There was but little, too, in the aspect of the French court to encourage hopes of valuable assistance from that quarter.  It was urged, not without reason, that the French were as likely to become as dangerous as the Spaniards; that they would prove nearer and more troublesome masters; that France intended the incorporation of the Netherlands into her own kingdom; that the provinces would therefore be dispersed for ever from the German Empire; and that it was as well to hold to the tyrant under whom they had been born, as to give themselves voluntarily to another of their own making.  In short, it was maintained, in homely language, that “France and Spain were both under one coverlid.”  It might have been added that only extreme misery could make the provinces take either bedfellow.  Moreover, it was asserted, with reason, that Anjou would be a very expensive master, for his luxurious and extravagant habits were notorious—­that he was a man in whom no confidence could be placed, and one who would grasp at arbitrary power by any means which might present themselves.  Above all, it was urged that he was not of the true religion, that he hated the professors of that faith in his heart, and that it was extremely unwise for men whose dearest interests were their religious ones, to elect a sovereign of opposite creed to their own.  To these plausible views the Prince of Orange and those who acted with him, had, however; sufficient answers.  The Netherlands had waited long enough for assistance from other quarters.  Germany would not lift a finger in the cause; on the contrary, the whole of Germany, whether Protestant or Catholic, was either openly or covertly hostile.  It was madness to wait till assistance came to them from unseen sources.  It was time for them to assist themselves, and to take the best they could get; for when men were starving they could not afford to be dainty.  They might be bound, hand and foot, they might be overwhelmed a thousand times before they would receive succor from Germany, or from any land but France.  Under the circumstances in which they found themselves, hope delayed was but a cold and meagre consolation.

“To speak plainly,” said Orange, “asking us to wait is very much as if you should keep a man three days without any food in the expectation of a magnificent banquet, should persuade him to refuse bread, and at the end of three days should tell him that the banquet was not ready, but that a still better one was in preparation.  Would it not be better, then, that the poor man, to avoid starvation, should wait no longer, but accept bread wherever he might find it?  Such is our case at present.”