inclination of the Catholic nobles towards the
protectorate of Alencon. She did not feel certain as to the precise plans
of Orange, and there was no course better adapted to draw her from barren
coquetry into positive engagements; than to arouse her jealousy of the
French influence in the provinces. At this moment, she manifested the
warmest friendship for the Prince.

Costly presents were transmitted by her to his wife; among others, an
ornament, of which a sculptured lizard formed a part. The Princess, in a
graceful letter to her husband, desiring that her acknowledgments should
be presented to her English Majesty, accepted the present as
significative. "Tis the fabled virtue of the lizard (she said) to awaken
sleepers whom a serpent is about to sting. You are the lizard, and the
Netherlands the sleepers,--pray Heaven they may escape the serpent's
bite." The Prince was well aware, therefore, of the plots which were
weaving against him. He had small faith in the great nobles, whom he
trusted "as he would adders fanged," and relied only upon the
communities, upon the mass of burghers. They deserved his confidence, and
watched over his safety with jealous care. On one occasion, when he was
engaged at the State Council till a late hour, the citizens conceived so
much alarm, that a large number of them spontaneously armed themselves,
and repaired to the palace. The Prince, informed of the circumstance,
threw open a window and addressed them, thanking them for their
friendship and assuring them of his safety. They were not satisfied,
however, to leave him alone, but remained under arms below till the
session was terminated, when they escorted him with affectionate respect
to his own hotel.

The secret envoy arrived in Vienna, and excited the ambition of the
youthful Matthias. It must be confessed that the offer could hardly be a
very tempting one, and it excites our surprise that the Archduke should
have thought the adventure worth the seeking. A most anomalous position
in the Netherlands was offered to him by a slender and irresponsible
faction of Netherlanders. There was a triple prospect before him: that of
a hopeless intrigue against the first politician in Europe, a mortal
combat with the most renowned conqueror of the age, a deadly feud with
the most powerful and revengeful monarch in the world. Into this
threefold enterprise he was about to plunge without any adequate
resources, for the Archduke possessed no experie