of the Reformation could fuse at last the jarring elements, and undo the hatred which had been bred by human folly.
The Comte de Montgomery was not to recover the lost laurels of his country. The prospect of success now was at Boulogne, where, on the site of the camp from which he had been driven in February, De Biez began again in July to collect an army. The new fort, defended by a force too considerable for an attack, rose rapidly; and so long as D' Annebault held the sea, the approaches were closed, and the town effectually blockaded. Aug. 1.The French commander had only to maintain his advantage, and the place must soon be his own. Poynings promised his Government to hold out to the latest hour that man could endure; but the arrival of that 'latest hour' was matter of certainty, and could easily be calculated.[1]
September.The dispersion of the fleet, however, soon relieved the anxiety of the garrison. Thirty-five thousand men, with D'Annebault's pioneers, lay in front of the town; but day after day the English provision-ships sailed calmly into the river, under the guns of the Old Man, free to come and to go as they pleased. The irritated army accused De Biez of treason; De Biez quarrelled with his officers; and the officers were in turn distrusted by the men. In suspicion, divided counsels, indecision, and want of discipline, there were all the materials of fresh disappointment. Francis,- ↑ The Council at Boulogne to the Privy Council; State Papers, vol. x. pp. 547–8.
