He answered me sharply, that their yea was equal to our oath, and that we should not press this matter, unless we were willing to confess that it was just for the Papists to compel us to a divine service which was against our conscience." It seems hardly credible that this sentence, containing so sublime a tribute to the character of the Prince, should have been indited as a bitter censure, and that, too, by an enlightened and accomplished Protestant.

"In short," continued Saint Aldegonde, with increasing vexation, "I don't see how we can accomplish our wish in this matter.

The Prince has uttered reproaches to me that our clergy are striving to obtain a mastery over consciences.

He praised lately the saying of a monk who was not long ago here, that our pot had not gone to the fire as often as that of our antagonists, but that when the time came it would be black enough.

In short, the Prince fears that after a few centuries the clerical tyranny on both sides will stand in this respect on the same footing." Early in the month of May, Doctor Leoninus and Caspar Schetz, Seigneur de Grobbendonck, had been sent on a mission from the states-general to the Prince of Orange.