leave as I told you before first to acquaint his Highness To which Monsieur Comminges made answer Well Sir then I go and make my report to the King You may do as you please for that Sir reply'd the Count. Thus we took leave of him and went back to his Majesty who declar'd he did not take Count Verrue's answer ill at all but said he answer'd like a wise man and a good Commander and he would prepare to act like a great King So orders were presently given for attacking the Pass What was most remarkable upon this occasion which hath been so much talkt of since was that the Enemy standing firm to expect us at this streight which it had been impossible for us to force was very much surpriz'd to see the Count de Saux who had shovell'd away the Snow and crawl'd up those high Mountains come fall on them on a sudden and enclose their Rear upon which they fled immediately and left all their Fortifications so that our Souldiers had leisure to make them feel the weight of the King of France's Arms to whom they had the boldness to deny a passage There were however a great many of our men kill'd by the Cannon of Suza which scowrâ—d all the passage after a strange manner Mareschal Schomberg was wounded there but his wound only servâ—d to render him more glorious and more hardy against the Enemy Suza presently surrendred to his Majesty and a Peace soon after being concluded the King was visited there by his Highness and the King resolving to pay his visit did all he could to surprize him but he could not For the Duke having notice of his coming came down stairs to meet the King who said I had a mind to surprize you and have got into your Chamber To which his Highness very pleasantly replyâ—d So great a King as he could not easily be conceal'd And as the King and the Duke were passing with a great crowd over a Gallery that was not very strong the King saying That they had best make haste lest the Gallery should fall under them The Duke return'd this complemental answer That one might see that every thing trembled under so great a King His Majesty then shewed him all his Army and gave him the pleasure of contemplating the French Nobility after having made him some time before feel the force of their Courage While our Army lay in Piedmont before the Peace they plunder'd by right of War and I having three very beautiful Neapolitan Coursers for my share Count Soissons sent to entreat me to sell him one of them to restore it to the Duke I sent him word that having given thirty Pistoles for one of them he should have him for the same price if he thought fit but for the other two which cost me nothing I would freely send them to him without taking any thing for them The Count was a little surpriz'd at my answer and sent me a Purse full of Pistoles with this Message That he would not have my Horses unless he might pay for them but though I was not so rich as many others yet my Soul was as great so that I sent him back his Purse with the Horses without ever taking any more but the thirty Pistoles that the Horse I mention'd cost me XII The King while at Valence after having repast the Mountains understood there that several Cities had revolted by the inducement of the Religionists and therefore went to besiege Priras which was one of the strongest Here I lost a very good friend a Captain of the Guards who was unfortunately kill'd by one of our own Centry's as he was going to discover some works And what was most deplorable of all in this accident was that his best friend was the cause of his death against his will For as he was climbing up the side of a little Hill this Officer taking him for one of the Enemâ— commanded the Centinel to fire which he did discharging a great Musquet shot upon him by which he was slain I miss'd but little of sharing in his misfortune having offer'd my self to go along with him but he would go alone and so perisht alone Who can in such cases but acknowledge and admire that Providence that rules and ordains so many different events as best pleases him who parts two friends to take away one and save the other and permits that one who would have given his blood for his friend should himself be innocently the cause of his death But my Eyes at that time were too much fix'd upon the earth to raise me up to this principle and went along as other people with the stream of the age lamenting the loss of a person whom I lov'd and improving that thought no farther I shall say nothing more of this Siege nor of the other Towns that surrendred to the King my design being not to compile a History which were an undertaking above my abilities but only as I said to observe the different accidents and circumstances that occur to my mind such as may be useful to manifest the Government of the Almighty in the course of this mortal life or may afford some light into a profession that I have addicted my self to so many years with more than common assiduity and application XIII At the King's return to Paris there befel me what the world would think a great fortune especially for such a one as I who seem'd to be cut out more for the acquiring Honour than Wealth while I saw so many others advance and enrich themselves in a short time One day as the King was at St. Germains and coming very nimbly down stairs to go a hunting I happen'd to be there and his Majesty leaning upon my arm that he might go faster and surer I thought to snatch this opportunity of begging a considerable Escheat of a Sempstress of the Queen's one Rachel de Viaga a Spaniard by birth one who had not been naturalized and then lay extremely sick I contented my self at that time with giving a very short account of the matter and beg that his Majesty would please to remember me as he had done me the favour to promise he would His Majesty assur'd me he would not forget it and accordingly hearing some days after that the woman was expiring and could not live till morning he promis'd me the Escheat I was sensible I should not want Competitors and beggâ—d the King's protection representing to him that a great many would attempt to deprive me of his bounty as being more worthy than I. To which the King reply'd Go go take you no care I 'll support you against them all And his Majesty shewed afterwards that he had taken me into his protection preferring me before several Lords who would fain have been nibbling at this Escheat which was indeed very considerable and what I might very well look upon as a reward his Majesty's bounty intended me for all my past services The
superintendant of the Treasury the Battery of Messieurs de Chevreuse and de Lesdiguieres which a man might also call that of Monsieur de Schomberg he being almost continually there wrought a great effect upon the Bastion of Dumontier so that the breach was thought reasonable for an assault But being they would first be very sure of the true condition of the place an Officer was appointed to go and discover He did so but with very little exactness having seen almost nothing either peradventure because he was afraid or that he did not advance so far as was necessary to make a full discovery The distrust they had of his report made them send another who at his return gave no better account than the first The King then resolv'd upon an Assault he commanded that the Army should be drawn up in Battaile and should go on to the attack when upon the Hill of Pillis which was his Majesty's Quarter they should see him wave a Handkerchief upon the end of his Cane which was to be the Signal All things werâ— ready and they only staid expecting the Sign when Monsieur de Schomberg prompted by I know not what instinct and suspecting every thing told the King that he did not know whether it would not be proper upon this occasion where his Majesty's honour and the safety of his Army were in question to send a third time to discover the Bastion by some exact person and of whose report they could have no reason to doubt at the same time naming me thinking he did me a great deal of honour in exposing me to the utmost peril The King approv'd of the motion being of opinion that in such occasions a great many people see things but by halves by reason of the extream danger and of the little time they have to look about them I was call'd for instantly and Monsieur de Schomberg having acquainted me with the anxiety the King was in and the little certainty they had of the true estate of the place told me withal that he had thought fit to name me to his Majesty and to propose that I might be sent to discover again by reason they could not think themselves sure till I had made my report Nevertheless having a particular affection for me and knowing very well that to perform this with the exactness requir'd I could not choose but expose my self to very great danger he thought fit to tell me farther that though this affair was of the last importance to the whole Army he did not nevertheless pretend to engage me in it contrary to my own liking I return'd him the same answer that any other man would have done upon the same occasion which was That he did me wrong to doubt of the joy I was full of upon such occasions to see my self honour'd with his esteem and the good opinion he had of me that I would go prepare my self and that I hop'd to return and to bring so good an account that nothing should be found in my report that was not exactly true Having then put on a Cuirass and a Cask with a Pistol hanging at my girdle I eat a bit or two and then set out in the sight of his Majesty and the whole Army who had their eyes attentively fixt upon me Being come to the foot of the breach I there kneel'd down and pray'd behind some Stones that were tumbled down and afterwards began to mount creeping as well as I could upon my belly Being got to the top I had a mind to discover the place in the same posture I had got up that is to say lying upon my belly that I might not be too open nor too much expos'd to the Musquet shot that whisk'd round about me on every side but this posture affording me but little advantage of seeing what might be beyond the Bastion I started up on a sudden and exposing my self to a danger from which God alone was able to protect me I ran to the very brink of it from whence I discover'd the bottom which was a dreadful retrenchment and in it a Battalion that seem'd to be of above two thousand men of which the first ranks were all Pikes and the rest Musqueteers At the very instant that I discover'd my self and lookt down they made so furious a discharge upon me that I have ever since lookt upon it as a Miracle that I could escape and yet of all these great number of shots I only reciev'd two upon my arms which made but slight impressions and of which I was not so much as sensible at that time Assuring my self then that I had seen all I return'd with all the haste I could make only observing an eminence near the Kings Quarter from whence I thought I might possibly shew his Majesty himself the retrenchment of the Enemy After which I let my self fall on purpose that I might rowl down to the bottom and be more out of danger of the shot which made all the Army believe I was kill'd and Monsieur de Schomberg turn'd his back that he might not see a thing which gave him a great and real affliction accusing himself of being the cause of my death But I came off at the expence of a great giddiness only out of which being presently recoverâ—d I gave God thanks upon my knees for having preserv'd me from so great a danger After which I presently callâ—d to mind what I had seen and writ it down in my Table book being secure behind the same Stones I mention'd before and presently appear'd again when every one thought I was dead There may be peradventure some Bravo's and especially young men who will look upon it as a weakness that in so perilous an occasion I should rather have recourse to God than to give my self up to a foolish confidence that makes a man run brutishly and as it were blindfold every where where death is most terrible but in my opinion in occasions of this kind where a man hardly discovers any possible means to save both his honour and his life at once though he should forget that he was a Christian to be a man only is sufficient to make him think of him who can take away not only his Life but even Courage too from the man that fancies he has the most And having been for fifty years together in as many hazardous occasions as any man perhaps of my time I can witness this that I have seen very many who have made a vanity of no Religion as if their impiety ought to pass for a mark of their Valour whom I have often found to be rather great Braggadochio's than really brave and that if the danger was on the right hand would turn to the left and that would make use of dexterity where they ought to have staked down their persons and by their actions to have made good their vaunting words XIV After having in this manner escap'd so great a danger Monsieur
flatly that he would not do it But after this first denial I renew'd my importunity and importun'd him with so great instance assuring him that he could not disoblige me more than by such a refusal that he saw himself compell'd as it were to gratifie my desire He went then tho very unwillingly to attend the King and acquainted him with the humble request I had oblig'd him to deliver in my name The King a little surpriz'd ask'd him what is he dead then to which the Gentleman made answer that I was not but that I would not be satisfied except he would come to his Majesty to acquaint him that his first Physician Monsieur Erouard who had apply'd and taken off the first dressing had found my Leg in such a condition the Gangreen being got into it that he saw no hopes of saving my life but by cutting it off that I could not consent to it being not well assur'd to out-live so violent a remedy and choosing almost as soon to dye as to see my self miserable all the remainder of my life and out of condition of serving his Majesty having thus lost one of my Legs Tell him answer'd the King that I will have him do whatever the Physicians and Chyrurgions appoint that he must not suffer himself to be thus transported by despair and that I will not forsake him that as to what concerns his Command I will not dispose of it till he shall be totally incapable of ever exercizing it again and that I am very sorry to see him reduc'd to such a condition as to make me such a request The Gentleman came back to me and brought me the King's answer at which I was really very much afflicted having a great mind to procure this favour for my Friend and seeing almost no hopes of my self after all that the Chyrurgions had told me of my condition In the mean time I could by no means resolve to have my Leg cut off and I had almost as willingly have died when being thus agitated betwixt fear and desire and the prospect of a present and inevitable death pressing hard upon me I on a sudden remembred I had heard a Chyruryion who had cur'd me of some wound or other boast that he had an infallible remedy to stop a Gangreen and one who liv'd not above fifteen Leagues off at a Town call'd Tournon The affair being pressing I sent my man in post haste to tell him what condition I was in and to conjure him to come with all speed to save my life by reason that I was resolv'd rather to dye than to have my Leg cut off This Chyrurgion who remembred that I had paid him very well the first time he had had me in his hands mounted to Horse in a trice and made all the haste he could to come to me In the mean time the King's Chyrurgions not believing that a Country Chyrurgion could know any particular secret that they were ignorant of and looking upon this hope of mine as a pure allusion that might occasion my death resolv'd to use violence to do me as they thought a very great piece of service and to save my life by cutting off my Leg whether I would or no. So that after they had laid before me the inevitable necessity of doing it and that all my Friends had jointly pray'd and conjur'd me to suffer it seeing me still remain inflexible and obstinate not to suffer it to be done they plainly told me that seeing I would be the cause of my own death they should peradventure be forc'd to proceed after another manner with me Accordingly they came the next day into my Tent with all their preparations of Lints Salves Ligatures and Instruments to make their operation I perceiv'd them through the Curtains of my Bed and was in so great a fright that my Hair stood on end choosing infinitely rather to lose both Arms and Legs in an assault or a battel than to see any of them cut off in cold blood in my Bed especially whilst I was in hopes to preserve them by another way Two Franciscan Fryers presented themselves at the same time to exhort me by a very Christian discourse to suffer this operation with patience giving me to understand that for an hour or two of pain I should preserve my self many years and that though I did not care for this life yet that I ought to do it in consideration of the other seeing that God did as much forbid us to be Murtherers of our selves as of others and that here this perishable life was not only concerned but life eternal to which I was going and where I should soon be obliged to render an account of my life and should be guilty of casting it away if I refus'd the methods proper for preserving it I answered that it was not certain the cutting off my Leg would save my life and that I had much greater hopes from an able Chyrurgion who had a particular secret to stop a Gangreen and would be with me presently The two Fathers regarding more what the Chyrurgions pretended that such a Medicine was impossible than any thing I could say concluded out of an honest but indiscreet zeal that force must be used and I must be held during the operation so that both falling upon me on the sudden they told me they saw they must save my life by violence This proceeding I confess strangely disordered me so that in rage and transport of passion I cry'd out What! will you rob me both of this and the next life too Are you resolv'd to damn me Let me go except you resolve to throw me into a condition more dreadful than the loss of ten thousand lives These amazing expressions so startled and confounded them that they straightway let me go and were much concern'd to find their zeal so unseasonably employ'd They chang'd their note and spoke afterwards to me with great charity and tenderness letting all expressions alone that might any way discompose me and appeasing my mind by all the soft ways they could This return quite won my heart and convinc'd me that what they had done imprudently proceeded from friendship and kindness and I exprest as much gratitude for this last as I had done aversion for their former behaviour to me entreating them that they would visit me often in my illness which they readily engag'd to do and then we contracted such a Friendship as continu'd between us ever after and they have come to see me in the place where I now dwell retir'd a great many years after this accident At last the man I expected with so much impatience and upon whom I depended for my Cure arrived and extraordinary haste he made Assoon as ever I saw him enter the room I cry'd out Oh! how much am I oblig'd to you for coming so quickly and answering all the confidence I reposed in you I have told every hour and every minute and am sensible you could
a full relation of all that had past between the Cardinal Monsieur Noyers and me at which he laught heartily to himself But when among other passages I told him what Monsieur Noyers had said concerning the Governours place of Coliovre which he assur'd me the Cardinal had begg'd of his Majesty for me the King was so full of indignation at this gross dissembling that he could not forbearing crying out Ah the Knave Then I askt him if he would give me leave to go wait upon the Cardinal as he had urg'd me to do telling him that if his Majesty pleased I would never see his Eminence's face more except in a Picture But the King answered that I had better not scruple that but go wait on him as others did to tâ— ke off all jealousie of me and keep my self at least in that degree of his kindness which he now profest for me XXIII From that time which was about the month of September 1642 matters went very well with me at Court For I was constantly about the Kings person who carry'd me with him several times to Cardinal Richelieu's when he went to visit him near his death but he did not use to take me into the Chamber where he lay The day this great Statesman dy'd some hours before his death I was in the Kings Bed-chamber Monsieur Noyers came in great joy and told him the Cardinal was upon recovery for he found himself now much better and had taken a Medicine that did wonders upon him The King who was satisfied the Cardinal's distemper was mortal when he heard this news continued just the same without any alteration in his countenance either of Joy or Grief Some time after came another and he told the King that his Eminence was dead and he saw him expire The King did not depend upon this first account but staid for a second and a third and when he heard it confirm'd on all hands he contented himself with this reflection to some that stood by him Then there is a great Politician dead Presently after Mareschal Melleray and Mareschal Brezay who had been his creatures came and threw themselves at the King's feet and begg'd his protection The King took them up and told them that he had always had an esteem for them and would always continue to love them provided they would serve him faithfully In this he shewed a great deal of goodness for he never exprest the least resentment of their having been so absolutely at the Cardinal's devotion And there is no question but there is a great deal of policy in managing ones Enemies sometimes when any extraordinary accident obliges them to change their measures and come over to our party XXIV I was not long happy in the Kings favour after the Cardinal's death This Prince scarce ever enjoy'd any health afterwards but wasted away in a kind of Consumption which at last brought him into a most lamentable condition He stood one day in the Sun that shone in at his Chamber Window to warm himself and I coming in to wait on him not observing that stood directly between him and the Window whereupon the King said Ah Pontis do not take that from me which thou canst not give me I did not understand his Majesty's meaning and being concern'd I did not continu'd still in the same place Then the Count de Tresmâ—s told me it was the Sun I took from the King and I withdrew immediately This poor Prince grew so lean and worn that he could not forbear bewailing himself and would sometimes uncover his naked bony Arms and shew them to those of his Court that came to visit him When he lay upon his Death-bed Monsieur Souvray first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber having given the word one day that all the company should go out that the King might take a little rest and drawing to the Curtain on that side of the Bed where I stood to signifie that I was to go with the rest the King immediately drew back the Curtain and commanded me to stay for he had no inclination to sleep but had a mind to be eased of the crowd and clutter of company Then he began to talk familiarly with me and seeing from within his Bed through his Chamber at the Castle of St. Germain St. Dennis's Steeple he askt me what that was I told him St. Dennis's Church he said looking death already in the face Then there is the place where I must lye Then drawing his Arm out of his Bed he shew'd it me and said Here Pontis see this Hand and this Arm what Arms are here for the King of France I observ'd them but with unspeakable anguish of mind for he was just like a Skeleton with skin drawn over the bones and cover'd with great white spots After this he shew'd me his stomach which was so miserably lean that you might easily tell all his bones And then being no louger able to contain I burst out into a violent passion of sighs and tears and made his Majesty sensible at my leaving him that I was extremely afflicted to see him in that condition which gave me more pain if that were possible than he felt himself I say nothing here of the constructions that were put upon his distemper These are secrets not easie to be known nor of any great use if they were known This we are sure of he dy'd when God saw fit and in his disposal is the life and death of the greatest as well as the meanest men 'T is to little purpose that we trouble our selves to know the true causes of the deaths of Kings when we know that all those causes are subordinate to the will of him who is the King of Kings He was very negligently attended in his illness and scarce ever had any thing given him warm and in good order This I confess added much to my trouble to see a King with so many Officers about him worse lookt after than the meanest Shop-keeper in Paris I was not in his Chamber when he dy'd for all company was kept from him But I can say with great truth That death of his afflicted me to such a degree that for three months together I was almost senseless For I lov'd this Prince most tenderly and was always passionately fond of his service and I will presume to say I should be exceeding happy could I bring my self to be so zealously affected for the faithful service of him where no man ever loses his labour and who deserves our love infinitely more than all the Princes of the Earth God no doubt intended by this most sensible instance of the zealous and disinterested affection I bore to his Image upon Earth to teach me how much better I ought to love himself the great Original And really I have often wondred to see what a strange temper I was of toward this Prince For tho I valu'd my services so high as to think all the favour he shew'd me but
and continued there some ten months VI. At the expiration of these we resolv'd to pass into Germany and thence into Muscovia but our Journey was cut short for about three days Journey from the Hague we were taken by some Light Horse belonging to the Prince of Orange who looking upon us as Run-aways from the Army carried us to the next Town where we were all clapt up in prison The Justice that usually passes upon Deserters being very quick they did not long deliberate upon our Sentence but they consider'd the number of us and thereupon order'd that we should be decimated and that every tenth man upon whom the lot fell should be hang'd In the mean time chance being uncertain every one was equally in fear for himself and all of us interested our selves in a misfortune that nevertheless could only fall upon a part A Priest came to visit us in the prison to comfort us and to prepare us for death which induc'd some of us to confess our selves to this good father but I for my part must acknowledge that I was in so great an astonishment and so affrighted at such a kind of death that I could not take any care of my Conscience At last the immediate danger wherein we saw our selves involv'd open'd our understandings so that we entreated one of our Companions who had a great deal of art and was a good Scholar and that above all was very perfect in the Latin Tongue to write a Letter to the Prince of Orange by way of Apology to try if that might not so move him that we might obtain our pardon He did it with marvellous facility representing to his Highness That we were several Gentlemen who after that our curiosity and ardour for War had made us leave our own Country to come and bear Arms in a foreign State to learn the military exercises there by practice we were in some measure excusable if the same curiosity had prompted us to go on further into other Provinces that we might the better know the different customes of diverse Nations and so of every one to cull out the best That this inclination was more natural to French-men than to all other people and if we had committed a fault upon this occasion in not first obtaining leave we hop'd his Highness would have the goodness to pardon us and to excuse the hot humour of the French youth that there had been no malice in the proceeding but only a little of the levity natural to the Nation that it was becoming his Grandeur to make a difference betwixt offenders and to distingnish the quality of offences by the natural disposition of those who did commit them In fine he couch'd this short Apology in so elegant Latin and did illustrate it with so many Reasons borrow'd from a Military Rhetorick which the fear of present death did very much animate that it was impossible for the Prince of Orange to resist so just and so soft a violence so that he immediately granted our pardon but upon condition nevertheless that we should yet serve some time in his Army And thus contrary to all expectation we escap'd from so great a peril VII After we had stay'd some months longer with the Prince of Orange according to the injunction he had laid upon us in granting our pardon we resolv'd to return into France and accordingly came all together to a Kinsmans house of one of the company call'd L'Anglise who was of Picardy where I was entertain'd by a pure effect of the generosity of Monsieur and Madame L'Anglise as if I had been one of their own Sons After having staid a month there I resolved to return to the Guards there being no Wars abroad at that time and that Regiment being the ordinary School for young Gentlemen who follow'd the exercise of Arms. But being the occasion upon which I had gone out could not permit me to re-enter into it and that nothing had been said about that business all the time of my absence it was necessary that I should keep my self private for some days during which Monsieur de Grillon who exprest the affection of a Father to me obtain'd my Pardon but upon condition notwithstanding that I should give my self up Prisoner for two or three hours only in observation of the ordinary forms I did so but being the Court of the Provoste de l'Hotell where I was to be quitted could not sit that day I was very much surpriz'd to see my self shut up four and twenty hours without hearing a word I believ'd that they play'd foul play with me and fearing scurvy consequences of this delay I began to fall into one of the greatest anxieties I had ever been in the whole time of my life looking upon my self every moment as a man condemn'd to dye I made thenceforward a firm resolution never again so to commit my self to a voluntary Prison from whence a man cannot go out when he would and where a man is continually in fear of being taken out to go whither he would not I was nevertheless soon after deliver'd from this fear being the next morning released out of Prison and at the same time admitted into the Guards according to my own desire I here continued some years where beginning to be weary of doing nothing in France by reason there was no War there I resolv'd to go into Savoy with one of my Comrades an intimate friend of mine whose name was St. Maury VIII The War began in that Country about the year 1604 and I understood that Rose the Duke of Savoy's Embassador levied underhand some Souldiers at Paris I went to wait upon him and promis'd him that my Comrade and I would raise him 40 men provided he would assure us of the Commands of Captain and Lieutenant and furnish us with so much Money as was necessary for the raising and conducting them to the confines of Savoy He granted what I desir'd and I was as good as my word But not daring to march our Souldiers together because the King would not allow that any one should make levies of his Subjects to go serve another Prince I sent them several ways being very well assur'd they would not fail me because most of them were Souldiers of the Regiment of Guards whom I knew and in whom I did absolutely confide Some of which went by the way of the Swisse Country and others which way they could as for me and my Lieutenant who would needs serve in that condition we took the way of Lyons where a Guard was kept to stop such kind of people that they might not pass The Guard having stopt us at the Gate I told them that it was a Gentleman who was travelling that way and that I belong'd to him for I being more known than Sainte Maury I rather chose to pass for his Servant that I might be the less taken notice of But for all that we were carried before the Governour which was Monsieur
been his Son For all my Duties upon the Guard and the occasions upon which I was commanded excepted I was continually by his Bed side lying with my hand in the stateliest Union that can possibly be imagin'd which also was much augmented upon a new accident which I think my self oblig'd to relate X. The Enemy having made another furious Sally came and set fire to our Powder lam'd the Carriages of two pieces of Cannon to which they set fire also and were endeavouring to nail the rest when I was commanded out with a body of threescore men to repel them where I once more thought I should have been scorch'd to death by a Barrel of Powder they gave fire to in their retreat After having beaten them from this Battery I retir'd with the rest of our Regiment which with great vigour beat the Enemy back even into their own Fort though it could not be done without great loss on our part Amongst the Officers that were kill'd in this action there was one very brave man call'd Captain Robert of whose death the King being inform'd he presently thought of the Officer of Champagne to confer the command upon for besides other occasions wherein I had been particularly taken notice of by his Majesty he had heard of the service I had done Monsieur Zamet and the other Prisoners in rescuing them out of the Enemies hands Calling therefore for Monsieur de Puisyeux he told him that he gave me the Company of Captain Robert commanding him to dispatch my Commission and to send it to me before I knew any thing of it Monsieur de Puisyeux who thought himself highly obligâ—d to me for having without speaking to him or his having entreated me preserv'd a Country House of his that was near the Army from being plundred by the Souldiers by putting into it a Gurrd of six Musqueteers was exceeding glad of this opportunity of serving me to the King and therefore taking the liberty to tell him his opinion concerning the choice his Majesty had made he spoke of me to him the most advantageously that he possibly could so much as unknown to me to acknowledge the little service I had endeavoured to do him The Commission therefore was dispatch'd that night and being deliver'd to me in the morning without my having had the least intimation of it I confess I more valued the King's remembring me of his own accord than I did my preferment to the Command tho I did pretty much covet that too not believing that the Lieutenancy of Monsieur Zamet could be conferr'd upon me so soon I went forth with to carry my Commission to Monsieur Zamet who look'd a little coldly upon it and ask'd me if I had rather have the Company than to be his Lieutenant adding withal that he very well knew that in order and pay a Company was worth more but that he believâ—d it was much more advantageous to me to be Lieutenant to a person who was so absolutely my own as he was who assur'd me no less than his goods and fortâ—ne and therefore entreated me to think onâ—t before I accepted the Command To this I made answer that he very well knew that I had already assur'd him that I was entirely his and that accordingly he should be the absolute Master in this affair that as I had hitherto no hand at all in it being meerly oblig'd to the King's bounty who had thought of me of himself and to the kind remembrance of Monsieur de Puisyeux who had dispatch'd the Commission before I had heard a syllable of it I could not better let him see how much I was at his disposal than by bringing him the Commission to do with it as he himself thought fit He then told me that he had a great mind to inform the King of the particulars that past in that Sally of the Enemy I have mention'd before where I restor'd him his liberty and that being there was no one who had had so great a share in it as my self I was able to give a better account than any one of that action and therefore he should be glad I would go wait upon his Majesty in the afternoon and present him a Letter that he would write I did so where after I had presented Monsieur Zamet's Letter and given an account of his health which his Majesty enquir'd after he immediately fell to speaking of the occasion wherein I had rescu'd him out of the Enemies hands commanding me to tell him the whole story which I accordingly did as well as I could I then took my opportunity to return my most humble thanks for the honour his Majesty had done me in remembring me after a manner so much to my advantage and of which I should retain a profound acknowledgment all the days of my life But the King seeing I took no notice of Monsieur Zamet's design said to me But you have not told me all this while that Zamet would have you for his Lieutenant to which I made answer That I was in the first place bound to let his Majesty know my sence of this very particular favour he had been pleas'd to shew me when I least thought of any such thing and as to the other which Monsieur Zamet sollicited in my behalf it was not for me to mention it to his Majesty and that I should seem not to value the favour he had conferr'd upon me as I ought should I at the same time I came to return my thanks for the one make suit for another But since your Majesty said I obliges me to answer to that affair I can assure you that I am ready with great chearfulness to do whatever your Majesty shall please to command whether in accepting or surrendring the Company in the Regiment of Champagne for the Lieutenancy of Monsieur Zamet which I confess to be to me much more considerable and desireable than many Companies by reason of the tender Friendship I am happy in from a person of his merit which is to your Majesty sufficiently known Being then Sir to receive the one or the other from your Majesties hand I with all my heart resign the Commission your Majesty did me the honour to send me with an humble request that your Majesty would be graciously pleas'd to make for me a choice that I protest I know not how to make for my self At the same time I presented my Commission to the King who very much surpriz'd at my complement and the free manner wherewith I had referr'd my self into his hands for the choice of one of these two Commands left me on a sudden to go to the other end of the room where the Constable de Luines was to whom he told all that I had said to him and shewâ—d him the Commission I had return'd into his hands The Constable had not been very well satisfied with me in the beginning of the War by reason of a little occasion wherein I had not manifested
we cannot doubt that this is a stroke of his providence why should we oppose what he has ordain'd Is not he master both of Life and Death And it would be mockery towards Almighty God to whom we pray every day that his will may be done not to submit to his good pleasure when he thus shews his own immediate arm 'T is proper in these great occasions that a man can throughly prove himself and sound the bottom of his heart to know whether he be truly his or no. The little ones are more apt to deceive us but in this Hypocrisie has no place How happy are we to leave this world that is only full of sins and miseries to go unto God! I have 't is true great reason to apprehend his Justice but he commands us to hope in his Mercy and it were to offend him to lose this hope He will have compassion of us and tho his Judgments are terrible yet he will shew Mercy Even this is a great favour to dye in his quarrel in defending the true Religion against those that would subvert it And then looking upon me with eyes full of tenderness and there fixing them for some time as if to make me more sensible of the reproach he intended me concerning the action he knew I had so lately committed But you said he who love me as your friend must that love of yours render you so cruel that to revenge the death of a man whom Providence will have dye you should destroy so many others without mercy and without justice Where was your generosity and natural humanity to have deny'd Quarter to these poor men and to damn them most miserably for my sake as if my death could be reveng'd by theirs or that I could approve this transport of so irregular a friendship Have you been able to restore me to life in taking it so cruelly away from these wretches And was it not rather to pull down the anger of God both upon your self â—nd me to pretend to revenge my death which he has appointed by the death you have so unjustly given to so many persons contrary to his order and contrary to his will I beseech you repent of this fault as one of the greatest that peradventure you have ever committed in your whole life The remedy which you have thought to apply to my misfortune has been much more painful to me than the mischance it self and I think my self oblig'd to conjure you from the bottom of my heart that you never for the death of any friend whatever or your own being mortally wounded fall again into the same transport of fury We were alone when he spoke to me after this manner aâ—d I confess that as I then wanted words to make answer to such a moving discourse so I want them now to represent the condition wherein I found my self being compell'd both by Monsieur Zamet's reasons and my own nature to pronounce a terrible sentence upon my self for this excess of which I was so mexcusably guilty Words then being wanting to me I made him understand my repentance by the abundance of my tears which I could not refrain And I must also confess that this so Christian discourse of his together with the condition of him who made it to me imprinted so lively a sense in the bottom of my heart that I have ever since retain'd a continual sorrow for that barbarous action I stay'd with him that night and all the next day being I could not find in my heart to leave him and went not out of the Room but to perform my duty upon the Guard V. But it was not long before I was chastis'd for the criminal fury wherewith I had suffer'd my self to be transported I was commanded to go attack the Enemy with a hundred men in a little Half-moon that they were resolv'd to carry and from whence they fir'd mightily upon us where tho they made a brave defence were yet more vigorously attackt and we were now upon entring having nothing but a little Ditch to leap to make our selves masters of the place but at the same moment I felt my self wounded with two Musquet shots at once one in the body which entred not very far and only past betwixt the flesh and the skin the other in the ankle the bone of which it broke into several splinters making me fall at the same time into the Ditch from whence attempting to rise I fell down again I was therefore fain to satisfie my self with encouraging my Souldiers only bidding them not to concern themselves about me but perfect what they had so successfully begun and that it would by no means be honourable for them by reason of my being wounded to lose a Half-moon which it had cost them so much to gain The men being all very brave the sight of the condition I was in serv'd only the more to excite their Courage so that before I could be carry'd off I had the satisfaction to see them lodg'd in the place I then entreated a Gentleman a kinsman of Monsieur de Valencay my intimate friend that serv'd with us upon this occasion in the quality of a Volunteer that he would help to conduct or rather to carry me back to the Camp which he did with a very particular affection and so soon as I was arriv'd at my Tent I sent to acquaint Monsieur Zamet with the condition I was reduc'd to and to let him know that my greatest grief was that I could not pay him my duty in his sickness and do him those services that I could heartily have wisht and to be thus depriv'd of the only conâ—olation of being near his person He was sensible of my misfortune as of a new wound he had receiv'd believing me to be worse hurt than I was and nearer death than he He sent to me immediately to let me know his sence of my condition which it was no hard matter for me to understand by reason of the union and perfect openness of our hearts We sent afterwards daily every hour reciprocally to know how one another did having this only way left of conversing in some sort with one another and of giving one another a mutual consolation VI. Finding my self in very great danger and that the Kings chief Physician and the Chyrurgions assur'd me that there was no other way left to save my life but by cutting off my Leg which began to gangreen I had a mind to acknowledge the obligation I had to the Gentlemen my friend of whom I spoke before who brought me back to my Tent I therefore told him that God being pleas'd otherwise to dispose of me I entreated him to permit me to surrender my Command into his hands and that he would go in my name to request it of the King and to tell his Majesty that I did humbly beseech him in consideration of my services to give it him This Gentleman with great generosity deny'd me telling me
not possibly have come sooner to my relief You see here one who is a lost man in the opinion of all the world unless you relieve him The Chyrurgion reply'd that he hoped he should be able to stop the Gangreen provided it were not gone too far and that my case were not absolutely desperate and that his remedy did not use to fail I sent away to beg Monsieur Eroâ—ard and the other Chyrurgions to come and take off their applications it not being allowable that it should be taken off without them Assoon as the dressing was remov'd the Chyrurgion was a little surpriz'd to see the Gangreen got so high and said it was gone â—o far that he durst give me no assurance till after once or twice dressing The others said he spoke very reasonably and it would be very happy if there were any hopes then He apply'd his remedy and next day they met again at the same hour to see the effect The thing appear'd still doubtful and he would warrant nothing yet tho this first application had prevented the Gangreen from rising any higher So he reserv'd the giving any positive Judgment till the next time and then at taking off the second dressing and duly examining the wound he declar'd boldly that now he would be answerable for my Cure and that his remedy had been successful Monsieur Erouard and the rest looking upon it were a little astonish'd and confest this was a secret they did not understand It is easie to judge whether I repented of my obstinacy in not submitting either to the pleasure of the King the ignorance of my Chyrurgions and the zeal of my Ghostly Fathers and whether I did not think my want of Courage upon this occasion a happiness which would not let me throw away a Leg to no purpose that hath serv'd me so long and so well since that time A few days after Monsieur Schomberg sent to see me by his Steward who found me better of my wounds but ill enough of my purse my pâ—y not being sufficient for so great an expence as the condition I was then in expos'd me to above the ordinary charge of the Army Which Monsieur Schomberg having intimation of from the person he had sent to me procured me some money of the King Part of this I employâ—d in rewarding Mutonis the Souldier that helpt me to escape into our Camp and whom I kept in my own Tent as my Brother ever after he had receiv'd that Musquet-shot in his Arm till at last I got him a place in an Hospital where he subsisted very comfortably without my help But the summ Monsieur Schomberg procur'd for me being not very considerable by reason that a greater would have made it necessary to get a Ratification from the Chamber of Accounts he was so generous to send me some of his own and did it after so pressing and so obliging a manner that I thought my self bound to accept what a better man than I would have made no scruple to receive from a Superintendant and what indeed I could not have told how to refuse from a person that hath all along done me the honour to love me so tenderly for to have declin'd it must needs have given him great offence VII In the mean while Monsieur Zamet was dead of his wound but they conceal'd his death from me and durst not be too hasty in letting me know what were enough to have kill'd me in that condition The City of Montpellier being at last surrendred upon terms and the general Peace concluded with the Hugonots the Regiment of Picardy was plac'd there in Garrison where I was lodg'd rarely well and my Chyrurgion in six weeks had put me in a way of doing without him and letting my self be drest by one in the Town till my Cure was perfected I return'd him the best acknowledgment I could and gave him a reward which tho but inconsiderable if compar'd with the service he had done me yet proportionable to my present ability What was wanting that way I endeavour'd to make up by the tenderest testimonies of friendship and of the gratitude I should ever retain while that life lasted which he had preserv'd when every body else thought me sure to lose it The death of Monsieur Zamet was kept from me as I said for some time but the great impatience I was in to know how he did would not suffer it to be long conceal'd for I was every hour enquiring after him with extraordinary concern So that after they had prepar'd me by degrees for the afflicting news I receiv'd it at last with a grief not possible to be exprest and except people knew both our hearts and the strict union of them they can never judge what disorder I was in upon the thought of our being separated for ever and that I should no more enjoy the blessing of his Conversation whose friendship I valu'd above all things in the world But this first grief was follow'd by another for having made me his Executor and deliver'd his Will into my hands the day after he was hurt I could not but be sensibly afflicted to see that some of his Relations should quarrel with me in opposing the intention of the Dead and the care I took to have his Will perform'd Yet afterwards they all acquiesc'd but one who still retain'd a coldness toward me upon this account as if the last Will of the Dead ought not to be respected by the Living or that he whom they make choice of to see it executed could be to blame for acquitting himself faithfully of this duty VIII After lying seven or eight months under Cure when I began to walk a little and get on Horseback Monsieur Valencay Governour of Montpellier gave me a Commission to go see what the Inhabitants of Sevennes were doing These were little Bourgs and Villages scituated in the Mountains and possest by the Hugonots They were all gallant Souldiers having past most part of their youth in the Low-Country Wars from whence they return'd expert and brave which gave some occasion to suspect them and oblig'd Monsieur Valencay to order this enquiry that he might be secure they were not contriving some new disturbances I found them all very quiet as oft as I came among them and this visit that I made into their Country was not unprofitable to me because by this means I was capable of informing the King who afterwards examin'd me about it as shall be told in due place IX I had not been at Paris of a long time and indeed had some business there The Regiment deputed me to go sollicit for payment of their Musters that were in arrear Monsieur Valencay contributed to this Deputation too and I almost fancy'd he was not sorry of so fair an occasion to put me at some distance from him knowing the particular friendship Monsieur Schomberg honour'd me with who being now in disgrace he might fear my raising a faction in
putting him into a condition to expose that life for the King's Service which he now ow'd to his Mercy The poor young man was so astonish'd to see the strange way I had taken to revenge my self upon him that he was able to say no more than this that he was extremely confounded and that now I had repaid his brutal passion with the greatest generosity I could possibly express he had nothing more to offer in return but his life which should ever be as much mine as his own that he should from thence forward look upon me as a second Father and was resolv'd absolutely to depend upon me and my conduct Whereupon we embrac'd and he went to make himself ready for his Journey into Holland His affair was shortly after debated in a Council of War where he was condemn'd but being got out of the way they lookt no farther after him VI. The King for a good while after put on some coldness to me before company tho in private he was as kind to me as ever I understood the meaning of it well enough and behav'd my self the best I could to second his Majesty's design But I was still wanting for some occasion to procure Monsieur Buisson's return and a whole year escap'd me without ever discovering any hopes of it At last I resolv'd to be bold once again and observe measures less than ever in an affair where I thought my intercession not unlikely to prevail A Lieutenant of the Regiment of Normandy was at that time very sick at Paris the moment I heard of his death I conceiv'd I ought to take this opportunity to serve the man whose being at a distance was a great affliction to me and accordingly I went forthwith to the King I told him at first without laying open my design that I was come humbly to entreat a favour of his Majesty which was the Command of such a Lieutenant just now dead The King as far as I could guess presently suspected for whom I made this suit but not willing to let me know that he penetrated into my thoughts he satisfy'd himself with telling me that he must first know what I would do with it and whom I intended it for I answer'd that it was for a friend of mine whom I would take the liberty to name as soon as his Majesty should have done me the honour to assure me of the place Is it not for Buisson reply'd the King for I know your temper and do almost read it in your heart Ah! Sir said I thus to penetrate into ones thoughts is to be truly a Prophet and doubtless I ought to be careful to have none but good ones since your Majesty hath such piercing eyes 'T is true Sir I am heartily sorry to see this young Gentleman who is capable of doing your Majesty good service so long out of a condition to shew it and I take the confidence to hope your Majesty will compleat the favour you have so generously begun in giving him who holds his life from your goodness an opportunity of employing it all in your service The King mov'd with this pressing importunity in behalf of one who had so highly disoblig'd me was most graciously pleas'd to say that it was not in his power to deny me any thing and that the generosity of this request engag'd him to grant that which regularly ought not to be granted With this promise of the King which filled me with great joy I went home and immediately dispatch'd away an express Messenger into Holland to Monsieur Buisson to bid him presently come away to me about some business of very great consequence Accordingly he was soon at Paris where having told me that he very well understood he was afresh oblig'd to me for the favour of his liberty seeing that I brought him to a place from which his ill behaviour had constrain'd him to fly I made answer that it was the King to whom he was oblig'd for all and now especially for a favour he did not expect which was a Lieutenant's place in the Regiment of Normandy for that his Majesty had conferr'd upon him and upon this account it was that I sent for him To which I added that I would carry him to kiss the King's hand that he might in person pay his acknowledgments for so very exceeding a favour which engag'd him to lay out the rest of his life upon his Majesty's service and that therefore he should be in a readiness to go along with me that Evening to the Louvre This poor Gentleman very well understanding from what hand his Lieutenancy came was so confounded that he had not one word at command to return me thanks in and therefore did it only in dumb shew I carried him at night to the Louvre and having first askt his Majesty's leave to present him I brought him in As soon as he came into his presence he threw himself at the King's feet without speaking otherwise than by his posture and profound humiliation The King then told him he was happy in having such a man as I to deal with who after such an injury had made it my business to obtain the pardon of him who wrong'd me to that degree a thing that he could not have granted to any other and that very few besides me would have dar'd to ask it That therefore he would let him know that he was oblig'd to me both for his Life and his Command which he gave him upon my account that all these things laid together oblig'd him to look upon me for the future as his Benefactor and to repair the wrong and the fault he had been guilty of against the whole body of the Army by a life and behaviour proportionable to the sense he ought to have of so extraordinary a favour Respect Joy and Grief all at once made so strong an impression upon the mind of Monsieur Buisson that he could not return one syllable of answer to the King but as he came into the room without daring to speak so he went out again without being able to do it Which also pleas'd his Majesty more than if he had made a long Complement for he judged better of the sentiments of his heart by this respectful silence than he could have done by any studied harrangue I afterwards sued out his Pardon and procured the Commission for his Command and got him admitted into the Regiment where I am able to say that he acquir'd a great deal of esteem having perfectly made good what was expected from him and passing for one of he bravest men in the Army He also very faithfully obey'd the command his Majesty laid on him always to consider me as his faithful friend For both from an effect of his natural inclination and the deep sense he had of the service I had done him he ever after lived with me as with his Father by which name also he us'd to call me And I shall take notice in the
believe he would have done with me had he known me for such as I am and therefore I most humbly beseech your Majesty ever to look upon him as one of your good and faithful Servants The King was pleas'd to take this address well and Monsieur De la ... and I went out very well satisfy'd with one another But I was not rid of my Suit for all this but forc'd to continue my prosecution against him who had held me in hand so long about the Donation from the King I obtain'd at last another Attachment against him which forc'd him to leave Paris a second time and flee to Lions I pursu'd him so close that he was fain to take Sanctuary in the Popes territories at Avignon Then I writ to the Kings Ambassador at Rome which was the Marquis d' Estree and having obtain'd leave of his Holiness I was about to arrest him and he escap'd from me again to Orange I was not discourag'd for all this but writ to the Prince of Orange at the Hague to demand Justice against this litigious Knave He had notice of it and seeing no reâ—uge left but either flying into Germany or Spain and hazarding the being taken in his flight too he writ to the Duke of St. Simon to desire an accommodation and chose at last to pay though against his will what at first he resolv'd never to give us rather than to banish himself the Kingdom So he paid the Duke twenty thousand Crowns and me about forty thousand Livres But this Suit tho upon a summ so trivial to so rich a man was the cause of his utter ruine For he spent above four hundred thousand Livres in it and was made a perfect Bankrupt So truly was the promise I made him kept that the Kingdom should grow too hot for one of us And I thought it not amiss by this remarkable instance to shew the world how very apt the false trust a man puts in his Credit and cunning in Law is to betray and undo him Yet for all this I did his Brother a very good office to the King for he having a mind to buy a Lieutenants place in the Guards and the King asking me what I thought of him I gave the best Character I could both of his valour and deserts Adding withal that since he had Money it was fit he should spend it in his Majesty's service who had an original right to it XVII It was near about this time that Monsieur Bouteville's misfortune happen'd who having fought as 't is well known contrary to the Kings express prohibition was seized just as he was upon the point to escape into Lorrain with the Count de Chapelles The Marquis de Buâ—â—y's Servant knowing his Master was kill'd follow'd them close and made so good haste that he overtook them at Vitry-le-Brushe It had been the easiest thing in the world for them to ride on till they had got into a place of safety for they waâ—ted but two Post-stages and the Count de Chapelles did all he could to perswade Monsieur Bouteville to it But providence so order'd it that himself should be the cause of his own ruine by pretending an unseasonable bravery and reproaching the Count with want of Courage for the necessary caution he advis'd him to In the mean while this Servant had time to go to Vitry-le-Francois of which the late Marquis de Bussy was Governour where he gave notice to the Provost Marshal of the place where the men that kill'd him were and this Provost with his Archers beset the house took them and carry'd them to Vitry-le-Francois The King heard of it and immediately order'd Monsieur de Gordes Captain of the Guards and me to go with two hundred men to Vitry and bring Monsieur Bouteville and des Chapelles to Paris I who had the honour to be particularly acquainted with Monsieur Bouteville was employed in such a Commission sore against my will and it went to my heart to do so sad a piece of service to one who had always exprest a great deal of favour and affection for me Tho on the other side I could not choose but disapprove and condemn so criminal a thing in them whose death I lamented before-hand As soon as we were arrived he exprest great joy for my coming and in complement said I was exceeding welcome for he knew now I was of the party there would be no foul play I answer'd that indeed he had reason to think so for Monsieur Gordes was a man of too much honour to suffer any such thing He was very pleasant all the Journey and shew'd little or no trouble depending no doubt upon his great relations and the Interest of his friends When we came to the Inn he would needs have me to play with him as being undisturb'd in his thoughts and perfectly master of himself There was a rumour abroad that the Duke of Orleans had put seven or eight hundred men into the field to rescue Monsieur Bouteville out of our hands The King was made acquainted with it and sent us a reinforcement of five hundred men a league beyond Loguy with positive order to defend our selves very well if any attempt were made upon us I observed Monsieur Bouteville was a little surpriz'd at the arrival of this great Convoy and said to me by way of confidence What 's the meaning of all this Company What are they afraid of Have I not given you my word and having given it can any body imagine I will break it But I who thought I might easily disengage a man from his promise who was so well guarded and had no great reason to hope well in this business told him again with the same freedom Look you Sir this is not a time to stand upon generosity and punctilio's of honour I release you of your promise and if you can make your escape do not scruple to do it In good earnest I could heartily have wisht it done provided it might have been without any fault of mine When we drew near Paris he began to be apprehensive and told me that if we carry'd him to the Conciergene he was a gone man But when he found he was to be convey'd to the Bastille he exprest great joy and assur'd himself he should not dye In the mean time we knew well enough his hopes would deceive him and that the King would make him an example the rather by reason of the Holy-days which he had proâ—an'd by his bloody Duels And not being to be prevail'd upon by the intercessions of the most eminent persons in this Kingdom he gave all his Nobility to understand by this instance of severity that it was their duty to reserve their valour for his service and the publick Interests of the Crown The End of the Sixth Book BOOK VII Several considerable particulars of the Siege of Rochelle Cardinal Richlieu tries to draw the Sieur de Pontis into his Service Father Joseph's Conference
remember the Letter you did me the favour to write in my behalf to Monsieur Canaples wherein you blam'd him for presuming to suspend me when the King and you were present in the Army and commanded him from the King to let me alone in the free discharge of my Command When after this he went about to dishonour me against the Kings and your Lordships express Order I conceiv'd that both the King and you your self my Lord had put the Sword in my hand to repell the injury that was offer'd to the Kings authority and at the same time to defend my self from the affront they would have put upon me These reasons were of force to work upon Monsieur Espernon whose honour and authority seem'd to be engaged in my quarrel but he not being then at leisure to consider of it and possest too by what Monsieur Canaples had told him and in regard my action appear'd really very foul and odious in it self when all the circumstances were laid aside that might make it appear more excusable I plainly perceiv'd that he was very ill dispos'd toward me and that I ought to take my leave And withal thinking my self not very safe I resolv'd to withdraw to Mareschal Schomberg who hath ever done me the honour to love me and to protect me with extraordinary kindness and favour XII Then it was that I began to reflect on the inconstancy of mens fortune I sigh'd heartily to see that after serving the world so faithfully so many years I should be so ill rewarded by it that after exposing my life a thousand times in the service of my Prince I was now like to lose it ignominiously by the rigour of publick Justice or at least to pass the remainder of it in exile and oblivion I represented to my self the misery of a fugitive and a vagabond who fears every thing hath nothing to hope looks upon all Creatures as combin'd against him to render him unhappy and one that can only expect from death the end of all his miseries and misfortunes And indeed I never wisht to dye but that day for then I thought death the greatest good fortune that could have befallen me fearing above all things the hand of Justice and almost as much as that to live wretchedly out of the Court and my native Country Such were the thoughts meeâ—ly humane and the low considerations that wholly possest my mind I was not then sensible that it is a happiness for a man who hath liv'd long in Courts and Armies to be oblig'd to leave them and driven to think of something more serious to dedicate the remainder of his life at least to God when the World will have no more to do with him But God was pleased thus at a distance and by degrees to prepare me for renouncing the world by giving me a taste of its bitterness and tho I did not then apprehend it yet the various afflictions he try'd me with were so many earnests of his mercy to me While I was thus intent upon my self with regard to the outward consequences of this extremity to which I was then reduc'd God was pleased to look upon me and inspire me with a thought of begging his assistance This made me with deep sighs say Lord thou knowest my misery and I know thy mercy take upon thee my defence for I have no defender My prayer was short but my devotion was ardent and sincere But my grief and disquiet were so excessive that within a few days I was so chang'd as hardly to be known my very hair turn'd grey in that short time and I am sure none who have not experimentally known what it is for a man of Honour and Courage to see himself reduc'd to fear the hand of a common Executioner can be a competent Judge of the condition I was in XIII When I had withdrawn to Mareschal Schomberg's house they began to examine my business The usual informations were made and the Drum beat throughout all the Quarters to cite me to a personal appearance but I chusing rather to pass for a Criminal when at Liberty than to surrender my self up a Prisoner and be expos'd to all the violent designs of my Enemies was interdicted and cashiered and all Souldies and Officers of the Regiment were forbid to own me for an Officer The Proceedings when concluded were carry'd to Monsieur Espernon as Collonel of the Infantry and so the principal Judge He spoke of it to the King who not being able utterly to cast off the extraordinary goodness he had ever had for me and designing to save my Life had a mind not to oppose Justice publickly but to spin the Cause out as long as he could that so when time had qualify'd mens Spirits he might the more easily grant my Pardon without being blamed by the principal Officers of the Army whose authority seem'd to be concern'd for my punishment The King therefore answer'd the Duke of Espernon that they were to have the opinion of the Mareschals of France and the principal Officers of the Army and so the business was ended But that which made very much for my Justification was the extraordinary generosity of Mareschal Creâ—uy Monsieur Canaples his Father who as soon as ever he heard of our quarrel declar'd highly in my favour against his own Son He condemn'd Monsieur Canaples publickly as a person that broke his word and commended what I had done as an argument of my Courage and repelling an extraordinary injury by an extraordinary action This declaration from Mareschal Crequy who thus renounc'd his natural inclination for the sake of Justice was of very great weight in my Cause for it could not easily be imagin'd that a Father would pronounce against his own Son if he could have found any Justice on his side Nevertheless my business was examinâ—d in the Council In the mean while Mareschal Schomberg wrought privately with the King to have compassion upon an Officer who had serv'd him all along with so great fidelity and zeal and to incline him to order it so that all things might be composed The King as I said was pretty well inclined to this of his own accord and had often spoken of it to several people but every body answer'd cautiously fearing on one side to offend his Majesty and doubting on the other lest they should offend Monsieur Canaples who was a person of great Interest and Power There was one however that spoke his thoughts freely to the King upon this subject But this mans opinion was as base and unworthy as Mareschal Crequy's my adversary's Father was generous He had formerly been my Captain under Henry the Great when I was a young Cadet in the Regiment of Guards And the King being pleas'd one day to do him the honor to unbosom himself to him upon my concern said You have known Pontis longer than any body He seems to me to be patient tho he be a little hot and provencal doubtless
he must have been highly provok'd what think you This was plainly to declare himself for me and to engage this Officer to speak favourably of a man whose cause the King himself had taken upon him to defend but he contrary to all people's expectation had the ill nature to answer the King that though it had been his own Son that had committed such an action he would condemn it as criminal even in his Son The King who look'd for another kind of answer and that his own opinion ought to have met with more respect gave some significations of his being much surpriz'd at so rude a return and went off toward the Window without saying any thing at all This was in effect to condemn a man severely whom his Majesty had by his own question absolv'd and there 's no great doubt to be made but his Vote had been sold against me or he would never have exprest himself at that rate upon such an occasion And indeed after the matter was absolutely determin'd and my Pardon obtain'd he several times made me great excuses which servâ—d really only to aggravate his own Condemnation XIV While my affair lay before the Council Monsieur Hallier then a Captain in the Guards of the Body who hath since been made Mareschal of France and Governour of Paris under the name of de l' Hospital and Monsieur d' Estissac Maistre de Camp of a Regiment of Infantry either came or sent to me every day to give me notice of all that was said in Council or in the King 's ordinary Discourse concerning my business shewing by this good office the particular kindness they had for me even in the time of my greatest disgrace And by this means too I knew who were my true and who my false friends and who my declar'd enemies I knew there were in the Council eight and forty Judges against me Princes and Mareschals of France Dukes and Peers Collonels Mareschals de Camp and Maistres de Camp the reason of which was that these great Officers were willing by favouring Monsieur Canaples to raise the authority of their own Commands and to render themselves more formidable to the Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns Thus were they in some sort both Judges and Parties and had a mind to make me an example for fear if this boldness of drawing upon a Maistre de Camp were authoriz'd by escaping unpunished that they should hereafter find more resistance than submission among the inferior Officers and so be often engag'd to fight like private Gentlemen instead of making themselves obey'd by vertue of the King's authority And I must confess their fear had been just if the circumstances of my action had not absolutely secur'd me from this reproach and made it plain to all the world that if an inferiour Officer is never permitted to draw his Sword upon the person that commands him a Maistre de Camp is no more allowed to break his word with one that is commanded by him and without any manner Justice contrary to the King 's and the Collonel General 's Order to take from him that rank which belongs to him by his Command But at the same time that so great a number of persons declared themselves for my death I had the comfort to see a great many others take my part to the last and make my cause their own Besides those I have named Count Soissons Prince of the Blood sent to invite me to retire at his Lodgings assuring me of his protection and that as long as he had life he would preserve mine Monsieur Thooras Governour of Fort St. Martin in the Ifle of Rhe sent me a tender of his service and begg'd of me to come into that Island where he promis'd me all imaginable security But Mareschal Schomberg advis'd me not to stir out of his house by reason of the favour the King shewed in my concern So that returning my thanks to those Gentlemen with all the respect and acknowledgment due for such honourable and advantagious offers I still continued where I was At last the King being eternally importun'd by Monsieur Schomberg and put forward by his own inclination too sent me word by Monsieur Schomberg that I might retire into his Quarter which he gave me for my refuge But fearing every thing in the condition I was then in and apprehending above all lest I should fall into the hands of Justice I contented my self with staying in the King's Quarter in the day time and retir'd my self at night in the Mareschal's XV. One day as I was walking in the Basse-Court of the King's Lodgings with Monsieur Montigny and Marsillac both Captains in the Guards these two Officers told me they would not advise me to stay any longer in the Camp for a long as I past for criminal I was always in danger and if ever I came to be arrested there would be an end of me Nay Monsieur Marsillac offer'd me an hundred Pistoles and Monsieur Montigny fifty entreating me as I lov'd them to accept the offer I told them I had two hundred left and that their kindness was what I valu'd much more than the Gold they made me a tender of just then the King putting his Head out at Window perceiv'd me and becken'd me to come to him but as unhappy people see every thing by the fear that possesses them and my mind was full of the fright these Officers had put me into I took this sign from the King in the worst sense and believing it to be a manace was perfectly confounded Did you see the King threaten me said I. You told me as much I am a dead man I must flee for it You 'll never see me more At that instant without any farther deliberation I embrac'd them and out I went betook my self to my Heels and fled as if all had been lost I look'd all about for my Man and my Horse but could find neither which made me quite mad and I concluded now that I was deliver'd up into the hands of Justice I repented my self of going into the King's Quarters at all and not knowing at last whom to blame I discharg'd all my anger upon my man who was missing resolving with my self to be very liberal of my Cudgel as soon as ever I could set my eyes on him But while all things seemâ—d to conspire to trouble me more as I was thus running up and down among the Sutlers like a Mad-man to seek my Servant and could not find him I was frighted more than ever to see a man come running and calling after me It was a young fellow call'd Cadet that belong'd to the Kings Chamber whom his Majesty had sent to assure me all was well and to fetch me to him I thought he pursuâ—d me with an ill intent and therefore fell to running faster than I had done before At last however coming a little to my self and beginning to fancy I might have taken a false alarm I
the World always set those great fortunes to which I might have some pretensions at a distance from me and by an effect of his infinite mercy that I did not then discern let me be crost in the designs of my whole life because he had another design upon me much more advantagious than all I could wish for then The more diligent I was in my Command and the more faithful in all parts of my duty the less I advanced in my fortune The King whom I serv'd with incredible zeal shew'd a particular affection for me as several passages in these Memoirs declare but then his keeping me always about his own person hindred him from raising me to considerable Commands that might have given me greater liberty to retire and he was not over-hasty in doing any great matters for me in the condition I then was that so he might keep me to a more absolute dependance upon him alone XIV There happen'd to me about this time as I was upon the Guard at the Louvre a rencounter pleasant enough in it self but untoward for the consequence it might have had and the quality of the person concern'd in it The King had given me command to lye upon the Guard contrary to what other Officers used to do desiring to have me extraordinary obsequious to him and fixt to his person knowing me particularly faithful and affectionate in his Service The Duke of Orleans who then lay in the Louvre coming home on foot one night very late resolv'd to surprize the Guard in a jest which had like to have cost both him and us very dear He being always well attended some of his Train had got within eight or ten paces of the Centinel and then threw themselves so nimbly upon him that they wrapt him up in a Cloak and stopt his mouth with a handkerchief to hinder his crying out Then they came all together to the Guard and began to cry Kill kill I was laid down upon the Mattrice and most of the Souldiers were asleep but we were soon rouzed and I surpriz'd to see my self so prest on a sudden ran out of door with my Sword crying To me To me I call'd the Pikes and Musquets and began to push our assailants very vigorously whose shoulders were well cudgell'd with bangs of Pikes distributed very liberally and finding such warm entertainment they cry'd out The Duke of Orleans and he himself cry'd out Gascon Gascon But the more they cry'd the more I laid on without hearkning to any thing they said till at last we enclosed them all in the Guard-room and were about to use them very scurvily But knowing the Duke I cry'd out Oh my Lord what have you done you have hazarded your own and all our lives I got him presently into my Chamber and with much ado appeas'd the tumult the Souldiers being heated and much enragâ—d for having suffer'd themselves to be so surpriz'd There were no lives lost because it was done all on the sudden and the Souldiers had not time to recollect themselves or come into a posture for doing mischief I came afterward to the Duke of Orleans and told him I was at my wits end for what had happenâ—d but his Highness ought to pardon us since we could not do otherwise than we had done not knowing who they were and that we had all been lost had we suffer'd our selves to be forc'd To which the Duke answerâ—d Go go it was only a frolick and if you say nothing we have no great reason to brag of it I could not take this for a jest though and apprehended some disgrace from it The Duke of Orleans protested that he pardon'd me with all his heart and gave me the assurance of it by looking graciously upon me Never was Prince in such a fright his Jest having succeeded so ill and seeing himself so vigorously attack'd by his own fault and ready to be knock't o' th' head by those whose duty it was to defend him It was very fortunate both for him and us that he came off with life since otherwise we had all been lost without remedy though it was but the performance of our duty It is ill playing such pranks unworthy not only of a Prince but of the meanest Gentleman I attended him to his Apartment where he caus'd himself immediately to be let blood I reprov'd the Centinel severely who was a brave Cadet and more unfortunate than faulty though according to the Rules of War he deserv'd to have been punish'd In the morning I was at the King 's rising not daring to conceal this affair from him which he must needs have heard from others He took me into his Cabinet and I gave him an account of all that past He askt whether his Brother were hurt and understanding that he was not he only laught and said I perceive they were well beaten but 't is no matter they deserv'd it But fearing still lest the Duke of Orleans might resent this affront I took the liberty to beseech his Majesty to make my peace with him which he promis'd to do He sent one of the Gentlemen of the Chamber to see how he did without taking notice of any thing The Duke who had no great mind to divulge what had befallen him sent word he was well but had been let blood for a slight indisposition And coming a little after to the King his Majesty took him into into his Cabinet where after having intimated that he had heard of the business and rattled him soundly for his rashness in exposing his person so he call'd me in and said to the Duke Here is Pontis in great confusion about your matter To which the Duke immediately made answer That he did not take any thing I had done the least ill but was ready to serve me upon all occasions And indeed he resented it so little that when I desir'd a little after a Colours for one of my Souldiers his Royal Highness gave it me at first word The End of the First Volume MEMOIRS OF THE Sieur De PONTIS PART II. BOOK I. The King sends Cardinal Richelieu with a powerful Army to the Relief of the Duke of Mantua The Death of Monsieur de Canaples Cazal besieg'd by the Enemies and the Siege rais'd An Interview of the French and Spanish Generals when the Peace was concluded The Cardinal Mazarine saves the French Army and the Sieur de Pontis afterwards brings them off from a great danger I. THE Duke of Savoy seeing the King at a distance and now gone back to Paris thought his honour concern'd to break that Treaty with him the making of which had been indeed the effect of necessity more than choice To this purpose he sought the alliance of the King of Spain and of the Emperour who had sent the grand Colalto with a strong force to invest the Duke of Mantua in his Capital City The King conceiving a just indignation at this breach of Faith in the Duke of
upon the same account nor to the Queen Mother that illustrious Princess whose banishment and death gave her yet more â—ustre than her life All these were so many Victims devoted to the humours and petts of that great Minister of State who found that the only method to secure his own high station was to ruine all that stood in his way and that were entirely fixt in the service and true interest of their King IX I proceed now to what concerns another of his Victims whose person was in deed more eminent than Monsieur Marillac and his death every whit as tragical tho the cause in which he suffer'd deserved it more The great Duke of Montmorency I mean who not being able to endure the Tyranny of that arbitrary man that had got both the soul and person of the King absolutely in his power combined with the Duke of Orieans to rescue France all the Grandees and even the King himself from the oppression under which they all groaned The design was highly commendable if the methods of compassing it had but been as innocent For knowing that he could have no sufficient ground to take up arms against his Prince he thought himself safe enough by engaging the Duke of Orleans the King 's only Brother and that backt by him he might rise not so much against the King as against the man that abus'd the King's Authority to lower all the great Lords and make Princes truckle under him In this he was not so wise as he ought to have been for reason and duty both would have told him that he should first have considered how unsafe it is to have any great dependance on the obligations of Princes who are engag'd the more easily because afterwards they can easily leave them in the lurch that engag'd them and are sure by the greatness of their quality to secure themselves from punishment at last X. Monsieur Schomberg being at that time with an Army in Languedec to oppose the designs of Monsieur and the Duke of Montmorency Monsieur St. Preuil and my self were ordered to go joyn him there with some Companies of Guards When we were come up the whole Army which was not above six or seven thousand strong marched to Castelnau-d ' Arry the Capital City of Auragais that held out for the King Monsieur's and the Duke of Montmorency's Forces consisting of thirteen thousand men came up within three leagues of us But between the two Armies there were great Waters and Bogs which were a great security to us and made us amends for the disadvantage of unequal numbers About a quarter of a league from thence there stood among some Vineyards an empty house very convenient to put a Guard into because the situation of it being high all the Enemies motions might be discovered from it For this reason Monsieur Schomberg sent a Serjeant and some Souldiers thither but yet with orders to quit it again if they should find themselves prest by the Enemy The Duke of Montmorency likewise who with five hundred men advanc'd to make his observation of the posture and condition of our Army perceiving this house thought there might possibly be some Guard there He went therefore immediately up to it and charg'd them and with great ease beat them from that Post where he placed a strong Guard of his own afterwards of a hundred and fifty men Our Army never stirr'd all this while Monsieur Schomberg resolving to stay till he was attackt in regard he was so much weaker and had the Town of Castelnau d' Arry to secure his retreat upon occasion The Duke of Montmorency return'd mighty brisk to Monsieur and said to him Oh sir The day is now come that will make you Master of your Enemies and bring the Son and the Mother together again meaning the King and the Queen Mother but says he drawing his Sword we must dye this up to the hilts in blood The Duke of Orleans fearing what the event of an engagement might be return'd him a very cold answer Ho Monsieur Montmorency you will never leave your blustering You have promis'd me mighty conquests a long time but still I see nothing but hopes I would have you know that I for my part can make my peace and retreat whenever I please and make a third man Upon this some hot words arose on both sides and the Duke of Montmorency withdrawing to a corner of the Room to the Counts of Moret and Rieux and Monsieur d' Aiguebonne one of my particular friends who related all this to me said to the two former Our young Spark meaning the Duke of Orleans is turn'd Coward he talks of securing himself and making a third man but neither you Monsieur de Moret nor you Monsieur deRieux nor I will shew him the way and we must engage him so far now that he shall be forc'd to fight to day whether he will or no. In the mean time Monsieur de Montmorency put himself in a readiness to come up to us and Monsieur Schomberg put his Army into line of Battel before Castelnau d' Arry into which place he designed to retreat if he were prest to it a Gentleman of that Country about seventy years of age came and told him that if he would trust him with five hundred Musqueteers and two or three hundred Horse he would secure the day to him and engage to make him master of the Enemies Army by laying an Ambuscade which they could not possibly avoid at a Bridge by which they must of necessity come to attack the Kings Army Monsieur Schomberg very gladly received the Gentlemans advice and seeing that he could not well decline following it since not above eight or nine hundred were hazarded for a whole Army he ordered Monsieur St. Preuil and some Officers besides and my self to go along with the Gentleman and take five hundred Musqueteers of the Guards we had brought into the Army and gave us besides three hundred Horse The place prov'd very fit for an Ambuscade for there were several bogs and hollow ways and ditches by which the Monsieur 's Army must needs come to gain the Bridge We set the Musqueteers in these hollow places where they could not be discovered and the Horse a little higher for they had orders to make the onset and to draw the Enemies into the Ambush among the Foot who were so placed that they could easily make five hundred shot in a very little time The Duke of Montmorency having prevail'd with Monsieur to come up with the Army notwithstanding the ruffle that had been betwixt them marched at the head of the Van-guard and after him the Counts Moret and Rieux Monsieur 's post was the main body and there was no Rear-guard but a party of Reserve Monsieur Montmorency commanding the Van in chief came first into the way where the Ambuscade lay and being attackt by our Horse repuls'd them very briskly and in some measure defeated them But as he was
he sacrific'd his own interests to the good of the King and State and for ten years together maintained a War against the Rebels in Languedoc at his own proper charge In short the King himself was pleased at two several times to proclaim his praises throughout his whole Realm in so honourable and advantageous expressions that it might be truly said of this last design in which he was unhappily engag'd that it was in some degree excusable not being able to endure to live and see the Queen Mother driven out of France the King 's only Brother remov'd from Court and so many persons of Honour some banish'd some clapt up in Prison some publickly put to death and all this by the Tyranny of one single Minister of State and that it was his great misfortune to be of opinion that the taking up arms against that Minister was the best way of doing a real service to his Master XVI After all that has been said it cannot seem strange if the people and the whole Kingdom where so sensibly affected with his death As an instance of their being so as soon as ever the Execution was over and the Grand Provost had ordered the Gates to be opened they throng'd in prodigious crowds to see the body Their concern and the mighty respect they had for the great Montmorency's person were such that when they could find no other comfort for the loss they sustain'd in him they almost stifled one another to get near the Scaffold and to gather up the blood in their Handkerchiefs and lay it up by them at home Nay some were so very extravagantly zealous as to drink of it and the least that any body did was to go away again in tears In the mean while two Priests that belong'd to Cardinal Valette came and took the body into the Chapel of the Abby-house of St. Cernin where it was first embalmed and put into a leaden Coffin and afterwards by a very particular favour bury'd in St. Cernin's Church a place that no person had been allow'd to lye in ever since Charlemayne brought the bodies of the Apostles thither and this was so strictly observed that the very Counts of Tholouse could never obtain leave to be laid there themselves An eminent mark of respect this for this illustrious man that he should be esteem'd worthy an interrment where no body else had the priviledge of lying At four in the morning they began to say a great many Masses as was usual and among others the Bishops of Pamiez and Commenges said Masses The greatest part of the Parliament came thither with the common people to pay their last respects to the person whose condemnation they could not pronounce without tears and extreme regret And thus ended this bloody Tragedy which by presenting the greatest man in the Kingdom beheaded publickly upon a Scaffold in the very midst of that very Province and the Capital City of it which was under his Government shews us at the same time how much that favour and the grace of heaven which assisted him so powerfully at his last hour is a more desirable blessing than the good Graces of the Court which forsook him when he stood most in need of them It may not be amiss to present you here with a Copy of Verses which may serve for an Epitaph upon him and with them I shall conclude this story How short Man's Glory and how frail his State Learn here from noble Montmorency's Fate These are the poor remains of that great Name Whose Praises fill the loudest Mouth of Fame Such were if any such fair Thetis ' Son Such the Victorious Youth of Macedon In Life scarce equal equal in their End From which nor Force nor Virtue can defend For in rude heaps the Valiant Wise and Just With Fools Knaves Cowards undistinguisht must Lye down at last and mix one common Dust. Midst heaps of slain lavish of Life he stood And like a Rock scatter'd th' invading Flood The God of War observ'd th' unequal strife Threatned but would not spill so brave a Life But oh Respect perverse malicious vain That generous blood which could ev'n Mars restrain Was vilely shed and did a Scaffold stain Thus Heaven consults poor Mortals Innocence Just shews and snatches back such excellence Lest by bright Virtue charm'd we prostrate fall The Image court and slight the Great Original XVII After the Duke of Montmorency's execution the King and all the Court went back to Paris And the next year which was 1633 we met with new disturbances from another Prince who though he was a Soveraign one yet was so with dependance upon the King The Duke of Lorrain having violated several Treaties formerly made with his Majesty and denying to pay homage to the Crown upon account of the Dutchy of Bar the King resolved to go do himself reason by force of Arms. He went about the month of August and sat down before the Town of Nancy which was then one of the best Fortifications in Europe I had the honour to attend him constantly when he gave himself the trouble to go in person and mark out the lines of our Trenches which he did with most extraordinary skill being as I said eminently ingenious in all matters relating to War XVIII The Duke of Lorrain perceiving himself in very great hazard to lose his whole Dominions by his own fault sâ—nt his Brother the Cardinal of Lorrain to the King to propose a Treaty of Peace He was forc'd at last to truckle under a stronger force and a more discerning judgment than his own He resolv'd to come himself at last and wait on the King in his own Quarters which were at Neuville a league off of Nancy and there made all manner of Submissions The King receiv'd him with great kindness and respect and entertain'd him with the same expressions of friendship as if he had never had reason to take any thing ill from him He stood for some time bare-headed and afterwards putting on his own Har obliged the Duke to put on his too But being by several experimental proofs sufficiently convinc'd of how fickle and crafty a temper he was he was resolv'd by some contrivance to hinder his return to Nancy that day vilely suspecting that if he let him go back he might trump up some new device upon him and shutting himself up in the Town deny to open the Gates notwithstanding his word was engaged to the contrary The Kings Chamber was a very dark room and therefore pretending he could not see to read some Letters that were brought him he called for Lights that so the Duke might not be sensible when night came on And this was about four of the clock in the afternoon in the month of September The Duke of Lorrain who would fain have been going to Nancy seeing the King taken up in reading of Letters would have taken his leave and desir'd he would permit him to go home and give directions for the
that I still retain'd the same affection for him and after his death buried him with all the decency and solemnity of a General the two Regiments marching with their Pikes trailing and all the other Ceremonies of great Commanders Funerals He was at that time deserted by all his Friends and Relations and Providence so contriv'd it that the only relief he had came from that very Man who according to the false Notions of Honour in the World ought to have been his greatest Enemy His Father was not wanting indeed to express his thanks to me and paid me exactly all that I had laid out upon his Son's account XI While I stay'd in Garison at Abbeville I happen'd to have a great Ruffle with the Officers of the Customs for Salt Our Souldiers who were but indifferently paid had got into a little way of trading much for the convenience both of the Citizens and themselves They went and bought Salt at St. Vallery and then sold it again to the Townsmen at good Rates so both Parties had an advantage by it only the Custom-Officers were enraged that they could not hinder that which turn'd to their prejudice These Gentlemen therefore made their complaint to the Duke of Angoulesme who for some private considerations took their part For my part not having wherewithal to pay the Regiment I let them go on seeing no great harm in the thing and thinking this as well for the King's advantage who had such a method for his Troops to subsist without either the expence of his own Pocket or the burdening his Subjects I gave them no express Orders indeed for what they did but only connived at it Coming about this time to Paris to give his Majesty an account of the Garison he discourst me upon several Matters and kept me with him till almost One a clock at night I told him what Monsieur M. had declar'd to me upon his death bed concerning the Command he was pleas'd to intend for me and from thence took occasion to present him with my most humble thanks telling him That this at least was out of my Enemies power to take away from me my Gratitude to his Majesty Speaking afterwards of the Garison I told the King I was driven to great straits for want of Money to pay the Souldiers And his Majesty enquiring what course the Garison took to subsist then I answer'd him with the freedom he gave me leave to use that they had found out a way to pay themselves They go Sir said I and buy Salt cheap and make a little Money of selling it again till your Majesty have a convenience of sending them their Pay The King laught and told me Hark you I will not hinder them from playing the Knave thus but if they are caught by the Magistrates I will not hinder them from being hang'd too I answer'd merrily That they were stout Fellows and I was much mistaken if they would be caught And so this went off thus in Merriment Not getting to Bed till Three that night I took it out next day and slept till Eight in the Morning which prevented my waiting early upon the King and it was my very good Fortune that I had an opportunity of discoursing him the night before For the Duke of Angoulesme came to the Louvre in the Morning and told the King a dismal Story of the Disorders of the Garison at Abbeville I came in this very nick of time and met some of my Friends who said I 'le assure they are talking finely of you above I went up however not much dismay'd because I had discours'd the King about it already When I was at the Chamber-door the King saw me and because he had a mind the Duke of Angoulesme should talk over the Matter while I was by he gave me a Sign that I should not discover my self I presently understood his Majesties meaning and slipping behind the Company got just behind my Lord Angoulesme who railed at our Garison very warmly Then the King seeming surprized and having a mind to draw him in still deeper said But what Is not Pontis at Abbeville And does not he restrain these Disorders Yes Sir said the Duke he is there but he is as bad as the rest though they say he does take some little Care Be cautious what you say said the King for there is one hears you With that I shew'd my self to the Duke of Angoulesme and told him smiling In earnest Sir I am much obliged to you for the good office you have done me to his Majesty He being extremely surprized to see one that he never dreamt had been so near began to recant and in some disorder said Oh! Sir Monsieur Pontis I have been informed thus of you but for my part I never believed it The King and all the Company could not hold laughing at this sudden come-off and I as readily reply'd Oh! Sir I am the more obliged to you then for endeavouring to make the King believe what you never believed your self He shuffled the thing as well as he could and all went off with a Jest and Monsieur Angoulesme complimented me with the assurance of his Favour and any service he could do me At my return to the Garison I found the Bustle greater than before For the Souldiers taking confidence from their not being forbidden their Trade acted barefacâ—d and carry'd on the Matter with a high hand never regarding either the Officers or the Archers of the Gabelle because they were not strong enough to encounter them They went one day to the number of three or fourscore well armed aâ—nd all in a body to St. Vallery The Officers of the Customs sent as many Archers out after them with orders to fall upon the Souldiers and bring them in bound hand and foot This was sooner said than done They met with one another and fought furiously Several Archers were killed and several Souldiers wounded but the Souldiers had the better of it When they were come back to Abbeville two of the wounded came to shelter themselves at my house as in a Sanctuary I began to scold at them and call'd them a hundred Rascals that their Rogueries would ruine me and turn'd them out at a back-door but yet lodged them in a poor Cottage where they were privately lookt after The Officers enraged at the loss and the disgrace of their Archers came to me immediately with open mouths and told me My Souldiers had put the whole City in confusion threatning that the King should know it I pretended to be very angry at the Souldiers my self and proffer'd if they could apprehend any of the Criminals I would see Justice done upon them immediately I my self went upon the search with them and tho no discovery could be made yet these Officers were so well satisfy'd with me and so cruelly harrasâ—d with the scuffles they met with and where they generally came off with the worst of it that a day or
was all his policy too to get loose from all the new intrigues form'd against him as I shall shew in some measure hereafter Mareschal Melleray still unmov'd with all the Cardinal had said sent back word that the place was actually invested and he did not question but to give a good account of it And after several other things said upon this occasion he added at the bottom of his Letter as himself was pleased to tell me that noted sentence of the Poet Audaces fortuna juvat At this Siege God preserved me after such a manner as I can never sufficiently admire by snatching me on the sudden from a Post where I was oblig'd to be and where if I had been my death had been unavoidable One day when my Regiment was to come on upon the Guard in the evening having heard that Monsieur de Rambures my particular friend was indisposed the night before I went to visit him When I came to his Tent they told me he was at the head of the Trenches I went thither to him and found him shivering like a man in an Ague-fit and told him with great tenderness that he plaid the Fool to be there when he scarce could go or stand You said I had more need be in your Bed Are the Trenches a fit place for a sick man If the Enemy should make a sally what can you do in this condition He told me his illness was nothing and for the Enemy they were not likely to make any sallies that they had been very quiet all the night before and did not seem to design any great matters I told him that according to the little experience I had I was of a quite contrary opinion and I thought there was the greater ground to fear them for the very reason why he thought there was none at all That the Enemies being so quiet lookt to me very suspiciously and could portend no good and that skilful Seamen are always jealous of a great calm While I was talking at this rate very seriously the Count de Bussy Lamet interrupted me taking me aside with a whisper which was to tell me that he had a Pasty of Red Deer sent him of a Present and desired my company at the opening of it which was to be that morning to breakfast In the mean while came the Mareschal de Melleray to whom I said with the freedom he allowed me to take Do not you make a conscience Sir of letting a sick man as Monsieur Rambures is that had an Ague all night and hath it still upon him stay here at the head of the Trenches Pray Sir command him to go to bed for he has at present a worse Enemy than the Spaniard to encounter Monsieur Rambures took me up and pretending to slight his distemper when he thought himself concern'd to be upon duty turned what I said into raillery and told us he was very well Monsieur Melleray urged him to withdraw but he would not be prevailed upon to leave his Post and by not taking our advice he became quickly after the cause of his own death Then Monsieur Melleray who had laid his design upon the Town told me I must needs oblige him in one small piece of service which was to go immediately from him to the Lieutenant of the Ordnance and bid him get four thousand Baskets of Earth ready by six in the evening exactly for he had absolute occasion for them I promis'd him to go and as he turned about to speak to some body else Monsieur Bussy Lamet told me again in my Ear that I should stay till the Mareschal was gone and then we might go and breakfast together before I executed my Commission But Monsieur Melleray who would have had me gone instantly seeing me again cryed What are not you gone yet I thought you would have flown for my sake I told him I durst not go before him and only waited his motions Whereupon he answered That since I was not gone we would walk both together as far as the end of the Trench and then take Horse and go both about our business Thus I lost my Breakfast of which I had need enough but by a particular good providence I miss'd an accident too which must undoubtedly have cost me my life as you will see presently As soon as I had parted with Mareschal Melleray who went to overlook the Works I made haste to the Lieutenant of the Ordinance's Quarter By that time I was got six or seven hundred paces I heard a great noise of abundance of Guns I turn'd about and saw all the Trench and the Curtain on fire and fancied it was a great skirmiâ—h and that the Enemy had charged us in our Trenches Just then was I in greater confusion than can be exprest On one side my friendship for Monsieur Rambures call'd me to the Trenches on the other the fear of offending Mareschal Melleray put me upon obeying his orders At last I resolv'd if it were possible to satisfy both obligations Then riding full speed as soon as ever I met with the Lieutenant I told him without more ado that Monsieur Melleray had sent me to order in his name four thousand Baskets of Earth to be ready at half an hour after five in the evening and for fear he should not understand me right I repeated it over again to him He made answer that the Mareschal commanded an impossibility I repeated it a third time without staying to reason the case with him that he must do what he could but my orders were to bespeak four thousand at half an hour past five in the evening and so I left him galloping back again full speed to the Trench But all was over All was broke and in disorder and by the way I met poor Monsieur Rambures with his Thigh broke and carrying back to his Tent. The first words he said were Ah Sir poor Bussy is killed and so are all the rest that you saw with me at the head of the Trenches The Guards let themselves be surprized and that hath lost us all What you told me is come upon me and I had been wiser if I had believed you I was then quite transported with grief seeing one of my friends lost another so dangerously wounded and so terrible a slaughter in so very short a time But this was no time to talk and Monsieur Rambures himself begg'd me to run to the Trench and see if they did not want me and whether it was not necessary to draw down my Regiment to beat back the Enemy I ran immediately to put them into a posture of fighting and Mareschal Mâ—lleray meeting me there said in great concern What Monsieur Pontis have not you been where I sent you I told him the thing was done and I had told the Lieutenant and repeated it thrice over that the Lieutenant thought it could hardly be done but he would endeavour to satisfy him the best he could Then
he made directly for Flanders and troopt off with all that he had borrow'd But by good Fortune the Knave was taken Prisoner by a Party out of Aire or Bethune and my Horse was afterwards retaken by another Party from Arras and there fell into the hands of an Officer for whom I had procur'd the Command of a Company In the mean while hearing no news of my Horse and knowing how the poor Taylor and some others that had been concern'd with him were left in the lurch I began to be satisfy'd that I was robb'd as well as they I wrote away into Catalonia Provence Flanders Germany and every place where I had any acquaintance that if they could light of my Horse for he was very remarkable and generally known they should seize him and send him back to me for he had been stolen away from me Shortly after Monsieur Bourgailles who succeeded me as Major of the Regiment of Brezay and to whom I had given my Command of first Captain freely being then at Arras wrote me word that the Officer I had spoke of had my Horse I sent away to him presently and thought he had more honour and more friendship for me than to keep my Horse which I valu'd so much from me But truly his answer was He had swapp'd another for him and there was no reason he should lose by the bargain A little after this Officer's occasions call'd him to Paris and the Major sent me word he came upon my Horse I went strait to his Lodgings as soon as I had this notice and not finding him within examined the Stable There I found my own Horse and bade the Groom saddle him and when his Master came in tell him I had taken him out to go to such a place and he would not be angry So I went home with my Millefleurs but never heard any more of my Captain who did not think fit to come and make his demands for what he knew well enough he had no right to I lost this fine Horse afterwards when I was taken Prisoner and carry'd into Germany an account whereof you will find in the sequel of these Memoirs VIII The particular friendship that had been all along between Monsieur St. Preuil and me ever since my being Lieutenant in his Company of Guards obliges me to give an account of his disgrace and his death which happen'd at this time while I my self was out of favour I imagine that a Relation of the whole matter will not be thought tedious or impertinent and shall therefore lay down the several heads of Accusation brought against him because the great intimacy between us gave me an opportunity of knowing the whole truth of the Case and as well what might be said in his justification as what he was really guilty in You must know then that Monsieur St. Preuil was grown odious and at last lost his Head upon four or five Articles and all this by the judgment of God who thought fit to make an Example of the most obstinate Man that perhaps ever was in the Army Though the greatest part of the matters alledg'd against him and which brought him to ruine were not in truth so much to his disadvantage as the World generally believ'd The first Article was this A Monk of the famous Abby of St. Vast at Arras bearing a grudge to his Prior and resolving to be reveng'd on him came to see or some other way gave information to Monsieur St. Preuil that there were a great many Arms in that Abby which had lay'n conceal'd there ever since the Spaniards had been in possession of the Town To confirm this he left a Note with him that signify'd the several places exactly where these Arms were to be found and he assur'd him that there were a great many more besides conceal'd in a Nunnery of the same Town Upon this News Monsieur St. Preuil made a Visit to the Prior of that Abby and told him He was much surpriz'd at an Information that had been brought him concerning some Arms that lay hid in his Monastery and that he must deliver all those Arms to him because they were the King 's Right The Prior would own nothing of the matter and Monsieur St. Preuil told him at last He knew well enough where to find them and went away in a passion But presently after he came again with his Guards and ordering search to be made according to the Monk's instructions he found and carried them away and gave the Prior very rough and threatning language telling him That he would lay all the Monks Monasteries in the Town flat to the ground and that they were only a Nest of Roguish Monks that were Traytors to the King and held Correspondence with the Spaniard Still this Prior stood it out that he knew nothing of the matter and possibly he might say true for it is a very common thing for such Religious Houses to change their Superiors frequently and sometimes to keep the new comers in ignorance of many things done the time of their Predecessors From this Abby Monsieur St. Preuil went to the Lady Abbess of the Nunnery which the same Monk had told him of and said He was much concerned to hear that they should offer to conceal a great many Arms that belonged to the King and that he was â—ome in his Majesties Name to demand them The Lady answer'd That truly she had been but a Year Abbess and for her part was privy to nothing of that kind That she believed her Nuns knew nothing of it neither but if he would please to come and satisfy himself the Gates should be opened and no opposition made there to the Service and Interests of his Majesty Monsieur St. Preuil took the liberty they offer'd him and coming at mid-day with a great deal of company he went into the Monastery and took all the Arms away which were found exactly in the place he had been directed to But this created Monsieur St. Preuil a world of Enemies and rais'd a mighty Clamor against him The Nuns Relations gave out That he broke into the Monastery by Force that he abused the Nuns and expos'd them to be abused by vile profligate Fellows There was indeed one Nun in that Monastery exceeding handsom and all the Town knew it well enough and this was it that gave ground to that part of the Accusation But I who knew Monsieur St. Preuil throughly dare engage for him that he could never have been guilty of so brutish an Action 'T is possible he might throw out some reproachful words against the Nuns in the passion he was in to find Arms conceal'd in their Monastery But this was excusable in a person of his hasty temper and upon such an occasion as the Service of his Majesty was concern'd in and this was so far countenanc'd above that when this business came to be known at Court the King immediately sent his Mandate to depose the Prior.
shatters When he was brought back to his lodging and I went to see him he said to me with great unconcernedness Well my Friend my Life is at an end this place was destinâ—d for my Death He lived some days after In the mean while his being hurt was kept very private and the Enemies who heard nothing of it set a Capitulation on foot from that very day He lay in his bed and signed the Articles before them with his Right hand with so great resolution and evenness of temper that they never discerned his hurt but thought only that he kept his bed for some slight indisposition When the Town was surrendred he was carried into it and there died a little while after triumphing in some sort both over Germany and France For all the other Lieutenant Generals were much displeased at his besieging this place and lookt upon him with a very jealous eye for it XI After Mareschal Guebriant's death Monsieur R ... succeeded in the Command of the Army and upon decamping from Rotheuil one part of us went into quarters near Tubighen with Monsieur de R ... and the other where Monsieur Vitry and we were went to Meninghen In this fatal place it was that our Army received a terrible blow which was owing chiefly to the General 's ill conduct whom Wine made too negligent of the duty of his command For instead of watching over his Troops and securing them as he ought to have done he minded nothing but slept as it were continually in the midst of the Enemies who fell on with a mighty force in his quarter cut his Troops to pieces and took him Prisoner Our quarter was some four leagues distant from his and we came to be informed of this disaster by the following accident That very day at four in the morning I had sent the Serjeants to his quarter for bread for the Camp with orders to be back by nine or ten a clock at farthest They did not keep their time and I began to be very uneasy the more so indeed because I had heard the noise of Guns I went to Monsieur Vitry and told him without question something ill had happened that those Guns we heard could have no good meaning in them and my advice was that a man should be dispatcht away upon one of his fleetest Horses to bring us word how matters stood Monsieur Vitry liked the proposal But all the other Officers both of ours and the rest of the Regiments that lay with us cried the best way was to make off that if the Enemy should attack us there while we were cut off so from the main body of the Army there was no remedy but we must all be cut to pieces I opposed this advice of theirs stiffly and told them on the contrary that having had orders to continue in their Post we could not without some assurance of the General 's being taken quit it without incurring the danger of being punished for Cowards Traytors and Deserters that therefore the first thing to be done was to get a knowledge how matters were with him that so if the General were assaulted we might move to his relief and if he were taken we might secure an honourable retreat At last whatever they could urge did not hinder me from carrying my point and so I dispatcht a man upon one of Monsieur Vitry's Coursers with a charge to make no stay that we might have speedy notice what was fit for us to do This fellow made great haste to the General 's quarter and greater back to us again and told us the Enemy had got all into their hands and the whole quarter were taken Prisoners XII Our next care then was for a seedy retreat It grew late and would require good haste to reach the Forrest which was three leagues from us So all things were managed with great hurry and there being a narrow Bridge to pass near the rise of the Danube the Regiment of Mazarin commanded by St. Germain whose day it was to march in the Van made haste to get over the Bridge first and make room for the rest who were to support them I went my self to view the ground where it was to be drawn up as soon as it was got over and came back to them again But the Enemies Horse waited for us at the passage and the Regiment were no sooner got to the other side but immediately a thousand Horse charged them and cut them to pieces Since then there was no hope of passing there we all thought the best way was to get to Menighen and there barricade our selves up the best we could to gain either a fair capitulation or an honourable death Monsieur Vitry commanding all these Troops in chief and having as I observed been ordered by his Father to do nothing without my intention I found the Office of a General would devolve upon me in this important exigence And besides it is very usual in such extremities to resign ones Office freely into the hands of a more experienc'd person and one in whom the Souldiers repose a greater confidence I told Monsieur Vitry we must provide for the worst and manage this occasion dextrously which might chance to be the most honourable action of our whole lives Then calling out aloud to the Souldiers Come friends and fellow Souldiers said I we must dye but if they will not give us our lives we must sell them as dear as we can Every one then laying a helping hand in a danger where all were equally concern'd the Gates and Avenues were all barricado'd and I went my self and posted all the Centinels the Guards and the Reserves in the most advantageous and important places I endeavour'd to encourage them all by my words my example and that extraordinary Courage which I really felt and thought it was â—â—â—â—enieâ—t to shew upon this occasion And to give Monsieur Vitry his due I must needs say he seconded me in every thing for tho he was young and this the first Campaign he had made yet he signaliz'd himself above the rest and exceeded all the expectation that men could possibly have of him both by his bravery and great presence of mind XIII After we had made the best provision we could for securing our little body of the Army in which there were more sick and wounded than fit for service for we were not above sixteen or seventeen hundred fighting men at most about nine or ten a clock at night there came one of the Duke of Lorrain's Trumpets to summon us in his Highness's name that we should surrender at discretion and if we refused to threaten us that the Army should come upon us next day and then no quarter was to be expected When I heard them summon us to a surrender at discretion I cryed out in a rage Yes I warrant you we shall surrender at discretion What! shall they dispose of our persons and lives as they please No no. We were
a Spy and tell the Enemy our condition You shall stay Sir whether you like it or no. This put a stop to him and but for this we should probably have been all lost for to be sure if the Enemy had known how few we were they would never have agreed to the Capitulation So when our Hostage was sent too we surrendred The sick men were left at Meninghen and all the rest conducted by some Troops of Horse to the Enemy's quarters and all saluted the Duke of Lorrain as they past by him Five or six of us that were principal Officers were allow'd to ride and wear our Swords So we endeavoured in our present misfortune to make as good a shew and march as gracefully as though we had not been Prisoners XIV That evening the whole body deputed me to go pay their respects to the Duke of Lorrain and beg that he would see his promise made good to us His Highness answered That he knew how to observe Articles but I reply'd That notwithstanding the word he had engaged several of our Officers had been very much abused that some had been robb'd some stript nay and others kill'd And therefore I was come most humbly to beseech his Highness that such Violences might not be suffer'd contrary to the Law of Nations The Duke seem'd much amaz'd and answer'd me in a passion What! have they stript them Have they kill'd them Do you know who they are that have done this Stay here with me that if you know any of them I may punish them for it before your face His Highness immediately publish'd a prohibition through all the Army charging that our men should not be touch'd upon pain of Death The ill conduct of the Enemy's Generals and the licentiousness and disorder of their private Souldiers produc'd a very great confusion among our men Some lost their Cloaks some their Hat and Feather some their Coats and scarce any body escap'd the outrage of these bruitish men who thought they had a right to plunder us because we had surrendred tho that was not done but upon an engagement of being used honourably The sight of this Injustice provok'd me to undertake the defence of my fellows thinking my self sufficiently secur'd by the fresh assurances his Highness had given me So seeing some of them abus'd I went strait to their relief and as if I had been an Officer on the other side fell to Caneing the Rogues with that boldness and authority that honour and zeal for Justice gave me Our men too seconded me in the matter pretending not to know me that I might be the more capable of serving them But fearing some treachery behind because I found my self perpetually encompast with Robbers I unbuttoned my Cloak for fear of foul play and lest any one should suddenly catch at it and drag me down backward This foresight was very serviceable to me For as I was going between two high and thick hedges a Horse-man that lay conceal'd behind whipt off my Cloak in an instant and rid away with it by the hedge side I turn'd back in great wrath and wish'd I could have leapt the hedge to correct that Rascal who had the impudence to lay hands on me against the Generals express command to the contrary But not being able to do more I contented my self with giving him hard words and put it off as well as I could with saying that my Cloak was heavy and very inconvenient to me Discovering a Captain of ours abused by a Horse-man who was taking away his Coat embroider'd with Silver I ran to him and after five or six good blows with my Cane made him quit his prize and rescu'd my man that had like to have been stript But being out of all patience with this disorder and ill usage I went to the Duke of Lorrain again and told him That every body slighted his order that the Capitulation was broke every hour and no promise they made was kept with us that I had been robb'd of my Cloak my own self and that the outrages my fellow Souldiers endured were such that I was forc'd to importune his Highness once more that we might be us'd like men of Honour as he had engaged we should The Duke seem'd to be exceeding angry and said He would hang them every Mothers Son And in truth presently after he did justice upon one Trooper that had the impudence to take away one of our Officers Cloaks before his very face for riding after him immediately with his Pistol in his hand some five or six hundred paces he got up to him at last and broke his head which put a stop to their violence for that day XV. The Enemy resolved to retake Rotheuil and so we were all carried thither But we had like to have been quite famished by the way and had not so much as one bit of Bread to eat so that when we met with any Brambles or Sloe-trees by the way there was sure to be so many Skirmishes of People fighting for Sloes and Black-berries This unwholsom dyet threw me and a great many others into a Flux which was a great affliction to us in Prison But what I feared most of all was left the Duke of Lorrain should find me out to be the person that had banter'd him formerly and hindred the making his escape at the Siege of Nancy of which I gave an account before For this Reason I took great care to have my Name concealed and had my self called The Captain of the Crown For the same Reason I declined being his Highness's Prisoner which was what he did me the honour to make me a proffer of when Rotheuil was taken and they came to debate of casting Lots for the Prisoners to divide them into three parcels that the Emperor the Duke of Bavaria and the Duke of Lorrain might each of them have their share For though it had been much better for me to have fallen into the hands of a person who had used me with all possible civility yet fearing I might come to be discover'd afterwards and he might resent the ill office I did him at Nancy when he did me the favour to ask me If I would be his I took the liberty to answer That his Highness did me too much honour that I pretended to no Priviledge above my Fellows and desired rather to take my chance as the rest did So I fell to the Duke of Bavaria's share And a young Gentleman a Relation of mine who was Lieutenant in our Regiment being the Duke of Lorrain's Prisoner I thinking he would be near his person and consequently in less danger of being plunder'd gave him two hundred and fifty Pistoles of mine and a Jewel worth as much more desiâ—ing he would keep that Money for me and take care to be near the Prince to avoid the danger of robbing When he had got my Money and my Jewel he compounded with the Colonel whose Prisoner he was telling him he
death of one of his Friends puts him upon retiring from the business of the world He goes into the Country to a Friend's House He defends that House from some Troops of Monsieur Turenneâ—s Army who made an attempt to plunder it He withdraws wholly from the world His Piety during that retreat A Letter written by him to a Governour of two young Noblemen at Court containing directions for educating Persons of Quality His Death I. AFter all this trouble that I had run through upon occasion of my Neice's Marriage I returned to Paris again and carried young Monsieur Vaubonnes thither with me to learn his exercises But he fell into a most unhappy business there and was very innocently engag'd in an accident that had very near cost him his life There lodged a Gentleman in the same house with him that had a great quarrel depending He desired my Nephew one day to lend him his Pistols and without mentioning one word of this quarrel prevailed with him to bear him company My Nephew who was young and ignorant of the world lent him the Pistols and thinking no hurt nor knowing whither he was going went along with him attended by a Valet de Chambre that I had recommended to his service who was a very stout young fellow When all three were come to the house this Gentleman desired my Nephew would go in with him because he said he had some business there When they were come in and unhappily had met the person against whom the quarrel was he presently fell into a passion and talked like a mad man in a most provoking manner From words they came to blows and he setting one of his Pistols to his head shot him stone dead This was all done in an instant but seeing the noise bring in a great deal of company my Nephew in great confusion at so sudden and fatal an accident was for recovering the door He and his man drew immediately and standing close by one another they made their way out through all the people that came crowding in to see what the matter was They made the best of their way to my Lodging and the Gentleman that had done the thing got off and made his escape another way My Nephew though he was very little to blame yet durst not say any thing of the matter to me But the dejection and disorder that shewed it self in his countenance presently gave me some uneasie suspicions At length the Valet de Chambre seeing the importance and the ill consequences of such a business as this related the whole matter as it past and then my Nephew discovered his part in it and vow'd he was in no fault at all that he was not in the least acquainted with the Gentlemans design who had committed the Murder till they were come all together and the very time of action and his going along with him was intended for no more than a walk or making an indifferent visit I was much surpriz'd at this ill news and knew not what course to take At last I resolv'd to go wait on the Abbot Servâ—en who was a relation of my Nephew and who was the great inducement to us to bring him out of Dauphine to Paris After I had told him the business and we had consulted with some friends what was best to be done it was thought the safest way for this young Gentleman to make all the haste he could into Dauphine again For tho he were never so innocent yet considering how far he had been unhappily engag'd to appear in the thing it would have been very difficult for him to justifie himself and convince the Judges that he had no share in the crime II. Now as this tragical accideut drove my Nephew from Paris home again so another which though the death were natural yet appeared to me more terrible prevailed with me shortly after to withdraw wholly from the world It pleased God at last to bring me out of the wretched condition in which I had lived so long without any other notions of goodness than what proceeded meerly from honâ—ur and natural generosity and a virtue meerly moral and humane And to this purpose he made use of the surprizing death of a friend for whom I had a tender affection and particular honour to put me into some saving terrors and make me reflect upon my self The infinite deaths of my friends which I had been an Eye-witness of in the Army all along made no deeper impression upon my mind than just what served to lament the loss of the men I loved but this pierced me to the very heart and made me think of bewailing my self and my own circumstances and to entertain my mind with very serious considerations of what for ought I knew was as likely to be my own fate as any other man's Going one day to visit this friend at his Country-house with no other design than to enjoy a little diversion and good company I spent some time with him and his Lady as pleasantly as I could When I design'd to return for Paris I was providentially stopt by the very person who had the chief part in the dismal tragedy I am going to relate and by that means became the first instrument of my Conversion For fancying me to grow weary and suspecting I might steal away in the morning without taking a formal leave he order'd my Bridles and Saddles to be hid and used his utmost endeavour to divert and make me easie He told me his Brother was to draw a Pond the next day and engag'd me to go along with him and see them fish I had the honour to be intimately acquainted with his Sister-in-law and as we were taking a turn together in the Garden and talking very freely upon several subjects she told me all on the sudden that she observ'd some very odd look about her Brothers Face and Eyes and askt me if I did not discern it too I told her I had but very small skill in Physiognomy but I had not discovered any thing unusual in him Still she carry'd the discourse on farther and said She thought he had death in his face I took a more nice view of him when we met again and told her that all the dismal looks she saw were more in her own imagination than her Brothers face The event however convinced me that she was a great deal more critical than I whether she spoke thus through some unaccountable natural instinct or whether being more used to him she discovered something extraordinary which I could not find out As we two were going back alone in his Coach after dinner he was seized with a kind of convulsion and a trembling all over his body which lasted about as long as a Miserere What his Sister had said came fresh into my mind but trying to turn it off with a jest that I might not fright him I cryed merrily Why how now Sir what 's the matter You mutter and
make faces like a Jugler shewing his tricks Come come let 's divert our selves and do not be melancholly Let us alight and walk to get us a heat So the thing went off and made no great impression upon him But I began to be under some apprehensions and had sad presages of this unhappy accident III. Next day as we were sitting by the fire after dinner he his Lady and I having all of us received Letters from Paris Come says he Monsieur Pontis shall read us his news first I needed no great entreaty and read my Letters which had nothing of any consequence in them Then he read his own where there was no great matter neither As his Lady was beginning hers in which she had all the Court-news he had a mind to make himself merry and turning to me Look you here says he you see how old Age is despised no body regards us now we are no sooner out of sight but out of mind too There 's none of us but my Wife in favour The Lady who was very reserved seem'd offended at a discourse that reflected upon her modesty and clapt her Letter together again Nay Sir said she if you talk thus I will read you no news of mine I promise you This to me is very fine He seeing her take it iâ— earnest turn'd the discourse and engaging to hold his tongue prevail'd with her to read her Letters Then he said he must go write to his Brother and she having Letters to write too to some friends of hers went with me out of his Chamber and there we left him to write all alone Thus no doubt Providence order'd it to save a Lady so very affectionate and vertuous as she was the being present at an accident enough to have kill'd her too I was no sooner gone down stairs but meeting a Foot-boy I bad him go into his Masters Chamber and see if he wanted any thing He went up presently and the first thing he saw when he came in at the door was his Master stretcht all along upon the floor lying upon his back before the fire with his hands cross his stomach and dead as if he had lain there four and twenty hours So surprizing a sight frighted him extremely and instead of going in he ran away and came to me in a perfect distraction crying Sir Sir my Master is dead Come quickly for God's sake come quickly What sayst thou Child cryed I How dead And running strait to the Chamber as fast as I could I came in and found the body in the posture described just before Ah Lord God! said I what a sight 's here Presently the news flew round the house and all the family came running in nothing but sighs and groans and tears to be seen or heard and every one almost out of their senses with the suddenness of the accident But one thing surpriz'd me above all the rest when I took a particular view of the body which was that exactly upon his two Ancle-bones there was a little burn about the bigness of a Half-Crown and as round as if it had been drawn with a pair of Compasses His Shoes and Stockings on both Feet had a hole quite through them in this place and the burn went into his Skin as deep as the thickness of a Six-pence That which made it still more amazing was that his Feet lay a great distance from the fire and I could not possibly devise how they should come to be burnt that way You may imagine what a consternation the whole house was in They ran about like people out of their wits They brought Drugs upon Drugs Cordial Waters and all sorts of Medicines to make him take them They heated Napkins and rubb'd his Stomach with them to try if there was any bringing him to himself as if it had been a swooning fit But all they could do was to no manner of purpose for he was stark dead and mov'd no more than a log By this time his Lady who could not be kept long in ignorance ran in an extreme passion into the chamber where the dead body lay But I put my self between took her in my arms and laid her upon the bed in her own room with these words By your favour Madam this is no place for you you can do no good here now pray to God for his soul he needs that most and it is the greatest kindness you can shew him The very same day a little after this the Chamber where the dead man lay took fire in a beam under the Chimney And the next day which was that of his Funeral the Chimney was on fire again so that we were perepetually pursued with misfortunes one upon the neck of another I ordered all matters as well as I could and so as to express my respect due to the memory of the deceased person taking care to bury him decently though without any great solemnity IV. But such an amazing death as this sat close upon my Spirits and made strange impressions upon me it put me upon making very grave reflections upon the uncertainty of the present life and how unstable all things here below are Thus I used to argue often with my self Why this man was lusty and well but a quarter of an hour ago and yet he is dead in an instant What hinders but I may dye in as little a time as he I then who am alive and well just now perhaps may be gone a quarter of an hour hence Ah poor wretch what will become of thee then What indeed can become of thee in this condition so unprovided so void of all thoughts of death It is high time now to think of it to purpose Perhaps Almighty God intends this death as a particular call and warning to thee One thing I had from his Confessor's own mouth which added to my wonder and astonishment still more For he told me that one day as he was confessing they both heard three loud knocks at the Chamber door He rose immediately to see who it was but opening the door found no body When he was come back and had put himself in a posture to go on with his confession he heard a knocking again still louder than before This made him rise again to see who knockt so very violently and finding no body the second time he cryed to his Confessor Ah Father this doth not concern you And accordingly he took it as sent to him for a warning and notice of his dying shortly after V. A very particular friend of his and mine coming thither some few days after I related to him all the circumstances and manner of his death and he who was a person of great piety took occasion from thence to discourse me concerning the vanity of the world and how perfect a nothing the most flourishing fortunes of it are he represented to me very lively the frailty of mans life how very quickly he is changed from a state of vigour
that another should ask it for me and when I declined the making use of this grant I did not consult my own choice or pleasure but was content to force and forego them rather than disoblige the Mareschal de Vitry by leaving his Son and breaking my promise But it must be confest I made a very false step in giving way that his Highness should be apply'd to for a matter of such importance before the thing and all its consequences were duly weighed which I cannot but say gave the Prince just occasion to find fault with me and to tax me with levity at least IX When all the Army had taken leave of his Highness they past the 〈…〉 Offâ—â—burg some leagues distance from Strasburg And from thence under the Command of Mareschal Gucbriant went and sat down before Rotheuil The Marquis of Narmoâ—slier Brother to Monsieur by the Mothers side and Mareschal de Camp sent me with fifteen hundred men to pass the Black Forrest and oppose the Enemy's coming while all things were putting in a readiness for the Siege We â—ad like to have been all lost in the Snows and had the greatest difficulty in the world to get out of them they lying upon these Mountains in some places above three foot deep When we had spent some little time in this wretched post Mareschal Guâ—briant sent to seek us out and support us with some fresh Troops and we made a very brave Retreat in sight of the Enemy who pursued us no farther than the Forrest Thus we came to the Siege of Rotheuil where nothing considerable was done on the Enemies side except one Sally in which our men were in very great disorder I had ordered my Nephew whom I mentioned formerly to go along with me and view the Guard ann when we got thither I found the Regiments that were upon duty and but new raised extremely negligent and almost as little upon their guard as if they had been in a peaceable Country Observing this I cry'd out to them Why how now Gentlemen sure you have forgotten that you are upon the Guard The Enemies would make a fâ—â—e advantage of you if they should attack you in this condition Oh we have Centinels and Guards lye before us said they to me Ay said I but your advanced Guâ—â—ds will be beaten bâ—fore you can stand to your arms After that I took a view of all the advanced Guards and the plâ—câ—s where the Centinels stood and made my Nephew note them down in his Pocket-book that so when my Regiment should mount the Guard I might be Instâ—â—â—ed in all the Posts Just then my fears came to pass for six hundred men or thereabouts made a Sâ—lly out of the Town and came powring in upon that quarter where I still was and having easily forc'd the Corps de Guard advanc'd briskly to charge the gross body I and my Nephew saw our selves encompast in a moment For the disorder was so great and every body so unprepar'd that the Captains Lieutenants and private Souldiers who were but lately come to that trade all ran together without hearing one word I said to them or at all regarding the endeavours I made to rally and put them into heart again And really when I saw so many men quit their post so easily who yet at other times made mighty pretensions to Gallantry and Courage I could not forbear calling out to them Oh rare Gentlemen what I perceive then the Officers set the private Souldiers an example for running away I and my Nephew not being capable of sustaining the force of so many Enemies upon us both retreated and going through some winding ways we found our selves pursu'd and blockt up by four lusty Rogues that lookt as if they would fain be cutting our Throats and were supported by someâ— more behind them Upon this we leapt a hedge just by and recover'd a foot way narrow and rising from whence we might discourse them from the higher ground And there turning back upon them we stood our ground Those that dogg'd us so close before did not think it convenient to attack us upon this hill and so went off about their business In the mean while that Quarter being all lost we hastned to Monsieur Vitry to give him an account and putting our Regiment into a posture made ready to try for our Trenches again When necessary orders were given we brought on our men to the charge There was a broad way which we should have gone but it was directly commanded by a Spur-work planted with eight or nine pieces of Cannon upon the very mouths of which we should put our selves which was not fit for us to do For the declining this pass I wheel'd off the Regiment a half turn and breaking down a hedge we went that way tho all the Officers and Souldiers were not easily perswaded to it because we lay all open The Enemy being forc'd to turn their Cannon gave us some time to advance in But however we could not do it so quick but that three of their pieces were levell'd at us and took off three of our hindmost Ranks Every one prest forward without ever looking behind him and scarce any body perceiv'd it besides me who went smiling to Monsieur Vitry and told him in his Ear Three of our Ranks are scattered but pray Sir make no words of it for fear the râ—st who know nothing of the matter be discouraged Our passage tho so much expos'd was successful enough and we charg'd the Enemies so vigorously that what we had lost was quickly recover'd again and they beaten back into the Town This was â—uch for the honour of the Queens Regiment and for Monsieur Vitry in particulâ—r wâ—o commanded it X. Mareschal Guebriant had a mind one day to go take a view of a post that lay much expos'd to place a Battery there but I conjured him not to go for fear he should come back no more He yielded to my advice and I went thither in his stead Upon observation of the place I found it very fit for his purpose But discover'd at the same time a sort of Window with a Culverin planted in it that threatned me This put me to some stand and I knew not how to get backward or forward for fear of meeting death either way At last I came off without hurt for it seems that blow was â—eserv'd for a Mareschal of France and not an inferiour Officer I made my report to Monsieur Guebriant and he resolv'd to go thither himself I opposed his intention all I could and represented the danger to which he expos'd his life for there was no way to get under covert of that piece of Ordnance But he made answer That his honour lay at stake for the taking of the Town and would heaâ—ken to nothing I said to him So go he did and there met with the death I had given him warning of For this Culverin was discharg'd upon him and broke his Left Arm all to