he might not take, even to leaving everything and coming upon them when they least expected him, although he were to receive a bloody punishment in consequence.  He, too, suggested the Empress, who had all the qualities which he lacked himself, or Madame de Parma, or Madame de Lorraine, as each of them was more fit to govern the provinces than he pretended to be.  “The people,” said he, plainly, “are beginning to abhor me, and I abhor them already.”  He entreated Perez to get him out of the country by fair means or foul, “per fas aut per nefas.”  His friends ought to procure his liberation, if they wished to save him from the sin of disobedience, and even of infamy.  He expressed the most unbounded confidence in the honor of his correspondent, adding that if nothing else could procure his release, the letter might be shown to the King.  In general, the Governor was always willing that Perez should make what changes he thought advisable in the letters for his Majesty, altering or softening whatever seemed crude or harsh, provided always the main point—­that of procuring his recal—­were steadily kept in view, in this, said the Governor, vehemently, my life, my honor, and my soul are all at stake; for as to the two first, I shall forfeit them both certainly, and, in my desperate condition, I shall run great risk of losing the last.

On the other hand, Perez was profuse in his professions of friendship both to Don John and to Escovedo; dilating in all his letters upon the difficulty of approaching the King upon the subject of his brother’s recal, but giving occasional information that an incidental hint had been ventured which might not remain without effect.  All these letters, were, however, laid before Philip, for his approval, before being despatched, and the whole subject thoroughly and perpetually discussed between them, about which Perez pretended that he hardly dared breathe a syllable to his Majesty.  He had done what he could, he said, while reading, piece by piece, to the King, during a fit of the gout, the official despatches from the Netherlands, to insinuate such of the arguments used by the Governor and Escovedo as might seem admissible, but it was soon obvious that no impression could be made upon the royal mind.  Perez did not urge the matter, therefore, “because,” said he, “if the King should suspect that we had any other object than his interests, we should all be lost.”  Every effort should be made by Don John and all his friends to secure his Majesty’s entire confidence, since by that course more progress would be made in their secret plans, than by proceedings concerning which the Governor wrote “with such fury and anxiety of heart.”  Perez warned his correspondent, therefore, most solemnly, against the danger of “striking the blow without hitting the mark,” and tried to persuade him that his best interests required him to protract his residence in the provinces for a longer period.  He informed Don John that his disappointment as to the English scheme had met with the warmest sympathy of the King, who had wished his brother success.  “I have sold to him, at as high a price as I could,” said Perez, “the magnanimity with which your Highness had sacrificed, on that occasion, a private object to his service.”