Marie of Anjou. With his liberty, Louis d'Amboise recovered in September, 1434, the viscounty of Thouars, and his other estates, with the exception of the principality of Talmont, and the lordships of Amboise, Chateau-Gaultier, Olonne, Bran, and Brandois. At a later period, in January, 1438, Charles VII. declared that malevolence alone had stimulated the persecutors of the Lord of Amboise, who had been condemned without any form of trial, and he therefore restored him to the possession of all his estates of which he was still deprived. This restitution, however, was coupled with this, among other conditions, that he should not marry his eldest daughter without the king's permission. Was this permission ever obtained? Apparently it was; for a short time after he had recovered his property, the Vicomte de Thouars celebrated the marriage of his eldest daughter with Duke Pierre of Bretagne. His third daughter, Marguerite d'Amboise, married the rejected suitor of Frances, that very Louis de la Tremoille, who had sc recently been the involuntary cause of his father-in-law's misfortunes; and this alliance, as we shall presently see, occasioned the transfer of all the property of the house of Amboise to the family of La Tremoille. On ratifying the contract of this second marriage, by an act dated August 22. 1446, Louis d'Amboise assigned to Marguerite, as her future share in his possessions, the estates of Talmont, Bran, Olonne, Curzon, Chateau-Gaultier, La Chaume, Les Sables, and Marans; reserving to himself, however, the enjoyment of them during his lifetime. In his old age, the Vicomte de Thouars gave himself up to the most foolish prodigalities, and to such disorderly conduct that his children were obliged to sue for the appointment of trustees to his estate.

He did not surrender his rights without a contest, but alleged that the Duke and Duchess of Bretagne were moved solely by discontent at not having been able to persuade him to give them the estate of Thouars, and that, furthermore, the proceedings instituted against him were irregular, inasmuch as, from his rank and relationship to the royal family of France, he must be tried by the king and "the duly assembled court of peers.” The parliament, disregarding his protest, made a provisional order that the vicomte should not alienate his property, or make any

conveyance thereof without the advice and consent of Master Robert Thiboust, then president of that court. This decree was dated on the 16th of January, 1457. The suit was still in progress when Louis XI. ascended the throne; and it seemed to him that it would be easy to take advantage at once of the weakness and irritation of the vicomte. At a summons from the king, the vicomte proceeded to Tours, and Louis proposed to him to marry the Duchess of Bretagne, who had become a widow, to the Duke of Savoy, and appointed him to negotiate the alliance. The duchess gave a

distinct and formal refusal to these overtures; and in order to destroy all chance of gaining her compliance, she_pronounced a vow at the altar never to marry again. Louis XI. gave a very ungracious reception to the luckless negotiator, and frightened him so by his threats and the violence of his reproaches, that Louis d'Amboise, duped by this simulated anger, readily listened to the counsels of certain courtiers, who advised him to propitiate the king by giving him the viscounty of Thouars. But in order that this donation might be valid, it was necessary to get rid of the decree pronounced by the court in January, 1457. This obstacle did not long stand in the way of Louis XI. The affair was referred to the council, which, by a decree of the 5th of September, 1462, reversed the order of the parliament. Thus restored to the uncontrolled management of his property, Louis d'Amboise sold to the king the viscounty of Thouars for 100,000 crowns, to be paid within a week: but the king was not to take possession of the estate until the death of the vicomte. 10,000 crowns were paid to him a few days after the signature of the contract, and Louis XI. received in return a general receipt for the entire sum. The Duchess of Bretagne hastened to protest against this illdisguised act of spoliation; but ere long, having taken the veil, she transferred all her rights to her nephew, Louis de la Tremoille, the eldest son of her sister Marguerite. Louis d'Amboise, after having spent the last years of his life in disgraceful disorders, died at length on the 28th of February, 1470. While he was on his death-bed, Jacques de Beaumont, Lord of Bressuyre, came, in pursuance of the king's command, at the head of some thirty gentlemen, to invest the Castle of Thouars, from whence he had orders to remove

the children, the wife, the relatives, and even the friends of the dying man. He executed these commands to the letter; and it was among strangers, and under the care of physicians selected by the Lord of Bressuyre, that Louis d'Amboise breathed his last. Some notable inhabitants of the town attended his funeral, which was arranged by Jacques de Beaumont, who caused an inventory to be taken immediately of the furniture and title-deeds, and seized in the king's name on the viscounty of Thouars, and all the other property of the deceased. Such was the title of Louis XI. to the estate with which he had just enriched Commines. The head of the despoiled family opposed the registration of the king's letters, both in the parliament and in the Cour des Comptes; but after some slight resistance, both the sovereign courts were constrained to yield. Commines took possession of the gifts of Louis XI., which were destined to prove to him the source of great anxiety and the cause of painful and scandalous lawsuits.

These honours and emoluments certainly recompensed Commines very amply for any loss he had sustained by leaving his native country. Louis XI., however, did not rest satisfied with these proofs of his gratitude. An advantageous marriage which he had long had in view, soon secured an increase of fortune to the Prince de Talmont, for that was the title assumed by Commines on the 27th of January, 1473, when he signed his contract of marriage with Helène de Chambes, eldest daughter of the Lord and Lady of Montsoreau. The dowry of the bride amounted to 20,000 golden crowns, as an equivalent for which Commines received from her parents the castle, town, barony, estate, and lordship of Argenton, in Poitou, with all its rich and numerous dependencies.

To all these benefits, Louis XI. added a gift of which he was not lavish-his confidence. Commines apparently proved himself worthy of it, for the favours of the king continued to shower down upon him. It would be tedious to enumerate them here; we will only mention that he was invested with the office of Seneschal of Poitou, in November, 1476, and with the captaincy of the Castle of Poitiers in February, 1477. Such continued favour could not fail to arouse the jealousy and even the hatred of less fortunate courtiers, especially of

those wh found it difficult to obtain their share of influence, which they were incapable of earning by services of so high an order as those rendered by Commines. Envy, when brooding in the heart of such a man as Tristan l'Ermite, might produce the most fatal results; and the more so, as the new favourite was not naturally inclined to pause of his own accord in the career of honour which opened before him, and scarcely attempted to dissemble his disdain for the unworthy rival who endeavoured to stand in his way. The court was soon divided, as it were, into two camps, each of which maintained the pretensions of its chosen leader; and the prudence of Louis XI. had frequently to interfere to restore peace between two servants who, on different grounds, were equally necessary to him.

The first person who brought this prince any important news was sure to be rewarded by him with favour and gifts; skilful courtiers knew this, and lost no opportunity of profiting by this means of pleasing their master. Commines was one of the first to announce to him the result of the battle of Morat on the 22nd of June, 1476; and he received as his share of the recompense 200 marks of gold. No message could have been more agreeable to the king, excepting, perhaps, that which announced to him, a few months afterwards, the total defeat of the Duke of Burgundy, after the disastrous battle of Nancy on the 5th of January, 1477. The duke had been found dead on the field. At this news, even before it was known whether Charles the Bold had survived his defeat, Louis XI. "felt such exceeding joy that he almost lost countenance." The Bastard of Bourbon and Commines were immediately sent into Picardy, with full power to receive and establish in the king's allegiance all who were willing to surrender. The plan of Louis XI. was to march an army into Burgundy, and to take possession of the country in the name of the duke, after expelling the Germans, who had occupied it since their victory. Commines seems to have believed in the sincerity of these intentions, which, whether real or feigned, were not long entertained; for the positive news of the duke's death soon reached the king's ear, and altogether changed his plans. Meanwhile, Commines and the Bastard of Bourbon proceeded towards Abbeville, whither they had taken the

precaution of sending an emissary before them, to pave the way for an accommodation. But notwithstanding all their diligence, they had been anticipated, and when they reached the town, the people had already delivered up the gates to the Seigneur de Torcy. The two plenipotentiaries next went to Doullens, whence they sent to summon Arras to submit to the authority of the king. Commines set out alone to conduct this negotiation; but all his address failed to corrupt the loyalty of the people of Arras, who formally refused to acknowledge any other sovereign than their young duchess. He therefore contented himself with labouring secretly to gain the greatest possible number of partizans for his master; and this was, after all, the principal object of his mission. He had acted, moreover, on the mere announcement of the defeat of Charles the Bold; but the certain news of the death of that prince had, as we have already stated, totally changed the king's intentions. It was no longer his object to preserve Burgundy from the invasion of the Germans; he wished to take possession of the country, and distribute its lordships among his servants. This failure at Arras was all the more displeasing to him because other negotiators had met with better success: Guillaume de Bische, for instance, had secured Peronne. His valet de chambre, Oliver, boasted that he would reduce to his alle giance the city of Ghent; and Robinet d'Odenfort answered for the submission of St. Omer. The king, flattered by these promises, and believing himself already in possession of these places, compared the meagre result of the mission entrusted to Commines with the happy issue promised him by the zeal of his faithful servants. The Lord du Lude and others, on being questioned by the king, concurred in his opinion; and all that Commines could do was to suggest doubts as to the facility with which such strong towns would be induced to surrender.

He was better acquainted with the country than any other member of the council; and his advice was to secure to the crown of France the possession of the rich domains which it coveted, rather by some valid title, as marriage or friendly cession, than by the means which it was intended to adopt. Louis XI. doubtless thoroughly understood the wisdom of this advice, and had once approved it; but the