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The rest of the letter is perhaps worth quoting, because it gives a picture of public events and suggests such a spacious background for the present life of Bess Hardwick. It deals with the war now beginning between Spain and the Netherlands, owing to the barbarous treatment of the latter by the Duke of Alva, and the commotion occasioned by it in France.

“The report is that the Duke of Alva hath for the lack of money disarmed the most part of his army; and they are not paid for that is past; but rob and steal, and much molest the country. And being divers garrisons at Maestricht of the Walloons the Duke sent to discharge them and sent Spaniards in their place, who have shut the gates of the Spaniards and refuse to deliver the town before they are paid their due.... In France there is a great stir to let the Prince of Condé to join with the Prince of Orange, so that the King divides his force, the Duke of Anjou to stop the passage of the Prince of Condé, etc., etc.”

The letter ends with intimate details:—