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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap, victorious enemy should do wliatDe lluyter had done? What■ ^ — if the dockyards of Chatham should again he destroyed? Whatif the Tower itself should be bombarded? What if the vastwood of masts and yardarms below London Bridge should bein a blaze? Nor was this all. Evil tidings had just arrived fromantic of the Low Countries. The allied forces under Waldeck had, inthe neighbourhood of Fleurus, encountered the French com-manded by the Duke of Luxemburg. The day had been longand fiercely disputed. At length the skill of the French generaland the impetuous valour of the French cavalry had prevailed.*Thus at the same moment the army of Lewis ivas victorious inFlanders, and his navy was in undisputed possession of theChannel. Marshal Humieres with a considerable force lay notfar from the Straits of Dover. It had been given out that hewas about to join Luxemburg. But the information which theEnglish government received from able military men in theNetherlands and from spies v r ho mixed with the Jacobites, andwhich to so great a master of the art of war as Marlboroughseemed to deserve serious attention, was, that the army ofIlumieres would instantly march to Dunkirk and would therebe taken on board of the fleet of Tourville.** Between the coastof Artois and the Nore not a single ship bearing the red crossof Saint George could venture to show herself. The em-barkation would be the business of a few hours. A few hoursmore might suffice for the voyage. At any moment Londonmight he appalled by the news that thirty thousand Frenchveterans were in Kent, and that the Jacobites of half thecounties of the kingdom were in arms. All the regular troopswho could be assembled for the defence of the island did notamount to more than ten thousand men. It may be doubted

* London Gazette, June 30. 1690; Historical and Political Mercury forJuly 1690.

** Nottingham to William, July 15. 1690.