could not
victual by reason of the dearness of provisions, she seized all the corn
she could find in Suffolk and Norfolk, without paying any price to the
owners. By all these expedients, assisted by the power of pressing,
she levied an army of ten thousand men, which she sent over to the Low
Countries, under the command of the earl of Pembroke. Meanwhile, in
order to prevent any disturbance at home, many of the most considerable
gentry were thrown into the Tower; and lest they should be known, the
Spanish practice was followed: they either were carried thither in the
night-time, or were hoodwinked and muffled by the guards who conducted
them.[***]

* Heylin, p. 72. Burnet, vol. ii. p. 351. Sir James Melvil's
Memoirs.

** Rossi, Successi d'Inghilterra.

*** Strype's Eccles. Memorials, vol. iii. 377

The king of Spain had assembled an army, which, after the junction
of the English, amounted to above sixty thousand men, conducted by
Philibert, duke of Savoy, one of the greatest captains of the age. The
constable Montmorency, who commanded the French army, had not half the
number to oppose to him. The duke of Savoy, after menacing Mariembourgh
and Rocroy, suddenly sat down before St. Quintin: and as the place was
weak, and ill provided with a garrison, he expected in a few days to
become master of it. But Admiral Coligny, governor of the province,
thinking his honor interested to save so important a fortress, threw
himself into St. Quintin, with some troops of French and Scottish
gensdarmery; and by his exhortations and example animated the
soldiers to a vigorous defence. He despatched a messenger to his uncle
Montmorency, desiring a supply of men; and the constable approached the
place with his whole army, in order to facilitate the entry of these
succors. But the duke of Savoy, falling on the reenforcement, did such
execution upon them, that not above five hundred got into the place.
He next made an attack on the French army, and put them to total
rout, killing four thousand men, and dispersing the remainder. In this
unfortunate action many of the chief nobility of France were either
slain or taken prisoners: among the latter was the old constable
himself, who, fighting valiantly, and resolute to die rather than
survive his defeat, was surrounded by the enemy, and thus fell
alive into their hands. The whole kingdom of France was thrown into
consternation: Paris was attempted to be fortified in a