The

years old, entered the water at the head of them. secret of their expedition had been so well kept that not an enemy was nigh; they had to contend only with the darkness, the discomfort of being immersed in water, the deep beds of the streams and canals, and the slippery and unstable nature of the saturated soil.

After having continued this dreary course for more than two hours, during which they were sometimes up to their shoulders in the waves, they reached the land, at the village of Yrsche, about two leagues to the eastward of Tergoes. Had the enemy at this moment been on the alert, their wearied and disordered antagonists might have found it difficult to make head against them; but they were in utter ignorance of what had taken place. Having lighted a fire, which was at once to be a signal of his safety to his friends on the mainland, and of succour to the defenders of Tergoes, Mondragone halted his troops for the remainder of the night, to rest and refresh them. It was his intention to approach Tergoes at day-break, and fall upon the besiegers. They, however, did not allow him an opportunity of bringing them to battle. No sooner did they hear of his arrival than they hastily retreated to their vessels, pursued by the garrison and four hundred of the new-comers, who cut off nearly eight hundred of their rear guard. In the passage of "the drowned land," the Spaniards are said to have sustained a loss of not more than nine men.

Three years afterwards, the same kind of plan, but on a smaller scale, was again resorted to, and by the same commander. Between the north-west of Dutch Brabant, the island of Overflackee, and the two estuaries called the Noorderdiep and Hollandsdiep, is the island of Finaart. A portion of the channel which separates it from Brabant has a width of little more than a mile. To obtain possession of this isle was of importance to the Spaniards, as it would facilitate their enterprises against

Zealand and South Holland. It was held by a weak Dutch garrison, and the channel was guarded on the Brabant side by nine small vessels. Mondragone resolved to make himself master of it. The channel was sounded, and a part of it was discovered to be fordable at low water, though not without much danger.. At the head of thirteen hundred men, Mondragone began his march, at night, when the tide was out, and succeeded in crossing the strait, without being seen by the Dutch naval force. The garrison capitulated, and was allowed to retire with arms and baggage.

Their success in these two instances encouraged the Spaniards, in 1575, to venture upon a third enterprise of the same kind, but under more adverse circumstances. There was, indeed, a strong inducement to undertake that enterprise, even at considerable risk. The possession of the largest part of the maritime province of Zealand gave, in various respects, such a preponderant advantage to the Dutch, that Don Louis Requesens, the successor of the Duke of Alba, determined, if possible, to deprive them of it. South Beveland, Tolen, and the small island of St. Philip, still owned obedience to the Spanish monarch; all the rest of the islands were held by his enemies. If the latter could be wrested from them, a heavy blow would be given to the cause of liberty.

It was by the reduction of the isles of Duyveland and Schowen that the governor-general designed to commence his operations. The conquest of them would facilitate that of North Beveland and Walcheren, and likewise enable him to threaten those insular portions of South Holland, which lie between Zealand and the Maas. The point of departure for the troops was the small island of St. Philip, situated to the south-east of Duyveland. The distance from thence to where they were to land is between four and five miles, across a channel called the Zyppe. By order of Requesens, the channel was twice

carefully reconnoitred, and the result of the inquiry was, that, though it was not impossible to wade over, there would be much more of difficulty and danger than in the former attempts. Not only was the ford itself less trackable, but there was little or no hope of traversing it without being assailed on the way. The Dutch suspected that something was meditated in this quarter, and had stationed in its vicinity a squadron of large ships, and also a number of flat-bottomed boats, that they might have the means of opposing their antagonists in shallow water. Besides all which, it was known that there was a considerable force in the two islands, and there could be little doubt that it would be at hand to repel invasion.

The probability, and almost certainty, that the troops would be attacked while they were on their toilsome march, and again on their landing, induced many of the less enterprising leaders to feel doubts as to the prudence of the projected attempt. Their objections were, however, overruled. Three thousand men, Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, and a corps of pioneers, were, in consequence, conveyed from Tolen to St. Philip, for the purpose of the expedition. Each soldier carried with him a supply of powder, a pair of shoes, and provisions for three days. The command was entrusted to Don Juan Osorio de Ulloa, a man of tried bravery and talent; the veteran Mondragone was among the officers by whom he was seconded.

The troops were put in motion to the shore, on the eve of St. Michael, the night of the 29th of September. Previously to their setting off, Requesens addressed them in a few animating words. It was a brilliant starlight night when they entered the water, which was as soon as was practicable after the tide began to ebb. The setting moon, also, lighted them on their way for awhile. There occurred, too, a natural phenomenon, an aurora borealis,

which the Spaniards regarded as a miracle that omened their success, and their spirits were in no small degree heightened by its appearance.

Foremost in danger as in rank, Ulloa, with the guides, led the way for the vanguard, consisting of fifteen hundred men; the main body followed closely; and the rear was brought up by Gabriel de Peralta, with his own company, and the two hundred pioneers. They were ordered to keep in serried order, and the whole formed a long but compact column, with a front of only three men. Some galleys and light vessels had been got ready, in which Sanchez d'Avila was embarked, with four hundred cavalry, and directed to make the best of his way to the place of landing, while the enemy's attention was occupied by the passage of the infantry. It was not long before the advance of the Spanish column was perceived by the Dutch. Their large vessels kept up a heavy fire, which, however, did little execution, as the shallowness of the water did not allow of their making a near approach, and the darkness prevented them from taking certain aim. Their flat-bottomed boats and light vessels, crowded with men, which they despatched to take their station on each side of the ford, were a more formidable annoyance. While some of the Spanish troops were up to their armpits in the water, and others even up to the chin, their antagonists came so near as to destroy many of them by blows with oars and boat-hooks. In some instances the Dutch leaped into the waves, and fought hand to hand with the soldiers. They also threw out long cords with grappling-irons, to entangle and drag them to the boats; taunting them all the while with their folly, in thus madly running into a danger from which there was no hope of escaping. Had the fleet been able to act efficiently, the danger would no doubt have been extreme. As it was, the delay caused by the enemy's attack was productive of much evil. The march

being retarded, gave time for the rising tide to become a serious obstacle; and the hostility of the Dutch, though it failed in repulsing the column, succeeded in throwing a part of it into disorder, and inflicting upon it considerable loss.

Ulloa, with the van and centre unbroken, effected an unopposed landing upon Duyveland, and was speedily joined by Sanchez d'Avila, who had met with no opposition; his rear was not so fortunate, near three hundred pioneers and soldiers were drowned, and it was not without infinite labour that Peralta contrived to lead back the remnant of his shattered band to the island of St. Philip. The expedition was not, however, frustrated by this untoward circumstance. The Spaniards defeated a Dutch force, secured Duyveland, forded another arm of the sea, stormed the fort of Bommene, invested Ziericzie, the capital of Schowen, and, by a strict blockade of eight months' duration, compelled it to surrender.

THE SCALING OF DUNBARTON CASTLE.

Ar the point where the Leven falls into the Clyde, near the town of Dunbarton, the two rivers form a small peninsula, which, at spring tides, becomes an island. The peninsula is, for the greater part, a lofty, precipitous rock, with two peaks, the one higher than the other, rising to the height of five hundred feet. The summit is crowned by an antique fortress, to which the ascent is by a long narrow flight of stone steps. In former times this castle was held to be impregnable, and was looked upon as the key of the western Highlands; and, though its military importance has ceased, it still continues to be garrisoned.

But, however fenced round they may be by natural or artificial obstacles, there are few places that are proof against courage, perseverance, and skill, even when those