operations.

Spinola never reached Brussels until the beginning of June, yet, during
all the good campaigning weather which had been fleeting away, not a blow
had been struck, nor a wholesome counsel taken by the stadholder or the
States. It was midsummer before the armies were in the field. The plans
of the Catholic general however then rapidly developed themselves.
Having assembled as large a force as had ever been under his command, he
now divided it into two nearly equal portions. Bucquoy, with ten
thousand foot, twelve hundred cavalry, and twelve guns, arrived on the
18th July at Nook, on the Meuse. Spinola, with eleven thousand infantry,
two thousand horse, and eight guns, crossed the Rhine at the old redoubts
of Ruhrort, and on the same 18th July took position at Goor, in
Overyssel. The first plan of the commander-in-chief was to retrace
exactly his campaign of the previous year, even as he had with so much
frankness stated to Henry. But the republic, although deserted by her
former friends, and looked upon askance by the monarch of Britain, and
by the most Christian king, had this year a most efficient ally in the
weather. Jupiter Pluvius had descended from on high to the rescue of the
struggling commonwealth, and his decrees were omnipotent as to the course
of the campaign. The seasons that year seemed all fused into one. It
was difficult to tell on midsummer day whether it were midwinter, spring,
or autumn. The rain came down day after day, week after week, as if the
contending armies and the very country which was to be invaded and
defended were to be all washed out of existence together. Friesland
resolved itself into a vast quagmire; the roads became fluid, the rivers
lakes. Spinola turned his face from the east, and proceeded to carry out
a second plan which he had long meditated, and even a more effective one,
in the west.