The Man-at-Arms; or, Henry De Cerons. Volumes I and II

by G. P. R. James

At this time, though we were within shot of the arquebusiers, and a ball or two fell every now and then among us, he had nothing on his head but a small cap of crimson velvet. The page who bore his helmet, however, came but slowly; the different officers who were round about pressed up eagerly towards the prince; the horses were furious and eager to proceed; and Condé himself, having one arm in a sling, from an accident he had met with, restrained his own charger with difficulty from dashing forward into the midst of the enemy's ranks.

At length the page brought up the casque, and one or two persons were assisting him to place it on his head: his standard had been carried forward, bearing, written in letters of gold, "Doux le peril pour Christ et le pais!" the Count of Rochefoucault was mounting a fresh horse, to accompany him into the mêlée; and, turning round towards me, the prince was asking, "Know you, De Cerons, whose cornets of horse those are upon the hill?" when, in a moment, I saw the charger that La Rochefoucault was about to mount lash out with both his feet towards the prince, whose horse seemed to stagger with the blow it received.

The velvet cap he had in his hand dropped to the ground, but that was the only expression (if it may be so called) of pain which escaped him. To my horror and astonishment, however, on approaching, I saw that the horse had broken his leg, and that the bone was absolutely protruding through the thick leather boot.

Exclamations of grief and distress burst from the lips of all around: but the prince waved his hand, exclaiming, "Silence!" And, a moment after, he added, "Behold, you true nobles of France, that which has occurred! Follow me to finish well what our brave friends have already so well begun! and remember this day, as you fight, in what state Louis of Bourbon leads you to the charge, 'for Christ and for his country!'"

As he spoke he pulled down the visor of his helmet, bent his head over his saddle-bow, gave the rein to his horse, and dashed like fury upon the flank of the Duke of Anjou's division. There was an immense body of men-at-arms before us, amounting, it is said, in all, to two thousand men; and the moment we began the charge, two regiments of reiters, amounting to two thousand five hundred men, and eight hundred lancers, with a small body of horse arquebusiers, swept round and hemmed us in; and yet it is extraordinary what that charge of the Prince de Condé did. There was not one man of us that hour who then spurred on his horse, and did not believe that his life was at a close, and he must sell the remnant dearly.

The light-horse which were in front gave way before us in a moment; the Duke of Guise and his men-at-arms were driven back upon La Valette; the regiments, of Chravigny and Nevers were cast into confusion; and, to use the words of another eyewitness, "In brief, the prince and his troop seemed like a thunderbolt."

But all that we could do was over in ten minutes. The regiment of the young Prince d'Auvergne came forward to support the rest, and in a gallant charge separated our small troop into parties: his father, the Duke of Montpensier, wheeled two regiments upon us to support his son; Martigue came down from the hill to have a share in our destruction, and, separated one from the other, we each fought with desperation against that party of the adversary which happened to be nearest to us. I was cutting my way on, attending to little else, and dealing the best blows I could with my heavy sword, when I suddenly received a pistol-ball in my right arm, which made it drop powerless by my side. An instant after, before any one could take advantage of my situation, my horse was killed under me, and fell at once to the ground, jamming firmly my right leg between the saddle and the earth, so that it was impossible for me to extricate myself.

The Catholic men-at-arms who were nearest to me, apparently conceived that I was myself killed, and one of them passed over me; but I was not only uninjured, except from the wounds I have mentioned, but was also painfully sensible of all the horrors that were passing around me. It is utterly impossible to give anything like the slightest idea of the scene that took place before my eyes. Sometimes I was left almost totally alone, beholding nothing but clouds of dust, and dim, uncertain figures whirling hither and thither; in another instant, one, two, three, perhaps fifty or sixty of the combatants, were close about me, and their horses nearly treading upon me at every instant. Thrice, indeed, they did strike me with their hoofs, but my armour luckily protected me.

At length I saw a charger all bloody, mounted by one whose aspect I knew full well. He was then at about twenty yards from me, and was riding rapidly up the hill where the ground was somewhat more clear. But at that very instant, two cavaliers, bearing red crosses on their shoulders, galloped fiercely forward upon him; and I saw that, though the horse exerted his utmost force to obey his rider's will, and though the rider urged him still on with eager speed, yet the gallant beast, bleeding from more than one wound, wavered as it struggled on, and the rider, with his head bent low, could scarcely keep himself in the saddle.

The other two, fresh and apparently unhurt, were up with him in a moment; and seeing that it was in vain to contend, with not a friend near him, without power to resist, without strength either in himself or in his horse to fly, Condé gave his left-hand gauntlet to one of those who approached him, and at the very same moment his horse stumbled and fell beneath him. As he lay, I saw him raise the visor of his helmet, and show his face to the gentleman to whom he had surrendered, whose name I afterward found was Argence.