In the justice hall is a celebrated picture of Harel de Moor, who was born in this town in 1656; the subject, Brutus condemning his sons, the design, the colouring and finishing of which are very beautiful. De Moor had great and highly merited honours paid to him by various princes and distinguished personages, particularly by the emperor of Germany who directed his ambassador Count Singendoff to engage him to paint the portraits of Prince Eugene and the Duke of Marlborough on horseback, with which his imperial patron was so gratified, that he conferred upon him the honour of knighthood, and nobly rewarded him in a more substantial manner for his admirable production: he had also the honour of painting that mighty savage of the North, Peter the Great, Czar of Muscovy. Under the picture of Brutus are some elegant Latin verses; there is also a large picture representing the bravery of its citizens, who are rendered immortal in the page of history for the heroic valour they displayed during a siege, which in the year 1573, for five months, visited this place with all the horrors of war, disease, and famine. The historian can scarcely do adequate justice to these heroes. After the Spaniards had been compelled to raise the siege of Alkmaar, they determined upon directing their forces against Leyden, from the trenches of which they were bravely repulsed by Count Louis of Nassau, brother to the then Prince of Orange; but having been reinforced, they returned to the attack; when the Spanish general, Francis Valdey, discovering that he could not take the place by storm, resolved upon reducing it by famine, and a scene of horror ensued which baffles the powers of the pen to describe. The Spanish General, Frederic of Toledo, son of the execrable Duke of Alva, repulsed a body of English auxiliaries who were coming to the relief of the besieged, in consequence of which the blockade was so vigilantly conducted, that the wretched inhabitants could derive no provisions from without. In this dreadful dilemma, they drew lots to determine which should fall each day to afford sustenance to the rest with their bodies; and it is said that the spirit of patriotism ran so high, that many of them anticipated this desperate alternative, and voluntarily slew themselves to furnish food to their brave fellow-citizens and soldiers. An extraordinary female patriot, of the name of Kenneva, headed the women, led them to the ramparts, where they assisted the nearly exhausted soldiery in working the cannon, and displayed that enthusiastic courage which great occasions will generally find lodged in that bosom which is the seat of every gentle, every tender feeling, and ought only to heave with the tenderest emotions. Many of them stabbed themselves, to assist in preserving the survivors, and expiring exclaimed, “See, my poor valiant friends, your provision for the rest of the day.” But notwithstanding these terrible sacrifices,