and was anxious, as Henry was aware, to return to the Netherlands. Rouen
was relieved, Caudebec had fallen. There was not food or forage enough
in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the
League. Shut up in this narrow area, Alexander must starve or surrender.
His only egress was into Picardy and so home to Artois, through the base
of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of
Picardy. On this base Henry had posted his whole army. Should Farnese
assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of
force, defeat was certain. Should he remain where he was, he must
inevitably starve. He had no communications with the outside. The
Hollanders lay with their ships below Caudebec, blockading the river's
mouth and the coast. His only chance of extrication lay across the
Seine. But Alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was
necessary, so Henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross
that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where
the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost
impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. Farnese's
situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd Bearnese sat smiling
serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had
at last inveigled his mighty adversary. Secure of his triumph, he seemed
to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by
habit, he was impetuous and hot.

And in truth Farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. There was no
hay for his horses, no bread for his men. A penny loaf was sold for two
shillings. A jug of water was worth a crown. As for meat or wine, they
were hardly to be dreamed of. His men were becoming furious at their
position. They had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured
that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to
drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony.