The rest of the population consisted of a very few refugees, besides the women and children.

Two thousand one hundred able-bodied men, of whom only about one-third were soldiers, to resist sixteen thousand regulars! "Nor was there any doubt as to the fate which was reserved for them, should they succumb.

The Duke was vociferous at the ingratitude with which his _clemency_ had hitherto been requited.

He complained bitterly of the ill success which had attended his monitory circulars; reproached himself with incredible vehemence, for his previous mildness, and protested that, after having executed only twenty-three hundred persons at the surrender of Haarlem, besides a few additional burghers since, he had met with no correspondent demonstrations of affection.

He promised himself, however, an ample compensation for all this ingratitude in the wholesale vengeance which he purposed to wreck upon Alkmaar.