ng availed him nothing, he trusted that the family must be shut
up in Antwerp, with the Prince of Orange and Archduke; but when every
night, ere he retired to a soldier's rugged pillow, and pressed his
lips to that long fair tress which seemed to ensure the blessings of
an angel of purity and peace, the hopes entertained by Don John of
tidings of the gentle Ulrica became slighter and still more slight.

He did not the more refrain from issuing such orders and exacting
such interference on the part of Alexander Farnese, as promised to
secure protection and respect to the families of all such officers of
the insurgent army as might, in any time or place, fall into the
hands of the royalists.

To Alexander, indeed, to whom his noble kinsman was scarcely less
endeared by his chivalrous qualities than the ties of blood, and who
was fully aware of the motive of these instructions, the charge was
almost superfluous. So earnest were, from the first, his orders to
his Italian captains to pursue in all directions their enquiries
after the Count de Cergny and his family, that it had become a matter
of course to preface their accounts of the day's movements
with--"_No_ intelligence, may it please your highness, of the Count
de Cergny!"

The siege of Limbourg, however, now wholly absorbed his attention;
for it was a stronghold on which the utmost faith was pinned by the
military science of the States. But a breach having been made in the
walls by the Spanish artillery under the command of Nicolo di Cesi,
the cavalry, commanded in person by the Prince Alexander, and the
Walloons under Nignio di Zuniga, speedily forced an entrance; when,
in spite of the stanch resistance of the governor, the garrison laid
down their arms, and the greater portion of the inhabitants took the
oath of fealty to the king.

Of all his conquests, this was the least expected and most desirable;
in devout conviction of which, the Prince of Parma commanded a _Te
Deum_ to be sung in the churches, and hastened to render thanks to
the God of Battles for an event by which further carnage was spared
to either host.

Escorted by his _etat major_, he had proceeded to the cathedral to
join in the august solemnization; when, lo! just as he quitted the
church, a way-worn and heated cavalier approached, bearing
despatches; in whom the prince recognised a faithful attendant of his
household, named Paolo Rinaldo, whom he had recently sent with
instructions to Camille