the Count de Belin, who was brought in prisoner
shortly before the battle, assured his majesty, that, in two hours, an
army of forty thousand men would be upon him, and that he saw no forces
there to resist them, the king replied, with that gaity of mind that
never forsook him, "You see not all, M. Belin, for you reckon not God,
and my just claim, who fight for me."

Henry's whole army consisted of only three thousand infantry and six
hundred cavalry: the hostile forces amounted to more than thirty
thousand, commanded by the Duke of Mayenne, one of the ablest leaders of
the league, but the Fabius rather than the Marcellus of the party. The
occasion, however, needed the sword rather than the buckler: Henry's
soldiers fought with the courage of desperation; but every thing seemed
lost, when, according to the account given by Sully, the fog, which had
been very thick all the morning, cleared suddenly away, and afforded the
garrison in the castle of Arques a full view of the enemy's army,
against which they discharged four pieces of artillery with such effect,
as to kill great numbers of them. Their progress was thus effectually
stopped; and the guns from the castle continuing to play upon them, they
were soon thrown into disorder, and retreated to their original
position.

From this time, the aspect of the king's affairs changed: his well-known
laconic epistle to Crillon, "hang thyself, brave Crillon, for we have
fought at Arques without thee," shewed his own sense of the important
results that might be expected from the battle. The most important of
all was, that he was immediately joined by an auxiliary force of four
thousand English and Scotch, sent by Queen Elizabeth to his aid; and
that, almost immediately afterwards, another, still more considerable
reinforcement, was brought him by the Count of Soissons, Henry of
Orleans, Duke of Longueville, D'Aumont, and Biron; so that the Duke of
Mayenne was obliged to retreat in his turn, and Henry saw himself within
a few days under the walls of the capital; in a situation to dictate
terms to his rebellious subjects.

The castle of Arques had on this occasion essentially served the royal
cause; but it seems to have been suffered from that time forwards to
fall into decay. All mouldering, however, and ruined as it is, its
walls and towers may yet for many centuries bid defiance to wind and
weather, unless active measures are used for their demolition.

At the revolution the