iliaries arrived,
the French had made great progress in their conquests. Catinat besieged
and took Villa-Franca, Nice, and some other fortifications; then he
reduced Villana and Carmagnola, and detached the marquis de Feuquieres
to invest Coni, a strong fortress garrisoned by the Vaudois and French
refugees. The duke of Savoy was now reduced to the brink of ruin. He saw
almost all his places of strength in the possession of the enemy; Coni
was besieged; and La Hoguette, another French general, had forced the
passes of the valley of Aoste, so that he had free admission into the
Verceillois, and the frontiers of the Milanese. Turin was threatened
with a bombardment; the people were dispirited and clamorous, and their
sovereign lay with his little army encamped on the hill of Montcallier,
from whence he beheld his towns taken, and his palace of Rivoli
destroyed. Duke Schomberg exhorted him to act on the offensive, and give
battle to Catinat while that officer's army was weakened by detachments,
and prince Eugene* supported his remonstrance; but this proposal was
vehemently opposed by the marquis de Leganez, who foresaw that if the
duke should be defeated, the French would penetrate into the territories
of Milan. The relief of Coni, however, was undertaken by prince
Eugene, who began his march for that place with a convoy guarded by
two-and-twenty hundred horse; at Magliano he was reinforced by five
thousand militia; Bulonde, who commanded at the siege, no sooner heard
of his approach than he retired with the utmost precipitation, leaving
behind some pieces of cannon, mortars, bombs, arms, ammunition, tents,
provisions, utensils, with all his sick and wounded. When he joined
Catinat he was immediately put under arrest, and afterwards cashiered
with disgrace. Hoguette abandoned the valley of Aoste; Feuquieres was
sent with a detachment to change the garrison of Casal; and Catinat
retired with his army towards Villa Nova d'Aste.

* Prince Eugene of Savoy, who in the sequel rivalled the
fame of the greatest warriors of antiquity, was descended on
the father's side from the house of Savoy, and on the
mother's from the family of Soissons, a branch of the house
of Bourbon. His father was Eugene Maurice, of Savoy, count
of Soissons, colonel of the Switzers, and governor of
Champagne and Brie: his mother was the celebrated Olimpia de
Mancini, niece of Cardinal Mazarine. Eugene finding himself