nths had elapsed since the arrest of
the Counts Egmont and Hoorne. During all this time they had remained
prisoners of state, under a strong guard, in the castle of Ghent. Their
prosecution had been conducted in a deliberate, and indeed dilatory
manner, which had nourished in their friends the hope of a favorable
issue. Alva now determined to bring the trial to a close,--to pass
sentence of death on the two lords, and to carry it into execution
before departing on his expedition.

It was in vain that some of his counsellors remonstrated on the
impolicy, at a crisis like the present, of outraging the feelings of the
nation, by whom Egmont in particular was so much beloved. In vain they
suggested that the two nobles would serve as hostages for the good
behavior of the people during his absence, since any tumult must only
tend to precipitate the fate of the prisoners.[1106] Whether it was that
Alva distrusted the effect on his master of the importunities, from
numerous quarters, in their behalf; or, what is far more likely, that he
feared lest some popular rising, during his absence, might open the
gates to his prisoners, he was determined to proceed at once to their
execution. His appetite for vengeance may have been sharpened by
mortification at the reverse his arms had lately experienced; and he may
have felt that a blow like the present would be the most effectual to
humble the arrogance of the nation.

There were some other prisoners of less note, but of no little
consideration, who remained to be disposed of. Their execution would
prepare the public mind for the last scene of the drama. There were
nineteen persons who, at this time, lay in confinement in the castle of
Vilvoorde, a fortress of great strength, two leagues distant from
Brussels. They were chiefly men of rank, and for the most part members
of the Union. For these latter, of course, there was no hope. Their
trials were now concluded, and they were only waiting their sentences.
On the ominous twenty-eighth of May, a day on which the Council of Blood
seems to have been uncommonly alert, they were all, without exception,
condemned to be beheaded, and their estates were confiscated to the
public use.

On the first of June, they were brought to Brussels, having been
escorted there by nine companies of Spanish infantry, were conducted to
the great square in front of the Hotel de Ville, and, while the drums
beat to prevent their last words from reaching the e