History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

een done, and their achievements accomplished,
at the head of victorious armies, and in the
presence of admiring senates, and of applauding
and grateful nations. These are great; but there is
an order of men who are greater still. There have
been a select few who have rendered the very
highest services to mankind, not with the applause
and succor of those they sought to benefit, but in
spite of their opposition, amid the contempt and
scorn of the world, and amid ever-blackening and
ever-bursting disasters, and who lifting their eyes
from armies and thrones have fixed them upon a
great unseen Power, in whose righteousness and
justice they confided, and so have been able to
struggle on till they attained their, sublime object.
These are the peers of the race, they are the first
magnates of the world. In this order of great men
stands William, Prince of Orange. On receiving the
melancholy intelligence of the death of his brother
on the fatal field of Mook, William retreated
northward into Holland. He expected that the
Spaniards would follow him, and improve their
victory while the terror it inspired was still recent;
but Avila was prevented pursuing him by a mutiny
389