bristled so thick about him, that his horse's bridle was torn off. When the animal felt himself without rein, he rushed, in spite of the Swiss, right through their ranks, and was carrying his rider straight into another body of them, when he was fortunately arrested by some vines festooned from tree to tree. Not losing his presence of mind, he quickly dismounted, threw off his helmet and crosses, and crawled along the ditches to the French camp without being discovered. The loss of the French was very great, but they, nevertheless, gained the victory, and the town of Milan surrendered. The king, on this occasion, desired to confer the honour of knighthood on certain of his officers; but as, by the rules of chivalry, only a knight could confer the honour, he sent for the Lord de Bayard, and informed him first of all that he himself wished to be knighted by him, as being 'the knight of greatest renown for his feats of arms on foot and on horseback in divers battles.' Bayard urged that a crowned king, like Francis, was already a knight above all other knights. But the king said: Come, Bayard, dispatch. Allege me not laws and canons; but obey my will and command, if you would be of the number of my good servants and subjects.' The good knight then replied: Certes, sire, I will do it not once, but a hundred times at your command.' And, thereupon, taking his sword, and laying it on the king's shoulder, he said: 'Sire, may you be as renowned as Roland or Oliver, Godfrey or Baldwin his brother; and God grant you may never turn your back in war!' And thereafter the good knight kept the sword as a sacred relic,' in honour of the event.

The Emperor Maximilian, incensed at the king of France for having thus conquered the duchy of Milan, came into the country with new forces, for the purpose of regaining it. He was obliged, however, to retreat; and after some suspension of hostilities, he died in the year 1519, and his grandson Charles, the king of Spain, was elected emperor in his stead. Not long after (namely, in 1522), the new emperor assembled an army of 40,000 men, and having taken several nearer towns, suddenly besieged and took Mozon, belonging to the king of France, and thence threatened the town of Maizieres, a frontier town lying on the Netherlands. Francis despatched Bayard to defend it until he could collect an army; declaring that there was no man in his kingdom in whom he had greater confidence. The good knight found the town in a very poor plight for standing a siege; but, setting every one of his soldiers to work upon the ramparts, he soon brought it into tolerable condition. Being besieged on two sides, however, he had great difficulty in sustaining the place; yet, by a stratagem, he succeeded in inducing one of the two attacking camps to remove from its position and join the other, whereby the two commanders got into a serious misunderstanding, and forthwith raised the siege. The good knight, with only 1000 men, had kept them at bay for three weeks, and, meanwhile, the king of France levied an army powerful enough to

drive them out of the country. Bayard's services were graciously acknowledged and amply recompensed by his master. He was created a knight of the order of St Michael, and received the command of a hundred men-at-arms.

Whatever might be the value of these distinctions, the good knight was not destined to enjoy them long. That inevitable Nemesis which attends the steps of every man favoured by fortune throughout many hazards, was now on the point of overtaking him. At the commencement of the year 1524, the king of France had a large army encamped at Biagras, in Italy, under the command of his admiral, the Lord de Bonnivet. In this army, Bayard held an office of command, and was sent by the admiral with some 200 men-at-arms, to watch the motions of the Spaniards near Milan, and to defend the village of Rebec against them. The place was assailable on all sides, and there were no means of fortifying it, except by barricading the entrances of the streets. For the purposes of defence, the good knight considered the forces intrusted to him as utterly insufficient, and he appears to have several times represented the danger of the enterprise to his superior the admiral. The latter, however, paid next to no attention to his representations. The Spaniards, who were 15,000 strong in Milan, learning from their spies that he was in Rebec with so small a party, determined one night to surprise him. The night selected for the purpose happened to be rainy, and the officers on guard at Rebec, suspecting no danger, had left their posts, and there remained nobody on watch but three or four archers. When the Spaniards approached within a bow-shot of the village, they were astonished at finding no one in the outskirts, and thought the good knight must have heard of their enterprise, and retired to Biagras. However, on advancing about a hundred paces further, they encountered the few archers who were on guard; and these, on being charged, instantly fled in great alarm, and hurriedly gave notice of the assault. The good knight-who, in such danger, never slept without his clothes and his armour lying by him-immediately started up, and mounting his charger, hastened, with five or six of his own men-at-arms, and a small number of infantry, under a certain Captain Lorges, to the barrier, to see what was going on. The enemy were surrounding the village, intent on finding the quarters of the Good Knight Bayard; and, indeed, if they had taken him, there would have been but little left to do. As yet, however, they could not get him. Whilst the fight was going on at the barrier, he heard the drums of their infantry beating to the attack; and straightway he desired Captain Lorges to withdraw his men, whilst he himself and the cavalry protected them in the rear. They found it necessary to abandon their baggage to the enemy, and to endeavour simply to save their lives. This eventually was done; the French making so gallant a retreat, that they lost only ten or eleven men. On reaching Biagras, the good knight had some high words

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bristled so thick about him, that his horse's bridle was torn off. When the animal felt himself without rein, he rushed, in spite of the Swiss, right through their ranks, and was carrying his rider straight into another body of them, when he was fortunately arrested by some vines festooned from tree to tree. Not losing his presence of mind, he quickly dismounted, threw off his helmet and crosses, and crawled along the ditches to the French camp without being discovered. The loss of the French was very great, but they, nevertheless, gained the victory, and the town of Milan surrendered. The king, on this occasion, desired to confer the honour of knighthood on certain of his officers; but as, by the rules of chivalry, only a knight could confer the honour, he sent for the Lord de Bayard, and informed him first of all that he himself wished to be knighted by him, as being 'the knight of greatest renown for his feats of arms on foot and on horseback in divers battles.' Bayard urged that a crowned king, like Francis, was already a knight above all other knights. But the king said: Come, Bayard, dispatch. Allege me not laws and canons; but obey my will and command, if you would be of the number of my good servants and subjects.' The good knight then replied: Certes, sire, I will do it not once, but a hundred times at your command.' And, thereupon, taking his sword, and laying it on the king's shoulder, he said: 'Sire, may you be as renowned as Roland or Oliver, Godfrey or Baldwin his brother; and God grant you may never turn your back in war!' And thereafter the good knight kept the sword as a sacred relic,' in honour of the event.

The Emperor Maximilian, incensed at the king of France for having thus conquered the duchy of Milan, came into the country with new forces, for the purpose of regaining it. He was obliged, however, to retreat; and after some suspension of hostilities, he died in the year 1519, and his grandson Charles, the king of Spain, was elected emperor in his stead. Not long after (namely, in 1522), the new emperor assembled an army of 40,000 men, and having taken several nearer towns, suddenly besieged and took Mozon, belonging to the king of France, and thence threatened the town of Maizieres, a frontier town lying on the Netherlands. Francis despatched Bayard to defend it until he could collect an army; declaring that there was no man in his kingdom in whom he had greater confidence. The good knight found the town in a very poor plight for standing a siege; but, setting every one of his soldiers to work upon the ramparts, he soon brought it into tolerable condition. Being besieged on two sides, however, he had great difficulty in sustaining the place; yet, by a stratagem, he succeeded in inducing one of the two attacking camps to remove from its position and join the other, whereby the two commanders got into a serious misunderstanding, and forthwith raised the siege. The good knight, with only 1000 men, had kept them at bay for three weeks, and, meanwhile, the king of France levied an army powerful enough to

drive them out of the country. Bayard's services were graciously acknowledged and amply recompensed by his master. He was created a knight of the order of St Michael, and received the command of a hundred men-at-arms.

Whatever might be the value of these distinctions, the good knight was not destined to enjoy them long. That inevitable Nemesis which attends the steps of every man favoured by fortune throughout many hazards, was now on the point of overtaking him. At the commencement of the year 1524, the king of France had a large army encamped at Biagras, in Italy, under the command of his admiral, the Lord de Bonnivet. In this army, Bayard held an office of command, and was sent by the admiral with some 200 men-at-arms, to watch the motions of the Spaniards near Milan, and to defend the village of Rebec against them. The place was assailable on all sides, and there were no means of fortifying it, except by barricading the entrances of the streets. For the purposes of defence, the good knight considered the forces intrusted to him as utterly insufficient, and he appears to have several times represented the danger of the enterprise to his superior the admiral. The latter, however, paid next to no attention to his representations. The Spaniards, who were 15,000 strong in Milan, learning from their spies that he was in Rebec with so small a party, determined one night to surprise him. The night selected for the purpose happened to be rainy, and the officers on guard at Rebec, suspecting no danger, had left their posts, and there remained nobody on watch but three or four archers. When the Spaniards approached within a bow-shot of the village, they were astonished at finding no one in the outskirts, and thought the good knight must have heard of their enterprise, and retired to Biagras. However, on advancing about a hundred paces further, they encountered the few archers who were on guard; and these, on being charged, instantly fled in great alarm, and hurriedly gave notice of the assault. The good knight—who, in such danger, never slept without his clothes and his armour lying by him-immediately started up, and mounting his charger, hastened, with five or six of his own men-at-arms, and a small number of infantry, under a certain Captain Lorges, to the barrier, to see what was going on. The enemy were surrounding the village, intent on finding the quarters of the Good Knight Bayard; and, indeed, if they had taken him, there would have been but little left to do. As yet, however, they could not get him. Whilst the fight was going on at the barrier, he heard the drums of their infantry beating to the attack; and straightway he desired Captain Lorges to withdraw his men, whilst he himself and the cavalry protected them in the rear. They found it necessary to abandon their baggage to the enemy, and to endeavour simply to save their lives. This eventually was done; the French making so gallant a retreat, that they lost only ten or eleven men. On reaching Biagras, the good knight had some high words

with the admiral, which the chronicler has not thought it proper to repeat. A short time after this affair, the said admiral, perceiving his camp to be diminishing daily through want and sickness, called together a council of war, and it was then determined to withdraw the army. In the retreat, the good knight, as usual, remained with the rear-guard. The Spaniards followed them from day to day, and had frequent skirmishes with them on the way; but whenever they came to charge, they were gallantly driven back by Bayard and his men-at-arms. On one occasion, the Spaniards threw out on each side of the road a large body of hacquebuters and harquebuseers, whose pieces carried large stones, and with these they did the French considerable injury. Various gallant noblemen were slain; and, worse than all, the good knight himself was one among the number. He was steadily retiring before the Spaniards, and frequently turning back to face them, maintaining the greatest calmness and resolution amidst the peril, when suddenly a stone from a harquebuse struck him on the loins, and broke the great bone of the spine.' He was on the point of falling from his horse, but still had strength enough to support himself by holding on to the saddle, till a young gentleman helped him to dismount. He was now pressed to withdraw from the field, but his answer was, that he had never yet turned his back upon an enemy. He was placed against a tree, with his face towards the Spaniards, who, on hearing he was wounded, became instantly impressed with great concern on his account: 'for,' says his biographer, he had always been very kind to his prisoners, and liberal in respect of their ransom; and they knew that, by his death, nobility itself was impaired, for, without disparaging others, he was the most perfect knight in this world.'

The Marquis of Pescara, and other noble Spaniards, who came to see him before he died, expressed the greatest commiseration at his fate, and spoke loudly in praise of his honour, daring, and magnanimity. Amongst others came the Duke of Bourbon, who had been formerly engaged in a conspiracy against the king of France, and having fled the kingdom, was now in command of the Spanish army. He came with the intent of endeavouring to console the noble knight, telling him how distressed he was at the accident which had befallen him, and offering to send him the best surgeons in the country, by whose assistance, timely rendered, he thought he might possibly be cured. But when the good knight recognised him, he answered: My lord, I have no longer need of physicians for the body, but of those of the soul. I am not to be pitied, who die with my honour unsullied; but pity is rather due to you, who are in arms against your prince, your country, and your oath.' He continued to live for two or three hours; the enemy having stretched a handsome tent over him, and laid him on a bed. A priest was brought, to whom he devoutly confessed himself; and then, with a final prayer for mercy at the hands of the Eternal, he calmly yielded up his breath.

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