e edicts, every other
grievance being swallowed up in that of the detested Inquisition.
Indeed, the translations of the "Compromise," which soon appeared, in
various languages, usually bore the title of "League of the Nobles of
Flanders against the Spanish Inquisition."[689]

It will hardly be denied that those who signed this instrument had
already made a decided move in the game of rebellion. They openly
arrayed themselves against the execution of the law and the authority of
the crown. They charged the king with having violated his oath, and they
accused him of abetting a persecution which, under the pretext of
religion, had no other object than the spoil of its victims. It was of
little moment that all this was done under professions of loyalty. Such
professions are the decent cover with which the first approaches are
always made in a revolution.--The copies of the instrument differ
somewhat from each other. One of these, before me, as if to give the
edge of personal insult to their remonstrance, classes in the same
category "the vagabond, the priest, and the _Spaniard_."[690]

Among the small company who first subscribed the document, we find names
that rose to eminence in the stormy scenes of the revolution. There was
Count Louis of Nassau, a younger brother of the prince of Orange, the
"_bon chevalier_," as William used to call him,--a title well earned by
his generous spirit and many noble and humane qualities. Louis was bred
a Lutheran, and was zealously devoted to the cause of reform, when his
brother took but a comparatively languid interest in it. His ardent,
precipitate temper was often kept in check, and more wisely directed, by
the prudent counsels of William; while he amply repaid his brother by
his devoted attachment, and by the zeal and intrepidity with which he
carried out his plans. Louis, indeed, might be called the right hand of
William.

Another of the party was Philip de Marnix, lord of St. Aldegonde. He was
the intimate friend of William of Orange. In the words of a Belgian
writer, he was one of the beautiful characters of the time;[691]
distinguished alike as a soldier, a statesman, and a scholar. It is to
his pen that the composition of the "Compromise" has generally been
assigned. Some critics have found its tone inconsistent with the sedate
and tranquil character of his mind. Yet St. Aldegonde's device, "_Repos
ailleurs_,"[692] would seem to indicate a fervid imagination and an
impatient