word was said
on the subject which was nearest the hearts of the Netherlanders--the
withdrawal of the Spanish troops.

[Bentivoglio. Guerra di Fiandra, i. 9 (Opere, Parigi, 1648), gives
a different report, which ends with a distinct promise on the part
of the King to dismiss the troops as soon as possible: "--in segno
di the spetialmente havrebbe quanto prima, a fatti uscire i presidij
stranieri dalle fortezze a levata ogn' insolita contributione al
paese." It is almost superfluous to state that the Cardinal is no
authority for speeches, except, indeed, for those which were never
made. Long orations by generals upon the battle-field, by royal
personages in their cabinets, by conspirators in secret conclave,
are reported by him with muck minuteness, and none can gainsay the
accuracy with which these harangues, which never had any existence,
except in the author's imagination, are placed before the reader.
Bentivoglio's stately and graceful style, elegant descriptions, and
general acquaintance with his subject will always make his works
attractive, but the classic and conventional system of inventing
long speeches for historical characters has fortunately gone out of
fashion. It is very interesting to know what an important personage
really did say or write upon remarkable occasions; but it is less
instructive to be told what the historian thinks might have been a
good speech or epistle for him to utter or indito.]

Not a hint was held out that a reduction of the taxation, under which the
provinces had so long been groaning, was likely to take place; but, on
the contrary, the King had demanded a new levy of considerable amount. A
few well-turned paragraphs were added on the subject of the
administration of justice--"without which the republic was a dead body
without a soul"--in the Bishop's most approved style, and the discourse
concluded with a fervent exhortation to the provinces to trample heresy
and heretics out of existence, and with the hope that the Lord God, in
such case, would bestow upon the Netherlands health and happiness.

After the address had been concluded, the deputies, according to ancient
form, requested permission to adjourn, that the representatives of each
province might deliberate among themselves on the point of granting or
withholding the Request for the three millions. On the following day they
again assembled in the presence of the K