-a very honourable command-he did not receive the salary of the appointment, which went to the Duke of Lorraine; he was only, in fact, what we would now call lieutenant-colonel.

Louis XII. dying in 1515, was succeeded on the throne of France by the fiery and ambitious Francis I., the “King of the Gentlemen,"-" Roi des Gentiltz-hommes," as many old French writers term him. His first, and, as the result proved, fatal thought, was the recovery of the Duchy of Milan; and having assembled an army of 40,000 men, he crossed the Alps. Bayard led the van, and commenced the campaign with success, for he not only defeated a body of troops who guarded the passes, but surprised Villa Franca, and captured Prosper Colonna, the enemy's general.

In the great battle of Marignano, which followed on the 14th of September 1515, our knight had a very narrow escape. The head-stall of his bridle giving way, or being cut through, deprived him, in the heat of the mêlée, of the control of his horse, and the animal finding itself at liberty dashed right through a body of Swiss, and was rushing headlong in upon another, on whose lances the rider would have found his certain death, when arrested by the festoons of intervening vines. Bayard availed himself of the respite, sprang from the saddle, and, throwing away his helmet, crept, as the night was closing, on all fours, through the vines, till the watch-cry, "France, France!" told him that he was again in the midst of friends.

On the renewal of the battle in the morning, Bayard was one who, along with the Constable of Bourbon, hewed most deeply into the phalanx of Swiss pikes, and contributed most essentially to the success of the battle. Such, indeed, had been his conduct, and the estimation in which he was held at this time, that Francis I. insisted on receiving the honour of knighthood at his hands. Bayard hesitated at first, saying that "a king of France was, as such, the

first knight in the world;" but on Francis insisting, the ceremony was performed as he wished it.

Bayard had been named Governor of Dauphiné by Louis XII., but had never been invested with the authority, nor had he received the salary of the appointment. On the accession of Francis I., both were, however, granted to him; and after the Italian campaign, he remained some time in his native province, conducting its administration to the universal satisfaction of the people. His generosity, kindness, urbane and friendly manner, gained him the love of all ranks; and the castle of his fathers continued in ruins long after he had raised numerous edifices for the benefit of the poor. On the breaking out of the war between Charles V. and Francis I., Bayard was sent to defend Mezières, and succeeded, by his judicious conduct, in forcing the imperial army to raise the siege of this illfortified town. At the end of the campaign he again returned to his government.

It seems that Bayard was at this time on very friendly and intimate terms with the Constable of Bourbon, and used his best efforts to reconcile him with the many enemies the intrigues of the Queen-mother had excited against him. Unfortunately for France these efforts, though they allayed the storm for a time, were not ultimately successful. Bourbon, driven to revolt, fled in 1553, and joined the Emperor, who immediately appointed him to the command of the army of Italy. The French, who had again lost Milan, were under the orders of Admiral Bonnivet, to whose aid the King despatched Bayard with his company of gendarmes. But the conduct and gallantry of the subordinate could not atone for the errors of the chief. The French were defeated on all points. Hard pressed at the passage of the Sesia, on the retreat from Biagrasso, Bonnivet was severely wounded, and, being obliged to leave the field, resigned the command to Bayard. At the head of his men-at-arms, the Knight kept off the enemy

D

for some time, but on approaching the bridge he was struck by a musket-ball, which entered his side and fractured his back. "Have mercy on me, Jesus," he exclaimed, and sank on his saddle-bow. The attendants lifted him from his horse, and placed him under a tree, his face, as he desired, turned towards the enemy, and the hilt of his sword placed as a cross before him. Some Swiss soldiers offered to carry him on their lances, but he declined, saying that his hour was come, and that he wished to pass it tranquilly and in prayer. The enemy, instead of rushing on their prey as usual, formed, when they heard who the dying man was, a silent and respectful circle around him. When the Constable of Bourbon came up, he expressed deep grief to see his former friend in so afflicting a situation. "Grieve not for me," said Bayard, "I die in the discharge of my duty; grieve rather for yourself, who carry arms against your King and country." The Marquess of Pescara caused a tent to be raised over him, and had him placed on a bed, and a priest arriving soothed the last hours of the generous and the brave. Bayard died in the forty-eighth year of his age. 'France little knows," said Bourbon, when the demise was announced to him, "how great is the loss she sustains this day." The Marquess of Pescara ordered the body to be embalmed, and given up to the French. The remains of the gallant soldier were treated with the utmost respect wherever they passed on their way to Grenoble, where they were interred in the Franciscan Church. No monument marks the tomb of Bayard, nor is it needed: he whose virtues so justly obtained him the title of the Knight without fear or reproach, requires no column trophied for triumphal show.

Bayard was tall of person, but sparely formed. He had a fair complexion, with fresh colour, and dark, animated eyes.* He was of a very cheerful disposition, always even

* There is a portrait of Bayard in the Gallery of the Palais Royal.

tempered, and on the most serious occasions his remarks were generally accompanied by some lively sally. His own opinion almost always prevailed, though he was never known to browbeat others, or despise their opinion.

Bayard left no fortune; wealth had never been his object. The value of the property left at his death did not exceed 400 francs a-year-a rare instance of disinterestedness for one who had been for nine years governor of a large and rich province, and had at different times received such large sums in ransom of prisoners.

Like his contemporary, the German hero Fronsperger, and many other eminent soldiers, down to Charles XII., Bayard had a great detestation of firearms, as if, according to one of his biographers, he had entertained a presentiment that he was to fall by their force. "It was a shame," he often said, "that a brave man should be exposed to die by a miserable pop-gun, against the effect of which he cannot defend himself."

IV.

THE CONSTABLE OF BOURBON, AND

THE SACKING OF ROME.

"Calla, Calla, Julio César, Hannibal y Scipion,

Viva la fama de Bourbon!"

Old Spanish song in honour of the Constable of Bourbon.

IT is stated in the seventh volume of Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' that the mighty minstrel took a deep interest in the fortunes of the Constable of Bourbon, and intended to make him the hero of a new tale; and, as everybody will naturally read Lockhart's work, questions about the "renowned rebel" may be more frequently asked than satisfactorily answered. We, therefore, fling you a picture of his life, and of the scene that followed on his death, exactly as it flashed upon our mind after inspecting, along with some Roman gentlemen, the spot where the assault on Rome was given, and where the luckless leader fell. We write to the tune of the war-song composed by his followers, for there is no history of him in English; and of the French histories, one is good for nothing, and the other a mere fable:

"Sonnez, sonnez, trompettes!
Sonnez-vous à l'assaut!"

It was on the 25th January 1515 that the gay, gallant,