18 AMBROISE PARE 



THE JOURNEY TO BOULOGNE. 1545 



A LITTLE while after, we went to Boulogne ; where the En- 

 glish, seeing our army, left the forts which they were hold- 

 ing, Moulambert, le petit Paradis, Monplaisir, the fort of 

 Chastillon, le Portet, the fort of Dardelot One day, as I 

 was going through the camp to dress my wounded men, the 

 enemy who were in the Tour d' Ordre fired a cannon against 

 us, thinking to kill two men-at-arms who had stopped to talk 

 together. It happened that the ball passed quite close to one 

 of them, which threw him to the ground, and it was thought 

 the ball had touched him, which it did not ; but only the wind 

 of the ball full against his corselet, with such force that all 

 the outer part of his thigh became livid and black, and he 

 could hardly stand. I dressed him, and made diverse scarifi- 

 cations to let out the bruised blood made by the wind of 

 the ball; and by the rebounds that it made on the ground 

 it killed four soldiers, who remained dead where they fell. 



I was not far from this shot, so that I could just feel the 

 moved air, without its doing me any harm save a fright, 

 which made me duck my head low enough; but the ball 

 was already far away. The soldiers laughed at me, to be 

 afraid of a ball which had already passed. Mon petit maistre, 

 I think if you had been there, I should not have been afraid 

 all alone, and you would have had your share of it. 



Monseigneur the Due de Guise, Franqois de Lorraine, was 

 wounded before Boulogne with a thrust of a lance, which 

 entered above the right eye, toward the nose, and passed 

 out on the other side between the ear and the back of the 

 neck, with so great violence that the head of the lance, with 

 a piece of the wood, was broken and remained fast; so that 

 it could not be drawn out save with extreme force, with 

 smith's pincers. Yet notwithstanding the great violence of 

 the blow, which was not without fracture of bones, nerves, 

 veins, and arteries, and other parts torn and broken, my 

 lord, by the grace of God, was healed. He was used to go 

 into battle always with his vizard raised: that is why the 

 lance passed right out on the other side. 



