Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/227

Rh He therefore proposed that a similar measure should be adopted in their own army, arid suggested that his raw militia would be the most suitable opponents for the undisciplined hordes of the enemy. The count de Nevers, however, with that blind obstinacy by which the bravest men so often mar their fortunes, would listen to no such proposition. He asserted that the van was the post of honour, and as such belonged of right to the chivalry of France. The attempt of Sigismond to substitute in their place his Hungarian forces arose, he considered, simply from a desire to secure for his own nation the chief glory of the day. Supported as he was by leaders as hot-headed and arrogant as himself, all remonstrances were unavailing. The king was therefore reluctantly compelled to witness the flower of the combined army wasting its energies and exhausting its powers against the worthless rabble who were preceding the main body of Bajazet’s army.

Eagerly placing himself at the head of his gallant array, de Nevers, with an impetuosity which might have led to success had it been tempered with the smallest display of prudence, dashed furiously at the advancing foe. As might have been expected, the swarms opposed to him were scattered like chaff before the wind. Without offering any resistance worthy of the name, they either suffered themselves to be helplessly slaughtered, or endeavoured to purchase safety by a tumultuous and disorderly flight. The dispersion of this advanced body soon disclosed to de Nevers’ view a spectacle which would have dismayed any but the strongest nerve. Directly in his front were drawn up, in dense and serried masses, a huge column of janissaries, then justly considered the flower of the Turkish infantry. Their vast and solid battalions presented a firm and apparently impassable barrier to his further progress. Without a moment’s pause, however, the French dashed at their new assailants, and a desperate combat ensued, which lasted for a considerable time before success declared itself on either side. The impetuous onset of the Christians proved in the long run irresistible, and the proud janissaries, whose renown and unbroken career of success had up to this moment led them to consider themselves invincible, quailed beneath the vigour of do Nevers’ attack. After a protracted though vain attempt