- 165 taigagements, telling them that thç king of France was coming to deftroy them without the leaft fhadow of right. * Good people/ faid Philip, € do not be alarmed if he fhould march againft us ; for he will never be able to crofs the river Lis; as I have had all the pafles well guarded, and have ordered Peter du Bois to Cooimines with a large body of men: he is a loyal man, and one who loves the honour of Flanders ; and Peter le Nuitre I have fent to Warneton $ all the other bridges on the Lis are broken down, and there is neither pafs nor ford which they can crofs but at thefe two towns. I have alfo heard from our friends whom we fent to England. In a fhort time we fhall receive confiderable fuccours from thence, as we have made a ftrong alliance with them. Keep up, therefore, valiantly your hopes, for our honour fhall be unfullied ; and obferve punctually what you have promifed and fworn to us in the good town of Ghent, which has had fuch trouble and difficulty to maintain the rights and franchifes of Flanders. Now, let all thofe who are de-termined to remain fteady to the caufe, accordr frig to the oath they took, gallantly lift up their hands to heaven as a token of loyalty.' At thefe words all who were in the market-place, and who had.heard the fpeech, held up their hands as a fign of their loyalty. After this Philip defcended from the fcaffoid on which he had harangued, and returned to his hôufe, where he remained the whole day. On the morrow he and his attendants mounted their horfes