Thus the sum to be paid by the poorer class of scholars for a year's maintenance was less than three pounds sterling a year [1855 exchange rate D.W.].

The voice with which this infant seminary of the Muses first made itself heard above the din of war was but feeble, but the institution was destined to thrive, and to endow the world, for many successive generations, with the golden fruits of science and genius.
Early in the spring, the war was seriously taken in hand by Farnese.

It has already been seen that the republic had been almost entirely driven out of Flanders and Brabant.

The Estates, however, still held Grave, Megem, Batenburg, and Venlo upon the Meuse.

That river formed, as it were, a perfect circle of protection for the whole Province of Brabant, and Farnese determined to make himself master of this great natural moat.
Afterwards, he meant to possess himself of the Rhine, flowing in a parallel course, about twenty-five miles further to the east.