that if they do not
procure them some English governor, they will compound with the enemy,
whereon the States shall be driven to request her Majesty to accept the
place, themselves entertaining the garrison. I know certain captains
discontented with the States for arrears of pay, who will contrive to get
into Naarden with their companies, with the States consent, who, once
entered, will keep the place for their satisfaction, pay their soldiers
out of the contributions of the country; and yet secretly hold the place
at her Majesty's command."

This is not an agreeable picture; yet it is but one out of many examples
of the intrigues by which Leicester and his party were doing their best
to destroy the commonwealth of the Netherlands at a moment when its
existence was most important to that of England.

To foment mutiny in order to subvert the authority of Maurice, was not a
friendly or honourable course of action either towards Holland or
England; and it was to play into the hands of Philip as adroitly as his
own stipendiaries could have done.

With mischief-makers like Champernoun in every city, and with such
diplomatists at Ostend as Croft and Ropers and Valentine Dale, was it
wonderful that the King and the Duke of Parma found time to mature their
plans for the destruction of both countries?

Lord Willoughby, too, was extremely dissatisfied with his own position.
He received no commission from the Queen for several months. When it at
last reached him, it seemed inadequate, and he became more sullen than
ever. He declared that he would rather serve the Queen as a private
soldier, at his own expense--"lean as his purse was"--than accept the
limited authority conferred on him. He preferred to show his devotion "in
a beggarly state, than in a formal show." He considered it beneath her
Majesty's dignity that he should act in the field under the States, but
his instructions forbade his acceptance of any office from that body but
that of general in their service. He was very discontented, and more
anxious than ever to be rid of his functions. Without being extremely
ambitious, he was impatient of control. He desired not "a larger-shaped
coat," but one that fitted him better. "I wish to shape my garment
homely, after my cloth," he said, "that the better of my parish may not
be misled by my sumptuousness. I would live quietly, without great noise,
my poor roof low and near the ground, not subject to be overblown with
unlook