er
army. The Prince of Orange himself was then in possession of Rotterdam,
Delft, and the intermediate country. Between those two cities was the
important fortress of Polderwaert, which secured him in the control of
the quadrangle watered on two sides by the Yessel and Maas or Meuse.
The Spaniards meantime occupied the coast from the Hague to Vlaardingen,
on the bank of the Maas. It should be understood that the country
extending northward from the rivers which have been mentioned towards
Leyden was generally level, and considerably lower than the ocean, which
was kept out by enormous banks or dykes, and that it had been, by the
industry of the inhabitants, brought under a perfect state of
cultivation. There were certain spots, however, raised slightly above
the surrounding flat, on all of which villages had been built. Enormous
sluices existed at Rotterdam, Schiedam, and other places, by which the
supply of water in the canals could be regulated; over these, as well as
the dykes along the banks of the river, the Prince of Orange held
perfect control. Besides the small force which enabled him to hold
Rotterdam and Delft, he possessed a fleet of broad, flat-bottomed
vessels, well suited for the navigation of the shallow waters of
Zealand, where, under the brave and able Admiral Boisot, they were able
to bid defiance to the ships sent against them by the Spaniards. Their
crews consisted of those hardy sons of the ocean who, under the name of
"The Beggars of the Sea," had already rendered such good service in the
cause of Freedom by the capture of Brill, the first place in Holland
where the Prince of Orange was proclaimed Stadtholder, and in many other
enterprises, when, according to their rule, no quarter was given to
their hated foe. Besides Rotterdam, Delft, and Leyden, many other towns
in various parts of Holland were garrisoned by the partisans of the
Prince of Orange, and had either, with some exceptions, not been
attacked by the Spaniards, or had successfully resisted the forces sent
against them. Two, unhappily, had fallen; the fearful cruelties to
which their inhabitants had been subjected by their conquerors showed
the others what they must expect should they be unable to hold out. Of
these, in Naarden, a small city on the coast of the Zuyder Zee, scarcely
a man had been left alive, the whole population having been given over
to indiscriminate slaughter. Haarlem, after an heroic defence of seven
months,