efforts of Christian princes. Charles Mansfeld had been received with
great enthusiasm at the court of Rudolph, where he was created a prince
of the Empire, and appointed to the chief command of the Imperial armies
under the Archduke Matthias. But his warfare was over. At the siege of
Gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to Comorn, where he
lingered some weeks. There, on the 24th August, as he lay half-dozing on
his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which
he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting
his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. When they came to
arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. His father
still remained superfluous in the Netherlands, hating and hated by
Fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as
during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for Alexander
Farnese. The octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there
was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest
veteran in Philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the
decrepit Peter Ernest, of the grim commanders of Alva's school.
Christopher Mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been
an old man when the great duke arrived in the Netherlands--was still
governor of Antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once
more before he passed from the stage.

I return from this digression to the siege of Dourlens. The death of La
Motte made no difference in the plans of Fuentes. He was determined to
reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. Bouillon
was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of
eight thousand men within the city of Amiens. By midsummer the Spaniards
had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the
city. Meantime Admiral Villars, who had gained so much renown by
defending Rouen against Henry IV., and who had subsequently made such an