“Nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb.  The Duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his clemency had hitherto been requited.  He complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of Haarlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection.  He promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreck upon Alkmaar.  Already he gloated in anticipation over the havoc which would soon be let loose within those walls.  Such ravings, if invented by the pen of fiction, would seem a puerile caricature; proceeding, authentically, from his own, they still appear almost too exaggerated for belief.  ‘If I take Alkmaar,’ he wrote to Philip, ’I am resolved not to leave a single creature alive; the knife shall be put to every throat.  Since the example of Harlem has proved of no use, perhaps an example of cruelty will bring the other cities to their senses,’ He took occasion also to read a lecture to the party of conciliation in Madrid, whose counsels, as he believed, his sovereign was beginning to heed.  Nothing, he maintained, could be more senseless than the idea of pardon and clemency.  This had been sufficiently proved by recent events.  It was easy for people at a distance to talk about gentleness; but those upon the spot knew better. Gentleness had produced nothing, so far; violence alone could succeed in future.  ‘Let your Majesty,’ he said, ’be disabused of the impression, that with kindness anything can be done with these people.  Already have matters reached such a point that many of those born in the country, who have hitherto advocated clemency, are now undeceived, and acknowledge their mistake.  They are of opinion that not a living soul should be left in Alkmaar, but that every individual should be put to the sword.’...

“Affairs soon approached a crisis within the beleaguered city.  Daily skirmishes, without decisive result, had taken place outside the walls.  At last, on the 18th of September, after a steady cannonade of nearly twelve hours, Don Frederic at three in the afternoon, ordered an assault.  Notwithstanding his seven months’ experience at Haarlem, he still believed it certain that he should carry Alkmaar by storm.  The attack took place at once upon the Frisian gate, and upon the red tower on the opposite side.  Two choice regiments, recently arrived from Lombardy, led the onset, rending the air with their shouts, and confident of an easy victory.  They were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops.  Yet never, even in the recent history of Haarlem, had an attack been received by more dauntless breasts.  Every living