The Press.
London, England, 1858-05-01 00:00:00

THE PRESS, MAY 1, 1858.

In drawing characters, Mr. Motley works on
the principle of literary mosaic, putting toge-
ther several details so as to realize an effect,
similar to that attained by Lord Stanhope in
his essay on Frederick the Great. Thus Alva
is described :

On the whole, the Duke of Alva was inferior to no general
of his age. As a disciplinarian he was foremost in Spain,
perhaps in Europe. A spendthrift of time, he was an
economist of blood, and this was, perhaps, in the eye of
humanity, his principal virtue. Time and myself are two,
was a frequent observation of Philip, and his favourite
general considered the maxim as applicable to war as to
politics. Such were his qualities as a military commander.
As a statesman, he had neither experience nor talent. As
a man, his character was simple. He did not combine a
great variety of vices, but those which he had were colossal,
and he possessed no virtues. He was neither lustful nor
intemperate, but his protested eulogists admitted his enor-
mous avarice, while the world has agreed that such an
amount of stealth and ferocity, of patient vindictiveness
and universal bloodthirstiness, were never found in a savage
beast of the forest, and butrarely in a human bosom. His
history was now to show that his previous thrift of human
life was not derived from any love of his kind. Personally
he was stern and overbearing. As difficult of access as
Philip himself, he was even more haughty to those who
were admitted to his presence. He addressed every oue
with the depreciating second person plural. Possessing
the right of being covered in the presence of the Spanish
monarch, he had been with difficulty brought to renounce
it before the German Emperor. He was of an illustrious
family, but his territorial possessions were not extensive.
His duchy was a small one, furnishing him with not more
than fourteen thousand crowns of annual income, and with
four hundred soldiers. He had, however, been a thrifty
financier all his life, never having been without a handsome
sum of ready money at interest.. Ten years before his
arrival in the Netherlands, be was supposed to have
already increased his income to forty thousand a year by
the proceeds of his investments at Antwerp. As already
intimated, his military character was sometimes profoundly
misunderstood. He was oftenoonsidered rather a pedantic
than a practical commander, more capable to discourse of
battles than to gain them. Notwithstanding that his long
life had been an almost unbroken campaign, the ridiculous
accusation of timidity was frequently made against him.*
A gentleman at the court of the Emperor Charles ono* ad.
dressed a letter to the Duke with the title of " General of
his Majesty's armies in the Duchy of Milan in time of
peace, and major-domo of the household in the time of
war." + It was said that the lesson did the Duke good, bat
that he rewarded very badly the nobleman who gave it,
having subsequently caused his head to be taken off.: In
general, however, Alva manifested a philosophical contempt
for the opinions expressed concerning his military fame,
and was especially disdainful of criticism expressed by his
own soldiers. " Recollect," said he, at a little later period,
to I)on John of Austria, " that the first for* with whom
one has to contend are one's own troops, with their
clamours for an engagement at this moment, and their
murmurs about results at another; with their ' I thougnt
that the battle should be fought or, it was my opinion
that the occasion ought not to be lost.' Your highness will
have opportunity enough to display valour, and will never he
weak enough to be conquered by the babble of soldiers:ll
And our readers can see a fair specimen of the
wide reading and research of the author in his
I appeal to authoritieti for his statements. Thus
the passage just cited has the following anno-
tation : •

• " Ha visto et tnaneggiato molte guerre et per la pret-
ties che be discorre meglio che io habhia mai conoecinto
in quells corte—ma le due oppositioni l'una che facci le
provisioni sne con tropoo reservato et canto et quasi
timido nell' imptese."—Suriano MS.
Badovaro is much more severe : " Sella guerra mostra
timidity et poco intelligenza et poco atimato nella corte
come per persona avers, enperba et ambitioea ; adalatore
et invido molto et di puochissinso cnore."
t This anecdote is attributed by Dom l'Evetique and by
M. Geebard to Badovaro. It is, however, not to he found
in the copy of his Manuscript in the Bibliotheque de
Bourgogne.
Dom l'Evesque, Mem. de Granvelle, i. 26, sqq.—The
Benedictine does not further indicate the author of the
pleasantry. One is disposed to imagine it to have been
Egmont. Nevertheless, the Duke caused the heads of so
many gentlemen to be taken off, that the description is
sufficiently vague.
S Documental Ineditos pare la Historia de Espana, iii.
273-283.

Mr. Motley cites several original MSS., and he
always indicates the page and edition of his
authorities. He has full command of the
learning necessary for his subject, and he
shows exemplary care in sifting his authori-
ties We have searched through the three
volumes, containing matter equal to what is
put in six ordinary octavos, for a pas-
sage in which the whole attributes of Mr.
Motley's manner may be seen, and we have
found one which we shall cite at length, and
ask the attention of our readers to it. The
execution of Count Egmont and Admiral Horn
at Brussels is thus described ;

During the night, the necessary preparatious for the
morning tragedy NW been made in the great square of
Brussels. It was the ioteatioa of Government to strike
terror to th► been of the people ►y the Imbibition of an
lipprefilre owl appalling spectopole, The ebsolato In3d