[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D. W. ] MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 22. THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC By John Lothrop Motley 1855 ADMINISTRATION OF THE GRAND COMMANDER PART IV. 1573-74 [CHAPTER I. ] Previous career of Requesens--Philip's passion for detail--Apparent and real purposes of government--Universal desire for peace-- Correspondence of leading royalists with Orange--Bankruptcy of the exchequer at Alva's departures--Expensive nature of the war-- Pretence of mildness on the part of the Commander--His private views--Distress of Mondragon at Middelburg--Crippled condition of Holland--Orange's secret negotiations with France--St. Aldegonde's views in captivity--Expedition to relieve Middelburg--Counter preparations of Orange--Defeat of the expedition--Capitulation of Mondragon--Plans of Orange and his brothers--An army under Count Louis crosses the Rhine--Measures taken by Requesens--Manoeuvres of Avila and of Louis--The two armies in face at Mook--Battle of Mook- heath--Overthrow and death of Count Louis--The phantom battle-- Character of Louis of Nassau--Painful uncertainty as to his fate-- Periodical mutinies of the Spanish troops characterized--Mutiny after the battle of Mook--Antwerp attacked and occupied, --Insolent and oppressive conduct of the mutineers--Offers of Requesens refused--Mutiny in the citadel--Exploits of Salvatierra--Terms of composition--Soldiers' feast on the mere--Successful expedition of Admiral Boisot The horrors of Alva's administration had caused men to look back withfondness upon the milder and more vacillating tyranny of the DuchessMargaret. From the same cause the advent of the Grand Commander washailed with pleasure and with a momentary gleam of hope. At any rate, it was a relief that the man in whom an almost impossible perfection ofcruelty seemed embodied was at last to be withdrawn. It was certain thathis successor, however ambitious of following in Alva's footsteps, wouldnever be able to rival the intensity and the unswerving directness ofpurpose which it had been permitted to the Duke's nature to attain. Thenew Governor-General was, doubtless, human, and it had been long sincethe Netherlanders imagined anything in common between themselves and thelate Viceroy. Apart from this hope, however, there was little encouragement to bederived from anything positively known of the new functionary, or thepolicy which he was to represent. Don Luis de Requesens and Cuniga, Grand Commander of Castile and late Governor of Milan, was a man ofmediocre abilities, who possessed a reputation for moderation andsagacity which he hardly deserved. His military prowess had been chieflydisplayed in the bloody and barren battle of Lepanto, where his conductand counsel were supposed to have contributed, in some measure, to thevictorious result. His administration at Milan had been characterizedas firm and moderate. Nevertheless, his character was regarded withanything but favorable eyes in the Netherlands. Men told each other ofhis broken faith to the Moors in Granada, and of his unpopularity inMilan, where, notwithstanding his boasted moderation, he had, in reality, so oppressed the people as to gain their deadly hatred. They complained, too, that it was an insult to send, as Governor-General of the provinces, not a prince of the blood, as used to be the case, but a simple"gentleman of cloak and sword. " Any person, however, who represented the royal authority in the provinceswas under historical disadvantage. He was literally no more than anactor, hardly even that. It was Philip's policy and pride to direct allthe machinery of his extensive empire, and to pull every string himself. His puppets, however magnificently attired, moved only in obedience tohis impulse, and spoke no syllable but with his voice. Upon the table inhis cabinet was arranged all the business of his various realms, even tothe most minute particulars. Plans, petty or vast, affecting the interests of empires and ages, or bounded within the narrow limits of trivial and evanescent detail, encumbered his memory and consumed his time. His ambition to do all thework of his kingdoms was aided by an inconceivable greediness for labor. He loved the routine of business, as some monarchs have loved war, as others have loved pleasure. The object, alike paltry and impossible, of this ambition, bespoke the narrow mind. His estates were regarded byhim as private property; measures affecting the temporal and eternalinterests of millions were regarded as domestic affairs, and the eye ofthe master was considered the only one which could duly superintend theseestates and those interests. Much incapacity to govern was revealed inthis inordinate passion to administer. His mind, constantly fatigued bypetty labors, was never enabled to survey his wide domains from theheight of majesty. In Alva, certainly, he had employed an unquestionable reality; but Alva, by a fortunate coincidence of character, had seemed his second self. Hewas now gone, however, and although the royal purpose had not altered, the royal circumstances were changed. The moment had arrived when it wasthought that the mask and cothurn might again be assumed with effect;when a grave and conventional personage might decorously make hisappearance to perform an interlude of clemency and moderation withsatisfactory results. Accordingly, the Great Commander, heralded byrumors of amnesty, was commissioned to assume the government which Alvahad been permitted to resign. It had been industriously circulated that a change of policy wasintended. It was even supposed by the more sanguine that the Duke hadretired in disgrace. A show of coldness was manifested towards him onhis return by the King, while Vargas, who had accompanied the Governor, was peremptorily forbidden to appear within five leagues of the court. The more discerning, however, perceived much affectation in this apparentdispleasure. Saint Goard, the keen observer of Philip's moods andmeasures, wrote to his sovereign that he had narrowly observed thecountenances of both Philip and Alva; that he had informed himself asthoroughly as possible with regard to the course of policy intended;that he had arrived at the conclusion that the royal chagrin was butdissimulation, intended to dispose the Netherlanders to thoughts of animpossible peace, and that he considered the present merely a breathingtime, in which still more active preparations might be made for crushingthe rebellion. It was now evident to the world that the revolt hadreached a stage in which it could be terminated only by absoluteconquest or concession. To conquer the people of the provinces, except by extermination, seemed difficult--to judge by the seven years of execution, siegesand campaigns, which had now passed without a definite result. It was, therefore, thought expedient to employ concession. The new Governoraccordingly, in case the Netherlanders would abandon every object forwhich they had been so heroically contending, was empowered to concedea pardon. It was expressly enjoined upon him, however, that noconciliatory measures should be adopted in which the King's absolutesupremacy, and the total prohibition of every form of worship but theRoman Catholic, were not assumed as a basis. Now, as the people had beencontending at least ten years long for constitutional rights againstprerogative, and at least seven for liberty of conscience againstpapistry, it was easy to foretell how much effect any negotiationsthus commenced were likely to produce. Yet, no doubt, in the Netherlands there was a most earnest longing forpeace. The Catholic portion of the population were desirous of areconciliation with their brethren of the new religion. The universalvengeance which had descended upon heresy had not struck the hereticsonly. It was difficult to find a fireside, Protestant or Catholic, whichhad not been made desolate by execution, banishment, or confiscation. The common people and the grand seigniors were alike weary of the war. Not only Aerschot and Viglius, but Noircarmes and Berlaymont, weredesirous that peace should be at last compassed upon liberal terms, and the Prince of Orange fully and unconditionally pardoned. Even theSpanish commanders had become disgusted with the monotonous butcherywhich had stained their swords. Julian Romero; the fierce andunscrupulous soldier upon whose head rested the guilt of the Naardenmassacre, addressed several letters to William of Orange, full ofcourtesy, and good wishes for a speedy termination of the war, and for anentire reconciliation of the Prince with his sovereign. Noircarmes alsoopened a correspondence with the great leader of the revolt; and offeredto do all in his power to restore peace and prosperity to the country. The Prince answered the courtesy of the Spaniard with equal, but barren, courtesy; for it was obvious that no definite result could be derivedfrom such informal negotiations. To Noircarmes he responded in terms ofgentle but grave rebuke, expressing deep regret that a Netherland nobleof such eminence, with so many others of rank and authority, should solong have supported the King in his tyranny. He, however, expressed hissatisfaction that their eyes, however late, had opened to the enormousiniquity which had been practised in the country, and he accepted theoffers of friendship as frankly as they had been made. Not longafterwards, the Prince furnished his correspondent with a proof of hissincerity, by forwarding to him two letters which had been intercepted;from certain agents of government to Alva, in which Noircarmes and otherswho had so long supported the King against their own country, were spokenof in terms of menace and distrust. The Prince accordingly warned hisnew correspondent that, in spite of all the proofs of uncompromisingloyalty which he had exhibited, he was yet moving upon a dark andslippery-pathway, and might, even like Egmont and Horn, find a scaffold-as the end and the reward of his career. So profound was that abyss ofdissimulation which constituted the royal policy, towards theNetherlands, that the most unscrupulous partisans of government couldonly see doubt and danger with regard to their future destiny, andwere sometimes only saved by an opportune death from disgrace andthe hangman's hands. Such, then, were the sentiments of many eminent personages, even amongthe most devoted loyalists. All longed for peace; many even definitelyexpected it, upon the arrival of the Great Commander. Moreover, thatfunctionary discovered, at his first glance into the disorderly state ofthe exchequer, that at least a short respite was desirable beforeproceeding with the interminable measures of hostility against therebellion. If any man had been ever disposed to give Alva credit foradministrative ability, such delusion must have vanished at the spectacleof confusion and bankruptcy which presented, itself at the termination ofhis government. He resolutely declined to give his successor anyinformation whatever as to his financial position. So far fromfurnishing a detailed statement, such as might naturally be expectedupon so momentous an occasion, he informed the Grand Commander that evena sketch was entirely out of the question, and would require more timeand labor than he could then afford. He took his departure, accordingly, leaving Requesens in profound ignorance as to his past accounts; anignorance in which it is probable that the Duke himself shared to thefullest extent. His enemies stoutly maintained that, however loosely hisaccounts had been kept, he had been very careful to make no mistakesagainst himself, and that he had retired full of wealth, if not of honor, from his long and terrible administration. His own letters, on thecontrary, accused the King of ingratitude, in permitting an old soldierto ruin himself, not only in health but in fortune, for want of properrecompense during an arduous administration. At any rate it is verycertain that the rebellion had already been an expensive matter to theCrown. The army in the Netherlands numbered more than sixty-two thousandmen, eight thousand being Spaniards, the rest Walloons and Germans. Forty millions of dollars had already been sunk, and it seemed probablethat it would require nearly the whole annual produce of the Americanmines to sustain the war. The transatlantic gold and silver, disinterredfrom the depths where they had been buried for ages, were employed, notto expand the current of a healthy, life-giving commerce, but to bemelted into blood. The sweat and the tortures of the King's pagansubjects in the primeval forests of the New World, were made subsidiaryto the extermination of his Netherland people, and the destruction of anancient civilization. To this end had Columbus discovered a hemispherefor Castile and Aragon, and the new Indies revealed their hiddentreasures? Forty millions of ducats had been spent. Six and a half millions ofarrearages were due to the army, while its current expenses were sixhundred thousand a month. The military expenses alone of the Netherlandswere accordingly more than seven millions of dollars yearly, and themines of the New World produced, during the half century of Philip'sreign, an average of only eleven. Against this constantly increasingdeficit, there was not a stiver in the exchequer, nor the means ofraising one. The tenth penny had been long virtually extinct, and wassoon to be formally abolished. Confiscation had ceased to afford apermanent revenue, and the estates obstinately refused to grant a dollar. Such was the condition to which the unrelenting tyranny and the financialexperiments of Alva had reduced the country. It was, therefore, obvious to Requesens that it would be useful at themoment to hold out hopes of pardon and reconciliation. He saw, what hehad not at first comprehended, and what few bigoted supporters ofabsolutism in any age have ever comprehended, that national enthusiasm, when profound and general, makes a rebellion more expensive to the despotthan to the insurgents. "Before my arrival, " wrote the Grand Commanderto his sovereign, "I did not understand how the rebels could maintainsuch considerable fleets, while your Majesty could not support a singleone. It appears, however, that men who are fighting for their lives, their firesides, their property, and their false religion, for their owncause, in short, are contented to receive rations only, without receivingpay. " The moral which the new Governor drew from his correct diagnosisof the prevailing disorder was, not that this national enthusiasm shouldbe respected, but that it should be deceived. He deceived no one buthimself, however. He censured Noircarmes and Romero for theirintermeddling, but held out hopes of a general pacification. Herepudiated the idea of any reconciliation between the King and the Princeof Orange, but proposed at the same time a settlement of the revolt. He had not yet learned that the revolt and William of Orange were one. Although the Prince himself had repeatedly offered to withdraw for everfrom the country, if his absence would expedite a settlement satisfactoryto the provinces, there was not a patriot in the Netherlands who couldcontemplate his departure without despair. Moreover, they all knewbetter than did Requesens, the inevitable result of the pacific measureswhich had been daily foreshadowed. The appointment of the Grand Commander was in truth a desperate attemptto deceive the Netherlanders. He approved distinctly and heartily ofAlva's policy, but wrote to the King that it was desirable to amuse thepeople with the idea of another and a milder scheme. He affected tobelieve, and perhaps really did believe, that the nation would accept thedestruction of all their institutions, provided that penitent hereticswere allowed to be reconciled to the Mother Church, and obstinate onespermitted to go into perpetual exile, taking with them a small portion oftheir worldly goods. For being willing to make this last and almostincredible concession, he begged pardon sincerely of the King. Ifcensurable, he ought not, he thought, to be too severely blamed, for hisloyalty was known. The world was aware how often he had risked his lifefor his Majesty, and how gladly and how many more times he was ready torisk it in future. In his opinion, religion had, after all, but verylittle to do with the troubles, and so he confidentially informed hissovereign. Egmont and Horn had died Catholics, the people did not riseto assist the Prince's invasion in 1568, and the new religion was only alever by which a few artful demagogues had attempted to overthrow theKing's authority. Such views as these revealed the measures of the new Governor's capacity. The people had really refused to rise in 1568, not because they werewithout sympathy for Orange, but because they were paralyzed by theirfear of Alva. Since those days, however, the new religion had increasedand multiplied everywhere, in the blood which had rained upon it. It wasnow difficult to find a Catholic in Holland and Zealand, who was not agovernment agent. The Prince had been a moderate Catholic, in theopening scenes of the rebellion, while he came forward as the championof liberty for all forms of Christianity. He had now become a convert tothe new religion without receding an inch from his position in favor ofuniversal toleration. The new religion was, therefore, not an instrumentdevised by a faction, but had expanded into the atmosphere of thepeople's daily life. Individuals might be executed for claiming tobreathe it, but it was itself impalpable to the attacks of despotism. Yet the Grand Commander persuaded himself that religion had little ornothing to do with the state of the Netherlands. Nothing more wasnecessary, he thought; or affected to think, in order to restoretranquillity, than once more to spread the net of a general amnesty. The Duke of Alva knew better. That functionary, with whom, before hisdeparture from the provinces, Requesens had been commanded to confer, distinctly stated his opinion that there was no use of talking aboutpardon. Brutally, but candidly, he maintained that there was nothing tobe done but to continue the process of extermination. It was necessary, he said, to reduce the country to a dead level of unresisting misery;before an act of oblivion could be securely laid down as the foundationof a new and permanent order of society. He had already given his adviceto his Majesty, that every town in the country should be burned to theground, except those which could be permanently occupied by the royaltroops. The King, however, in his access of clemency at the appointmentof a new administration, instructed the Grand Commander not to resort tothis measure unless it should become strictly necessary. --Such were theopposite opinions of the old and new governors with regard to the pardon. The learned Viglius sided with Alva, although manifestly against hiswill. "It is both the Duke's opinion and my own, " wrote the Commander, "that Viglius does not dare to express his real opinion, and that he issecretly desirous of an arrangement with the rebels. " With a good dealof inconsistency, the Governor was offended, not only with those whoopposed his plans, but with those who favored them. He was angrywith Viglius, who, at least nominally, disapproved of the pardon, and with Noircarmes, Aerschot, and others, who manifested a wish fora pacification. Of the chief characteristic ascribed to the people byJulius Caesar, namely, that they forgot neither favors nor injuries, thesecond half only, in the Grand Commander's opinion, had been retained. Not only did they never forget injuries, but their memory, said he, was so good, that they recollected many which they had never received. On the whole, however, in the embarrassed condition of affairs, and whilewaiting for further supplies, the Commander was secretly disposed to trythe effect of a pardon. The object was to deceive the people and to gaintime; for there was no intention of conceding liberty of conscience, of withdrawing foreign troops, or of assembling the states-general. It was, however, not possible to apply these hypocritical measures ofconciliation immediately. The war was in full career and could not bearrested even in that wintry season. The patriots held Mondragon closelybesieged in Middelburg, the last point in the Isle of Walcheren whichheld for the King. There was a considerable treasure in money andmerchandise shut up in that city; and, moreover, so deserving anddistinguished an officer as Mondragon could not be abandoned to his fate. At the same time, famine was pressing him sorely, and, by the end of theyear, garrison and townspeople had nothing but rats, mice, dogs, cats, and such repulsive substitutes for food, to support life withal. It was necessary to take immediate measures to relieve the place. On the other hand, the situation of the patriots was not veryencouraging. Their superiority on the sea was unquestionable, for theHollanders and Zealanders were the best sailors in the world, and theyasked of their country no payment for their blood, but thanks. The landforces, however, were usually mercenaries, who were apt to mutiny at thecommencement of an action if, as was too often the case, their wagescould not be paid. Holland was entirely cut in twain by the loss ofHarlem and the leaguer of Leyden, no communication between the disseveredportions being possible, except with difficulty and danger. The estates, although they had done much for the cause, and were prepared to do muchmore, were too apt to wrangle about economical details. They irritatedthe Prince of Orange by huckstering about subsidies to a degree which hisproud and generous nature could hardly brook. He had strong hopes fromFrance. Louis of Nassau had held secret interviews with the Duke ofAlencon and the Duke of Anjou, now King of Poland, at Blamont. Alenconhad assured him secretly, affectionately, and warmly, that he would be assincere a friend to the cause as were his two royal brothers. The Counthad even received one hundred thousand livres in hand, as an earnest ofthe favorable intentions of France, and was now busily engaged, at theinstance of the Prince, in levying an army in Germany for the relief ofLeyden and the rest of Holland, while William, on his part, was omittingnothing, whether by representations to the estates or by secret foreignmissions and correspondence, to further the cause of the sufferingcountry. At the same time, the Prince dreaded the effect--of the promised pardon. He had reason to be distrustful of the general temper of the nation whena man like Saint Aldegonde, the enlightened patriot and his own triedfriend, was influenced, by the discouraging and dangerous position inwhich he found himself, to abandon the high ground upon which they hadboth so long and so firmly stood: Saint Aldegonde had been held a strictprisoner since his capture at Maeslandsluis, at the close of Alva'sadministration. --It was, no doubt, a predicament attended with much keensuffering and positive danger. It had hitherto been the uniform policyof the government to kill all prisoners, of whatever rank. Accordingly, some had been drowned, some had been hanged--some beheaded some poisonedin their dungeons--all had been murdered. This had been Alva's course. The Grand Commander also highly approved of the system, but the captureof Count Bossu by the patriots had necessitated a suspension of suchrigor. It was certain that Bossu's head would fall as soon as SaintAldegonde's, the Prince having expressly warned the government of thisinevitable result. Notwithstanding that security, however, for hiseventual restoration to liberty, a Netherland rebel in a Spanish prisoncould hardly feel himself at ease. There were so many foot-marks intothe cave and not a single one coming forth. Yet it was not singular, however, that the Prince should read with regret the somewhat insincerecasuistry with which Saint Aldegonde sought to persuade himself and hisfellow-countrymen that a reconciliation with the monarch was desirable, even upon unworthy terms. He was somewhat shocked that so valiant andeloquent a supporter of the Reformation should coolly express his opinionthat the King would probably refuse liberty of conscience to theNetherlanders, but would, no doubt, permit heretics to go intobanishment. "Perhaps, after we have gone into exile, " added SaintAldegonde, almost with baseness, "God may give us an opportunity of doingsuch good service to the King, that he will lend us a more favorable ear, and, peradventure, permit our return to the country. " Certainly, such language was not becoming the pen which wrote the famousCompromise. The Prince himself was, however, not to be induced, even bythe captivity and the remonstrances of so valued a friend, to swerve fromthe path of duty. He still maintained, in public and private, that thewithdrawal of foreign troops from the provinces, the restoration of theold constitutional privileges, and the entire freedom of conscience inreligious matters, were the indispensable conditions of any pacification. It was plain to him that the Spaniards were not ready to grant theseconditions; but he felt confident that he should accomplish the releaseof Saint Aldegonde without condescending to an ignominious peace. The most pressing matter, upon the Great Commander's arrival, wasobviously to relieve the city of Middelburg. Mondragon, after so stancha defence, would soon be obliged to capitulate, unless he should promptlyreceive supplies. Requesens, accordingly, collected seventy-five shipsat Bergen op Zoom; which were placed nominally under the command ofAdmiral de Glimes, but in reality under that of Julian Romero. Anotherfleet of thirty vessels had been assembled at Antwerp under Sanchod'Avila. Both, amply freighted with provisions, were destined to maketheir way to Middelburg by the two different passages of the Hondo andthe Eastern Scheld. On the other hand, the Prince of Orange had repairedto Flushing to superintend the operations of Admiral Boisot, who already;in obedience to his orders, had got a powerful squadron in readiness atthat place. Late in January, 1574, d'Avila arrived in the neighbourhoodof Flushing, where he awaited the arrival of Romero's fleet. United, the two Commanders were to make a determined attempt to reinforce thestarving city of Middelburg. At the same time, Governor Requesens madehis appearance in person at Bergen op Zoom to expedite the departure ofthe stronger fleet, but it was not the intention of the Prince of Orangeto allow this expedition to save the city. The Spanish generals, howevervaliant, were to learn that their genius was not amphibious, and that theBeggars of the Sea were still invincible on their own element, even iftheir brethren of the land had occasionally quailed. Admiral Boisot's fleet had already moved up the Scheld and taken aposition nearly opposite to Bergen op Zoom. On the 20th of January thePrince of Orange, embarking from Zierick Zee, came to make them a visitbefore the impending action. His galley, conspicuous for its elegantdecorations, was exposed for some time to the artillery of the fort, butprovidentially escaped unharmed. He assembled all the officers of hisarmada, and, in brief but eloquent language, reminded them how necessaryit was to the salvation of the whole country that they should prevent thecity of Middelburg--the key to the whole of Zealand, already upon thepoint of falling into the hands of the patriots--from being now wrestedfrom their grasp. On the sea, at least, the Hollanders and Zealanderswere at home. The officers and men, with one accord, rent the air withtheir cheers. They swore that they would shed every drop of blood intheir veins but they would sustain the Prince and the country; and theysolemnly vowed not only to serve, if necessary, without wages, but tosacrifice all that they possessed in the world rather than abandon thecause of their fatherland. Having by his presence and his languagearoused their valor to so high a pitch of enthusiasm, the Prince departedfor Delft, to make arrangements to drive the Spaniards from the siege ofLeyden. On the 29th of January, the fleet of Romero sailed from Bergen, disposedin three divisions, each numbering twenty-five vessels of differentsizes. As the Grand Commander stood on the dyke of Schakerloo to witnessthe departure, a general salute was fired by the fleet in his honor, butwith most unfortunate augury. The discharge, by some accident, set fireto the magazines of one of the ships, which blew up with a terribleexplosion, every soul on board perishing. The expedition, nevertheless, continued its way. Opposite Romerswael, the fleet of Boisot awaitedthem, drawn up in battle array. As an indication of the spirit whichanimated this hardy race, it may be mentioned that Schot, captain ofthe flag-ship, had been left on shore, dying of a pestilential fever. Admiral Boisot had appointed a Flushinger, Klaaf Klaafzoon, in his place. Just before the action, however, Schot, "scarcely able to blow a featherfrom his mouth, " staggered on board his ship, and claimed the command. There was no disputing a precedency which he had risen from his death-bedto vindicate. There was, however, a short discussion, as the enemy'sfleet approached, between these rival captains regarding the manner inwhich the Spaniards should be received. Klaafzoon was of opinion thatmost of the men should go below till after the enemy's first discharge. Schot insisted that all should remain on deck, ready to grapple with theSpanish fleet, and to board them without the least delay. The sentiment of Schot prevailed, and all hands stood on deck, ready withboarding-pikes and grappling-irons. The first division of Romero came nearer, and delivered its firstbroadside, when Schot and Klaafzoon both fell mortally wounded. AdmiralBoisot lost an eye, and many officers and sailors in the other vesselswere killed or wounded. This was, however, the first and last of thecannonading. As many of Romero's vessels as could be grappled withinthe narrow estuary found themselves locked in close embrace with theirenemies. A murderous hand-to-hand conflict succeeded. Battle-axe, boarding-pike, pistol, and dagger were the weapons. Every man whoyielded himself a prisoner was instantly stabbed and tossed into the seaby the remorseless Zealanders. Fighting only to kill, and not toplunder, they did not even stop to take the gold chains which manySpaniards wore on their necks. It had, however, been obvious from thebeginning that the Spanish fleet were not likely to achieve that triumphover the patriots which was necessary before they could relieveMiddelburg. The battle continued a little longer; but after fifteenships had been taken and twelve hundred royalists slain, the remainder ofthe enemy's fleet retreated into Bergen. Romero himself, whose ship hadgrounded, sprang out of a port-hole and swam ashore, followed by such ofhis men as were able to imitate him. He landed at the very feet of theGrand Commander, who, wet and cold, had been standing all day upon thedyke of Schakerloo, in the midst of a pouring rain, only to witness thetotal defeat of his armada at last. "I told your Excellency, " said Romero, coolly, as he climbed, alldripping, on the bank, "that I was a land-fighter and not a sailor. If you were to give me the command of a hundred fleets, I believe thatnone of them would fare better than this has done. " The Governor and hisdiscomfited, but philosophical lieutenant, then returned to Bergen, andthence to Brussels, acknowledging that the city of Middelburg must fall, while Sancho d'Avila, hearing of the disaster which had befallen hiscountrymen, brought his fleet, with the greatest expedition, back toAntwerp. Thus the gallant Mondragon was abandoned to his fate. That fate could no longer be protracted. The city of Middelburg hadreached and passed the starvation point. Still Mondragon was determinednot to yield at discretion, although very willing to capitulate. ThePrince of Orange, after the victory of Bergen, was desirous of anunconditional surrender, believing it to be his right, and knowing thathe could not be supposed capable of practising upon Middelburg thevengeance which had been wreaked on Naarden, Zutfen, and Harlem. Mondragon, however, swore that he would set fire to the city in twentyplaces, and perish with every soldier and burgher in the flames together, rather than abandon himself to the enemy's mercy. The prince knew thatthe brave Spaniard was entirely capable of executing his threat. Hegranted honorable conditions, which, on the 18th February, were drawn upin five articles, and signed. It was agreed that Mondragon and histroops should leave the place, with their arms, ammunition, and all theirpersonal property. The citizens who remained were to take oath offidelity to the Prince, as stadholder for his Majesty, and were to paybesides a subsidy of three hundred thousand florins. Mondragon was, furthermore, to procure the discharge of Saint Aldegonde, and of fourother prisoners of rank, or, failing in the attempt, was to return withintwo months, and constitute himself prisoner of war. The Catholic priestswere to take away from the city none of their property but their clothes. In accordance with this capitulation, Mondragon, and those who wished toaccompany him, left the city on the 21st of February, and were conveyedto the Flemish shore at Neuz. It will be seen in the sequel that theGovernor neither granted him the release of the five prisoners, norpermitted him to return, according to his parole. A few days afterwards, the Prince entered the city, re-organized the magistracy, received theallegiance of the inhabitants, restored the ancient constitution, andliberally remitted two-thirds of the sum in which they had been, mulcted. The Spaniards had thus been successfully driven from the Isle ofWalcheren, leaving the Hollanders and Zealanders masters of the sea-coast. Since the siege of Alkmaar had been raised, however, the enemyhad remained within the territory of Holland. Leyden was closelyinvested, the country in a desperate condition, and all communicationbetween its different cities nearly suspended. It was comparatively easyfor the Prince of Orange to equip and man his fleets. The genius andhabits of the people made them at home upon the water, and inspired themwith a feeling of superiority to their adversaries. It was not so uponland. Strong to resist, patient to suffer, the Hollanders, althoughterrible in defence; had not the necessary discipline or experience tomeet the veteran legions of Spain, with confidence in the open field. To raise the siege of Leyden, the main reliance of the Prince was uponCount Louis, who was again in Germany. In the latter days of Alva'sadministration, William had written to his brothers, urging them speedilyto arrange the details of a campaign, of which he forwarded them asketch. As soon as a sufficient force had been levied in Germany, anattempt was to be made upon Maestricht. If that failed, Louis was tocross the Meuse, in the neighbourhood of Stochem, make his way towardsthe Prince's own city of Gertruidenberg, and thence make a junction withhis brother in the neighbourhood of Delft. They were then to take up aposition together between Harlem and Leyden. In that case it seemedprobable that the Spaniards would find themselves obliged to fight at agreat disadvantage, or to abandon the country. "In short, " said thePrince, "if this enterprise be arranged with due diligence anddiscretion, I hold it as the only certain means for putting a speedy endto the war, and for driving these devils of Spaniards out of the country, before the Duke of Alva has time to raise another army to support them. " In pursuance of this plan, Louis had been actively engaged all theearlier part of the winter in levying troops and raising supplies. He had been assisted by the French princes with considerable sums ofmoney, as an earnest of what he was in future to expect from that source. He had made an unsuccessful attempt to effect the capture of Requesens, on his way to take the government of the Netherlands. He had then passedto the frontier of France, where he had held his important interview withCatharine de Medici and the Duke of Anjou, then on the point of departureto ascend the throne of Poland. He had received liberal presents, andstill more liberal promises. Anjou had assured him that he would goas far as any of the German princes in rendering active and sincereassistance to the Protestant cause in the Netherlands. The Ducd'Alencon--soon, in his brother's absence, to succeed to thechieftainship of the new alliance between the "politiques" and theHuguenots--had also pressed his hand, whispering in his ear, as he didso, that the government of France now belonged to him, as it had recentlydone to Anjou, and that the Prince might reckon upon his friendship withentire security. These fine words, which cost nothing when whispered in secret, were notdestined to fructify into a very rich harvest, for the mutual jealousyof France and England, lest either should acquire ascendency in theNetherlands, made both governments prodigal of promises, while the commonfear entertained by them of the power of Spain rendered both languid;insincere, and mischievous allies. Count John, however; wasindefatigable in arranging the finances of the proposed expedition, and in levying contributions among his numerous relatives and allies inGermany, while Louis had profited by the occasion of Anjou's passage intoPoland, to acquire for himself two thousand German and French cavalry, who had served to escort that Prince, and who, being now thrown out ofemployment, were glad to have a job offered them by a general who wasthought to be in funds. Another thousand of cavalry and six thousandfoot were soon assembled from those ever-swarming nurseries of mercenarywarriors, the smaller German states. With these, towards the end ofFebruary; Louis crossed the Rhine in a heavy snow-storm, and bent hiscourse towards Maestricht. All the three brothers of the Princeaccompanied this little army, besides Duke Christopher, son of theelector Palatine. Before the end of the month the army reached the Meuse, and encampedwithin four miles of Maestricht; on the opposite side of the river. The garrison, commanded by Montesdoca, was weak, but the news of thewarlike preparations in Germany had preceded the arrival of Count Louis. Requesens, feeling the gravity of the occasion, had issued orders for animmediate levy of eight thousand cavalry in Germany, with a proportionatenumber of infantry. At the same time he had directed Don Bernardino deMendoza, with some companies of cavalry, then stationed in Breda, tothrow himself without delay into Maestricht. Don Sancho d'Avila wasentrusted with the general care of resisting the hostile expedition. That general had forthwith collected all the troops which could be sparedfrom every town where they were stationed, had strengthened the cities ofAntwerp, Ghent, Nimweben, and Valenciennes, where there were known to bemany secret adherents of Orange; and with the remainder of his forces hadput himself in motion, to oppose the entrance of Louis into Brabant, andhis junction with his brother in Holland. Braccamonte had beendespatched to Leyden, in order instantly to draw off the forces whichwere besieging the city. Thus Louis had already effected something ofimportance by the very hews of his approach. Meantime the Prince of Orange had raised six thousand infantry, whoserendezvous was the Isle of Bommel. He was disappointed at the paucity ofthe troops which Louis had been able to collect, but he sent messengersimmediately to him; with a statement of his own condition, and withdirections to join him in the Isle of Bommel, as soon as Maestrichtshould be reduced. It was, however, not in the destiny of Louis toreduce Maestricht. His expedition had been marked with disaster from thebeginning. A dark and threatening prophecy had, even before itscommencement, enwrapped Louis, his brethren, and his little army, in afuneral pall. More than a thousand of his men had deserted before hereached the Meuse. When he encamped, apposite Maestricht, he found theriver neither frozen nor open, the ice obstructing the navigation, butbeing too weak for the weight of an army. While he was thus delayed andembarrassed, Mendoza arrived in the city with reinforcements. It seemedalready necessary for Louis to abandon his hopes of Maestricht, but hewas at least desirous of crossing the river in that neighbourhood, inorder to effect his junction with the Prince at the earliest possiblemoment. While the stream was still encumbered with ice, however, theenemy removed all the boats. On, the 3rd of March, Avila arrived with alarge body of troops at Maestricht, and on the 18th Mendoza crossed theriver in the night, giving the patriots so severe an 'encamisada', thatseven hundred were killed, at the expense of only seven of his own party. Harassed, but not dispirited by these disasters, Louis broke up his campon the 21st, and took a position farther down the river, at Fauquemontand Gulpen, castles in the Duchy of Limburg. On the 3rd of April, Braccamonite arrived at Maestricht, with twenty-five companies ofSpaniards and three of cavalry, while, on the same day Mondragon reachedthe scene of action with his sixteen companies of veterans. It was now obvious to Louis, not only that he should not take Maestricht, but that his eventual junction with his brother was at least doubtful, every soldier who could possibly be spared seeming in motion to opposehis progress. He was, to be sure, not yet outnumbered, but the enemy wasincreasing, and his own force diminishing daily. Moreover, the Spaniardswere highly disciplined and experienced troops; while his own soldierswere mercenaries, already clamorous and insubordinate. On the 8th ofApril he again shifted his encaampment, and took his course along theright bank of the Meuse, between that river and the Rhine, in thedirection of Nimwegen. Avila promptly decided to follow him upon theopposite bank of the Meuse, intending to throw himself between Louis andthe Prince of Orange, and by a rapid march to give the Count battle, before he could join his brother. On the 8th of April, at early dawn, Louis had left the neighbourhood of Maestricht, and on the 13th heencamped at the village of Mook near the confines of Cleves. Sendingout his scouts, he learned to his vexation, that the enemy had outmarchedhim, and were now within cannonshot. On the 13th, Avila had constructeda bridge of boats, over which he had effected the passage of the Meusewith his whole army, so that on the Count's arrival at Mook, he found theenemy facing him, on the same side of the river, and directly in hispath. It was, therefore, obvious that, in this narrow space between theWaal and the Meuse, where they were now all assembled, Louis must achievea victory, unaided, or abandon his expedition, and leave the Hollandersto despair. He was distressed at the position in which he found himself, for he had hoped to reduce Maestricht, and to join, his brother inHolland. Together, they could, at least, have expelled the Spaniardsfrom that territory, in which case it was probable that a large part ofthe population in the different provinces would have risen. According topresent aspects, the destiny of the country, for some time to come, waslikely to hang upon the issue of a battle which he had not planned, andfor which he was not fully prepared. Still he was not the man to bedisheartened; nor had he ever possessed the courage to refuse a battlewhen: offered. Upon this occasion it would be difficult to retreatwithout disaster and disgrace, but it was equally difficult to achievea victory. Thrust, as he was, like a wedge into the very heart of ahostile country, he was obliged to force his way through, or to remain inhis enemy's power. Moreover, and worst of all, his troops were in astate of mutiny for their wages. While he talked to them of honor, theyhowled to him for money. It was the custom of these mercenaries tomutiny on the eve of battle--of the Spaniards, after it had been fought. By the one course, a victory was often lost which might have beenachieved; by the other, when won it was rendered fruitless. Avila had chosen his place of battle with great skill. On the right bankof the Meuse, upon a narrow plain which spread from the river to a chainof hills within cannon-shot on the north, lay the little village of Mook. The Spanish general knew that his adversary had the superiority incavalry, and that within this compressed apace it would not be possibleto derive much advantage from the circumstance. On the 14th, both armies were drawn up in battle array at earliest dawn, Louis having strengthened his position by a deep trench, which extendedfrom Mook, where he had stationed ten companies of infantry, which thusrested on the village and the river. Next came the bulk of his infantry, disposed in a single square. On their right was his cavalry, arranged infour squadrons, as well as the narrow limits of the field would allow. Asmall portion of them, for want of apace, were stationed on the hillside. Opposite, the forces of Don Sancho were drawn up in somewhat similarfashion. Twenty-five companies of Spaniards were disposed in four bodiesof pikemen and musketeers; their right resting on the river. On theirleft was the cavalry, disposed by Mendoza in the form of a half moon-thehorns garnished by two small bodies of sharpshooters. In the front ranksof the cavalry were the mounted carabineers of Schenk; behind were theSpanish dancers. The village of Mook lay between the two armies. The skirmishing began at early dawn, with an attack upon the trench, andcontinued some hours, without bringing on a general engagement. Towardsten o'clock, Count Louis became impatient. All the trumpets of thepatriots now rang out a challenge to their adversaries, and the Spaniardswere just returning the defiance, and preparing a general onset, when the Seigneur de Hierges and Baron Chevreaux arrived on the field. They brought with them a reinforcement of more than a thousand men, andthe intelligence that Valdez was on his way with nearly five thousandmore. As he might be expected on the following morning, a shortdeliberation was held as to the expediency of deferring the action. Count Louis was at the head of six thousand foot and two thousandcavalry. Avila mustered only four thousand infantry and not quite athousand horse. This inferiority would be changed on the morrow into anoverwhelming superiority. Meantime, it was well to remember thepunishment endured by Aremberg at Heiliger Lee, for not waiting tillMeghen's arrival. This prudent counsel was, however, very generallyscouted, and by none more loudly than by Hierges and Chevreaux, who hadbrought the intelligence. It was thought that at this juncture nothingcould be more indiscreet than discretion. They had a wary and audaciousgeneral to deal with. While they were waiting for their reinforcements, he was quite capable of giving them the slip. He might thus effect thepassage of the stream and that union with his brother which--had beenthus far so successfully prevented. This reasoning prevailed, and theskirmishing at the trench was renewed with redoubled vigour, anadditional: force being sent against it. After a short and fiercestruggle it was carried, and the Spaniards rushed into the village, butwere soon dislodged by a larger detachment of infantry, which Count Louissent to the rescue. The battle now became general at this point. Nearly all the patriot infantry were employed to defend the post; nearlyall the Spanish infantry were ordered to assail it. The Spaniards, dropping on their knees, according to custom, said a Paternoster and anAve Mary, and then rushed, in mass, to the attack. After a short butsharp conflict, the trench was again carried, and the patriots completelyrouted. Upon this, Count Louis charged with all his cavalry upon theenemy's horse, which had hitherto remained motionless. With the firstshock the mounted arquebusiers of Schenk, constituting the vanguard, werebroken, and fled in all directions. So great was their panic, as Louisdrove them before him, that they never stopped till they had swum or beendrowned in the river; the survivors carrying the news to Grave and toother cities that the royalists had been completely routed. This was, however, very far from the truth. The patriot cavalry, mostlycarabineers, wheeled after the first discharge, and retired to reloadtheir pieces, but before they were ready for another attack, the Spanishlancers and the German black troopers, who had all remained firm, setupon them with great spirit: A fierce, bloody, and confused actionsucceeded, in which the patriots were completely overthrown. Count Louis, finding that the day was lost, and his army cut to pieces, rallied around him a little band of troopers, among whom were hisbrother, Count Henry, and Duke Christopher, and together they made afinal and desperate charge. It was the last that was ever seen of themon earth. They all went down together, in the midst of the fight, andwere never heard of more. The battle terminated, as usual in thoseconflicts of mutual hatred, in a horrible butchery, hardly any of thepatriot army being left to tell the tale of their disaster. At leastfour thousand were killed, including those who were slain on the field, those who were suffocated in the marshes or the river, and those who wereburned in the farm-houses where they had taken refuge. It was uncertainwhich of those various modes of death had been the lot of Count Louis, his brother, and his friend. The mystery was never solved. They had, probably, all died on the field; but, stripped of their clothing, withtheir, faces trampled upon by the hoofs of horses, it was not possible todistinguish them from the less illustrious dead. It was the opinion of, many that they had been drowned in the river; of others, that they hadbeen burned. [Meteren, v. 91. Bor, vii. 491, 492. Hoofd, Bentivoglio, ubi sup. The Walloon historian, occasionally cited in these pages, has a more summary manner of accounting for the fate of these distinguished personages. According to his statement, the leaders of the Protestant forces dined and made merry at a convent in the neighbourhood upon Good Friday, five days before the battle, using the sacramental chalices at the banquet, and mixing consecrated wafers with their wine. As a punishment for this sacrilege, the army was utterly overthrown, and the Devil himself flew away with the chieftains, body and soul. ] There was a vague tale that Louis, bleeding but not killed, had struggledforth from the heap of corpses where he had been thrown, had crept tothe, river-side, and, while washing his wounds, had been surprised andbutchered by a party of rustics. The story was not generally credited, but no man knew, or was destined to learn, the truth. A dark and fatal termination to this last enterprise of Count Louis hadbeen anticipated by many. In that superstitious age, when emperors andprinces daily investigated the future, by alchemy, by astrology, and bybooks of fate, filled with formula; as gravely and precisely set forth asalgebraical equations; when men of every class, from monarch to peasant, implicitly believed in supernatural portents and prophecies, it was notsingular that a somewhat striking appearance, observed in the sky someweeks previously to the battle of Mookerheyde, should have inspired manypersons with a shuddering sense of impending evil. Early in February five soldiers of the burgher guard at Utrecht, being ontheir midnight watch, beheld in the sky above them the representation ofa furious battle. The sky was extremely dark, except directly over:their heads; where, for a space equal in extent to the length of thecity, and in breadth to that of an ordinary chamber, two armies, inbattle array, were seen advancing upon each other. The one moved rapidlyup from the north-west, with banners waving; spears flashing, trumpetssounding; accompanied by heavy artillery and by squadrons of cavalry. The other came slowly forward from the southeast; as if from anentrenched camp, to encounter their assailants. There was a fierceaction for a few moments, the shouts of the combatants, the heavydischarge of cannon, the rattle of musketry; the tramp of heavy-aimedfoot soldiers, the rush of cavalry, being distinctly heard. Thefirmament trembled with the shock of the contending hosts, and was luridwith the rapid discharges of their artillery. After a short, fierceengagement, the north-western army was beaten back in disorder, butrallied again, after a breathing-time, formed again into solid column, and again advanced. Their foes, arrayed, as the witnesses affirmed, in asquare and closely serried grove of spears' and muskets, again awaitedthe attack. Once more the aerial cohorts closed upon each other, all thesigns and sounds of a desperate encounter being distinctly recognised bythe eager witnesses. The struggle seemed but short. The lances of thesouth-eastern army seemed to snap "like hemp-stalks, " while their firmcolumns all went down together in mass, beneath the onset of theirenemies. The overthrow was complete, victors and vanquished had faded, the clear blue space, surrounded by black clouds, was empty, whensuddenly its whole extent, where the conflict had so lately raged, wasstreaked with blood, flowing athwart the sky in broad crimson streams;nor was it till the five witnesses had fully watched and pondered overthese portents that the vision entirely vanished. So impressed were the grave magistrates of Utrecht with the account givennext day by the sentinels, that a formal examination of the circumstanceswas made, the deposition of each witness, under oath, duly recorded, anda vast deal of consultation of soothsayers' books and other auguriesemployed to elucidate the mystery. It was universally considered typicalof the anticipated battle between Count Louis and the Spaniards. When, therefore, it was known that the patriots, moving from the south-east, had arrived at Mookerheyde, and that their adversaries, crossing theMeuse at Grave, had advanced upon them from the north-west, the result ofthe battle was considered inevitable; the phantom battle of Utrecht itsinfallible precursor. Thus perished Louis of Nassau in the flower of his manhood, in the midstof a career already crowded with events such as might suffice for acentury of ordinary existence. It is difficult to find in history a morefrank and loyal character. His life was noble; the elements of theheroic and the genial so mixed in him that the imagination contemplateshim, after three centuries, with an almost affectionate interest. He wasnot a great man. He was far from possessing the subtle genius or theexpansive views of his brother; but, called as he was to play a prominentpart in one of the most complicated and imposing dramas ever enacted byman, he, nevertheless, always acquitted himself with honor. His direct, fearless and energetic nature commanded alike the respect of friend andfoe. As a politician, a soldier, and a diplomatist, he was busy, bold, and true. He, accomplished by sincerity what many thought could only becompassed by trickery. Dealing often with the most adroit and mosttreacherous of princes and statesmen, he frequently carried his point, and he never stooped to flattery. From the time when, attended by his"twelve disciples, " he assumed the most prominent part in thenegotiations with Margaret of Parma, through all the various scenes ofthe revolution, through, all the conferences with Spaniards, Italians, Huguenots. Malcontents, Flemish councillors, or German princes, he wasthe consistent and unflinching supporter of religious liberty andconstitutional law. The battle of Heiliger Lee and the capture of Monswere his most signal triumphs, but the fruits of both were annihilated bysubsequent disaster. His headlong courage was his chief foible. TheFrench accused him of losing the battle of Moncontour by his impatienceto engage; yet they acknowledged that to his masterly conduct it wasowing that their retreat was effected in so successful, and even sobrilliant a manner. He was censured for rashness and precipitancy inthis last and fatal enterprise, but the reproach seems entirely withoutfoundation. The expedition as already stated, had been deliberatelyarranged, with the full co-operation of his brother, and had beenpreparing several months. That he was able to set no larger force onfoot than that which he led into Gueldres was not his fault. But for thefloating ice which barred his passage of the Meuse, he would havesurprised Maestricht; but for the mutiny, which rendered his mercenarysoldiers cowards, he might have defeated Avila at Mookerheyde. Had hedone so he would have joined his brother in the Isle of Bommel intriumph; the Spaniards would, probably, have been expelled from Holland, and Leyden saved the horrors of that memorable siege which she was sooncalled, upon to endure. These results were not in his destiny. Providence had decreed that he should perish in the midst of hisusefulness; that the Prince, in his death, 'should lose the right handwhich had been so swift to execute his various plans, and the faithfulfraternal heart which had always responded so readily to every throb ofhis own. In figure, he was below the middle height, but martial and noble in hisbearing. The expression of his countenance was lively; his manner frankand engaging. All who knew him personally loved him, and he was the idolof his gallant brethren: His mother always addressed him as her dearlybeloved, her heart's-cherished Louis. "You must come soon to me, " shewrote in the last year of his life, "for I have many matters to ask youradvice upon; and I thank you beforehand, for you have loved me as yourmother all the days of your life; for which may God Almighty have you inhis holy keeping. " It was the doom of this high-born, true-hearted dame to be called upon toweep oftener for her children than is the usual lot of mothers. CountAdolphus had already perished in his youth on the field of Heiliger Lee, and now Louis and his young brother Henry, who had scarcely attained histwenty-sixth year, and whose short life had been passed in that faithfulservice to the cause of freedom which was the instinct of his race, hadboth found a bloody and an unknown grave. Count John, who had alreadydone so much for the cause, was fortunately spared to do much more. Although of the expedition, and expecting to participate in the battle, he had, at the urgent solicitation of all the leaders, left the army fora brief, season, in order to obtain at Cologne a supply of money, for themutinous troops: He had started upon this mission two days before theaction in which he, too, would otherwise have been sacrificed. The youngDuke Christopher, "optimm indolis et magnee spei adolescens, " who hadperished on the same field, was sincerely mourned by the lovers offreedom. His father, the Elector, found his consolation in theScriptures, and in the reflection that his son had died in the bed ofhonor, fighting for the cause of God. "'T was better thus, " said thatstern Calvinist, whose dearest wish was to "Calvinize the world, " than tohave passed his time in idleness, "which is the Devil's pillow. " Vague rumors of the catastrophe had spread far and wide. It was sooncertain that Louis had been defeated, but, for a long time, conflictingreports were in circulation as to the fate of the leaders. The Prince ofOrange, meanwhile, passed days of intense anxiety, expecting hourly tohear from his brothers, listening to dark rumors, which he refused tocredit and could not contradict, and writing letters, day after day, longafter the eyes which should have read the friendly missives were closed. The victory of the King's army at Mookerheyde had been renderedcomparatively barren by the mutiny which broke forth the day after thebattle. Three years' pay were due to the Spanish troops, and it was notsurprising that upon this occasion one of those periodic rebellionsshould break forth, by which the royal cause was frequently so muchweakened, and the royal governors so intolerably perplexed. Thesemutinies were of almost regular occurrence, and attended by as regular aseries of phenomena. The Spanish troops, living so far from their owncountry, but surrounded by their women, and constantly increasing swarmsof children, constituted a locomotive city of considerable population, permanently established on a foreign soil. It was a city walled in bybayonets, and still further isolated from the people around by theimpassable moat of mutual hatred. It was a city obeying the articles ofwar, governed by despotic authority, and yet occasionally revealing, infull force, the irrepressible democratic element. At periods which couldalmost be calculated, the military populace were wont to rise upon theprivileged classes, to deprive them of office and liberty, and to set upin their place commanders of their own election. A governor-in-chief, asergeant-major, a board of councillors and various other functionaries, were chosen by acclamation and universal suffrage. The Eletto, or chiefofficer thus appointed, was clothed with supreme power, but forbidden toexercise it. He was surrounded by councillors, who watched his everymotion, read all his correspondence, and assisted at all his conferences, while the councillors were themselves narrowly watched by the commonalty. These movements were, however, in general, marked by the most exemplaryorder. Anarchy became a system of government; rebellion enacted andenforced the strictest rules of discipline; theft, drunkenness, violenceto women, were severely punished. As soon as the mutiny broke forth, thefirst object was to take possession of the nearest city, where the Elettowas usually established in the town-house, and the soldiery quarteredupon the citizens. Nothing in the shape of food or lodging was too goodfor these marauders. Men who had lived for years on camp rations--coarseknaves who had held the plough till compelled to handle the musket, nowslept in fine linen, and demanded from the trembling burghers thedaintiest viands. They ate the land bare, like a swarm of locusts. "Chickens and partridges, " says the thrifty chronicler of Antwerp, "capons and pheasants, hares and rabbits, two kinds of wines;--forsauces, capers and olives, citrons and oranges, spices and sweetmeats;wheaten bread for their dogs, and even wine, to wash the feet of theirhorses;"--such was the entertainment demanded and obtained by themutinous troops. They were very willing both to enjoy the luxury of thisforage, and to induce the citizens, from weariness of affording compelledhospitality, to submit to a taxation by which the military claims mightbe liquidated. A city thus occupied was at the mercy of a foreign soldiery, which hadrenounced all authority but that of self-imposed laws. The King'sofficers were degraded, perhaps murdered; while those chosen to supplytheir places had only a nominal control. The Eletto, day by day, proclaimed from the balcony of the town-house the latest rules andregulations. If satisfactory, there was a clamor of applause; ifobjectionable, they were rejected with a tempest of hisses, withdischarges of musketry; The Eletto did not govern: he was a dictator whocould not dictate, but could only register decrees. If too honest, toofirm, or too dull for his place, he was deprived of his office andsometimes of his life. Another was chosen in his room, often to besucceeded by a series of others, destined to the same fate. Such werethe main characteristics of those formidable mutinies, the result of theunthriftiness and dishonesty by which the soldiery engaged in theseinterminable hostilities were deprived of their dearly earned wages. Theexpense of the war was bad enough at best, but when it is remembered thatof three or four dollars sent from Spain, or contributed by the provincesfor the support of the army, hardly one reached the pockets of thesoldier, the frightful expenditure which took place may be imagined. Itwas not surprising that so much peculation should engender revolt. The mutiny which broke out after the defeat of Count Louis was markedwith the most pronounced and inflammatory of these symptoms. Threeyears' pay was due, to the Spaniards, who, having just achieved a signalvictory, were-disposed to reap its fruits, by fair means or by force. On receiving nothing but promises, in answer to their clamorous demands, they mutinied to a man, and crossed the Meuse to Grave, whence, afteraccomplishing the usual elections, they took their course to Antwerp. Being in such strong force, they determined to strike at the capital. Rumour flew before them. Champagny, brother of Granvelle, and royalgovernor of the city, wrote in haste to apprise Requesens of theapproaching danger. The Grand Commander, attended only by Vitelli, repaired. Instantly to Antwerp. Champagny advised throwing up abreastwork with bales of merchandize, upon the esplanade, between thecitadel and the town, for it was at this point, where the connectionbetween the fortifications of the castle and those of the city had neverbeen thoroughly completed, that the invasion might be expected. Requesens hesitated. He trembled at a conflict with his own soldiery. If successful, he could only be so by trampling upon the flower of hisarmy. If defeated, what would become of the King's authority, withrebellious troops triumphant in rebellious provinces? Sorely perplexed, the Commander, could think of no expedient. Not knowing what to do, hedid nothing. In the meantime, Champagny, who felt himself odious to thesoldiery, retreated to the Newtown, and barricaded himself, with a fewfollowers, in the house of the Baltic merchants. On the 26th of April, the mutinous troops in perfect order, marched intothe city, effecting their entrance precisely at the weak point where theyhad been expected. Numbering at least three thousand, they encamped onthe esplanade, where Requesens appeared before them alone on horseback, and made them an oration. They listened with composure, but answeredbriefly and with one accord, "Dineros y non palabras, " dollars notspeeches. Requesens promised profusely, but the time was past forpromises. Hard Silver dollars would alone content an army which, afterthree years of bloodshed and starvation, had at last taken the law intotheir own hands. Requesens withdrew to consult the Broad Council of thecity. He was without money himself, but he demanded four hundredthousand crowns of the city. This was at first refused, but the troopsknew the strength of their position, for these mutinies were neverrepressed, and rarely punished. On this occasion the Commander wasafraid to employ force, and the burghers, after the army had beenquartered upon them for a time, would gladly pay a heavy ransom to be ridof their odious and expensive guests. The mutineers foreseeing that thework might last a few weeks, and determined to proceed leisurely; tookpossession of the great square. The Eletto, with his staff ofcouncillors, was quartered in the town-house, while the soldiersdistributed themselves among the houses of the most opulent citizens, no one escaping a billet who was rich enough to receive such company:bishop or burgomaster, margrave or merchant. The most famous kitchenswere naturally the most eagerly sought, and sumptuous apartments, luxurious dishes, delicate wines, were daily demanded. The burghersdared not refuse. The six hundred Walloons, who had been previously quartered in the city, were expelled, and for many days, the mutiny reigned paramount. Dayafter day the magistracy, the heads of guilds, all the representatives ofthe citizens were assembled in the Broad Council. The Governor-Generalinsisted on his demand of four hundred thousand crowns, representing, with great justice, that the mutineers would remain in the city untilthey had eaten and drunk to that amount, and that there would still bethe arrearages; for which the city would be obliged to raise the funds. On the 9th of May, the authorities made an offer, which was dulycommunicated to the Eletto. That functionary stood forth on a window-sill of the town-house, and addressed the soldiery. He informed themthat the Grand Commander proposed to pay ten months' arrears in cash, five months in silks and woollen cloths, and the balance in promises, tobe fulfilled within a few days. The terms were not consideredsatisfactory, and were received with groans of derision. The Eletto, onthe contrary, declared them very liberal, and reminded the soldiers ofthe perilous condition in which they stood, guilty to a man of hightreason, with a rope around every neck. It was well worth their while toaccept the offer made them, together with the absolute pardon for thepast, by which it was accompanied. For himself, he washed his hands ofthe consequences if the offer were rejected. The soldiers answered bydeposing the Eletto and choosing another in his room. Three days after, a mutiny broke out in the citadel--an unexampledoccurrence. The rebels ordered Sancho d'Avila, the commandant, todeliver the keys of the fortress. He refused to surrender them but withhis life. They then contented themselves with compelling his lieutenantto leave the citadel, and with sending their Eletto to confer with theGrand Commander, as well as with the Eletto of the army. Afteraccomplishing his mission, he returned, accompanied by Chiappin Vitelli, as envoy of the Governor-General. No sooner, however, had the Eletto setfoot on the drawbridge than he was attacked by Ensign Salvatierra of theSpanish garrison, who stabbed him to the heart and threw him into themoat. The ensign, who was renowned in the army for his ferociouscourage, and who wore embroidered upon his trunk hose the inscription, "El castigador de los Flamencos, " then rushed upon the Sergeant-major ofthe mutineers, despatched him in the same way, and tossed him likewiseinto the moat. These preliminaries being settled, a satisfactoryarrangement was negotiated between Vitelli and the rebellious garrison. Pardon for the past, and payment upon the same terms as those offered inthe city, were accepted, and the mutiny of the citadel was quelled. Itwas, however, necessary that Salvatierra should conceal himself for along time, to escape being torn to pieces by the incensed soldiery. Meantime, affairs in the city were more difficult to adjust. Themutineers raised an altar of chests and bales upon the public square, and celebrated mass under the open sky, solemnly swearing to be true toeach other to the last. The scenes of carousing and merry-making wererenewed at the expense of the citizens, who were again exposed to nightlyalarms from the boisterous mirth and ceaseless mischief-making of thesoldiers. Before the end of the month; the Broad Council, exhausted bythe incubus which had afflicted them so many weeks, acceded to the demandof Requesens. The four hundred thousand crowns were furnished, the GrandCommander accepting them as a loan, and giving in return bonds dulysigned and countersigned, together with a mortgage upon all the royaldomains. The citizens received the documents, as a matter of form, butthey had handled such securities before, and valued them but slightly. The mutineers now agreed to settle with the Governor-General, oncondition of receiving all their wages, either in cash or cloth, togetherwith a solemn promise of pardon for all their acts of insubordination. This pledge was formally rendered with appropriate religious ceremonies, by Requesens, in the cathedral. The payments were made directlyafterwards, and a great banquet was held on the same day, by the wholemass of the soldiery, to celebrate the event. The feast took place onthe place of the Meer, and was a scene of furious revelry. The soldiers, more thoughtless than children, had arrayed themselves in extemporaneouscostumes, cut from the cloth which they had at last received in paymentof their sufferings and their blood. Broadcloths, silks, satins, andgold-embroidered brocades, worthy of a queen's wardrobe, were hung infantastic drapery around the sinewy forms and bronzed faces of thesoldiery, who, the day before, had been clothed in rags. The mirth wasfast and furious; and scarce was the banquet finished before every drum-head became a gaming-table, around which gathered groups eager tosacrifice in a moment their dearly-bought gold. The fortunate or the prudent had not yet succeeded in entirely plunderingtheir companions, when the distant booming of cannon was heard from theriver. Instantly, accoutred as they were in their holiday and fantasticcostumes, the soldiers, no longer mutinous, were summoned from banquetand gaming-table, and were ordered forth upon the dykes. The patriotAdmiral Boisot, who had so recently defeated the fleet of Bergen, underthe eyes of the Grand Commander, had unexpectedly sailed up the Scheld, determined to destroy the, fleet of Antwerp, which upon that occasion hadescaped. Between, the forts of Lillo and Callao, he met with twenty-twovessels under the command of Vice-Admiral Haemstede. After a short andsharp action, he was completely victorious. Fourteen of the enemy'sships were burned or sunk, with all their crews, and Admiral Haemstedewas taken prisoner. The soldiers opened a warm fire of musketry uponBoisot from the dyke, to which he responded with his cannon. Thedistance of the combatants, however, made the action unimportant; and thepatriots retired down the river, after achieving a complete victory. TheGrand Commander was farther than ever from obtaining that foothold on thesea, which as he had informed his sovereign, was the only means by whichthe Netherlands could be reduced. 1574 [CHAPTER II. ] First siege of Leyden--Commencement of the second--Description of the city--Preparations for defence--Letters of Orange--Act of amnesty issued by Requesens--Its conditions--Its reception by the Hollanders--Correspondence of the Glippers--Sorties and fierce combats beneath the walls of Leyden--Position of the Prince--His project of relief Magnanimity of the people--Breaking of the dykes-- Emotions in the city and the besieging camp--Letter of the Estates of Holland--Dangerous illness of the Prince--The "wild Zealanders"-- Admiral Boisot commences his voyage--Sanguinary combat on the Land-- Scheiding--Occupation of that dyke and of the Green Way--Pauses and Progress of the flotilla--The Prince visits the fleet--Horrible sufferings in the city--Speech of Van der Werf--Heroism of the inhabitants--The Admiral's letters--The storm--Advance of Boisot-- Lammen fortress----An anxious night--Midnight retreat of the Spaniards--The Admiral enters the city--Thanksgiving in the great church The Prince in Leyden--Parting words of Valdez--Mutiny--Leyden University founded--The charter--Inauguration ceremonies. The invasion of Louis of Nassau had, as already stated, effected theraising of the first siege of Leyden. That leaguer had lasted from the31st of October, 1573, to the 21st of March, 1574, when the soldiers weresummoned away to defend the frontier. By an extraordinary and culpablecarelessness, the citizens, neglecting the advice of the Prince, had nottaken advantage of the breathing time thus afforded them to victual thecity and strengthen the garrison. They seemed to reckon more confidentlyupon the success of Count Louis than he had even done himself; for it wasvery probable that, in case of his defeat, the siege would be instantlyresumed. This natural result was not long in following the battle ofMookerheyde. On the 26th of May, Valdez reappeared before the place, at the head ofeight thousand Walloons and Germans, and Leyden was now destined to passthrough a fiery ordeal. This city was one of the most beautiful in theNetherlands. Placed in the midst of broad and fruitful pastures, whichhad been reclaimed by the hand of industry from the bottom of the sea; itwas fringed with smiling villages, blooming gardens, fruitful Orchards. The ancient and, at last, decrepit Rhine, flowing languidly towards itssandy death-bed, had been multiplied into innumerable artificialcurrents, by which the city was completely interlaced. These waterystreets were shaded by lime trees, poplars, and willows, and crossed byone hundred and forty-five bridges, mostly of hammered stone. The houseswere elegant, the squares and streets spacious, airy and clean, thechurches and public edifices imposing, while the whole aspect, of theplace suggested thrift, industry, and comfort. Upon an artificialelevation, in the centre of the city, rose a ruined tower of unknownantiquity. By some it was considered to be of Roman origin, while otherspreferred to regard it as a work of the Anglo-Saxon Hengist, raised tocommemorate his conquest of England. [Guicciardini, Descript. Holl, et Zelandire. Bor, vii. 502. Bentivoglio, viii. 151 "Putatur Engistus Britanno Orbe redus posuisse victor, " etc. , etc. according to the celebrated poem of John Yon der Does, the accomplished and valiant Commandant of the city. The tower, which is doubtless a Roman one, presents, at the present day, almost precisely the same appearance as that described by the contemporaneous historians of the siege. The verses of the Commandant show the opinion, that the Anglo-Saxon conquerors of Britain went from Holland, to have been a common one in the sixteenth century. ] Surrounded by fruit trees, and overgrown in the centre with oaks, itafforded, from its mouldering battlements, a charming prospect over awide expanse of level country, with the spires of neighbouring citiesrising in every direction. It was from this commanding height, duringthe long and terrible summer days which were approaching, that many aneye was to be strained anxiously seaward, watching if yet the ocean hadbegun to roll over the land. Valdez lost no time in securing himself in the possession ofMaeslandsluis, Vlaardingen, and the Hague. Five hundred English, undercommand of Colonel Edward Chester, abandoned the fortress of Valkenburg, and fled towards Leyden. Refused admittance by the citizens, who now, with reason, distrusted them, they surrendered to Valdez, and wereafterwards sent back to England. In the course of a few days, Leyden wasthoroughly invested, no less than sixty-two redoubts, some of them havingremained undestroyed from the previous siege, now girdling the city, while the besiegers already numbered nearly eight thousand, a force to bedaily increased. On the other hand, there were no troops in the town, save a small corps of "freebooters, " and five companies of the burgherguard. John Van der Does, Seigneur of Nordwyck, a gentleman ofdistinguished family, but still more distinguished for his learning, hispoetical genius, and his valor, had accepted the office of militarycommandant. The main reliance of the city, under God, was on the stout hearts of itsinhabitants within the walls, and on, the sleepless energy of William theSilent without. The Prince, hastening to comfort and encourage thecitizens, although he had been justly irritated by their negligence inhaving omitted to provide more sufficiently against the emergency whilethere had yet been time, now reminded them that they were not about tocontend for themselves alone, but that the fate of their country and ofunborn generations would, in all human probability, depend on the issueabout to be tried. Eternal glory would be their portion if theymanifested a courage worthy of their race and of the sacred cause ofreligion and liberty. He implored them to hold out at least threemonths, assuring them that he would, within that time, devise the meansof their deliverance. The citizens responded, courageously andconfidently, to these missives, and assured the Prince of their firmconfidence in their own fortitude and his exertions. And truly they had a right to rely on that calm and unflinching soul, ason a rock of adamant. All alone, without a being near him to consult, his right arm struck from him by the death of Louis, with no brother leftto him but the untiring and faithful John, he prepared without delay forthe new task imposed upon him. France, since the defeat and death ofLouis, and the busy intrigues which had followed the accession of HenryIII. , had but small sympathy for the Netherlands. The Englishgovernment, relieved from the fear of France; was more cold and haughtythan ever. An Englishman employed by Requesens to assassinate thePrince of Orange, had been arrested in Zealand, who impudently pretendedthat he had undertaken to perform the same office for Count John, withthe full consent and privity of Queen Elizabeth. The provinces ofHolland and Zealand were stanch and true, but the inequality of thecontest between a few brave men, upon that handsbreadth of territory, and the powerful Spanish Empire, seemed to render the issue hopeless. Moreover, it was now thought expedient to publish the amnesty which hadbeen so long in preparation, and this time the trap was more liberallybaited. The pardon, which had: passed the seals upon the 8th of March, was formally issue: by the Grand Commander on the 6th of June. By theterms of this document the King invited all his erring and repentantsubjects, to return to his arms; and to accept a full forgiveness fortheir past offences, upon the sole condition that they should once morethrow themselves upon the bosom of the Mother Church. There were but fewexceptions to the amnesty, a small number of individuals, all mentionedby name, being alone excluded; but although these terms were ample, the act was liable to a few stern objections. It was easier now for theHollanders to go to their graves than to mass, for the contest, in itsprogress, had now entirely assumed the aspect of a religious war. Instead of a limited number of heretics in a state which, althoughconstitutional was Catholic, there was now hardly a Papist to be foundamong the natives. To accept the pardon then was to concede the victory, and the Hollanders had not yet discovered that they were conquered. Theywere resolved, too, not only to be conquered, but annihilated, before theRoman Church should be re-established on their soil, to the entireexclusion of the Reformed worship. They responded with steadfastenthusiasm to the sentiment expressed by the Prince of Orange, after thesecond siege of Leyden had been commenced; "As long as there is a livingman left in the country, we will contend for our liberty and ourreligion. " The single condition of the amnesty assumed, in a phrase;what Spain had fruitlessly striven to establish by a hundred battles, and the Hollanders had not faced their enemy on land and sea for sevenyears to succumb to a phrase at last. Moreover, the pardon came from the wrong direction. The malefactorgravely extended forgiveness to his victims. Although the Hollandershad not yet disembarrassed their minds of the supernatural theory ofgovernment, and felt still the reverence of habit for regal divinity, they naturally considered themselves outraged by the trick now playedbefore them. The man who had violated all his oaths, trampled upon alltheir constitutional liberties, burned and sacked their cities, confiscated their wealth, hanged, beheaded, burned, and buried alivetheir innocent brethren, now came forward, not to implore, but to offerforgiveness. Not in sackcloth, but in royal robes; not with ashes, butwith a diadem upon his head, did the murderer present himself vicariouslyupon the scene of his crimes. It may be supposed that, even in thesixteenth century, there were many minds which would revolt at suchblasphemy. Furthermore, even had the people of Holland been weak enoughto accept the pardon, it was impossible to believe that the promise wouldbe fulfilled. It was sufficiently known how much faith was likely to bekept with heretics, notwithstanding that the act was fortified by a papalBull, dated on the 30th of April, by which Gregory XIII. Promisedforgiveness to those Netherland sinners who duly repented and soughtabsolution for their crimes, even although they had sinned more thanseven times seven. For a moment the Prince had feared lest the pardon might produce someeffect upon men wearied by interminable suffering, but the event provedhim wrong. It was received with universal and absolute contempt. No mancame forward to take advantage of its conditions, save one brewer inUtrecht, and the son of a refugee peddler from Leyden. With theseexceptions, the only ones recorded, Holland remained deaf to the royalvoice. The city of Leyden was equally cold to the messages of mercy, which were especially addressed to its population by Valdez and hisagents. Certain Netherlanders, belonging to the King's party, andfamiliarly called "Glippers, " despatched from the camp many letters totheir rebellious acquaintances in the city. In these epistles thecitizens of Leyden were urgently and even pathetically exhorted tosubmission by their loyal brethren, and were implored "to take pity upontheir poor old fathers, their daughters, and their wives. " But theburghers of Leyden thought that the best pity which they could show tothose poor old fathers, daughters, and wives, was to keep them from theclutches of the Spanish soldiery; so they made no answer to the Glippers, save by this single line, which they wrote on a sheet of paper, andforwarded, like a letter, to Valdez: "Fistula dulce canit, volucrem cum decipit auceps. " According to the advice early given by the Prince of Orange, the citizenshad taken an account of their provisions of all kinds, including the livestock. By the end of June, the city was placed on a strict allowance offood, all the provisions being purchased by the authorities at anequitable price. Half a pound of meat and half a pound of bread wasallotted to a full grown man, and to the rest, a due proportion. Thecity being strictly invested, no communication, save by carrier pigeons, and by a few swift and skilful messengers called jumpers, was possible. Sorties and fierce combats were, however, of daily occurrence, and ahandsome bounty was offered to any man who brought into the city gatesthe head of a Spaniard. The reward was paid many times, but thepopulation was becoming so excited and so apt, that the authorities feltit dangerous to permit the continuance of these conflicts. Lest thecity, little by little, should lose its few disciplined defenders, it wasnow proclaimed, by sound of church bell, that in future no man shouldleave the gates. The Prince had his head-quarters at Delft and at Rotterdam. Betweenthose two cities, an important fortress, called Polderwaert, secured himin the control of the alluvial quadrangle, watered on two sides by theYssel and the Meuse. On the 29th June, the Spaniards, feeling its value, had made an unsuccessful effort to carry this fort by storm. They hadbeen beaten off, with the loss of several hundred men, the Princeremaining in possession of the position, from which alone he could hopeto relieve Leyden. He still held in his hand the keys with which hecould unlock the ocean gates and let the waters in upon the land, and hehad long been convinced that nothing could save the city but to break thedykes. Leyden was not upon the sea, but he could send the sea to. Leyden, although an army fit to encounter the besieging force underValdez could not be levied. The battle of Mookerheyde had, for the, present, quite settled the question, of land relief, but it was possibleto besiege the besiegers, with the waves of the ocean. The Spaniardsoccupied the coast from the Hague to Vlaardingen, but the dykes along theMeuse and Yssel were in possession of the Prince. He determined, thatthese should be pierced, while, at the same time, the great sluices atRotterdam, Schiedam, and Delftshaven should be opened. The damage to thefields, villages, and growing crops would be enormous, but he felt thatno other course could rescue Leyden, and with it the whole of Hollandfrom destruction. His clear expositions and impassioned eloquence atlast overcame all resistance. By the middle of July the estatesconsented to his plan, and its execution was immediately undertaken. "Better a drowned land than a lost land, " cried the patriots, withenthusiasm, as they devoted their fertile fields to desolation. Theenterprise for restoring their territory, for a season, to the waves, from which it had been so patiently rescued, was conducted with as muchregularity as if it had been a profitable undertaking. A capital wasformally subscribed, for which a certain number of bonds were issued, payable at a long date. In addition to this preliminary fund, a monthlyallowance of forty-five guldens was voted by the estates, until the workshould be completed, and a large sum was contributed by the ladies of theland, who freely furnished their plate, jewellery, and costly furnitureto the furtherance of the scheme. Meantime, Valdez, on the 30th July; issued most urgent and ample offersof pardon to the citizens, if they would consent to open their gates andaccept the King's authority, but his Overtures were received with silentcontempt, notwithstanding that the population was already approaching thestarvation point. Although not yet fully informed of the active measurestaken by the Prince, yet they still chose to rely upon his energy andtheir own fortitude, rather than upon the honied words which had formerlybeen heard at the gates of Harlem and of Naarden. On the 3rd of August, the Prince; accompanied by Paul Buys, chief of the commission appointedto execute the enterprise, went in person along the Yssel; as far asKappelle, and superintended the rupture of the dykes in sixteen places. The gates at Schiedam and Rotterdam were, opened, and the ocean began topour over the land. While waiting for the waters to rise, provisionswere rapidly, collected, according to an edict of the Prince, in all theprincipal towns of the neighbourhood, and some two hundred vessels, ofvarious sizes, had also been got ready at Rotterdam, Delftshaven, andother ports. The citizens of Leyden were, however, already becoming impatient, fortheir bread was gone, and of its substitute malt cake, they had butslender provision. On the 12th of August they received a letter from thePrince, encouraging them to resistance, and assuring them of a speedyrelief, and on the 21st they addressed a despatch to him in reply, stating that they had now fulfilled their original promise, for they hadheld out two months with food, and another month without food. If notsoon assisted, human strength could do no more; their malt cake wouldlast but four days, and after that was gone, there was nothing left butstarvation. Upon the same day, however, they received a letter, dictatedby the Prince, who now lay in bed at Rotterdam with a violent fever, assuring them that the dykes were all pierced, and that the water wasrising upon the "Land-Scheiding, " the great outer barrier which separatedthe city from the sea. He said nothing however of his own illness, whichwould have cast a deep shadow over the joy which now broke forth amongthe burghers. The letter was read publicly in the market-place, and to increase thecheerfulness, burgomaster Van der Werf, knowing the sensibility of hiscountrymen to music, ordered the city musicians to perambulate thestreets, playing lively melodies and martial airs. Salvos of cannon werelikewise fired, and the starving city for a brief space put on the aspectof a holiday, much to the astonishment of the besieging forces, who werenot yet aware of the Prince's efforts. They perceived very soon, however, as the water everywhere about Leyden had risen to the depth often inches, that they stood in a perilous position. It was no triflingdanger to be thus attacked by the waves of the ocean, which seemed aboutto obey with docility the command of William the Silent. Valdez becameanxious and uncomfortable at the strange aspect of affairs, for thebesieging army was now in its turn beleaguered, and by a stronger powerthan man's. He consulted with the most experienced of his officers, withthe country people, with the most distinguished among the Glippers, andderived encouragement from their views concerning the Prince's plan. They pronounced it utterly futile and hopeless: The Glippers knew thecountry well, and ridiculed the desperate project in unmeasured terms. Even in the city itself, a dull distrust had succeeded to the first vividgleam of hope, while the few royalists among the population boldlytaunted their fellow-citizens to their faces with the absurd vision ofrelief which they had so fondly welcomed. "Go up to the tower, yeBeggars, " was the frequent and taunting cry, "go up to the tower, andtell us if ye can see the ocean coming over the dry land to your relief"--and day after day they did go, up to the ancient tower of Hengist, withheavy heart and anxious eye, watching, hoping, praying, fearing, and atlast almost despairing of relief by God or man. On the 27th theyaddressed a desponding letter to the estates, complaining that the cityhad been forgotten in, its utmost need, and on the same day a prompt andwarm-hearted reply was received, in which the citizens were assured thatevery human effort was to be made for their relief. "Rather, " said theestates, "will we see our whole land and all our possessions perish inthe waves, than forsake thee, Leyden. We know full well, moreover, thatwith Leyden, all Holland must perish also. " They excused themselves fornot having more frequently written, upon the, ground that the wholemanagement of the measures for their relief had been entrusted to thePrince, by whom alone all the details had been administered, and all thecorrespondence conducted. The fever of the Prince had, meanwhile, reached its height. He lay atRotterdam, utterly prostrate in body, and with mind agitated nearly todelirium, by the perpetual and almost unassisted schemes which he wasconstructing. Relief, not only for Leyden, but for the whole country, now apparently sinking into the abyss, was the vision which he pursued ashe tossed upon his restless couch. Never was illness more unseasonable. His attendants were in despair, for it was necessary that his mind shouldfor a time be spared the agitation of business. The physicians whoattended him agreed, as to his disorder, only in this, that it was theresult of mental fatigue and melancholy, and could be cured only byremoving all distressing and perplexing subjects from his thoughts, butall the physicians in the world could not have succeeded in turning hisattention for an instant from the great cause of his country. Leydenlay, as it were, anxious and despairing at his feet, and it wasimpossible for him to close his ears to her cry. Therefore, from hissick bed he continued to dictate; words of counsel and encouragement tothe city; to Admiral Boisot, commanding, the fleet, minute directions andprecautions. Towards the end of August a vague report had found its wayinto his sick chamber that Leyden had fallen, and although he refused tocredit the tale, yet it served to harass his mind, and to heighten fever. Cornelius Van Mierop, Receiver General of Holland, had occasion to visithim at Rotterdam, and strange to relate, found the house almost deserted. Penetrating, unattended, to the Prince's bed-chamber, he found him lyingquite alone. Inquiring what had become, of all his attendants, he wasanswered by the Prince, in a very feeble voice, that he had sent them allaway. The Receiver-General seems, from this, to have rather hastilyarrived at the conclusion that the Prince's disorder was the pest, andthat his servants and friends had all deserted him from cowardice. This was very far from being the case. His private secretary and hismaitre d'hotel watched, day and night, by his couch, and the bestphysicians of the city were in constant attendance. By a singularaccident; all had been despatched on different errands, at the expressdesire of their master, but there had never been a suspicion that hisdisorder was the pest, or pestilential. Nerves of steel, and a frame ofadamant could alone have resisted the constant anxiety and the consumingfatigue to which he had so long been exposed. His illness had beenaggravated by the, rumor of Leyden's fall, a fiction which CorneliusMierop was now enabled flatly to contradict. The Prince began to mendfrom that hour. By the end of the first week of September, he wrotealong letter to his brother, assuring him of his convalescence, andexpressing, as usual; a calm confidence in the divine decrees--"God willordain for me, " said he, "all which is necessary for my good and mysalvation. He will load me with no more afflictions than the fragilityof this nature can sustain. " The preparations for the relief of Leyden, which, notwithstanding hisexertions, had grown slack during his sickness, were now vigorouslyresumed. On the 1st of September, Admiral Boisot arrived out of Zealandwith a small number of vessels, and with eight hundred veteran sailors. A wild and ferocious crew were those eight hundred Zealanders. Scarred, hacked, and even maimed, in the unceasing conflicts in which their liveshad passed; wearing crescents in their caps, with the inscription, "Rather Turkish than Popish;" renowned far and wide, as much for theirferocity as for their nautical skill; the appearance of these wildest ofthe "Sea-beggars" was both eccentric and terrific. They were known neverto give nor to take quarter, for they went to mortal combat only, and hadsworn to spare neither noble nor simple, neither king, kaiser, nor pope, should they fall into their power. More than two hundred-vessels had been assembled, carrying generally tenpieces of cannon, with from ten to eighteen oars, and manned with twenty-five hundred veterans, experienced both on land and water. The work wasnow undertaken in earnest. The distance from Leyden to the outer dyke, over whose ruins the ocean had already been admitted, was nearly fifteenmiles. This reclaimed territory, however, was not maintained against thesea by these external barriers alone. The flotilla made its way withease to the Land-Scheiding, a strong dyke within five miles of Leyden, but here its progress was arrested. The approach to the city wassurrounded by many strong ramparts, one within the other, by which it wasdefended against its ancient enemy, the ocean, precisely like thecircumvallations by means of which it was now assailed by its more recentenemy, the Spaniard. To enable the fleet, however, to sail over theland; it was necessary to break through this two fold series of defences. Between the Land-Scheiding and Leyden were several dykes, which kept outthe water; upon the level, were many villages, together with a chain ofsixty-two forts, which completely occupied the land. All these Villagesand fortresses were held by the veteran, troops of the King; thebesieging force, being about four times as strong as that which wascoming to the rescue. The Prince had given orders that the Land-Scheiding, which was still one-and-a-half foot above water, should be taken possession of; at everyhazard. On the night of the 10th and 11th of September this wasaccomplished; by surprise; and in a masterly manner. The few Spaniardswho had been stationed upon the dyke were all, despatched or driven off, and the patriots fortified themselves upon it, without the loss of a man. As the day dawned the Spaniards saw the fatal error which they hadcommitted in leaving thus bulwark so feebly defended, and from twovillages which stood close to the dyke, the troops now rushedinconsiderable force to recover what they had lost. A hot actionsucceeded, but the patriots had too securely established themselves. They completely defeated the enemy, who retired, leaving hundreds ofdead on the field, and the patriots in complete possession of the Land-scheiding. This first action was sanguinary and desperate. It gave aearnest of what these people, who came to relieve; their brethren, bysacrificing their, property and their lives; were determined to effect. It gave a revolting proof, too, of the intense hatred which nerved theirarms. A Zealander; having struck down a Spaniard on the dyke, knelt onhis bleeding enemy, tore his heart from his bosom; fastened his teeth init for an instant, and then threw it to a dog, with the exclamation, "'Tis too bitter. " The Spanish heart was, however, rescued, and kept foryears, with the marks of the soldier's teeth upon it, a sad testimonialof the ferocity engendered by this war for national existence. The great dyke having been thus occupied, no time was lost in breaking itthrough in several places, a work which was accomplished under the veryeyes of the enemy. The fleet sailed through the gaps, but, after theirpassage had been effected in good order, the Admiral found, to hissurprise, that it was not the only rampart to be carried. The Prince hadbeen informed, by those who claimed to know, the country, that, when oncethe Land-scheiding had been passed, the water would flood the country. As far as Leyden, but the "Green-way, " another long dyke three-quartersof a mile farther inward, now rose at least a foot above the water, tooppose their further progress. Fortunately, by, a second and still moreculpable carelessness, this dyke had been left by the Spaniards in asunprotected a state as the first had been, Promptly and audaciouslyAdmiral Boisot took possession of this barrier also, levelled it in manyplaces, and brought his flotilla, in triumph, over its ruins. Again, however, he was doomed to disappointment. A large mere, called theFreshwater Lake, was known to extend itself directly in his path aboutmidway between the Land-scheiding and the city. To this piece of water, into which he expected to have instantly floated, his only passage laythrough one deep canal. The sea which had thus far borne him on, nowdiffusing itself over a very wide surface, and under the influence of anadverse wind, had become too shallow for his ships. The canal alone wasdeep enough, but it led directly towards a bridge, strongly occupied bythe enemy. Hostile troops, moreover, to the amount of three thousandoccupied both sides of the canal. The bold Boisot, nevertheless, determined to force his passage, if possible. Selecting a few of hisstrongest vessels, his heaviest artillery, and his bravest sailors, heled the van himself, in a desperate attempt to make his way to the mere. He opened a hot fire upon the bridge, then converted into a fortress, while his men engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a succession ofskirmishers from the troops along the canal. After losing a few men, and ascertaining the impregnable position of the enemy, he was obligedto withdraw, defeated, and almost despairing. A week had elapsed since the great dyke had been pierced, and theflotilla now lay motionless--in shallow water, having accomplished lessthan two miles. The wind, too, was easterly, causing the sea rather tosink than to rise. Everything wore a gloomy aspect, when, fortunately, on the 18th, the wind shifted to the north-west, and for three days blewa gale. The waters rose rapidly, and before the second day was closedthe armada was afloat again. Some fugitives from Zoetermeer village nowarrived, and informed the Admiral that, by making a detour to the right, he could completely circumvent the bridge and the mere. They guided him, accordingly, to a comparatively low dyke, which led between the villagesof Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen: A strong force of Spaniards was stationedin each place, but, seized with a panic, instead of sallying to defendthe barrier, they fled inwardly towards Leyden, and halted at the villageof North Aa. It was natural that they should be amazed. Nothing is moreappalling to the imagination than the rising ocean tide, when man feelshimself within its power; and here were the waters, hourly deepening andclosing around them, devouring the earth beneath their feet, while on thewaves rode a flotilla, manned by a determined race; whose courage andferocity were known throughout the world. The Spanish soldiers, brave asthey were on land, were not sailors, and in the naval contests which hadtaken place between them and the Hollanders had been almost invariablydefeated. It was not surprising, in these amphibious skirmishes, wherediscipline was of little avail, and habitual audacity faltered at thevague dangers which encompassed them, that the foreign troops should losetheir presence of mind. Three barriers, one within the other, had now been passed, and theflotilla, advancing with the advancing waves, and driving the enemysteadily before it, was drawing nearer to the beleaguered city. As onecircle after another was passed, the besieging army found itselfcompressed within a constantly contracting field. The "Ark of Delft, " anenormous vessel, with shot-proof bulwarks, and moved by paddle-wheelsturned by a crank, now arrived at Zoetermeer, and was soon followed bythe whole fleet. After a brief delay, sufficient to allow the fewremaining villagers to escape, both Zoetermeer and Benthuyzen, with thefortifications, were set on fire, and abandoned to their fate. The blazelighted up the desolate and watery waste around, and was seen at Leyden, where it was hailed as the beacon of hope. Without further impediment, the armada proceeded to North Aa; the enemy retreating from this positionalso, and flying to Zoeterwoude, a strongly fortified village but a mileand three quarters from the city walls. It was now swarming with troops, for the bulk of the besieging army had gradually been driven into anarrow circle of forts, within the immediate neighbourhood of Leyden. Besides Zoeterwoude, the two posts where they were principallyestablished were Lammen and Leyderdorp, each within three hundred rods ofthe town. At Leyderdorp were the head-quarters of Valdez; Colonel Borgiacommanded in the very strong fortress of Lammen. The fleet was, however, delayed at North Aa by another barrier, calledthe "Kirk-way. " The waters, too, spreading once more over a wider space, and diminishing under an east wind, which had again arisen, no longerpermitted their progress, so that very soon the whole armada was strandedanew. The, waters fell to the depth of nine inches; while the vesselsrequired eighteen and twenty. Day after day the fleet lay motionlessupon. The shallow sea. Orange, rising from his sick bed as soon as hecould stand, now came on board the fleet. His presence diffuseduniversal joy; his words inspired his desponding army with fresh hope. He rebuked the impatient spirits who, weary of their compulsory idleness, had shown symptoms of ill-timed ferocity, and those eight hundred madZealanders, so frantic in their hatred to the foreigners, who had so longprofaned their land, were as docile as children to the Prince. Hereconnoitred the whole ground, and issued orders for the immediatedestruction of the Kirkway, the last important barrier which separatedthe fleet from Leyden. Then, after a long conference with AdmiralBoisot, he returned to Delft. Meantime, the besieged city was at its last gasp. The burghers had beenin a state of uncertainty for many days; being aware that the fleet hadset forth for their relief, but knowing full well the thousand obstacleswhich it, had to surmount. They had guessed its progress by theillumination from, the blazing villages; they had heard its salvos ofartillery, on its arrival at North Aa; but since then, all had been darkand mournful again, hope and fear, in sickening alternation, distractingevery breast. They knew that the wind was unfavorable, and at the dawnof each day every eye was turned wistfully to the vanes of the, steeples. So long as the easterly breeze prevailed, they felt, as they anxiouslystood on towers and housetops; that they must look in vain for thewelcome ocean. Yet, while thus patiently waiting, they were literallystarving; for even the misery endured at Harlem had not reached thatdepth and intensity of agony to which Leyden was now reduced. Bread, malt-cake, horseflesh, had entirely disappeared; dogs, cats, rats, andother vermin, were esteemed luxuries: A small number of cows, kept aslong as possible, for their milk, still remained; but a few were killedfrom day to day; and distributed in minute proportions, hardly sufficientto support life among the famishing population. Starving wretchesswarmed daily around the shambles where these cattle were slaughtered, contending for any morsel which might fall, and lapping eagerly the bloodas it ran along the pavement; while the hides; chopped and boiled, weregreedily devoured. Women and children, all day long, were seen searchinggutters and dunghills for morsels of food, which they disputed fiercelywith the famishing dogs. The green leaves were stripped from the trees, every living herb was converted into human food, but these expedientscould not avert starvation. The daily mortality was frightful infantsstarved to death on the maternal breasts, which famine had parched andwithered; mothers dropped dead in the streets, with their dead childrenin their arms. In many a house the watchmen, in their rounds, found awhole family of corpses, father, mother, and children, side by side, fora disorder called the plague, naturally engendered of hardship andfamine, now came, as if in kindness, to abridge the agony of the people. The pestilence stalked at noonday through the city, and the doomedinhabitants fell like grass beneath its scythe. From six thousand toeight thousand human beings sank before this scourge alone, yet thepeople resolutely held out--women and men mutually encouraging each otherto resist the entrance of their foreign foe--an evil more horrible thanpest or famine. The missives from Valdez, who saw more vividly than the besieged coulddo, the uncertainty of his own position, now poured daily into the city, the enemy becoming more prodigal of his vows, as he felt that the oceanmight yet save the victims from his grasp. The inhabitants, in theirignorance, had gradually abandoned their hopes of relief, but theyspurned the summons to surrender. Leyden was sublime in its despair. Afew murmurs were, however, occasionally heard at the steadfastness of themagistrates, and a dead body was placed at the door of the burgomaster, as a silent witness against his inflexibility. A party of the morefaint-hearted even assailed the heroic Adrian Van der Werf with threatsand reproaches as he passed through the streets. A crowd had gatheredaround him, as he reached a triangular place in the centre of the town, into which many of the principal streets emptied themselves, and upon oneside of which stood the church of Saint Pancras, with its high bricktower surmounted by two pointed turrets, and with two ancient lime treesat its entrance. There stood the burgomaster, a tall, haggard, imposingfigure, with dark visage, and a tranquil but commanding eye. He wavedhis broadleaved felt hat for silence, and then exclaimed, in languagewhich has been almost literally preserved, What would ye, my friends?Why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the city tothe Spaniards? a fate more horrible than the agony which she now endures. I tell you I have made an oath to hold the city, and may God give mestrength to keep my oath! I can die but once; whether by your hands, theenemy's, or by the hand of God. My own fate is indifferent to me, not sothat of the city intrusted to my care. I know that we shall starve ifnot soon relieved; but starvation is preferable to the dishonored deathwhich is the only alternative. Your menaces move me not; my life is atyour disposal; here is my sword, plunge it into my breast, and divide myflesh among you. Take my body to appease your hunger, but expect nosurrender, so long as I remain alive. The words of the stout burgomaster inspired a new courage in the heartsof those who heard him, and a shout of applause and defiance arose fromthe famishing but enthusiastic crowd. They left the place, afterexchanging new vows of fidelity with their magistrate, and again ascendedtower and battlement to watch for the coming fleet. From the rampartsthey hurled renewed defiance at the enemy. "Ye call us rat-eaters anddog-eaters, " they cried, "and it is true. So long, then, as ye hear dogbark or cat mew within the walls, ye may know that the city holds out. And when all has perished but ourselves, be sure that we will each devourour left arms, retaining our right to defend our women, our liberty, andour religion, against the foreign tyrant. Should God, in his wrath, doomus to destruction, and deny us all relief, even then will we maintainourselves for ever against your entrance. When the last hour has come, with our own hands we will set fire to the city and perish, men, women, and children together in the flames, rather than suffer our homes to bepolluted and our liberties to be crushed. " Such words of defiance, thundered daily from the battlements, sufficiently informed Valdez as tohis chance of conquering the city, either by force or fraud, but at thesame time, he felt comparatively relieved by the inactivity of Boisot'sfleet, which still lay stranded at North Aa. "As well, " shouted theSpaniards, derisively, to the citizens, "as well can the Prince of Orangepluck the stars from the sky as bring the ocean to the walls of Leydenfor your relief. " On the 28th of September, a dove flew into the city, bringing a letterfrom Admiral Boisot. In this despatch, the position of the fleet atNorth Aa was described in encouraging terms, and the inhabitants wereassured that, in a very few days at furthest, the long-expected reliefwould enter their gates. The letter was read publicly upon the market-place, and the bells were rung for joy. Nevertheless, on the morrow, thevanes pointed to the east, the waters, so far from rising, continued tosink, and Admiral Boisot was almost in despair. He wrote to the Prince, that if the spring-tide, now to be expected, should not, together with astrong and favorable wind, come immediately to their relief, it would bein pain to attempt anything further, and that the expedition would, ofnecessity, be abandoned. The tempest came to their relief. A violentequinoctial gale, on the night of the 1st and 2nd of October, camestorming from the north-west, shifting after a few hours full eightpoints, and then blowing still more violently from the south-west. Thewaters of the North Sea were piled in vast masses upon the southern coastof Holland, and then dashed furiously landward, the ocean rising over theearth, and sweeping with unrestrained power across the ruined dykes. In the course of twenty-four hours, the fleet at North Aa, instead ofnine inches, had more than two feet of water. No time was lost. TheKirk-way, which had been broken through according to the Prince'sinstructions, was now completely overflowed, and the fleet sailed atmidnight, in the midst of the storm and darkness. A few sentinel vesselsof the enemy challenged them as they steadily rowed towards Zoeterwoude. The answer was a flash from Boisot's cannon; lighting up the black wasteof waters. There was a fierce naval midnight battle; a strange spectacleamong the branches of those quiet orchards, and with the chimney stacksof half-submerged farmhouses rising around the contending vessels. The neighboring village of Zoeterwoude shook with the discharges of theZealanders' cannon, and the Spaniards assembled in that fortress knewthat the rebel Admiral was at last, afloat and on his course. Theenemy's vessels were soon sunk, their crews hurled into the waves. On went the fleet, sweeping over the broad waters which lay betweenZoeterwoude and Zwieten. As they approached some shallows, which ledinto the great mere, the Zealanders dashed into the sea, and with sheerstrength shouldered every vessel through. Two obstacles lay still intheir path--the forts of Zoeterwoude and Lammen, distant from the cityfive hundred and two hundred and fifty yards respectively. Strongredoubts, both well supplied with troops and artillery, they were likelyto give a rough reception to the light flotilla, but the panic; which hadhitherto driven their foes before the advancing patriots; had reachedZoeterwoude. Hardly was the fleet in sight when the Spaniards in theearly morning, poured out from the fortress, and fled precipitately tothe left, along a road which led in a westerly direction towards theHague. Their narrow path was rapidly vanishing in the waves, andhundreds sank beneath the constantly deepening and treacherous flood. The wild Zealanders, too, sprang from their vessels upon the crumblingdyke and drove their retreating foes into the sea. They hurled theirharpoons at them, with an accuracy acquired in many a polar chase; theyplunged into the waves in the keen pursuit, attacking them with boat-hookand dagger. The numbers who thus fell beneath these corsairs, whoneither gave nor took quarter, were never counted, but probably not lessthan a thousand perished. The rest effected their escape to the Hague. The first fortress was thus seized, dismantled, set on fire, and passed, and a few strokes of the oars brought the whole fleet close to Lammen. This last obstacle rose formidable and frowning directly across theirpath. Swarming as it was with soldiers, and bristling with artillery, it seemed to defy the armada either to carry it by storm or to pass underits guns into the city. It appeared that the enterprise was, after all, to founder within sight of the long expecting and expected haven. Boisotanchored his fleet within a respectful distance, and spent what remainedof the day in carefully reconnoitring the fort, which seemed only toostrong. In conjunction with Leyderdorp, the head-quarters of Valdez, amile and a half distant on the right, and within a mile of the city, itseemed so insuperable an impediment that Boisot wrote in despondent toneto the Prince of Orange. He announced his intention of carrying thefort, if it were possible, on the following morning, but if obliged toretreat, he observed, with something like despair, that there would benothing for it but to wait for another gale of wind. If the watersshould rise sufficiently to enable them to make a wide detour, it mightbe possible, if, in the meantime, Leyden did not starve or surrender, toenter its gates from the opposite side. Meantime, the citizens had grown wild with expectation. A dove had beendespatched by Boisot, informing them of his precise position, and anumber of citizens accompanied the burgomaster, at nightfall, toward thetower of Hengist. Yonder, cried the magistrate, stretching out his handtowards Lammen, "yonder, behind that fort, are bread and meat, andbrethren in thousands. Shall all this be destroyed by the Spanish guns, or shall we rush to the rescue of our friends?"--"We will tear thefortress to fragments with our teeth and nails, " was the reply, "beforethe relief, so long expected, shall be wrested from us. " It was resolvedthat a sortie, in conjunction with the operations of Boisot, should bemade against Lammen with the earliest dawn. Night descended upon thescene, a pitch dark night, full of anxiety to the Spaniards, to thearmada, to Leyden. Strange sights and sounds occurred at differentmoments to bewilder the anxious sentinels. A long procession of lightsissuing from the fort was seen to flit across the black face of thewaters, in the dead of night, and the whole of the city wall, between theCow-gate and the Tower of Burgundy, fell with a loud crash. The horror-struck citizens thought that the Spaniards were upon them at last; theSpaniards imagined the noise to indicate, a desperate sortie of thecitizens. Everything was vague and mysterious. Day dawned, at length, after the feverish, night, and, the Admiralprepared for the assault. Within the fortress reigned a death-likestillness, which inspired a sickening suspicion. Had the city, indeed, been carried in the night; had the massacre already commenced; had allthis labor and audacity been expended in vain? Suddenly a man wasdescried, wading breast-high through the water from Lammen towards thefleet, while at the same time, one solitary boy was seen to wave his capfrom the summit of the fort. After a moment of doubt, the happy mysterywas solved. The Spaniards had fled, panic struck, during the darkness. Their position would still have enabled them, with firmness, to frustratethe enterprise of the patriots, but the hand of God, which had sent theocean and the tempest to the deliverance of Leyden, had struck herenemies with terror likewise. The lights which had been seen movingduring the night were the lanterns of the retreating Spaniards, and theboy who was now waving his triumphant signal from the battlements hadalone witnessed the spectacle. So confident was he in the conclusion towhich it led him, that he had volunteered at daybreak to go thither allalone. The magistrates, fearing a trap, hesitated for a moment tobelieve the truth, which soon, however, became quite evident. Valdez, flying himself from Leyderdorp, had ordered Colonel Borgia to retire withall his troops from Lammen. Thus, the Spaniards had retreated at thevery moment that an extraordinary accident had laid bare a whole side ofthe city for their entrance. The noise of the wall, as it fell, onlyinspired them with fresh alarm for they believed that the citizens hadsallied forth in the darkness, to aid the advancing flood in the work ofdestruction. All obstacles being now removed, the fleet of Boisot sweptby Lammen, and entered the city on the morning of the 3rd of October. Leyden was relieved. The quays were lined with the famishing population, as the fleet rowedthrough the canals, every human being who could stand, coming forth togreet the preservers of the city. Bread was thrown from every vesselamong the crowd. The poor creatures who, for two months had tasted nowholesome human food, and who had literally been living within the jawsof death, snatched eagerly the blessed gift, at last too liberallybestowed. Many choked themselves to death, in the greediness with whichthey devoured their bread; others became ill with the effects of plentythus suddenly succeeding starvation; but these were isolated cases, arepetition of which was prevented. The Admiral, stepping ashore, waswelcomed by the magistracy, and a solemn procession was immediatelyformed. Magistrates and citizens, wild Zealanders, emaciated burgherguards, sailors, soldiers, women, children, nearly every living personwithin the walls, all repaired without delay to the great church, stoutAdmiral Boisot leading the way. The starving and heroic city, which hadbeen so firm in its resistance to an earthly king, now bent itself inhumble gratitude before the King of kings. After prayers, the whole vastcongregation joined in the thanksgiving hymn. Thousands of voices raisedthe-song, but few were able to carry it to its conclusion, for theuniversal emotion, deepened by the music, became too full for utterance. The hymn was abruptly suspended, while the multitude wept like children. This scene of honest pathos terminated; the necessary measures fordistributing the food and for relieving the sick were taken by themagistracy. A note dispatched to the Prince of Orange, was received byhim at two o'clock, as he sat in church at Delft. It was of a somewhatdifferent purport from that of the letter which he had received early inthe same day from Boisot; the letter in which the admiral had, informedhim that the success of the enterprise depended; after-all, upon thedesperate assault upon a nearly impregnable fort. The joy of the Princemay be easily imagined, and so soon as the sermon was concluded; hehanded the letter just received to the minister, to be read to thecongregation. Thus, all participated in his joy, and united with him inthanksgiving. The next day, notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of his friends, whowere anxious lest his life should be endangered by breathing, in hisscarcely convalescent state; the air of the city where so many thousandshad been dying of the pestilence, the Prince repaired to Leyden. He, atleast, had never doubted his own or his country's fortitude. They could, therefore, most sincerely congratulate each other, now that the victoryhad been achieved. "If we are doomed to perish, " he had said a littlebefore the commencement of the siege, "in the name of God, be it so! Atany rate, we shall have the honor to have done what no nation ever, didbefore us, that of having defended and maintained ourselves, unaided, inso small a country, against the tremendous efforts of such powerfulenemies. So long as the poor inhabitants here, though deserted by allthe world, hold firm, it will still cost the Spaniards the half of Spain, in money and in men, before they can make an end of us. " The termination of the terrible siege of Leyden was a convincing proof tothe Spaniards that they had not yet made an end of the Hollanders. Itfurnished, also, a sufficient presumption that until they had made an endof them, even unto the last Hollander, there would never be an end of thestruggle in which they were engaged. It was a slender consolation to theGovernor-General, that his troops had been vanquished, not by the enemy, but by the ocean. An enemy whom the ocean obeyed with such docilitymight well be deemed invincible by man. In the head-quarters of Valdez, at Leyderdorp, many plans of Leyden and the neighbourhood were foundlying in confusion about the room. Upon the table was a hurried farewellof that General to the scenes of his, discomfiture, written in a Latinworthy of Juan Vargas: "Vale civitas, valete castelli parvi, qui relictiestis propter aquam et non per vim inimicorum!" In his precipitateretreat before the advancing rebels, the Commander had but just foundtime for this elegant effusion, and, for his parting instructions toColonel Borgia that the fortress of Lammen was to be forthwith abandoned. These having been reduced to writing, Valdez had fled so speedily as togive rise to much censure and more scandal. He was even accused ofhaving been bribed by the Hollanders to desert his post, a tale whichmany repeated, and a few believed. On the 4th of October, the dayfollowing that on which the relief of the city was effected, the windshifted to the north-east, and again blew a tempest. It was as if thewaters, having now done their work, had been rolled back to the ocean byan Omnipotent hand, for in the course of a few days, the land was bareagain, and the work of reconstructing the dykes commenced. After a brief interval of repose, Leyden had regained its formerposition. The Prince, with advice of the estates, had granted the city, as a reward for its sufferings, a ten days' annual fair, without tolls ortaxes, and as a further manifestation of the gratitude entertained bythe people of Holland and Zealand for the heroism of the citizens, it wasresolved that an academy or university should be forthwith establishedwithin their walls. The University of Leyden, afterwards so illustrious, was thus founded in the very darkest period of the country's struggle. The university was endowed with a handsome revenue, principally derivedfrom the ancient abbey of Egmont, and was provided with a number ofprofessors, selected for their genius, learning, and piety among all themost distinguished scholars of the Netherlands. The document by whichthe institution was founded was certainly a masterpiece of ponderousirony, for as the fiction of the King's sovereignty was still maintained, Philip was gravely made to establish the university, as a reward toLeyden for rebellion to himself. "Considering, " said this wonderfulcharter, "that during these present wearisome wars within our provincesof Holland and Zealand, all good instruction of youth in the sciences andliberal arts is likely to come into entire oblivion. . . . . Consideringthe differences of religion--considering that we are inclined to gratifyour city of Leyden, with its burghers, on account of the heavy burthenssustained by them during this war with such faithfulness--we haveresolved, after ripely deliberating with our dear cousin, William, Princeof Orange, stadholder, to erect a free public school and university, "etc. , etc. , etc. So ran the document establishing this famous academy, all needful regulations for the government and police of the institutionbeing entrusted by Philip to his "above-mentioned dear cousin of Orange. " The university having been founded, endowed, and supplied with its, teachers, it was solemnly consecrated in the following winter, and it isagreeable to contemplate this scene of harmless pedantry, interposed, asit was, between the acts of the longest and dreariest tragedy of moderntime. On the 5th of February, 1575, the city of Leyden, so lately thevictim of famine and pestilence, had crowned itself with flowers. Atseven in the morning, after a solemn religious celebration in the Churchof St. Peter, a grand procession was formed. It was preceded by amilitary escort, consisting of the burgher militia and the five companiesof infantry stationed in the city. Then came, drawn by four horses, asplendid triumphal chariot, on which sat a female figure, arrayed insnow-white garments. This was the Holy Gospel. She was attended by theFour Evangelists, who walked on foot at each side of her chariot. Nextfollowed Justice, with sword and scales, mounted; blindfold, upon aunicorn, while those learned doctors, Julian, Papinian, Ulpian, andTribonian, rode on either side, attended by two lackeys and four men atarms. After these came Medicine, on horseback, holding in one hand atreatise of the healing art, in the other a garland of drugs. Thecurative goddess rode between the four eminent physicians, Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, and Theophrastus, and was attended by two footmen andfour pike-bearers. Last of the allegorical personages came Minerva, prancing in complete steel, with lance in rest, and bearing her Medusashield. Aristotle and Plato, Cicero and Virgil, all on horseback, withattendants in antique armor at their back, surrounded the daughter ofJupiter, while the city band, discoursing eloquent music from hautboy andviol, came upon the heels of the allegory. Then followed the mace-bearers and other officials, escorting the orator of the day, the newly-appointed professors and doctors, the magistrates and dignitaries, andthe body of the citizens generally completing the procession. Marshalled in this order, through triumphal arches, and over a pavementstrewed with flowers, the procession moved slowly up and down thedifferent streets, and along the quiet canals of the city. As it reachedthe Nuns' Bridge, a barge of triumph, gorgeously decorated, came floatingslowly down the sluggish Rhine. Upon its deck, under a canopy enwreathedwith laurels and oranges, and adorned with tapestry, sat Apollo, attendedby the Nine Muses, all in classical costume; at the helm stood Neptunewith his trident. The Muses executed some beautiful concerted pieces;Apollo twanged his lute. Having reached the landing-place, thisdeputation from Parnassus stepped on shore, and stood awaiting thearrival of the procession. Each professor, as he advanced, was gravelyembraced and kissed by Apollo and all the Nine Muses in turn, who greetedtheir arrival besides with the recitation of an elegant Latin poem. Thisclassical ceremony terminated, the whole procession marched together tothe cloister of Saint Barbara, the place prepared for the new university, where they listened to an eloquent oration by the Rev. Caspar Kolhas, after which they partook of a magnificent banquet. With this memorablefeast, in the place where famine had so lately reigned, the ceremonieswere concluded. 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