ve, 'Then,' rejoined he,
'we are lost'.

"During this time one of the judges sent for Tichelaar, and suggested
to him that he should incite the people not to suffer a villain
who had intended to murder the Prince to go unpunished. True to his
instructions, the miscreant spread among the crowd collected before
the prison doors the report, that the torture inflicted on Cornelius
de Witt was a mere pretence, and that he had only escaped the death
he deserved because the judges favoured his crime. Then, entering the
gaol, he presented himself at the window, and exclaimed to the crowd
below, 'The dog and his brother are going out of prison! Now is your
time; revenge yourselves on these two knaves, and then on thirty more,
their accomplices.'

"The populace received his address with shouts and cries of 'To arms,
to arms! Treason, treason!' and pressed in a still denser crowd towards
the prison door. The States of Holland, immediately on information of
the tumult, sent three troops of cavalry, in garrison at the Hague,
for the protection of the gaol, and called out to arms six companies
of burgher guards. But in the latter they only added fresh hosts to
the enemies of the unfortunate captives. One company in especial,
called the 'Company of the Blue Flag,' was animated with a spirit of
deadly vengeance against them; its leader, Verhoef, having that morning
loaded his musket with a determination either to kill the De Witts
or perish in the attempt. They pressed forward towards the prison,
but were driven back by the determined appearance of the cavalry,
commanded by the Count de Tilly.

"So long as these troops remained, it was evident that the fell purpose
of the rioters was impracticable. Accordingly, a report was raised that
a band of peasants and sailors was coming to plunder The Hague; and
two captains of the burgher guards took occasion from thence to demand
of the Council of State, that the soldiers should be drawn off from
their station, in order to protect the houses from pillage. First a
verbal order, and on Tilly's refusing obedience to such, a written one,
was sent, commanding him to divide his troops into four detachments,
and post them upon the bridges leading into the town. 'I shall obey,'
said he, as he perused the mandate; 'but it is the death-warrant of
the brothers.'

"His anticipations were too soon realized. No sooner had he departed
than the rioters were supplied by some of those mysterious agents who