GORCUM.

21

and the rest sent off under an escort toBreda. This occasioned us some alarm,but we were not disturbed except by therats, who absolutely took possession ofour beds. The next morning we camefourteen miles to Gorcum , the country round which, for several miles, was com-pletely destroyed in the late siege, thehouses and villages burnt, and the dykescut, which laid the whole country underwater. Near Gorcum , on the oppositebank of the river, stands the commandingold fortress of Loevestein , where Grotius was confined in 1619. The storks, whichare here esteemed a sacred bird, seem par-ticularly partial to this part of the country;there is scarcely a house which has notone or more nests upon it, on which thebird sits perfectly tame, and allows you toapproach it. In no part of Holland have Iobserved them so plentiful as upon thisspot. Gorcum has suffered much duringthe siege : it is strongly fortified, but in-differently built. Even the houses whichhave been the least damaged by the fire ofthe assailants are miserably shattered, and