when men are embarking in such dark and hazardous
undertakings as that in which William was now engaged, their spirits and
their energy rise and sink in great fluctuations, under the influence of
very slight and inadequate causes; and nothing has greater influence
over them at such times than the aspect of the skies. William found that
the ardor and enthusiasm of his army were fast disappearing under the
effects of chilling winds and driving rain. The feelings of discontent
and depression which the frowning expression of the heavens awakened in
their minds, were deepened and spread by the influence of sympathy. The
men had nothing to do, during the long and dreary hours of the day, but
to anticipate hardships and dangers, and to entertain one another, as
they watched the clouds driving along the cliffs, and the rolling of the
surges in the offing, with anticipations of shipwrecks, battles, and
defeats, and all the other gloomy forebodings which haunt the
imagination of a discouraged and discontented soldier.

Nor were these ideas of wrecks and destruction wholly imaginary.
Although the body of the fleet remained in the river, where it was
sheltered from the winds, yet there were many cases of single ships that
were from time to time exposed to them. These were detached vessels
coming in late to the rendezvous, or small squadrons sent out to some
neighboring port under some necessity connected with the preparations,
or strong galleys, whose commanders, more bold than the rest, were
willing, in cases _not_ of absolute necessity, to brave the danger. Many
of these vessels were wrecked. The fragments of them, with the bodies of
the drowned mariners, were driven to the shore. The ghastly spectacles
presented by these dead bodies, swollen and mangled, and half buried in
the sand, as if the sea had been endeavoring to hide the mischief it had
done, shocked and terrified the spectators who saw them. William gave
orders to have all these bodies gathered up and interred secretly, as
fast as they were found; still, exaggerated rumors of the number and
magnitude of these disasters were circulated in the camp, and the
discontent and apprehensions grew every day more and more alarming.

William resolved that he must put to sea at the very first possible
opportunity. The favorable occasion was not long wanting. The wind
changed. The storm appeared to cease. A breeze sprang up from the south,
which headed back the surges from the Fren