oops by
land, the states had not obtained. They did not dream of his romantic
designs upon England, and were therefore excusable in attributing a still
deeper perfidy to his arrangements.

Even had he been sent to the Netherlands in the full possession of his
faculties, he would have been no match in political combinations for his
powerful antagonists. Hoodwinked and fettered, suspected by his master,
baffled, bewildered, irritated by his adversary, what could he do but
plunge from one difficulty to another and oscillate between extravagant
menace, and desponding concession, until his hopes and life were wasted
quite away. His instructions came from Philip through Perez, and that
most profound dissembler, as we have seen, systematically deceived the
Governor, with the view of eliciting treasonable matters, Philip wishing,
if possible, to obtain proofs of Don John's secret designs against his
own crown. Thus every letter from Spain was filled with false information
and with lying persuasions. No doubt the Governor considered himself
entitled to wear a crown, and meant to win it, if not in Africa, then in
England, or wherever fate might look propitiously upon him. He was of the
stuff of which crusaders and dynasty founders had been made, at a
somewhat earlier epoch. Who could have conquered the holy sepulchre, or
wrested a crown from its lawful wearer, whether in Italy, Muscovy, the
Orient, or in the British Ultima Thule, more bravely than this imperial
bastard, this valiant and romantic adventurer? Unfortunately, he came a
few centuries too late. The days when dynasties were founded, and
European thrones appropriated by a few foreign freebooters, had passed,
and had not yet returned. He had come to the Netherlands desirous of
smoothing over difficulties and of making a peaceful termination to that
rebellion a steppingstone to his English throne. He was doomed to a
profound disappointment, a broken heart, and a premature grave, instead
of the glittering baubles which he pursued. Already he found himself
bitterly deceived in his hopes. The obstinate Netherlanders would not
love him, notwithstanding the good wishes he had manifested. They would
not even love the King of Spain, notwithstanding the blessings which his
Majesty was declared to have heaped upon them. On the contrary, they
persisted in wasting their perverse affections upon the pestilent Prince
of Orange. That heretic was leading them to destruction, for he was
s