History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

till the approach of winter, the prince would be
under the necessity of disbanding his army. His
tactics were completely successful.
Whichever way William turned, Alva followed
him; always straitening him, and making it
impossible for him to enter any fortified town, or to
find provisions for his army in the open country.
The autumn wore away in marches and countermarches,
Alva skilfully avoiding battle, and
engaging only in slight skirmishes, which, barren
of result to William, were profitable to the Spanish
general, inasmuch as they helped to consume time.
William had expected that Brabant and Flanders
would rise at the sight of his standards, and shake
off the Spanish yoke. Not a city opened its gates to
him, or hoisted on its walls the flag of defiance to
the tyrant.
At last both money and provisions failed him.
Of the 300,000 guilders which the Flemish
Protestants at home and abroad had undertaken to
furnish towards the deliverance of the country,
barely 12,000 were forthcoming. His soldiers
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