siege
proceeded. The gates of Bois-le-Duc and Tongres having thus far resisted
the force brought against them, the scene was changed to the gate of
Brussels. This adjoined that of Tongres, was farthest from the river, and
faced westwardly towards the open country. Here the besieged had
constructed an additional ravelin, which they had christened, in
derision, "Parma," and against which the batteries of Parma were now
brought to bear. Alexander erected a platform of great extent and
strength directly opposite the new work, and after a severe and constant
cannonade from this elevation, followed by a bloody action, the "Parma"
fort was carried. One thousand, at least, of the defenders fell, as,
forced gradually from one defence to another, they saw the triple walls
of their ravelin crumble successively before their eyes. The tower was
absolutely annihilated before they abandoned its ruins, and retired
within their last defences. Alexander being now master of the fosa and
the defences of the Brussels gate, drew up a large force on both aides of
that portal, along the margin of the moat, and began mining beneath the
inner wall of the city.

Meantime, the garrison had been reduced to four hundred soldiers, nearly
all of whom were wounded: wearied and driven to despair, these soldiers
were willing to treat. The townspeople, however, answered the proposition
with a shout of fury, and protested that they would destroy the garrison
with their own hands if such an insinuation were repeated. Sebastian
Tappin, too, encouraged them with the hope of speedy relief, and held out
to them the wretched consequences of trusting to the mercy of their foes.
The garrison took heart again, while that of the burghers and their wives
had, never faltered. Their main hope now was in a fortification which
they had been constructing inside the Brussels gate--a demilune of
considerable strength. Behind it was a breastwork of turf and masonry, to
serve as a last bulwark when every other defence should be forced. The
whole had been surrounded by a foss thirty feet in depth, and the
besiegers, as they mounted upon the breaches which they had at last
effected in the outer curtain, near the Brussels gate, saw for the first
time this new fortification.

The general condition of the defences, and the disposition of the
inhabitants, had been revealed to Alexander by a deserter from the town.
Against this last fortress the last efforts of the foe were now dir