given up as hostages, were ransomed at the king's return, for two millions in gold. In 1535, the peace was interrupted, and hostilities again commenced. Francis took Savoy, expelled the emperor from Provence, in 1536, entered into an alliance with Soliman II. emperor of the Turks; took Hesdin and several other places in 1537, and made a truce of ten years with Charles V. at Nice, 1538, which did not however long continue. The people of Ghent had rebelled against the emperor; on which he requested permission to pass through France to punish them. The request was granted on condition of conferring the investiture of the duchy of Milan upon the king's second son, the duke of Orleans. The emperor however, after being received in France with the highest honours, in 1539, was no sooner arrived into Flanders than he refused to keep his promise. This broke the truce; the war was renewed, and carried on with various success on both sides. The king's troops entered Italy, Rousillon and Luxemburgh. Francis of Bourbon, comte d' Enghien, won the battle of Cerizoles in 1544, and took Montferrat. Francis I., gained over to his side Barbarossa, and Gustavus Vasa, king of Sweden; while, on the other hand, Henry VIII., of England, espoused the interests of Charles V., and took Boulogne in 1544. Α peace was at last concluded with the emperor at Cressy. September 18, 1544, and with Henry VIII., June 7, 1546. A secret disease, the fruit of his licentious amours, had now been long preying upon the constitution of Francis, under which he sunk, March 31st, 1547, in his fifty-third year, at a time when he had begun to attend more seriously to his affairs, and by economy had brought his finances into a good condition. When dying, he particularly requested his son to diminish the taxes which he had been obliged to levy for defraying the expences of the war; and put it in his power to do so, for he left 400,000 crowns of gold in his coffers, with a quarter of his revenues which was then due. He left two sons and four daughters by his first consort, Claude of France. By his second queen, Eleanor, he had no issue.

The personal qualities of Francis were such as threw a kind of lustre round his character, especially contrasted with the less generous nature of his great rival, yet the circumstance of that constant rivalry with a superior in power and fortune, was the source of many meannesses in his conduct, which injured the reputation he might otherwise have acquired. His political capacity does not seem to have been of the superior order, and his numerous foibles subjected him to the constant influence of mistresses and favourites. His favourite mistress, the countess d'Estampes, enjoyed her power as publicly as any later possessor of that important post.

The encouragement, however, which Francis gave to litera

ture in his kingdom, conferred the greatest honour on his memory. The revival of polite literature in Europe was chiefly owing to his care; he patronized the learned, founded the royal college at Paris, furnished a library at Fontainbleau at a great expence, and built several palaces, which he ornamented with pictures, statues, and costly furniture. Upon the whole, it will be admitted, that few sovereigns of his country have made a more distinguished figure in the pages of history. He is the founder of the house of Valois, that being his title when he assumed the crown.

WILLIAM DU BELLAY, of Langei, a Frenchman of eminence. Francis I. employed him in his negociations with the German protestants; and he displayed great art in excusing to them the severities exercised against the French reformers. He himself seems to have been disinclined to persecution, for he long procured the suspension of the cruel edict against the protestants of Cabrieres and Merindol. He was made governor of Turin in 1537, and soon after, viceroy of Piedmont. Returning from that country in winter, in order to convey some important intelligence to the court of France, he was taken ill on the road, and died at St. Saphorin, between Lyons and Roane, in January, 1543. William du Bellay was a man of learning, and wrote several works, one of which was a "History of his own times," composed first in Latin, and translated by him into French. It was divided into ogdoades, or books of eight chapters each; but of these only a few are preserved in the works of his brother Martin du Bellay. They are written in a simple and lively manner, but are somewhat partial in favour of Francis I. He was one of the first French writers who doubted of the miraculous facts recorded by Joan of Arc.

JOHN DU BELLAY, cardinal, and younger brother of William du Bellay, was born in 1492. Francis I. employed him in a number of embassies, and rewarded him with some of the most considerable ecclesiastical preferments in France. He was bishop of Paris, when he was employed by his master to use all endeavours for procuring an accommodation between Henry VIII. of England, and the see of Rome. For this purpose he paid a visit to Henry, and thence went to the pope, from whom he obtained the delay required by Henry for defending his cause by procuration. But a courier from Henry not arriving on the day appointed, the pope, contrary to the strong remonstrances of Bellay, proceeded to the denunciation of those ecclesiastical censures, which occasioned the final separation of England from the Roman communion. Bellay continued at Rome, and in 1535, was made a cardinal by Paul III. On obtaining intelligence of the hostile designs of Charles V., he hastened back to France; and when that monarch invaded Provence, in 1536, Bellay was left by Francis as his lieutenant

in Paris, on which occasion he displayed as much military vigour as civil prudence; and put the metropolis and the principal places in Picardy and Champagne, in a formidable state of defence. He continued in high consideration during the life of Francis, but after the death of that king he lost his credit, chiefly through the intrigues of the cardinal of Lorraine. He retired to Rome, and resigning his promotions in France, was made bishop of Ostia. So much was he esteemed by his brother cardinals, that there were thoughts of raising him to the pontificate, when he died in 1560, at Rome, aged sixty-eight.

The cardinal du Bellay was not only highly eminent as a statesman, but held a distinguished rank among the patrons and friends of literature. By his influence, and that of Bardous, Francis was induced to found the royal college in 1529. He himself wrote elegantly, both in his own language and in Latin. In the former, he has left some harangues and an apology for Francis I. In the latter, he wrote three books of poems, consisting of elegies, odes, and epigrams, printed by R. Stephens in 1546. These have been praised by de Thou and Sainte Marthe, as pieces which would have conferred honour on a poet by profession.

MARTIN DU BELLAY, another brother, also served Francis, both in a military and civil capacity, and rose high in his favour. He wrote Historical Memoirs from 1513 to 1543, published with those of his brother.

MARGARET of VALOIS, queen of Navarre, sister to Francis I. king of France, was born at Angouleme in 1492. She was brought up at the court of Lewis XII., and married the duke of Alençon in 1509, by whom she had Joan, mother of Henry IV. She paid particular attention to the encouragement of commerce, of agriculture, and of the arts, among her subjects. Her partiality for the protestants was so great, that she wrote the " Mirror of a Sinful Soul." She underwent some ill treatment from her husband, on account of her attachment to the new opinions, and would have experienced more, had not her brother interposed. His affection for her continued, even after he had himself become a violent persecutor of the reformed in France; it is true, she never threw off the exterior profession of the Catholic religion, and became more assiduous in her compliance with its ceremonial as she advanced in years. It is even supposed that she finally returned to the faith in which she had been educated. A singular anecdote is related of her, which displays more curiosity than philosophy,-that, although much afraid of death, she once sat by the bed-side of one of her bed-chamber ladies who was dying, in order to watch whether she could perceive the soul depart from the body in the form of a puff of wind or vapour. She died in 1549, aged 57, of a catarrh, which, it is said, she caught in

making observations on a comet. She wrote Treptameron, after the manner of Boccace, a work which, though in a pleasing style, is dangerous, from its licentious and indelicate expressions. She wrote also poetical pieces, called les Marguerites de la Marguerite des Princesses, &c.

COUNT SEBASTIAN MONTECUCULI, an Italian gentleman, who was introduced at the French court, and became cup-bearer to the dauphin Francis, son of Francis I. He was accused of having poisoned the young prince of Valence; and being put to the torture, confessed that he was hired to do the deed by the partisans of Charles V. The friends of the emperor, however, fully refuted the abominable charge, and threw it back upon Catherine de Medicis, wife of Henry II. brother to the dauphin. This circumstance occurred in 1536.

JAMES DE BEAUNE, baron of Samblancai. He was descended from an ancient family originally from Tours, and was the son of John de Beaune, silversmith to Lewis XI. and Charles VIII. Francis I. entrusted to him the care of the royal treasury on the death of Robert. He pleased the king so well that Francis usually called James his father, and ex pressed for him the greatest esteem. He raised a great fortune, and yet preserved the favour both of sovereign and people, till the expedition of Lautrec into Italy, in 1541, for the defence of the Milanese. This general, aware of the profusion of the court, and the little reliance to be placed on its promises, would not depart to take the command, till he had been positively assured that 300,000 crowns were in readiness to be immediately forwarded for the pay of his troops. The sum, however, did not arrive; and for want of it, the Swiss mercenaries quitted him, and he was in the end totally driven out of the country. His complaints on his return caused Samblancai to be sent for; who confessed to the king, that the queen mother, Louisa duchess of Angouleme, on the very day that the money was prepared for the Milanese, had herself come to the treasury, and demanded it as arrears due upon her pensions and jointures, adding menaces of ruining him should he refuse compliance. The duchess, on being interrogated, acknowledged the receipt of the money, but denied that she knew of its previous destination. Samblancai repeated his assertions, on which Louisa, in great rage, gave him the lie, and required satisfaction for the affront; sensible, however, that her receipts would be produced in justification of the superintendant, she employed one of her women, who was beloved by Gentil, secretary to Samblancai, to persuade him to purloin these vouchers; and when possessed of them, she never ceased urging her son to the prosecution of this unfortunate man. The king accordingly had him arrested, and appointed commissioners to try him

for peculation, of which, after a long enquiry, he was found guilty in 1527, and condemned to be hanged. The venerable victim to female vengeance and avarice was brought to the gibbet, at the foot of which he long waited in hopes of pardon, but in vain. At length exclaiming that he now saw the difference between serving God and the king, he underwent his fate with firmness. The nation was convinced of his innocence, and some years afterwards his memory was restored to its honour. The traitor Gentil was hanged for another crime, pitied by none who remembered this transaction.

ANNE DE MONTMORENCI, premier baron, peer, marshal, grand-master, and constable of France, was born in 1493, and was second son of William lord of Montmorenci, representative of one of the most illustrious families in the kingdom. He received his female christian name from his godmother Anne of Britanny, queen of France. He was brought up at the court of Francis I., and was present at the battle of Marignano in 1515. He was one of the train of that king at the celebrated interview with Henry VIII., before Guines and Ardres, and was sent afterwards to England to oppose the machinations of Charles V. In 1521, he defended the city of Mezieres against the emperor, and obliged the count of Nassau to raise the siege. In 1522, he was made marshal of France; and in 1525, followed king Francis I. into Italy. He was taken with that prince at the battle of Pavia, which was fought contrary to his advice. The important services he afterwards rendered the state were rewarded by the sword of constable of France, with which he was presented by the king, Feb. 10, 1538. He afterwards underwent various revolutions of fortune both at court and in the field. At last being wounded at the battle of St. Denis, which he gained on Nov. 10, 1567, he died of his wounds two days after, aged 74. A cordelier offering to prepare him for death, when he was covered with blood and wounds, after the battle of St. Denis, he replied in a firm and steady voice, "Do you think that a man who has lived near 80 years with honour, has not learnt to die for a quarter of an hour." The constable Montmorenci ranks among the illustrious men of his age, though his great qualities were balanced by many defects. In temper he was harsh, austere, and dictatorial, obstinate in his opinions, and impatient of contradiction. He was accounted exceedingly pious, but his religion was much more that of a soldier than of a christian. Brantome gives the following lively picture of it. "He never failed every morning to say his paternosters, whether he staid at home or mounted on horseback; but it was a saying in the army, take care of the paternosters of monsieur the constable; for his way was, while reciting or muttering them, as any disorders or irregularities came in his view, to cry, 'take me