his piety. He was more than anything else a religious man. From his trust in God he ever derived support and consolation in the darkest hours. While, however, his own religious convictions were deep and fervid, he was for his age singularly tolerant of the opinions of others. Sincerely and deliberately himself a convert to the reformed church, he was ready to extend freedom of worship to catholics on the one hand, and to anabaptists on the other. His integrity was unimpeachable. His patriotism was of the purest and most disinterested character. For the maintenance of his country's rights and liberties he cheerfully sacrificed station, wealth, dignity, ease, comfort, and ultimately life itself. For her, and not for himself, he lived and died. The name of his people was the last word upon his lips.
"In person the prince of Orange was above the middle height, perfectly well made and sinewy, but rather spare than stout. His eyes, hair, beard, and complexion were brown. His head was small, symmetrically shaped, combining the alertness and compactness characteristic of the soldier, with the capacious brow, furrowed prematurely with the horizontal lines of thought, denoting the statesman and the sage. His temperament was cheerful. At table, the pleasures of which, in moderation, were his only relaxation, he was always animated and merry." At the period of his murder, William had just completed his fifty-first year. He was four times married, and left twelve children. By his first wife, Anne of Egmont, he had one son, Philip, who was kidnapped and detained in Spain for twenty-seven years, and one daughter. By his second wife, Anna of Saxony, he had one son, the celebrated Maurice, his successor, and two daughters. By Charlotte of Bourbon, his third wife, he had six daughters; and by his fourth, Louise de Coligny, one son, Frederick Henry, afterwards stadtholder of the republic in her most prosperous days. The prince of Orange was buried at Delft, amid the tears of a whole nation. "Never was a more extensive, unaffected, and legitimate sorrow felt at the death of any human being."
William was succeeded by his second son (see Maurice, Prince of Orange); and on the death of Maurice without issue in 1625, his younger brother, Frederick Henry of Nassau, became stadtholder of Holland. This prince was born at Delft on the 28th of February, 1584. He was educated under the direction of his mother, Louise de Coligny, by an Arminian clergyman named Uitenbogaard. On his accession to the office of stadtholder, he set himself to allay the religious disturbances caused by the quarrel between the Gomarists and the Arminians. When the Emperor Ferdinand II. entered into a league with Spain against the United Provinces, Frederick formed an intimate alliance with France, and even sent a fleet to assist in the siege of Rochelle; but the odium which he incurred by this step, and the remonstrances made to him on account of it, compelled him to withdraw his vessels. He captured Grol in 1627, and reduced Bois-le-Duc in 1629 after a long siege, which he conducted with great ability. After the negotiations for peace between Spain and Holland were broken off in 1631, he made an unsuccessful attempt to surprise Bruges, and gained a brilliant victory over the Spanish fleet. In the following year, encouraged by the successes of his ally Gustavus Adolphus, Prince Frederick attacked and carried Venlo, Stralen, and Ruremonde, and laid siege to Maestricht. While carrying on the siege he was assaulted by three divisions of the Spanish army under Pappenheim and the Marquis de Santa-Croce, but he repulsed their attacks, and ultimately took this important town. The new Infanta Isabella, governor of the Netherlands, now expressed her willingness to conclude a treaty with the Dutch; but the stadtholder, having been gained over by Richelieu to assist his schemes against the house of Austria, entered into an alliance with France, captured Rheinberg in 1633, and two years later, with the assistance of a body of French auxiliaries, besieged and took Tirlemont and threatened Brussels. In 1637 the stadtholder was gratified by receiving the title of Highness from Louis XIII., and was at the same time elected to the dignity of first member of the Dutch order of nobility. In the same year he laid siege to Breda, and in three months took that town which it had cost the Spanish general Spinola a year to reduce. The states-general had now, however, become jealous of his schemes, and refused to furnish him with the means of carrying on the war with Spain in Belgium. In 1640 he married his son William to the eldest daughter of Charles I. of England, but he sought in vain to induce the states in 1642 to assist that monarch in his contest with the English parliament. In 1645 he succeeded in collecting a sufficient body of troops to capture the town of Hulst, the possession of which rounded off the frontier of the Seven Provinces. This was his last exploit. He died on the 14th March, 1647, while negotiations were being carried on for concluding the peace of Westphalia between Holland and Spain, which was signed at Munster in 1648. Frederick was possessed of considerable abilities, both political and military, and by his sagacity and his conciliatory disposition secured most important benefits to the Dutch republic. His memoirs, dictated to one of his officers, were published in 1723. By his wife Emilia de Solms he left two daughters and one son—
William II., Prince of Orange, and Stadtholder of Holland, who was born in 1626. Immediately on his accession he quarreled with the states-general on their refusal to give assistance to his father-in-law, Charles I. of England; and this misunderstanding led the states to disband the greater part of their troops, which William insisted on maintaining for the purpose of garrisoning the fortresses and protecting the country. In 1650, however, he obtained a decree authorizing him to undertake the measures he considered necessary for the defence of the Provinces. He showed an evident disposition to act in opposition to the constitution of the republic; cast into prison six members of the states who had opposed his measures; and even ventured, without consulting the states, to conclude a treaty with France for the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands. But in the midst of his ambitious schemes he was attacked by small-pox, and died on 6th November, 1656.
He was succeeded by William III., Prince of Orange and King of Great Britain, and on his death without issue, in 1702—
John William Frison, son of Henry Casimir of Nassau-Dietz, stadtholder of the provinces of Friesland and Groningen, inherited the title of Prince of Orange, together with the estates attached to that dignity. But he failed in his efforts to induce the states-general to confer on him the office of stadtholder of the United Provinces, which they abolished in 1702, and did not establish until 1747. Prince John William commenced his military career at an early age, took an active part in the war against France, and displayed the most brilliant courage, especially at the battles of Oudendarde and Malplaquet. He was drowned at Moerdyk in 1711—the vessel in which he sailed having been upset by a sudden gust of wind.
William Charles Henry Frison, Stadtholder of the Low Countries, posthumous son of the preceding, was born on the 1st September, 1711. From his birth he was recognized as stadtholder of Friesland. Some years later he was appointed to the same office over the provinces of Groningen and Dronthe, and afterwards over that of Guelders, but with very limited powers. In 1732, on attaining his majority, he concluded an agreement with the house of Brandenburg, by which he obtained possession of nearly all the estates of the house of Orange situated in the Low Countries, and, among others, of the margraviate of Vaer and of Flessingen in Zeeland. The states of this province immediately abolished all the prerogatives attached to the seigniory in question; and the states of Holland interdicted the young prince from entering the council of state. A numerous party, however, led by the brothers William and Osmo Zwier van Haren, gathered round William, and made a strenuous effort to revive in his favour the office of stadtholder-general. Through their influence war was declared against France in 1744; but the Dutch being badly supported by their allies, experienced a succession of reverses, and the French even succeeded in making a lodgment in Zeeland. The people became discontented and turbulent, and compelled the states-general (3rd May, 1747) to nominate William stadtholder of the republic—an office which was now made hereditary in his family. The prince was at the same time placed at the head both of the naval and military force of the country. He might easily at this juncture have obtained the entire sovereignty of the state, but he was unambitious and moderate in his wishes, and cherished a strong regard for the rights and liberties of the people. Though he generously defended the privileges of the nobility, who had been so keenly opposed to him, he swept away many of the abuses which had sprung up under their sway, and substituted men of unimpeachable integrity for a portion of the magistrates in the cities of Holland. He laboured zealously to bring about the peace which was concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. After restoring tranquillity to the country, he had projected various important measures for the revival of trade and commerce, when his constitution, which had long been feeble, sank under the fatigues
