"The fire of our batteries has compelled the Dutch to
withdraw to the can-- mates of the Citadel, which are immense. The communications from one bas-,.
tion to another are now only made under ground; and except the number o2 men strictly necessary for the service of such batteries as are still firing, no one is seen in the interior of the citadel. This total disappearance of the enemy deprives our fire of the greater part of the tffeet which it should produce upon the garrison."
The Dutch won't be shot—oh, the cunning knaves ! "Dilly, Dilly," 1
cries the old Marshal, "come and be killed :" but not a step will the I
Dutchman move to death, out of complaisancy at least. He sits under i
his casemates, "which are immense," and says over his pipe, "The more you French fire, the more I won't come out." Now it is battery No. 2, now No. l, which in the most solemn manner in the world be- seeches the Dutchman to come forth. But no—fire and burn—with such an umbrella over his head as a bomb-proof casemate, Mynheer does not dread the extinction of his pipe ; and that is the principal consideration with the garrison of our ancient ally. Casemates above and casemates below, he neither fears bombs nor sluices. In case of being flooded, his breeches would serve him for a coracle to sail down the Scheldt in ; and, pipe alight, it would take a heavy sea to send him down. This is the 'first time that Dutchmen were ever invisible.
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