THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 267 



of the principal burgesses were at first exiled, but 

 they returned some time afterwards, while Guiton 

 took service in the royal navy with the rank of 

 captain. He died at La Rochelle at the age of 

 seventy-nine, and was interred near the canal of La 

 Verdiere, where had stood the ramparts which he de- 

 fended with so much constancy, and close to fort Louis, 

 which had been the cause or pretext of those wars in 

 which he had so signally distinguished himself, and 

 within sight of the dyke which completed the ruin of 

 his native city. 



With the exception of Colin and a few compilers 

 who have blindly followed his statements, all writers 

 are unanimous in their appreciation of Guiton ; 

 Catholics and Protestants, priests and laymen, all 

 alike agree in rendering homage to the magnanimity 

 of his character and the nobleness of his heart.* 

 Hence his name has always been popular at La 

 Rochelle, where the marble slab is still shown on 

 which he struck his poignard when he swore to 

 defend the city to the utmost of his ability. A 

 proposal was made in 1841 to erect a statue to 



catholic spirit of his age, he would not have left the Rochellais to 

 the free enjoyment of their own mode of worship. If the munici- 

 pality had considered its religious faith before its municipal rights, 

 it would not have taken those minute, and occasionally even offen- 

 sive precautions against the English, which afford the only expla- 

 nation of the strange and somewhat ungenerous conduct of 

 Buckingham and his successors towards their allies. 



* During the siege some fanatics offered on different occasions to 

 assassinate Richelieu. ' Guiton rejected these offers with indignation, 

 giving utterance to his refusal in nearly the words of the minister 

 Colbert : " It is not by such means that God will deliver us." 



