E P I S T L E

...if you were not the living image of their Illustrious Defender original: "Illustre Defenseur"; referring to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (1584–1647), who led the Dutch Republic to significant victories., or, to put it more correctly, another "himself," in whom they Referring to the United Provinces of the Netherlands mentioned on the previous page. can recover everything they have lost. It is only right that we pay you a debt that we owed him, since you are his heir in all things. He leaves to Your Highness both much glory and very great estates; but there are none among them more precious, nor more useful, than his Reputation and his Example. Through the one,

MY LORD, you will make yourself capable of equaling the other; and thereby, you will rise to the highest degree where a great courage, governed by an exquisite prudence, could desire to reach. You have as a Model a Prince, who for twenty-two years Refers to the duration of Frederick Henry's leadership as Stadtholder from 1625 until his death in 1647. halted in a corner of Europe all the forces of a Monarch The King of Spain, Philip IV, whose global empire was often described as having no boundaries., whose ambition had no other boundaries than those of the World; who made him consume uselessly the treasures with which he exhausted the Indies The "Indies" refers to the Spanish Americas, the source of the silver and gold used to fund Spain's European wars.; who made him lose strong Fortresses, and even entire Provinces; and