thought the insult
offered to the Inquisition not the least of the offences to be charged
on the Reformers.

Each of the great leaders recommended the measures most congenial with
his own character, and which, had they been adopted, would probably
have required his own services to carry them into execution. Had the
pacific course been taken, Feria, or more probably Ruy Gomez, would have
been intrusted with the direction of affairs. Indeed, Montigny and
Bergen, still detained in reluctant captivity at Madrid, strongly urged
the king to send the prince of Eboli, as a man, who, by his popular
manners and known discretion, would be most likely to reconcile opposite
factions.[931] Were violent measures, on the other hand, to be adopted,
to whom could they be so well intrusted as to the duke himself, the most
experienced captain of his time?

The king, it is said, contrary to his custom, was present at the meeting
of the council, and listened to the debate. He did not intimate his
opinion. But it might be conjectured to which side he was most likely to
lean, from his habitual preference for coercive measures.[932]

Philip came to a decision sooner than usual. In a few days he summoned
the duke, and told him that he had resolved to send him forthwith, at
the head of an army, to the Netherlands. It was only, however, to
prepare the way for his own coming, which would take place as soon as
the country was in a state sufficiently settled to receive him.

All was now alive with the business of preparation in Castile. Levies
were raised throughout the country. Such was the zeal displayed, that
even the Inquisition and the clergy advanced a considerable sum towards
defraying the expenses of an expedition which they seemed to regard in
the light of a crusade.[933] Magazines of provisions were ordered to be
established at regular stations on the proposed line of march. Orders
were sent, that the old Spanish garrisons in Lombardy, Naples, Sicily,
and Sardinia, should be transported to the place of rendezvous in
Piedmont, to await the coming of the duke, who would supply their places
with the fresh recruits brought with him from Castile.

Philip meanwhile constantly proclaimed that Alva's departure was only
the herald of his own. He wrote this to Margaret, assuring her of his
purpose to go by water, and directing her to have a squadron of eight
vessels in readiness to convoy him to Zealand, where he proposed to
land. The vessels we