One day his dinner was laid for himself and staff in the open air, close to the entrenchment.

He was himself engaged in planting a battery against a weak point in the city wall, and would on no account withdraw for all instant.
The tablecloth was stretched over a number of drum-heads, placed close together, and several, nobles of distinction--Aremberg, Montigny, Richebourg, La Motte, and others, were his guests at dinner.

Hardly had the repast commenced, when a ball came flying over the table, taking off the head of a young Walloon officer who was sitting near Parma, and, who was earnestly requesting a foremost place in the morrow's assault.

A portion of his skull struck out the eye of another gentleman present.

A second ball from the town fortifications, equally well directed, destroyed two more of the guests as they sat at the banquet--one a German captain, the other the Judge-Advocate-General.