At last, M. le Duc d'Orleans found means to enter upon his campaign, but
was so ill-provided, that he never was supplied with more than a
fortnight's subsistence in advance. He obtained several small successes;
but these were more than swallowed up by a fatal loss in another
direction. The island of Sardinia, which was then under the Spanish
Crown, was lost through the misconduct of the viceroy, the Duke of
Veragua, and taken possession of by the troops of the Archduke. In the
month of October, the island of Minorca also fell into the hands of the
Archduke. Port Mahon made but little resistance; so that with this
conquest and Gibraltar, the English found themselves able to rule in the
Mediterranean, to winter entire fleets there, and to blockade all the
ports of Spain upon that sea. Leaving Spain in this situation, let us
turn to Flanders.

Early in July, we took Ghent and Bruges by surprise, and the news of
these successes was received with the most unbridled joy at
Fontainebleau. It appeared easy to profit by these two conquests,
obtained without difficulty, by passing the Escaut, burning Oudenarde,
closing the country to the enemies, and cutting them off from all
supplies. Ours were very abundant, and came by water, with a camp that
could not be attacked. M. de Vendome agreed to all this; and alleged
nothing against it. There was only one difficulty in the way; his
idleness and unwillingness to move from quarters where he was
comfortable. He wished to enjoy those quarters as long as possible, and
maintained, therefore, that these movements would be just as good if
delayed. Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne maintained on the contrary,
with all the army--even the favourites of M. de Vendome--that it would be
better to execute the operation at once, that there was no reason for
delay, and that delay might prove disastrous. He argued in vain.
Vendome disliked fatigue and change of quarters. They interfered with