either Christ or the Cardinal of Lorraine."

The Duke of Guise, in his advancing years, was accompanied to the
field of battle by his son Francis, who inherited all of his father's
courtly bearing, energy, talent, and headlong valor. At the siege of
Luxemburg a musket ball shattered the ankle of young Francis, then
Count of Aumale, and about eighteen years of age. As the surgeon was
operating upon the splintered bones and quivering nerves, the sufferer
gave some slight indication of his sense of pain. His iron father
severely reprimanded him, saying,

"Persons of your rank should not feel their wounds, but, on the
contrary, should take pleasure in building up their reputation upon
the ruin of their bodies."

Others of the sons of Claude also signalized themselves in the wars
which then desolated Europe, and they received wealth and honors. The
king erected certain lands and lordships belonging to the Duke of
Guise into a marquisate, and then immediately elevated the marquisate
into a duchy, and the youngest son of the Duke of Guise, inheriting
the property, was ennobled with the title of the Duke of Mayence. Thus
there were two rich dukedoms in the same family.

Claude had six sons, all young men of imperious spirit and magnificent
bearing. They were allied by marriage with the most illustrious
families in France, several of them being connected with princes of
the blood royal. The war-worn duke, covered with wounds which he
deemed his most glorious ornaments, often appeared at court
accompanied by his sons. They occupied the following posts of rank and
power: Francis, the eldest, Count of Aumale, was the heir of the
titles and the estates of the noble house. Claude was Marquis of
Mayence; Charles was Archbishop of Rheims, the richest benefice in
France, and he soon attained one of the highest dignities of the
Church by the reception of a cardinal's hat; Louis was Bishop of
Troyes, and Francis, the youngest, Chevalier of Lorraine and Duke of
Mayence, was general of the galleys of France. One of the daughters
was married to the King of Scotland, and the others had formed most
illustrious connections. Thus the house of Guise towered proudly and
sublimely from among the noble families in the midst of whom it had so
recently been implanted.

Henry VIII. of England, inflamed by the report of the exceeding beauty
of Mary, daughter of the Duke of Guise, had solicited her hand; but
Claude was unwilling to surrender his d