Germany and in the Netherlands, and had left there no favorable
impression of his character. In the former country, indeed, his haughty
deportment on a question of etiquette had caused some embarrassment to
his master. Alva insisted on the strange privilege of the Castilian
grandee to wear his hat in the presence of his sovereign. The German
nobles, scandalized by this pretension in a subject, asserted that their
order had as good a right to it as the Spaniards. It was not without
difficulty that the proud duke was content to waive the contested
privilege till his return to Spain.[968]

Another anecdote of Alva had left a still more unfavorable impression of
his character. He had accompanied Charles on his memorable visit to
Ghent, on occasion of its rebellion. The emperor asked the duke's
counsel as to the manner in which he should deal with his refractory
capital. Alva instantly answered, "Raze it to the ground!" Charles,
without replying, took the duke with him to the battlements of the
castle; and as their eyes wandered over the beautiful city spread out
far and wide below, the emperor asked him, with a pun on the French name
of Ghent (_Gand_), how many Spanish hides it would take to make such a
_glove_ (_gant_). Alva, who saw his master's displeasure, received the
rebuke in silence. The story, whether true or not, was current among the
people of Flanders, on whom it produced its effect.[969]

Alva was now sixty years old. It was not likely that age had softened
the asperity of his nature. He had, as might be expected, ever shown
himself the uncompromising enemy of the party of reform in the Low
Countries. He had opposed the concession made to the nation by the
recall of Granvelle. The only concessions he recommended to Philip were
in order to lull the suspicions of the great lords, till he could bring
them to a bloody reckoning for their misdeeds.[970] The general drift of
his policy was perfectly understood in the Netherlands, and the duchess
had not exaggerated when she dwelt on the detestation in which he was
held by the people.

His course on his arrival was not such as to diminish the fears of the
nation. His first act was to substitute in the great towns his own
troops, men who knew no law but the will of their chief, for the Walloon
garrisons, who might naturally have some sympathy with their countrymen.
His next was to construct some fortresses, under the direction of one of
the ablest engineers in Europe