The burthen of the charges against the culprit was his statement that the Provinces would be gone if her Majesty did not declare herself, vigorously and generously, in their favour; but, as this was the perpetual cry of Leicester himself, there seemed hardly hanging matter in that.  That noble gentleman, the elector, however, had nearly saved the hangman his trouble, having so dealt with Hohenlo as to “bring him into as good a mind as ever he was;” and the first fruits of this good mind were, that the honest Count—­a man of prompt dealings—­walked straight to Paul’s house in order to kill him on the spot.  Something fortunately prevented the execution of this plan; but for a time at least the energetic Count continued to be “governed greatly” by the ex-archbishop, and “did impart wholly unto him his most secret heart.”

Thus the “deep wise Truxy,” as Leicester called him, continued to earn golden opinions, and followed up his conversion of Hohenlo by undertaking to “bring Maurice into tune again also,” and the young Prince was soon on better terms with his “affectionate father” than he had ever been before.  Paul Buys was not so easily put down, however, nor the two magnates so thoroughly gained over.  Before the end of the season Maurice stood in his old position, the nominal head of the Holland or patrician party, chief of the opposition to Leicester, while Hohenlo had become more bitter than ever against the Earl.  The quarrel between himself and Edward Norris, to which allusion will soon be made, tended to increase the dissatisfaction, although he singularly misunderstood Leicester’s sentiments throughout the whole affair.  Hohenlo recovered of his wound before Zutphen; but, on his recovery, was more malcontent than ever.  The Earl was obliged at last to confess that “he was a very dangerous man, inconstant, envious; and hateful to all our nation, and a very traitor to the cause.  There is no dealing to win him,” he added, “I have sought it to my cost.  His best friends tell me he is not to be trusted.”

Meantime that lewd sinner, the indefatigable Paul, was plotting desperately—­so Leicester said and believed—­to transfer the sovereignty of the Provinces to the King of Denmark.  Buys, who was privately of opinion that the States required an absolute head, “though it were but an onion’s head,” and that they would thankfully continue under Leicester as governor absolute if Elizabeth would accept the sovereignty, had made up his mind that the Queen would never take that step.  He was therefore disposed to offer the crown to the King of Denmark, and was believed to have brought Maurice—­who was to espouse that King’s daughter—­to the same way of thinking.  Young Count Rantzan, son of a distinguished Danish statesman, made a visit to the Netherlands in order to confer with Buys.  Paul was also anxious to be appointed envoy to Denmark, ostensibly to arrange for the two thousand cavalry, which the King had long before promised for the assistance of the Provinces, but in reality, to examine the details of this new project; and Leicester represented to the Queen very earnestly how powerful the Danish monarch would become, thus rendered master of the narrow seas, and how formidable to England.