Not only would it take him for some months out of a country he detested, and back to his beloved Holland--the very flatness of which was inexpressibly dear to his recollection, though he had left it but a month or two--but the prospect of this year's campaign had awakened quite an extraordinary enthusiasm in England.

For the first time since Henry the Eighth had laid siege to Boulogne, an English army commanded by an English king was about to exhibit its prowess on Continental soil.

It became the rage among the young gentlemen of St.James's and Whitehall to volunteer for service in Flanders.
The coffee-houses were threatened with desertion, and a prodigious number of banquets had been held by way of farewell.

The regiments which marched into Harwich on the last day of April to await the King were swollen with recruits eager for glory.

Addresses of duty and loyalty met his Majesty at every halting-place, and acclamations followed the royal coach throughout the route.