and
certainly the cleverest, officers in the service of the states,
into which he had passed after having given important aid to
the Huguenots of France. He was considered so important a prize
that Philip refused all proposals for his exchange, and detained
him in the castle of Limburg for five years.

The siege of Cambray was now undertaken by the prince of Parma
in person; while the duke of Alencon, at the head of a large army
and the flower of the French nobility, advanced to its relief, and
soon forced his rival to raise the siege. The new sovereign of the
Netherlands entered the town, and was received with tumultuous joy
by the half-starved citizens and garrison. The prince of Parma sought
an equivalent for this check in the attack of Tournay, which he
immediately afterward invested. The town was but feebly garrisoned;
but the Protestant inhabitants prepared for a desperate defence,
under the exciting example of the princess of Epinoi, wife of the
governor, who was himself absent. This remarkable woman furnishes
another proof of the female heroism which abounded in these wars.
Though wounded in the arm, she fought in the breach sword in hand,
braving peril and death. And when at length it was impossible to
hold out longer, she obtained an honorable capitulation, and
marched out, on the 29th of November, on horseback, at the head
of the garrison, with an air of triumph rather than of defeat.

The duke of Alencon, now created duke of Anjou, by which title
we shall hereafter distinguish him, had repaired to England,
in hopes of completing his project of marriage with Elizabeth.
After three months of almost confident expectation, the virgin
queen, at this time fifty years of age, with a caprice not quite
justifiable, broke all her former engagements; and, happily for
herself and her country, declined the marriage. Anjou burst out
into all the violence of his turbulent temper, and set sail for
the Netherlands. Elizabeth made all the reparation in her power,
by the honors paid him on his dismissal. She accompanied him as
far as Canterbury, and sent him away under the convoy of the earl
of Leicester, her chief favorite; and with a brilliant suite and a
fleet of fifteen sail. Anjou was received at Antwerp with equal
distinction; and was inaugurated there on the 19th of February
as duke of Brabant, Lothier, Limburg, and Guelders, with many
other titles, of which he soon proved himself unworthy. When
the Prince of Orang