ht to the confederacy which was as
yet but in embryo. This was doubly furnished in the persons of
Louis of Nassau and Henry de Brederode. The former, brother of
the Prince of Orange, was possessed of many of those brilliant
qualities which mark men as worthy of distinction in times of
peril. Educated at Geneva, he was passionately attached to the
reformed religion, and identified in his hatred the Catholic
Church and the tyranny of Spain. Brave and impetuous, he was,
to his elder brother, but as an adventurous partisan compared
with a sagacious general. He loved William as well as he did
their common cause, and his life was devoted to both.

Henry de Brederode, lord of Vienen and marquis of Utrecht, was
descended from the ancient counts of Holland. This illustrious
origin, which in his own eyes formed a high claim to distinction,
had not procured him any of those employments or dignities which
he considered his due. He was presumptuous and rash, and rather
a fluent speaker than an eloquent orator. Louis of Nassau was
thoroughly inspired by the justice of the cause he espoused; De
Brederode espoused it for the glory of becoming its champion. The
first only wished for action; the latter longed for distinction. But
neither the enthusiasm of Nassau, nor the vanity of De Brederode,
was allied with those superior attributes required to form a
hero.

The confederation acquired its perfect organization in the month
of February, 1566, on the tenth of which month its celebrated
manifesto was signed by its numerous adherents. The first name
affixed to this document was that of Philip de Marnix, lord of
St. Aldegonde, from whose pen it emanated; a man of great talents
both as soldier and writer. Numbers of the nobility followed him
on this muster-roll of patriotism, and many of the most zealous
royalists were among them. This remarkable proclamation of general
feeling consisted chiefly in a powerful reprehension of the illegal
establishment of the Inquisition in the Low Countries, and a
solemn obligation on the members of the confederacy to unite
in the common cause against this detested nuisance. Men of all
ranks and classes offered their signatures, and several Catholic
priests among the rest. The Prince of Orange, and the Counts
Egmont, Horn, and Meghem, declined becoming actual parties to
this bold measure; and when the question was debated as to the
most appropriate way of presenting an address to the stadtholderess
these