Imperial
army marched on their triumphant way.

CHAPTER V.

THE BATTLE OF TOURS.

We have now to record the expedition of the Prince of Nemours against
his advancing cousin, Henry V. His Royal Highness could not march
against the enemy with such a force as he would have desired to bring
against them; for his royal father, wisely remembering the vast amount
of property he had stowed away under the Tuileries, refused to allow
a single soldier to quit the forts round the capital, which thus
was defended by one hundred and forty-four thousand guns
(eighty-four-pounders), and four hundred and thirty-two thousand
men:--little enough, when one considers that there were but three men
to a gun. To provision this immense army, and a population of double the
amount within the walls, his Majesty caused the country to be scoured
for fifty miles round, and left neither ox, nor ass, nor blade of grass.
When appealed to by the inhabitants of the plundered district, the
royal Philip replied, with tears in his eyes, that his heart bled for
them--that they were his children--that every cow taken from the meanest
peasant was like a limb torn from his own body; but that duty must be
done, that the interests of the country demanded the sacrifice, and
that in fact, they might go to the deuce. This the unfortunate creatures
certainly did.

The theatres went on as usual within the walls. The Journal des Debats
stated every day that the pretenders were taken; the Chambers sat--such
as remained--and talked immensely about honor, dignity, and the glorious
revolution of July; and the King, as his power was now pretty nigh
absolute over them, thought this a good opportunity to bring in a bill
for doubling his children's allowances all round.

Meanwhile the Duke of Nemours proceeded on his march; and as there
was nothing left within fifty miles of Paris wherewith to support his
famished troops, it may be imagined that he was forced to ransack the
next fifty miles in order to maintain them. He did so. But the troops
were not such as they should have been, considering the enemy with whom
they had to engage.

The fact is, that most of the Duke's army consisted of the National
Guard; who, in a fit of enthusiasm, and at the cry of "LA PATRIE EN
DANGER" having been induced to volunteer, had been eagerly accepted
by his Majesty, anxious to lessen as much as possible the number of
food-consumers in his beleaguered capital. It is said even that he