King Charles and his counsellors, instead of exerting themselves to provide for the security of the towns which had come into their possession, and collecting the means for future conquests, spent their time and money in balls and public diversions. The breaches in _Barcelona_, and the fortress of _Montjuich_, were left unrepaired, and the garrison unprovided for a siege. Meanwhile King Philip was obtaining reinforcements from the favourers of his cause in Portugal, Italy, Provence, Flanders, and the Rhine, and he soon appeared at the head of above twenty thousand men to recapture the provinces he had lost. A powerful French and Spanish force approached Barcelona by land; a French fleet appeared before the town, and the garrison, being weak in numbers, regiments were hurried from other places, one English regiment travelling one hundred and twenty miles on mules, in two days, to take part in the defence of Barcelona. The siege was commenced in the beginning of April, 1706, when the soldiers repaired the breaches, and entered upon a resolute and desperate defence. A severe conflict took place on the 21st of April at _Montjuich_, in which Lord Donegal, of the thirty-fifth regiment, lost his life, and several prisoners were taken by the enemy; but when the garrison was nearly exhausted, its numbers decreased by deaths, wounds, sickness, and other causes, to about a thousand effective men, and a practicable breach was ready for the enemy to attack the place by storm, the English and Dutch fleet arrived with five regiments of foot; the French fleet hurried from before the town; and the reinforcements were landed. The French, who had prepared to storm the place on the 10th of May, relaxed in their efforts, and raised the siege on the following day, making a precipitate retreat. The important city of _Barcelona_ being thus relieved, the fleet sailed on the 12th of May, and landed the forces of every description on the coast of Valencia. This was preparatory to an attack on _Alicant_. The capture of _Carthagena_ was in the interim effected, and a garrison of six hundred marines under Major Hedges was established for its defence. The fleet arrived off _Alicant_ on the 26th of June, when the Governor-General Mahoni, was summoned to surrender: a refusal being made by the garrison, consisting of one thousand soldiers, and many inhabitants of the town who had volunteered in its defence, the bombardment of the city was resolved upon.