any collectors and propagators of
malicious rumor. As their pride did not quit them with their prosperity,
so now, driven by necessity, they trafficked with the sole capital which
they could not alienate--their nobility, and the political influence of
their names; and brought into circulation a coin which only in such a
period could have found currency--their protection. With a self-pride,
to which they gave the more scope as it was all they could now call
their own, they looked upon themselves as a strong intermediate power
between the sovereign and the citizen, and believed themselves called
upon to hasten to the rescue of the oppressed state, which looked
imploringly to them for succor.

This idea was ludicrous only so far as their self-conceit was concerned
in it; the advantages which they contrived to draw from it were
substantial enough. The Protestant merchants, who held in their hands
the chief part of the wealth of the Netherlands, and who believed they
could not at any price purchase too dearly the undisturbed exercise of
their religion, did not fail to make use of this class of people, who
stood idle in the market and ready to be hired. These very men, whom at
any other time the merchants, in their pride of riches, would most
probably have looked down upon, now appeared likely to do them good
service through their numbers, their courage, their credit with the
populace, their enmity to the Government, nay, through their beggarly
pride itself and their despair. On these grounds they zealously
endeavored to form a close union with them, and diligently fostered the
disposition for rebellion, while they also used every means to keep
alive their high opinions of themselves, and, what was most important,
lured their poverty by well-applied pecuniary assistance and glittering
promises. Few of them were so utterly insignificant as not to possess
some influence, if not personally, yet at least by their relationship
with higher and more powerful nobles; and, if united, they would be able
to raise a formidable voice against the crown. Many of them had either
already joined the new sect or were secretly inclined to it; and even
those who were zealous Roman Catholics had political or private grounds
enough to set them against the decrees of Trent and the Inquisition.
All, in fine, felt the cause of vanity sufficiently powerful not to
allow the only moment to escape them in which they might possibly make
some figure in the