Note 910 — Chapter XIV

Viglius was not too enlightened to enter his protest against the right to freedom of conscience, which, in a letter to his friend Hopper, he says may lead every one to set up his own gods—"lares aut lemures"—according to his fancy. Yet the president was wise enough to see that sufficient had been done at present in breaking up the preachings. "Time and Philip's presence must do the rest." (Epistolæ ad Hopperum, p. 433.) "Those," he says in another letter, "who have set the king against the edict have greatly deceived him. They are having their ovation before they have gained the victory. They think they can dispose of Flemish affairs as they like at Toledo, when hardly a Spaniard dares to show his head in Brussels." Ibid., p. 428.