BOOK III. 1695. Namur. fore the honor of taking in seven weeks one of the strongest fortresses in Europe, defended by a maréchal of France, in sight of an army of 100,000 Capture of men commanded by another maréchal of France. This was justly accounted the most glorious of all the warlike exploits of this martial and heroic monarch.* On the marching out of the garrison, • The celebrated PRIOR, who in his various attempts at the more elevated and sublime poetry is uniformly unfortunate, but who traverses with ease and grace the lighter and gayer walks of Parnassus, has ridiculed with exquisite humor the pompous ode of Boileau on the taking of Namur, three years before this period; and has celebrated this achievement of king William in a very agreeable strain of pleasantry. Boileau, in his ostentatious performance, had said; Mais qui fait s'enfler la Sambre ? Des froids torrens de Decembre De voir en proye à Borée Et sous les urnes fangueuses Déployez toutes vos rages, Ramassez tous vos nuages: Rassemblez tous vos soldats! BOOK II. maréchal Boufflers was arrested, by way of repri 1095. sal for the detention of the garrisons of Dixmuyde and Deynse. He appeared at first much incensed, and declared that the king his master would re Qui domta Lille, Courtray, Ypres, Mastricht, et Cambray ! Thus happily parodied by the English poet : Dear poet, on the banks of Sambre, He bought Dismuyde, and plunder'd Deynse! 1695. venge the insult. But he was told, that, far from BOOK III intending any personal affront, it was the highest compliment to detain him, as alone equivalent to the thousands included in the captive garrisons. The arrest of Boufflers being made known to the French court, orders were dispatched for the instant release of the garrisons; and the maréchal, on his return to Versailles, was received with distinguished marks of esteem and regard. Satisfied with the success already gained, the king left the command of the army to the elector of Bavaria, and forgot the cares of royalty for a few weeks, after such exertions not ingloriously passed, at the beautiful retirement of Loo. on the The campaign on the Rhine, where the oppo- Campaign site armies were again commanded by the maré- Rhine: chal de Lorges and the prince of Baden, was distinguished only by inaction and insignificance. In Italy, the duke of Savoy recovered the im- in Italy: portant fortress of Casal, with so little shew of resistance on the part of the French, as to furnish an additional proof of the secret understanding supposed to subsist between the courts of Turin and Versailles. By the terms of the capitulation, Casal was to be restored to its rightful proprietor, the duke of Mantua. The war in Spain, also, was feebly prosecuted. in Spain: The king of France was impatient for peace, and contented himself with acting every where on the 1695. BOOK III. defensive. The siege of Barcelona was rendered impracticable by the superiority of the British fleet, which, under the command of admiral Russel, still gave law to the Mediterranean. And to have adventured farther into the interior provinces beyond the Catalan frontier, would have required exertions which the French court were not prepared to make. On the contrary, orders were sent to abandon Palamos and the whole tract of country in their possession beyond Gironne. and in Hungary. The maritime powers were not yet able to suc-' ceed in their favorite design of effecting a peace between the imperialists and the Turks. Lord Paget, ambassador from England, had arrived at Adrianople in the beginning of February 1695, with full instructions relative to a pacification; but was informed that the death of the grand seignor Achmet II. had just taken place. He was succeeded by his nephew Mustapha II., son of the deposed emperor Mahomet IV., who declared his resolution to take the field in person, and restore the glory of the Ottoman arms. In effect, the campaign was carried on vigorously on the part of the Turks, and very feebly on that of the Germans, who had expected no such extraordinary exertion. The command in Hungary was this year conferred on the elector of Saxony, accompanied by general Caprara. But before the imperial army was completely formed, and even be 1095. fore the Saxon troops had arrived, the whole Otto- BOOK IIÍ. man force had passed the Danube, and reduced the fortresses of Lippa and Titul, which they demolished and abandoned. The elector, putting at length his army in motion towards the enemy, was informed in his march, that the Turks had fallen with a prodigious superiority of numbers upon general Veterani, who commanded in Tran sylvania; and, after a very long and brave resistance, the general himself being mortally wounded, forced his camp, and cut to pieces the greater part of the troops. The town of Caransebes was then seized upon and demolished. After these exploits the grand seignor repassed the Danube; and the imperialists were unable, during the remainder of the campaign, to obtain any advantage which might serve as an equivalent for these severe and repeated losses. In the beginning of the summer, a considerable naval force under lord Berkeley, joined by a Dutch squadron under admiral Allemonde, was employed, though with little effect, in the odious service of bombarding the maritime places of Dunkirk, Calais, and St. Malo. But they had the satisfaction of totally destroying the neighbouring town of Grandval, which was less prepared for defence. These repeated outrages furnished but too just a pretext for the bombardment of Brussels, as a necessary retaliation on the part of the French-and |