open air. Even when
conversing, or dictating to his secretaries, he preferred to do so
walking in his garden. He was indifferent to fatigue. After hunting all
day he would seem to require no rest, and in a campaign had been known,
like the knights-errant of old, to eat, drink, and sleep in his armor
for thirty days together.

He was temperate in his habits, eating little, and drinking water. He
was punctual in attention to business, was sparing of his words, and, as
one may gather from the piquant style of his letters, had a keen insight
into character, looking below the surface of men's actions into their
motives.[192]

His education had not been neglected. He spoke several languages
fluently, and, though not a great reader, was fond of histories. He was
much devoted to mathematical science, which served him in his
profession, and he was reputed an excellent engineer.[193] In person the
duke was of the middle size; well-made, except that he was somewhat
bow-legged. His complexion was fair, his hair light, and his deportment
very agreeable.

Such is the portrait of Emanuel Philibert, to whom Philip now intrusted
the command of his forces, and whose pretensions he warmly supported as
the suitor of Elizabeth of England. There was none more worthy of the
royal maiden. But the duke was a Catholic; and Elizabeth, moreover, had
seen the odium which her sister had incurred by her marriage with a
foreign sovereign. Philip, who would have used some constraint in the
matter, pressed it with such earnestness on the queen as proved how much
importance he attached to the connection. Mary's conduct on the occasion
was greatly to her credit; and, while she deprecated the displeasure of
her lord, she honestly told him that she could not in conscience do
violence to the inclinations of her sister.[194]

The plan of the campaign, as determined by Philip's cabinet,[195] was
that the duke should immediately besiege some one of the great towns on
the northern borders of Picardy, which in a manner commanded the
entrance into the Netherlands. Rocroy was the first selected. But the
garrison, who were well provided with ammunition, kept within their
defences, and maintained so lively a cannonade on the Spaniards, that
the duke, finding the siege was likely to consume more time than it was
worth, broke up his camp, and resolved to march against St. Quentin.
This was an old frontier town of Picardy, important in time of peace as
an _entrepo