Count Egmont

“ A splendid soldier, his evil stars had destined him to tread, as a politician, a dark and dangerous path, in which not even genius, caution, and integrity could ensure success, but in which rashness alternating with hesitation, and credulity with violence, could not fail to bring ruin. Such was Count Egmont, as he took his place at the-head of the king's cavalry in the summer of 1557. ”

“ The imprisonment of Egmont rouses all the latent energies of her mind. She, who, "save to church," had never trod the public streets, rushes to the market-place, and strives with kindling words to excite the people to save their leader. Her efforts are vain; and those whom life has parted death re-unites. Count Egmont, one of the Protestant leaders in the Netherlands, was imprisoned and executed by the Duke of Alba. The first victim in as noble a cause, crowned by as glorious a triumph, as history records.
Scene I.— (Clara, Mother, Brackenberg.) ”

“ Soon after him, Count Egmont delivered to the Regent a copy of the covenant, and also gave her the names of the conspirators, with some few exceptions. Nearly at the same time the Prince of Orange wrote to her: "There was, as he had heard, an army enlisted, four hundred officers were already named, and twenty thousand men would presently appear in arms." Thus the rumor was intentionally exaggerated, and the danger was multiplied in every mouth. ”

“ The battle was fought against the advice of the duke of Alva, and the victory made Alva Egmont’s enemy. But the count now became the idol of his countrymen, who looked upon him as the saviour of Flanders from the devastations of the French. He was nominated by Philip stadtholder of Flanders and Artois. At the conclusion of the war by the treaty of Cateau Cambrésis, Egmont was one of the four hostages selected by the king of France as pledges for its execution. ”

“ The attempt made by King Philip to convert the Netherlands into a Spanish dependency and to govern it by Spanish ministers excited the resentment of Egmont and other leading members of the Netherlands aristocracy. Between him and Cardinal Granvella, the all-powerful minister of the regent Margaret of Parma, there was no love lost. As a member of the council of state Egmont joined the prince of Orange in a vigorous protest addressed to Philip (1561) against the autocratic proceedings of the minister; and two years later he again protested in conjunction with the prince of Orange and Count Horn. ”

“ In his judgment men were wholly bad or wholly good, and had not something bad or something good; in this system of morals there was no middle term between vice and virtue; and consequently a single good trait often decided his opinion of men. Egmont united all the eminent qualities which form the hero; he was a better soldier than the Prince of Orange, but far inferior to him as a statesman; the latter saw the world as it really was; Egmont viewed it in the magic mirror of an imagination that embellished all that it reflected. ”

“ But this demurrer was overruled, and they were required to produce their witnesses, in default of which they were to be proceeded against /in contumaciam./ Egmont had satisfactorily answered to eighty-two counts, while Count Horn had refuted the charges against him, article by article. The accusation and the defence are still extant; on that defence every impartial tribunal would have acquitted them both. The Procurator Fiscal pressed for the production of their evidence, and the Duke of Alva issued his repeated commands to use despatch. ”

“ But a host of tender recollections crowded on his mind, and the images of his wife and children drew his thoughts in another direction, till the kind expostulations of the prelate again restored him to himself.
Egmont asked whether it would be well to say anything on the scaffold for the edification of the people. But the bishop discouraged him, saying that he would be imperfectly heard, and that the people, in their present excitement, would be apt to misinterpret what he said to their own prejudice. ”

“ Affability, a noble and courteous demeanor, the amiable virtues of chivalry, adorned and graced his merits. His liberal soul shone forth on his open brow; his frank-heartedness managed his secrets no better than his benevolence did his estate, and a thought was no sooner his than it was the property of all. His religion was gentle and humane, but not very enlightened, because it derived its light from the heart and not from, his understanding. Egmont possessed more of conscience than of fixed principles ”

“ Alva. Have you had them all narrowly watched?
Silva. All. Egmont especially. He is the only one whose demeanour, since your arrival, remains unchanged. The live-long day he is now on one horse and now on another; he invites guests as usual, is merry and entertaining at table, plays at dice, shoots, and at night steals to his mistress. The others, on the contrary, have made a manifest pause in their mode of life; they remain at home, and, from the outward aspect of their houses, you would imagine that there was a sick man within. ”

“ Orange. And, therefore, the stronger is my conviction. The Regent will give place to him. I know his blood-thirsty disposition, and he brings an army with him.
Egmont. To harass the provinces anew? The people will be exasperated to the last degree.
Orange. Their leaders will be secured.
Egmont. No! No!
Orange. Let us retire, each to his province. There we can strengthen ourselves; the Duke will not begin with open violence.
Egmont. Must we not greet him when he comes?
Orange. We will delay.
Egmont. What if, on his arrival, he should summon us in the king's name? ”

“ Egmont was there with his wife, Hoorne, Mansfeld, Montigny, Berghen, Brederode, and other of the grandees and lesser nobles and their wives now all openly banded against the Cardinal.
Most of the talk turned on the famous new liveries, and Egmont described how he won the toss which was to decide the design, and how eagerly his livery had been accepted.
At this point Anne lifted her smouldering eyes and turned to her husband.
"Will our men appear in this beggarly camlet?" she asked, and her tone was a direct insult to Egmont and his fellows.
"Why not?" smiled William. ”

“ With that he ended, somewhat abruptly, as if he indeed saw that it was useless to try and open Egmont's eyes to his danger, and turning away picked up his mantle and hat as if to end a hopeless argument.
"You will be the ruined man, not I," remarked Egmont in some agitation; "it is you who throw everything away for a shadow!"
William moved towards the door.
"Will you not dine with us?" asked Mansfeld formally.
"Nay," replied the Prince. "I am pressed to return to Antwerp."
With Egmont he would have gladly stayed, but he had no mind to eat and drink with Mansfeld and Berty. ”

“ Though Egmont claimed to be descended from the same stock as the famous Egmonts of Flanders, the title of this earldom was undoubtedly taken from a townland of that name in the parish of Churchtown in the county of Cork, where Burton House, the Irish residence of the Percevals, was also situated. Egmont died in London on 1 May 1748, aged 64, and was buried at Erwarton in Suffolk. ”

“ Egmont. I remember, you were employed upon the liveries of my people. Your name is Jetter.
Jetter. To think of your grace remembering it!
Egmont. I do not easily forget any one whom I have seen or conversed with. Do what you can, good people, to keep the peace; you stand in bad repute enough already. Provoke not the king still farther. The power, after all, is in his hands. An honest burgher, who maintains himself industriously, has everywhere as much freedom as he wants. ”

“ The national leaders drew back, afraid to identify themselves with revolutionary movements, or the cause of extreme Protestantism. Egmont was a good Catholic, and took active steps to suppress disorder, and Orange himself at the request of the regent betook himself to Antwerp, where the citizens in arms were on the point of engaging in civil strife. At the risk of his life the prince succeeded in bringing about an accord, and as he proclaimed its terms to a sullen and half-hostile crowd he uttered for the last time the words, “Long live the King!” ”

“ Hold, Egmont!—Your sword!- (The centre door opens and discloses the gallery, which is occupied with guards, who remain motionless.)
Egmont (after a pause of astonishment) . This was the intention? For this thou hast summoned me? (Grasping his sword as if to defend himself.) Am I then weaponless?
Alva. The king commands. Thou art my prisoner. (At the same time guards enter from both sides.)
Egmont (after a pause) . The king?—Orange! Orange! (after a pause, resigning his sword) . Take it! It has been employed far oftener in defending the cause of my king than in protecting this breast. ”

“ Ferdinand. And when I found all these allegations, point for point, in the indictment, together with thy answers, containing much that might serve to palliate thy conduct, but no evidence weighty enough fully to exculpate thee—
Egmont. No more of this. Man imagines that he directs his life, that he governs his actions, when in fact his existence is irresistibly controlled by his destiny. Let us not dwell upon this subject; these reflections I can dismiss with ease—not so my apprehensions for these provinces; yet they too will be cared for. ”

“ In October 1756 he refused the Duke of Newcastle's offer of the leadership of the House of Commons with the seals of secretary of state, as the object of his ambition was an English peerage. Towards the close of 1760 Egmont had an interview with Bute and ‘begg'd earnestly to go into the House of Lords’ (Dodington, Diary, 1784, p. 421) . At the general election in March 1761 he was returned both for Ilchester and Bridgwater, and elected to sit for Bridgwater. ”

“ Brackenburg. Unhappy girl! Thou seest not the power that holds us fettered as with bands of iron.
Clara. To me it does not appear invincible. Let us not lose time in idle words. Here comes some of our old, honest, valiant burghers! Hark ye, friends! Neighbours! Hark!—Say, how fares it with Egmont?
Carpenter. What does the girl want? Tell her to hold her peace.
Clara. Step nearer, that we may speak low, till we are united and more strong. Not a moment is to be lost! Audacious tyranny, that dared to fetter him, already lifts the dagger against his life. ”

“ Supplément à Strada, tom. II. p. 505.
[848] "Ne me samblant debvoir traicter affaires de honneur avecq Dames." Ibid., ubi supra.
[849] "They tell me," writes Morillon to Granvelle, "it is quite incredible how old and gray Egmont has become. He does not venture to sleep at night without his sword and pistols by his bedside!" (Archives de la Maison d'Orange-Nassau, Supplément, p. 36.) But there was no pretence that at this time Egmont's life was in danger. Morillon, in his eagerness to cater for the cardinal's appetite for gossip, did not always stick at the improbable. ”

“ Lee, who, to palliate the change of his style, was so injudicious as to insist that the situation of affairs was highly altered by the deaths of the Prince and the Prince of Orange, and the birth of the Duke of Burgundy. Lord Egmont, who found himself almost alone in opposition, made a very artful speech; said, “He had hoped to have heard some answer from the Ministry to Sir John Cotton’s arguments; that for his own part, he should be very gentle, as it was not a time to provoke [214] a power that nothing could resist, but should coolly ask for an answer. ”

“ Having thus, in my conception of Egmont's character, made him youthful, and set him free from all domestic restraints, I ascribed to him unlimited enjoyment of life and its pleasures, boundless self-reliance, a gift of drawing all men to himself, and consequently also of winning the favor of the people, and which, while it inspired a princess with a silent, and a young child of nature with an avowed passion, won for him the sympathy of a shrewd statesman, and even the loving admiration of the son of his great adversary.
The Daemonic Influence in Life. ”

“ M. d'Egmont uttered an exclamation of delight on seeing his young friend, whom he loved as a son. Although, during the thirty years that he had lived on Captain D'Haberville's estate, he had constantly refused to take up his abode at the manor house, he yet was a frequent visitor there, often remaining a week at a time when there were no strangers present. Without actually shunning society, he had suffered too much in his relations with men of his own class to be able to mingle cordially in their enjoyments. ”

“ André Francœur was of the same age as his master, and was also his foster-brother. Having been the playfellow of his childhood, and the trusted friend rather than the valet of his riper years, André Francœur had found it as natural to follow D'Egmont's fortunes in adversity as in prosperity.
D'Egmont and his servant were living on the interest of a small capital which they had in common. One might even say that the savings of the valet were even greater than those of the master. Was it consistent with D'Egmont's honor to be thus, in a way, dependent on his own servant? Many will answer no ”

“ Angel. He grinned when he saw François.
“Here you are,” he said. “Come now, before we spoil your beauty, give us a song and dance.”
“My regular price for a performance,” said François, “is five hundred francs, and you probably have not that much about you. Besides, although, like you, my Marquis Egmont of the Holy Angels, I have not lived as a gentleman, unlike you, I mean to die as a gentleman.”
“Forward!” cried Egmont to the firing squad, which marched out and took their places.
The old priest lifted his bound hands and blessed and absolved them all, prisoners and murderers alike. ”