his," said Parma, "for certainly the poor city is most
forlorn and poverty-stricken, the heretics having all left it." It was
not long before it was very satisfactorily established, that the presence
of those same heretics and liberty of conscience for all men, were
indispensable conditions for the prosperity of the great capital. Its
downfall was instantaneous. The merchants and industrious artisans all
wandered away from the place which had been the seat of a world-wide
traffic. Civilisation and commerce departed, and in their stead were the
citadel and the Jesuits. By express command of Philip, that order,
banished so recently, was reinstated in Antwerp, as well as throughout
the obedient provinces; and all the schools and colleges were placed
under its especial care. No children could be thenceforth instructed
except by the lips of those fathers. Here was a curb more efficacious
even than the citadel. That fortress was at first garrisoned with
Walloons and Germans. "I have not yet induced the citizens," said Parma,
"to accept a Spanish garrison, nor am I surprised; so many of them
remembering past events (alluding to the 'Spanish fury,' but not
mentioning it by name), and observing the frequent mutinies at the
present time. Before long, I expect, however, to make the Spaniards as
acceptable and agreeable as the inhabitants of the country themselves."

It may easily be supposed that Philip was pleased with the triumphs that
had thus been achieved. He was even grateful, or affected to be grateful,
to him who had achieved them. He awarded great praise to Alexander for
his exertions, on the memorable occasions of the attack upon the bridge,
and the battle of the Kowenstyn; but censured him affectionately for so
rashly exposing his life. "I have no words," he said, "to render the
thanks which are merited for all that you have been doing. I recommend
you earnestly however to have a care for the security of your person, for
that is of more consequence than all the rest."

After the news of the reduction of the city, he again expressed
gratification, but in rather cold language. "From such obstinate people,"
said he, "not more could be extracted than has been extracted; therefore
the capitulation is satisfactory." What more he wished to extract it
would be difficult to say, for certainly the marrow had been extracted
from the bones, and the dead city was thenceforth left to moulder under
the blight of a foreign garrison and