Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/640

620 a failure. Gran had fallen to the Turks, with heavy loss; and the women and children were sent away from Vienna to Ratisbon. The common cause was neglected; and Charles's triumphs, so far, caused as much uneasiness as pleasure.

The King, however, was better satisfied by hearing from Italy of high language which had been used in his favour by the Spanish ambassador to the Pope, and by the Emperor to Cardinal Farnese; and the Emperor himself gave a further and unmistakeable evidence of zeal in hastening, as soon as the matter of Cleves was disposed of, to the allied camp in Flanders, notwithstanding that he was suffering from a severe attack of an enemy as capricious and implacable as the King of France—the gout. The strong will of Charles V. ruled alike his constitution and his passions. Whether sick or well, if possible, he meant to fight a battle with the French before the season closed; and on the 19th of October he was at the lines of Landrecy, behind which de Vendosme lay intrenched.

His first step—perhaps because he felt a special