CHAPTER SECOND.

    Arrival of the chevalier Grammont at the siege of Trino,
    and the life he led there.

In those days affairs were not managed in France as at present.  Louis XIII.—­[Son and successor of Henry IV.  He began to reign 14th May, 1610, and died 14th May, 1643.]—­then sat upon the throne, but the Cardinal de Richelieu, governed the kingdom;

   [Of this great minister Mr. Hume gives the following character:—­

“Undaunted, Undaunted and implacable, prudent and active, he braved all the opposition of the French princes and nobles in the prosecution of his vengeance; he discovered and dissipated all their secret cabals and conspiracies.  His sovereign himself he held in subjection, while he exalted the throne.  The people, while they lost their liberties, acquired, by means of his administration, learning, order, discipline, and renown.”]

great men commanded little armies, and little armies did great things; the fortune of great men depended solely upon ministerial favour, and blind devotion to the will of the minister was the only sure method of advancement.  Vast designs were then laying in the heart of neighbouring states the foundation of that formidable greatness to which France has now risen:  the police was somewhat neglected; the highways were impassable by day, and the streets by night; but robberies were committed elsewhere with greater impunity.  Young men, on their first entrance into the world, took what course they thought proper.  Whoever would, was a chevalier, and whoever could, an abbe:  I mean a beneficed abbe:  dress made no distinction between them; and I believe the Chevalier Grammont was both the one and the other at the siege of Trino.—­[Trino was taken 4th May, 1639.]—­This was his first campaign, and here he displayed those attractive graces which so favourably prepossess, and require neither friends nor recommendations in any company to procure a favourable reception.  The siege was already formed when he arrived, which saved him some needless risks; for a volunteer cannot rest at ease until he has stood the first fire:  he went therefore to reconnoitre the generals, having no occasion to reconnoitre the place.  Prince Thomas commanded the army; and as the post of lieutenant-general was not then known, Du Plessis Pralin and the famous Viscount Turenne were his majors general.  Fortified places were treated with some respect, before a power which nothing can withstand had found means to destroy them by dreadful showers of bombs, and by destructive batteries of hundreds of pieces of cannon.  Before these furious storms which drive governors underground and reduce their garrisons to powder, repeated sallies bravely repulsed, and vigorous attacks nobly sustained, signalized both the art of the besiegers and the courage of the