breathe. Besides his multitudinous correspondence with the public
bodies, whose labors he habitually directed; with the various estates
of the provinces, which he was gradually moulding into an organised and
general resistance to the Spanish power; with public envoys and with
secret agents to foreign cabinets, all of whom received their
instructions from him alone; with individuals of eminence and influence,
whom he was eloquently urging to abandon their hostile position to their
fatherland; and to assist him in the great work which he was doing;
besides these numerous avocations, he was actively and anxiously
engaged during the spring of 1576, with the attempt to relieve
the city of Zierickzee.

That important place, the capital of Schouwen, and the key to half
Zealand, had remained closely invested since the memorable expedition to
Duiveland. The Prince had passed much of his time in the neighbourhood,
during the month of May, in order to attend personally to the
contemplated relief, and to correspond daily with the beleaguered
garrison. At last, on the 25th of May, a vigorous effort was made to
throw in succor by sea. The brave Admiral Boisot, hero of the memorable
relief of Leyden, had charge of the expedition. Mondragon had surrounded
the shallow harbor with hulks and chains, and with a loose submerged dyke
of piles and rubbish. Against this obstacle Boisot drove his ship, the
'Red Lion,' with his customary audacity, but did not succeed in cutting
it through. His vessel, the largest of the feet, became entangled: he
was, at the same time, attacked from a distance by the besiegers. The
tide ebbed and left his ship aground, while the other vessels had been
beaten back by the enemy. Night approached; and there was no possibility
of accomplishing the enterprise. His ship was hopelessly stranded. With
the morning's sun his captivity was certain. Rather than fall into the
hands of his enemy, he sprang into the sea; followed by three hundred of