ians. To circumvent
at once both their negotiators and their men-at-arms was his appointed
task. Had it not been for the courage, the vigilance, and the superior
intellect of a single antagonist, the whole of the Netherlands would have
shared the fate which was reserved for the more southern portion. Had the
life of William of Orange been prolonged, perhaps the evil genius of the
Netherlands might have still been exorcised throughout the whole extent
of the country. As for religion, Alexander Farnese was, of course,
strictly Catholic, regarding all seceders from Romanism as mere heathen
dogs. Not that he practically troubled himself much with sacred
matters--for, during the life-time of his wife, he had cavalierly thrown
the whole burden of his personal salvation upon her saintly shoulders.
She had now flown to higher spheres, but Alexander was, perhaps, willing
to rely upon her continued intercessions in his behalf. The life of a
bravo in time of peace--the deliberate project in war to exterminate
whole cities full of innocent people, who had different notions on the
subject of image-worship and ecclesiastical ceremonies from those
entertained at Rome, did not seem to him at all incompatible with the
precepts of Jesus. Hanging, drowning, burning and butchering heretics
were the legitimate deductions of his theology. He was no casuist nor
pretender to holiness: but in those days every man was devout, and
Alexander looked with honest horror upon the impiety of the heretics,
whom he persecuted and massacred. He attended mass regularly--in the
winter mornings by torch-light--and would as soon have foregone his daily
tennis as his religious exercises. Romanism was the creed of his caste.
It was the religion of princes and gentlemen of high degree. As for
Lutheranism, Zwinglism, Calvinism, and similar systems, they were but the
fantastic rites of weavers, brewers, and the like--an ignoble herd whose
presumption in entitling themselves Christian, while rejecting the Pope;
called for their instant extermination. His personal habits were
extremely temperate. He was accustomed to say that he ate only to support
life; and he rarely finished a dinner without having risen three or four
times from table to attend to some public business which, in his opinion,
ought not to be deferred.

His previous connections in the Netherlands were of use to him, and he
knew how to turn them to immediate account. The great nobles, who had
been uni