I congratulate your Majesty very many times on this occasion, and I desire to render infinite thanks to Divine Providence." He afterwards proceeded, in a rapid and hurried manner, to give his Majesty the outlines of the battle, mentioning, with great encomium, Capizucca and Aquila, Mondragon and Vasto, with many other officers, and recommending them for reward and promotion; praising, in short, heartily and earnestly, all who had contributed to the victory, except himself, to whose personal exertions it was chiefly due.

"As for good odd Mansfeld," said he, "he bore himself like the man he is, and he deserves that your Majesty should send him a particular mark of your royal approbation, writing to him yourself pleasantly in Spanish, which is that which will be most highly esteemed by him." Alexander hinted also that Philip would do well to bestow upon Mansfeld the countship of Biart, as a reward for his long years of faithful service! This action on the Kowenstyn terminated the effective resistance of Antwerp.

A few days before, the monster-vessel, in the construction of which so much time and money had been consumed, had at last been set afloat.

She had been called the War's End, and, so far as Antwerp was concerned, the fates that presided over her birth seemed to have been paltering in a double sense when the ominous name was conferred.

She was larger than anything previously known in naval architecture; she had four masts and three helms.