army in three divisions. Two were ordered to go and occupy Picardy and
Champagne; and the king kept with him only the third, about six thousand
strong. He went and laid the body of Henry III. in the church of
St. Corneille at Compiegne, took Meulan and several small towns on the
banks of the Seine and Oise, and propounded for discussion with his
officers the question of deciding in which direction he should move,
towards the Loire or the Seine, on Tours or on Rouen. He determined in
favor of Normandy; he must be master of the ports in that province in
order to receive there the re-enforcements which had been promised him by
Queen Elizabeth of England, and which she did send him in September,
1589, forming a corps of from four to five thousand men, Scots and
English, "aboard of thirteen vessels laden with twenty-two thousand
pounds sterling in gold and seventy thousand pounds of gunpowder, three
thousand cannon-balls, and corn, biscuits, wine, and beer, together with
woollens and even shoes." They arrived very opportunely for the close of
the campaign, but too late to share in Henry IV.'s first victory, that
series of fights around the castle of Arques which, in the words of an
eye-witness, the Duke of Angouleme, "was the first gate whereby Henry
entered upon the road of his glory and good fortune."

After making a demonstration close to Rouen, Henry IV., learning that
the Duke of Mayenne was advancing in pursuit of him with an army of
twenty-five thousand foot and eight thousand horse, thought it imprudent
to wait for him and run the risk of being jammed between forces so
considerable and the hostile population of a large city; so he struck
his camp and took the road to Dieppe, in order to be near the coast and
the re-enforcements from Queen Elizabeth. Some persons even suggested
to him that in case of mishap he might go thence and take refuge in
England; but at this prospect Biron answered, "There is no King of
France out of France;" and Henry IV. was of Biron's opinion. At his