Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/167

1545.] who was staying at a hunting lodge a few leagues distant, interfered with the management without improving it; and although the camp was the lounge of the young nobles of his train, whose amusement was to ride over to Boulogne, and break a lance with the English cavalry, exploits of individual gallantry effected little towards dismounting cannon or cutting off supplies. Siege-guns were placed in position at the fort, but they were too distant to injure the defences; and the English works had been constructed so skilfully, that on the river side they could not be brought nearer. Treachery was next tried. Three engineers from the Netherlands volunteered to take service with the garrison, intending to blow up the magazines; but the mine was countermined; the engineers were 'hoist with their own petard;' and in the discovery of one treason the clue was found of another. The Government fell on the scent of a priest who was busy in disguise among the Spanish soldiers in the English service at Berwick; and the man was detected and hanged.

A desire to obtain a command of the river had been the temptation which placed the French in their present position; and De Biez, finding that he could not succeed, resolved to remove to another. His conduct throughout the siege was strange. His desire to attempt the town on the other side was intelligible in itself; but he created suspicion by giving as a reason, in a council of war, at which Du Bellay was present, that he