speedy trot, furious and embossed with the foam which he churned around
his tusks. Balue, on beholding himself so near the boar, set up a
dreadful cry for help, which, or perhaps the sight of the boar, produced
such an effect on his horse, that the animal interrupted its headlong
career by suddenly springing to one side; so that the Cardinal, who had
long kept his seat only because the motion was straight forward, now
fell heavily to the ground. The conclusion of Balue's chase took place
so near the boar that, had not the animal been at that moment too much
engaged about his own affairs, the vicinity might have proved as fatal
to the Cardinal, as it is said to have done to Favila, King of the
Visigoths of Spain [he was killed by a bear while hunting]. The powerful
churchman got off, however, for the fright, and, crawling as hastily
as he could out of the way of hounds and huntsmen, saw the whole chase
sweep by him without affording him assistance, for hunters in those days
were as little moved by sympathy for such misfortunes as they are in our
own. The King, as he passed, said to Dunois, "Yonder lies his Eminence
low enough--he is no great huntsman, though for a fisher (when a secret
is to be caught) he may match Saint Peter himself. He has, however, for
once, I think, met with his match."

The Cardinal did not hear the words, but the scornful look with which
they were spoken led him to suspect their general import. The devil is
said to seize such opportunities of temptation as were now afforded by
the passions of Balue, bitterly moved as they had been by the scorn
of the King. The momentary fright was over so soon as he had assured
himself that his fall was harmless; but mortified vanity, and resentment
against his Sovereign, had a much longer influence on his feelings.
After all the chase had passed him, a single cavalier, who seemed rather
to be a spectator than a partaker of the sport, rode up with one or two
attendants, and expressed no small surprise to find the Cardinal upon
the ground, without a horse or attendants, and in such a plight as
plainly showed the nature of the accident which had placed him there. To
dismount, and offer his assistance in this predicament--to cause one of
his attendants to resign a staid and quiet palfrey for the Cardinal's
use--to express his surprise at the customs of the French Court, which
thus permitted them to abandon to the dangers of the chase, and
forsake in his need, their wi