But Saint Ruth, as soon as he had landed, exerted himself strenuously to redeem the time which had been lost.

He was a man of courage, activity and resolution, but of a harsh and imperious nature.

In his own country he was celebrated as the most merciless persecutor that had ever dragooned the Huguenots to mass.

It was asserted by English Whigs that he was known in France by the nickname of the Hangman; that, at Rome, the very cardinals had shown their abhorrence of his cruelty; and that even Queen Christina, who had little right to be squeamish about bloodshed, had turned away from him with loathing.

He had recently held a command in Savoy.