side of the water, the troops remaining on the Ostend side being by a
change of arrangement now under command of Count Ernest.

Thus the army which had come to surprise Nieuport had, after
accomplishing a distance of nearly forty miles in thirteen days,
at last arrived before that place. Yet there was no more expeditious
or energetic commander in Christendom than Maurice, nor troops better
trained in marching and fighting than his well-disciplined army.

It is now necessary to cast a glance towards the interior of Flanders,
in order to observe how the archduke conducted himself in this emergency.
So soon as the news of the landing of the States' army at the port of
Ghent reached the sovereign's ears, he awoke from the delusion that
danger was impending on his eastern border, and lost no time in
assembling such troops as could be mustered from far and near to protect
the western frontier. Especially he despatched messengers well charged
with promises, to confer with the authorities of the "Italian Republic"
at Diest and Thionville. He appealed to them in behalf of the holy
Catholic religion, he sought to arouse their loyalty to himself and the
Infanta Isabella--daughter of the great and good Philip II., once
foremost of earthly potentates, and now eminent among the saints of
heaven--by whose fiat he and his wife had now become legitimate
sovereigns of all the Netherlands. And those mutineers responded with
unexpected docility. Eight hundred foot soldiers and six hundred cavalry
men came forth at the first summons, making but two conditions in
addition to the stipulated payment when payment should be possible--that
they should be commanded by their own chosen officers, and that they
should be placed in the first rank in the impending conflict. The
example spread. Other detachments of mutineers in various strongholds,
scenting the battle from afar, came in with offers to serve in the