Denis, where his Majesty and the court had retired. While the Prince of Condé held possession of Paris, and the royal army lay at St. Denis, a large Spanish army prepared to penetrate from the Netherlands into France, to act in concert with the French insurgents; when the court of Louis XIV. removed to Pontoise, and the army marched to Compeigne, and encamped under the walls of the town. The Spanish army entered France, but after a short stay it retired to the Netherlands, when the army of Louis XIV. advanced towards Paris, and encamped near Gonesse. This movement was followed by the return of the Spanish forces under the Duke of Lorraine, when the army under Marshal Turenne attempted to intercept the enemy, and a sharp skirmish occurred at _Villeneuve St. Georges_, nine miles from Paris, and the designs of the Duke of Lorraine were frustrated. But the Prince of Condé marched out of Paris, and succeeded in forming a junction with the Spaniards at Ablon; and the united armies were double the number of the forces under Marshal Turenne, who constructed two temporary bridges over the Seine, threw up entrenchments, and maintained his post for several weeks. While the two armies confronted each other, frequent skirmishes occurred in the fields and vineyards, in which DOUGLAS' Scots took a conspicuous part. On one of these occasions a captain of the regiment was taken prisoner, who escaped from the enemy a few days afterwards, and brought information that the Prince of Condé had left the Spanish army in consequence of indisposition. The enemy not being so watchful as before, and the King's army being in want of provisions, it retired with great secrecy during the night of the 4th of October, and continued its march to Courteuil, when the enemy quitted the vicinity of Paris, and marched into winter quarters in Champagne and other parts of France. When the absence of the united rebel and Spanish army from Paris was ascertained, the royal family of France proceeded with a strong guard to the capital, and obtained possession of the city; and DOUGLAS' Regiment, with the remainder of the King's army, marched for Champagne, to attack the enemy in his quarters. During the winter DOUGLAS' Regiment was engaged in the siege of _Bar le Duc_; the lower town was taken by storm, and, about the middle of December, when two practicable breaches were made, the upper town and castle surrendered; when an Irish regiment in the Spanish service was made prisoners. The Irish finding that the Duke of York was with the French army, in command of the Scots gendarmes and a regiment of foot called the Regiment of York, they obtained permission to enter the French service, and were incorporated into the Duke's regiment.