s of jealousy among them.[543] Egmont was a
stanch Catholic, loyal in his disposition, ambitious, and vain. It would
not be difficult to detach him from his associates by a show of
preference, which, while it flattered his vanity, would excite in them
jealousy and distrust.

In former times there had been something of these feelings betwixt
Egmont and the prince of Orange. At least there had been estrangement.
This might, in some degree, be referred to the contrast in their
characters. Certainly no two characters could be more strongly
contrasted with each other. Egmont, frank, fiery, impulsive in his
temper, had little in common with the cool, cautious, and calculating
William. The showy qualities of the former, lying on the surface, more
readily caught the popular eye. There was a depth in William's character
not easy to be fathomed,--an habitual reserve, which made it difficult
even for those who knew him best always to read him right. Yet the
coolness between these two nobles may have arisen less from difference
of character than from similarity of position. Both, by their rank and
services, took the foremost ground in public estimation, so that it was
scarcely possible they should not jostle each other in the career of
ambition. But however divided formerly, they were now too closely united
by the pressure of external circumstances to be separated by the subtle
policy of Philip. Under the influence of a common disgust with the
administration and its arbitrary measures, they continued to act in
concert together, and, in their union, derived benefit from the very
opposition of their characters. For what better augury of success than
that afforded by the union of wisdom in council with boldness in
execution?

The consequences of the troubles in France, as had been foreseen, were
soon visible in the Low Countries. The Protestants of that time
constituted a sort of federative republic, or rather a great secret
association, extending through the different parts of Europe, but so
closely linked together that a blow struck in one quarter instantly
vibrated to every other. The Calvinists in the border provinces of the
Low Countries felt, in particular, great sympathy with the movements of
their French brethren. Many Huguenots took shelter among them. Others
came to propagate their doctrines. Tracts in the French tongue were
distributed and read with avidity. Preachers harangued in the
conventicles; and the people, by hund