History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

uilt such great hopes. When the second squadron
learned that the ships of the first were at the bottom
of the sea, or in the hands of the Dutch, its
commander instantly put about and made haste to
return to Antwerp. The surrender of Middelburg,
which immediately followed, gave the Dutch the
command of the whole sea-board of Zealand and
Holland.
Success was lacking to the next expedition
undertaken by William. The time was come, he
thought, to rouse the Southern Netherlands, that
had somewhat tamely let go their liberties, to make
another attempt to recover them before the yoke of
Spain should be irretrievably riveted upon their
neck. Accordingly he instructed his brother, Count
Louis, to raise a body of troops in Germany, where
he was then residing, in order to make a third
invasion of the Central Provinces of the Low
Countries. There would have been no lack of
recruits had Louis possessed the means of paying
them; but his finances were at zero; his brother's
fortune, as well as his own, was already swallowed
up, and before enlisting a single soldier, Louis had
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