ived to remain, and share the fortunes of the garrison.
But by this regulation he got rid of seven hundred useless persons, who,
if they had staid, must have been the victims of famine; and "their dead
bodies," the admiral coolly remarked, "would have bred a pestilence
among the soldiers."[198]

He assigned to his men their several posts, talked boldly of maintaining
himself against all the troops of Spain, and by his cheerful tone
endeavored to inspire a confidence in others which he was far from
feeling himself. From one of the highest towers he surveyed the
surrounding country, tried to ascertain the most practicable fords in
the morass, and sent intelligence to Montmorency, that, without relief,
the garrison could not hold out more than a few days.[199]

That commander, soon after the admiral's departure, had marched his army
to the neighborhood of St. Quentin, and established it in the towns of
La Fere and Ham, together with the adjoining villages, so as to watch
the movements of the Spaniards, and cooeperate, as occasion served, with
the besieged. He at once determined to strengthen the garrison, if
possible, by a reinforcement of two thousand men under Dandelot, a
younger brother of the admiral, and not inferior to him in audacity and
enterprise. But the expedition miserably failed. Through the treachery
or the ignorance of the guide, the party mistook the path, came on one
of the enemy's outposts, and, disconcerted by the accident, were thrown
into confusion, and many of them cut to pieces or drowned in the morass.
Their leader, with the remainder, succeeded, under cover of the night,
in making his way back to La Fere.

[Sidenote: BATTLE OF ST. QUENTIN.]

The constable now resolved to make another attempt, and in the open day.
He proposed to send a body, under the same commander, in boats across
the Somme, and to cover the embarkation in person with his whole army.
His force was considerably less than that of the Spaniards, amounting
in all to about eighteen thousand foot and six thousand horse, besides a
train of artillery consisting of sixteen guns.[200] His levies, like
those of his antagonist, were largely made up of German mercenaries. The
French peasantry, with the exception of the Gascons, who formed a fine
body of infantry, had long since ceased to serve in war. But the
chivalry of France was represented by as gallant an array of nobles and
cavaliers as ever fought under the banner of the lilies.

O