ties, and
surrendered themselves to Lewis Naerden, a place within three leagues of
Amsterdam, was seized by the marquis of Rochfort; and had he pushed on
to Muyden, he had easily gotten possession of it. Fourteen stragglers of
his army having appeared before the gates of that town, the magistrates
sent them the keys; but a servant maid, who was alone in the castle,
having raised the drawbridge, kept them from taking possession of that
fortress. The magistrates afterwards, finding the party so weak, made
them drunk, and took the keys from them. Muyden is so near to Amsterdam,
thai its cannon may infest the ships which enter that city.

Lewis with a splendid court made a solemn entry into Utrecht, full of
glory, because every where attended with success; though more owing to
the cowardice and misconduct of his enemies, than to his own valor
or prudence. Three provinces were already in his hands, Guelderland,
Overyssel, and Utrecht; Groninghen was threatened; Friezeland was
exposed: the only difficulty lay in Holland and Zealand; and the monarch
deliberated concerning the proper measures for reducing them. Conde
and Turenne exhorted him to dismantle all the towns which he had taken,
except a few; and fortifying his main army by the garrisons, put himself
in a condition of pushing his conquests. Louvois, hoping that the other
provinces, weak and dismayed, would prove an easy prey, advised him to
keep possession of places which might afterwards serve to retain the
people in subjection. His counsel was followed though it was found, soon
after, to have been the most impolitic.

Meanwhile the people throughout the republic, instead of collecting a
noble indignation against the haughty conqueror discharged their rage
upon their own unhappy minister, on whose prudence and integrity every
one formerly bestowed the merited applause. The bad condition of the
armies was laid to his charge: the ill choice of governors was ascribed
to his partiality: as instances of cowardice multiplied, treachery was
suspected; and his former connections with France being remembered, the
populace believed, that he and his partisans had now combined to betray
them to their most mortal enemy. The prince of Orange, notwithstanding
his youth and inexperience, was looked on as the only savior of the
state; and men were violently driven by their fears into his party, to
which they had always been led by favor and inclination.

Amsterdam alone seemed to re