evil for the Emperor Charles and had embraced the new religion. The
Princess was only sixteen; she limped, and was by no means handsome.
It was hinted, too, that her temper was stormy and her mind narrow.
The advantages of the match consisted in her high rank, which was above
that of Orange. Philip disliked the wedding of a Reformer with one of
his most powerful subjects. He disliked the bride's family, as was
natural, and the bride's family did not approve of her wedding with a
"Papist." The ceremony took place on St Bartholomew's Day, 1561.

After his second marriage the Prince of Orange continued to exercise a
lordly hospitality, for his staff of cooks was famous. His wife
quarrelled for precedence with the Countess Egmont, till the two were
obliged to walk about the streets arm-in-arm because neither would
acknowledge an inferior station. Being magnificently dressed, they
suffered much inconvenience from narrow doorways, which were not built
to admit more than one dame in the costume of the period. The times
were not yet too serious to forbid such petty bickering, and there was
a certain section of society quite frivolous enough to enjoy the
ridiculous side of it.

Margaret of Parma openly showed her delight when Granvelle was
banished, for she felt herself relieved from a tyrant. She now gave
her confidence to Orange, who was very popular with the people. There
seemed to be some hope of inducing Philip to withdraw some of the
edicts against his Protestant subjects. Their cries were daily
becoming louder, and there was an uneasy spirit abroad in the Low
Countries which greeted with {81} delight the device of Count Egmont
for a new livery for his servants that should condemn the ostentation
of such ministers as Granvelle. His retainers appeared in doublet and
hose of the coarsest grey material, with long hanging sleeves and no
embroideries. They wore an emblem of a fool's cap and bells, or a
monk's cowl, which was supposed to mock the Cardinal's contemptuous
allusion to the nobles as buffoons. The King was furious at the
fashion which soon spread among the courtiers. They changed the device
then to a bundle of arrows or a wheat-sheaf which, they asserted,
denoted the union of all their hearts in the King's service.
Schoolboys could not have betrayed more joy in the absence of their
pedagogue than the whole court showed when Granvelle left the country
in 1564 on a pretended visit to his mother.

Orang