e doubted that Charles,
in his private instruction, inculcated on his son two principles so
prominent throughout Philip's administration,--to maintain the royal
authority in its full extent, and to enforce a strict conformity to the
Roman Catholic Communion. It is probable that he found his son an apt
and docile scholar. Philip acquired, at least, such habits of patient
application, and of watching over the execution of his own plans, as
have been possessed by few princes.[29]

[Sidenote: PUBLIC FESTIVITIES.]

The great object of Philip's visit to the Low Countries had been, to
present himself to the people of the different provinces, to study their
peculiar characters on their own soil, and obtain their recognition as
their future sovereign. After a long residence at Brussels, he set out
on a tour through the provinces. He was accompanied by the queen-regent,
and by the same splendid retinue as on his entrance into the country,
with the addition of a large number of the nobles.

The Netherlands had ever been treated by Charles with particular favor,
and, under his royal patronage, although the country did not develop its
resources as under its own free institutions of a later period, it had
greatly prospered. It was more thickly studded with trading towns than
any country of similar extent in Europe; and its flourishing communities
held the first rank in wealth, industry, and commercial enterprise, as
well as in the splendid way of living maintained by the aristocracy. On
the present occasion, these communities vied with one another in their
loyal demonstrations towards the prince, and in the splendor of the
reception which they gave him. A work was compiled by one of the royal
suite, setting forth the manifold honors paid to Philip through the
whole of the tour, which, even more than his former journey, had the
aspect of a triumphal progress. The book grew, under the hands of its
patriotic author, to the size of a bulky folio, which, however
interesting to his contemporaries, would have but slender attraction for
the present generation.[30] The mere inscriptions emblazoned on the
triumphal arches, and on the public buildings, spread over a multitude
of pages. They were both in Latin and in the language of the country,
and they augured the happy days in store for the nation, when, under the
benignant sceptre of Philip, it should enjoy the sweets of tranquillity
and freedom. Happy auguries! which showed that the proph