me, (as he has
doubtless done yourself,) with his chapter of lamentations over the
sufferings of Belgium,--the lawlessness of the camp--the former
loyalty of the provinces--the tenderness of conscience of the
heretics,--and the eligibility of forbearance and peace,--I saw as
plain as though the word were inscribed by the burning finger of
Satan, that the turkois eyes and flaxen ringlets were the text of all
this snivelling humanity!'

"Blessings on the tender consciences of the heretics, who were
burning Antwerp and Ghent, and plundering the religious houses and
putting their priests to the sword!" ejaculated Gonzaga.

"The exigencies of the hour, however, left little leisure to Don John
for the nursing of his infant passion; and a few weeks past, I
entertained hopes that, Queen Margaret being safe back at her Louvre,
the heart of the Prince was safe back in its place; more especially
when he one day proposed to me an exploit savouring more of his days
of Lepanto than I had expected at his hands again. Distracted by the
false intelligence wherewith we were perpetually misled by the
Brabancon scouts, Don John determined on a sortie in disguise,
towards the intrenchments of the enemy, betwixt the Sambre and Dyle.
Rumour of the reinforcements of English troops dispatched to the
heretics by Queen Elizabeth at the instance of the diet of Worms,
rendered him anxious; and bent upon ascertaining the exact
cantonments of Colonel Norris and his Scottish companies, we set
forward before daybreak towards the forest of Marlagne, as for a
hunting expedition; then exchanging our dresses for the simple suits
of civilians at the house of the verderer, made our way across the
Sambre towards Gembloux."

"A mad project!--But such were ever the delight of our
Quixote!"--cried Gonzaga.

"In this instance, all prospered. We crossed the country without
obstacle, mounted on two powerful Mecklenburgers; and before noon,
were deep in Brabant. The very rashness of the undertaking seemed to
restore to Don John his forgotten hilarity of old! He was like a
truant schoolboy, that has cheated his pedagogue of a day's
bird-nesting; and eyes more discerning than those of the stultified
natives of these sluggish provinces, had been puzzled to detect under
the huge patch that blinded him of an eye, and the slashed sleeve of
his sad-coloured suit that showed him wounded of an arm, the gallant
host of Queen Margaret! 'My soul comes back into me with th