Page:The reign of George VI - 1763.djvu/77

as this body of troops were, they came only to be spectators of the success of the King of England. Without a single blow his Majesty made himself master of Bologne, and, slipping by the French army in the night, surprised Monstrevil. The road to Paris was now open to him; the Royal Family retired from Versailles; Charles would have tryed the fortune of the war himself, but a violent fit of the gout confined him to his palace. The Duke de Ventadour, by his injudicious motions, was incapable of stopping the King's progress; he laid siege to Amiens, and it surrendered before the Duke could arrive to protect it. Neufchatel had the same fate; and the King, astonished at his own success, had thoughts of making a flying march to Paris. The French army formed such an unweildy body, that it was for ever exposed to the sudden attacks of the English; Venta-dour