Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/386

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374
TOUR THROUGH

myself from meeting with a person to whose civilities and attentions I was so deeply indebted, was prevented.

Every part of Nimeguen exhibits the melancholy effects of the late siege. Houses destroyed and rebuilt, public edifices in ruins, trees shattered, and the pavement of the streets torn up to prevent the rebounding of balls and shells, and yet unreplaced. The fortifications of Nimeguen, at the time when it was attacked, were in good condition; the Dutch garrison in the town, was strong, and an army of thirty thousand English lay encamped on the other side of the Waal, from whence, by means of a flying bridge, they could throw succours into the town. It was therefore expected to sustain a siege of considerable length, if not to disappoint the views of the assailants. Besides its ordinary fortifications, it was strengthened with additional outworks, and its garrison was composed of the flower of the Dutch army. — But all its means of defence were ineffectual against the ardour of the besieging army. After Nimeguen had been bombarded