s
side. The King in person directed the attack; and his subjects were
delighted to learn that, when the fight was hottest, he laid his hand on
the shoulder of the Elector of Bavaria, and exclaimed, "Look, look at
my brave English!" Conspicuous in bravery even among those brave English
was Cutts. In that bulldog courage which flinches from no danger,
however terrible, he was unrivalled. There was no difficulty in finding
hardy volunteers, German, Dutch and British, to go on a forlorn hope;
but Cutts was the only man who appeared to consider such an expedition
as a party of pleasure. He was so much at his ease in the hottest
fire of the French batteries that his soldiers gave him the honourable
nickname of the Salamander. [606]

On the seventeenth the first counterscarp of the town was attacked.
The English and Dutch were thrice repulsed with great slaughter, and
returned thrice to the charge. At length, in spite of the exertions of
the French officers, who fought valiantly sword in hand on the glacis,
the assailants remained in possession of the disputed works. While the
conflict was raging, William, who was giving his orders under a shower
of bullets, saw with surprise and anger, among the officers of his
staff, Michael Godfrey the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. This
gentleman had come to the King's headquarters in order to make some
arrangements for the speedy and safe remittance of money from England
to the army in the Netherlands, and was curious to see real war. Such
curiosity William could not endure. "Mr. Godfrey," he said, "you ought
not to run these hazards; you are not a soldier; you can be of no use
to us here." "Sir," answered Godfrey, "I run no more hazard than Your
Majesty." "Not so," said William; "I am where it is my duty to be; and
I may without presumption commit my life to God's keeping; but you--"
While they were talking a cannon ball from the ramparts laid Godfrey
dead at the King's feet. It was not found however that the fear of being
Godfreyed,--such was during some time the cant phrase,--sufficed to
prevent idle gazers from coming to the trenches. [607] Though William
forbade his coachmen, footmen and cooks to expose themselves, he
repeatedly saw them skulking near the most dangerous spots and trying to
get a peep at the fighting. He was sometimes, it is said, provoked into
horsewhipping them out of the range of the French guns; and the story,
whether true or false, is very characteristic