to him how dost thou do I am going to dye Sir answered the wounded Person but it will be without regret provided you assure me that the King and you are satisfied with my Services And how should we be otherwise replyed Guise it is certain that had it not been for you the King would not yet have been Master of the Town but think of being Cured and assure your self you shall be satisfied with the Recompence that the King prepares for you and that I shall look upon you as long as I live as my Brother and Companion in War Having said these words he left him with Tears in his Eyes and Saint Colombe being dead the next day Guise himself did assist at his Funeral testifying and extream regret for his loss and was always speaking of him with extream applause He likewise made inquiry after all the Soldiers who had accompanied him and took care to recompence them every one according to his Merit The Prince of Conde designing to re-animate the hopes of his Party by some considerable enterprize they being very much dejected at the taking of Rouen led his Army to Paris He imagined that it would be easie for him to take in that great Town being it was without Fortifications and full of a people that were easie to be terrified But Guise going thither in all haste dispersed their fears as his Father had done twenty years before when that Charles the Fifth had taken Chasteau-Thierry and during the eight days that the Army was at the Gates the people did not for one moment interrupt their usual employs The Shops and Colledges were opened as was Customary and the Courts of Justice as full of Advocates as in a time of profound Peace The Prince having perceived the folly of his design raised the Siege and marched towards Normandy where he hoped to receive the Money and Forces that were coming to him from England He was followed by the Kings Army which was lead by Guise and the Constable The Prince did not design to fight but his Army having lost one days March through his Major General 's fault the Constable overtook him near Dreux He caused his Army and his Artillery to pass over the little River of Eure by Moon-light and with so great a silence that the Enemies did not in the least perceive it Insomuch that when they were going to continue their March the next day they were much amazed to see the Royal Army posted in the way through which they were to pass The Constable had posted himself between two Villages having Blainville on the right and Spinal on the left and as he was very weak in Cavalry he had disposed it by little Squadrons amongst the great Battalions of Infantry which the Army was composed of Thus joining to the Village of Blainville was the Spanish Infantry under cover of the Houses and the Trees of the Village On the left side of it was Guise and la Brosse his Lieutenant at the Head of the Companies of Ordnance then were the old Troops of Piemont and after them the Marshal de Saint Andre with four Cornets of Horse Near the Marshal de Saint Andre still drawing towards the left you had the German Infantry and at last the Squadron of Daumale and Damville who compleated the Vanguard before which was placed fourteen pieces of Cannon Something farther in the Plain however still drawing towards Spinal was the great Battalion of the Suisses having on the left hand eight pieces of Cannon and the Cavallery of the Constable and of Brichanteau then the Regiments of Brittany and of Picardy Sansac made up the Body of the Army having the light Horse who reached from this Battalion to the Village of Spinal Guise would not take any Command that day that he might not be obliged to obey the Constable and said that he took care only of his Company of Ordonnance and some Volunteers that had joyned themselves to him But his Name Commanded for him in all Places where he came and we may say that it was he who led the Vanguard The Princes Army was divided into two There was in the Vanguard led by the Admiral five hundred French Horse six French Colours and six German The Body of the Army which was led by the Prince was composed of six hundred French Lances six Cornets of German Cavalry ten Ensigns of Germans twelve of French and six Troops of light Horse Dandelot having been to discover the Royal Army was not of Opinion a Battle should be hazarded and the Prince already caused his Men to March towards Treon where he hoped to Intrench himself But as he could not make this motion without laying his right Wing full open to his Enemy the Constable having caused the fourteen pieces of Canon we have mentioned to be fired upon him obliged him to come briskly to the Charge The Body of the Constables Battalia was advanced into the Plain for as there was not a sufficient space between the two Villages to contain all the Army it advanced in the Form of a demicircle and the right Wing that lay behind and was hidden by the Trees and the Houses of the Village of Blainville did hardly appear at all Thus the Prince who was below Blainville marching towards the Constable thought he saw all the Army and advanced in all haste without taking notice what he left on one side of him And the Admiral who was yet further turning about likewise at the same time they both found themselves directly opposite to the Body of the Constables Battalia In the mean time the Prince instead of falling upon the Cavalry that was not so strong as his attacqued the Battalion of Suisses immediately Mouy and Avaret having Attacqued the Front pierced it through intirely and made their way through to the very Baggage which was plundered Then the Prince took them in the Rear and Damville being advanced to them with three Companies of Gensdarmes he was so sharply repulsed by the German Horse that he was obliged to retreat to the Vanguard to rally his Men. The Admiral on his side having Attacqued the Constables Cavalry put it to the rout without much difficulty The Regiments of Brittany and Picardy were cut to pieces Sansac's Cavilry being as it were seized with a panick fear fell a running without making any resistance and several of them having galloped full speed as far as Paris brought news thither of the Kings Army being defeated and of the Hugonots having gained the Victory At length the Constable being wounded with a Pistol Bullet and having had his Horse killed under him was taken Prisoner by the German Horse Daumale had his Arm broken in endeavouring to succour him and the Enemies made themselves Masters of the Artillery Guise saw all this without quitting his Post raising himself up from time to time in his Stirrups to observe the Enemies Damville was near him and desperate with having seen his Brother Montberon killed and seeing
upon four Wheels and were easily turned on all sides The first Battalions of the Enemies already appeared out of the Woods and fired upon those of the French Army when that Guise seeing-them at length where he wished them came to the Head of his Regiment that was most advanced in the Plain and gave the Signal to the Duke of Nemours to begin the Charge This first Attacque was very furious and the French were sharpely repulsed with the loss of several Officers But Guise and Nevers having rallied their Troops and being seconded by all the Light Cavalry commanded by d' Aumalle they routed the first Battalion of the Germans And the Duke of Nevers with his Regiment falling then upon the Spanish Harquebusiers who were not able to resist him all the Enemies Army was put to rout The Count of Vulfenfourt was obliged to fly as well as the rest though he had promised to tread the French Gendarmes under Feet with two thousand Rheistres or German Horse he Commanded and who to appear the more terrible had horribly coloured their Faces with black The French gain'd in that Battle seventeen Ensignes Colours five Cornets and the four Field-Pieces that were brought into the Wood and the Emperours Pistols About two hundred men were slain on their side and two thousand on the Enemies However the Spaniards if we may believe the Count of Rocca who has written the History of Charles the Fifth imagined some time after that it was they who had gained the Victory insomuch that Don Lewis d' Avila distrusting perhaps the Testimony that the Historians give thereof caused that Battle to be painted in his Country-House where the French were seen flying from their Enemies And that Charles the Fifth through a modesty which the Author of his History does not sail to commend him for was of Opinion the Piece should be reformed and that they should draw the French making a Retreat because said he it was rather an honourable Retreat than a shameful Flight That day gave Birth to the hatred that broke out afterwards between Guise and Admiral Chastillon and which has had such fatal Consequences These two Lords had been such Friends during their Youth as that they were not able to live without one another wearing the same Colours and dressing themselves after the same manner This ardour begun to cool and Guise complained that the Admiral had given him insincere Connsels in an affair of importance The Admiral whether through Resentment or Envy reported after the Battle that Guise was not to be found where he ought to have been during the Fight They thereupon quarrelled in the Kings Chamber who commanded them to embrace and be as good Friends as formerly but these kind of Injuries are never forgotten nor are they ever pardoned In the mean time a Truce was made for five years between the Emperour and the King But Cardinal Caraffa would not suffer it to last long This turbulent and restless Man being shock'd with all that had an appearance of Peace reported every where that the King could not make an agreement having an offensive and defensive League with his Unkle He came Legate into France and made so much noise against the Truce that he made the King resolve to break it The Council were in no wise for this Rupture neither was it on that side that the Cardinal had made his Cabal He gained the fair Dutchess of Valentinois by his Gallantries and the fine presents he made her from the Pope and himself She perswaded the King to War both out of acknowledgment to the Legate and that Guise might have the Command of the Armies with whom she had contracted a great Friendship Caraffa assured him of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples which the Pope promised him the Investiture of and to which all those of the House of Lorrain have always had pretentions Guise being naturally ambitious suffered himself to be easily flattered with the hopes of a Crown and he was likewise drawn in by the Counsels of the Cardinal of Lorrain his Brother for whom he had ever too much deference This was a violent Man and to whom nothing appeared difficult hold to undertake all things indifferently and often abused the Authority of his Brother that he might bring his own designs to pass The King not knowing how to deny the Dutchess sent only for form sake to the Emperour and to Philip his Son who was then King of Spain to exhort them to withdraw their Troops out of the Territories of the Holy See This Proposition was received as a Declaration of War and Guise full of great hopes marched into Italy at the Head of fifteen thousand Men. He was looked upon as one of the greatest Generals of his Age and beloved as the most Civil best Bred Person of Quality at Court Thus almost all the Nobility of France attended him in this expedition some to learn their Trade under so great a Master others to acquire Glory under a Commander who being sure of his own bore no envy to that of his Souldiers It is in this occasion that it must be confessed that all the times of the Lives of great Men are not alike for it is certain that Guise did not perform in that War all that was expected from him whether he had not the Succours he ought to have had or that he was so happy as not to be able to succeed in a War that appeared manifestly unjust He immediately attacqued the City of Valenza which he took without difficulty and made but a kind of sorry answer to the Emperours Lieutenant in the Land of Milan who complained of the infraction of the Truce After the taking of Valenza the Council of War was of Opinion that advantage should be taken of the general Consternation and of the want of Men at that time in Milan It is certain that Guise might easily have conquered it But he would never be perswaded to stay notwithstanding the remonstrances that were made him whether as he said he had most express Orders to march on or that the Idea of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Naples did not permit him to think of any thing else Perhaps one of the Reasons that made him pass on so fast was the fear of being obliged to yield the Command to the Duke of Ferrara his Father in Law who in the League that was made with the Pope was nominated Generalissimo of the Kings Armies in Italy For he knew very well that this Prince having Reasons not to absent himself from his Dominions would never think of following the Army as far as Naples Whereupon he came to Bologne where he neither found the Forces nor the Ammunition they had given him hopes of He made great Complaints thereof to Caraffa who satisfied him with ill Reasons and Promises that had no effect whether he had already made his Accomodation under-hand with the Spaniard as several persons have believed or that he was a
that the Enemies were carrying his Father away Prisoner would by all means have obliged Guise to have run after him in order to his succour But the violent Transports of this young Lord could not move him and he only answered him with a great deal of sweetness My Son we will be revenged but it is not yet time At length when he saw that the Enemies by over pursuing a Victory they thought themselves sure of had brought themselves into a Condition of being infallibly conquered and that they had lost all their Ranks he detachued a hundred and fifty Horse under the Conduct of la Brosse to begin the Charge and turning towards those who followed him Come my Companions said he to them the Battle is won Then he caused the Vanguard to advance marching himself at the head of them with a boldness as seemed to answer for the Victory La Brosse having made the German Horse something give way he himself put them perfectly to the Rout. He cut in pieces the German and French Infantry it is in vain that the Admiral and the Prince do all they can to rally some Cavalry they were hindred by eight hundred Harquebusiers whom Saint Andre had placed on purpose and who fired continually The Prince himself is taken Prisoner by Damville as he was changing his Horse and the Admiral after having returned furiously to the Charge and put Guise several times in danger of his Life was at length obliged to retreat to Neuville and to leave his Enemy Master of the Field of Battle Though all the World agree that the success of this Battle which was of a very great Consequence for the Kingdom was due to Guise alone they have however talked diversly of his Conduct in this occasion He is reproached with not having Attacqued the Enemies soon enough though he might have charged them in the Rear and with having suffered the whole Army to be put to the rour without stirring in the least to its relief But besides that it was to be feared that the Runaways coming to fall upon his Battalions might have put them in disorder which would have happened if he had moved sooner than he did I believe that in those extraordinary occasions we must sometimes judge of the Conduct of great Men by the Event Besides that stratagem of War is not without example and it was practised a long time before by Philopoemen with as happy a success This great Captain in a Battle he fought against Machanidas the Tyrant of the Lacedemonians seeing all his Vanguard put to the rout and the Enemies pass hard by him in pursuit of the Runaways remained firm in his Post and did not stir till he saw that his Enemy after having entirely defeated the Vanguâ—rd returned in disorder and were no longer in a Condition to oppose him Guise treated the Prince of Conde with all the humanity that can be expected from a generous Conquerour These two Generals whose thoughts had for so long a time been taken up wholly with contriving how to ruine one another supped together and suspended in that occasion resentments that were too lively to be so quickly forgotten As all the Baggage had been plundered Guise who had but one Bed left offered it to the Prince who accepted the half of it fearing it would be either too great an Incivility to receive entirely the offer that was made him or too much haughtiness to refuse it In which I find that the moderation of the vanquished merits no less praise than the Civility of the Conquerour for as much as great Courages have mildness in prosperity so much have they usually Haughtiness in their Misfortunes some being desirous to make appear that the favours of Fortune cannot elevate them and others that Disgraces cannot deject them Guise has himself written that eight thousand were killed upon the place He dispatched Losses Captain of the Guards to the Queen who immediatly confirmed to him the Charge of General of which the Victory had already put him in possession It was in that Quality that Damville had presented the Prince of Conde to him after having taken him But Guise who was the most civil person of Quality of that Age returned him again into his Hands on the morrow telling him very agreeably I restore you your Prisoner take care to keep him he may help you to pay my Lord the Constables ransome Some days after he went to the Queen at Rambouillet to whom he rendered a publick account of all that had passed in the Battle of Dreux He enlarged extreamly in Commendations of the Constable of the Marshal de Saint Andre who was killed and of all those who had shown any valour in that occasion He even spoke very well of several Officers who had abandoned their Posts and who basely run away and he told his Friends who seemed amazed at so much Generosity that it was not just to ruine people for a misfortune that had happened to them and which perhaps would never happen again and that his carriage towards them would perhaps oblige them to Correct themselves and show more courage in the future Certainly we cannot sufficiently admire this wise answer when we consider that there is in War as else-where certain unluckly moments wherein the greatest Courages are not Masters of themselves and are sometimes hurried by unvoluntary motions to actions they would willingly afterwards wash away the memory of at the price of all their Blood Witness what happened to Aussin This brave Captain who had given in Italy so many Testimonies of his Valour that it was become a Proverb being at the Battle of Dreux was taken as well as others with the panick fear that spread through the Constables Forces But coming the next day to make reflection on what had happened to him it put him into so great a despair that he starved himself to Death notwithstanding all the instances of Guise and the principal Officers of the Army who used all their efforts to oblige him to pardon himself After the Battle Guise went to lay Siege to Orleans This Town was as the Fortress of the Hugonots and he said that after having taken it he would in a Months time bring them perfectly to reason and render the Kingdom as peaceable as it had ever been However whether that for secret Reasons this Design was not pleasing to the Queen or that hazzard alone opposed his putting it in Execution he was traversed in at all manner of ways The Gunpowder in the Arsenal of Paris having taken Fire without being known how consumed in an instant all the Ammunitions of War designed for that Siege Guise was forced to wait a long time for the Cannons he wanted to begin the Siege with and when he was upon the point of making the first approaches Castlenau arrived from Blois to order him in the Queens Name who was then there to raise the Siege and to go pursue the Admiral into Normandy and give succours to
to your Mother The Condition thou seest me in will be to thee as long as thou livest a fine Instruction of the Vanity of the things of this World as often as thou shalt remember that a Great General in the midst of his Army was not able to defend himself from the treachery of a simple Souldier I do not say this out of Vanity but to make thee comprehend the better that what sâ—ems greatest in the Eyes of men is nothing before God and perhaps destroyed in a moment I have had great Offices which I have always endeavoured to acquit my self of as I ought to do Do you the same in those it shall please the King and Queen to honour thee with but above all think rather of meriting them by thy Services than of obtaining them by thy Cares and by Intrigues which are very often Criminal My dear Child have always the Fear of God and Love of Vertue before thy Eyes but remember that these Sentiments are only learnt and kept in the Commerce of good People wherefore contract Friendship with such Persons as are Vertuous and carefully avoid irregular Companies which the Court is but too full of and where the greatest Crimes are excused under the Notion of Follies of Youth God judges otherwise of them than men do and there are no small Crimes before him I heartily beseech him that he would bestow on thee the Grace to follow these Counsels it is all that I wish thee in giving thee my Benediction and is what I am going to demand of him in Heaven where I hope his Goodness will not disdain to receive me Then looking upon all his Friends and his Brothers who were weeping he thanked them for their Cares and desired them not to grieve for his Death and as they exclaimed against the blackness of that horrible Assassinate I avow to you said he to them that I am troubled at it for the Honour of France I should never have believed that it could have born Men capable of committing an Action that would raise a horrour in Barbarians But God from whom I expect Pardon for my Faults commands us to pardon our Enemies I heartily pardon them and I take him to Witness the sincerity of the intentions I have had all my Life time for the good and repose of this Kingdom After that he would hear no more talk of things of this World and dyed at length on the sixth day after he had received his Wound being hardly fifty years old He was sensibly regretted by all those whom his Death was of no advantage to The Souldiers deplored him as their Father and they run through all the Camp asking one another where they should find such another General as they had newly lost who is it that would expose himself to dangers before them And who would henceforward make inquiry for the wounded and distribute to them Money with his own Hands And in short who would shelter them from the rigours and hardness of the Constable The Catholicks said that they had lost their Protectour and looked upon his Death as a Martyr who had suffered for the defence of the Faith He left his Family incommoded and charged with Debts which is perhaps as glorious to a Man who has had the chiefest Places and Offices of the Kingdom as it is shameful for a private Person He had all the Qualities which have ever made the greatest Heroes and if his Enemies have reproached him with any thing he was not so much to be accused as the Misfortune of the Age and the disorders which happened during his time He was a true Friend a Quality pretty rare at Court and having made the Fortune of a great number of Persons even those who most decryed his Conduct have been obliged to allow that he never advanced any other than Persons of a known and extraordinary Merit He was exact even to the doing all himself when he was in War going always in Person to view the Places he designed to Attacque which he understood better than any Man of that Age. He wrote all his Dispatches with hs own Hand and he spent whole Nights sometimes in so doing When he was wounded at Boulogne his Life was despaired of the Chyrurgions were obliged to set their Feet against his Head to draw out the piece of the Lance that stuck in it and they feared that the violence of the pain would make him expire in their Hands But he was the first to encourage them and du Bellay says that he suffered all that cruel Operation with the same Tranquillity as if they had only pulled away a Hair His Civility and the sweetness of his Carriage procured him the love of all People He never said any thing that any body could be offended at and if some hasty Word escaped from him he repaired it with an extraordinary care He was told that a Gentleman called Saint Val complained that he had struck him with his Sword on that day that the Battle of Renty was fought because he was too eager to engage the Enemies and out-went his Ranks He promised to give him satisfaction therein And indeed having met with him in the Kings Tent he told him before all the Company Mounsieur de Saint Val you ought not to be displeased at my happening to strike you with my Sword since far from being disadvantageous to you it makes appear how much ardour you had to sight the Enemies I take all these Gentlemen here to Witness and desire of you that we may live Friends as before He was so brave as never to be amazed at any thing and from thence comes the presence of mind which he preserves in the greatest dangers They once shewed him a Man who had several times boasted that he would kill him He looked squintingly upon him and told those who had shown him to him That Man will never kill me he is not worth the trouble of taking into Custody After the Death of the King of Navarre who was kill'd at the Siege of Rouen it was the general apprehension that the Kings Army would disband of it self being no longer commanded by a Prince of the Blood And the Queen was told that all the Officers talked of going to the Prince of Conde No no Madam said Guise to her be not affraid the number of those who shall quit your Army will be very small and besides they will be such as that we shall gain by losing them Traytors do but hurt where they are but if there be any here I shall stick to them so close and have them so well watched that they shall not dare so much as to make a Leaf tremble I cannot forbear adding one word more which will help extreamly to make known the Character of his mind and his humour Some Company talking one day of the Troubles that begun to be a brooding in France after the Death of Henry the Second Montluc quick and boiling like a Gascon as he was said That there was no other causes of these ills than the Ambition of the King of Navarre who envy'd the great Actions of Guise and complain'd every where that he had usurped over him the Government of the State He had discoursed thereof to me continued Montluc Whereupon I made him answer That if he had such great pretensions you ought each of you some fair Morning to examin them with a good Sword and that I was sure you would make good my Words Guise who easily foresaw the Consequences that such a Discourse might have answered him very coldly Montluc have you an Order signed from the King of Navarre to talk to me after this manner And Montluc replying that he had not and that he had framed all this himself You think said he to him that you are still in Piemont diverting your self in seeing your Souldiers fight against one another learn a little that the King of Navarre and I am not born to exercise your Imaginations I do not believe that I have any thing to dispute with him or that he does complain of me When he lets me hear from him he shall hear from me We have long known one another All the learned Men of his time strove to make Epitaphs on him which are still in being But if it is a great honour to be commended by a Man who himself merits the highest Applauses we may say that nothing is more glorious to the memory of Guise than the Verses which have been made of him by the Illustrious Chancellour of the Hospital His Virtue was as much admired by Strangers as by French-men The Italians and the Spaniards themselves who cannot be reproached with Commending others to excess call'd him The Great Duke of Guise and at the interview of Bayonne which was two years after his Death they seemed extream earnest to see his Widow and the Prince of Joinville his Son never calling them otherwise than la muger y el hijo d'aquel gran Ducque di Guisa His Body was carried to the Chartreux and from then to Nostre Dame where the Funeral Rites were very Magnificent before they carried him to Joinville where he was buried The wretched Poltrot had the same punishment inflicted on him as those have who have made attemps upon the sacred Persons of our Kings But this was not the least vengeance that was taken of this Crime and we may say that never any one Mans Death has set so much blood a flowing nor drawn after it so great a number of Illustrious Victimes FINIS