the ensuing campaign in
Ireland, where general Ginckel exercised the supreme command, manned
his fleet by dint of pressing sailors, to the incredible annoyance of
commerce; then leaving the queen as before at the helm of government in
England, he returned to Holland accompanied by lord Sidney, secretary
of state, the earls of Marlborough and Portland, and began to make
preparations for taking the field in person. On the thirtieth day of
May, the duke of Luxembourg having passed the Scheld at the head of a
large army, took possession of Halle, and gave it up to plunder in sight
of the confederates, who were obliged to throw up intrenchments for
their preservation. At the same time the marquis de Boufflers, with a
considerable body of forces, intrenched himself before Liege with a view
to bombard that city. In the beginning of June, king William took upon
himself the command of the allied army, by this time reinforced in such
a manner as to be superior to the enemy. He forthwith detached the count
de Tilly with ten thousand men to the relief of Liege, which was already
reduced to ruins and desolation by the bombs, bullets, and repeated
attacks of Boufflers, who now thought proper to retreat to Dinant. Tilly
having thus raised the siege, and thrown a body of troops into Huy,
rejoined the confederate army, which had been augmented ever since his
departure with six thousand men from Brandenburgh, and ten thousand
Hessians commanded by the landgrave in person. Such was the vigilance of
Luxembourg, that William could not avail himself of his superiority.
In vain he exhausted his invention in marches, counter-marches, and
stratagems, to bring on a general engagement; the French marshal avoided
it with such dexterity as baffled all his endeavours. In the course of
this campaign the two armies twice confronted each other; but they were
situated in such a manner that neither could begin the attack without a
manifest disadvantage. While the king lay encamped at Court-sur-heure,
a soldier, corrupted by the enemy, set fire to the fusees of several
bombs, the explosion of which might have blown up the whole magazine
and produced infinite confusion in the army, had not the mischief been
prevented by the courage of the men who guarded the artillery; even
while the fusees were burning, they disengaged the waggons from
the line, and overturned them down the side of a hill, so that the
communication of the fire was intercepted. The person w