rds conspicuous in
the troubles of the country. One might imagine that such a document was
more likely to alarm than to reassure the wife to whom it was
addressed.[646]

In the beginning of January, Egmont set out on his journey. He was
accompanied for some distance by a party of his friends, who at Cambray
gave him a splendid entertainment. Among those present was the
archbishop of Cambray, a prelate who had made himself unpopular by the
zeal he had shown in the persecution of the Reformers. As the wine-cup
passed freely round, some of the younger guests amused themselves with
frequently pledging the prelate, and endeavoring to draw him into a
greater degree of conviviality than was altogether becoming his station.
As he at length declined their pledges, they began openly to taunt him;
and one of the revellers, irritated by the archbishop's reply, would
have thrown a large silver dish at his head, had not his arm been
arrested by Egmont. Another of the company, however, succeeded in
knocking off the prelate's cap;[647] and a scene of tumult ensued, from
which the archbishop was extricated, not without difficulty, by the more
sober and considerate part of the company. The whole affair--mortifying
in the extreme to Egmont--is characteristic of the country at this
period; when business of the greatest importance was settled at the
banquet, as we often find in the earlier history of the revolution.

[Sidenote: EGMONT SENT TO SPAIN.]

Egmont's reception at Madrid was of the most flattering kind. Philip's
demeanor towards his great vassal was marked by unusual benignity; and
the courtiers, readily taking their cue from their sovereign, vied with
one another in attentions to the man whose prowess might be said to have
won for Spain the great victories of Gravelines and St. Quentin. In
fine, Egmont, whose brilliant exterior and noble bearing gave additional
lustre to his reputation, was the object of general admiration during
his residence of several weeks at Madrid. It seemed as if the court of
Castile was prepared to change its policy, from the flattering
attentions it thus paid to the representative of the Netherlands.

During his stay, Egmont was admitted to several audiences, in which he
exposed to the monarch the evils that beset the country, and the
measures proposed for relieving them. As the two most effectual, he
pressed him to mitigate the edicts, and to reorganize the council of
state.[648] Philip listened with