uncil, I am sure to be misinterpreted. So I am greatly perplexed;
since speech and silence are equally bad."[717]

Acting with his habitual caution, therefore, he spoke little, and seldom
expressed his sentiments in writing. "The less one puts in writing," he
said to his less prudent brother, "the better."[718] Yet when the
occasion demanded it, he did not shrink from a plain avowal of his
sentiments, both in speaking and writing. Such was the speech he
delivered in council before Egmont's journey to Spain; and in the same
key was the letter which he addressed to the regent on receiving the
despatches from Segovia. But, whatever might be his reserve, his real
opinions were not misunderstood. He showed them too plainly by his
actions. When Philip's final instructions were made known to him by
Margaret, the prince, as he had before done under Granvelle, ceased to
attend the meetings of the council, and withdrew from Brussels.[719] He
met in Breda, and afterwards in Hoogstraten, in the spring of 1566, a
number of the principal nobles, under cover, as usual, of a banquet.
Discussions took place on the state of the country, and some of the
confederates who were present at the former place were for more violent
measures than William approved. As he could not bring them over to his
own temperate policy, he acquiesced in the draft of a petition, which,
as we shall see in the ensuing chapter, was presented to the
regent.[720] On the whole, up to the period at which we are arrived, the
conduct of the prince of Orange must be allowed to have been wise and
consistent. In some respects it forms a contrast to that of his more
brilliant rival, Count Egmont.

This nobleman was sincerely devoted to the Roman Catholic faith. He was
stanch in his loyalty to the king. At the same time he was ardently
attached to his country, and felt a generous indignation at the wrongs
she suffered from her rulers. Thus Egmont was acted on by opposite
feelings; and, as he was a man of impulse, his conduct, as he yielded
sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other of these influences,
might be charged with inconsistency. None charged him with insincerity.

There was that in Egmont's character which early led the penetrating
Granvelle to point him out to Philip as a man who by politic treatment
might be secured to the royal cause.[721] Philip and his sister, the
regent, both acted on this hint. They would hardly have attempted as
much with William. Eg