Mayenne has arrived at Meaux with his army. He is, however, too weak to raise the siege of Paris, or to engage the King with a fair prospect of success. When offered battle he declined it, and withdrew to a safe position. The King thought this an additional reason for pressing the siege. Though he had effected a lodgment in the suburbs, yet the parts of them which were nearest the city were more in the citizens’ power than his own. He therefore resolved to push forward his entrenchments to the walls of the city. This operation was executed in a single night, the breastwork of the besiegers being carried up to the very gates. Thenceforth no one was able to enter or leave Paris without his permission. Meanwhile the famine was growing so sore, that it seemed impossible for them to hold out much longer, and more than 12,000 perished of hunger. The inhabitants, however, bore their sufferings patiently, and preferred to hold out to the bitter end rather than abandon the cause for which they were fighting. They were sustained in this resolve by the promises of the Spanish Ambassador and the Papal Legate, who declared that the Duke of Parma himself was on the point of coming with a mighty army to their relief, an assertion which was soon afterwards verified. Parma arrived at last, after negotiations for peace had actually been opened. On the 6th of this month the Cardinal de Gondi and the Archbishop of Lyons, the Primate of Gaul,[266] went under a safe-conduct to the King. They failed to come to terms, but the negotiations were adjourned, in the hope that a further interchange of views might lead to peace. Finally, it was agreed that three commissioners on each side should meet at the fortress of Nanteuil[267] and the mansion of Schomberg, nine French miles from Paris.[268] The prospects of peace thus appeared to be improving, when letters of Mayenne to his mother and wife were intercepted, in which he exhorted them to hold out a little longer, and told them that he was actually on the march to their relief; there was no fear, he added, that _he_ would demean himself by acknowledging a heretic as his King, or by coming to terms with him. The King showed these letters to the Cardinal and Archbishop, and was on the point of breaking off negotiations, but at their entreaty he finally consented to await the day which had been fixed for the termination of the armistice, namely, the 26th of this month. He did not sacrifice much by this concession, as he had already decided to wait for a picked body of horse and foot, under Nevers and the Vicomte de Turenne, whom he expected in a few days. He only withdrew his cannon from the gates of Paris, and deposited them in St. Denis with his other heavy baggage, that he might have his hands free, if he were obliged to fight or should be summoned elsewhere, it being his usual practice to leave his baggage behind, when he undertakes any operation. Apart from this he made no change, and did not move a single