History of Protestantism in the Netherlands - James Aitken Wylie

Holland should be waging its great battle for
existence.
At the moment that the Hollanders were not
unnaturally oppressed with grave thoughts
touching the issue of the struggle for which they
were girding themselves, uncertain whether their
country was to become the burial-place of their
liberties and their persons, or the theater of a yet
higher civilisation, an incident occurred that helped
to enliven their spirits, and confirm them in their
resolution to resist. The one city in Holland that
remained on the side of Alva was Amsterdam, and
thither Toledo, after the butchery at Naarden,
marched with his army. In the shallow sea around
Amsterdam, locked up in the ice, lay part of the
Dutch fleet. The Spanish general sent a body of
troops over the frozen waters to attack the ships.
Their advance was perceived, and the Dutch
soldiers, fastening on their skates, and grasping
their muskets, descended the ships' sides to give
battle to the Spaniards. Sweeping with the rapidity
of a cloud towards the enemy, they poured a deadly
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