der the name of Joannes Douza. The garrison of Leyden was
small, and it relied for its defence chiefly on the exertions of the
inhabitants. The revictualling of the city had been neglected after the
raising of the first siege, and at the end of June it became necessary
to put the inhabitants on short allowance; yet they held out more than
three months longer. Orange, whose head-quarters were at Delft and
Rotterdam, had no means of relieving Leyden except by breaking down the
dikes on the Meuse and the Yssel, and thus flooding the country, a step
which would involve the destruction of the growing crops, besides other
extraordinary expenses; yet he succeeded in obtaining the consent of the
Dutch States to this extreme and desperate measure. On the 3d of August
he superintended in person the rupture of the dikes on the Yssel; at the
same time the sluices of Rotterdam and Schiedam were opened; the flood
began to pour over the land, while the citizens of Leyden watched with
anxious eyes from the tower of Hengist the rising of the waters.

A flotilla of two hundred flat-bottomed vessels had been provided,
stored with provisions, and manned by two thousand five hundred veterans
under the command of Boissot. But unexpected obstacles arose. Fresh
dikes appeared above the water, and had to be cut through amid the
resistance of the Spaniards. Twice the waters receded under the
influence of the east wind, and left the fleet aground; twice it was
floated again, as if by a providential interposition, by violent gales
from the north and west, which accumulated on the coast the waters of
the ocean. Meanwhile the besieged were suffering all the extremities of
famine; the most disgusting garbage was used for food, and caused a
pestilence which carried off thousands. In this extremity a number of
the citizens surrounded the burgomaster, Adrian van der Werf, demanding
with loud threats and clamors that he should either provide them with
food or surrender the city to the enemy. To these menaces Adrian calmly
replied, "I have taken an oath that I will never put myself or my
fellow-citizens in the power of the cruel and perfidious Spaniards, and
I will rather die than violate it." Then drawing his sword he offered it
to the surrounding crowd and bade them plunge it in his bosom and devour
his flesh if such an action could relieve them from their direful
necessity. This extraordinary address filled the people with amazement
and admiration and i