They were practical, not theoretical; historical, not philosophical.

Still, such as they were, they were facts, acquisitions.

They had been purchased by the blood and toil of brave ancestors; they amounted--however open to criticism upon broad humanitarian grounds, of which few at that day had ever dreamed--to a solid, substantial dyke against the arbitrary power which was ever chafing and fretting to destroy its barriers.

No men were more subtle or more diligent in corroding the foundation of these bulwarks than the disciples of Granvelle.

Yet one would have thought it possible to tolerate an amount of practical freedom so different from the wild, social speculations which in later days, have made both tyrants and reasonable lovers of our race tremble with apprehension.