ebuke in such blunt terms as caused a sensation at the
court of Madrid. In a letter to his ambassador at Rome, Philip
complained that the pope should have thus held him up to Christendom as
one slack in the performance of his duty. The envoy had delivered
himself in so strange a manner, Philip added, that, but for the respect
and love he bore his holiness, he might have been led to take precisely
the opposite course to the one he intended.[926]

[Sidenote: HIS APPOINTMENT.]

Yet notwithstanding this show of indignation, had it not been for the
outbreak of the iconoclasts, it is not improbable that the king might
still have continued to procrastinate, relying on his favorite maxim,
that "Time and himself were a match for any other two."[927] But the
event which caused such a sensation throughout Christendom roused every
feeling of indignation in the royal bosom,--and this from the insult
offered to the crown as well as to the Church. Contrary to his wont, the
king expressed himself with so much warmth on the subject, and so
openly, that the most sceptical began at last to believe that the long
talked of visit was at hand. The only doubt was as to the manner in
which it should be made; whether the king should march at the head of an
army, or attended only by so much of a retinue as was demanded by his
royal state.

The question was warmly discussed in the council. Ruy Gomez, the courtly
favorite of Philip, was for the latter alternative. A civil war he
deprecated, as bringing ruin even to the victor.[928] Clemency was the
best attribute of a sovereign, and the people of Flanders were a
generous race, more likely to be overcome by kindness than by arms.[929]
In these liberal and humane views the prince of Eboli was supported by
the politic secretary, Antonio Perez, and by the duke of Feria, formerly
ambassador to London, a man who to polished manners united a most
insinuating eloquence.

But very different opinions, as might be expected, were advanced by the
duke of Alva. The system of indulgence, he said, had been that followed
by the regent, and its fruits were visible. The weeds of heresy were not
to be extirpated by a gentle hand; and his majesty should deal with his
rebellious vassals as Charles the Fifth had dealt with their rebel
fathers at Ghent.[930] These stern views received support from the
Cardinal Espinosa, who held the office of president of the council, as
well as of grand inquisitor, and who doubtless