' CHAP. -IX. FRANCIS AUtCMEM AND BIS MEN ABANDON ISAMÎfÈ.—THE TOWN » DESTROYED BY THE fEENCHU TMEY ALSO RUIN tHE COUNTRY fft THE ^QUATRE MEST1ËRS. THERE wefW feterâ fkhrmifhfcs ahftoft daily at the barriers of Damme, where wftûy mm wounded and flain. The walk *tdd tiot he «p* preached,becattse the ditches werefiîied with mud and filth: and, if it "had been rainy weather* &a *Miy 'would have had enough to do, and m^fl have decamped whether they would or not: bm* for the fpace of tne month, during which fhii fiege lasted, there never fell one drop of Win. They had provifion in great abundance ; but ft» ftençh of the heafts killed by the army, and the dead horfes; corrupted the air, and caufod mftny knights and fquires to be fo ill -and - -low f^rited that they retired to Brugesor elfewhere : the kift£ was wont to lodge at Marie, notwithstanding his tents were left landing TO the camp. It was the intention of Francis Atremen to lioW otrt this liege till the reinforcements which he exv pedted'frotn England ihoiild arrive tcraifeit: for it is certain that Francis, and the men of Ghent, had- fent to England for aUHhmee. The uncles of the king of England would undoubtedly' have carried over a sufficiency of tnen at arms and ar-chers,