f the Sentence.--Procession
to the Scaffold.--The Execution.--Character of Egmont.--Fate of his
Family.--Sentiment of the People.

1568.

On the second of June, 1568, a body of three thousand men was ordered to
Ghent to escort the Counts Egmont and Hoorne to Brussels. No resistance
was offered, although the presence of the Spaniards caused a great
sensation among the inhabitants of the place, who too well foreboded the
fate of their beloved lord.

[Sidenote: INFORMED OF THE SENTENCE.]

The nobles, each accompanied by two officers, were put into separate
chariots. They were guarded by twenty companies of pikemen and
arquebusiers; and a detachment of lancers, among whom was a body of the
duke's own horse, rode in the van, while another of equal strength
protected the rear. Under this strong escort they moved slowly towards
Brussels. One night they halted at Dendermonde, and towards evening, on
the fourth of the month, entered the capital.[1146] As the martial array
defiled through its streets, there was no one, however stout-hearted he
might be, says an eye-witness, who could behold the funeral pomp of the
procession, and listen to the strains of melancholy music, without a
feeling of sickness at his heart.[1147]

The prisoners were at once conducted to the _Brodhuys_, or
"Bread-House," usually known as the _Maison du Roi_,--that venerable
pile in the market-place of Brussels, still visited by every traveller
for its curious architecture, and yet more as the last resting-place of
the Flemish lords. Here they were lodged in separate rooms, small, dark,
and uncomfortable, and scantily provided with furniture. Nearly the
whole of the force which had escorted them to Brussels was established
in the great square, to defeat any attempt at a rescue. But none was
made; and the night passed away without disturbance, except what was
occasioned by the sound of busy workmen employed in constructing a
scaffold for the scene of execution on the following day.[1148]

On the afternoon of the fourth, the duke of Alva had sent for Martin
Rithovius, bishop of Ypres; and, communicating to him the sentence of
the nobles, he requested the prelate to visit the prisoners, acquaint
them with their fate, and prepare them for their execution on the
following day. The bishop, an excellent man, and the personal friend of
Egmont, was astounded by the tidings. He threw himself at Alva's feet,
imploring mercy for the prisoners, and, if he could