Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Instances Of Cowardice And Courage In The Same Persons.
himself in the wars against Charles the Twelfth of Sweden He was at last taken prisoner by that enterprising prince , and as lie had been bora in a country that owed allegiance to the Swedes , tnejving was determined to punish him as a rebel , and not to admit him as a prisoner of war . The foreign ministers , interceded with Charles , but to no purpose , to spare the life of this unfortunate general . I he past enemiesrendered all
services which he had done to the King ' s , supplications ineffectual to save him . On this trying occasion , when real fortitude was so much required , the Count sunk into more than the weakness of a child . He petitioned , he blubbered , and cried incessantly ; and the nig ht before he was to be executed , he begged ot the -clergyman who was to attend him , that if his sentence was to die him of it he could not bear
upon the rack , that he would not tell , as the soUnd of such a painful death . At the place ot execution , on seeing the wheel , he discovered every symptom of dread , terror , and cowardice ; and expired in the most dastardly lamentations . . „ , _ , , , ^ . , The other relation that I shall give , is of the Marshal Duke de Eiron of France . He was always deemed a most active and
successful general , and , so far from being ever accused of the want of personal courage , was generally censured for running himself into needless danger in the day of battle . He had seen a vast deal of service , and was universally acknowledged to be a man of extreme valour . Afterwards , for repeated insurrections and conspiracies against the King , he was at last condemned to that sentence pronounced
lose his head . From the moment was ao-ainst him , his spirits forsook him . He cried and lamented his fate day and night , and when-he was led to the' stage , he was so very childish as to pray the executioner to hide the sword with which' he was to be decollated , whimpering that he could not bear the sig ht of it . One of his ' officers who had . served under him to the scaffold
him in all his wars , and who had accompanied , beino- fired with indignation at his unmanly deportment , in order to rouse his spirits , addressed him in this manner . "What , my Lord , is this the conduct of the Marshal Duke de Biron , whom I have beheld with rapture look death in the face in so many dangerous encounters , and in so many various shapes ? " " True , " replied the Duke , " I have often fronted . danger , but Death never looked me in the fare before this moment . " He afterwards childishly delayed the
time for giving the signal , till at last the executioner s patience beino- wearied out , he came behind him , and while he was talking in a-frantic manner , his head was severed from his body at one stroke / .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Instances Of Cowardice And Courage In The Same Persons.
himself in the wars against Charles the Twelfth of Sweden He was at last taken prisoner by that enterprising prince , and as lie had been bora in a country that owed allegiance to the Swedes , tnejving was determined to punish him as a rebel , and not to admit him as a prisoner of war . The foreign ministers , interceded with Charles , but to no purpose , to spare the life of this unfortunate general . I he past enemiesrendered all
services which he had done to the King ' s , supplications ineffectual to save him . On this trying occasion , when real fortitude was so much required , the Count sunk into more than the weakness of a child . He petitioned , he blubbered , and cried incessantly ; and the nig ht before he was to be executed , he begged ot the -clergyman who was to attend him , that if his sentence was to die him of it he could not bear
upon the rack , that he would not tell , as the soUnd of such a painful death . At the place ot execution , on seeing the wheel , he discovered every symptom of dread , terror , and cowardice ; and expired in the most dastardly lamentations . . „ , _ , , , ^ . , The other relation that I shall give , is of the Marshal Duke de Eiron of France . He was always deemed a most active and
successful general , and , so far from being ever accused of the want of personal courage , was generally censured for running himself into needless danger in the day of battle . He had seen a vast deal of service , and was universally acknowledged to be a man of extreme valour . Afterwards , for repeated insurrections and conspiracies against the King , he was at last condemned to that sentence pronounced
lose his head . From the moment was ao-ainst him , his spirits forsook him . He cried and lamented his fate day and night , and when-he was led to the' stage , he was so very childish as to pray the executioner to hide the sword with which' he was to be decollated , whimpering that he could not bear the sig ht of it . One of his ' officers who had . served under him to the scaffold
him in all his wars , and who had accompanied , beino- fired with indignation at his unmanly deportment , in order to rouse his spirits , addressed him in this manner . "What , my Lord , is this the conduct of the Marshal Duke de Biron , whom I have beheld with rapture look death in the face in so many dangerous encounters , and in so many various shapes ? " " True , " replied the Duke , " I have often fronted . danger , but Death never looked me in the fare before this moment . " He afterwards childishly delayed the
time for giving the signal , till at last the executioner s patience beino- wearied out , he came behind him , and while he was talking in a-frantic manner , his head was severed from his body at one stroke / .