Cq 4 FRA 
the lad moments of the unhappy criminal. By an un¬ 
precedented refinement in cruelty, he commanded the 
two fons of the duke, as yet in early childhood, and con- 
fequently incapable of any participation in his treafon, 
to be placed directly under the fcaff’old ; where they were 
covered with the blood of their wretched father, which 
defcended on their heads ! The concurring teftimonies 
of contemporary hiftorians fcarcely allow us to credit 
thefe barbarities, which (tamp with indelible infamy the 
reign of Louis: four thoufand perfons, without the form 
of trial, are fuppofcd to have perifhed the unhappy vic¬ 
tims of his bloody fufoicions and implacable refentments ! 
To fecure more firmly the friendlhip of England, 
Louis, in 1479, contrasted the dauphin to Elizabeth tire 
eldeft daughter of Edward IV. while Maximilian, ardent 
and fickle in his enterprifes, refumed his claim to Bur¬ 
gundy. A variety of defultory actions, and the mutual 
definition of cities, can afford but little entertainment 
to the reader; the hoftile armies at length engaged at 
Guinegate ; the Flemings were broken by the impetuous 
charge of the French ; but the victory vvas raviflied from 
the latter by their own imprudence : while they ungard- 
edly urged the purfuit, the infantry of the Flemings ral¬ 
lied, and returned to the charge ; yet the field feenis only 
to have been diftinguifned by the indifcriminate (laughter 
of both parties; and the king of France foon obtained a 
more decifive advantage at fea, by the capture of four- 
fcore vefiels belonging to the Flemings; a lofs fenfibly 
felt by a commercial people. But the health of Louis 
was at length opprefied by his continual and unwearied 
Career; and at a village near Chinon, in Touraine, he was 
feized, in 1480, with a fit of apoplexy. Two days he lay 
fpeechlefs ; at the end of which time his voice and intel¬ 
lects returned, but not the health he had formerly en¬ 
joyed. Yet his indifpofition prevented him not from 
adjufting the affairs of Savoy, and declaring himfelf the 
protector cf his infant nephew Charles. With the fame 
zeal he applied himfelf to eftablifh the tranquil fuccef- 
fion of his own foil, by crufiiing the nobles who were mod; 
capable of re(ifiance ; he feized without a fhadow of pre¬ 
tence tiie lands of the duke of Bourbon, the only prince 
who poffeffed qualities which could give him any difturb- 
ance; yet the dauphin, for whofe future grandeur he fo 
affiduoufly waded through leas of blood, he kept a fort 
of prifoner in the cable of Amboife, where none were 
permitted to approach him except fervants and perfons 
of the meanefi condition ; even his own confort, the queen 
of France, whofe patient and endearing attachment merited 
a better treatment, he banifiied into Savoy; and by his 
Lift will lie exprefsly precluded her from any (hare in the 
government, and endeavoured to infpire his Con with fen- 
timents of diftruft and averfion towards his own mother. 
The death of Charles, titular king of Naples, and the 
laft prince of the fecond houfe of Anjou, added, in 1481, 
the county of Provence to the crown ; but, while Louis 
was employed in fecuring this new acquilition, a fecond 
itroke of apoplexy warned him of his approaching end. 
Yet he again revived ; and, allured by the death of Mary 
of Burgundy, who died by a fall from her horfe in hunt¬ 
ing, he refumed hi ambitious intrigues. The fate of 
that princefs opened the way to a pacification between 
the king of France and Maximilian; and the infant 
daughter of the latter was affianced to the (on of the 
former. But the king of England, whofe principal views 
were directed to obtain fplendid eliabliffiments for bis 
daughters, and who had contracted Elizabeth to the dau¬ 
phin, prepared to revenge by arms this breach of faith 
in Louis. That monarch, with liia ufual art, endeavoured 
to avert the (form iiy inciting James king of Scotland to 
make war upon England. But James fell the victim to 
a confpiracy of his nobles ; and Edward, in 1482, burft- 
ing from the lilken bands of plealtire, purified with dili¬ 
gence his preparations tor tin invaiion of France ; when 
Lis defigns were broken by the hidden ftroke of death. 
But while the fortune of the king of France, who on 
N C E: 
every fide beheld his enemies humbled and his power in- 
created, was the envy of the neighbouring princes; the 
objeCt of that envy was himfelf anxioufly employed in the 
hopelefsendeavour to prolong a miferableexi(fence. Every 
refource of medicine was in vain exhaufted ; every bene¬ 
fit that could be derived from change of climate vvas in 
vain experienced ; and Louis, after ineffectually feeking 
reft through his fpacious dominions, at laft fixed his final 
refidence at Pleliis les Tours. The walls of that caffle 
were covered with iron fpikes ; a guard of crofs bow-men 
watched the gates and ramparts night and day ; and tIre 
guilty tyrant heard his enemies in every palling wind. 
Earth was in vain ranfacked -to revive his jaded apoe- 
tites; Heaven was in vain invoked with prayers and pro- 
ceilions, to avert his impending doom ; all hope vvas fled ; 
and his favourite, Oliver le Dain, pronounced to him the 
fentence of certain and approaching diffolntion ; the king 
heard him without betraying any emotions of terror ; he 
fent for his foil Charles from Amboife, and employed his 
laft moments in advifing him to cherifh the princes of 
his blood; to govern by the counfels of his nobles; to 
maintain the eftablilhed laws of the kingdom ; and to 
diminifli the extraordinary imports with which he had 
burdened his fubjeCfs. This laft effort exhaufted the 
ftrength of the fainting monarch ; and after a reign of 
twenty-three years, which by the acquilition of Bur¬ 
gundy, Artois, and Provence, laid the foundation of the 
fubfequent grandeur of France, Louis XI. in the fixty-firrt 
year of his age, A.D. 1463, expired. Dreaded by his 
fubjeCfs, whom he had continually opprefied, and de- 
tefled by his neighbours, whom he had affiduoufly de¬ 
ceived, he yet obtained from the obfequious temper of 
the reprefentative of St. Peter, the title of the Chrijlian 
king; a title that was ever after invariably adopted by 
his fucceffors. 
When Louis XI. expired, his fon and fucceffor 
Charles VIII. had almoft completed his fourteenth year, 
and would have afeended the throne with many political 
advantages, had not the deficiency of his education, the 
delicacy of his conftitution, and the diftance at which he 
had been kept from public affairs, rendered fome able 
pilot neceffary to (leer the helm of (late through the 
many dangerous (lioals which furrounded it. Three com¬ 
petitors were candidates for this important truft. John 
duke of Bourbon, a prince of the bloc d, who, with the 
reputation of unblemilhed integrity, had attained the ad¬ 
vanced age of fixty years, and whofe prudence andexpe- 
rience ftrongly recommended him to popular efteem ; 
Louis duke of Orleans, prefumptive heir to the crown, 
but whofe natural claim was weakened by his inexpe¬ 
rienced youth, as he had fcarcely completed his twen¬ 
tieth year ; and Anne de Beaujeu, eldeft daughter of the 
late monarch, to whom in his laft moments he committed 
thccharge of the government, with the title of governefs. 
The nomination of that princefs was confirmed by the 
affembly of the ftates-general at Tours; and although 
only entered into her twenty-fecond year, Anne appears 
to have poffeffed all the qualities requifite for the im¬ 
portant truft with vvhicli fhe was inverted. Equal to her 
father in genius, but more uniform in her comiut, and 
more amiable in difpofuion ; her judgment was found, 
without any mixture of that perfidious duplicity which 
debafed the underftanding of Louis. Miffiefs of an elo¬ 
quence and addrefs the mofr refined, fhe knew how to 
poftefs and to retain the authority delegated to her. [ier 
late father, actuated by that jealous and capricious policy 
which characterized his conduit, married her to Peter of 
Bourbon, fire de Beaujeu, and younger brother of the 
duke of Bourbon. That nobleman was of a remote and 
collateral branch of the blood royal ; 01 a (lender fortune 
and a moderate capacity ; but his deficiencies were his 
principal recommendations to the fuipicious Louis; and 
his eafy and unafpiring temper had gained upon the dying 
monarch to conftitute his fon-in-law lieutenant-general of 
the kingdom. 
0 The 
