writes the duke of
Alva to Philip, "makes disclosures every day respecting his master Count
Egmont. When he is put to the torture, wonders may be expected from him
in this way!"[1110] But all that the rack extorted from the unhappy man
was some obscure intimation respecting a place in which Egmont had
secreted a portion of his effects. After turning up the ground in every
direction round the castle of Ghent, the Spaniards succeeded in
disinterring eleven boxes filled with plate, and some caskets of jewels,
and other precious articles,--all that now remained of Egmont's once
splendid fortune.[1111]

Meanwhile commissioners were sent into the provinces placed under the
rule of the two noblemen to collect information respecting their
government. The burgomasters of the towns were closely questioned, and,
where they showed reluctance, were compelled by menaces to answer. But
what Alva chiefly relied on was the examination of the prisoners
themselves.

On the twelfth of November, 1567, a commission composed of Vargas, Del
Rio, and the secretary Pratz, proceeded to Ghent, and began a personal
examination of Egmont. The interrogatories covered the whole ground of
the recent troubles. They were particularly directed to ascertain
Egmont's relations with the reformed party, but above all, his
connection with the confederates,--the offence of deepest dye in the
view of the commissioners. The examination continued through five days;
and a record, signed and sworn to by the several parties, furnished the
basis of the future proceedings against the prisoner. A similar course
was then taken in regard to Hoorne.[1112]

In the mean time the friends of the two nobles were making active
exertions in their behalf. Egmont, as we have already seen, was married
to a German princess, Sabina, sister of the elector of Bavaria,--a lady
who, from her rank, the charm of her manners, and her irreproachable
character, was the most distinguished ornament of the court of Brussels.
She was the mother of eleven children, the eldest of them still of
tender age. Surrounded by this numerous and helpless family, thus
suddenly reduced from affluence to miserable penury, the countess became
the object of general commiseration. Even the stern heart of Alva seems
to have been touched, as he notices her "lamentable situation," in one
of his letters to Philip.[1113]

The unhappy lady was fortunate in securing the services of Nicolas de
Landas, one of the mos