campaign on similar terms. Before the last week of June the archduke had
a considerable army on foot. On the 29th of that month, accompanied by
the Infanta, he reviewed a force of ten thousand foot and nearly two
thousand cavalry in the immediate vicinity of Ghent. He addressed them
in a few stirring words, reminding them of their duty to the Church and
to himself, and assuring them--as commanders of every nation and every
age are wont to assure their troops at the eve of every engagement--that
the cause in which they were going forth to battle was the most sacred
and inspiring for which human creatures could possibly lay down their
lives. Isabella, magnificently attired, and mounted on a white palfrey,
galloped along the lines, and likewise made an harangue. She spoke to
the soldiers as "her lions," promised them boundless rewards in this
world and the next, as the result of the great victory which they were
now about to gain over the infidels; while as to their wages, she vowed
that, rather than they should remain unpaid, she would sacrifice all her
personal effects, even to the plate from which she ate her daily bread,
and to the jewels which she wore in her ears.

Thousands of hoarse voices greeted the eloquence of the archdukes with
rude acclamations, while the discharge of arquebus and volleys of cannon
testified to the martial ardour with which the troops were inspired; none
being more enthusiastic than the late mutineers. The army marched at
once, under many experienced leaders--Villars, Zapena, and Avalos among
the most conspicuous. The command of the artillery was entrusted to
Velasco; the marshal-general of the camp was Frederic van den Berg, in
place of the superannuated Peter Ernest; while the Admiral of Arragon,
Francisco de Mendoza, "terror of Germany and of Christendom," a little
man with flowing locks, long hooked nose, and a sinister glance from his
evil black eyes, was general of the cavalry. The admiral had not
displayed very extraordinary genius in his recent campaigning in the