Page:Protestant Exiles from France Agnew vol 1.djvu/302

 The third department, entitled “Of Thankfulness,” opens with

Quest. 86. “Because we are redeemed from all our sins and miseries, without any merit of ours, by the mercy of God for Christ’s sake — for what cause are we then to do good works? — Ans. Because Christ, after He hath redeemed us by His blood, reneweth us also by His Spirit to His own image, that we, receiving so great benefits, should show ourselves all our lifetime thankful unto God, and should honour Him; secondly, that every one of us may be assured of his faith by its fruit; and lastly, that by our honest and good behaviour we may win others unto Christ.”

The principal contents of this department are an explanation of the Ten Commandments, some instruction on the duty of prayer, and a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer, evolved clause by clause catechetically, for instance —

Quest. 125. “Which is the fourth petition? — Ans. Give us this day our daily bread; that is, give us all things needful for this life, that thereby we may acknowledge and confess Thee to be the only fountain from whence all good floweth, and that without Thy blessing all our care and industry (yea, even Thy gifts themselves) cannot prosper us, but are hurtful to us. Grant therefore that we, taking off our confidence from all creatures, may settle it on Thee alone.”

Animated with these sentiments, Schomberg removed his family into France in the end of 1650 or the beginning of 1651. He served in the army as a gentleman volunteer in 1651 and 1652, until he effected the purchase of a company in Les Gardes Ecossaises (the Scotch Guards). His campaigns were in Poitou and Champagne. At the siege of Rhetel, as the senior officer present, he had the chief command of the royalist infantry. The prime-minister, Cardinal Mazarin, rewarded him with promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-General. In this rank he served under Marshal Turenne in Flanders, and had an honourable share in the taking of Landrècies, Condé, and Saint-Guilain; he was appointed Governor of the latter place.

The siege of Valenciennes in 1656 was sadly memorable to him, for during its progress Otho, one of his younger sons, was killed before his eyes. The presence of mind, with which he continued to give his orders, was generally observed. It was well known what a loving and exemplary father he was, and he received both admiration and sympathy. Turenne gave him the principal charge of the retreat of the French army, in which he did justice to his military talents, and it is still spoken of as la belle retraite. In March 1657 he had to surrender Saint-Guilain to the enemy, but made a gallant resistance. A few months later he took Bourbourg, and was made governor of that town.

He is next mentioned in connection with the siege of Dunkirk, which the French, co-operating with the English under Morgan and Lockhart, took from Spain for Oliver Cromwell. This was on the 17th June 1658. The French had soon after to fight the Spaniards under the Prince of Condé at Dunes (or Downs). Schomberg commanded the second line of the left wing; and Condé was defeated here also. The victors now overran a great part of Flanders. Schomberg was at the taking of Bergues and other places, and obtained a second governorship.

The Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 gave him a short period of repose, during which it is said he visited Germany. A new field now opened up to him; and to describe it we must take a momentary retrospect of eighty years.

In 1580, on the death of Henry, the Cardinal King of Portugal, who was the last of his generation, and (according to ecclesiastical regime) a celibate, a number of collateral heirs proclaimed themselves. Among these claimants Philip II., the king of Spain, had a very fair case to submit to genealogists, but he preferred to rely on military force, and seized the throne. Catherine, Duchess of Braganza, having no funds to enter upon this rough style of competition, had to content herself with the conviction that her pedigree proved her right. Her son, Duke Theodosius, and her grandson, Duke John, both professed outwardly to be obedient subjects of the Spanish potentates, Philip III. and Philip IV. The tranquil mind of Duke John would have kept him within his magnificent estates in comparative retirement. But the instinctive unpopularity of the fourth Philip’s sway in Portugal, especially as deputed to a Spanish Vice-Regal lady, made more apparent the liberal and virtuous Duke of Braganza’s popularity with the Portuguese nation. After a deceitful calm, a very summary insurrection put the crown on the Duke’s head, and enthroned him in Lisbon as King John IV. This was in December 1640. For sixteen years he successfully defended his frontiers against the Spaniards, who could not attempt any bold stroke, on account of the drain upon their resources made by their war in Flanders. He died in 1656, and his sons being minors, his widow, Queen Louisa, took the reins as Regent. She was even more popular than the late king, for the