It was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded.  Nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as to the guard.  It was agreed that the burghers, Calvinists and Lutherans, as well as Catholics, should be employed to protect the city.  By subtlety, however, the Calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in the town-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates.

A night of dreadful expectation was passed.  The army of fifteen thousand mutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the Mere, with guns loaded and artillery pointed.  Fierce cries of “Long live the beggars,”—­“Down with the papists,” and other significant watchwords, were heard all night long, but no more serious outbreak occurred.

During the whole of the following day, the Calvinists remained in their encampment, the Catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near the city hall.  The Prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morning till night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of “the religion,” and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace.  Towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to be proposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to be enforced.  The arrangement provided that there should be no garrison; that the September contracts permitting the reformed worship at certain places within the city should be maintained; that men of different parties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, the Prince and Hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should be guarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religious creed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla of vessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, and that the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, Catholic and Reformed, without any exception.

It had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the Mere, for the purpose of laying these terms before the insurgents.  Night had, however, already arrived, and it was understood that the ill-temper of the Calvinists had rather increased than diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would be accepted.  It was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of another day, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets.

During the night the Prince labored incessantly to provide against the dangers of the morrow.  The Calvinists had fiercely expressed their disinclination to any reasonable arrangement.  They had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansions of all the wealthy Catholics, and to drive every papist out of town.  They had summoned the Lutherans to join with them in their revolt, and menaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited the Catholics.  The Prince, who