raint of dissimulation,
and he resolved to take some bold and decided measure. A very
favorable opportunity was presented in the arrival of the queen
of Navarre, Marguerite of Valois, at Namur, on her way to Spa.
The prince, numerously attended, hastened to the former town
under pretence of paying his respects to the queen. As soon as
she left the place, he repaired to the glacis of the town, as if
for the mere enjoyment of a walk, admired the external appearance
of the citadel, and expressed a desire to be admitted inside.
The young count of Berlaimont, in the absence of his father,
the governor of the place, and an accomplice in the plot with
Don John, freely admitted him. The prince immediately drew forth
a pistol, and exclaimed that "that was the first moment of his
government"; took possession of the place with his immediate
guard, and instantly formed them into a devoted garrison.

The Prince of Orange immediately made public the intercepted
letters; and, at the solicitation of the states-general, repaired
to Brussels; into which city he made a truly triumphant entry on
the 23d of September, and was immediately nominated governor,
protector or _ruward_ of Brabant--a dignity which had fallen
into disuse, but was revived on this occasion, and which was
little inferior in power to that of the dictators of Rome. His
authority, now almost unlimited, extended over every province
of the Netherlands, except Namur and Luxemburg, both of which
acknowledged Don John.

The first care of the liberated nation was to demolish the various
citadels rendered celebrated and odious by the excesses of the
Spaniards. This was done with an enthusiastic industry in which
every age and sex bore a part, and which promised well for liberty.
Among the ruins of that of Antwerp the statue of the duke of
Alva was discovered; dragged through the filthiest streets of
the town; and, with all the indignity so well merited by the
original, it was finally broken into a thousand pieces.

The country, in conferring such extensive powers on the Prince
of Orange, had certainly gone too far, not for his desert, but
for its own tranquillity. It was impossible that such an elevation
should not excite the discontent and awaken the enmity of the
haughty aristocracy of Flanders and Brabant; and particularly
of the House of Croi, the ancient rivals of that of Nassau. The
then representative of that family seemed the person most suited
to counterbalance Wi