This source of revenue, it seemed, was found in “a certain powder, of which one ounce mixed with six ounces of quicksilver would make six ounces of silver.”  The composition was said to stand the test of the hammer, but not of the fire.  Partly in consequence of theological scruples and partly on account of opposition from the states, a project formed by the King to pay his army with this kind of silver was reluctantly abandoned.  The invention, however, was so very agreeable to the King, and the inventor had received such liberal rewards, that it was supposed, according to the envoy, that in time of scarcity his Majesty would make use of such coin without reluctance.

It is necessary, before concluding this chapter, which relates the events of the years 1560 and 1561, to allude to an important affair which occupied much attention during the whole of this period.  This is the celebrated marriage of the Prince of Orange with the Princess Anna of Saxony.  By many superficial writers; a moving cause of the great Netherland revolt was found in the connexion of the great chieftain with this distinguished Lutheran house.  One must have studied the characters and the times to very little purpose, however, to believe it possible that much influence could be exerted on the mind of William of Orange by such natures as those of Anna of Saxony, or of her uncle the Elector Augustus, surnamed “the Pious.”

The Prince had become a widower in 1558, at the age of twenty-five.  Granvelle, who was said to have been influential in arranging his first marriage, now proposed to him, after the year of mourning had expired, an alliance with Mademoiselle Renee, daughter of the Duchess de Lorraine, and granddaughter of Christiern the Third of Denmark, and his wife Isabella, sister of the Emperor Charles the Fifth.  Such a connexion, not only with the royal house of Spain but with that of France—­for, the young Duke of Lorraine, brother of the lady, had espoused the daughter of Henry the considered highly desirable by the Prince.  Philip and the Duchess Margaret of Parma both approved, or pretended to approve, the match.  At the same time the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine, mother of the intended bride, was a candidate, and a very urgent one, for the Regency of the Netherlands.  Being a woman of restless ambition, and intriguing character, she naturally saw in a man of William’s station and talents a most desirable ally in her present and future schemes.  On the other hand, Philip—­who had made open protestation of his desire to connect the Prince thus closely with his own blood, and had warmly recommended the match to the young lady’s mother—­soon afterwards, while walking one day with the Prince in the park at Brussels, announced to him that the Duchess of Lorraine had declined his proposals.  Such a result astonished the Prince, who was on the best of terms with the mother, and had been urging her appointment to the Regency with all his-influence, having entirely withdrawn his own claims