128

DOMESTIC MANNEKS OF THE HIU8SIANS.

to lay waste the country before them, witli slaughter, fire, andrapine. Charles-Lewis, unable to oppose the French with anequal force, slmt himself up in the Castle, and saw withanguish the flames rising from the surrounding villages andtowns. But, being eager to avenge the wanton cruelties ofthe French General, he resolved to challenge Turenne tosingle combat, and addressed him the following letter:—

" It is impossible that his Most Christian Majesty can havecommanded you to lay waste, as you have, my country. Imust therefore attribute such barbarous conduct to personalenmity on your part. But it is unjust that my poor subjectsshould suffer for any feeling that you may entertain in yourheart against me; and, therefore, I propose to terminate ourdifference on your naming the hour, the place, and the armsthat you would choose."

The French General, however, did not deign to accept thechallenge, and a few years afterwards, Louis XIV. (on thedeath of the Elector) laid claim to the Palatinate on behalf ofthe Duke of Orleans, and in 1688 sent another army up theKinne under Melac — a general whose brutality and atrocitiessurpassed those of the previous leader, and who, cofttrary to theconditions of the recent treaty, blew up the Castle of Heidelberg.

In 1693, again, the devastation was continued, and evento a greater extent than before; for then, at the siege underChamilly, the troops were guilty of excesses, equalled onlyin enormity by those of the French Revolution. The Castlebeing surrendered, or rather betrayed by the Governor, theCitizens who had taken refuge in it were slaughtered withoutmercy, and the building itself reduced to ruins.

Its ultimate destruction, however, had yet to be achieved;for though it was once more restored, and almost to its formersplendour, by Charles-Philip, in 1716, and remained intact until