reached Spain, Dorset had
become extremely impatient; and observing that his further stay served
not to promote the main undertaking, and that his army was daily
perishing by want and sickness, he demanded shipping from Ferdinand to
transport them back into England. Ferdinand, who was bound by treaty
to furnish him with this supply whenever demanded, was at length, after
many delays, obliged to yield to his importunity; and Dorset, embarking
his troops, prepared himself for the voyage. Meanwhile the messenger
arrived with orders from Henry, that the troops should remain in Spain;
but the soldiers were so discontented with the treatment which they had
met with, that they mutinied, and obliged their commanders to set sail
for England. Henry was much displeased with the ill success of this
enterprise; and it was with difficulty that Dorset, by explaining the
fraudulent conduct of Ferdinand, was at last able to appease him.

There happened this summer an action at sea, which brought not any more
decisive advantage to the English. Sir Thomas Knevet, master of horse,
was sent to the coast of Brittany with a fleet of forty-five sail; and
he carried with him Sir Charles Brandon, Sir John Carew, and many other
young courtiers, who longed for an opportunity of displaying their
valor. After they had committed some depredations, a French fleet of
thirty-nine sail issued from Brest, under the command of Primauget, and
began an engagement with the English. Fire seized the ship of Primauget;
who, finding his destruction inevitable, bore down upon the vessel of
the English admiral, and grappling with her, resolved to make her share
his fate. Both fleets stood some time in suspense, as spectators of
this dreadful engagement; and all men saw with horror the flames which
consumed both vessels, and heard the cries of fury and despair which
came from the miserable combatants. At last the French vessel blew up;
and at the same time destroyed the English.[*] The rest of the French
fleet made their escape into different harbors.

The war which England waged against France, though it brought no
advantage to the former kingdom, was of great prejudice to the latter;
and by obliging Lewis to withdraw his forces for the defence of his own
dominions, lost him that superiority which his arms in the beginning of
the campaign had attained in Italy. Gaston de Foix, his nephew, a young
hero, had been intrusted with the command of the French forces; and i