towards the intrenchments of the enemy, betwixt the Sambre and Dyle.
Rumour of the reinforcements of English troops dispatched to the
heretics by Queen Elizabeth at the instance of the diet of Worms,
rendered him anxious; and bent upon ascertaining the exact
cantonments of Colonel Norris and his Scottish companies, we set
forward before daybreak towards the forest of Marlagne, as for a
hunting expedition; then exchanging our dresses for the simple suits
of civilians at the house of the verderer, made our way across the
Sambre towards Gembloux."

"A mad project!--But such were ever the delight of our
Quixote!"--cried Gonzaga.

"In this instance, all prospered. We crossed the country without
obstacle, mounted on two powerful Mecklenburgers; and before noon,
were deep in Brabant. The very rashness of the undertaking seemed to
restore to Don John his forgotten hilarity of old! He was like a
truant schoolboy, that has cheated his pedagogue of a day's
bird-nesting; and eyes more discerning than those of the stultified
natives of these sluggish provinces, had been puzzled to detect under
the huge patch that blinded him of an eye, and the slashed sleeve of
his sad-coloured suit that showed him wounded of an arm, the gallant
host of Queen Margaret! 'My soul comes back into me with this gallop
across the breezy plain, unencumbered by the trampling of a guard!'
cried the Prince. 'There is the making in me yet of another Lepanto!
But two provinces remain faithful to our standard: his highness of
Orange and the Archduke having filched, one by one, from their
allegiance the hearts of these pious Netherlanders; who can no better
prove their fear of God than by ceasing to honour the king he hath
been pleased to set over them. Nevertheless, with Luxembourg and