FROM THE SPANISH MONARCHY. l8l 



€utchefs of Parma amufed the cabinet of Madrid, and 

 caufed it in a very fhort fpace of time to violate al* 

 moft every maxim of politics. Duke Alva's inflexible 

 feverity, the gentlenefs of his fucceffor Requefccns, the 

 .artifice and cunning of don John of Auftria,, and the 

 alert casfarian fpiric of the prince of Parma, gave this 

 war fb many^oppofite directions; whereas the plan of 

 the rebels, was always the production of a fingle pex- 

 fon and was profecuted with energy and precifion. The 

 greater!: misfortune was, that the maxims in general 

 were not fuited to the moment in which they were to 

 be applied. At the beginning of the troubles, when 

 the fuperiority was apparently on the fide of the king., 

 when a quick determination and a manly firmnefs might 

 have quelled the rebellion foon after its birth, the reins 

 of government were, put into the hands of a heavy and 

 feeble woman. After the infurrections had broke out 

 into actual rebellion, the forces of the faction ftood 

 more in an equipoize with thofe of the king ; and a pru- 

 dent compliance alone could prevent the approaching 

 inteftine war, the viceroyalty fell into the hands of a 

 man who was exactly deficient in the only virtue that 

 office required. So vigilant a manager as William the 

 filent was, none of the advantages could efcape which 

 the vicious policy of his opponent gave him ; and with 

 filent diligence he brought his grand undertaking by 

 flow degrees to perfection. 



But why did not Philip appear himfelf in the Nether- 

 lands ? Why did he prefer to employ and exhauft the 

 moft unnatural means, in prejudice to the only ones 

 that could not fail him ? To break the arrogant power 

 of the nobility, no way was more natural than by the 



n 3 perfonal 



