he spring, when Metz might be attacked with much greater
advantage. But his excessive obstinacy, which had led to so many of his
disasters, again prevailed. The Duc de Guise, now Governor of Metz, had
put the citadel into a state of defence. The garrison was numerous, and,
as was usual wherever he commanded, thither followed all the young,
ardent spirits among the great families of France.

The siege of Metz was a terrible disaster for the Emperor. The extreme
severity of the winter, a scant supply of clothing and other
necessaries, were soon followed by sickness, typhus, and many deaths.
Desertions were numerous; for the sufferings of the troops had quenched
all war and subverted all discipline. Desperate efforts to take Metz
were continued for nearly three months without avail, when Charles,
thoroughly disheartened, and unable to rise from his couch except for
removal to his litter, raised the siege--abandoning the greater part of
his artillery, which was half buried in the mud. "Fortune," he
exclaimed, "I perceive is indeed a woman; she prefers a young king to an
old emperor." The spectacle that met the eyes of the victorious
defenders of Metz, on issuing forth in pursuit of the enemy, is said to
have been one of so harrowing a nature that even rough soldiers,
accustomed to the horrors of war, looked on the misery around them with
emotions of deepest pity. There lay the dying and the dead heaped up
together; the wounded and those who had been stricken down by fever
stretched side by side on the gory, muddy earth. Others had sunk into
it, and, unable to extricate themselves, were frozen to their knees, and
plaintively asked for death to put an end to their wretchedness.
Scattered along the route of the retreat lay dead horses, tents, arms,
portions of the baggage, and many sick soldiers who had fallen by the
way in their efforts to keep up with the hasty march of the remnant of
the army--a sad and terrible scene indeed in a career called one of
glory.

Francois de Guise greatly distinguished himself as a general, and added
to his military renown by his defence of Metz; but far greater glory
attaches to his name for his humane and generous conduct to the
suffering, abandoned troops of Charles' army. All whose lives could be
saved, or sufferings relieved, received every care and attention that he
and the surgeons of his army could bestow on them. Following his
example, instead of the savage brutality with which the vic