ill October; and that, if one of the convoys of the Allies
could be intercepted, they must raise the siege altogether.

Such a convoy as hath been said was now prepared at Ostend, and about to
march for the siege; and on the 27th September, we (and the French too)
had news that it was on its way. It was composed of 700 waggons,
containing ammunition of all sorts, and was escorted out of Ostend by
2,000 infantry and 300 horse. At the same time Monsieur de la Mothe
quitted Bruges, having with him five-and-thirty battalions, and upwards of
sixty squadrons and forty guns, in pursuit of the convoy.

Major-General Webb had meanwhile made up a force of twenty battalions, and
three squadrons of dragoons, at Turout, whence he moved to cover the
convoy and pursue la Mothe: with whose advanced guard ours came up upon
the great plain of Turout, and before the little wood and castle of
Wynendael; behind which the convoy was marching.

As soon as they came in sight of the enemy, our advanced troops were
halted, with the wood behind them, and the rest of our force brought up as
quickly as possible, our little body of horse being brought forward to the
opening of the plain, as our general said, to amuse the enemy. When
Monsieur la Mothe came up he found us posted in two lines in front of the
wood; and formed his own army in battle facing ours, in eight lines, four
of infantry in front, and dragoons and cavalry behind.

The French began the action, as usual, with a cannonade which lasted three
hours, when they made their attack, advancing in twelve lines, four of
foot and four of horse, upon the allied troops in the wood where we were
posted. Their infantry behaved ill; they were ordered to charge with the
bayonet, but, instead, began to fire, and almost at the very first
discharge from our men, broke and fled. The cavalry behaved better; with
these alone, who were three or four times as numerous as our whole force,
Monsieur de la Mothe might have won victory: but only two of our
battalions were shaken in the least; and these speedily rallied: nor could
the repeated attacks of the French horse cause our troops to budge an inch
from the position in the wood in which our general had placed them.

After attacking for two hours, the French retired at night-fall entirely
foiled. With all the loss we had inflicted upon him, the enemy was still
three times stronger than we: and it could not be supposed that our
general could pursue M. de la