Page:Voltaire (Hamley).djvu/76



The Leaguers, disheartened by Henry's successes, are about to receive important succour. Count Egmont, marching from the Netherlands with a strong force of Spanish cavalry, was approaching Paris to join Mayenne, who hoped, thus reinforced, to attack the king with advantage. Henry met them both in the open field, and the incidents of the battle and its results make up the eighth canto. The well-known words of Henry to his soldiers are embodied in the poem:—

Defeated on this famous field of Ivry, Mayenne and the Leaguers retreat into Paris. It was now that the victorious Bourbon gave notable proof of the generosity which was so conspicuous an element in his fine character. To the prisoners taken in battle he, on the spot, gave their liberty, telling them that they were free either to return to Mayenne or to join his own standard. At the same time he restrains his own troops from carnage:—