proceed "moderately and discreetly" with their office. Three
hundred guests met at Brederode's banquet on the 8th of April, and
there and then, amid the noise of revelry and the clink of wine-cups,
they adopted the name of "Beggars," flung at them in scorn by
Berlaymont.

Brederode was the first to call for a wallet, which he hung round his
neck after the manner of those who begged their bread. He filled a
large wooden bowl as part of his equipment, lifted it with both hands
and drained it, crying, "Long live the Beggars!" The cry was taken up
as each guest donned the wallet in turn and drank from the bowl to the
Beggars' health. The symbols of the brotherhood were hung up in the
hall so that all might stand underneath to repeat certain words as he
flung salt into a goblet:

"By this salt, by this head, by this wallet still,
These beggars change not, fret who will."

A costume was adopted in accordance with the fantastic humour of the
nobles. Soon Brussels stared at quaint figures in coarse grey
garments, wearing felt hats, and carrying the beggar's bowl and wallet.
The badges which adorned their hats protested fidelity to Philip.

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Twelve of the Beggars sought an interview with the Duchess of Parma to
demand that Orange, Egmont, and Admiral Hoorn should be appointed to
guard the interests of the States, and they even threatened to form
foreign alliances if Margaret refused to grant what they wanted. They
knew that they could count now on assistance from the Huguenot leaders
in France and from the Protestant princes in Germany.

The war was imminent in which the Beggars would avenge the insult
uttered by the haughty lips of Berlaymont. The sea-power of Holland
had its origin in the first fleet which the Sea-Beggars equipped in
1569. These corsairs who cruised in the narrow waters and descended
upon the seaport towns were of many different nationalities, but were
one and all inspired by a fanatic hatred of the Spaniard and the Papist.

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Chapter VIII

William the Silent, Father of his Country

The confusion which reigned in the Netherlands sorely troubled Margaret
of Parma, who wrote to Philip for men and money that she might put down
the rising. She received nothing beyond vague promises that he would
come one day to visit his dominions overseas. It was still the belief
of the King of Spain that he held supreme authority in a country where
many a Flemish noble claimed a highe