he was too quiet in his disgrace, reminded him that princes had warm affections when they wished to make use of people, but that when they could have them too cheaply, they esteemed them but little; making no account of men whom they were accustomed to see under their feet.  He urged the Cardinal, in repeated letters, to take heart again, to make himself formidable, and to rise from his crouching attitude.  All the world say, he remarked, that the game is up between the King and yourself, and before long every one will be laughing at you, and holding you for a dupe.

Stung or emboldened by these remonstrances, and weary of his retirement, Granvelle at last abandoned all intention of returning to the Netherlands, and towards the end of 1565, departed to Rome, where he participated in the election of Pope Pius V. Five years afterwards he was employed by Philip to negotiate the treaty between Spain, Rome, and Venice against the Turk.  He was afterwards Viceroy of Naples, and in 1575, he removed to Madrid, to take an active part in the management of the public business, “the disorder of which,” says the Abbe Boisot, “could be no longer arrested by men of mediocre capacity.”  He died in that city on the 21st September, 1586, at the age of seventy, and was buried at Besancon.

We have dwelt at length on the administration of this remarkable personage, because the period was one of vital importance in the history of the Netherland commonwealth.  The minister who deals with the country at an epoch when civil war is imminent, has at least as heavy a responsibility upon his head as the man who goes forth to confront the armed and full-grown rebellion.  All the causes out of which the great revolt was born, were in violent operation during the epoch of Granvelle’s power.  By the manner in which he comported himself in presence of those dangerous and active elements of the coming convulsions, must his character as a historical personage be measured.  His individuality had so much to do with the course of the government, the powers placed in his hands were so vast, and his energy so untiring, that it is difficult to exaggerate the importance of his influence upon the destiny of the country which he was permitted to rule.  It is for this reason that we have been at great pains to present his picture, sketched as it were by his own hand.  A few general remarks are, however, necessary.  It is the historian’s duty to fix upon one plain and definite canvas the chameleon colors in which the subtle Cardinal produced his own image.  Almost any theory concerning his character might be laid down and sustained by copious citations from his works; nay, the most opposite conclusions as to his interior nature, may be often drawn from a single one of his private and interminable letters.  Embarked under his guidance, it is often difficult to comprehend the point to which we are tending.  The oarsman’s face beams upon us with serenity, but he looks in one direction, and rows in the opposite course.  Even thus it was three centuries ago.  Was it to be wondered at that many did not see the precipice towards which the bark which held their all was gliding under the same impulse?