t touch, by which is not meant that in either field
William approximates Caesar; for Julius Caesar is one of the few
greatest products of the world. William fought because he must; he was
statesman because he would.

Philip never swerved from his purpose; but though his Armadas were
wrecked and his treasure galleons seized, in his cabinet he set himself
to rigorous purpose, demanding impossibilities of his commanders,
paying his soldiers ill if at all, equipping his expeditions
insufficiently, but never failing in his demands on his servants. In
harmony with this dogged persistency of purpose, he never changed from
his plan of making the Netherlands Roman Catholic, giving his subjects'
scruples no thought. He had commanded--let that suffice; his
instruments Margaret, and Alva, and Requesens, and Don John, and Parma,
and the Inquisition, with which atrocious instrument of propagandism
the reader is doubtless familiar. To 1546 no symptom of disloyalty
toward the king is visible in William; he was jubilant rather, feeling
the grievances could be remedied if only Cardinal Granvelle's authority
were lessened. His own involved finances troubled him, and to them he
gave such vigilant attention as to reduce his debts to the point where
they gave him no concern. Above financial difficulties, were those
connected with his wife, Anne, who proved half-mad and wholly lacking
in virtue, though, in truth, her life was far from being a joyous one,
if such were possible to a character like hers. How much of blame
attaches to the prince for this estrangement can not now be discovered;
suffice it to say, no lack in his conduct could excuse lack of virtue
in her. William was lonely, and writes his brother Louis to come to
him, if only for a fortnight. So far as surfaces may indicate, his
relations with Philip were at this period placid, and himself loyal,
only he is alert always to avert any encroachment of tyranny. Philip,
undeterred by all his fair words and promises, supported by royal
honor, spoken to Count Egmont, who had been sent to the Escurial to
make formal protest in behalf of the nobles against religious
persecution, not so much as a question of tolerance as a question of
wisdom, seeing all the nobles were sincere Catholics, and the further
impossibility of enforcing such an edict,--Philip, in the face of these
advices and in the face of his promises, sent, in 1565, peremptory
orders to Margaret of Parma, Regent of th