MADAME LA DUCHESSE.
Severe operations in Alsace, which luckily left me little time for
reflection, followed this cavalry affair. Picardy was invaded by
twenty thousand horse and ten thousand foot, all Spaniards, led by
Piccolomini and Prince Thomas of Savoy. Hepburn's Scottish corps,
now known as the Regiment de Douglas (their new colonel the Laird of
Waughton was recently killed in Alsace), being commanded by Lord
James, son of the first Marquis of Douglas, was withdrawn from the
army to oppose them, and stopped their career on the banks of the
Somme. I saw those gallant veterans no more; but the Scots of Ramsay
and Leslie remained with us under the Duke of Weimar. The Austrians,
led by Count Galias, broke into Franche Compte, but were driven back
by the Vicomte de Turenne, with the loss of five thousand men; while
De la Force defeated the troops of Colloredo on the Alsatian side of
the Rhine, with the loss of twelve hundred slain and taken.
Moreover, to increase the general confusion and complete the ruin of
Duke Charles of Lorraine, about the close of this year his friend and
patron the Emperor Ferdinand II. died suddenly; and by an unexpected
movement of the troops of Lavalette, the fine palace at Nanci was
retaken, sacked, stripped, and destroyed; all the court of Duke
Charles were dispersed or taken, and where Marie Louise found
shelter, whether in a German convent near the Rhine, or at Vienna, I
knew not; as in our camp we heard but little of the war in which we
were engaged.
I feared at times that she might connect me with the death of
Pappenheim, and conceive a repugnance for me in consequence. I
shrunk from this idea, and longed to acquaint her that however great
was my enmity to the Count, he did not--even on that honourable
field--perish by my hand, but by the sword of a friend, who had at
once avenged me, and averted a crowning act of treachery.
The Duke of Weimar turned all the energies of his combined force of
French, Scots, and Swedes, to drive the Imperialists from his
newly-gifted dukedom of Alsace, and with this view he invaded all the
strong places. Thus, while serving with the Garde du Corps, I was at
the siege of Colmar, a large town situated on the western bank of a
rapid stream; there we stormed the breach into which my old
acquaintance M. Schreckhorn and his petardiers fired thrice a
cartouche from a mortar, which each time made a frightful slaughter
among the stormers; as these cartouches are wooden cases, three
inches thick, bound with marline, and hold ten iron balls of a pound
each, with about four hundred musket-balls; but in spite of all
opposition we took the town, which was afterwards ceded to France by
the treaty of Munster in 1648, when its walls were demolished by
Louis XIV.
We next assailed Hagenau, an imperial city which was defended by the
Prince of Vaudemont. It is situated in the lower province, and was
frequently the scene of contention, as it stands near the frontier,
and was the seat of the Grand Bailiff of Alsace. While skirmishing
with Colloredo's horse in the large forest near it six cuirassiers of
the Garde du Corps were slain. One of these, Raynold Cheyne of
Dundargle, was killed while rescuing the Chevalier Livingstone when
fighting against great odds. On the night before this affair Cheyne
dreamed that six soldiers bore him through a forest on their muskets;
and singular to say, after receiving his mortal wound, six of
Ramsay's Scots carried him thus to the rear, and he expired in their
hands. His dream thus became prophetic; and we buried him with five
others, who were all gallant Scottish gentlemen, under a large
chestnut-tree near the bank of the Zorna. The defence of Hagenau was
obstinate, and before surrendering the soldiers made a defence so
resolute, 'that one of them,' says Vaudemont, 'after expending his
bullets, fired all his teeth at the enemy.'
The Prince effected his escape; but after plundering the churches a
gold crucifix worth three thousand pounds was sold by a Scots
musketeer to a Jew for a rix-dollar and a bottle of brandy.
Then came the attack on Schlettstadt, a strong place, on one side
protected by deep and swampy morasses, which, being full of willows
and rushes, prevented all access. The defence was vigorous and the
operations severe. Night after night we came back from the trenches
to our tents as weary as if we had been rolling the stone of
Sisyphus. As I seemed to exist without aim or purpose I was reckless
of life, and exposed myself to so many dangers that my name was in
the mouths of the whole army; and strange to say, though I was one of
the stormers in three assaults, as the columns of the French
'Mercury' attest, and was honourably mentioned, too, in the
despatches of the Marquis of Gordon, the Dukes of Weimar and
Lavalette, I was never touched by sword or dagger, pike or bullet.
We captured Schlettstadt in the night, by means of a flying bridge
across the morass; old Colonel Ramsay, with eight hundred of his
Scots, led the way; our Marechal de Logis, Dundrennan, the Chevalier
Livingstone d'Angoulême, and half the cuirassiers of the Guard being
mingled with them on foot. The Austrians poured such a shower of
round shot, shell, and grape that twice as we came near we were
forced to lie flat on our faces, while the iron hail screamed and
hissed over us to tear up the morass beyond; and as this fire
destroyed our bridge, we had no alternative but to proceed and
conquer or be hacked to pieces.
Pressing on with a loud hurrah, while the very air seemed alive with
shot of every kind, rockets, and fire balls, we plunged into the
ditches, placed our echelles against the bastion, and sword in hand
hewed a passage in. Even after that we had to fight every inch of
the way along narrow streets, full of armed men, and swept by the
fire of field-pieces, levelled over barricades of fallen houses and
torn-up paving stones. In this defence a young knight of Malta
distinguished himself so much that our soldiers declared he was
visible in twelve places at once. But as the Duke de Lavalette said,
'The Scots fought here like Hectors and the Frenchmen fought like
Scots--and the place was taken in an hour;' then, like Colmar and
Hagenau, it was garrisoned by troops who were afterwards blockaded by
the Spaniards; but our capture was ultimately confirmed to France by
the treaty of Westphalia.
On the day following the fall of Schlettstadt, while passing through
a solitary street which was less encumbered by dead bodies, exploded
bombs, cold shot, and fallen houses than other thoroughfares of the
town, I met several groups of brawling soldiers, and found an
Imperial cavalier, whose sword-arm had been broken and bound by a
scarf, feebly defending himself with his poniard against five or six
drunken Switzers of Lavalette's corps. Drawing my sword I drove them
aside, but not until I had given one a slash across the face which
cooled his ardour and alarmed his comrades. I then gave my hand to
the wounded gentleman, on whose black cuirass I perceived the gilded
cross of Malta, and recognised the hero of the defence.
'I was wounded by your stormers during the assault, monsieur, and
concealed myself in a house, hoping that I might escape: but was
discovered by these Switzers who were in search of beer and plunder.
As I have now only to surrender, I yield my sword without shame,
since it is given to one of the Garde du Corps Ecossais.'
'I thank you for the compliment, monsieur; but beg of you to retain
your sword, and allow me to have your wound attended to.'
'Do, for pity sake--the agony I suffer is unspeakable; so much so
that I did not at first recognise you, M. Blane. Do you not remember
me?'
I surveyed him attentively, and said,
'We have met in Paris, perhaps?'
'Nay, monsieur, have you forgotten the night you spent at the little
chapel of St. Nicolas in the Wood, near Nanci, and the narrow escape
you had from the ambush formed by Pappenheim and De Bitche?--Do you
remember who visited you there?'
'René, the foster-brother of Marie Louise?'
'René, the knight of Malta--yes--I am he.'
'Pardon me, my kind friend, for amid the confusion of such scenes as
those of yesterday and to-day, together with your change of costume,
and your paleness, it is not surprising that I did not at first
recognise you. Nanci was sacked?'
'And the ducal palace destroyed.'
'Where now is duke Charles?'
'Alas! we know not.'
'Vaudemont?'
'A fugitive with the remains of his garrison on the German side of
the Rhine.'
'And--and mademoiselle?
'Dear Marie Louise!' exclaimed René, as his fine eyes filled with
passionate enthusiasm, while his cheek grew, if possible, paler; 'she
is now Madame la Duchesse d'Alsace.'
It was now my turn to tremble and grow pale.
'Pardon me, M. René; but did I hear you aright?'
'Yes,' said he, casting down his melancholy eyes; 'she is now
married--married within a week after Pappenheim, her betrothed and
her abhorrence, was slain.'
'Married!' I reiterated in a whisper, for I could scarcely speak, 'to
whom?'
'Monseigneur le Duc d'Alsace.'
'This duke is but a boy--a child!'
'True.'
'But this union is impossible!'
'Nothing of that kind is impossible to dukes and princes.'
'I do not understand you,' said I, considerably ruffled by a mixture
of anger and agitation which I laboured in vain to conceal. 'I
remember a little boy named Duke of Alsace, who accompanied Charles
IV. in his procession through Nanci.'
'With his coronet borne before him by a knight of Malta--myself.
Well, that little boy is now the husband of Marie Louise,' said he,
with a sneer on his pale lip.
'And this espousal--' I gasped.
'Is valid and true, though Louise is nearly twenty and her spouse is
not yet ten years of age.'
'Infamous and absurd!'
'Absurd as it is cruel!' added René, with deep emotion; 'but such
unions and such measures are justified by the crooked policy of
princes and the stern pressure of war. This child is hereditary Duke
of Alsace and Lord of the nine Bailiewicks of Leichtenbourg, Baron of
Landau and Lauterbourg, of Ferette and Aultkirk; consequently to
unite him more closely to the crushed house of Lorraine, duke Charles
his guardian--sharp, short, and decisive in everything--arranged, and
in three days executed the hitherto unconceived idea of espousing his
daughter, in all the bloom of beauty and of womanhood, to a sickly
little child.'
'And who performed this atrocious ceremony?' I asked, through my
clenched teeth.
'The most reverend Father in God, the Lord Bishop of Strasbourg,'
replied René, his dark eyes flashing with irony.
'And when did this happen?'
'About two months ago. I stood by the side of Marie Louise at this
sacrifice--a most cruel and wicked sacrifice it was! Yet I would
rather see her the bride of this harmless little boy, than of any
living man,' continued René, with an emotion that too evidently was
not caused by the pain of his wound. 'Yet what is it to me--this
cross is my bride?'
'And how did Louise look?'
'Oh, lovelier and paler than ever, M. Blane!'
'Did she weep?' I asked, sternly.
'No--not a tear fell from her; she was pale as marble; and when her
father--cold, stern, and proud--kissed her after the cruel ceremony,
and whispered gaily (for I heard him), "Mademoiselle, your spouse
will grow older, so remember the ancient rhyme,
"As your wedding-ring wears,
So will your cares,'
a sickly smile flitted over her wan face; and her child-husband, who
is attracted by her gentleness, and has for her all the love of a son
for a mother, or of a brother for a pale and kind sad sister, clung
to her robe as he left the altar by her side, confounded and
perplexed by the strange ceremony in which he had borne a part so
prominent; and more pleased evidently with a handsome falcon given to
him by Vaudemont, than the beautiful bride just given him by God.'
'Do not say so!' I exclaimed, passionately.
'True--'tis almost blasphemous--by duke Charles then.'
Here was ample food for thought and sorrow!