The tried veterans of Spain, Italy, and Burgundy, were met face to face by the burghers of Maestricht, together with their wives and children.

All were armed to the teeth, and fought with what seemed superhuman valor.

The women, fierce as tigresses defending their young, swarmed to the walls, and fought in the foremost rank.

They threw pails of boiling water on the besiegers, they hurled firebrands in their faces; they quoited blazing pitch-hoops with, unerring dexterity about their necks.

The rustics too, armed with their ponderous flails, worked as cheerfully at this bloody harvesting as if thrashing their corn at home.