oriental languages. He at first proposed to become a teacher, but decided in favour of the military profession, in which he attained the rank of captain. He visited England in 1754-55, and afterwards joined the allied armies as a volunteer. In 1757 he published his "Military Memoirs of the Greeks and Romans," as a supplement to Polybius, and about this time was appointed major by Frederick the Great, who retained him near his person, and gave him the name of Quintus Icilius. He took an active part in the campaigns of the succeeding years, and in 1763 settled at Potsdam, where he continued to share the confidence and friendship of the king. Guischard was a lover of books and medals, of which he made a fine collection, purchased after his death by Frederick, and presented to the library at Berlin. While at Potsdam he received various military appointments and honorary titles, but towards the close of his life he was a great and continual sufferer. About the time of his death he published critical and historical memoirs on various matters connected, with military antiquities. He died in 1775.—B. H. C.
GUISE, the name of an illustrious French family, the founder of which was Claude, fifth son of René II., duke of Lorraine, who was sent into France by his father in 1506, when he was only about ten years of age. He was brought up at the French court, where he became a great favourite both with the courtiers and with the army. The estate of Guise in Picardy had fallen to the house of Lorraine by marriage along with the title of count, which was now borne by this youthful scion of the family. He accompanied Francis I. in his Italian campaign, and fought with conspicuous bravery at Marignan in 1515, where he was severely wounded. He subsequently distinguished himself at Fontarabia, in Picardy, and in Flanders; and it was he who successfully resisted the invasion of the German imperialists in 1523, and drove them back within their own frontier. Francis changed his title of count for that of duke of Guise in 1527, which he speedily rendered famous by his great talents, courage, and profound ambition. He tarnished his fame, however, by the sanguinary cruelties which he perpetrated upon the protestants of Alsatia, sparing neither sex nor age. He is still remembered there as "the accursed butcher." The duke married in 1513 Antoinette de Bourbon, sister of Charles, duke de Vendôme, and had by her eight sons—two of whom became cardinals, one a duke, one a grandprior, and one a marquis. His daughter Mary became the second wife of James V. of Scotland, and mother of Mary Queen of Scots. The death of the duke, which took place in 1550, was generally ascribed to poison. His brother—
Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine, was born in 1498; and when little more than two years old, he was appointed bishop coadjutor of Metz; was a cardinal before he was twenty; and possessed no fewer than twelve archbishoprics and bishoprics. He followed his brother to the French court, and contributed powerfully to his elevation. He died in 1550, a month after his brother—
François, second duke of Guise, son of Claude, born in 1519, was one of the most remarkable men of his age. He was created prince de Joinville, duke d'Aumale, marquis de Mayenne, governor of Dauphiny, and lieutenant-general of the kingdom. He was for some years its virtual sovereign, and very nearly succeeded in grasping the crown, the great object of the family ambition. He distinguished himself in various battles; but it was his defence of Metz in 1552-53 against Charles V., which attracted the attention, not only of France, but of all Europe. His next service was repelling the invasion of France by an army of Spaniards and Flemings; and in 1557 he suddenly attacked Calais, which had belonged to the English since 1347, and captured in the course of a few days that last remnant of their conquests. The death of Henry and the accession of Francis, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, added greatly to the power of the Guise family, and to the strength of the Romish party in France, of which they were the acknowledged heads. The duke inherited his father's hatred for the protestants, whom he persecuted with merciless severity. They were driven to take up arms in their own defence; but their strongholds were assaulted and taken, and their forces signally defeated by the duke in the bloody battle of Dreux, where the prince of Condé, the leader of the Huguenots, was taken prisoner. At the siege of Orleans, 18th February, 1563, Guise was assassinated by a fanatic, named Polbrot, who shot him with a pistol. He died of the wound six days after, leaving six sons and one daughter by his wife, Anne d'Este. His memoirs, written by himself, were published in 1839. His brother—
Charles, the famous cardinal of Lorraine, the greatest man of the family, and one of the most powerful statesmen of his age, was born in 1524. At the age of fourteen he was appointed archbishop of Rheims. He was nominated a cardinal in 1547, and chancellor of the order of St. Michael, and monopolized so many sees that the pope was scandalized and remonstrated with him on his grasping spirit. "I would resign all my livings," was the reply, "for a single bishopric—the bishopric of Rome." He administered the finances of France during three reigns, but so unskilfully, or rather, as his enemies alleged, dishonestly, that the annual expenditure exceeded the income about two and a half millions. In 1569 he negotiated at Madrid the marriage of Charles IX. with Elizabeth of Austria, whom he crowned queen of France in 1571. He also officiated at the coronation of Charles himself, and of that of his father and brother. The cardinal took a prominent part in the arrangements connected with the council of Trent, and in the discussions in that important assembly. He was at heart a religious reformer; but from policy the savage and merciless persecutor of the French protestants. He introduced the inquisition into France, and was made grand inquisitor. He was at Rome when the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place; but there can be no doubt that he cordially approved of that infamous deed. The cardinal died in 1574 in his fifty-first year. His character has been portrayed in very dark colours by his contemporaries. He was a man of great abilities, learning, and eloquence, but subtle, intriguing, false, ambitious, haughty, and covetous, a hypocrite in religion, and the only man of his family who was destitute of physical courage. He left a considerable number of letters, orations, and sermons.
Henri, third duke, surnamed Balafré (the Scarred), eldest son of François, was born in 1550, and succeeded to the family estates and titles in 1563. At the age of sixteen he fought in Hungary against the Turks. Three years later he distinguished himself at the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour, and compelled Coligny to raise the siege of Poitiers in 1569. He inherited and even exceeded the hereditary enmity of the house of Guise against the protestants. He took charge of the St. Bartholomew massacre, commanded the troops appointed to assassinate the Admiral Coligny, and when the dead body of the veteran warrior was by his orders thrown out at the window and fell at his feet, he had the brutality to kick the face with his foot. In 1575 he defeated the Huguenots in a battle fought near Chateau-Thierry, where he received the wound in the face from which he derived his appellation of the Scarred. In the following year the famous confederacy called the League was formed, of which he was the head. The avowed object of this association was the defence of the Romish faith; but it struck at the very root of the royal authority, and reduced the king to the condition of a mere cipher. The duke of Guise wrung from the feeble monarch the articles of Nemours, which declared that the Roman catholic religion should alone be tolerated in France, and that its opponents should be punished with death. He obtained from Henry the surrender of several fortified cities, which he garrisoned with his own followers; he stopped the royal couriers and opened the king's letters; confiscated the property of the Huguenots, and sold it for his own benefit; and virtually usurped the functions of royalty. He persecuted the protestants with merciless barbarity, defeated them in several battles, and even attempted, though without success, to procure a royal decree prohibiting the granting of quarter to them in the field. King Henry was childless, and the presumptive heir to the throne was Henry of Navarre. But the faction of Guise resolved to support the claims of Charles, cardinal of Bourbon, a weak old man; entered into a league with Spain; persuaded the people that their religion was in peril; and excited them to take up arms against the king, though he had joined the league and made war upon the protestants. They at length proceeded to such extremities that Henry was forced to fly from his capital in 1588, while the duke of Guise was hailed by the popular voice "king of Paris." A reconciliation was some time after effected between the king and the Guises, but there can be little doubt that from this time Henry had resolved on the destruction of the duke, which was accordingly carried into effect at Blois, 23rd December, 1588. He was assassinated by the archers of the royal guard at the entrance of the king's cabinet, and his body was cast into the Loire. His brother Louis, the cardinal of Guise, was murdered on the following day; and the
