Such was the express command of him whom the flatterers called the 'most divine genius ever known'.

Shortly afterwards came an order to dismantle the fortifications, which had certainly proved sufficiently feeble in the hour of need, and to raze what was left of the city from the surface of the earth.

The work was faithfully accomplished, and for a long time Naarden ceased to exist." The Naarden of to-day sprang from the ruins.

Mendoza's comment upon the siege ran thus: "The sack of Naarden was a chastisement which must be believed to have taken place by express permission of a Divine Providence; a punishment for having been the first of the Holland towns in which heresy built its nest, whence it has taken flight to all the neighbouring cities".

None the less, "the hearts of the Hollanders," says Motley, "were rather steeled to resistance than awed into submission by the fate of Naarden"; as Don Frederic found when he passed on to besiege Haarlem and later Alkmaar.
To Muiderburg, between Naarden and Muiden, I have not been, and therefore with the more readiness quote my indispensable author:-- In summer is Muiderberg by its situation at the Zuiderzee a favourite little spot and very recommendable for nervous people.