to the Bosch at The Hague. "The delightful walks of the Hout," says
the author of _Through Noord-Holland_, "and the caressing song of the
nightingale and other birds, do not only invite the Haarlemmers to it,
but the citizens of the neighbouring towns as well."

On the border of the wood is a pavilion which holds the collections
of Colonial curiosities. In front of the pavilion (I quote again from
_Through Noord-Holland_, which is invaluable), "stands a casting of
Laskson and his sons to a knot, which has been manufactured in the
last centuries before Christ. The original has been digged up at Rome
in 1500." Shade of Lessing!

The cannon-ball embedded in the wall of the church, which the sacristan
shows with so much interest, recalls Haarlem's great siege in 1572--a
siege notable in the history of warfare for the courage and endurance
of the townspeople against terrible odds. The story is worth telling
in full, but I have not space and Motley is very accessible. But I
sketch, with his assistance, its salient features.

The attack began in mid-winter, when Haarlem Mere, a great lake in the
east which has since been drained and poldered, was frozen over. For
some time a dense fog covered it, enabling loads of provisions and
arms to be safely conveyed into the city.

Don Frederic, the son of the Duke of Alva, who commanded the Spanish,
began with a success that augured well, a force of 4,000 men which
marched from Leyden under De la Marck being completely routed. Among
the captives taken by the Spaniards, says Motley, was "a gallant
officer, Baptist Van Trier, for whom De la Marck in vain offered
two thousand crowns and nineteen Spanish prisoners. The proposition