The History of the Revolt of the Netherlands | Page 2

in which the author's favorite theory of the "Ideal of
Art" is enforced with great ingenuity and eloquence.

THE HISTORY
OF THE
REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS.

CONTENTS.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
BOOK I.----Earlier History of The Netherlands up to the Sixteenth
Century
BOOK II.---Cardinal Granvella
BOOK III.--Conspiracy of the Nobles
BOOK IV.---The Iconoclasts Trial and Execution of Counts Egmont
and Horn Siege of Antwerp by the Prince of Parma, in the Years 1584
and 1585

THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Many years ago, when I read the History of the Belgian Revolution in
Watson's excellent work, I was seized with an enthusiasm which
political events but rarely excite. On further reflection I felt that this
enthusiastic feeling had arisen less from the book itself than from the
ardent workings of my own imagination, which had imparted to the
recorded materials the particular form that so fascinated me. These
imaginations, therefore, I felt a wish to fix, to multiply, and to
strengthen; these exalted sentiments I was anxious to extend by
communicating them to others. This was my principal motive for
commencing the present history, my only vocation to write it. The
execution of this design carried me farther than in the beginning I had
expected. A closer acquaintance with my materials enabled me to
discover defects previously unnoticed, long waste tracts to be filled up,
apparent contradictions to be reconciled, and isolated facts to be
brought into connection with the rest of the subject. Not so much with
the view of enriching my history with new facts as of seeking a key to
old ones, I betook myself to the original sources, and thus what was
originally intended to be only a general outline expanded under my
hands into an elaborate history. The first part, which concludes with the
Duchess of Parma's departure from the Netherlands, must be looked
upon only as the introduction to the history of the Revolution itself,
which did not come to an open outbreak till the government of her
successor. I have bestowed the more care and attention upon this
introductory period the more the generality of writers who had
previously treated of it seemed to me deficient in these very qualities.
Moreover, it is in my opinion the more important as being the root and
source of all the subsequent events. If, then, the first volume should
appear to any as barren in important incident, dwelling prolixly on
trifles, or, rather, should seem at first sight profuse of reflections, and in
general tediously minute, it must be remembered that it was precisely
out of small beginnings that the Revolution was gradually developed;
and that all the great results which follow sprang out of a countless
number of trifling and little circumstances.

A nation like the one before us invariably takes its first steps with
doubts and uncertainty, to move afterwards only the more rapidly for
its previous hesitation. I proposed, therefore, to follow the same
method in describing this rebellion. The longer the reader delays on the
introduction the more familiar he becomes with the actors in this
history, and the scene in which they took a part, so much the more
rapidly and unerringly shall I be able to lead him through the
subsequent periods, where the accumulation of materials will forbid a
slowness of step or minuteness of attention.
As for the authorities of our history there is not so much cause to
complain of their paucity as of their extreme abundance, since it is
indispensable to read them all to obtain that clear view of the whole
subject to which the perusal of a part, however large, is always
prejudicial. From the unequal, partial, and often contradictory
narratives of the same occurrences it is often extremely difficult to
seize the truth, which in all is alike partly concealed and to be found
complete in none. In this first volume, besides de Thou, Strada, Reyd,
Grotius, Meteren, Burgundius, Meursius, Bentivoglio, and some
moderns, the Memoirs of Counsellor Hopper, the life and
correspondence of his friend Viglius, the records of the trials of the
Counts of Hoorne and Egmont, the defence of the Prince of Orange,
and some few others have been my guides. I must here acknowledge
my obligations to a work compiled with much industry and critical
acumen, and written with singular truthfulness and impartiality. I allude
to the general history of the United Netherlands which was published in
Holland during the present century. Besides many original documents
which I could not otherwise have had access to, it has abstracted all that
is valuable in the excellent works of Bos, Hooft, Brandt, Le Clerc,
which either were impossible for me to procure or were not available to
my use, as being written in Dutch, which I do not understand. An
otherwise ordinary writer, Richard