[225] According to Sepulveda, (De Rebus Gestis Philippi II., lib. I. cap. 30,) no less than four thousand women. It is not very probable that Coligni would have consented to cater for so many useless mouths.
[226] "The Swartzrotters, being masters of the king's whole army, used such force, as well to the Spaniards, Italians, and all other nations, as unto us, that there was none could enjoy nothing but themselves. They had now showed such cruelty, as the like hath not been seen for greediness: the town by them was set a-fire, and a great piece of it burnt." Letter of the earl of Bedford to Cecil, ap. Tytler, Edward VI. and Mary, vol. II. p. 493.
[227] Rabutin, Mémoires, ap. Nouvelle Collection des Mémoires, tom. VII. pp. 537-564.—De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. III. pp. 149-170.—Campana, Vita di Filippo Secondo, parte II. lib. 9.
The best account of the siege of St. Quentin is to be found in Coligni's Mémoires, (ap. Collection Universelle des Mémoires, tom. XL. pp. 217-290,) written by him in his subsequent captivity, when the events were fresh in his memory. The narrative is given in a simple, unpretending manner, that engages our confidence, though the author enters into a minuteness of detail which the general historian may be excused from following.
[228] De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. III. pp. 173-177.—Cabrera, Filipe Segundo, lib. IV. cap. 13.—Sepulveda, De Rebus Gestis Philippi II., lib. I. cap. 32.
[229] De Thou, Histoire Universelle, tom. III, pp. 163, 176.—Garnier, Histoire de France, tom. XXVII. p. 377 et seq.
[230] "C'etoit un proverbe reçu en France pour désigner un mauvais général, un guerrier sans mérite, de dire: il ne chassera pas les Anglois de la France." Gaillard, Rivalité de France et de l'Espagne, tom. V. p. 260
[231] "Aussi les Anglois furent si glorieux (car ils le sont assez de leur naturel) de mettre sur les portes de la ville que, lors que les François assiegeront Calais, l'on verra le plomb et le fer nager sur l'eau comme le liege." Brantôme, Œuvres, tom. III. p. 203.
[232] Burnet, History of the Reformation, vol. III. p. 646.
[233] Ibid., p. 650.