Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/629

1543.] of Europe was left to the sword, and to intrigue where intrigue might be more availing.

The winter had been spent in resolute preparations through all parts of France to repair the last summer's failures. A blow was to be struck in Flanders before the arrival of the Emperor, and at the beginning of June fifty thousand men crossed the frontiers. They obtained a few rapid successes. Among other places, they seized and fortified the important position of Landrecy; and the Court of Brussels being anxious to see Henry committed to active hostilities, intimated their expectation of assistance in compliance with the treaty, and desired that it might be furnished, not in money, but in men. The King consented with the warmth with which the English so often throw themselves into a first campaign. His only condition was, that the troops which he would send should not be cooped in garrisons, but should be employed in the field; and Sir John Wallop, as a further compensation for his late prosecution, was appointed to the command. He was directed to place himself in correspondence with the Imperial generals, and to act as they should think best, although it was intimated as the opinion of M. de Rieulx that his best employment would be the seizure, so long contemplated, of Mottreul.

The contingent under Wallop's command was inconsiderable in number—from five to six thousand men,—but it was composed of the flower of England. The