effet." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 328.
[636] Yet whatever slight Philip may have put upon the lords in this respect, he showed William, in particular, a singular proof of confidence. The prince's cuisine, as I have elsewhere stated, was renowned over the Continent; and Philip requested of him his chef, to take the place of his own, lately deceased. But the king seems to lay less stress on the skill of this functionary than on his trustworthiness,—a point of greater moment with a monarch. This was a compliment—in that suspicious age—to William, which, we imagine, he would have been slow to return by placing his life in the hands of a cook from the royal kitchens of Madrid. See Philip's letter in the Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II p. 89.
[637] Margaret would fain have settled the dispute by giving the countess of Egmont precedence at table over her fair rival. (Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 445.) But both Anne of Saxony and her household stoutly demurred to this decision,—perhaps to the right of the regent to make it. "Les femmes ne se cédent en rien et se tiegnent par le bras, ingredientes pari passu, et si l'on rencontre une porte trop estroicte, l'on se serre l'ung sur l'aultre pour passer également par ensamble, affin que il n'y ayt du devant ou derrière." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 22.
[638] There is a curious epistle, in Groen's collection, from William to his wife's uncle, the elector of Saxony, containing sundry charges against his niece. The termagant lady was in the habit, it seems, of rating her husband roundly before company. William, with some naïveté, declares he could have borne her ill-humor to a reasonable extent in private, but in public it was intolerable. Unhappily, Anne gave more serious cause of disturbance to her lord than that which arose from her temper, and which afterwards led to their separation. On the present occasion, it may be added, the letter was not sent,—as the lady, who had learned the nature of it, promised amendment. Ibid., tom. II. p. 31.