1590.

BATTLE OF IVRY.

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The leaguers retreated to Picardy, in hopes of being supported by the Spaniards. Henry, reinforced by the long. expected English, advanced to Paris, and well-nigh surprised the affrighted capital. The tower and gate de Nesle, situated where the Institute now stands, was then the limit of Paris.* La Noue swam his horse round by the river, but was driven back by musketry; whilst the petard applied by Chatillon to the gate would not explode. The royalists avenged themselves by the plunder of the Fauxbourg St. Germain, which yielded a rich booty. Sully had 3000 crowns for his share. There was much cruelty on both sides; the Parisians hanging those whom they suspected, and Biron retaliating on the prisoners he had made. Winter did not interrupt the fury of the war, which raged all through the kingdom. Henry employed his arms in reducing several towns in Normandy. In the spring of 1590 he was engaged in the siege of Dreux, when the duke of Mayenne, reinforced by a body of Spaniards, advanced to relieve the town, and try his fortune once more in war against Bourbon.

The king did not tarry at Dreux, but advanced to the rencontre. The two armies came in presence on the evening of the 13th of March. Both encamped on the plain of Ivry, destined, on the morrow, to be the field of battle. The leaguers amounted to 16,000; the royalists were far inferior in number. On the eve of action, de Schomberg, the general of the German auxiliaries, was pressed by his troops to ask Henry for their pay. The king, destitute of funds, was irritated at the request. "A man of courage," he replied, would not have asked for money on the eve of battle." The next morning, while preparing for action, Henry perceived the general, and thus accosted him: " Schomberg, I have insulted you, and as this day may be the last of my life, I would not carry away the honor of a gentleman, and be unable to restore it. I know your valor, and ask your pardon: embrace me. "Your majesty wounded me yesterday-you kill me to-day," replied the veteran, overcome; and he spoke truth, for he perished in the battle.

The king was most in dread of the Spanish lances. His own cavalry, composed of gentlemen volunteers, had long since rejected the lance as troublesome, and fought with sword and pistol. Henry, therefore divided them into small squadrons, that if one was broken, it might rally to the others; and he thus favored this mode of fighting, which was rather the ordering of combats man to man, than the manœuvring

* There is a picture by Wouvermans in the Louvre, which represents the Tour de Nesle, then the gate of Paris, with the Pont Neuf in the distance.

and shock of masses.* Cavalry and infantry were mingled, regiment supported regiment, and Biron commanded a corps of reserve. After a prayer, in which Henry joined, he addressed his officers ere he gave the signal, desiring, that if they should be obliged to quit the field, they would rally towards three trees, which he pointed out on the right; "and if astray,” added he, "follow my white plume: you will find it ever on the road to honor and to victory."

There was little order in the action: on one wing the Germans of the league behaved ill and yielded; on the other the royalists were beaten, but Biron rallied them with reinforcements. The combat was decided by the central force of either army; the count d'Egmont leading the Spaniards, and Mayenne the gentlemen of his party, against the king. The leaguers were marshalled too closely together. Henry's squadron got among them, and a sanguinary mêlée ensued. The king was reported to be killed, but soon showed his white plume in the path that he had promised. Egmont was slain. The standard-bearer of Mayenne fell by Henry's own hand; and the army of the leaguers was routed and driven from the ground. Biron had overlooked the fight, reinforced weak points, and rallied fugitives, whilst the monarch himself fought. "Sire," said Biron, after the action, "we changed places: you did Biron's duty; Biron yours." Sully, the friend of Henry, was found disabled by a number of wounds on the field of battle.

The victory of Ivry enabled the king to reduce all the small towns around Paris, and finally to invest the capital. His soldiers were anxious to take the city by storm, and wreak vengeance on the strong-hold of the league. But Henry sought to spare his capital, and to reduce it by winning rather than by forfeiting the esteem of its inhabitants. He at the same time formed a blockade, proposing, through famine, to subdue his enemies. Mayenne had gone to Flanders, to seek aid from Farnese, prince of Parma, general of king Philip in that country. The duke of Nemours, uterine brother of the Guises, commanded in the capital, supported by the Spanish ambassador Mendoza, and the legate of the pope. These personages exerted themselves to the utmost in engaging the Parisians to support the privations of a siege. The priesthood walked in procession, armed with sword and casque, and were reviewed by the legate, who was much alarmed by the joyous firing of these awkward recruits. Henry tried, by negotiation, to bring the Parisians to terms, but the fanatical

* This, no doubt, is the reason why Buonaparte spoke so slightingly of Heary Quatre as a general.

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PARIS BESIEGED.

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party was too powerful. By way of menace, the Huguenots assaulted and took all the fauxbourgs or suburbs, in one night; the king overlooking the general attack from his quarters on Montmartre. The besieged were at length reduced to extremities, and began to eat all kinds of lothesome aliments, carrion, ground bones, and even human flesh. Their numbers were estimated at 230,000.* The duke of Nemours sent away the useless mouths: Henry took pity on the people thus driven forth, and suffered them to pass his lines; nay, he was even moved with compassion towards the stubborn city, and granted a passage to several convoys of provisions for its relief.

Mayenne, however, approached with the prince of Parma, and Henry was obliged to leave his quarters at Montmartre to combat the Spaniards. This diversion was the sole aim of Farnese, who, retreating from the king, fell suddenly upon Lagny, a town commanding the course of the Marne, and took it. Provisions of all kinds immediately floated down to Paris. In vain the king challenged Farnese to action. The latter replied, "It was the business of the king to force him." This Henry could not do; and the prince, having fully succeeded in relieving Paris, retired again into the Low Countries.

This disappointment, at the moment when the royalists were expecting to make themselves masters of the capital, was almost tantamount to a defeat. The army, as usual, became in a great measure disbanded when its aim was gone; and, in the state of languor and inactivity imposed on both sides, fresh parties sprang up, and fresh intrigues were the consequence. Mayenne was crossed by the Spaniards and the duke of Nemours. Henry was pestered on one side by the. Catholics, who besought his conversion; on the other, by the Huguenots, who threatened to abandon him if he took such a step. That he had long meditated it, there is no doubt. On his accession he had promised to re-examine his con science, and to listen to the arguments of the orthodox. Policy, not conviction, was now the chief, if not the only argument with him, in estimating creeds. The old cardinal of Bourbon, the Charles X. of the league, was dead. His nephew, now cardinal of Bourbon, began, though in the interests of Henry, to entertain projects of ambition. He succeeded in forming a new third party of Catholics, opposed, however, to Mayenne,

* Perefixe estimates the population of Paris in that day at 300,000; but this must appear an exaggeration, if we consider that the fauxbourgs were not included. He says it was double that number in Louis XIV.'s reign. an estimate also exaggerated, since Paris at the present moment does not contain 900.000 inhabitants.

to Spain, and to the league; attached to Henry, yet insisting on his conversion as indispensable. The act which had been loudly demanded by queen Elizabeth and the German princes, from whom the king was then expecting aid,--that celebrated edict in favor of the Protestants, the first that Henry issued, -at once offended the new party and strengthened the league. The king was glad to escape from these intrigues to feats of war, by which, had he possessed funds or armies, he would have soon decided the question, and cut the Gordian knot of religious differences. He was this year, however, obliged to confine himself to petty enterprises. He took Chartres, and laid siege to Rouen. Mayenne instantly summoned the prince of Parma to march to the relief of this town. The prince negotiated, and refused to stir until the town of La Fère was delivered to him. Philip II. had, in fact, separated his interests from those of Mayenne: he now sought to turn the league to his own advantage; a selfish policy, that contributed more than any other cause to establish Henry on his throne. To his throne Philip hoped to elevate his daughter the infanta, whom the young duke of Guise was to espouse. The pope's legate seconded his views, and Spanish gold gained the sixteen, who governed the municipality of Paris.

The duke of Mayenne was at Soissons, expecting the army of Farnese, when the sixteen sought to consummate their authority. The personages who most stood in their way were the chiefs of the parliament, and Brisson, who, during the captivity of Harlai and of the loyal members, had been promoted to the presidency. He had become disgusted with the ferocity of the sixteen, and had shown this in his judgments. A surreptitious order was procured for the execution of this magistrate and two of his fellows; and it was instantly carried into effect by Bussi, a red-hot leaguer. This outrage disgusted and roused the citizens. Mayenne was called to the capital. The murderers of Brisson, with the exception of Bussi, were themselves hanged, and the Parisians applauded he retribution. The sixteen were deprived of their authority; and Mayenne, now aware of the perfidy of Spain and the fickleness of the mob, regained the influence with which he might either oppose or treat with Henry.

The king pressed the siege of Rouen, when word was brought that the prince of Parma had again entered France. Leaving Biron in command of the siege, Henry marched to meet him; but had not force sufficient to warrant his giving battle. At the head of merely a reconnoitring party of a hundred horse, he was surprised at Aumale by the prince of Parma's advanced guard Sully begged him to retire; but

1593.

POLITICAL PARTIES.

279

Henry, ever anxious to exchange blows, fought in the rear; was exposed to the most imminent danger; and received a wound, fortunately but slight, from a pistol-shot. It was on this occasion that queen Elizabeth begged of him not to expose his person so rashly. Mornay wrote, that "he had long enough played the part of Alexander: it was time for him to act Augustus."

This glory, however, served but to veil the disasters of the campaign. Biron's force was routed by a sally of the Rouennois, and the siege was completely raised. Henry's bravest captains now began to fall around him. La Noue had not ong before perished in battle. Biron was carried away by a cannon-shot at Epernay. The force of the royalists alone could never, without concessions, reduce the stubborn spirits of the league in obedience to Henry. He therefore began seriously to meditate on the expediency of taking the grand step of recantation.

The states-general assembled at Paris in the commencement of the year 1593. The duke of Mayenne, who trembled for his influence, attempted to divide the assembly into five estates, placing the court, the great officers of the crown, and governors of provinces, apart from the small noblesse. The judicial body, or presidents of parliament, were also to be apart, as in the time of Henry II. But this was overruled · and the ancient division of three estates prevailed. The avowed object of the assembly was to elect a king. All agreed that the existence of a Protestant king was inadmissible; a principle not irrational for zealous Catholics, considering that the monarch was to possess absolute power, and that his ordinances were to be laws. The wonder is, that no guarantee was imagined in the form of a representative body, invested with the right of assembling and of sharing in legislative functions. But this amalgamation of monarchy and liberty was not yet considered feasible. Anxieties for freedom were lost in the zeal for religious ascendency; and all those fiery demagogues, who represented the popular spirit, were inocu ated with the bigotry, and bought with the gold, of Spain.

There were, in fact, but three parties in the states. First, the Politiques, or Catholics; anxious not to interrupt the legitimate line of succession, provided Henry would recant. At the head of this were the great personages of the judicature. The second was the party of Mayenne, the aristocracy of the league; wavering and unfixed in their choice and determinations. The third, and the most powerful, was that of Spain, supported by the legate. They argued, that the Salic law was not fundamental; that females might succeed and r.gn in France; and that Philip's daughter, the infanta, had