Battle of Marignano.

“1515.—­Francis I. succeeded Louis XII. on the 1st of January; on the 27th of June he renewed his predecessor’s treaty of alliance with Venice; and on the 15th of August, entered the plains of Lombardy, by the marquisate of Saluzzo, with a powerful army.  He met but little resistance in the provinces south of the Po, but the Swiss meanwhile arrived in great force to defend Maximilian Sforza, whom, since they had reseated him on the throne, they regarded as their vassal.  Francis in vain endeavoured to negotiate with them; they would not listen to the voice of their commanders; democracy had passed from their landsgemeinde into their armies, popular orators roused their passions; and on the 13th of September they impetuously left Milan to attack Francis I. at Marignano.  Deep ditches lined with soldiers bordered the causeway by which they advanced; their commanders wished by some manoeuvre to get clear of them, or make the enemy change his position; but the Swiss, despising all the arts of war, expected to command success by mere intrepidity and bodily strength.  They marched to the battery in full front; they repulsed the charge of the knights with their halberds, and threw themselves with fury into the ditches which barred their road.  Some rushed on to the very mouths of the cannon, which guarded the king, and there fell.  Night closed on the combatants; and the two armies mingled together fought on for four hours longer by moonlight.  Complete darkness at length forced them to rest on their arms; but the king’s trumpet continually sounded, to indicate to the bivouac where he was to be found; while the two famous horns of Uri and Unterwalden called the Swiss together.  The battle was renewed on the 14th at daybreak:  the unrelenting obstinacy was the same; but the French had taken advantage of the night to collect and fortify themselves.  Marshal Trivulzio, who had been present at eighteen pitched battles, declared that every other seemed to him children’s play in comparison with this “battle of giants,” as he called it:  20,000 dead already covered the ground; of these two-thirds were Swiss.  When the Swiss despaired of victory they retreated slowly,—­but menacing and terrible.  The French did not dare to pursue them.”

The concluding paragraph of the volume is beautifully enthusiastic:  it may almost be regarded as prophetic in connexion with events that are at this moment shaking Italy to her very base: 

“Italy is crushed; but her heart still beats with the love of liberty, virtue, and glory:  she is chained and covered with blood; but she still knows her strength and her future destiny:  she is insulted by those for whom she has opened the way to every improvement; but she feels that she is formed to take the lead again:  and Europe will know no repose till the nation which, in the dark ages, lighted the torch of civilization with that of liberty, shall be enabled herself to enjoy the light which she created.”