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ed his harangue, the instrument was produced, which contained the articles the King of France had sent to the King of England. The chancellor demanded of our king, whether he had sent the said articles, and whether he had agreed to them? the king replied, Yes: and King Edward's being produced on our side, he made the same answer. The missal being brought and opened, both the kings laid one of their hands upon the book, and the other upon the true cross, and both of them swore religiously to observe the contents of the truce, which was, that it should stand firm and good for nine years complete; that the allies on both sides should be comprehended; and that the marriage between their children should be consummated as was stipulated by the said treaty of peace. After the two kings had sworn to observe the treaty, our king (who had always words at command) told the King of England, in a jocular way, he should be glad to see his majesty at Paris, and that if he would come and divert himself with the ladies, he would assign him the Cardinal of Bourbon for his confessor, who he knew would willingly absolve him, if he should commit any sin, by way of love and gallantry. The King of England was extremely pleased with his raillery, and made his majesty several handsome repartees, for he knew the cardinal was a jolly companion. After some discourse to the purpose, our king, to show his authority, commanded us who attended him to withdraw, for he had a mind to have a little private discourse with the King of England. We obeyed, and those who were with the King of England, seeing us retire, did the same, without expecting to be commanded. After the two kings had been alone together for some time, our master called me to him, and asked the King of England if he knew me? the King of England replied he did, named the places where he had seen Lae, and told the king that formerly I had endeavoured to serve him at Calais, when I was in the Duke of Burgundy's service. The King of France demanded if the Duke of Burgundy refused to be comprehended in the treaty (as might be suspected from his obstinate answer) what the King of England would have him do? The King of England replied, he would offer it him again, and if he refused it then, he would not concern himself any farther, but leave it entirely to themselves. By degrees, the king came to mention the Duke of Bretagne (who, indeed, was the person he aimed at in the question), and made the same demand about him. The King of England desired he would not attempt any thing against the Duke of Bretagne, for in his distress he never found so true and faithful a friend. The king pressed him no farther, but recalling the company, took his leave of the King of England in the handsomest and most civil terms imaginable, saluted all his attendants in a most particular manner, and both the kings at a time (or very near it) retired from the barrier; and mounting on horse-back, the King of France returned to Amiens, and the King of England to his army."

It appears, that the invitation thus given was by no means sincere, for the King of France, speaking of Edward, observes:

"He is a beautiful prince, a great admirer of the ladies, and

who knows but some of them may appear to him so witty, so gay, and so charming, as may give him a desire of making us a second visit: his predecessors have been too often in Paris and Normandy already; and I do not care for his company so near, though on the other side of the water I should be ready to value and esteem him as my friend and brother."

It appears, that such was the anxiety of the people for this peace, that superstition was called in its aid, and it was universally reported, that the Holy Ghost had descended on the King of England's tent in the form of a white pigeon, during the conference; an idea scouted by the historian, who displays throughout his work a deep sense of religion, untinctured by the errors of his day; and in his observations, evinces profound reflection and rational piety.

The fifth book of these memoirs commences with the Duke of Burgundy's making war upon the Swiss, from whom he experienced his first material defeat, which was soon followed by a second.

"His concern and distraction for his first defeat at Granson was so great, and made such deep impressions on his spirits, that it threw him into a violent and dangerous fit of sickness; for whereas before, his choler and natural heat was so great, that he drank no wine, only in a morning he took a little tisane, sweetened with conserve of roses, to refresh himself; this sudden melancholy had so altered his constitution, he was now forced to drink the strongest wine that could be got, without any water at all; and to reduce the blood to his heart, his physicians were obliged to apply cupping-glasses to his side: but this (my Lord of Vienna) you know better than I, for your lordship attended on him during the whole course of his illness, and spared no pains that might contribute to his recovery; and it was by your persuasion that the duke was prevailed upon to cut his beard, which was of a prodigious length. In my opinion, his understanding was never so perfect, nor his senses so sedate and composed, after this fit of sickness, as before. So violent are the passions of persons unacquainted with adversity, who never seek the true remedy for their misfortunes, especially princes who are naturally haughty; for in such cases our best method is to have recourse to God, to reflect on the many vile transgressions by which we have offended his Divine Goodness, to humble ourselves before him, and to make an acknowledgement of our faults; for the event of all human affairs is in his power, and at his disposal alone; he determines as it seems best to his heavenly wisdom, and who dares question the justness of his dispensations, or impute any error to him? The second remedy is, to unbosom ourselves freely to some intimate friends, not to keep our sorrows concealed, but to expatiate on every circumstance of them, without being ashamed or reserved, for this mitigates the rigour of our misfortunes, revives the heart, and restores the usual vigour and activity to our dejected spirits. There is another remedy also, and

that is labour and exercise, (for as we are but men, those sorrows are to be dissipated with great pains and application both in public and private) which is a much better course than what the duke took, to hide himself and retire from all manner of conversation, for by that means he grew so terrible to his own servants, that none of them durst venture to come near him to give him either counsel or comfort, but suffered him to go on in that melancholy state of life, fearing lest their advising him to the contrary, might have turned to their destruction."

After this, the duke had to contend with conspiracies at home, as well as enemies abroad; and in the course of the next chapter we find, that in consequence of rejecting the advice of his officers, and once more meriting his appellations of " the bold," or "the rash" this great prince, the last as well as greatest of Burgundy, was slain in battle, near the old town of Nancy, where the Duke of Lorrain, to his eternal honour, buried him with great pomp and magnificence." He was discovered, after the battle, stripped naked, with several others, with his skull cloven, and a pike in his body, but his identity was fully ascertained by the scars of former wounds, and other peculiarities in his person.

An only daughter was the heir of this great prince, and she appears to have experienced, at a very early period, all those evils his ambition had prepared for her. The enemies he had humbled, particularly the King of France, sought to wreak their vengeance on her; the towns he had conquered refused their allegiance and tribute to her; and her own conquered army and impoverished subjects were ill able to assist her. Many who were supported by her bounty soon deserted her interest, and those who were faithful to her were persecuted even to death, under the pretext of law, by a party who sought to bestow her hand on one of the many pretenders to it. We can scarcely conceive a young, lovely, and royal female, in a situation of more affecting interest.

"As soon as the Princess of Burgundy (since Dutchess of Austria) had received the news of their condemnation, she came herself in person to the Town-hall, to beg their lives, but finding she could not prevail, she ran into the market-place, where the mob were got together in arms, and the two prisoners upon the scaffold. The young princess was in mourning, her head dressed carelessly (on purpose to move pity and compassion), and in this posture, with tears in her eyes, and her hair dishevelled, she begged and entreated the people to have pity upon her two servants, and restore them to her again. A great part of the mob were touched with compassion, and would fain have complied with her request, and were willing they should be saved, but others violently opposed it, and they were at push of pike one with another: at last, those who were for the exe

cution, being the stronger party, called out to the executioners to do their office, and immediately both their heads were struck off, and the poor princess returned to her palace very sad and disconsolate, for the loss of two persons in whom she chiefly confided.

"After the Gantois had committed this horrid piece of villany, they removed from about the Princess of Burgundy, the Lord de Ravestein, and the dutchess dowager, Duke Charles's widow, because both of them had signed the letter which the chancellor and the Lord d'Hymbercourt had delivered to the king, as you have heard; so that the citizens had now the sole authority and management of the poor young princess, and well may she be called poor, not only in respect of her great loss of the several towns which had been taken from her, which were irrecoverable by force, by reason of the great power and strength of the king, who was now in possession of them.

The author concludes this book with a long dissertation on the errors of kings, which he affirms arise in general from their education and situation in life; and observes," that there is a necessity that every prince, or great lord, should have an adversary to restrain, or keep him in fear; otherwise there would be no living under them, or near them."

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The second volume opens with the plans of Lewis to possess himself of the royal orphan's property, his successful wheedling of the English, for fear they should interrupt him in his designs," and his offer of the Dauphin (his son, then nine years old, and already contracted to a princess of England) to be the husband of the daughter of the late Duke. This offer was abruptly objected to by Madam Haltenein, first lady of the bedchamber, to whom it was made; for she said truly" there was more need of a man than a boy, that being what her dominions needed more than any thing else;" the historian adds, "it pleased God to appoint her another husband, viz. the Duke of Austria," son of the Emperor Frederic III., the nearest and most covetous prince, or person, of his time," so that it appears the unhappy lady was obliged to supply him with money, and a retinue, before he could wait upon her to consummate the marriage, and that he was little likely to be pleasing to a daughter of Burgundy, "whose tables are nicely served, whose palaces are magnificent, and whose dress was sumptuous. But the Germans are quite of a contrary temper, boorish in their conversation, and nasty in their way of living.'

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Soon after this marriage, Artois fell into the hands of Lewis, and was followed by several other acquisitions of the same nature; as it appears that the young bridegroom, disliked by his new subjects, and cramped by the sordid spirit of his father, was unable to protect the sovereignty to which he was called. The interesting daughter of Charles the Bold, however, dies within four years of her marriage.

"The fourth year the Princess died of a fall from her horse, or a fever, but it is certain she fell, and some say, she was breeding. Her death was a mighty loss to her subjects, for she was a person of great honour, affable and generous to all people, and more beloved and respected by her subjects than her husband, as being sovereign of their country. She was a tender and passionate lover of her husband, and of singular reputation for her modesty and virtue. This misfortune happened in the year 1482."

Lewis now pursued new means of increasing his dominions by open war; and although in one great battle we see the Duke of Austria remain master of the field, and in no case desert the duties which, by the death of his wife, had devolved wholly upon him, yet the wily Lewis, by that management, which his historian terms "his great policy and wisdom," gained town after town, of the late Burgundian dominions, and seems to have arrived at nearly all he wished in point of aggrandizement, although at the expense of the true glory of a king (the happiness of his subjects), when he was seized with an illness, which eventually proved mortal.

This sickness of the king's, or rather his conduct under it, has been frequently the subject of comment by various authors, and serves to prove how difficult it is for a successful bad man to think resignedly of quitting a situation, which he has, however, rendered one of ceaseless turmoil, suspicion, and disquietude. In proportion as Lewis found himself weakened by a wasting disease, and disqualified by repeated fits from attending to the duties of his kingly station, the more closely he grasped at the power, and the evil exercise of that power. In the fear that his incapacity should induce his subjects to deprive him of his rights, he compelled himself to attend to every matter of business which could be brought before him, and though unable to see a single word, would affect to read over all the documents committed to his secretaries. To prove his memory, and assert his right, he dispossessed numbers of his servants of their places and pensions; and gave them to others, who, in their turn, were the slaves of his caprice. Every hour dreading the rebellion he was perhaps conscious of meriting, yet had no cause for fearing, he directed his house to be fortified and guarded, and denied himself farther air than could be obtained in one narrow court. He had little faith in the aid of medicine, but to one physician, in whose skill he had confidence, he was scarcely better than a slave; and, from superstition, almost paid adora

*"She died the second of March, in the year 1482, through an excess of female modesty, chusing rather to die, than suffer a surgeon to set her thigh, which was broken by the fall from her

horse."

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