In spite of the active bravery of La Roche-Jaquelin, and the energy he displayed when the danger was so apparent, a fearful slaughter ensued.

Street by street, and square by square, the Vendeeans disputed every inch of ground, till the corpses of the slain lay in heaps in the narrow ways; every house was a fortress,--every lane a pass desperately defended.

The intrepid young leader had two horses killed under him, and was obliged to absent himself a moment to seek for others.

No sooner did his people lose sight of him than a panic took possession of them; they thought all lost,--became confused and disordered.

Many of them, waked from sleep, or from a state of inebriety, in which the Britons are too apt to indulge, horrified at the shrieks of their women, stunned by the sound of the cannon, which roared through the dark streets, and startled at the glare of artillery suddenly blazing around them,--entirely lost all presence of mind, and fled in every direction; killing and wounding friends and foes in their precipitous retreat.