His detractors sneeringly pronounced it fortunate that the department of the military art which His Majesty considered as the noblest was one in which it was seldom necessary for him to expose to serious risk a life invaluable to his people.
Namur, situated at the confluence of the Sambre and the Meuse, was one of the great fortresses of Europe.

The town lay in the plain, and had no strength except what was derived from art.

But art and nature had combined to fortify that renowned citadel which, from the summit of a lofty rock, looks down on a boundless expanse of cornfields, woods and meadows, watered by two fine rivers.

The people of the city and of the surrounding region were proud of their impregnable castle.

Their boast was that never, in all the wars which had devastated the Netherlands, had skill or valour been able to penetrate those walls.