Events meantime had been thickening, and suspicion increasing.  Meghen had been in the city for several days, much to the disgust of the Reformers, by whom he was hated.  Aremberg was expected to join him, and it was rumored that measures were secretly in progress under the auspices of these two leading cardinalists, for introducing a garrison, together with great store of ammunition, into the city.  On the other hand, the “great beggar,” Brederode, had taken up his quarters also in Antwerp; had been daily entertaining a crowd of roystering nobles at his hotel, previously to a second political demonstration, which will soon be described, and was constantly parading the street, followed by a swarm of adherents in the beggar livery.  The sincere Reformers were made nearly as uncomfortable by the presence of their avowed friends, as by that of Meghen and Aremberg, and earnestly desired to be rid of them all.  Long and anxious were the ponderings of the magistrates upon all these subjects.  It was determined, at last, to send a fresh deputation to Brussels, requesting the Regent to order the departure of Meghen, Aremberg, and Brederode from Antwerp; remonstrating with her against any plan she might be supposed to entertain of sending mercenary troops into the city; pledging the word of the senate to keep the peace, meanwhile, by their regular force; and above all, imploring her once more, in the most urgent terms, to send thither the burgrave, as the only man who was capable of saving the city from the calamities into which it was so likely to fall.

The Prince of Orange being thus urgently besought, both by the government of Antwerp, the inhabitants of that city, and by the Regent herself, at last consented to make the visit so earnestly demanded.  On the 13th July, he arrived in Antwerp.  The whole city was alive with enthusiasm.  Half its population seemed to have come forth from the gates to bid him welcome, lining the road for miles.  The gate through which he was to pass, the ramparts, the roofs of the houses were packed close, with expectant and eager faces.  At least thirty thousand persons had assembled to welcome their guest.  A long cavalcade of eminent citizens had come as far as Berghen to meet him and to escort him into the city.  Brederode, attended by some of the noble confederates, rode at the head of the procession.  As they encountered the Prince, a discharge of pistol-shots was fired by way of salute, which was the signal for a deafening shout from the assembled multitude.  The crowd thronged about the Prince as he advanced, calling him their preserver, their father, their only hope.  Wild shouts of welcome rose upon every side, as he rode through the town, mingled with occasional vociferations of “long life to the beggars.”  These party cries were instantly and sharply rebuked by Orange, who expressed, in Brederode’s presence, the determination that he would make men unlearn that mischievous watchword.  He had, moreover, little