to give
an entertainment to the ladies on our arrival at Mons, where
we should find the Countess his wife, his sister-in-law Madame
d'Aurec, and other ladies of distinction. Accordingly the Count,
with his attendants, conducted us thither the next day. He claimed
a relationship with the King my husband, and was, in reality,
a person who carried great weight and authority. He was much
dissatisfied with the Spanish Government, and had conceived a
great dislike for it since the execution of Count Egmont, who
was his near kinsman.

Although he had hitherto abstained from entering into the league
with the Prince of Orange and the Huguenots, being himself a
steady Catholic, yet he had not admitted of an interview with
Don John, neither would he suffer him, nor anyone in the interest
of Spain, to enter upon his territories. Don John was unwilling
to give the Count any umbrage, lest he should force him to unite
the Catholic League of Flanders, called the League of the States,
to that of the Prince of Orange and the Huguenots, well foreseeing
that such a union would prove fatal to the Spanish interest, as
other governors have since experienced. With this disposition of
mind, the Comte de Lalain thought he could not give me sufficient
demonstrations of the joy he felt by my presence; and he could
not have shown more honour to his natural prince, nor displayed
greater marks of zeal and affection.

On our arrival at Mons, I was lodged in his house, and found
there the Countess his wife, and a Court consisting of eighty
or a hundred ladies of the city and country. My reception was
rather that of their sovereign lady than of a foreign princess.
The Flemish ladies are naturally lively, affable, and engaging.
The Comtesse de Lalain is remarkably so, and is, moreover, a woman
of great sense and elevation of mind, in which particular, as well
as in air and countenance, she carries a striking resemblance
to the lady your cousin. We became immediately intimate, and
commenced a firm friendship at our first meeting. When the supper
hour came, we sat down to a banquet, which was succeeded by a
ball; and this rule the Count observed as long as I stayed at
Mons, which was, indeed, longer than I intended. It had been
my intention to stay at Mons one night only, but the Count's
obliging lady prevailed on me to pass a whole week there. I strove
to excuse myself from so long a stay, imagining it might be
inconvenient to them; but whatever I c