Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/89

 THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 69 lodged, fell in swathes like grass under the scythe, and the physicians died at their side/ The Prince of Conde, notwithstanding the last answer to de Foix, had written on the 26th of June a very noble letter to Elizabeth. ' To prevent war/ he said, ' the King and Queen, the Princes of the blood, the Lords of the Council, the whole Parliament of Paris, would renew the obligation to restore Calais at the eight years' end. It was an offer which the Queen of England could accept without stain upon her honour, and by agreeing to it she would prove that she had engaged in the quarre] with a chief eye to the glory of God and the maintenance of the truth/ 1 Elizabeth had fiercely refused ; and when this ter- rible news came from Havre she could not would not realize its meaning. She would send another army, she would call out the musters, and feed the garrison from them faster than the plague could kill. Cost what it would Havre should be held. It was but a question of men, money, and food; and the tarnished fame of England should be regained. 2 And worse and worse came the news across the water. When June ended, out of his seven thousand men War- wick found but three thousand fit for duty, and the enemy were pressing him closer, and Montmorency had joined the Rhingrave. Thousands of workmen were throwing up trenches under the walls, and thousands of 1 Conde to Elizabeth, June 26: FORBES, vol. ii. 2 The Council to Wai-wick, June 29 j Elizabeth to "Warwick, July 4 Founw