5/19 They have four great bombards placed, every one of them with a devilish Netherland name of its own. There is Houpembiere,--that means the beer- barrel, I take it,--and La Rouge Bombarde, and Remeswalle and Quincequin, every one shooting stone balls thirty inches in girth. The houses on the bridge are a heap of stones, the mills are battered down, and we must grind our meal in the city, in a cellar, for what I can tell. Nom Dieu! when they take the boulevard we lose the river, and if once they bar our gates to the east, whence shall viands come ?" "Is there no good tidings from the messenger ?" "The King answers ever like a drawer in a tavern, 'Anon, anon, sir!' He will come himself presently, always presently, with all his host." "He will never come," I said. |