Being in the city, I entered into a stable, thinking to lodge my own and my man's horse, where I found four dead soldiers, and three which were leaning against the wall, their faces wholly dis-, figured; and neither saw, nor heard, nor spake; and their clothes did yet flame with gunpowder, which had burnt them. Beholding them with pity, there happened to come an old soldier, who asked me, if there were any possible means to cure them? I told him, no: he presently approached to them, and cut their throats, without choler; [or, as Parey says, Il s'approcha d'eux et leur coupa la gorge doucement et sans colère.'] Seeing this great cruelty, I told him he was a wicked man: he answered me, that he prayed to God, that whensoever he should be in such a case, that he might find some one who would do as much for him, to the end, that he might not miserably languish.* To return to our former discourse, the enemy was summoned to surrender, which they soon did, and went out their lives only saved, with a white staff in their hands; the greatest part whereof went, and got to the castle of Villane, where there were about two hundred Spaniards. Monsieur, the Constable, would not leave them behind, to the end that the way might be made free. This castle is seated upon a little mountain, which gave great assurance to them within, that one could not plant the ordnance to beat upon it, and they were summoned to render, or that they should be cut in pieces; which they flatly refused, making answer, That they were as faithful servants to the emperor, as Monsieur, the Constable, could be to the king, his master. This answer heard, they made, by force of arms, two great cannons to be mounted in the night with cords and ropes, by the Swissers and Lasquenets; when, as ill-luck would have it, the two cannons being seated, a gunner, by great negligence, set on fire a great bag of gunpowder, wherewith he was burned, together with ten or twelve soldiers; and, moreover, the flame of the powder was a cause of discovering the artillery, which made them in the castle do nothing but shoot all night long at that place, where they discovered the two

In one of the most interesting little books that has been published for some time, written by a private soldier, and entitled Recollections of an Eventful Life,' the second volume of which has just appeared, there is a similar case.

"In particular places of the village, where a stand had been made, or the shot brought to bear, the slaughter had been immense, which was the case near the river, and at the small chapel on our side of the town. Among the rest, lay one poor fellow of the 88th light company, who had been severely wounded, and seemed to suffer excruciating agony, for he begged of those who passed him to put him out of torture. Although, from the nature of his wound, there was no possibility of his surviving, yet none felt inclined to comply with his request, until a German of the 60th rifle battalion, after hesitating a few moments, raised his rifle, and putting the muzzle of it to his head, fired the contents of it through it. Whether this deed deserved praise or blame, I leave others to determine." Vol. ii. p. 20.

pieces of ordnance; wherewith they killed and hurt a great number of people. The next day, early in the morning, a battery was made, which, in a few hours, made a breach; which being made, they demanded to parley with us; but it was too late for them, for, in the mean time, our French foot, seeing them amazed, mounted to the breach, and cut them all in pieces, except a fair young lusty maid of Piedmont, which a great lord would have kept, and preserved for himself, to keep him company in the night, for fear of the greedy wolf. The captain and ensign were taken alive, but soon after were hanged upon the gate of the city, to the end, that they might give example and fear to the imperial soldiers, not to be so rash and foolish, to be willing to hold such places, against so great an army. Now, all the soldiers of the castle, seeing our people coming with a most violent fury, did all their endeavours to defend themselves; they killed and hurt a great company of our soldiers, with pikes, muskets, and stones, when the surgeons had good store of work cut out. Now, at that time, I was a fresh-water soldier; I had not yet seen wounds made by gun-shot, at the first dressing. It is true, I had read, in John de Vigo, that wounds made by weapons of fire did participate of venenosity, by reason of the powder; and for their cure, he commands to cauterize them with oil of elder, scalding hot, in which should be mingled a little treacle. Before I applied the said oil, knowing that such a thing would bring to the patient great pain, I was willing to know first, before I applied it, how the other surgeons did for the first dressing, which was to apply the said oil, the hottest that was possible, into the wounds, with tents and setons; insomuch, that I took courage to do as they did. At last I wanted oil, and was constrained, instead thereof, to apply a digestive of yolks of eggs, oil of roses, and tur pentine. In the night, I could not sleep in quiet, fearing some default in not cauterizing, and that I should find those to whom I had not used the burning oil, died impoisoned; which made me rise very early to visit them, where, beyond my expectation, I found those to whom I had applied my digestive medicine, to feel little pain, and their wounds without inflammation or tumour, having rested reasonably well that night. The others, to whom was used the burning oil, I found feverish, with great pain and tumour about the edges of their wounds. And then I resolved with myself, never so cruelly to burn poor men wounded with gun-shot. Being at Thurin, I found a surgeon, who had the fame, above all others, for the curing of the wounds of gunshot; into whose favour I found means to insinuate myself, to have the receipt of his balm, as he called it, wherewith he dressed wounds of that kind, and he held me off the space of two years, before I could draw the receipt from him. In the end, by gifts and presents, he gave it me, which was this: to boil young whelps, new pupped, in oil of lilies, prepared earth-worms, with turpentine of Venice. Then was I joyful, and my heart made glad, that I had understood his remedy, which was like that which I had obtained by great chance. See, then, how I have learned to dress wounds made with gun-shot, not by books."

Parey proceeds to give an account of the high estimation in which he was held, and of the great number of wounded soldiers confided to his care.

The Voyage of Marolle and of Low Britany. (Basse Bretagne)

1543.

"I went to the camp of Marolle, with the deceased Monsieur De Rohan, where King Francis was in prison; and I was surgeon of the company of the said Monsieur De Rohan. Now the king was advertised by Monsieur D'Estampes, governor of Britany, that the English had hoist sail to land in Low Britany, and prayed him that he would send Monsieur De Rohan and Monsieur De Lowal for succour, because they were lords of that country; and, for their sakes, those of that country would beat back the enemy and keep them from landing. Having received this advertisement, his majesty despatched the said lords for the relief of their country; and to each was given as much power as to the governor, insomuch as they were all there the king's lieutenants they took, willingly, this charge upon them, and speedily they went away in post, and led me with them to Landreneau: there where we found every one in arms, the alarm-bells sounding on every side; yea, five or six leagues about the harbours, that is to say, Brest, Conquet, Crozon, Le Fou Doulac, Laudanac, each of them well furnished with artillery, cannons, demi-cannons, culverins, sakers, serpentines, falcons, harquebusses, in brief, there was nothing in artillery or soldiers, as well Britans as French, to hinder that the English made no landing, as they had resolved at their parting from England. The enemy's army came unto the very mouth of the cannon; and when we perceived that they would land, they were saluted with cannonshot, and we discovered our men of war, together with our artillery; they flew to sea again: where I was glad to see their vessels hoist sail again, which was in great number, and in good order, and seemed like a forest which marched upon the sea. I saw a thing also at which I marvelled much, which was, that the bullets of great pieces made great rebounds, and grazed upon the water as upon the ground.

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Now, to make the matter short, the English did no harm, and returned whole and sound into England, and left us in peace. We staid in that country, in garrison, till we were assured that their army was dispersed. In the meantime, our horsemen exercised their feats of activity, as to run at the ring, fight in duel, and other things; so that there was still something to employ me withal. Monsieur D'Estampes, to make sport and pleasure to the said De Rohan and Lowal, and other gentlemen, caused divers country wenches to come to the feasts, to sing songs in Low Britain tongue, where their harmony was like the croaking of frogs, while they are in love. Otherwhiles, they caused the wrestlers of the cities and towns to come, where there was a prize for the best wrestler; and the sport was seldom ended, but that one or other had a leg or arm broken, or the shoulder or thigh displaced. There was a little man of Low Britany, of a square body and well set, who held a long time the credit of the field, and, by his skill and strength, threw five or six

com

to the ground; there came to him a great schoolmaster, who was said to be one of the best wrestlers of all Britany; he entered into the lists, having taken off his long jacket, in hose and doublet, and being near the little man, he seemed as if he had been tied to his girdle; notwithstanding, when each of them took hold of the collar, they were a long time without doing any thing, and they thought they would remain equal in force and skill: but the little man cast himself with an ambling leap under this great pedant, and took him on his shoulder, and cast him on his back, spread abroad like a frog, and then all the pany laughed at the skill and strength of the little fellow. This great Dativo had a great spite for being cast by so little a man: he rose again in anger, and would have his revenge. They took hold again of each other's collars, and were again a good while at their hold without falling to the ground: in the end, this great man let himself fall upon the little fellow; and, in falling, put his elbow upon the little man's stomach and burst his heart, and killed him stark dead; and knowing that he had given him his death-blow, took again his long cassock, and went away with his tail between his legs, and hid himself, seeing that the little man came not again to himself, either for wine, vinegar, or any other thing that was presented unto him. I drew near to him, and felt his pulse, which did not beat at all, then I said he was dead. Then the Britans who assisted the wrestling, said aloud, in their jabbering, That is not in the sport. And some said that the said pedagogue was accustomed to do so; and that, but a year past, he had done the like in a wrestling. I would needs open the body, to know the cause of this sudden death, where I found much blood in the thorax, and in the inferior belly, and I strived to find out any apertion in the place from whence might issue so great a quantity of blood, which I could not do for all the diligence I could make. Now, I believe it was by the apertion of the mouths of the vessels, or by their porosities. The poor little wrestler was buried. I took leave of Messieurs De Rohan, De Lowal, and D'Estampes. Monsieur de Rohan gave me a present of fifty double ducats, and an ambling horse, and Monsieur De Lowal, another for my man; Monsieur D'Estampes, a diamond of the value of thirty crowns; and so I returned to my house at Paris."

The Voyage of Perpignan, 1543.

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In this chapter, Parey relates a case of a soldier who had received a musket ball, which several of the most expert surgeons endeavoured to extract, but in vain. They were, therefore, obliged to send for Parey, to discover where it lay: Having found it, I shewed them the place where it was, and it was taken out by Master Nicholas Lavernant; yet, notwithstanding, the honour remained to me for finding it." The following history is not uninteresting:

"I saw one thing of great remark, which is this:-That a soldier in my presence gave to one of his fellows a stroke with an halbard upon his head, penetrating even to the left ventricle of the brain, without falling to the ground. He that struck him said, that he had heard

that he cheated at dice, and that he had drawn a great sum of money, and that it was his custom to cheat. I was called to dress him, which I did, as it were, for the last, knowing well that he would quickly die. Having dressed him, he returned all alone to his lodgings, which was at least two hundred paces distant. I bid one of his companions send for a priest to dispose of the affairs of his soul; he helped him to one, who staid with him to the last gasp. The next day the patient sent for me by his she-friend, in a boy's apparel, to come to dress him, which I would not do, fearing he would die under my hands; and to put it off, I said that I must not take off the dressing till the third day, by reason he would die, though he were never touched. The third day, he came staggering, and found me in my tent, and prayed me most affectionately to dress him, and shewed me a purse, wherein he had a hundred and six-score pieces of gold, and that he would content me to my desire; for all that, notwithstanding, I deferred taking off his dressing, fearing lest he should die at the same instant. Certain gentlemen desired me to go to dress him, which I did at their request; but, in dressing, he died under my hands in a convulsion. Now this priest accompanied him until death, then seized upon the purse, lest another should take it, saying, he would say masses for his soul. Moreover he furnished himself with his clothes, and with all the rest of his things. I have recited this history as a monstrous thing, that the soldier fell not to the ground when he had received this great stroke, and was in his senses even till death. Soon after, the camp was broken for divers causes; the one, because we were advertised, that four companies of Spaniards were entered into Perpignan; the other, that the plague begun much in our camp; and it was told us by the people of the country, that shortly there would be a great overflowing of the sea, which arose in such manner that there remained not one tent which was not broken and overthrown, for all the strength and diligence that could be given; and the kitchens being all uncovered, the wind raised so the dust and sand, which salted and powdered our meat in such a manner that we could not eat it, so that we were constrained to boil it in pots and other vessels well covered. Now we did not encamp ourselves in so good time, but that there were many carts and carters, mules and mule-drivers, drowned in the sea, with great loss of baggage. The camp broken, I returned to Paris."

The Voyage of Boulogne, 1545.

"A little while after we went to Boulogne, where the English, seeing our army, left the forts which they had, that is to say Moulambert, the little paradise, Monplaisir, the fort of Chatillon, the fort Dardelot. One day, going through the camp to dress my hurt people, the enemies who were in the Tower of Order, shot off a piece of ordnance, thinking to kill horsemen who staid to talk with one another. It happened, that the bullet passed very near one of them, which threw him to the ground, and it was thought the said bullet had touched him, which it did not at all, but only the wind of the said bullet in the midst of his coat, which went with such a force that all the outward part of the thigh became black and blue, and he had much ado to