It was natural that they should begin to generalize, and to pass from the concrete images presented them in the Flemish monasteries to the abstract character of Rome itself.

The Flemish, above all their other qualities, were a commercial nation.

Commerce was the mother of their freedom, so far as they had acquired it, in civil matters.

It was struggling to give birth to a larger liberty, to freedom of conscience.

The provinces were situated in the very heart of Europe.