No doubt the pressure upon the burgomaster was very great.  Tumults were of daily occurrence.  Crowds of rioters beset his door with cries of denunciations and demands for bread.  A large and turbulent mob upon one occasion took possession of the horse-market, and treated him with personal indignity and violence, when he undertook to disperse them.  On the other hand, Parma had been holding out hopes of pardon with more reasonable conditions than could well be expected, and had, with a good deal of art, taken advantage of several trivial circumstances to inspire the burghers with confidence in his good-will.  Thus, an infirm old lady in the city happened to imagine herself so dependent upon asses milk as to have sent her purveyor out of the city, at the peril of his life, to procure a supply from the neighbourhood.  The young man was captured, brought to Alexander, from whose hands he very naturally expected the punishment of a spy.  The prince, however, presented him, not only with his liberty, but with a she-ass; and loaded the animal with partridges and capons, as a present for the invalid.  The magistrates, hearing of the incident, and not choosing to be outdone in courtesy, sent back a waggon-load of old wine and remarkable confectionary as an offering to Alexander, and with this interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy.

     ETEXT editor’s bookmarks: 

     Courage and semblance of cheerfulness, with despair in his heart
     Demanding peace and bread at any price
     Not a friend of giving details larger than my ascertained facts

HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year’s Truce—­1609

By John Lothrop Motley

History United Netherlands, v41, 1584

Alexander Farnese, The Duke of Parma

CHAPTER V., Part 3.

   Sainte Aldegonde discouraged—­His Critical Position—­His
   Negotiations with the Enemy—­Correspondence with Richardot—­
   Commotion in the City—­Interview of Marnix with Parma—­Suspicious
   Conduct of Marnix—­Deputation to the Prince—­Oration of Marnix—­
   Private Views of Parma—­Capitulation of Antwerp—­Mistakes of Marnix
   —­Philip on the Religious Question—­Triumphal Entrance of Alexander—­
   Rebuilding of the Citadel—­Gratification of Philip—­Note on Sainte
   Aldegonde

Sainte Aldegonde’s position had become a painful one.  The net had been drawn closely about the city.  The bridge seemed impregnable, the great Kowenstyn was irrecoverably in the hands of the enemy, and now all the lesser forts in the immediate vicinity of Antwerp-Borght, Hoboken, Cantecroix, Stralen, Berghen, and the rest—­had likewise fallen into his grasp.  An account of grain, taken on the 1st of June, gave an average of a pound a-head for a month long, or half a pound for two months.  This was not the famine-point, according to the standard which had once been established in Leyden; but the courage of the burghers had been rapidly oozing away, under the pressure of their recent disappointments.  It seemed obvious to the burgomaster, that the time for yielding had arrived.