It was called The Spanish Fury, by which dread name it has been known for ages.

The city, which had been a world of wealth and splendor, was changed to a charnel-house, and from that hour its commercial prosperity was blasted.

Other causes had silently girdled the yet green and flourishing tree, but the Spanish Fury was the fire which consumed it to ashes.

Three thousand dead bodies were discovered in the streets, as many more were estimated to have perished in the Scheld, and nearly an equal number were burned or destroyed in other ways.

Eight thousand persons undoubtedly were put to death.