THE HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS. BOOK IV. THE ICONOCLASTS. THE springs of this extraordinary occurrence are plainly not to be sought for so far back as many historians affect to trace them. It is certainly possible, and very probable that the French Protestants did industriously exert themselves to raise in the Netherlands a nursery for their religion, and to prevent, by all means in their power, an amicable adjustment of differences between their brethren in the faith in that quarter and the King of Spain, in order to give that implacable foe of their party enough to do in his own country. It is natural, therefore, to suppose that their agents in the provinces left nothing undone to encourage their oppressed brethren with daring hopes, to nourish their animosity against the ruling church, and by exaggerating the oppression under which they sighed, to hurry them imperceptibly into illegal courses. It is possible, too, that there were many among the confederates who thought to help out their own lost cause by increasing the number of their partners in guilt; who thought they could not otherwise maintain the legal character of their league, unless the unfortunate results, against which they had warned the king, really came to pass; and who hoped in the general guilt of all to conceal their own individual criminality. VOL. II. B V It is, however, incredible that the outbreak of the Iconoclasts was the fruit of a deliberate plan, preconcerted, as it is alleged, at the convent of St. Truyen. It does not seem likely, that in a solemn assembly of so many nobles and warriors, of whom the greater part were the adherents of popery, an individual should be found insane enough to propose an act of positive infamy, which did not so much injure any religious party in particular, as rather tread under foot all respect for religion in general, and even all morality too, and which could have been conceived only in the mind of the vilest reprobate. Besides, this outrage was too sudden in its outbreak, too vehement in its execution altogether, too monstrous to have been any thing more than the offspring of the moment in which it saw the light, it seemed to flow so naturally from the circumstances which preceded it, that it does not require to be traced far back to remount to its origin. A rude mob, consisting of the very dregs of the populace, rendered brutal by harsh treatment, by sanguinary decrees which dogged them in every town, scared from place to place, and driven almost to despair, were compelled to worship their God, and to hide, like a work of darkness, the universal sacred privilege of humanity. Before their eyes proudly rose the temples of the dominant church, in which their haughty brethren indulged in ease their magnificent devotion, while they themselves were driven from the walls, expelled, too, by the weaker number perhaps, and forced, here in the wild woods, under the burning heat of noon, in disgraceful secrecy to worship the same God— cast out from civil society into a state of nature, and reminded, in one dread moment, of the rights of that state! The greater their superiority of numbers, the more unnatural did their lot appear with wonder they perceive the truth. The free heaven, the arms lying ready, the frenzy in their brains and fury in their hearts combine to aid the suggestions of some preaching fanatic; the occasion calls, no premeditation is necessary, where all eyes at once declare consent; the resolution is formed ere yet the word is scarcely uttered; ready for any unlawful act, no one yet clearly knows what, the furious band rushes onwards. The smiling prosperity of the hostile religion insults the poverty of their own; the pomp of the authorized temples casts contempt on their proscribed belief· every cross set up upon the highway, every image of the saints that they meet, is a trophy erected over their humiliation, and they all must be removed by their avenging hands. Fanaticism suggests these detestable proceedings, but base passions carry them into execution, 1566. The commencement of the attack on iamges took place in West Flanders and Artois, in the districts between Lys and the sea. A frantic herd of artisans, boatmen, and peasants, mixed with prostitutes, beggars, vagabonds, and thieves, about 300 in number, furnished with clubs, axes, hammers, ladders, and cords, (a few only were provided with swords or fire-arms,) cast themselves, with fanatical fury, into the villages and hamlets near St. Omer, and breaking open the gates of such churches and cloisters as they find locked, overthrow everywhere the altars, break to pieces the images of the saints, and trample them under foot. With their excitement increased by its indulgence, and reinforced by new comers, they press on, by the direct road, to Ypres, where they can count on the support of a strong body of Calvinists. Unopposed, they break into the cathedral, and mounting on ladders, they hammer to pieces the pictures, hew down with axes the pulpits and pews, despoil the altars of their ornaments, and steal the holy vessels. This example was quickly followed in Menin, Comines, Verrich, Lille, and Oudenard; in a few days, the same fury spreads through the whole of Flanders. At the very time, when the first tidings of this occurrence arrived, Antwerp was swarming with a crowd of houseless people, which the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin had brought together in that city. Even the presence of the Prince of Orange was hardly sufficient to restrain the licentious mob, who burned to imitate the doings of their brethren in St. Omer; but an order from the court, which summoned him to Brussels, where the regent was just assembling her Council of State, in order to lay before them the royal letters, obliged him to abandon Antwerp to the outrages of this band. His departure was the signal for tumult. Apprehensive of the lawless violence, of which, on the very first day of the festival, the mob had given indications in derisory allusions, the priests, after carrying about the image of the Virgin for a short time, brought it for safety to the choir, without, as WILHELM TELL is translated by Theodore Martin, Esq who is favourably known to the readers of Blackwood's Ma gazine, by his various contributions illustrative of Schille and other German poets. It was intended to include DON CARLOS in the preser volume, but the extent of that Drama rendered it impra ticable, and Tell has been substituted. Don Carlos, ther fore, will form the commencement of the next volume. The Publisher, somewhat in the position of an Edito has taken considerable pains in superintending this editio of Schiller through the press; but does not pretend to an merit on the score of its literary execution. At the sam time, he feels himself responsible for its faults, and in future edition, will gladly correct any which may be pointe H. G. B. out. York Street, November, 1846. CONTENTS. HISTORY OF THE REVOLT OF THE NETHERLANDS : CONCLUSION. BOOK IV. THE ICONOCLASTS.-Civil War.-Resignation of William of Orange.—Decay and Dispersion of the Gueusen League.—Alva's Armament and Expedition to the Netherlands.-Alva's First Measures, and Departure of the Duchess of Parma.-Page 1 to 87. TRIAL and EXECUTION of COUNTS EGMONT and HORN.-Page 88 to 95. HISTORICAL DRAMAS. WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP; by Janus Churchill.-Page 141 to 176. THE PICCOLOMINI; by S. T. Coleridge (with Additions).—Page 177 to 286. THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN; by S. T. Coleridge (with Additions).-Page 287 to 448. WILHELM TELL; by Theodore Martin.-Page 449 to 553. *** An Alphabetical Index will be given in a future Volume. |