00 ducats ($6,400,000), a sum
which of course meant vastly more then than now. When the Duke
of Alva retired from command in 1578, the pay of Spanish troops
was 6,500,000 ducats in arrears.

Among the exploits of organized naval forces, the earliest was the
capture of Brill, by which, according to Motley, "the foundations
of the Dutch republic were laid." Driven out of England by Elizabeth,
who upon the representations of the Spanish ambassador ordered her
subjects not to supply the Beggars with "meat, bread or beer,"
a fleet of 25 vessels and 300 or 400 men left Dover towards the
end of March, 1572, with the project of seizing a base on their
own coast. On the afternoon of April 1, they appeared off the town
of Brill, located on an island at the mouth of the Meuse. The
magistrates and most of the inhabitants fled; and the Beggars battered
down the gates, occupied the town, and put to death 13 monks and
priests. When Spanish forces attempted to recapture the city, the
defenders opened sluice gates to cut off the northern approach,
and at the same time set fire to the boats which had carried the
Spanish to the island. The Spanish, terrorized by both fire and
water, waded through mud and slime to the northern shore. During
the same week Flushing was taken, and before the end of June the
Dutch were masters of nearly the entire Zealand coast.

In the north the Spanish at first found an able naval leader in
Admiral Bossu, himself a Hollander, who for a time kept the coast
clear of Beggars. In October, 1573, however, 30 of his ships were
beaten in the Zuyder Zee by 25 under Dirkzoon, who captured five
of the Spanish vessels and scattered the rest with the exception
of the flagship. The latter, a 32-gun ship terrifyingly named the
_Inquisition_ and much stronger than any of the others on either
side, held out from three o'clock in the afternoon until the next
morning. Three patriot vessels closed in on her, attacking with
the vicious weapons of the period--pitch, boiling oil, and molten
lead. By morning the four combatants had drifted ashore in a tangled
mass. When Bossu at last surrendered, 300 men, out of 382 in his
ship's complement, were dead or disabled.

Though not yet able to stand up against Spanish infantry, the Dutch
in naval battles were usually successful. In the Scheldt, January
29, 1574, 75 Spanish vessels were attacked by 64 Dutch under Admiral
Boisot. After a single broadside, the two fleets grappled, and i