hurry: and had
the Spaniards presently marched thither, it could not have failed to
fall into their hands. But Philip was of a cautious temper; and he
determined first to take St. Quintin, in order to secure a communication
with his own dominions. A very little time, it was expected, would
finish this enterprise; but the bravery of Coligny still prolonged the
siege seventeen days, which proved the safety of France. Some troops
were levied and assembled. Couriers were sent to recall the duke of
Guise and his army from Italy: and the French, having recovered from
their first panic, put themselves in a posture of defence. Philip, after
taking Ham and Catelet, found the season so far advanced, that he could
attempt no other enterprise: he broke up his camp, and retired to winter
quarters.

But the vigilant activity of Guise, not satisfied with securing the
frontiers, prompted him, in the depth of winter, to plan an enterprise
which France, during her greatest successes, had always regarded as
impracticable, and had never thought of undertaking. Calais was in
that age deemed an impregnable fortress; and as it was known to be the
favorite of the English nation, by whom it could easily be succored, the
recovery of that place by France was considered as totally desperate.
But Coligny had remarked, that as the town of Calais was surrounded with
marshes, which during the winter were impassable, except over a dike
guarded by two castles, St. Agatha and Newnam Bridge, the English were
of late accustomed, on account of the lowness of their finances, to
dismiss a great part of the garrison at the end of autumn, and to recall
them in the spring, at which time alone they judged their attendance
necessary. On this circumstance he had founded the design of making a
sudden attack on Calais; he had caused the place to be secretly viewed
by some engineers; and a plan of the whole enterprise being found among
his papers, it served, though he himself was made prisoner on the taking
of St. Quintin, to suggest the project of that undertaking, and to
direct the measures of the duke of Guise.

Several bodies of troops defiled towards the frontiers on various
pretences; and the whole, being suddenly assembled, formed an army, with
which Guise made an unexpected march towards Calais. At the same time,
a great number of French ships, being ordered into the Channel, under
color of cruising on the English, composed a fleet which made an attack
by se