SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN.
257. Pierre de Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard. Warrior.
[Born near Grenoble, in France, 1476. Died, 1524. Aged 48.]
The “Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche.” A true knight and gentleman. His earliest renown won at the tourney. At the age of eighteen, entered active service, which he did not quit until his death in Italy, where he fell, as he desired, by the weapon of the foe on the field of battle. Spotless in character, intrepid, generous, self-denying, and the very soul of honour. He enjoyed the respect and admiration of his country’s enemies, and by his own countrymen he was idolized. After the battle of Marignan, his King, Francis I., one of the bravest men of his age, desired to receive the order of knighthood from the hands of Bayard. The ceremony over, Bayard addressed his sword, vowing to regard it thenceforward as a sacred relic, never to be drawn except against Turks, Saracens, and Moors. The body of Bayard was embalmed by the foe and restored to the French for honourable burial, at Grenoble.
258. Gaston de Foix. Warrior.
[Born 1489. Died at Ravenna, in Italy, 1512. Aged 23.]
The nephew of Louis XII. of France. Succeeded the Duke of Longueville in the command of the army in Italy, where his prodigies of valour and daring exploits gained him the name of the “Thunderbolt of Italy.” He raised the siege of Ravenna, and in his hot pursuit of the foe, was cut down;—slaughtered in the hour of victory.
[This is one of the finest French busts. There is also a portrait of him in the Gallery of Vienna, by Palma Vecchio.]
259. Michel de l’Hôpital. Chancellor of France.
[Born at Aigueperse, in France, 1505. Died at Vignay, in France, 1573. Aged 68.]