urther payments. The enormous demands determined
on were firmly and with iron obstinacy insisted upon; and as the
refractory town did not cease to oppose them, recourse was had to
threats to intimidate her. Tarred rings were hung against the
houses, and it was sworn to lay the town in ashes if Leipsic did not
immediately pay the million of dollars demanded. But the unfortunate
inhabitants had already reached that pitch of desperation at which
people are prepared for any thing, and fear nothing further because
there is nothing more to lose. They declared that they could pay no
more, and offered to seal their word with their death.

The tarred rings were indeed taken down from the houses, but the
richest and most respectable inhabitants were seized and incarcerated.
Even the authorities were not spared, and the officers of the Council
were thrown into the prisons of the towns. In the most degrading
manner, like a flock of sheep, they were shut up in spaces hardly able
to contain them; damp straw was their bed, bread and water their only
nourishment, and this was brought to them with words of cruel insult
by their Prussian jailers. But to these latter the burden soon became
too heavy; they were weary of their cruel service, and sought to
lighten it.

At first they had one hundred and twenty prisoners, but, after a
fortnight of useless torment, the greater number had been set free,
and only seventeen retained. To be sure, these consisted of
the richest and most respectable citizens of Leipsic. And these
unfortunate hostages, these spoilt sons of wealth and luxury, were now
forced to bear the whole weight of misfortune, the entire anger of the
victorious enemy. They, whose whole life had been one of indulgence
and effeminacy, had now to undergo the greatest privations, the
hardest sufferings. The cold earth was their bed, a piece of bread
thrown to them their nourishment; and it was a feast to them when one
of the gentlewomen of Leipsic succeeded in obtaining permission to
visit a brother or husband, and was able to smuggle in under her silk
dress a piece of meat or a little bowl of soup for the martyrs. These
cruelties would doubtless have been lessened or abolished if the king
had had positive knowledge of them, or if he had believed that the
city's inability to pay was real, and not a mere pretext. But the
king, vexed by the continually repeated complaints, out of humor at
the obstinate conduct of Leipsic, and mindful o