o his sister Catherine de
Bourbon, "My dear sister, the more I go on, the more do I wonder at the
grace shown me by God in the fight of last Monday, wherein I thought to
have defeated but twelve hundred horse; but they must be set down at two
thousand. The Constable of Castile was there in person with the Duke of
Mayenne; and they both of them saw me and recognized me quite well; they
sent to demand of me a whole lot of Italian and Spanish captains of
theirs, the which were not prisoners. They must be amongst the dead who
have been buried, for I requested next day that they should be. Many of
our young noblemen, seeing me with them everywhere, were full of fire in
this engagement, and showed a great deal of courage; amongst whom I came
across Gramont, Termes, Boissy, La Curse, and the Marquis of Mirebeau,
who, as luck would have it, found themselves at it without any armor but
their neck-pieces and _gaillardets_ (front and back plates), and did
marvels. There were others who did not do so well, and many who did very
ill. Those who were not there ought to be sorry for it, seeing that I
had need of all my good friends, and I saw you very near becoming my
heiress." [_Lettres missives de Henri IV.,_ t. iv. pp. 363-369; in the
_Collection des Documents inedits sur l'Histoire de France_.]

This fight, so unpremeditated, at Fontaine-Francaise, and the presence of
mind, steady quicksightedness, and brilliant dash of Henry IV., led off
this long war gloriously. Its details were narrated and sought after
minutely; people were especially struck with the sympathetic attention
that in the very midst of the strife the king bestowed upon all his
companions in arms, either to give them directions or to warn them of
danger. "At the hottest of the fight," says the contemporary historian
Peter Matthieu, "Henry, seizing Mirebeau by the arm, said, 'Charge
yonder!' which he did: and that troop began to thin off and disappear."
A moment afterwards, seeing one of the enemy's men-at-arms darting down
upon the French, Henry concluded that the attack was intended for
Gilbert, de la Cure, a brave and pious Catholic lord, whom he called
familiarly _Monsieur le Cure,_ and shouted to him from afar, "Look out,
La Curee!" which warned him and saved his life. The roughest warriors
were touched by this fraternal solicitude of the king's, and clung to him
with passionate devotion.

It was at Rome, and in the case of an ecclesiastical question th