Selected quad for the lemma: city_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
city_n	family_n	frontier_n	prodigious_a	201	3	16.3059	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26186	The lives of all the princes of Orange, from William the Great, founder of the Common-wealth of the United Provinces written in French by the Baron Maurier, in the year 1682, and published at Paris, by order of the French King ; to which is added the life of His present Majesty King William the Third, from his birth to his landing in England, by Mr. Thomas Brown ; together with all the princes heads taken from original draughts.; Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de Hollande et des autres Provinces-Unies. English	Aubery du Maurier, Louis, 1609-1687.; Brown, Thomas, 1663-1704.	1693 (1693)	Wing A4184; ESTC R22622	169,982	381

the ordinary Souldiers but even the Guards of the deceased Prince should take an Oath of Fidelity to the States of Holland This was unanimously carry'd notwithstanding all the representations made by the Princess his Mother who ineffectually labored to preserve him in those Offices which her Husband possessed and before him the other Princes of Orange the Royal Family of Great Britain from whom principally she could expect any assistance being at that time under an Eclipse through the wicked Machinations of those execrable Parricides who after they had barbarously Murder'd their lawful Soveraing King Charles I. of Blessed Memory by a train of Hypocrisy and other Villanies peculiar to their Party shared the Soveraignty between themselves Our Prince who like Hercules was to encounter Snakes in his Cradle suffer'd a great deal from the intreagues and contrivances of Barnevelt's Party now re-established in the Persons of the Messieurs De Witt. But he bore all with incredible moderation still waiting for a favorable opportunity to be restor'd to those dignities and great Employments he had been deprived of by a publick decree obtained by a predominant Faction immediately after the death of his Father It must be confessed that France in some measure contributed to his re-establishment altho without the least design to favour the Prince Heaven so ordering it that that mighty Monarch should ravage and almost destroy this flourishing Republic to convince the world at the same time that only the Family of the Founders of this Republic was capable to repair its Ruines and restore it to its former Grandeur The Reader can scarce imagine with what a prodigions torrent the King of France over-ran and surprized all the United Provinces obliging the greatest part of the Frontier Towns and other Capital Cities to surrender themselves Amongst the rest Utrecht and Zutphen open'd their Gates at the first approach of the Enemy for altho there were large Garrisons in both those places yet being composed of Burghers and commanded by Officers of little or no experience they were frighted at the sight of a well disciplin'd couragious army that knew how to make the best advantage of the victory and the fright they had put their enemies in These calamities which had been foreseen long before by some of the most prudent persons of these Provinces as they occasioned a general consternation so they gave the people subject to complain of the ill conduct of the Mrs de Wit who at that time had all the authority of the Government in their hands and by this means furnished the friends of the House of Nassau with a favourable opportunity to speak their thoughts upon what passed at that time Which they did by way of advice to the People giving them to understand that the Princes of Orange were probably the only Persons that were able to support their tottering State and to defend them against their most puissant Enemies Adding that as these illustrious Princes had formerly deliver'd them from the tyranny of the Spaniards so they alone could stop the fury and career of the French The Princess Dowager Grand mother to his Highness a Lady of incomparable prudence and of a courage above her Sex did not contribute a little by her address to awaken those Persons that were in her interests and who were not inconsiderable for their number These at last not being able to see themselves any longer despised or that all the great Offices of State shou'd be thrown away upon Persons that were not worthy of them and at the same time making use of the fury of the people who justly alarm'd to see a victorious Army in the bowels of their Country spoke of nothing but Sacrificing the De Witts managed their affairs so dexterousl●… that they attained their designs for after the Prince had made a Journey towards the beginning of the Year 1672 to visit the fortifications of some Places the States of Holland and West-Frizeland being assembled it was unanimously agreed that he should be chose General of their Army which was notified next day to the States General and on the 24th of February the Prince having accepted their offer took the Oaths before them with the accustomed Ceremonies It is very remarkable that the Peasants of West-Frizeland who make excellent Souldiers wou'd not take up Arms but with this condition that they should swear to be true to the Republic and to obey the States and his Highness the Prince of Orange The immoderate ambition of some Persons had formerly occasion'd two fatal Factions who to fortify their own particular interests weakned the Nerves of the public security which made those who had the greatest Credit with the People commit the greatest Solecism's in matter of Policy that any Party can be guilty of For these short-sighted Statesmen imagining that after the Peace of Munster there was nothing left them to fear and that no body cou'd hurt them in their Pretensions but the too great power of the House of Nassau by reason of its Alliances with France and particularly with England they casheer'd their Troops composed of old Soldiers and experienced Captains who had preserved the Country but were looked upon to be intirely devoted to the Prince of Orange and at the same time gave the greatest Posts in their Army and in their Garrisons to the Sons of Burgher Masters and Deputies of Cities People who however brave they might be in their own Persons were for the most part of little or no experience as having never seen a Battle and this was the reason that when they came to be surprized by a vigorous Enemy whole Cities altho they had in Garrison five thousand Foot and eight hundred Horse surrendred at discretion without discharging one Gun at the first sight and appearance of the Enemy Thus Faction and Interest that are commonly the destruction of the most flourishing Kingdoms having reduced the States General to the brink of despair they were constrained to have recourse to their last Asylum the Prince of Orange in order to avoid their approaching ruine and to place the little hope that was remaining in the hands of one person whom the prevailing party had formerly rejected with a great deal of ingratitude and who indeed did not deserve such a hard destiny for in fine Children ought not to be responsible for the actions of their Fathers when they have by no means justified them The Prince had no sooner accepted the high Charge of General of the Armies which was presented to him from the part of the States by Monsieur de Beverning Iohn de Wit and Gaspar Fagel but he immediately repaired to the Army which was then posted near Nieu Rop where all he cou●…d do against the united forces of the French commanded by the King in person was to keep his post And this he performed with so much conduct that the Enemy as powerful as he was cou'd have no advantage over him on that side On the other hand thinking

to force the Prince out of his retrenchments they were forced to retire with loss and to abandon their works All this while the frontier Towns and Garrisons in the Province of Holland sell every day into the hands of the Enemy which made the people complain openly and distrust the fidelity of those that governed The Inhabitants of Dort were the first that rose and sent one of their Captains to the Magistrates to know whether they were resolved to defend the City or to sit still The Magistrates answered that they were ready to resist the efforts of those that should attaque them and to do all that could be expected from them the people demanded at the same time to see the Magazines But the Keys being missing this put the Mobb into so great a serment that there were a thousand voices crying out at the same time That there was Treachery in the case That they would have the Prince of Orange to be their Head and Governour threatning to murder the Magistrates upon the spot if they did not immediately comply with their demands These menaces so terribly alarmed the Magistrates that they dispatched Commissioners that very moment to his Highness desiring him to come to their City with all possible haste to prevent by his presence the insurrection of the people The Prince alledged several reasons to them to convince them how dangerous it was for him to leave the Army but all was to no purpose they persisted still in their demand till at last the Prince resolved to grant what they desired Being therefore with great solemnity conducted to the Town-Hall they intreated him to signify his pleasure to them To which his Highness answered that it belonged to them to make proposals to him since they were the occasion of his coming After some demur they requested him that for the satisfaction of the People he would be pleased to visit the Fortifications and Magazines of the City without taking the least notice of making him Stadt-holder to which the Prince freely consented and to that effect made the tour of the Town immediately But at his return the people suspecting that the Magistrates had deceived them as well as they had done the Prince flocked in great multitudes about his Coach and boldly asked him but with a great deal of respect for his person whether the Magistrates had made him their Governour or no His Highness having modestly answered That he was content with the honour they had already done him and that he had as much as he cou'd desire they unanimously declared That they wou'd not lay down their Arms till they had chose him Stadt-holder So that at last the Magistrates terrified with the menaces of the people and not knowing what other measures to take in so critical a juncture were not without some repugnance constrained to accomplish what they had before only done by halves So difficult a matter it is for men to lay aside a settled hatred and aversion that has once taken root in their hearts Upon this they passed an Ordinance to abolish the perpetual Edict which the Prince refused to own unless they would absolve him of the Oath he had taken when he accepted the Charge only of Captain General which they gave him likewise by this Ordinance So they immediately made another Act which was read in the great Hall by the Secretary by which the Magistrates declared his Highness the Prince of Orange to be Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of all their forces as well by Sea as by Land and gave him all the power dignity and authority which his Ancestors of glorious memory had enjoy'd After this the whole City rang with acclamations of an universal joy and the arms of the House of Orange were immediately placed upon the Towers and Ramparts Only Cornelius de Wit an ancient Burghermaster coming from the Fleet sick and indisposed said he wou'd never sign the Act whatever instances were made him to do it He was pressed after an extraordinary manner not to refuse the signing of it but neither the perswasions of the chief men of the City nor the threatnings of the people who were ready to plunder his house nor the tears of his Wife who was sensible of the great danger he was in cou'd prevail with him to alter his resolutions Nay it went so far that his Wife threatned to show her self at the Window and declare her own innocence and that of her Children and to abandon him to the fury of the populace but all this made no impression upon him Dort was not the only place that rose up after this manner All the Cities of Holland and Zealand where the Burghers took notice of the ill conduct of their Magistrates did almost the same thing So that upon a report made by the Deputies of the respective Cities the States of Holland Zealand and Friesland did not only confirm what had been done by the City of Dort but in a full Assembly of the States they presented his Highness with some publick Acts by which the Prince was absolved from his first Oath of Captain General and at the same time was invested with the Dignity of Stadt-holder together with all the rights jurisdictions and priviledges heretofore granted to his Predecessors In conse●…ence of which his Highness the very same day in the Hall of Audience took the place of Stadt-holder Captain and Admiral General of the United Provinces with the usual Ceremonies and afterwards returned to the Army that was encamped at Bodegrave From this very moment as if the re-establishment of the Prince had inspired the people with new Courage a body of five thousand French were twice repulsed before Ardemburgh and without counting those that were killed upon the place were forced to leave five hundred Prisoners behind them amongst which were several Officers and persons of Quality and all this effected by the extraordinary bravery of no more than two hundred Burghers 'T is true that the Women and Boys assisted them no body being spared upon this occasion which will be an everlasting disgrace to France that looked upon the City as good as in their own possession The Burghers of Groningen did not defend themselves with less Courage and good fortune against the Bishop of Munster than those of Ardemburgh had done against the King of France For that Bishop having besieg'd this City with an Army of twenty five or thirty thousand men he was obliged to raise the Siege with the loss of almost half his Souldiers after he had been at a prodigious expence in buying all sorts of Ammunition and Inst●…ments of War necessary to make himself master of that important place In the midst of this extraordinary zeal the people show'd for the Prince an accident happen'd that served to confirm him more effectually in their affection and occasioned the death of two of his greatest enemies For a Chyrurgion having accused Cornelius de Wit Bailiff of Putten with having secretly proposed

case he found a favorable opportunity to do it To effect this having passed his Army upon a bridge of boats near Navagne and joyned the Auxiliaries which came to him from Spain he marched directly to Tongres and invested it on all sides with the Spanish Cavalry and his own He had no sooner done this but news was brought him that the Count de Duras had decamped upon which repassing the Meuse between Sittart and Maseik he encamped near Ainsberg where he continued two days to see if he cou'd engage the Count to give him battle but the River which was swell'd with the late rains not favouring his design he returned the same way to Mastricht from whence he detach'd a party of Horse and Foot to possess themselves of the Castle of Valcheron This Castle was strongly fortified but after some resistance surrendred at discretion They found in it great quantity of Hay and Corn and other Provisions After this his Highness marched to Lewick hoping to engage the Enemy but the Count had retired in mighty speed and was got at such a distance from the Princ's Army that it was impossible to overtake him At last perceiving that the Count de Duras had no mind to hazard a battle he ordered the Count de Marcin to invest Charleroy with the Van-guard while he himself followed with the main body of the Army but the weather was so violently cold that it was impossible to open the Trenches or to make the least circumvallation so that after he had made himself Master of Bins taking three Captains with Three Hundred Soldiers Prisoners pillaged and demollished the Town he marched back the same way and put his Army into Winter Quarters The Count de Montal who sometimes shut himself up in Tongres and sometimes in Charleroy because he was afraid for both these places and yet could not tell which of them the Prince would besiege was much mistaken to imagine that the Prince would undertake a long siege in the most rigorous season of the Year However it was very remarkable That a young General who commanded an Army composed of so many different Nations should be able to march in the midst of so violent a Winter into the Enemies Country to beat an old General from his post to offer him battle and for this purpose to follow him from place to place to alarm two strong Garrisons and return home with abundance of Prisoners and the booty of two fortified places and all this in the compass of nine days without the loss of any of his men or at least very few Not to mention the terror he put the Archbishop of Colen in who neither thought himself safe at Bonn or any other place within his own Territories while the Prince was so near him During the Prince's Expedition the Duke of Luxemburg got together an Army of Forty Thousand Horse and Foot with a resolution to conquer the Province of Holland and hoping to enrich himself and his men with the pillage of Leyden and the Hague designed to march upon the Ice with the Flower of the French Army towards the end of December but being arrived at Slinwetering he found the Waters so high that only Three Thousand five Hundred Foot could pass the rest being obliged to return to Naerden This party first attacked Nieucrop but was repulsed by the Peasants so that he marched toward Swammerdam where the Soldiers were the first that fled leaving the Inhabitants to the Mercy of the Enemy Nevertheless Count Koningsmark who commanded at Bodegrave having advice of the coming of the French made all imaginable haste to march by Leiden and posted a Regiment at Goursluys to hinder their incursions on that side This desperate and unexpected march of the French at first put the people into a great consternation particularly those of the Hague but nothing discouraged them so much as to hear that while the States took all imaginable care to prevent the Enemies returning Collonel Painvin had abandoned his Post at Niewerbourg and retired to Tergou By this means the Enemy had an open free passage to go home when they pleased whereas otherwise they must either have perished in the Water or else surrendred themselves at discretion by reason of the great Thaw which followed soon after But all their fears and apprehensions vanish'd at the Prince of Orange's return who having at Breda received advice of this enterprize of the French arrived with incredible diligence at Alfen and in a short time his presence re-established every thing as before All this while the Duke of Luxemburg ravaged the heart of the Country where he had like to have lost his life by a fall from his Horse into the water which was thaw'd his people saving him not without a great deal of difficulty But tho he made a shift to escape it did not fare so well with Six Hundred of his best Soldiers who there perished Thus ended this bold and hazardous Expedition It is certain the French committed unheard of cruelties at Swammerdam and all other places that fell into their hands ravishing the women stripping and wounding young and old and throwing Children into the Fire But these losses nevertheless were in some manner recompenced by the taking of Coeverden which is one of the strongest Cities in the Low Countries the Key of Friezland and Groningen encompassed on all sides with a Morass fortified with large deep double Ditches the Ramparts extreamly high and strong and defended by seven Bastions that carry the names of the seven United Provinces and a very regular Castle looked upon by ancient Writers to be impregnable This City fell into the hands of the Bishop of Munster in the fatal Year 1672 not without suspicion of Treachery But Fortune now declining to espouse the French Interest any longer since his Highness was restored to all his paternal dignities it was retaken with as much gallantry and courage as it had been lost with dishonor and cowardice For this very same place which Verdugo had in vain besieged for the space of one and thirty weeks together and which the Bishop of Munster after he had rendred himself Master of it had plentifully stored with provisions out of a prospect of making it the Magazine for those parts was by a party of Nine Hundred and Sixty men only commanded by M. de Rabenhaut retaken in less than an hour without the loss of more than Sixty men whereas the Enemy lost above an Hundred and fifty besides the Officers that were slain at the assault and four Hundred and thirty Prisoners taken of which number were six Captains eleven Lieutenants and fourteen Ensigns The rest of the Garrison for in all it consisted of Nine Hundred men saved themselves by a precipitate flight as soon as they saw the City was lost But what was most considerable there was found in this important Fortress such a prodigious quantity of all warlike Ammunitions and other Provisions that without question the Enemy