ging this disgrace upon the French.
The mareschal de Thermes, governor of Calais, had made an irruption into
Flanders, with an army of fourteen thousand men, and, having forced a
passage over the River Aa, had taken Dunkirk and Berg St. Winoc, and had
advanced as far as Newport; but Count Egmont coming suddenly upon him
with superior forces, he was obliged to retreat; and being overtaken by
the Spaniards near Gravelines, and finding a battle inevitable, he chose
very skilfully his ground for the engagement. He fortified his left wing
with all the precautions possible, and posted his right along the River
Aa, which, he reasonably thought, gave him full security from that
quarter. But the English ships, which were accidently on the coast,
being drawn by the noise of the firing, sailed up the river, and,
flanking the French, did such execution by their artillery that they put
them to flight, and the Spaniards gained a complete victory.[*]

* Holigshed, p. 1150.

Meanwhile the principal army of France under the duke of Guise, and that
of Spain under the duke of Savoy, approached each other on the frontiers
of Picardy; and as the two kings had come into their respective camps,
attended by the flower of their nobility, men expected that some great
and important event would follow from the emulation of these warlike
nations. But Philip, though actuated by the ambition, possessed not the
enterprising genius of a conqueror; and he was willing, notwithstanding
the superiority of his numbers, and the two great victories which he
had gained at St. Quintin and Gravelines, to put a period to the war
by treaty. Negotiations were entered into for that purpose; and as the
terms offered by the two monarchs were somewhat wide of each other,
the armies were put into winter quarters till the princes could come to
better agreement. Among other conditions, Henry demanded the restitution
of Navarre to its lawful owner; Philip, that of Calais and its territory
to England; but in the midst of these negotiations, news arrived of the
death of Mary; and Philip, no longer connected with England, began
to relax in his firmness on that capital article. This was the only
circumstance that could have made the death of that princess be
regretted by the nation.

Mary had long been in a declining state of health; and having mistaken
her dropsy for a pregnancy, she had made use of an improper regimen,
and her malady daily augmented. Every reflection