In the midst of the perplexities thus thickening around him, the Duke preserved his courage, if not his temper.  Blinded, for a brief season, by the rapid attacks made upon him, he had been uncertain whither to direct his vengeance.  This last blow in so vital a quarter determined him at once.  He forthwith despatched Don Frederic to undertake the siege of Mons, and earnestly set about raising large reinforcements to his army.  Don Frederic took possession, without much opposition, of the Bethlehem cloister in the immediate vicinity of the city, and with four thousand troops began the investment in due form.

Alva had, for a long time, been most impatient to retire from the provinces.  Even he was capable of human emotions.  Through the sevenfold panoply of his pride he had been pierced by the sharpness of a nation’s curse.  He was wearied with the unceasing execrations which assailed his ears.  “The hatred which the people bear me,” said he, in a letter to Philip, “because of the chastisement which it has been necessary for me to inflict, although with all the moderation in the world, make all my efforts vain.  A successor will meet more sympathy and prove more useful.”  On the 10th June, the Duke of Medina Coeli; with a fleet of more than forty sail, arrived off Blankenburg, intending to enter the Scheld.  Julian Romero, with two thousand Spaniards, was also on board the fleet.  Nothing, of course, was known to the new comers of the altered condition of affairs in the Netherlands, nor of the unwelcome reception which they were like to meet in Flushing.  A few of the lighter craft having been taken by the patriot cruisers, the alarm was spread through all the fleet.  Medina Coeli, with a few transports, was enabled to effect his escape to Sluys, whence he hastened to Brussels in a much less ceremonious manner than he had originally contemplated.  Twelve Biscayan ships stood out to sea, descried a large Lisbon fleet, by a singular coincidence, suddenly heaving in sight, changed their course again, and with a favoring breeze bore boldly up the Hond; passed Flushing in spite of a severe cannonade from the forts, and eventually made good their entrance into Rammekens, whence the soldiery, about one-half of whom had thus been saved, were transferred at a very critical moment to Middelburg.

The great Lisbon fleet followed in the wake of the Biscayans, with much inferior success.  Totally ignorant of the revolution which had occurred in the Ise of Walclieren, it obeyed the summons of the rebel fort to come to anchor, and, with the exception of three or four, the vessels were all taken.  It was the richest booty which the insurgents had yet acquired by sea or land.  The fleet was laden with spices, money, jewellery, and the richest merchandize.  Five hundred thousand crowns of gold were taken, and it was calculated that the plunder altogether would suffice to maintain the war for two years at least.  One thousand Spanish soldiers, and a good amount