fugitives and the pursuing foe, to whom he presented such a resolute face that Guise dared not attack him. There is a story to the effect, that when the duke’s friends advised him to pursue the Huguenots, he said, “Peace, peace; I have to fight with a worse beast than all the Huguenots put together.” He meant Catherine de Medicis. Several fierce charges were made upon the Huguenot rear-guard, in one of which St. André was captured, and afterward murdered in cold blood.[323] Although a drawn battle[324] the number of killed and wounded, according to a statement by Ambrose Paré, was enormous: “I saw the earth covered for a good league all round,” he says; “they were reckoned at 2500 men at the outside. All that had been _polished off_ in less than two hours.”[325] Until 1789 a solemn procession took place every year at Dreux to commemorate this triumph of the Catholic cause. When the news of this battle reached Paris, the citizens gave way to transports of delight. The houses were illuminated; _Te Deums_ were sung in the churches; salvos of artillery were fired from the Bastille. The Duke of Guise was made lieutenant-general and decorated with the Order of the Holy Ghost. Catherine shared the common joy, and when the good tidings reached Trent, where the council was sitting, they clapped their hands in exultation. The Catholics had, indeed, every reason to exult, for if victory had declared in favor of the Huguenots, the fortunes of France might have changed with its religion. “Well, then, we still have to say our prayers in French,” said Catherine, when the first reports of the battle assigned the victory to Condé.