Page:The reign of George VI - 1763.djvu/74

 salutary an end; but their spirits were too much depressed, and they were kept too much in awe by the garrisons that were in their several fortresses to listen to a deliverer. George marched towards Bruges, which capitulated without the firing a gun. Ostend, Ypres, and Newport cost him some days; but his progress was so rapid before the French had an army to oppose him, that his difficulty in these conquests was not very great. The Marshal Duke de Vivione at last appeared near Dunkirk, after a forced march, at the head of forty thousand men. The King was no sooner informed of his approach than he determined to fight him directly; delays to him were dangerous; whereas, the enemy would every day increase in strength. Vivione was encamped at Winox, and entrenching himself, waited for reinforcements; but George having sent spies to reconoitre his situ-