f her Protestant faith, were bound up in the
success of the Prince of Orange, who was about to cross the Rhine with
twenty-five thousand Germans for the relief of Mons, now invested by Alva.
For the duke wisely regarded the recapture of this place as the first step
in extricating himself from his present embarrassments. In such a strife
as that upon which Elizabeth must before long enter, whether with or
without her consent, the cordial alliance of France would be valuable
beyond computation. And yet, with a fatal perversity, she dallied with the
proposal of marriage. One day she would not hear of Alencon, alleging that
his age and personal blemishes placed the matter out of all consideration.
On another she gave hopes, and agreed to take a month's
consideration.[903] Thus she tantalized her suitor. Thus she convinced the
cunning Italian woman who, although she made no present show of holding
the reins of power in France, was ready at any moment to resume them, that
there was no reliance to be placed on England's promise of support against
Philip.[904]

[Sidenote: Rout of Genlis.]

The golden opportunity was in truth fast slipping away. Alva had struck
promptly at that opponent whose thrust was likely to be most deadly. Mons
must soon fall. A French Huguenot force, under command of Jean de Hangest,
Sieur de Genlis, was sent forward to relieve it. But the Frenchman was no
match for the cooler prudence of his antagonist,[905] and suffered
himself, on the march, to be surprised (on the nineteenth of July) and
taken prisoner by Don Frederick of Toledo and Chiappin Vitelli. Of his
army, barely one hundred foot soldiers found their way into the
beleaguered town. Twelve hundred were killed on the field of
battle--almost in sight of Mons--and a much larger number butchered by the
peasantry of the neighborhood.[906] A handful of officers and men,
scarcely more fortunate, shared the captivity of their commander, and were
destined to have their fortunes depend for a considerable time upon the
fluctuating interests of two unprincipled courts.[907]

The rout of Genlis was not in itself a decisive event. While Coligny could
bring forward a far more numerous army, and Orange was in command of a
considerable German force, the loss of this small detachment was but one
of those many reverses that are to be looked for in every war. But,
happening under the peculiar circumstances of the hour, it was invested
with a consequence disproport