Afterwards you will compel them without difficulty to any religion which may seem most conducive to the interests of your Highness." Odious and cynical as was the whole tone of the letter, it was extensively circulated.

There were always natures base and brutal enough to accept the calumny and to make it current among kindred souls.

It may be doubted whether Renneberg attached faith to the document; but it was natural that he should take a malicious satisfaction in spreading this libel against the man whose perpetual scorn he had so recently earned.
Nothing was more common than such forgeries, and at that very moment a letter, executed with equal grossness, was passing from hand to hand, which purported to be from the Count himself to Parma.

History has less interest in contradicting the calumnies against a man like Renneberg.

The fictitious epistle of Orange, however, was so often republished, and the copies so carefully distributed, that the Prince had thought it important to add an express repudiation of its authorship, by way of appendix to his famous Apology.