were ample payment for the assistance that he had rendered. The French king soon began to feel himself exposed to the sole fury of the war. The emperor's sister, who governed the Low Countries, sent two armies; one to ravage Picardy, the other Champagne. Instead, however, of defending his subjects, Henry advanced to annoy those of his enemy. He entered the province of Luxembourg, overran it, and took several towns. The emperor, in the mean time, had mustered his forces. An event that spoke well for the character of Charles was, that his captains, and the subjects of his various kingdoms, rallied to his aid instead of deserting him in his distress, and he soon found himself at the head of an army of 60,000 men. With this force he advanced to the Rhine, sedulously endeavouring to conceal the object of his march. But Henry was at no loss to discover this. The possession of the towns lately captured was of the first importance to his kingdom, which they covered on the side of Champagne, a frontier comparatively open without them; and the same reasons which prompted Henry to return and defend them obstinately, must have equally stimulated Charles to recapture them, even if ideas of retaliation and vengeance had not been a sufficient impulse.

To put Metz into a state of defence was now the sole thought of the French. It is singular, that giving battle to the emperor was never once proposed by any officer of that gallant nation. But with all the valour displayed by individuals, nothing could be more timid than the general operations of war in those days; a misfortune doubtless attributable in a great measure to the limited and almost exhausted finances of Henry.

Francis duke of Guise, who had not long succeeded to his father Claude, the first duke, took upon him the command of Metz. A great part of the warlike noblesse of France hastened to serve under his command, and, with 6000 chosen troops, composed the garrison. The exertions of Guise to conciliate the inhabitants of the new conquest, to repair and complete the fortifications,

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and to provide ample store of victuals, were strenuous. He gained on this occasion the reputation of a hero, by his activity, a quality not less excellent than courage.

It was the middle of October ere Charles invested Metz, the duke of Alva having the chief command under him. Albert of Brandenburg was in the neighbourhood with a body of mercenary troops. Both parties endeavoured to gain him, but the emperor succeeded. Albert signalised his adhesion by routing a French corps, and taking prisoner the duke of Aumale, the brother of Guise. The defence was not less obstinate. A month elapsed ere any thing like a breach could be effected, but the activity of Guise had raised new fortifications. Not even the presence of the emperor could inspire the audacity requisite for the attack. Winter at length surprised the besiegers, and it came with unusual rigour. The army, encamped under tents, soon suffered from the severity of the weather; and provisions began to grow scarce, the supplies being intercepted by hovering bodies of French cavalry. Early in December a vigorous sortie of the garrison had discomfited the imperialists. The latter, notwithstanding their position as besiegers, confined themselves to the defensive, whilst their enemies were ever ready to rush out to the attack. The difficulty, indeed, was to restrain them, and this impetuosity it was which chiefly employed the ingenuity of Guise. Charles at length tried to undermine the walls and to effect a breach; but the French countermined, and wore out his patience as well as his force. a sorry Christmas Charles raised the siege, and the glory of Guise was complete. He made a generous use of victory; provided necessaries for the wounded and famished enemy, and contrived to become as popular with the foe as he already was with the French. His troops imitated him. A squadron engaged in pursuit of the flying enemy came up with a band, who asked, simply enough, what the French wanted? "We seek to exchange a few blows, to be sure," was the reply. "We are in no condition for any such amusement,

After

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rejoined the imperialists: go away, and let us retire in quiet." The French were generous enough to follow the advice.

Charles shut himself up in Brussels, devoured with mortification, and tormented by the gout. "I see that fortune is a woman," exclaimed he: "she abandons my grey hairs." The emperor's spirit rallied, however, when the season arrived for again entering the field, and he succeeded in taking partial vengeance. He made himself master of Terouanne; and in his anger rased and obliterated it so completely, that not a vestige of it now remains. This was an important loss. Terouanne in the north, and Aix in the south, were considered the bulwarks of the kingdom, or, in the words of Francis I., they were "the pillows on which a king of France might lay his head.”* Hesdin, a strong town on the borders of Picardy, was also taken by the emperor. There seems to have been no army to oppose to him; the want of troops being still owing to the low state of the finances. The revenue was not sufficient for the defence of the kingdom. The government feared to increase the taxes, and had recourse to temporary expedients for raising money; while they feared to convoke the statesgeneral, who might have adapted the revenue to the advance and exigencies of the time. Besides the usual expedient of creating new offices, and of rendering the old offices hereditary, for money, a kind of stamp or registry duty was established; and an iniquitous law obliged the subject, in certain cases, to yield up his income to the king in lieu of uncertain and long-dated drafts on the salt fund.

In policy Charles still showed himself to have the advantage. The marriage of Philip, his eldest son, with Mary queen of England, in the commencement of 1554, menaced Henry with a renewal of that league which had crushed his father. The French, however, seemed determined to repair the ill success of the last campaign.

It is curious here to observe that Napoleon looked on Antwerp, Mayence, and Alessandria, as the bulwarks of his empire.

1554.

SIEGE OF RENTI.

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Montmorency, whom the loss of Therouanne had thrown into a fit of sickness, spent the winter in the collection of funds and forces; and Henry, accompanied by the constable and the duke of Guise, entered the Low Countries. They laid siege to Marienburg, and took it: Bovines and Dinant were also won. Philibert Emma

nuel prince of Savoy, the son of that duke whom the arms of Francis I. had dispossessed, cannonaded the imperialists, but had no force competent to oppose the French. In those days of narrow resources and unsettled finances, contending powers seldom made a simultaneous effort. Previous bad success, or a sudden impulse, excited one of them to a great exertion, which, until an interval had elapsed, it was impossible to renew. Thus advantage alternated from side to side, and even victory brought no decision. This year the French were in sufficient force for battle, and it was the desire of Guise to fight; but the prudent Montmorency, to whose opinions the king paid great deference, would not admit of risk. The veteran constable began to entertain considerable jealousy of Guise, and of the fame he had acquired by the defence of Metz. Montmorency put forward his nephew Gaspard de Coligny as a competitor of Guise, placing Coligny under the duke's command, to watch and witness his proceedings.

The French invested Renti, a frontier town of Artois, and warmly pressed the siege. Charles himself advanced to throw succours into it, and encamped near the French. The duke of Guise commanded the wing or division next to the emperor. He conceived a plan for drawing on a general action by means of an ambuscade, to which he enticed the enemy's cavalry. A partial engagement ensued, in which Guise was victorious; but as the constable refused to march to his assistance, or make the contest general, the emperor retired to his camp and fortified it. To take Renti in his presence was impracticable, and the siege was therefore abandoned. It was the cause of a lively dispute between Guise and the constable, and their mutual enmity became henceforth de

clared. In Italy the principal event of the war was the revolt of Sienna in favour of France, and the gallant siege sustained for more than six months by that town against a far superior force. The siege, as recorded by Montluc himself, the commander, is renowned. Montlue was the Gascon whose impatient oddity and eloquence had won Francis I. to give permission for the battle of Cerisoles. He was a brave but reckless and cruel adventurer: he fully displays in his Memoirs that quality of his native province which has become proverbial, viz. gasconading. He was in the end obliged to surrender Sienna. The French indemnified themselves soon afterwards by the conquest of Corsica.

The year 1555 commenced with an attempt at concluding a peace, under the mediation of cardinal Pole. It failed, but not owing to the spirit or inveteracy of the belligerents. As to Charles, he soon after gave the most convincing proofs that ambition and revenge were alike dead within him. He resigned the crown of Spain, with his possessions in Italy and the Low Countries to his son Philip. He endeavoured to unite the empire in the same hands, but his brother Ferdinand, already emperor elect, was resolute in supporting his right to the full dignity. The time chosen for these resignations was towards the close of the year 1555. Ere they took place, the intrigues of the pope, Paul IV., Caraffa by name, awakened those dormant hopes of conquest in Italy which the French never could altogether abandon. The elevation of a new pope was the signal for his relatives to aim at principalities. The nephews of Caraffa might indulge in such aspirations, but the Roman territories had been sufficiently curtailed by the cession of Parma to Farnese. From the emperor, who was hostile to Paul's election, they had nothing to hope. Recourse was therefore had to Henry, and temptations were held out to him to undertake the conquest of Naples, the native country of Caraffa. Henry hesitated, and Montmorency strengthened his prudent resolve not to embroil France again in the unlucky politics of Italy. The Guises were of a dif