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HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Dauphin and Boufflers, and though the allied army was dailystrengthened by the arrival of fresh troops, Luxemburg stillhad a superiority of force; and that superiority he increased byan adroit stratagem. He marched towards Liege, and madeas if he were about to form the siege of that city. William wasuneasy, and the more uneasy because he knew that there was aFrench party among the inhabitants. He quitted his positionnear Louvain, advanced to Nether Hespen, and encampedthere with the river Gette in his rear. On his march he learnedthat Huy had opened its gates to the French. The news in-creased his anxiety about Liege, and determined him to sendthither a force sufficient to overawe malecontents within thecity, and to repel any attack from without.* This was exactlywhat Luxemburg had expected and desired. His feint hadserved its purpose. He turned his back on the fortress whichhad hitherto seemed to be his object, and hastened towardsthe Gette. William, who had detached more than twentythousand men, and who had but fifty thousand left in his camp,was alarmed by learning from his scouts, on the eighteenthof July, that the French General, with near eighty thousand,was close at hand.

It was still in the King’s power, by a hasty retreat, to putthe narrow, but deep, waters of the Gette, which had latelybeen swollen by rains, between his army and the enemy. Butthe site which he occupied was strong; and it could easily bemade still stronger. He set all his troops to work. Ditcheswere dug, mounds thrown up, palisades fixed in the earth. Ina few hours the gi-ound wore a new aspect; and the Kingtrusted that he should be able to repel the attack even of a forcegreatly outnumbering his own. Nor was it without much ap-pearance of reason that he felt this confidence. When themorning of the nineteenth of July broke, the bravest men* William to Heinsius, July 1 1 7 . 1693.