History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

Brabant, a dignity which had been bestowed
hitherto only on the Viceroys of Spain. As the
prince passed along in his barge from Antwerp to
Brussels, thousands crowded to the banks of the
canal to gaze on the great patriot and hero, oil
whose single shoulder rested the weight of this
struggle with the mightiest empire then in
existence. The men of Antwerp stood on this sideof
the canal, the citizens of Brussels lined the
opposite bank, to offer their respectful homage to
one greater than kings. They knew the toils he had
borne, the dangers he had braved, the princely
fortune he had sacrificed, and the beloved brothers
and friends he had seen sink around him in the
contest; and when they saw the head on which all
these storms had burst still erect, and prepared to
brave tempests not less fierce in the future, rather
than permit the tyranny of Spain to add his native
country to the long roll of unhappy kingdoms
which it had already enslaved and crushed, their
admiration and enthusiasm knew no bounds, and
they saluted him with the glorious appellations of
the Father of his Country, and the guardian of its
liberties and laws?[5]
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