ABSTRACT
Delft was a prosperous town with the largest population in Holland after Amsterdam, Leyden and Haarlem. Beer-brewing used to be its main industry, but by the middle of the seventeenth century the number of its breweries had much diminished, and the weaving of woollen cloth had become the principal occupation of its inhabitants. The consistory debated the matter after the burgomaster had withdrawn. The conclusions it reached were admirable in their fairness and their prudence. On the one hand it was noted in the minutes that Welhoek’s aspersions on the consistory’s integrity and impartiality were strongly resented. The story of Bornius’s misadventures was well known outside Delft, and he was not as friendless in other places as in this town, where the iron rule of the magistrates prevented even those who agreed with him from giving him any support.
