In front of the pavilion (I quote again from _Through Noord-Holland_, which is invaluable), "stands a casting of Laskson and his sons to a knot, which has been manufactured in the last centuries before Christ.

The original has been digged up at Rome in 1500." Shade of Lessing! The cannon-ball embedded in the wall of the church, which the sacristan shows with so much interest, recalls Haarlem's great siege in 1572--a siege notable in the history of warfare for the courage and endurance of the townspeople against terrible odds.

The story is worth telling in full, but I have not space and Motley is very accessible.

But I sketch, with his assistance, its salient features.
The attack began in mid-winter, when Haarlem Mere, a great lake in the east which has since been drained and poldered, was frozen over.

For some time a dense fog covered it, enabling loads of provisions and arms to be safely conveyed into the city.
Don Frederic, the son of the Duke of Alva, who commanded the Spanish, began with a success that augured well, a force of 4,000 men which marched from Leyden under De la Marck being completely routed.