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of this place, which nowise advanced the conquests of Henry, he was informed of the retreat of the Swiss; and as the season was now far advanced, he thought proper to return to England, and carry with him the greater part of his army 12. Such, my dear Philip, was the issue of a campaign much boasted of by the English monarch; but which, all circumstances considered, was unprofitable, if not inglorious.

The success which, during this season, attended the English arms in North Britain was more decisive. James IV. had assembled the whole force of his dominions, and crossed the Tweed at the head of a brave though tumultuous army of fifty thousand men. But instead of making use of the opportunity, which the absence of Henry afforded him, to push his conquests, he wasted his time in the arms of a fair captive. His troops became dissatisfied, and began to be pinched with hunger; and as the authority of the prince was yet feeble among the Scots, and military discipline extremely lax, many of them stole from the camp, and retired homewards. Meanwhile the earl of Surry, having collected a body of twenty-six thousand men, approached the enemy, who lay on some high grounds near the hills of Cheviot. He drew them from their station, by feigning to enter their country; and an obstinate battle was fought in the field of Flouden, where the king of Scotland and the flower of his nobility were slain13.-Henry on this occasion discovered a mind truly great and generous. Though an inviting opportunity was now offered him of extending his dominion over the whole island, he took compassion on the helpless condition of his sister A. D. 1514. Margaret, and her infant son; and readily granted peace to Scotland as soon as it was applied for.

SEPT. 9.

Soon after this peace, which put Henry in a condition to prosecute his views on the continent to more advantage, as

12. Mem de Fleuranges. Guicciardini.

13. Buchanan.

Drummond. Herbert.

he

he had nothing to fear from his northern neighbours, a general pacification took place between the contending powers. Lewis renounced the council of Pisa, now transferred to Lyons, and Leo X. granted him absolution. Ferdinand the Catholic renewed the truce with France: and he and Maximilian entered into a treaty with Lewis for the marriage of his second daughter, Renee, to Charles, prince of Spain, their common grandson. Lewis himself espoused the princess Mary of England, and agreed to pay Henry a million of crowns, the arrears due by the treaty of Estaples. These two monarchs also entered into an alliance for their mutual defence 14.

Lewis XII. thus rescued from his numerous difficulties, had the happiness of beholding once more his affairs in good order, and all Europe in tranquillity. But he enjoyed this happiness only a short while. Enchanted with the beauty and elegant accomplishments of his young queen, he forgot in her arms his advanced age, and was seduced into such a round of gaiety and pleasure as proved very unsuitable to his declining health's. He died about three months A.D. 1515. after the marriage, in his fifty-fourth year, and when he was meditating anew the conquest of Milanwhich was to immortalize the name, and swell the misfortunes of his successor.

There is no perfection in human beings, my dear Philip, and consequently not in kings, whatever their flatterers may tell them; but few men, either princes or subjects, seem to have possessed more social and benevolent virtues then fell to the share of Louis XII. He was universally beloved by his

14. Du Tillet.

15. Brantome, Eloge de Louis XII. "The good king,” says another writer, "for the sake of his wfie, totally altered his manner of living. "Whereas before he used to dine at 8 o'clock in the morning, he now did “not dine till noon. He had also been accustomed to go to bed at 6 in the “evening, and he now frequently sat up till midnight." (Hist. de Chev. Bayard.) Nothing can mark more strongly than this passage the difference between the mode of living in that and the present age!

people;

people: the populace and the nobility equally ordered him, and unanimously called him their Father; a title with which he was particularly pleased, and which he made it the study of his life to deserve. He began his reign with abolishing many taxes; and at the time of his death, notwithstanding his wars and his disasters, he had diminished the public burdens above one half. His very misfortunes, or, in a political sense, his errors, endeared him to his subjects; for it was well known, that he might have maintained his conquests in Italy, if he would have levied larger sums upon his people. But his heart would not permit him to distress them: he esteemed any loss light compared with that of their affections. His moderation was no less remarkable than his humanity. When told that some of his courtiers smiled at his economy, which they considered as too rigid, and that certain authors had taken the liberty to ridicule it in their writings, he was by no means displeased. "I would rather," replied he magnanimously," that my people should laugh at "my parsimony, than weep at their own oppression16"

LETTER LV.

THE GENERAL VIEW OF EUROPE CONTINUED, FROM THE ACCESSION OF FRANCIS I. IN 1515, TO THE DEATH OF THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN, IN 1519; Including the rISE OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY.

LEWIS XII. was succeeded on the throne of France by his son-in-law Francis, count of Angouleme, first prince of the blood, whose military genius, it was foreseen, would soon disturb the peace of Europe. Young, brave, ambitious and enterprizing, he immediately turned his eyes towards Italy, as the scene of glory and of con

16. Hist. de Louis XII. pub. par Theod. Godefroy.

A. D. 1515.

quests.

His first object was the recovery of Milan.

But

quest. before he sat out on that expedition, he renewed the treaty which his predecessor had concluded with England; and having nothing to fear from Spain, where Ferdinand was on the verge of the grave, he marched his army towards the Alps, under pretence of defending his kingdom against the incursions of the Swiss. Informed of his hostile intentions, that warlike people had taken up arms, at the instigation of the pope, in order to protect Maximilian Sforza, duke of Milan, whom they had restored to his dominions, and thought themselves bound in honour to support.

SEPT. 13.

These hardy mountaineers took possession of all those passes in the Alps, through which they thought the French must enter Italy; and when informed that Francis had made his way into Piedmont, by a secret route, they descended undismayed into the plain, and gallantly opposed themselves on foot to the heavy-armed cavalry of France. The two armies met at Marignan, near Milan; where was fought one of the most furious and obstinate battles mentioned in the history of modern times. The action began towards evening: night parted the combatants: but next morning the Swiss renewed the attack with unabated ardour, and it required all the heroic ardour of Francis to inspire his troops with courage sufficient to resist the shock. The Swiss, though broken at last by the cavalry, and galled by the cannon, long kept their ground; and did not retire till they had lost upwards of twelve thousand of their best troops, about one half of their whole number. The loss of the French was very considerable; twenty thousand men fell on both sides; and the old marshal Trivulzio, who had been present at eighteen pitched battles, used to declare, that in comparison of the battle of Marignan, every other engagement he had seen was but the play of children, but this was a combat of heroes'.

1. Mem. de Fleurages.

The

The surrender of the city of Milan, and the conquest of the whole duchy, were the consequences of this victory. Maximilian Sforza, resigned his claim in consideration of a pension; and Francis having concluded a treaty with the pope, and with the Swiss, returned into France, leaving to Charles duke of Bourbon the government of his Italian dominions2.

In the mean time the success and glory of the French monarch began to excite jealousy in the breast of the old emperor Maximilian: nor was the rapid progress of Francis, though in so distant a country, regarded with indiffer ence even by the king of England. Henry dispatched a minister to the court of Vienna, with secret orders to propose certain payments to the emperor: and Maximilian, who was ever ready to embrace any overture to excite fresh troubles, and always necessitous, immediately invaded Italy with a considerable army. But that prince being repulsed before Milan, by the French garrison, and hearing that twelve thousand Swiss were advancing to its relief, retired hastily into Germany; made peace with France A. D. 1516. and with Venice, ceded Verona to that republic for a sum of money, and thus excluded himself, in some measure, from all future access into Italy3.

This peace, which restored universal tranquillity to Europe, was preceded by the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, and the succession of his grandson Charles to his extensive dominions; an event which had long been looked for, and from which the most important consequences were expected. Charles, who had hitherto resided in the Low Countries, which he inherited as heir of the house of Burgundy, was now near the full age of sixteen, and possessed a recollection and sedateness much above his years; but his genius had yet given no indications of that superiority, which its maturer state displayed. That capacious and decisive judgment, which afterwards directed so ably the affairs

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