Excerpt from German Classics: Schiller's Egmonts Leben und Tod die Belagerung von AntwerpenThe history of the vast provinces which formerly constituted the so - called Low Countries, ' and which, subsequently, diverged into the separate realms of Belgium and Holland, offers a striking example of the futility of the attempt to weld into a homo geneous body two different national elements, the antagonism between which has not been assuaged by the common ties of religion or freedom. The Southern Provinces were chie¿y inhabited by Gauls, whilst the inhabitants of the Northern Provinces were Teutons. Three times were those provinces united, and at each subsequent severance the rent became wider and more decisive, until the final irrevocable rupture took place to the great benefit of both parties.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.