oss of him
altogether. It is clear Philip did not understand the character of the
Netherlander,--as dogged and determined as his own.

Considering the natural bent of the king's disposition, there seems no
reason to charge Granvelle, as was commonly done in the Low Countries,
with having given a direction to his policy. It is, however, certain,
that, on all great questions, the minister's judgment seems to have
perfectly coincided with that of his master. "If your majesty mitigates
the edicts," writes the cardinal, "affairs will become worse in Flanders
than they are in France."[664] No change should be allowed in the
council of state.[665] A meeting of the states-general would inflict an
injury which the king would feel for thirty years to come![666]
Granvelle maintained a busy correspondence with his partisans in the Low
Countries, and sent the results of it--frequently the original letters
themselves--to Madrid. Thus Philip, by means of the reports of the
great nobles on the one hand, and of the Cardinalists on the other, was
enabled to observe the movements in Flanders from the most opposite
points of view.

[Sidenote: HIS PROCRASTINATION.]

The king's replies to the letters of the minister were somewhat scanty,
to judge from the complaints which Granvelle made of his neglect. With
all this, the cardinal professes to be well pleased that he is rid of so
burdensome an office as that of governing the Netherlands. "Here," he
writes to his friend Viglius, "I make good cheer, busying myself with my
own affairs, and preparing my despatches in quiet, seldom leaving the
house, except to take a walk, to attend church, or to visit my
mother."[667] In this simple way of life, the philosophic statesman
seems to have passed his time to his own satisfaction, though it is
evident, notwithstanding his professions, that he cast many a longing
look back to the Netherlands, the seat of his brief authority. "The
hatred the people of Flanders bear me," he writes to Philip, "afflicts
me sorely; but I console myself that it is for the service of God and my
king."[668] The cardinal, amid his complaints of the king's neglect,
affected the most entire submission to his will. "I would go anywhere,"
he writes,--"to the Indies, anywhere in the world,--would even throw
myself into the fire, did you desire it."[669] Philip, not long after,
put these professions to the test. In October, 1565, he yielded to the
regent's importunities, and comman