the cause, would have biassed me to espouse the king's party in England, when our popular heats carried all before it at home.

But I must say, that when I called to mind since, the address, the management, the compliance in show, and in general the whole conduct of the queen-mother with the mutinous people of Lyons, and compared it with the conduct of my unhappy master the king of England, I could not but see that the queen understood much better than King Charles, the management of politics, and the clamours of the people.

Had this princess been at the helm in England, she would have prevented all the calamities of the civil war here, and yet not have parted with what that good prince yielded in order to peace neither; she would have yielded gradually, and then gained upon them gradually; she would have managed them to the point she had designed them, as she did all parties in France; and none could effectually subject her, but the very man she had raised to be her principal support; I mean the cardinal.

We went from hence to Grenoble, and arrived there the same day that the king and the cardinal, with the whole court, went out to view a body of six thousand Swiss foot, which the cardinal had wheedled the cantons to grant to the king, to help to ruin their neighbour the duke of Savoy.

The troops were exceeding fine, well-accoutred, brave, clean-limbed, stout fellows indeed. Here I saw the cardinal; there was an air of church gravity in his habit, but all the vigour of a general, and the sprightliness of a vast genius in his face; he affected a little stiffness in his behaviour, but managed all his affairs with such clearness, such steadiness, and such application, that it was no wonder he had such success in every undertaking.

Here I saw the king, whose figure was mean, his countenance hollow, and always seemed dejected, and every way discovering that weakness in his countenance, that appeared in his actions.

If he was ever sprightly and vigorous, it was when the cardinal was with him; for he depended so much on everything he did, that he was at the utmost dilemma when he was absent, always timorous, jealous, and irresolute.

After the review the cardinal was absent some days, having

ARRIVE AT PIGNEROL.

15

been to wait on the queen-mother at Lyons, where, as it was discoursed, they were at least seemingly reconciled.

I observed, while the cardinal was gone, there was no court, the king was seldom to be seen, very small attendance given, and no bustle at the castle; but as soon as the cardinal returned, the great councils were assembled, the coaches of the ambassadors went every day to the castle, and a face of business appeared upon the whole court.

Here the measures of the Duke of Savoy's ruin were concerted, and in order to it the king and the cardinal put themselves at the head of the army, with which they immediately reduced all Savoy, took Chamberry and the whole duchy, except Montmelian.

The army that did this was not above twenty-two thousand men, including the Swiss, and but indifferent troops neither, especially the French foot, who, compared to the infantry I have seen since in the German and Swedish armies, were not fit to be called soldiers. On the other hand, considering the Savoyards and Italian troops, they were good troops, but the cardinal's conduct made amends for all these deficiencies.

From hence I went to Pignerol, which was then little more than a single fortification on the hill near the town called St. Bride's; but the situation of that was very strong. I mention this because of the prodigious works since added to it, by which it has since obtained the name of the right hand of France; they had begun a new line below the hill, and some works were marked out on the side of the town next the fort; but the cardinal afterwards drew the plan of the works with his own hand, by which it was made one of the strongest fortresses in Europe.

While I was at Pignerol, the governor of Milan, for the Spaniards, came with an army and sat down before Casal. The grand quarrel, and for which the war in this part of Italy was begun, was this: the Spaniards and Germans pretended to the duchy of Mantua; the Duke of Nevers, a Frenchman, had not only a title to it, but had got possession of it; but, being ill-supported by the French, was beaten out by the imperialists, and after a long siege, the Germans took Mantua itself, and drove the poor duke quite out of the country.

The taking of Mantua elevated the spirits of the Duke of Savoy; and the Germans and Spaniards, being now at more

leisure, with a complete army, came to his assistance, and formed the siege of Montserrat.

For as the Spaniards pushed the Duke of Mantua, so the French by way of diversion lay hard upon the Duke of Savoy; they had seized Montserrat, and held it for the Duke of Mantua, and had a strong French garrison under Thoiras, a brave and experienced commander; and thus affairs stood when we came into the French army.

I had no business there as a soldier, but having passed as a Scotch gentleman with the mob at Lyons, and after with her majesty, the queen-mother, when we obtained the guard of her dragoons; we had also her majesty's pass, with which we came and went where we pleased; and the cardinal, who was then not on very good terms with the queen, but willing to keep smooth water there, when two or three times our passes came to be examined, showed a more than ordinary respect to us on that very account, our passes being from the queen.

Casal being besieged, as I have observed, began to be in danger; for the cardinal, who it was thought had formed a design to ruin Savoy, was more intent upon that than upon the succour of the Duke of Mantua; but necessity calling upon him to deliver so great a captain as Thoiras, and not to let such a place as Casal fall into the hands of the enemy, the king, or cardinal rather, ordered the Duke of Momorency, and the Mareschal D'Effiat, with ten thousand foot and two thousand horse, to march and join the Mareschals de la Force and Schomberg, who lay already with an army on the frontiers of Genoa, but to weak to attempt the raising the siege of Casal.

As all men thought there would be a battle between the French and the Spaniards, I could not prevail with myself to lose the opportunity, and therefore, by the help of the passes above mentioned, I came to the French army under the Duke of Momorency. We marched through the enemy's country with great boldness and no small hazard, for the Duke of Savoy appeared frequently with great bodies of horse on the rear of the army, and frequently skirmished with our troops, in one of which I had the folly, I can call it no better, for I had no business there, to go out and see the sport, as the French gentlemen called it. I was but a raw soldier, and did not like the sport at all, for this party was surrounded

GREAT DANGER IN ACTION.

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by the Duke of Savoy, and almost all killed, for as to quarter, they neither asked nor gave. I ran away very fairly one of the first, and my companion with me, and by the goodness of our horses got out of the fray, and beiug not much known in the army, we came into the camp an hour or two after, as if we had been only riding abroad for the air.

This little rout made the general very cautious, for the Savoyards were stronger in horse by three or four thousand, and the army always marched in a body, and kept their parties in or very near hand.

I escaped another rub in this French army about five days after, which had liked to have made me pay dear for my curiosity.

The Duke de Momorency, and the Mareschal Schomberg joined their army about four or five days after, and immediately, according to the cardinal's instructions, put themselves on the march for the relief of Casal.

The army had marched over a great plain, with some marshy grounds on the right, and the Po on the left, and as the country was so well discovered that it was thought impossible any mischief should happen, the generals observed the less caution. At the end of this plain was a long wood, and a lane or narrow defile through the middle of it.

Through this pass the army was to march, and the van began to file through it about four o'clock; by three hours' time all the army was got through, or into the pass, and the artillery was just entered, when the Duke of Savoy, with four thousand horse, and fifteen hundred dragoons, with every horseman a footman behind him, whether he had swam the Po, or passed it above at a bridge, and made a long march after was not examined, but he came boldly up the plain, and charged our rear with a great deal of fury.

Our artillery was in the lane, and as it was impossible to turn them about, and make way for the army, so the rear was obliged to support themselves, and maintain the fight for above an hour and a half.

In this time we lost abundance of men, and if it had not been for two accidents, all that line had been cut off; one was, that the wood was so near that those regiments which were disordered presently sheltered themselves in the wood; the other was, that by this time the Mareschal Schomberg, with the horse of the van, began to get back through the lane,

VOL. II.

C

and to make good the ground from whence the other had been beaten, till at last by this means it came to almost a pitched battle.

There were two regiments of French dragoons who did excellent service in this action, and maintained their ground till they were almost all killed.

Had the Duke of Savoy contented himself with the defeat of five regiments on the right, which he quite broke and drove into the wood, and with the slaughter and havoc which he had made among the rest, he had come off with honour, and might have called it a victory; but endeavouring to break the whole party, and carry off some cannon, the obstinate resistance of these few dragoons lost him his advantages, and held him in play till so many fresh troops got through the pass again, as made us too strong for him; and had not night parted them he had been entirely defeated.

At last, finding our troops increase and spread themselves on his flank, he retired and gave over. We had no great stomach to pursue him neither, though some horse were ordered to follow a little way.

The duke lost above a thousand men, and we almost twice as many, and but for those dragoons, had lost the whole rearguard and half our cannon. I was in a very sorry case in this action too. I was with the rear in the regiment of horse of Perigoort, with a captain of which regiment I had contracted some acquaintance. I would have rid off at first, as the captain desired me, but there was no doing it, for the cannon was in the lane, and the horse and dragoons of the van eagerly pressing back through the lane, must have run me down, or carried me with them. As for the wood, it was a good shelter to save one's life, but was so thick there was no passing it on horseback.

Our regiment was one of the first that was broke, and being all in confusion, with the Duke of Savoy's men at our heels, away we ran into the wood. Never was there so much disorder among a parcel of runaways as when we came to this wood; it was so exceeding bushy and thick at the bottom there was no entering it, and a volley of small shot from a regiment of Savoy's dragoons, poured in upon us at our breaking into the wood, made terrible work among our horses.

For my part I was got into the wood, but was forced to quit my horse, and by that means with a great deal of diffi