Don John of Austria, or Passages from the history of the sixteenth century, MDXLVIIMDLXXVII . ts of hesitation, and his slender intellect and strong vanitymade him the tool of the last knave who gained his ear. CountHorn, the companion of his tragic story, was honest and manly,but of narrow judgment, and more distinguished by a tendencyto quarrel with his friends than by any capacity to deal withdifficulties and overcome foes. The Count of Brederode and theDuke of Aerschot were insignificant men made important by theirwealth and their names. The Count was a drunken debauchedbuffoon, rough and
Don John of Austria, or Passages from the history of the sixteenth century, MDXLVIIMDLXXVII . ts of hesitation, and his slender intellect and strong vanitymade him the tool of the last knave who gained his ear. CountHorn, the companion of his tragic story, was honest and manly,but of narrow judgment, and more distinguished by a tendencyto quarrel with his friends than by any capacity to deal withdifficulties and overcome foes. The Count of Brederode and theDuke of Aerschot were insignificant men made important by theirwealth and their names. The Count was a drunken debauchedbuffoon, rough and turbulent, and casting by his grotesque 1 The Defined Courtier (a paraphrase of the Galateo of Giovanni della Casa, by ), London, 1679, i2mo. Dedicated to James, Dulce of Monmouth. A. 5. CHAP. IV. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE NETHERLANDS. 145 behaviour a certain ridicule on the cause which he Duke, the courtly chief of the great House of Croy, was aself-seeking, restless, unprincipled intriguer, without tenacity ofpurpose, yet stung with ambition to reach high places which he. had no capacity to fill. The Baron of Montigny, Horns brother,and the Marquess of Berghen, were honest men who were averseto oppression and hated persecution, who meant well and diednobly, but who are remembered rather for their misfortunes thanfor their ability in the desperate game in which they found them-selves principal players. Philip de Marnix, Baron of St. Alde-VOL. 11. L 146 DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA. chap. iv. gonde, was perhaps the only fellow-labourer who was also theintellectual equal of William of Orange. Superior to the Princein the cultivation and variety of his faculties, he belongs to thatselect order of all accomplished minds of which Bacon is thechief An approved soldier and diplomatist, a profound scholarand theologian, a skilful orator and poet, and a writer whosestyle is still a model of French prose, he failed in one point onlyto attain the level of William of Orange ; for h
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