alities
of the castle as he passed on his way. A considerable number of armed men
had been concealed in the woods and thickets of the neighbourhood. The
Seigneur de Froymont, suspecting nothing, acceded to the propriety of the
suggestion made by the Berlaymonts. Meantime, with a blast of his horn,
Don John appeared at the castle gate. He entered the fortress with the
castellan, while one of the gentlemen watched outside, as the ambushed
soldiers came toiling up the precipice. When all was ready the gentleman
returned to the hall, and made a signal to Don John, as he sat at
breakfast with the constable. The Governor sprang from the table and drew
his sword; Berlaymont and his four sons drew their pistols, while at the
same instant, the soldiers entered. Don John, exclaiming that this was
the first day of his government, commanded the castellan to surrender. De
Froymont, taken by surprise, and hardly understanding this very
melo-dramatic attack upon a citadel by its own lawful governor, made not
much difficulty in complying. He was then turned out of doors, along with
his garrison, mostly feeble old men and invalids. The newly arrived
soldiers took their places, at command of the Governor, and the
stronghold of Namur was his own.

There was little doubt that the representative of Philip had a perfect
right to possess himself of any fortress within his government; there
could be as little that the sudden stratagem by which he had thus made
himself master of this citadel would prove offensive to the estates,
while it could hardly be agreeable to the King; and yet it is not certain
that he could have accomplished his purpose in any other way. Moreover,
the achievement was one of a projected series by which he meant to
re-vindicate his dwindling authority. He was weary of playing the
hypocrite, and convinced that he and his monarch were both abhorred by
the Netherlanders. Peace was impossible--war was forbidden him. Reduced
almost to a nullity by the Prince of Orange, it was time for him to make
a stand, and in this impregnable fastness his position at least was a
good one. Many months before, the Prince of Orange had expressed his
anxious desire that this most important town and citadel should be
secured-for the estates. "You know," he had written to Bossu in December,
"the evil and the dismay which the loss of the city and fortress of Namur
would occasion to us. Let me beseech you that all possible care be taken
to preserve