[849] "They tell me," writes Morillon to Granvelle, "it is quite incredible how old and gray Egmont has become. He does not venture to sleep at night without his sword and pistols by his bedside!" (Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 36.) But there was no pretence that at this time Egmont's life was in danger. Morillon, in his eagerness to cater for the cardinal's appetite for gossip, did not always stick at the improbable.
[850] "Il leur en coûtera cher (s'écria-t-il en se tirant la barbe), il leur en coûtera cher; j'en jure par l'âme de mon père." Gachard, Analectes Belgiques, p. 254.
[851] "De tout cela (disje) ne se perdit un seul moment en ce temps, non obstant la dicte maladie de Sa Majte, la quelle se monstra semblablement selon son bon naturel, en tous ces negoces et actions tousjours tant modeste, et temperée et constante en iceulx affaires, quelques extremes qu'ilz fussent, que jamais l'on n'a veu en icelle signal, ou de passion contre les personnes d'une part, ou de relasche en ses negoces de l'aultre." Hopper, Recueil et Mémorial, p. 104.
[852] At this period stops the "Recueil et Mémorial des Troubles des Pays-Bas" of Joachim Hopper, which covers a hundred quarto pages of the second volume (part second) of Hoynck van Papendrecht's "Analecta Belgica." Hopper was a jurist, a man of learning and integrity. In 1566 he was called to Madrid, raised to the post of keeper of the seals for the affairs of the Netherlands, and made a member of the council of state. He never seems to have enjoyed the confidence of Philip in anything like the degree which Granvelle and some other ministers could boast; for Hopper was a Fleming. Yet his situation in the cabinet made him acquainted with the tone of sentiment as well as the general policy of the court; while, as a native of Flanders, he could comprehend, better than a Spaniard, the bearing this policy would have on his countrymen. His work, therefore, is of great importance as far as it goes. It is difficult to say why it should have stopped in mediis, for Hopper remained still in office, and died at Madrid ten years after the period to which he brings his narrative. He may have been discouraged by the remarks of Viglius, who intimates, in a letter to his friend, that the chronicler should wait to allow time to disclose the secret springs of action. See the Epistolæ ad Hopperum, p. 419.
[853] Correspondance de Marguerite d'Autriche, p. 206.
[854] "Questo è il nuvolo che minaccia ora i nostri paesi; e n'uscirà la tempesta forse prima che non si pensa. Chi la prevede ne dà l'avviso; e chi n'è avvisato, o con intrepidezza l'incontri, o con avvedimento la sfugga." Bentivoglio, Guerra di Fiandra, p. 118.
[855] "Nullum prodire è Regis ore verbum seu privatè seu publicè, quin ad ejus aures in Belgium fideliter afferatur." Strada, De Bello Belgico, tom. I. p. 281.
[856] An abstract of the letter is given by Gachard, Correspondance de Philippe II. tom. I. p. 485.
[857] "Sa Ma^té et ceulx du Conseil seront bien aise que sur le prétext de la religion ils pourront parvenir à leur pretendu, de mestre le pais, nous aultres, et nous enfans en la plus misérable servitude qu'on n'auroit jamais veu, et come on ast tousjours craint cela plus que chose que soit." Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. II. p. 324.
[858] Egmont's deposition at his trial confirms the account given in the text—that propositions for resistance, though made at the meeting, were rejected. Hoorne in his "Justification," refers the failure to Egmont. Neither one nor the other throws light on the course of discussion. Bentivoglio, in his account of the interview, shows no such reserve; and he gives two long and elaborate speeches from Orange and Egmont, in as good set phrase as if they had been expressly reported by the parties themselves for publication. The Italian historian affects a degree of familiarity with the proceedings of this secret conclave by no means calculated to secure our confidence. Guerra di Fiandra, pp. 123-128.