158 
without a resting-place, till Amsterdam wisely re- 
ceived and protected them. You may perhaps have 
read of the memorable siege of Leyden, which hap- 
pened at the time when this country was about to 
shake off the Spanish yoke. The people were re- 
duced to eat the leaves of trees, as well as horses, 
dogs, every morsel of leather, and other animal 
substances in the town; which at length were all 
exhausted. A pestilence came on which carried off 
more than half the inhabitants; and in this dreadful 
exigency the besiegers demanding the townsmen to 
surrender, the latter appeared on the walls, and 
vowed that they would first each cut off his left arm 
for food, and fight with his right. The governor 
wrote to the Prince of Orange, that without help 
from him, or from Heaven, they could not resist 
two days longer. 
At this crisis, providentially surely, the wind 
changed, and blew in such a manner that the Spa- 
nish army, fearing a flood, made a precipitate re- 
treat. They were no sooner gone, than the wind 
returned to the same point as before, the waters 
retired, and there was an easy access to the town 
for the people with provisions, who flocked in on 
every side. The churches were crowded with the 
famished wretches, who, just saved from the jaws of 
death, one moment greedily devoured the welcome 
food, and another, with sobs and inarticulate excla- 
mations, returned Heaven thanks for their deliver- 
ance; insomuch that no regular or methodical 
service could be performed (surely never was said 
a more sincere or a more acceptable grace !). And 
