r, he
had nothing more to say than that there would be neither pleasure nor
profit in being mixed up with his affairs. As for himself, he would
always do his duty." Monsieur at last made up his mind to join the army,
and it was resolved to give aid to the forts in the Island of Re.

[Illustration: The Harbor of La Rochelle---248]

It was a bold enterprise that was about to be attempted to hold La
Rochelle invested and not quit it, and, nevertheless, to send the flower
of the force to succor a citadel considered to be half lost; to make a
descent upon an island blockaded by a large naval armament; to expose the
best part of the army to the mercy of the winds and the waves of the sea,
and of the English cannons and vessels, in a place where there was no
landing in order and under arms." [_Memoires de Richelieu,_ t. iii.
p. 361]; but it had to be resolved upon or the Island of Re lost. Toiras
had already sent to ask the Duke of Buckingham if he would receive him to
terms.

On the 8th of October, at eight A. M., the Duke of Buckingham was
preparing to send a reply to the fort, and he was already rejoicing "to
see his felicity and the crowning of his labors," when, on nearing the
citadel, "there were exhibited to him at the ends of pikes lots of
bottles of wine, capons, turkeys, hams, ox-tongues, and other provisions,
and his vessels were saluted with lots of cannonades, they having come
too near in the belief that those inside had no more powder." During the
night, the fleet which was assembled at Oleron, and had been at sea for
two days past, had succeeded in landing close to the fort, bringing up
re-enforcements of troops, provisions, and munitions. At the same time
the king and the cardinal had just arrived at the camp before La
Rochelle.

[Illustration: The King and Richelieu at La Rochelle----250]

Before long the English could not harbor a doubt but that the king's army
had recovered its real heads: a grand expedition was preparing to attack
them in the Island of Re, and the cardinal had gone in person to Oleron
and to Le Brouage in order to see to the embarkation of the troops. "The
nobility of the court came up in crowds to take leave of his Majesty, and
their looks were so gay that it must be allowed that to no nation but the
French is it given to march so freely to death for the service of their
king or for their own honor as to make it impossible to remark any
difference between him that inflicts it