y for blood, not for money. It was, however,
difficult to find an executioner. The city hangman was absent, and the
prejudice of the country and the age against the vile profession had
assuredly not been diminished during the five horrible years of Alva's
administration. Even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town gaol,
refused to accept his life in recompence for performing the office. It
should never be said, he observed, that his mother had given birth
to a hangman. When told, however, that the intended victim was a
Spanish officer, the malefactor consented to the task with alacrity,
on condition that he might afterwards kill any man who taunted him
with the deed.

"Arrived at the foot of the gallows, Pacheco complained bitterly of
the disgraceful death designed for him. He protested loudly that he
came of a house as noble as that of Egmont or Hoorn, and was entitled
to as honourable an execution as theirs had been. 'The sword! the
sword!' he frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who
guarded him. His language was not understood, but the name of Egmont
and Hoorn inflamed still more highly the rage of the rabble, while
his cry for the sword was falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had
happened to possess himself of Pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and
who now paraded himself with it at the gallows foot. 'Never fear for
your sword, Senor,' cried this ruffian; 'your sword is safe enough,
and in good hands. Up the ladder with you, Senor; you have no further
use for your sword.' Pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. He
mounted the ladder with a steady step, and was hanged between two
other Spanish officers.

"So perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most
distinguished engineers of his time; a man whose character and
accomplishments had certainly merited for him a better fate. But
while we stigmatize as it deserves the atrocious conduct of a few
Netherland partisans, we should remember who first unchained the demon
of international hatred in this unhappy land, nor should it ever be
forgotten that the great leader of the revolt, by word, proclamation,
example, by entreaties, threats, and condign punishment, constantly
rebuked and, to a certain extent, restrained the sanguinary spirit
by which some of his followers disgraced the noble cause which they
had espoused."

Flushing's hero is De Ruyter, whose rope-walk wheel we saw at
Middelburg, and whose truculent lineaments have so of