t fruitless
search, the corpse of the King was discovered not very far from the
great stone which, for a hundred years before, had stood between
Lutzen and the Canal, and which, from the memorable disaster of that
day, still bears the name of the "Stone of the Swede." Covered with
blood and wounds, so as scarcely to be recognized, trampled beneath
the horses' hoofs, stript by the rude hands of plunderers of its
ornaments and clothes, his body was drawn from beneath a heap of dead,
conveyed to Weissenfels, and there delivered up to the lamentations of
his soldiers and the last embraces of his Queen. The first tribute had
been paid to revenge, and blood had atoned for the blood of the
monarch; but now affection assumed its rights, and tears of grief must
flow for the man. The universal sorrow absorbs all individual woes.
The generals, still stupefied by the unexpected blow, stood speechless
and motionless around his bier, and no one trusted himself enough to
contemplate the full extent of their loss.

II

PHILIP II AND THE NETHERLANDS[20]

Of those important political events which make the sixteenth century
to take rank among the brightest of the world's epochs, the foundation
of the freedom of the Netherlands appears to me one of the most
remarkable. If the glittering exploits of ambition and the pernicious
lust of power claim our admiration, how much more so should an event
in which opprest humanity struggled for its noblest right, where with
the good cause unwonted powers were united, and the resources of
resolute despair triumphed in unequal contest over the terrible arts
of tyranny.

[Footnote 20: From the introduction to the "History of the Revolt of
the Netherlands." Translated by A. J. W. Morrison. This work was
translated by J. Horne in 1807, and again by E. B. Eastwick in 1844.]

Great and encouraging is the reflection that there is a resource left
us against the arrogant usurpations of despotic power; that its
best-contrived plans against the liberty of mankind may be frustrated;
that resolute opposition can weaken even the outstretched arm of
tyranny; and that heroic perseverance can eventually exhaust its
fearful resources.

Never did this truth affect me so sensibly as in tracing the history
of that memorable rebellion which forever severed the United
Netherlands from the Spanish crown. Therefore I thought it not unworth
the while to attempt to exhibit to the world this grand memorial of
soc