Charles duke of Bourbon, high constable of France, was a prince of the most shining talents. His great abilities equally fitted him for the council or the field, while his eminent services to the crown entitled him to its first faBut unhappily, Louisa duchess of Angouleme, the king's mother, had contracted a violent aversion against the house of Bourbon, and had taught her son, over whom she had acquired an absolute ascendant, to view all the constable's actions with a jealous eye. After repeated

affronts, he retired from court, and began to listen to the advances of the emperor's ministers. Meantime the duchess of Bourbon happened to die; and as the constable was no less handsome than accomplished, the duchess of Angouleme, still susceptible of the tender passions, formed the scheme of marrying him. But Bourbon, who might have expected every thing to which an ambitious mind can aspire, from the doating fondness of a woman who governed her son and the kingdom, incapable of imitating Louisa in her sudden transition from hate to love, or of meanly counterfeiting a passion for one who had so long pursued him with unprovoked malice, treated the proposal with disdain, and even turned it into ridicule. At once refused and insulted by the man whom love only could have made her cease to persecute, Louisa was filled with all the rage of disappointed woman: she resolved to ruin, since she could not marry Bourbon. For this purpose she commenced an iniquitous suit against him; and by the chicanery of chancellor Du Pratt, the constable was stript of his whole family estate. Driven to despair by so many injuries, he had recourse to measures which despair only could have dictated. He entered into a secret correspondence with the emperor and the king of England; and he proposed, as soon as Francis should have crossed the Alps, to raise an insurrection among his numerous vassals, and to introduce foreign troops into the heart of France1.

16. Thuanus, lib. i. cap. ii. Mem. de Bellay, liv. ji.

Happily

Happily Francis got intimation of this conspiracy before he left the kingdom. But not being sufficiently convinced of the constable's guilt, he suffered so dangerous an enemy to escape; and Bourbon, entering into the emperor's service, employed all the resources of his enterprising genius, and his military skill, to the prejudice of his sovereign and his native country. He took a severe revenge for all his wrongs.

In consequence of the discovery of this plot, and the escape of the powerful conspirator, Francis relinquished his intention of leading his army in person into Italy. He was ignorant how far the infection had spread among his subjects, and afraid that his absence might encourage them to make some desperate attack in favour of a man so much beloved. He did not, however, abandon his design on the duchy of Milan; but sent forward, in order to subdue it, an army of thirty thousand men, under the command of admiral Bonnivet. Collona, who was entrusted with the defence of that duchy, was in no condition to resist such a force; and the city of Milan, on which the whole territory depends, must have fallen into the hands of the French, had not Bonnivet, who possessed none of the talents of a general, wasted his time in frivolous enterprizes, till the inhabitants recovered from their consternation. The imperial army was reinforced, Colonna died, and Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, succeeded him in the command. But the military operations were chiefly conducted by the duke of Bourbon, and the marquis de Pescara, the two greatest generals of their age. Bonnivet, destitute of the talents necessary to oppose such able commanders, was reduced, after various movements and encounters, to the necessity of attempting a retreat into France. He was pursued by the imperial generals, and routed at Biagrassa.

A. D. 1524.

Here fell the chevalier Bayard, whose contempt of the arts of courts prevented him from ever rising to the chief command, but who was always called, in times of real danger, to the posts of difficulty and importance. Bonnivet being

VOL. II.

wounded

wounded, the conduct of the rear was committed to Bayard. He put himself at the head of the heavy-armed cavalry, and animating them by his presence and example, to sustain the whole shock of the imperial army, he gained time for the body of his countrymen to make good their retreat. But in that service he received a mortal wound; and being unable any longer to continue on horseback, he ordered one of his attendants to place him under a tree, where he calmly waited the approach of death. In this situation he was found by Bourbon, who led the van of the Imperialists, and expressed much sorrow for his fate. "Pity not me!" cried the highminded chevalier, "I die, as a man of honour ought, in the 66 discharge of my duty; but pity those who fight against "their king, their country, and their oath'."

The emperor and his allies were less successful in their operations on the frontiers of France. They were baffled on all sides. And Francis, though stript of his Italian dominions, might still have enjoyed in safety, the glory of having defended his native kingdom against one half of Europe, and have bid defiance to all his enemies, could he have moderated his military ardour. But understanding that the king of England, discouraged by his former fruitless enterprizes, and disgusted with the emperor, was making no preparations for invading Picardy, his rage for the conquest of Milan returned; and he determined, notwithstanding the approach of winter, to march into Italy.

The French army no sooner appeared in Piedmont, than the whole duchy of Milan was thrown into consternation. The capital opened its gates. The forces of the emperor and Sforza retired to Lodi: and had Francis been so fortunate as to pursue them, they must have abandoned that post, and been totally dispersed. But his evil genius led him to besiege Pavia,a town of considerable strength, well garrisoned, and defended by Antonio de Leyva, one of the bravest officers in the Spanish service. Every thing

ост. 28.

17. Mem. de Bellay, ubi sup. Oeuvr. de Brantome, tom. vi.

known

season.

known to the engineers of that age, or which could be effected by the valour of his troops was attempted in vain by the French monarch against this important place, during a siege of three months. In the meantime, confident of suc'cess, he had detached a considerable part of his army to invade the kingdom of Naples: and the main body was much wasted by the fatigues of the siege and the rigour of the The imperial generals had not hitherto molested him, but they were not idle. Pescara and Lannoy had assembled forces from all quarters; and Bourbon, having pawned his jewels, had gone into Germany, and levied at his own expence a body of twelve thousand Lans- A. D. 1525. quenets. The united army advanced to the re- FEB. 3.: lief of Pavia, now reduced to extremity for want of ammunition and provisions. Prudence and the advice of his most experienced officers, dictated to Francis the propriety of a retreat; but his own romantic notions of honour, and the opinion of Bonnivet, unhappily determined him to keep his post. Having said that he would take Pavia or perish in. the attempt, he thought it ignominious to depart from that resolution; and he anxiously waited the approach of the enemy.

FEB. 24.

The imperial generals found the French so strongly entrenched, that they hesitated long before they ventured to attack them. But the necessities of the besieged, and the murmurs of their own troops, obliged them at last to put every thing to hazard. Never did armies engage with greater ardour, or with a higher opinion of the battle they were going to fight; never were men more strongly animated with personal emulation, national antipathy, mutual resentment, and all the passions which inspire obstinate bravery. The first efforts of the French valour made the firmest battalions of the Imperialists give ground; but the fortune of the day was soon changed. The Swiss troops in the service of France, unmindful of their national honour, shamefully deserted their post. Pescara fell upon the French cavalry with the imperial horse, and

broke

broke that formidable body, by a mode of attack with which they were wholly unacquainted18; while Leyva, sallying out with his garrison, during the heat of the action, made a furious assault on the enemy's rear, and threw every thing into confusion. The rout became general. But Francis himself surrounded by a brave nobility, many of whom fell by his side, long sustained the combat. His horse being killed under him, he fought on foot, undistinguished but by his valour, and killed seven men with his own hand. At last he was observed by Pomperant, a French gentleman, who had followed the fortunes of Bourbon, and who now saved the life of his sovereign, ready to sink beneath an enraged soldiery. By his persuasion Francis was prevailed upon to surrender; yet he obstinately refused, imminent as the danger was, to deliver up his sword to Bourbon. Lannoy received it. But Bourbon had the cruel satisfaction of exulting over his sovereign's distress, and of repaying, from revenge, the insults offered by jealousy1.

This victory, and the captivity of Francis, filled all Europe with alarm. Almost the whole French army was cut off; Milan was immediately abandoned; and in a few weeks not a Frenchman was left in Italy. The power of the emperor, and still more his ambition, became the object of universal terror: and resolutions were every where taken to set bounds to it. Meanwhile Francis, deeply impressed with a sense of his misfortune, wrote to his mother Louisa, whom he had left regent of the kingdom, the following short but expressive letter: "All is lost, but honour!"

The same courier, that delivered this letter, carried also dispatches to Charles, who received the news of the signal and unexpected success which had crowned his arms, with the most hypocritical moderation. He would not suffer any public rejoicings to be made on account of

18. Pescara had intermingled with the imperial horse, a considerable number of Spanish foot, armed with the heavy muskets then in use. Guicsiardini, lib. xv.

19. Mem. de Bellay. Brantome. Guicciardini.