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Rodolphe IV, reigning count of Gruy?re, displayed in his long career no quality worthy of his generous and high spirited father, no trace of the conciliatory wisdom or devoted piety of his mother. Calculating in his marriages, he was unjust and even dishonest with his people, whom he forced to pay twice over for their exemptions and their privileges. Still dishonestly withholding the signed and purchased acknowledgement of their new privileges from his subjects, he was surprised alone at night in the castle by a doughty peasant, who forced the paper from his unwilling hands and threw it out of the window to a waiting confederate. Left in charge of the Savoyard troops who had driven the invading Viscounti from the Valais, and entrusted with the guardianship of the ch?teaux and prisoners won by the Savoyard arms, he exacted and obtained large sums for his services, although those services consisted in a complete surprise and defeat at the hands of the sturdy inhabitants of the Valais, wherein, except for the heroic defence of the very subjects he had so oppressed, he would himself have perished. From the benefits of the peace which was ultimately established in the Valais, these same loyal subjects were excluded.

An enchanting legend regarding the first wife of Count Rodolphe illuminates the dismal story of his inglorious reign. Marguerite d'Alamandi has been confused in the tradition with Marguerite de Grandson, the second wife of Rodolphe. It is Marguerite d'Alamandi, and not the other Marguerite who is the heroine of the tale which has been elaborated into a moving little drama by a poet pastor of the eighteenth century, and which beautifully preserves the customs and the atmosphere of that distant time.

Countess Marguerite of Gruy?re, so runs the story, was so sadly afflicted that she had borne no heir, that she had no longer any joy in her fair castle, no comfort with her beloved lord. Vainly journeying to distant shrines, as vainly invoking the aid of sorcerers and magicians, she went one day, clad as one of her poor subjects, to pray in the chapel at the foot of the Gruy?re hill. There, as the November day was closing, poor Jean the cripple, well known through the country, came also to tell his beads. Very simple and kindly was poor Jean, with always the same blessing for those who gave him food or mocked him with cruel jeers. Perceiving in the shadow a poor woman sadly weeping, he gave her all his day's begging, a piece of black bread with a morsel of coarse cheese, repeating his usual blessing, "May God and our Lady grant thee all thy noble heart desires." That evening, again clad in her jewels and brocades, the Countess Marguerite, at the close of a feast laid for her husband's comrades after a day at the chase, offered each knight a bit of this bread and cheese, with a moving story of poor Jean and a prayer that all should wish what her heart so long and vainly had desired. Nine months later, so concludes the tale, a fair son and heir was born to the happy dame. On the walls of the Hall of the Chevaliers, among the painted legends of the house, poor Jean and Countess Marguerite live in pictured memory; and a room next the great kitchen of the ch?teau, called by the cripple's name, has been pointed out for many generations as the spot where, fed on the fat of the land, he enjoyed the bounty of the countess during the remainder of his days.

Rodolphe le Jeune, the long awaited heir of this story, did not live to inherit the rule of the domain whose fame his father had so sadly stained. Brilliantly educated at the court of Savoy, and later the councilor of the countess regent, he emulated his uncle's heroic example and joined the English armies under Buckingham in France, there winning praise and the offer of the chevalier's accolade. But he failed to fulfil the promise of his youth and died prematurely, leaving his young son Antoine, the last hope of the family, to succeed to his grandfather. Count Antoine's overlord, the youthful count of Savoy, confided the education of his vassal and prot?g? to a venerable prelate of Lausanne; but heeding nothing of his pious instructions the young ruler wasted his revenues in extravagant hospitality, lived gaily with his mistresses, and celebrated the weddings of his two sisters with famous feasting and generous marriage gifts. Unlike his predecessors, who shared the rule of Gruy?re with brothers or sons, he reigned alone, and gave himself wholly to the ambition of maintaining the pleasure-loving reputation of his house. More than ever under Count Antoine was Gruy?re a court of love. The numerous and beautiful children of his mistresses filled the castle with their youthful gayety and charm, and his two splendid sons, Fran?ois and Jean, proudly acknowledged by their father and legitimized with the sanction of the pope, took their place among the young nobles of the country as heirs of the Gruy?re possessions. Again the gay Coraules of flower-crowned shepherds and maids wound over the valleys and hills. Again minstrels and chroniclers recorded and sang the lovely traditions of their pastoral life.

"Gruy?re, sweet country, fresh and verdant Gruy?re Did thy children imagine how happy they were? Did thy shepherds know they lived an idyll? Had they read Theocrite, had they heard of Virgil? No, no! as in gardens the lilac and rose Grow in innocent beauty, their days drew to a close."

So in a fond ecstasy of recollection, sings a Romand poet, and thus in the famous lines of Uhland is related the Coraule of Count Antoine.

Before his high manor, the Count of Gruy?re, One morning in Maytime looked over the land. Rocky peaks, rose and gold, with the dawning were fair, In the valleys night still held command.

"Oh! Mountains! you call to your pastures so green, Where the shepherds and maids wander free, And while often, unmoved, your smiles I have seen, Ah! to-day 'tis with you I would be."

And now on the green sward they danced and they sang, In their holiday gowns, a pretty parterre, With oft sounding echoes the castle walls rang, To the joy of the Count of Gruy?re.

Then slim as a lily, a beauteous maid, Took the Count by the hand to join the gay throng. "And now you're our captive, sweet master," she said, "And our leader in dancing and song."

Then, the Count at the head, away they all went, A-singing and dancing, through forest and dell. O'er valleys and hillsides, with force all unspent, Till the sun set and starry night fell.

The first day fled fast, and the second dawned fair, The third was declining, when over the hills Quick lightning flashed whitely--the Count was not there! "Has he vanished?" they asked of the rills.

"The mountains which drew me with smiles to their heights, With thunders have kept me, their lover, at bay. Their streams have engulfed me, not these the delights I dreamed of, dancing the hours away.

"Farewell, ye green Alps! youths and maidens so gay, Farewell! happy days when a shepherd was I, Stern fates I have questioned have answered me nay, So I leave ye, with smiles and a sigh.

"My poor heart's still burning, the dance tempts me yet, So ask me no longer, my lily, my belle! For you, love and frolic, but I must forget, Take me back, then, my frowning castel."

THE BURGUNDIAN WARS

The inheritance of the estates Count Antoine had so diminished by his improvident generosity was bitterly contested by the husbands of his two sisters, but the duke of Savoy did not hesitate to recognize the rights of his legitimized descendants, and Fran?ois I of Gruy?re and his brother Jean of Montsalvens entered without difficulty into the enjoyment of their inheritances. Count Fran?ois, flower of the race of pastoral kings, presents one more historical example of the brilliant intellect, of the abounding vitality and extraordinary beauty with which nature--unheeding law--seems unwisely to sanction the overwhelming preference and inclination of unmarried lovers. A celebrated chronicler of Zurich who had seen the famous personage whom the historians describe as "the handsomest noble in Romand Switzerland," records in Latin how greatly he exceeded in his noble proportions and mighty stature the majority of mankind, and spoke also of his armor, fit for giants, which was long preserved in the ch?teau of Gruy?re.

That destruction stealthily prepared by all the arts at the command of the most malevolently skilful monarch who ever wore a crown, was not at the outset so lightly defied by the great duke of Burgundy, who had no mind to alienate the country of Romand Switzerland, which had originally formed a part of his own domain, and was still allied to its divided half by a common language and centuries of amicable commercial relations. Supported by the Duchess Yolande, he was still more closely allied with his brother-in-law, the able Jacques de Savoy, who was count of Romont and ruler of the whole Savoyard country of Vaud. An early comrade of Duke Charles, he had been appointed mar?chal of his Flemish provinces, and by this office maintained the close relations between Romand Switzerland and Burgundy. But Louis devilishly and implacably planning his rival cousin's ruin, sowed dissension between the confederated cities and their lately acknowledged suzerain the duchess of Savoy. Determined to attach to himself the indomitable Swiss soldiers, he bought with pensions and unlimited promises the alliance of Berne and Fribourg and the associated cantons of German Switzerland.

Divided between French and German-speaking inhabitants, the French citizens in the two cities who were loyal to Savoy and sympathetic with their Burgundian cousins, were outwitted by Louis' agent, his former page Nicholas de Diesbach. In October of the year 1474, the adherents of Louis in Berne had so prevailed that war was formally declared against Burgundy by the confederates, and in November before the fortress of H?ricourt, Louis' brother-in-law the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, with the assistance of the Bernois, inflicted the first bloody defeat upon Duke Charles. Messengers were then sent by Charles to Berne to treat for peace but with no result, and two months later the Bernois, who had already seized a Savoy fortress in the Jura, took possession of three ch?teaux in the Pays de Vaud belonging to Count Romont. Justly indignant at this invasion of the Savoy territory, the duchess sent the Count de Gruy?re to Berne to remonstrate against the infraction of the still existing alliance with her house. A strange reception was accorded him. No penitence for the unwarranted attack upon the Savoy fortresses, but an insolent ultimatum, declaring instant war unless she immediately recalled Count Romont from his command in the Flemish provinces, and herself declared war upon Duke Charles. No more Lombard soldiers of Duke Charles were to be permitted to pass through the Bernese territories, but Swiss soldiers unarmed or armed should pass at their discretion. Equally unsuccessful with Fribourg, the duchess, wondering "whence came the evil wind which had blown upon the two cities," heeded no one of the commands which had been issued by Berne, and, as double-faced though far less skilful than her brother, still continued to negotiate with the two cities, still permitted the Lombard troops to pass. The result was that the Bernois addressed themselves directly to the count of Gruy?re, whom they had already forbidden to take sides with Burgundy, holding him personally responsible for the passage of the Lombards and threatening instant invasion of his estates. Count Fran?ois now addressed his friends of Fribourg, asserting that he had forbidden the passage of the troops and so far influenced the city authorities that they sent their advocate to their allies of Berne, asking to be released from bearing arms against Duke Charles.

But this was the utmost that he could accomplish for his hesitating and untrustworthy mistress, and with the refusal of Berne to release Fribourg from assisting them in their war against Duke Charles, he permitted his subjects to form new treaties with the cities by which, though refusing to bear arms against Savoy, they were bound to join in the war against Burgundy.

That the Duchess Yolande could not fail to suffer in the defeat of her allies was no less plain to her than to her general, and threatened with reprisals, seeing the storm gather about his head, Count Fran?ois, sick of heart and of body, retired to his ch?teau. There, fortunate in that he was spared the necessity of openly bearing arms against the duchy he had so long and ably governed, he died in the very moment of the outbreak of the impending conflict.

The Savoy possessions suffered no curtailment during his administration, and no flower fell from the Gruy?re crown while he so splendidly wore it, but many liberties harmonious with the growing republicanism of Switzerland were voluntarily granted to his beloved subjects, who inconsolably lamented their loss when the noble features and towering form of their incomparable ruler were shut forever from mortal sight in the church under the Gruy?re hill.

THE BURGUNDIAN WARS

Among the many benefits with which Count Fran?ois' ability and sagacity had enriched his inherited estates were the acquisition of the seigneuries of Grandcour and Aigremont, and the repurchase of the beautiful castles of Oron and Aubonne. The two latter residences were assigned during his life to his two sons Louis and Fran?ois, Louis being early established at Aubonne, and Fran?ois becoming seigneur of Oron. Louis, worthy successor of his father, passed at Aubonne by the shores of lake Leman a youth of peace and happiness. Writing from thence to his young wife Claude de Seyssel, a daughter of an illustrious knight of Savoy, Louis showed in the following intimate little letter, the charming nature he had inherited from his parents.

Ma Mie,

I recommend myself to thee. I have thy letter sent by Gachet, and I think that my wish to see thee is as great as thine to see me, but I must still delay a little. Ma Mie, I recommend to thee the little one, my horse and all the household. Recommend me to our good Aunt Aigremont, to her sister and to M. Aigremont and the nurse, to the maid and Perrisont. Ma Mie, please God, to give thee a good and long life and all thy heart desires.

Written at Aubonne, the morrow of St. Catherine's day.

Louis de Gruy?re, All thine. A Ma Mie.

Three months had passed since Grandson and Duke Charles had succeeded in assembling a new army--less in numbers than that which had there been annihilated--a motley force of Savoyards and discontented Italian mercenaries ready to desert his cause, but containing three thousand English under Somerset who were eager to fight with the enemy of France. The duke, still ill and half insane with fury and the determination to avenge his defeat, was in no condition easily to accomplish that revenge. He was determined to let no further time elapse, therefore he assembled these forces and established his fortified camp within a mile of the little city of Morat, held by a Bernese garrison. Magnificently fighting before the great breaches in the defending walls, the Bernese held the city during ten long days, giving time for their confederates to assemble behind the hills which concealed their approach from the Burgundian camp. Six thousand more men of Berne were joined by the Waldstetten mountaineers, the German troops of Archduke Sigismund, one hundred horse and six hundred foot from Gruy?re, "all men of great stature, athletic force and indomitable courage;" and, lastly, by the men of Zurich, who had marched day and night to swell this army of 24,000 which were to meet a like number of Burgundians. On the 22nd day of June, the anniversary of the death of the ten thousand martyrs who had fallen at Laupen, their descendants prepared with masses and with prayers to avenge their death. It was a day of pelting rain, and when the Burgundians, advancing to the attack, had waited six hours under the downpour for any sign of an approaching foe, they retired to their camp with soaked powder and loosened bow-strings at the very moment when the clouds dispersed and the sudden sunshine illuminated the serried pikes of the Swiss as they advanced in unexpected numbers over the crest of the hills. Duke Charles had retired to his tent and was surprised at table by a messenger announcing the imminent attack of the enemy. He was compelled to don his armor on the battlefield itself where he took command of his confused ill-arranged forces, fighting beside the English soldiers under Somerset in the thick of the battle as it raged about the green hedge and little moat which divided the two armies. Against them was Duke Ren?, battling with the Swiss to regain his lost Lorraine, and Louis of Gruy?re with his brave soldiers. Many times the Swiss halberdiers were driven back under the fire of the Burgundian artillery, as many times the Burgundian cavalry charged with brilliant success, and a hope of regaining his lost honor began to smile upon Duke Charles, when a terrible clamor arose from the very midst of his camp. Again the horn of the Alps, the loud appalling roar of the "Bull of Uri," the "Cow of Unterwalden," which had overwhelmed in panic terror the Austrian knights at Sempach and Morgarten and which the Burgundians themselves had heard at Grandson, fell upon their ears; and quickly following the crash of their own guns which had been captured and turned upon themselves by their own adversaries, the mountaineers of the Waldstetten. At the hedge, in the very centre of the conflict, Duke Charles and Somerset still desperately encouraged their men to a hopeless resistance. Here in the midst of the carnage was Duke Ren?, leaping from his fallen horse and fighting by the side of Count Louis under the scarlet banner of Gruy?re; here fell Somerset and here fell at last the great banner of Burgundy in the arms of its dying defender.

Soon the Burgundians were completely surrounded by the rear-guard of the Swiss, and by the Morat garrison, and Duke Charles breaking his way through his beaten and disorganized army with a force of three thousand cavalry, succeeded in making his escape. Red was the water of the little lake where, in a mad retreat, the Burgundians were drowned in thousands; red was the battlefield where, after all hope was gone, a still greater number were massacred in cold blood by the implacable Swiss. "Cruel as Morat" was the saying which, passing into common speech, commemorated for centuries this unforgotten conflict.

Duchess Yolande, who had hastened to the relief of Duke Charles, was also so suspected by her defeated ally that he caused her to be arrested by his ma?tre d'h?tel and some brutal Italian soldiers and cast into the Burgundian fortress of Rouvres, whence, finally convinced that her brother was the most powerful as well as the most friendly of her foes, she appealed to him for deliverance. Brought by his agents to France after three months' imprisonment, Louis summoned her to his presence at Plessis-les-Tours: "Madame la Bourguignonne," he said with his evil smile, "you are welcome." "I am a good French woman," replied his sister, "and ready to obey the will of your Majesty."

It was not long before Count Louis had a fresh opportunity of proving his loyalty to Savoy, an opportunity doubtless welcomed by him to obliterate the memory of his former and enforced opposition; for when the warlike margrave of Saluzzo revolted from his allegiance to Savoy, Count Louis practically organized an army of Bernois and Savoyards to reduce him to submission, supplying a far greater number of Gruy?riens than was required of him, and financing the expedition with loans from Fribourg for which he was personally liable. Before the walls of Saluzzo, it was he who led the assaults, preserved the assailants from destruction when the garrison made an unexpected sortie, dispersed a relieving army, and at last made a triumphant entry into the city behind the allied banners of Berne and Gruy?re. Engaged thus in the mutual support of Savoy, Count Louis, always working heart and soul for peace if he could, for war if compelled, so merited the approbation of the Bernois that their captain wrote that "Count Louis de Gruy?re and his brother had conducted themselves as faithful and valorous friends of their allies." Count Louis was also enthusiastic over this new alliance of the Confederates with his beloved Savoy, and declared that "he was resolved to live and die with his allies and that with God's help their united strength would prevail against all foes."

Count Louis' new allies warmly appreciated the chivalry, generosity and independence for which he was justly renowned, and in the various differences which arose among the restless subjects of Gruy?re, advised them to trust to the justice of their ruler. Preserving to his last day the enthusiasm and the frank amenity of a singularly charming and well-balanced character, Count Louis was wise in the management of his estates, encouraged printing at Rougemont, and sharing the love of pomp and beauty of the Savoy court, was an amateur in architecture and as enthusiastic in his religion as he was in all things else. When a tornado followed by a disastrous fire destroyed a part of the city and the ch?teau of Gruy?re, he planned and partially executed an extensive enlargement of his ancestral manor, rebuilding it in the later style of the fifteenth century. He also rebuilt the adjoining chapel of St. Jean, asking and receiving from the pope a grant of indulgence for the faithful who should communicate therein on the anniversary of its second foundation and on the f?te of its patron saint. The chapel richly furnished with sacred books, chalices, luminaries, and ecclesiastical ornaments still preserves with its commemorative inscription the name and fame of Count Louis.

STRUGGLE FOR SUCCESSION

RELIGIOUS REFORM

The death of Count Jean in the beginning of the 16th century left to his son Jean II the task of upholding the old ideals of the Gruy?re house against the continually growing democracy in Switzerland, as well as against the advance of religious reform. Endowed with all his father's firmness, he possessed the chivalric ardor of his predecessors and a full share of their personal charm. The long and intimate relation of Gruy?re and Savoy which had been interrupted by his father's maintenance of his rights of succession against the will of Duke Philibert II, were renewed by Count Jean II, who soon merited the title so worthily won by his predecessors of the "greatest noble in Romand Switzerland."

Presenting his suzerain with the donations of the Pays de Vaud at Lausanne, Count Jean was also present with the bishops of Tarentaise, Lausanne and de Bellay at the general assembly of the Savoy estates at Morges, and at the ch?teau of Oron received the duke and his suite at a splendid banquet.

Again as so often had happened before, the ruler of Gruy?re was faced with a choice between his suzerain and the republics of Switzerland. Count Jean unhesitatingly chose the former, and announced in his capacity of arbitrator the dissolution of the alliance of the free cities with Geneva. The result of this exceedingly courageous action was his own arraignment by Fribourg for conduct which they announced as unjustifiable and actionable. But the duke of Savoy was determined to reward Count Jean for his fidelity, and prevailed upon Berne and Soleure to renew their alliances but released Fribourg from all relations with his house, thus delivering Count Jean from its threatened revenge. This treaty, regulating the relations of Savoy with the cities of Berne and Soleure, did not, however, finish the contest between the Genevan democrats and the duke of Savoy, for the duke within a month sent an army within sight of the city to reduce it to submission. The feudal powers in Switzerland were now arrayed with Savoy against the rebels of Geneva in a league of young nobles, who assembled in force at Coppet to attack the city of Geneva. But now, although the heir of Gruy?re was among the nobles, the people joined the army of Berne and Fribourg which marched to the aid of the rebellious city. Resorting to their old pastime of devastation, the army of liberty burned ch?teau after ch?teau in their march to Geneva, and uniting their forces with the rebels they summoned the duke of Savoy to account for his responsibility in the threatened attack. In an assemblage of the ambassadors of the ten confederated cantons, the duke of Savoy secured his continued control of Geneva, but paid dearly for it in the hypothecation to the greedy cities of Berne and Fribourg of the whole of the Pays de Vaud. Following this important concession, the victorious cities solemnly ratified their treaties with Geneva, and with the establishment of religious reform, which had developed simultaneously with the struggle for political independence, Geneva finally succeeded in freeing itself from the rule of Savoy. Catholic among the Catholics, Count Jean vigorously supported the duke in the defence of their religion, and converted his ch?teau of Oron into a refuge for the fugitives from the Lutheran persecution. While the Bernois were breaking the sacred images and wrecking the churches and chapels, Count Jean regularly maintained the celebration of mass at Oron, and threatened to wreak vengeance upon the Lutheran heretics who fell into his hands. Therefore, the Bernois, with evangelical pronunciamentos, commanded him to desist, and under threat of depriving him of the ch?teau and seigneurie of Oron, forced the adoption in this Catholic stronghold of the Lutheran faith. At Gruy?re all the people were faithful, and in large numbers journeyed to Fribourg, declaring they would die rather than abandon their religion. At the warning that a band of Bernese Lutherans was preparing to invade Gruy?re, the Fribourgeois summoned the people to be ready at the sound of the tocsin to take arms to repel them. Epidemics succeeded to these alarms, the restless people continually demanded new concessions, and finally the Bernois, openly declaring war upon Savoy, rapidly conquered the long coveted Pays de Vaud and summoned the count of Gruy?re to acknowledge their sovereignty. When Count Jean stoutly rejected the demands of the Bernois, they immediately threatened the invasion of his estates; but their watchful rivals of Fribourg energetically protested, and when an ambassador of Charles V arrived on the scene to lend the Imperial support to the threatened principality, the Bernois consented to recognize the independence of Gruy?re but exacted and at last obtained Count Jean's acceptance of their sovereignty over his possessions in the Pays de Vaud. Berne's demands were no sooner satisfied than Fribourg with an army prepared to take Corbi?res, but at this Count Jean's loyal subjects rose in a body, and the Fribourgeois, threatened by the people of Berne, consented to arbitrate their claims at the very moment when the valiant Count Jean was seized with sudden illness and ended his greatly tormented existence.

"Towards the end of the month of November," a contemporary chronicler relates, "died at Gruy?re, the noble and powerful lord Jean, Count of the said Gruy?re, who before his death had suffered great troubles and pains, as much from the change in the overlordship and government of his country as from that of religion."

Married for reasons of family policy to the daughter of the de Vergys, who resided for the most part in the ch?teau of Oron, Count Jean passed his happiest days with la Belle Luce at Gruy?re. After the death of his countess, and the passing of his youthful loves, he married Catherine de Monteynard, with whom he honorably passed the last decade of his life.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF GRUY?RE

The three sons of Count Jean II not strangely reflected the conditions of their birth and the widely differing characters of their mothers. Fran?ois, only son of his second marriage, which was founded on a real preference and esteem, possessed the kindly and charitable nature of his mother and the firm character of his distinguished Gruy?re ancestors. Jean, the illegitimate son of Luce d'Alberguex, was lovable and valorous, but lacking in firmness or dignity of character. Michel, the heir of Gruy?re, and the child of Count Jean's loveless marriage with Marguerite de Vergy, while personifying in their perfection the physical beauty and charm of his line, was like the fair fruit of a decaying tree hollow at heart, and was only too well fitted by his fantastic pretensions and his frivolous weakness of character for the tragic r?le which was assigned to him in the fall of his house.

In the complications which arose from Berne's renewed demands for the recognition of their authority over Gruy?re, Count Michel became a figure of international importance. When his domain was threatened with invasion, he declared that he had received it from God and his fathers, and would not submit. The Fribourgeois, in the interests of the Catholic party, were against Berne, and declared they would support him to the full extent of their power. Six other Catholic cities also ranged themselves with Fribourg, and war seemed so imminent that the matter was taken before the Diet, when, with the aid of the French ambassadors and a summons from the emperor Charles V to respect the independence of his imperial fief, Count Michel was able to retain the freedom of Gruy?re, but compelled like his father to admit Berne's authority over his possessions in the Pays de Vaud. In the support which Fran?ois I gave to Count Michel, he followed not so much his predilection for a courtier whom he had invested with the Order of St. Michel as his habitual policy of conciliating the Swiss, whose support was indispensable to him in the war he had again declared against the emperor. In December of the year 1543, Count Michel at the invitation of the king joined the French army before Landr?cies, where with a small force of cavalry armed and equipped at his own expense he was fortunate enough to assist his old master in relieving the siege of the city.

How important the little Swiss province was considered among the great kingdoms of Europe, was again shown in the multitude and variety of observations in the contemporary memoirs upon the conduct of the men who untruthfully called themselves Gruy?riens. A comment of Rabelais in his Pantagruel, adds to the general reproach. "It has always been the custom in war, to double pay for the day when the battle is won. With victory there is profit and somewhat for payment; with defeat, it is shame to demand reward, as did the runaways of Gruy?re after the battle of Serizolles." Thus Rabelais mocked the last Gruy?re soldiers as Tasso praised the first, and an undeserved stigma was set on the banner which had been carried unstained through six centuries of warfare at home and abroad.

"Sirs, this letter is to inform you that in addition to all the misfortunes and adversities, illnesses and otherwise, which it has pleased God to send me, it has been His good pleasure to take from me my brother Fran?ois d'Aubonne who died yesterday morning at eleven o'clock at Gruy?re. The sorrow and grief which I suffer, dear Sirs, you cannot imagine, at thus losing my second self and the brother who has rendered me constant loyalty and service. Therefore, to you who are my chief masters, fathers and friends, I confide my sorrow, praying you as good fathers, friends, lords and ancient protectors of my house to console and assist me as has hitherto been your good pleasure."

"Fanfarront" no longer, but helpless as a child in the face of the ills he had wrought, Count Michel sent his courageous wife on her many futile errands in his behalf, while he waited alone at the ch?teau for the inevitable end. Writing again and again to Fribourg and Berne, declaring that his illness gave him no peace and that the slightest effort to think redoubled his pains, he found no better occupation for one of his solitary days than to re-read his treaty with Fribourg.

"Magnifique Monsieur l'Avoyer, and honored lords, to your good graces I affectionately commend myself.

"While I was sitting the other day, overwhelmed by the sufferings of my poor body, I began to re-read my treaty of Combourgeoisie with your city, to distract the ennui of my malady, when the countess' little dog who had been gamboling about me dragged off, while I was not looking, the ribbon and seal, which greatly annoyed me. I send you back the paper, therefore, asking you to be as good as to affix another seal, by which you will greatly oblige him who in heart and affection, Magnifique Monsieur l'Avoyer, is entirely your good citizen and servant."

"Since it has pleased God so to chastise and afflict me that I am compelled to depart from your Excellencies and to follow the path He has pointed out to me, I praise Him in that His punishment is meted out to me in mercy and not according to my sins; my absence and inability to serve you as I have all my life desired being of equal affliction with my loss. I have always had such confidence in your great kindness and humanity, that I am assured that your magnificences will have compassion on me and my wife, who is departing to solicit you as humbly as possible to pardon my not appearing before you, as my heart is so desolate that I can say or do naught to help in these circumstances. Therefore, may it please you to listen to her proposition and to grant as great a degree of honor and welfare as is possible to your child."

GRUY?RE WITHOUT ITS COUNTS

"Le Ranz des Vaches."

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