elsewhere stated, was
renowned over the Continent; and Philip requested of him his _chef_, to
take the place of his own, lately deceased. But the king seems to lay
less stress on the skill of this functionary than on his
trustworthiness,--a point of greater moment with a monarch. This was a
compliment--in that suspicious age--to William, which, we imagine, he
would have been slow to return by placing his life in the hands of a
cook from the royal kitchens of Madrid. See Philip's letter in the
Correspondance de Guillaume le Taciturne, tom. II p. 89.

[637] Margaret would fain have settled the dispute by giving the
countess of Egmont precedence at table over her fair rival. (Archives de
la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, tom. I. p. 445.) But both Anne of Saxony and
her household stoutly demurred to this decision,--perhaps to the right
of the regent to make it. "Les femmes ne se cedent en rien et se
tiegnent par le bras, _ingredientes pari passu_, et si l'on rencontre
une porte trop estroicte, l'on se serre l'ung sur l'aultre pour passer
egalement par ensamble, affin que il n'y ayt du devant ou derriere."
Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplement, p. 22.

[638] There is a curious epistle, in Groen's collection, from William to
his wife's uncle, the elector of Saxony, containing sundry charges
against his niece. The termagant lady was in the habit, it seems, of
rating her husband roundly before company. William, with some _naivete_,
declares he could have borne her ill-humor to a reasonable extent in
private, but in public it was intolerable. Unhappily, Anne gave more
serious cause of disturbance to her lord than that which arose from her
temper, and which afterwards led to their separation. On the present
occasion, it may be added, the letter was not sent,--as the lady, who
had learned the nature of it, promised amendment. Ibid., tom. II. p. 31.

[639] "Au cas que le Roi s'en excuse, il doit demander que S. M. donne a
la duchesse des instructions precises sur la conduite qu'elle a a
tenir." Correspondance de Philippe II., tom. I. p. 337.

The original instructions prepared by Viglius were subsequently modified
by his friend Hopper, at the suggestion of the prince of Orange. See
Vita Viglii, p. 41.

[640] Ibid., ubi supra.

[641] "Non posse ei placere, velle Principes animis hominum imperare,
libertatemque Fidei et Religionis ipsis adimere." Ibid., p. 42.

[642] Burgundius puts into the mouth of William on this occa