unhappy he is reported to have uttered this prophetical Speech of him 'T is true answered he he is as unhappy as brave but yet for all that he would in time prove a General as formidable to France as his Fore-Fathers had been to Spain such was the judgment of this great and knowing Enemy of his growing Honour and blooming Glory And what Alexander King of Macedonia said to a certain Queen that sent him most delicious and Fare Junkets curiously prepared may at this time be truly applied to our illustrious Prince Respondit seipsum habere meliores obsoniorum artifices ad prandium quidem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Nocturnum Iter ad Caenam vero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. tenue prandium Finding himself then balkt in his Heroical Designs and main Ends and Scope against the French Army by the opposition of the Imperial Officers suspected strongly to be caused by French Intrigues and Insinuations His Highness the Prince of Orange moves towards Grave the last remaining and strongest receptacle of the Gallicans in Holland and the most resolutely defended by a stout Garrison of between 4 and 5000 Men and took it in the space of about 16 days after his Arrival where he found 450 pieces of Cannon whereof 100 were mounted besides an infinite quantity of Corn and other Provisions and of Powder Ball Granado's and all warlike Ammunition the French having hoarded up in that place almost all they had brought away from their deserted Conquests and thus he happily and gloriously ended that Campagne After this he faced more than once the main Power of France led by the King himself who tamely suffer'd himself to be by him even with advantage provoked to Battle without daring to accept the Challenge and it cannot be denyed had most certainly been attacked by him in despight of all his precautions before Bouchain had not the Town contrary to Expectation with too much inconsiderateness and precipitation furrendred before he could possibly execute his great and noble Design and indeed it must be acknowledged that he all along made much more vigorous and resolute Efforts to relieve the besieged Spanish Towns than the Spaniards themselves did in defending them whose Officers were too often either corrupted by French Gold or not sufficiently provided for by the fault and negligence of their General Governours or else through the grand negligence and dilatory proceedings of the Spanish Court it self whose Motto may well be Festina lente What he did afterwards in the Seige of Maestricht is sufficiently demonstrated to the World that had the promised Re-inforcements arrived to him from the Dukes of Lunenburg and Bishop of Munster upon which he depended he had not failed through God's blessing reducing it Yet so formidable was his Courage and Conduct more than the number of his Forces or the quality of his Army to the wary French General Schomberg then sent against him that he was contented only to relieve the Town without accepting Battel though offered it as much fatigued and diminish'd as were his Enemies Troops at that time The next Year the French King making use of the great advantage his absolute Command over a formidable Body of experienced well-disciplin'd and hardened Soldiers and over the Purses of all manner of Persons in his Realms and Dominions had above those who acting in the Confederacy met with a thousand delays caused by different Counsels and Interests and the Poverty and want of Power in some of their Allies falls in the very depth of Winter with numerous and prodigious Forces into the Spanish Netherlands and taking the strong Town of Valenciennes with an astonishing Celerity sits down before Cambray takes the Town distresses the Castle and at the same time sends his Brother the Duke of Orleans with another potent Army to besiege St. Omers which were all three Towns of mighty Importance that formerly extreamly galled the Frontiers of France and this before any of the Confederate Forces could be got together but such as might be drawn out of Holland and some Neighbouring Spanish Garrisons Yet notwithstanding these grand Disadvantages at this time our gracious and truly publick Spirited Prince not willing the Interest of his Allies and of his Country should so deeply suffer without some attempt to repell the dreadful Storm he assembles such an Army as he could possibly in so short a time and in such haste draw together as we have said of Dutch and Spanish Forces and though he understood the Duke of Orleans leaving only some Regiments to guard his Trenches and keep the Town blockt up had posted the rest of his Army in and about all the Avenues and Passages to the place which were difficult to force and were besides that strongly guarded with two Rivers one behind the other yet he passed the first River with such speed and silence that all his Army were got over before the Enemy perceived them and afterwards though the French were all drawn up in Battalia not far from the very Banks of the second River yet he most successfully made himself Master of the Abby of Pienes on the other side and lodged his own Regiment of Dragoons in it which provoking the Enemy to march out from an advantageous post to dislodge them brought the Armies at length to a Battel wherein the Duke of Orleans found himself so hardly press'd by the Prince that his best Troops about his Person gave at one time so much way that as I have been credibly informed some persons of Note that were of his own party in that Battel reported that when Prayers and Menaces would not avail or do he had once Recourse to Sighs and Tears to make them return to the charge against the Enemy For which he could not escape the Raillery even of the King his Brother at his coming back who could not forbear smiling at his Conduct tho perhaps Lewis the 14th would have been as much frighted at the Danger had he himself been there as the other Certain it is the French much exceeded in Number and Quality of Troops having received the very night before a Re-inforcement of 15000 choice Men from the Kings own Army so that by the impartial report of the French themselves the Prince of Orange withstood that day no less than 39 Battalions of Foot and an 100 Squadron of Horse And though the loss on the Confederate side was very considerable yet several Squadrons of the Enemy were most roughly handled in so much that the Adversaries themselves scrupled not to say and own That if the Prince's left Wing had fought with equal courage to the right he might in all probability have relieved the Town and obliged the Enemy at that time to have quitted the Siege if he had not entirely routed them but a Regiment of new raised Soldiers planted or posted in that Wing were the real cause that his Highness had not all the Success in that Battel which indeed his wise Conduct
time to the Sons of Burgher-Masters or Deputies of Cities that were very raw and not well experienced in Martial Discipline being most of them such as had never seen the face of an Enemy in the Field and so as unfit to Command as to Obey By which means it shortly came to pass that when they were afterwards contrary to their vain hopes invaded by a very subtil and powerfull Enemy even whole Cities and Towns though of a truth some of them were both Naturally 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—ally well Fortified Stored 〈…〉 with numerous Garrisons 〈…〉 or five thousand Men a piece besides Horse proportionable yet yielded up even without the least opposition upon the first appearance or summons of the Enemy not so much as striking a stroak or firing one Gun against them And thus Faction and cursed Self-interest with private Ambition having reduced that but very lately flourishing Republick to the very brink of ruin and destruction It gave the sore affrighted People of that Country a fair opportunity for to see plainly into what dreadful Dangers or Quick-sands their new Hair-brain'd Governours which were but of Yesterday and knew nothing out of mere Spight and Malice to an Ancient and very illustrious Family were now driving them and their late happy Common-wealth and so inspired them with Boldness as well as Fore-sight at this time to apply a seasonable and fit remedy by the quick destruction of those notorious Domestick Vsurpers who had been the real occasion thereof and intrusting Him again with the recovery of their very much shattered and lost State who was the true genuine Issue of its first glorious and fortunate Founders and by sacrificing his most ungrateful Enemies to the very angry and inraged genius of the poor injured Country Neither can it be fairly denied but that the French King even Lewis the 14th himself as great and mortal Enemy as he is to our renown'd King William yet notwithstanding by Gods over ruling Providence as he hath done since to that in England did though the World knows most contrary to his own Inclination and Intention contribute as much or more to that first Revolution in the united Provinces and the subsequent Exaltation Grandeur and Glory of the Prince of Orange than all other concurrent Causes put together for having by mere subtilty far over-reach'd those self designing States-men that then swayed so much in Holland and induced them by his most specious promises and alluring pretences to stand firmly by them upon all occasions as well as in their late Usurpations totally to neglect as we have said their old expert and harden'd Soldiers and their frontier Garrisons to turn all their Counsels and Attempts wholly towards the famous Orangian Family and the brisk Trade and power of England upon the vain confidence of effecting which the crafty Monsieur had already made them to build themselves a fools Paradise for he all of a suddain leaguing on the contrary with England attacks them most sharply on their blind and defenceless side and meeting with very little or no resistance from such raw Soldiers and totty headed Commanders as he then knew to have the main Guards of their Garrisons and places over-run their Country with so rapid and surprizing a swiftness that he then forc'd the People of necessity to have recourse to their last but surest refuge under God to wit the valiant Prince of Orange and to restore Him whom their wicked and treacherous Guides blinded with Ambition had before so ungratefully and impolitickly rejected And so by half ruining a flourishing Republick they gave a meet opportunity to his Illustrious Highness to shew in the open sight of the admiring World the wonders of his Prudence Policy and Magnanimity in restoring it to its former Power and Splendour And withal to let his ungratefull and uncivil Country-men know and see that the great Triumphs of their cruel Enemies were caused for the most part by the wild attempts that had been made upon Him and his Rights and that the doing justice to the ancient and warlike Progeny of the real Founders of their State was the true and only way unto its Restauration But the last lift that was given towards the advancing and securing his Authority and Power still more and more in the united Netherlands was the discovery of the horrid Plot laid against him by the two De-wits viz. Cornelius and John who finding well that there was no possibility for them of stemming the strong and violent tide of the Peoples great Affection tending wholly to the advancement of the Prince which was to them an insupportable Mortification they thereupon endeavoured to corrupt a certain Chyrurgion with the promised Reward of no less than 3000000 Franks or 25000 pound Sterling to take away his most valuable Life which matter being disclosed or providentially coming to light and firmly attested made out and ratified by the said Chyrurgion the foremention'd De-wits were by the great fury of the vulgar People not content with the milder and slower Proceedings of the Magistrate torn presently all to pieces and miserably put to Death after such a manner as now all the World knows Namely That they were hung up by the Heels in the Market-place and being cut to pieces their Joints and Flesh sold by piece-meal at great rates which were carried away by the Buyers in a Triumph of Revenge And the Prince himself not long after most firmly fixt in the Hereditary State-holder-ship of all the united Provinces and Captain General of all their Forces by Sea and Land with much more advantage than any of his famous Predecessors enjoyed it before Thus the Almighty and most wise Disposer of the World return'd the Malice and Wickedness of the Princes Domestick Foes upon their own Heads for they fell by the Snare which they had laid for Him according to the tenour of the holy Oracles Nec lex est justior ulla Quam necis artificis arte perire sua And thus the just Judge of all Men and avenger of all wrongs punish'd the perfidious and ungrateful and at the same time deliver'd the Innocent Yea mortified all the Foreign Enemies by his own victorious Arm and rewarded at last even far beyond all his hopes or desires his unshaken Patience and unparallell'd Generosity in having born so long a time with a forbearance beyond Humane Example the many base affronts and injuries daily offer'd him by the envious and self designing De-wits and their upstart party Nor were the people although they chose him in a great heat and sudden fright to conduct the shattered and wheather beaten Bark of their present forelorn and distress'd State into a safe Harbour or Port in the least deceived in their expectations of him The false and misguided steps of their late unhappy Governours had now by the rule of Contraries instructed them in a few moments space in the very best and right measures that could possibly be taken And the furious alarms of the French Armies had
to me to me to encourage the coming up of the Regiments that were to back the foremost this fight on the left Wing continued till night with a great vigour besides which Count Horn drew near and played with his Canon upon some French Batallions in the Valley with no small Execution From thence the Prince advanced to Casteau which was Assaulted by the Spaniards in the Right Wing where his Highnesses Foot Regiment of Guards and a Body of English through Fire and Smoak after an obstinate Fight of Five hours Chased the Enemy at last from a Post they thought altogether impregnable and pursued them a Quarter of a League through a Field and down a Precipice where the River Haines runs toward the farther side of Casteau And our brave Lord of Ossory did surprising things with his English at a little distance from the Guards where the French are said to have lost more Men than any where else Nor were there any other of the Generals that acted not like Heroes But more especially the undaunted Prince who through whole showers of Bullets thick as Hail and Clouds of Fire and Smoak adventured so very far and press'd on with so much vigour in the Crowds that he had been in all appearance slain had not the brave Lord Overkirk interposed between him and a daring Captain that was running full tilt at his Highness and laid the bold Champion in the silent Dust for his attempt The Cavalry in this Fight had no convenience to be serviceable because of the Narrowness of the Passages and steep Descents of the Ground but all was acted by the Foot and Dragoons The Night alone put a period to the Bloody Fray and parted the Furious Assaults of each Valiant Captain under the Covert of which the poor Surprised and Astonished Luxemburg retreated with silence and extream Confusion nearer to Mons to secure himself between a Wood on one side and a River on the other leaving to the Prince of Orange the Marks of Victory as the Field of Battel and most part of his wounded Men and part of his Tents Baggage and Match Powder and Ammunition The States-General on the News of this Fortunate Blow to such a proud and fierce Enemy sent Commissioners to his Illustrious Highness to Congratulate his happy Victory which he had won with so much Renown and to thank him for his most Careful and Prudent Conduct in such a long Bloody and Obstinate Action and also to Conjure him in tender Consideration to the Prosperity and Tranquility of his Country and Wellfare of the Reform'd Religion which seem'd as 't were to be tied to the thread of his precious Life that he would be more careful of his own most dear Person And accordingly to shew the World how great a value they set upon his Preservation they presented the Lord Overkirk who had so Valiantly Defended him and saved his highly esteemed Life with a Rich Sword hilted with Massie-Gold a pair of Pistols Richly and Curiously Inlay'd with Gold and a pair of Horse-Buckles of the very same Nor had our brave Prince contented himself only to have obliged Luxemburg to retire without further pursuing his Advantages had not he whilst he was consulting what to do Received Advice That the Peace was really made and Ratified between the French King and the States some days since which made the French draw off to the Sambre and the Prince towards Nivelle from whence he returned to the Hague applying his Care thence forward solely to the Management of the Civil Government till the breaking out of this last Perfidious War upon Occasion of the Manifest violation of both the said Peace and Succeeding Truce by the most Unjust Violences of the French and their Grand Barbarities Renewed in the Palatinate and the Diocess of Cologne and by the Siege and Surprisal of Phillipsburg But that which advances the Mighty and Glorious Atchievements of this now most excellent Monarch to a pitch of Glory and Greatness above those of any other Heroe of this present Age or perhaps of any former is that he has given such Convincing Proofs and Undenyable Testimonies to the whole World of their flowing merely from a pure and untainted Principle of zeal to his Countrey to true Religion Virtue and the Publick Good That he has left neither Friends nor Enemies any room to doubt of it or call it in Question since in the very lowest Ebb of his Fortune neither the multiplyed and insulting Injuries and repeated Affronts of an Ungrateful Countrey Nor the small prospect he had of saving even his Patrimonial Estate any other way nor all the fair ample and magnificent Promises of two Mighty Kings could make him accept of Grandeur at the Expence of the Liberty and Privileges though of a very unthankful People that had sometime stript him of his Ancient Hereditary Rights and Dignities and since no Motives at all could possibly prevail with him to accept of Soveraignty in a Free-State that his Glorious and Renowned Ancestors made and himself found so Neither from the full Grant of a Conquering Invader Nor yet from the Free Donation of the People themselves And though the French Tyrant even since the Peace of Nimeguen and the following Truce and before the breaking out or eruption of this last War most contrary to the express Treaty very Notoriously oppress'd spoiled and ravaged not only his Soveraign Principality of Orange but all his other Lands and Lordships Dominions and Privileges in the Netherlands and elsewhere yet such was his Princely Mindedness and Patience that he did never move the States into any New quarrel to redress his own wrongs Nor so much as put them upon proposing any New Articles in his particular Cause or Favour Even at the very making of the Peace though all the Transactions of it were managed in his Presence and his Advice still asked about them Yet I say such was his goodness never did he insist upon any peculiar Articles to be inserted for himself That might be thought peradventure to retard the Conclusion of a Treaty but with a Generosity without and beyond all Example while others preferr'd points of Honour and private Interest before the Common Peace and Good He even Quitted his own Pretensions and Postpon'd the most Just Demands of Reparation for the Devastation of his own proper Demeans and Territories to the Necessities of his Countrey like another Codrus in some sense laying down his Prerogatives and Privileges for their Benefit and Jeoparding his own Life for their Good And what is said of that Noble Consul Publius Decius may well be applyed to him who when he saw his Army greatly discomfited and almost Overcome redoubled his Valour Courage and was most ready and willing to hazard his own precious Life to save his Countrey from danger and destruction How exceeding happy were it for their People if all Princes and how wonderful happy for all Princes if all private Persons were but half so publick-spirited
For our Good Theodosius was always prevalent with God in Prayer And Vbi Deus ardenter invocatur victoria stat a Bona causa Therefore as Marcellinus and Claudianus Spake or Sang of this Battel we may of this Irish War c. O nimium dilecte Deo cui militat aether Et conjurati veniunt ad Classica venti At last the Irish had strongly Fortified and Barricado'd the River leading to it But notwithstanding all that Distress'd Town was Reliev'd by Major General Kirk after the Dartmouth Frigat had forced her way to it over all those Impediments and the Siege was effectually rais'd The day before which by another Strange Accident inconsiderable in it self But by the Guidance of Heaven made Instrumental to the further Mortification of our Enemies A choice Body of about 6000 Irish Commanded by one of their best Officers Major General Mackarty were defeated by about 2000 Inniskillingers by occasion of a mistake of the Word of Command among the Irish For it seems Mackarty perceiving the Courageous Inniskilling-Men Charge the Right Wing of his Irish very desperately ordered some of his Choice Men to Face to the Right and March to the Relief of their Companions but the Officer who carried the Orders mistook and Commanded the Men in stead of Facing to the Right To Face to the Right-about and so March upon which the Irish in the Rear seeing their Front look with their Faces towards them and move thought they had been running and so immediately in a Terror threw down their Arms and run away which the rest seeing run after them for Company and so were most of them cut off or Drown'd in Lough's and Bogs and Mackarty himself taken Prisoner Afterwards when Duke Schomberg went over but with a small Army of new raised Men though as it usually happens to English Armies new-raised when they first came into a strange Countrey many of our Men died and the whole Army was brought into a low condition by bad Weather Lodging and Diet nay and by their own Laziness in great part in not Hutting themselves like Men more used to War Yet the Enemies had not the Policy or Courage to make use of the many advantages they had over us in that long time that our Army was thus languishing But trifled away their opportunity in hopes of the effect of a Plot laid by some French Traitors among us which God seem'd to have permitted in order to encourage them for to flatter themselves with vain hopes and to make them pass over or slip those other seasonable and likely opportunities they had to have destroyed us Would they have been contented to use fair Force rather than Treachery odious to God and Man But to pass by all those lesser events and hasten to the main Action in which His Gracious Majesty was present And which gave the Great Turn of the Scale towards the Reducing of that Kingdom The next year being 1690 His Majesty King William being fully resolv'd to push the Irish War to an end or fall in the Attempt that so he might have liberty solely and wholly next year against his Capital Enemy the French Tyrant who had brought so many Miseries upon all Europe and had occasion'd all the Misfortunes of his Deluded Ally King James and having by the Death of Dundee supprest in great measure the Insurrection or Stirs in Scotland left Kensington the 4th of June 1690 and Embarking at Highlake on the 12th arriv'd on the 14th safely at Carrickfergus And on the 27th of June following assembled a Royal Army of about 36000 as Brave Men as Europe or the World could shew of English Dutch Danes Germans and French provided as well with all Necessaries both for the Mouth and War as could be desired So much of Life and Circumspection had his Excellent Majesty's Presence given to all Needful Orders for that purpose When he was arrived at his Army he was continually in action and observing the Goodness of the Countrey as he rid along he admired the Fertility of its foil and pleasing Aspect of its Landskips and said it was well worth fighting for And now understanding that the Irish Army was retired over the Boyn He Marched with all speed and diligence after them And being advanced near the River hard by a Pass called Old-Bridge he was so Adventurous as to stand on the side of a Bank within Musquet-shot of the Ford to observe the posture of His Enemies Which though he saw well-fenced and a River not easily passable and that was well-fortified with Canon and other strong Defences against him Yet knowing that the safety of Europe in great Measure at that Juncture depended upon some bold Master Stroke in that Countrey without which all that he had hitherto done and ventured for our Rescue and Security would be but lost He resolv'd therefore to venture through all Difficulties whatsoever obeying the Great Call of Providence rather than that so Noble and Happy a Revolution should fail for want of Courage in him Who is acknowledged by his Enemies to be a Prince of no small Spirit and Valour and had made it appear to the World in all the Course of His Life After he had with those Intentions viewed them a while he was pleased to sit down on the Ground to Refresh himself which some Principal Persons of the Enemies side having observed they caused a small Party of Horse to advance flowly upon a Plowed Field over against where His Majesty was and slily to drop two Field-pieces undiscover'd by a Hedge in the same Field and so retired leaving only some Gunners to Manage them who lay sculking still and quiet till His Majesty was Re-mounted and Dreaming of no Danger at all was Riding softly back again But then the Rogues Fired furiously and at the first shot killed two Horses and a Man about 100 yards from the King and at the second had like to have given a very fatal Stroke both to these Kingdoms and the whole Confederacy by Quenching the Light Joy and Hope of our Israel the Bullet Grasing upon the Bank of the River and thence Rising towards the King with a slanting Motion glanced over His Right Shoulder taking off a Piece of His Coat Tore part of the King 's Anointed Body But being turn'd off short by the hand of some Guardian-Angel Commission'd by the Lord Jehovah touched not His Precious Life nor so much as gave him any wound grievous enough to hinder Him from continuing with His Army and Ordering the Remarkable Action that soon followed For as soon as he had changed His Coat and had His Wound dressed He spent the most part of the remainder of that Day in Disposing His whole Army for the next day's Work and then on the Morrow being Tuesday the first of July following early in the Morning with full Trust in the Protection of the Lord of Hosts Himself which He had found so signally attended His Royal and Sacred Person He very
undaunted Courage and indefatigable Industry deserved However all relations agree in this That he performed all that was possible to be done with such a small Army and in such a place and juncture against such a puissant Enemy by the most Prudent Courageous and daring Leader in the whole World And that in the main Battel were he himself commanded in Person he did Wonders leading on his Men at the very head of his Troops to the Charge and hazarding himself to that degree that he received two Musket Shots in his Armour After the end of this Campagne Heaven determinating to lay the Foundation of his present Grandeur and Glory by giving a very precious Gage and Pledge of the Possession of those Crowns it intended as the due reward of his truly Royal Vertues and indefatigable pains for the weal of Christianity so influenced the heart of our late King Charles the second of England that in spight of the French Intrigues and the secret Inclinations of the then Duke of York her Father to the Contrary and to the surprisal and mortification of the French King he bestowed upon Him in sacred Marriage the no less Virtuous and Accomplished than the beauteous Princess his Niece the Presumptive Heiress of the British Monarchy an alliance of a much more dreadful prospect to the Aspiring Monsieur than the loss of all his late Conquests in Holland Flanders Brabant and elsewhere and which threatn'd France it self with an unpleasant Retaliation in due time for all her notorious Violences This illustrious Alliance was solemniz'd on the 4th day of November 1677. being the joyful Birth-day of his illustrious Highness at eleven at Night but so privately that the People not knowing till the Morrow or next Day being the Anniversary of the Gunpowder Treason made it a double Holy-day And since that he hath made it a threefold Holy-day or day of Rejoying by his most happy Landing at Tor-Bay c. as well upon the usual occasion as to testifie their Joy for so Blessed and Glorious a Match from which even then the whole Protestant Church throughout Europe began cheerfully to hope for the crushing of the Popish and French Power as if the Protestants had known by some Prophetick Instinct that Heroick Prince unfeignedly espousing their Interest as well as their religious Princess would one day become their most wellcome and glorious Deliverer and Defender and make the memorial of the famous 5th of November once more sacred and dear to them by publick Benefits no less signal than those by which it was first ennobled above the common days After which the Prince well remembring how very necessary his presence would be in Holland return'd thither with all the haste he could with his most rich and gracious Acquest that since has produced so much good to the common Cause and the benefit of the Confederates as well as of the two most potent Sea-Nations of Europe where both He and his Royal Bride were received with a Magnificence suitable to their High and august Quality and with all the expressions and Demonstrations of Joy that could be expected from a People sensible of their great Happiness in so illustrious and powerful Alliance Upon their first publick entrance into the Hague the Bridge was crowned with Garlands of Triumph and an Arch was builded through which they passed and on it was written Vxori Batavis vivat Nassovius Hector Auriaco Patriae vivat Britannica Princes And another Arch with another Motto Auriaci his Thalamis Batavis dos Regia pax est Soon after his return the French King being alarm'd at this Alliance and the consequent preparations made by the King and Parliament of England to oblige him to a just and reasonable Peace with his Neighbours he himself with all speed dispatcht away a project of Peace to Nimeguen and getting it after some Demur consented to by the States of Holland by the influence of a Party that still covertly opposed the Prince and by the discouragement the then posture of Affairs in England really gave the States occasion'd by the Disturbances raised and fomented there by the same French intrigues to prevent the dreaded effects of the late Marriage a Treaty was concluded soon after that gave some respite to our renown'd Prince for several years from his military Fatigues and wearisome Nights And now to signalize himself no less by the Prudent and advantageous reformation of abuses and regulation of things relating to the Civil State of his Countrey than he had been vigorous and successful in the maintenance and defence of its Territories but however before that work was perfectly finisht the delays and new difficulties made by the French King to sign the Treaty though according to his own proposals caused a new League to be made between the States and King of great Britain and gave the Prince opportunity once more to shew his wise Conduct and matchless Prowess against that insolent and powerful Enemy in a more glorious and successful manner than ever before and well near to have made the French King pay dearly for his over refined and ill timed Politicks with the loss of his now darling General Luxemburg's whole Army for the strong City of Mons having been long blockt and very much distress'd by the French and the Duke of Luxemburg having taken his march that way to hinder all Succours from it his Highness made haste to the Army then near the Canal of Brussells where the rest of the Confederate Forces had newly join'd the Spanish and Dutch Troops and pursuant to a resolution taken for that Effect in a council of War march with an intention to attack and dislodge Luxemburg after he was joined a little beyond Brussels with a re-inforcement of 6000 Brandenburghers and Munsterians but upon Advice of the Princes March Luxemburg quitting his Camp took up his head Quarters in the Abby of St. Denys which was a Post he thought inaccessible there being no coming at him but through Woods and Defiles surrounded with Precipices yet for all this our redoubted Prince advanced to that Abby with his left Wing and with his Right faced Casteau which the French likewise were posted in and which was as difficult to force as the other and as soon as ever he had ranged his Army he first of all drove the Enemy from a certain Hillock and then with some Canon played upon another Party of them briskly that endeavoured to maintain themselves on one side of a Cloister near St. Denys who not being able to resist the vigour of the Confederate Dragoons who drove them from their holds and mastered the Cloister whilst Adjutant General Collyers back'd by General Delvick filed his men silently and speedily through the narrow Passages and sliding with an undaunted Courage down the Precipices repulsed the Enemy in spight of all the resistance within their own lines In the very midst of which our renowned Prince with eager warmth and spirits enflamed cryed out aloud