erance
up to the present time.

"As a reward for their bravery and dogged perseverance, the prince gave
them the choice of a university or exemption from a portion of their
taxes. They chose the former, and the University of Leyden was the
result."

After a hasty walk to a few of the points of interest in the town, the
journey was resumed, and in twenty minutes the party was set down in
Harlem. In the _Groote Kerk_ of St. Bavon, they listened to the playing
of another great organ, including imitations of bells, and the _vox
humana_, or "_nux vomica_," as some of the students persisted in calling
it. Harlem is famous for its hyacinths and tulips, the passion for which
grew out of the great _tulip mania_, two hundred years ago, when single
cuttings of these bulbs were sold for four thousand florins, and even at
higher prices. They are raised not only in gardens, but in fields
hundreds of acres in extent; for they are a very important article of
commerce, the gardens of Europe being supplied from this vicinity.

Harlem resisted the Spaniards with the same vigor and determination that
distinguished Leyden, though with a less fortunate result; and Mr. Mapps
was too glad to tell the exciting story. The town held out till
starvation was inevitable, when it was decided by the brave defenders to
form in a body around their women and children, and fight their way
through the enemy. The Spaniards, hearing of this scheme, sent in a flag
of truce, offering pardon and freedom, if the town and fifty-seven of
the chief citizens should be given up. This number of the principal men
volunteered to be the sacrifice, and the terms were accepted; but the
bloodthirsty Duke of Alva, having first murdered the fifty-seven
citizens, entered upon an indiscriminate massacre of the people, of whom
two thousand were slain. When the executioners were weary with the
slaughter, the victims were bound together in couples, and thrown into
the Lake of Harlem. Four years later, the town fell into the hands of
the Dutch again.

After the professor had finished the siege of Harlem, the party walked
along the Spaarne to the machinery used for draining the low land
formerly covered by the lake. This territory, three hundred years ago,
was dry land; but an inundation gave it over to the dominion of the sea.
About twenty-five years ago, the States General of Holland undertook to
drain it, by forming a double dike and canal entirely around the
district, thirt