All day the various chapels were open, and here the preachers, by
their fiery discourses, kept up the spirits and courage of the people who
thronged these buildings. The women spent most of their time there, and
the men, when off duty from the walls, however fatigued they might be
with their labour, flocked at once to the chapels, to pray for strength
to resist and for early succour. Never were the whole population of the
town more deeply animated by religious excitement, never a whole
population more thoroughly and unanimously determined to die, rather than
surrender.
When not upon the walls or in chapel, John spent much of his time in
amusing the children, of whom there were many in the tanner's house. The
change from their country quarters, the crowded town, the privation of
milk, and the scantiness and unfitness of their rations, soon began to
tell upon the little ones, and John felt thankful, indeed, that his mind
had been stored with stories from his varied reading of the last two or
three years. With these, he was able to interest and quiet the children,
who sat round him with wrapt attention, while the booming of the guns and
the occasional rattling of musketry outside passed unheeded.
Scarce a day passed without active fighting, the initiative being always
taken by the besieged, for, in the royal army, the policy of blockade
rather than assault was steadily adhered to.
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