five councillors, as ambassador from his Catholic Majesty; there were the Duke of Aerschot, the Abbot of Saint Gertrude, the Abbot of Marolles, Doctor Bucho Aytta, Caspar Schetz, Lord of Grobbendonck, that learned Frisian, Aggeus van Albada, with seven other wise men, as envoys from the states-general:  There were their Serene Highnesses the Elector and Archbishops of Cologne and Treves, with the Bishop of Wurtzburg.  There was also a numerous embassy from his Imperial Majesty, with Count Otto de Schwartzenburg at its head.

Here then were holiness, serenity, dignity, law, and learning in abundance.  Here was a pope ‘in posse’, with archbishops, princes, dukes, jurisconsults, and doctors of divinity ‘in esse’, sufficient to remodel a world, if worlds were to be remodelled by such instruments.  If protocols, replications, annotations, apostilles, could heal a bleeding country, here were the physicians to furnish those drugs in unlimited profusion.  If reams of paper, scrawled over with barbarous technicalities, could smother and bury a quarrel which had its origin in the mutual antagonism of human elements, here were the men to scribble unflinchingly, till the reams were piled to a pyramid.  If the same idea presented in many aspects could acquire additional life, here were the word-mongers who, could clothe one shivering thought in a hundred thousand garments, till it attained all the majesty which decoration could impart.  In truth, the envoys came from Spain, Rome, and Vienna, provided with but two ideas.  Was it not a diplomatic masterpiece, that from this frugal store they could contrive to eke out seven mortal months of negotiation?  Two ideas—­the supremacy of his Majesty’s prerogative, the exclusive exercise of the Roman Catholic religion—­these were the be-all and the end-all of their commission.  Upon these two strings they were to harp, at least till the walls of Maestricht had fallen.  The envoys did their duty well; they were sent to enact a solemn comedy, and in the most stately manner did they walk through their several parts.  Not that the King was belligerent; on, the contrary, he was heartily weary of the war.  Prerogative was weary—­Romanism was weary—­Conscience was weary—­the Spirit of Freedom was weary but the Prince of Orange was not weary.  Blood and treasure had been pouring forth so profusely during twelve flaming years, that all but that one tranquil spirit were beginning to flag.

At the same time, neither party had more disposition to concede than stomach to fight.  Certainly the royal party had no inclination to yield.  The King had granted easy terms to the Walloons, because upon the one great point of religion there was, no dispute, and upon the others there was no intention of keeping faith.  With regard to the present negotiation, it was desirable to gain a little time.  It was thought probable that the religious difference, judiciously managed at this juncture, might be used to effect a permanent severance of the provinces so