tion of the bishoprics. Granvelle looked still more
anxiously for it. He had read the signs of the coming storm, and would
gladly have encountered it when the royal presence might have afforded
some shelter from its fury. But the court of Rome moved at its usual
dilatory pace, and the apostolic nuncio did not arrive with the missive
till the eve of Philip's departure,--too late for him to witness its
publication.[428]

[Sidenote: PHILIP'S DEPARTURE.]

Having completed all his arrangements, about the middle of August the
king proceeded to Zealand, where, in the port of Flushing, lay a gallant
fleet, waiting to take him and the royal suite to Spain. It consisted of
fifty Spanish and forty other vessels,--all well manned, and victualled
for a much longer voyage.[429] Philip was escorted to the place of
embarkation by a large body of Flemish nobles, together with the foreign
ambassadors and the duke and duchess of Savoy. A curious scene is
reported to have taken place as he was about to go on board. Turning
abruptly round to the prince of Orange, who had attended him on the
journey, he bluntly accused him of being the true source of the
opposition which his measures had encountered in the States-General.
William, astonished at the suddenness of the attack, replied that the
opposition was to be regarded, not as the act of an individual, but of
the states. "No," rejoined the incensed monarch, shaking him at the same
time violently by the wrist, "not the states, but you, you, you!"[430]
an exclamation deriving additional bitterness from the fact that the
word _you_, thus employed, in the Castilian was itself indicative of
contempt. William did not think it prudent to reply, nor did he care to
trust himself with the other Flemish lords on board the royal
squadron.[431]

The royal company being at length all on board, on the twentieth of
August, 1559, the fleet weighed anchor; and Philip, taking leave of the
duke and duchess of Savoy, and the rest of the noble train who attended
his embarkation, was soon wafted from the shores,--to which he was never
to return.

* * * * *

Luc-Jean-Joseph Vandervynckt, to whom I have repeatedly had
occasion to refer in the course of the preceding chapter, was a
Fleming,--born at Ghent in 1691. He was educated to the law, became
eminent in his profession, and at the age of thirty-eight was made
a member of the council of Flanders. He e