Leyden was defended by John van der
Does, Lord of Nordwyck, a gentleman of distinguished family, but still
more distinguished by his learning and genius, and his Latin poetry
published under the name of Joannes Douza. The garrison of Leyden was
small, and it relied for its defence chiefly on the exertions of the
inhabitants. The revictualling of the city had been neglected after the
raising of the first siege, and at the end of June it became necessary
to put the inhabitants on short allowance; yet they held out more than
three months longer. Orange, whose head-quarters were at Delft and
Rotterdam, had no means of relieving Leyden except by breaking down the
dikes on the Meuse and the Yssel, and thus flooding the country, a step
which would involve the destruction of the growing crops, besides other
extraordinary expenses; yet he succeeded in obtaining the consent of the
Dutch States to this extreme and desperate measure. On the 3d of August
he superintended in person the rupture of the dikes on the Yssel; at the
same time the sluices of Rotterdam and Schiedam were opened; the flood
began to pour over the land, while the citizens of Leyden watched with
anxious eyes from the tower of Hengist the rising of the waters.
A flotilla of two hundred flat-bottomed vessels had been provided,
stored with provisions, and manned by two thousand five hundred veterans
under the command of Boissot.
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