ere
sent to the emperor to sue for forgiveness. Without granting any terms
to the rebels, he imperiously demanded that the gates should be opened.
His command was obeyed, and the Spanish army marched into the town. The
Duke of Alva suggested that the entire city should be destroyed; but
Charles satisfied himself with beheading fourteen of the ringleaders of
the rebellion, and confiscating their property. The principal officers
of the city were ordered to appear before the emperor barefoot and
bare-headed, clothed in black gowns, and with halters around their
necks. They were compelled to sue for pardon on their knees. As an
additional penalty, the magistrates were forbidden to appear in public
without a halter on their necks, as a badge of their ignominy. The rope
was worn; but, in the lapse of time, it became a silken cord, tied in a
true-lover's knot, and was regarded as an ornament which the magistrate
could not dispense with.

"In 1570, when the people attempted to shake off the Spanish rule, the
citadel or fortress at the Porte d'Anvers (which has been demolished)
was besieged by the Prince of Orange. It was gallantly defended by the
Spaniards for a long time; but, at last, three thousand of the burghers
of Ghent, clothed in white shirts as a distinguishing mark, assaulted
the citadel. Their scaling-ladders were not long enough, and the attack
failed. On the following day, while preparations were in progress to
renew the attack, the Spaniards capitulated. When suitable terms had
been agreed upon, the garrison, only one hundred and fifty in number,
marched out under the command of a woman. It appeared then that the
governor of the fortress was absent, and that the Spaniards had been
commanded, during the protracted siege, by his wife."

This was rather a long speech to be made in the public square; but the
boys, interested in the professor's remarks, gathered closely around
him; and it is not probable that many of the Ghenters who had been
attracted to the square by the unwonted scene understood a word that was
said. The carriages next proceeded to the Beguinage, a kind of convent
or nunnery. The establishment is a little town by itself, with streets,
squares, and gates, and is surrounded by a wall and moat. In the centre
there is a church. The houses are occupied by the Beguines, a sisterhood
of nuns in Belgium which has six thousand members. They are bound by no
vows, as ordinary nuns are, and may therefore retur