nd several Italian princes; and that, in spite of
many battles lost, he preserved so great a reputation that the reiters and
lansquenets never rebelled, although their wages were much in arrears, and
their booty was often lost in adverse combats. He was, in fact, said the
enthusiastic Italian, entitled to be held in higher esteem than Hannibal,
inasmuch as the Carthaginian general retained the respect of foreign
nations by being uniformly victorious; but the admiral retained it,
although his cause was almost always unsuccessful.[996]

But all Coligny's military achievements pale in the light of his manly and
unaffected piety. It is as a type of the best class among the Huguenot
nobility that he deserves everlasting remembrance. From his youth he had
been plunged in the engrossing pursuits of a soldier's life; but he was
not ashamed, so soon as he embraced the views of the reformers, to
acknowledge the superior claims of religion upon his time and his
allegiance. He gloried in being a Christian. The influence of his faith
was felt in every action of his life. In the busiest part of an active
life, he yet found time for the recognition of God; and, whether in the
camp or in his castle of Chatillon-sur-Loing, he consecrated no
insignificant portion of the day to devotion. Of the ordinary life of
Admiral Coligny, the anonymous author of his Life, who had himself been an
inmate in his house, has left an interesting description, derived from
what he himself saw and heard:

"As soon as he had risen from bed, which was always at an early hour,
putting on his morning-gown, and kneeling, as did those who were with him,
he himself prayed in the form which is customary with the churches of
France. After this, while waiting for the commencement of the sermon,
which was delivered on alternate days, accompanied with psalmody, he gave
audience to the deputies of the churches who were sent to him, or devoted
the time to public business. This he resumed for a while after the service
was over, until the hour for dinner. When that was come, such of his
domestic servants as were not prevented by necessary engagements
elsewhere, met in the hall where the table was spread, standing by which,
with his wife at his side, if there had been no preaching service, he
engaged with them in singing a psalm, and then the ordinary blessing was
said.

"On the removal of the cloth, rising and standing with his wife and the
rest of the company, he either