Page:The lives of celebrated travellers (Volume 1).djvu/188

 escaped death, only four out of eighteen returning, and having been twice struck in the breast by a ball, which was repelled by the goodness of his cuirass. Of this excellent piece of armour the Count de Guiche, afterward Marshal de Grammont, disburdened him, considering the superior value to France of his own patrician soul, and the comparative unimportance of Tavernier's life. These little accidents, which seem to have aided in ripening his brain, curing him of his martial ardour, he quitted Mantua, and having visited Loretta, Rome, Naples, and other celebrated cities of Italy, returned to France.

These little excursions, which might have satisfied a less ardent adventurer, only tended to strengthen his passion for locomotion. He therefore immediately quitted Paris for Switzerland, whence, having traversed the principal cantons, he again passed into Germany. Here he remained but a very short time before he undertook a journey into Poland, apparently for the purpose of beholding the splendid court of King Sigismund. His curiosity on this point being gratified, he retraced his footsteps, with the design of visiting the emperor's court; but, arriving near Glogau, he was diverted from his intention by meeting accidently with the Colonel Butler who afterward killed the celebrated Wallestein. With this gallant Scot and his wife he staid for some time; but understanding that the coronation of Ferdinand III., as king of the Romans, was about to take place at Ratisbon, Tavernier, for whom the sight of pomp and splendour appears to have possessed irresistible charms, quitted his new friends and patrons, and repaired to the scene of action.

Upon the magnificence of this coronation it is unnecessary to dwell, but a tragical circumstance which took place at Ratisbon, during the preparations for it, is too illustrative of the manners and spirit of the times to be passed over in silence. Among the numerous jewellers who repaired upon