Spanish general, Frederic of Toledo, son of the Duke of Alva, repulsed a body of English auxiliaries which were coming to the relief of the besieged, and otherwise so vigilantly conducted the blockade, that the inhabitants of Leyden were reduced by famine to the most deplorable distress. Disheartened by their miserable situation, and hopeless of relief, the burghers of the town assembled in great numbers about the house of Peter Adrian de Werf, a man of much influence and authority in the place, and loudly and mutinously exclaimed, that the town must surrender, or its inhabitants would perish of hunger. But this man, who possessed the firmness of Cato, and preferred to die rather than see his country under the dominion of a tyrant, expostulated with the mob, and said, "It is indifferent to me, whether I perish by means of the enemy, or the hands of my fellow-citizens. Kill me then, if you have the courage, and appease your hunger with my miserable carcase." The firmness of Adrian inspired his fellow-citizens with patience
