{owns as lie ftill held in the Milanefe; he renounced his 
claim to Naples, Milan, Genoa, and every other place 
beyond the Alps; he refigned the fovereignty of Flan¬ 
ders and Artois ; and confented immediately to confum- 
mate his marriage with Eleonora the emperor’s lifter. 
Such were the conditions by which Francis procured li¬ 
berty to his fons ; but he fatally wounded his reputation 
by abandoning his allies the Venetians, the Florentines, 
and the duke of Ferrara, to the mercy of the emperor. 
Clement VII. had indeed previoully concluded a feparate 
treaty; and the king, of England, eager to obtain from 
the pope a divorce from Catharine his queen, not only 
confented to the peace of Cambray, but made Francis a 
prefent of a large fum towards tire payment of the ran- 
fom of his fons. 
After the bloody labours of nine deftrudtive campaigns, 
Francis, in 1529, began to tafte the bleftings of peace. 
His court, during this interval of tranquillity, was diftin- 
guillied by its ftrperior fplendour and luxury, by the pa¬ 
tronage of letters, and the proteflion of the liberal arts. 
But amidft diverfions and entertainments the cares of go¬ 
vernment were ftill attended to; by a dexterous applica¬ 
tion he prevailed on the dates of Brittany to abandon their 
claim of a free and feparate principality, and to annex 
that province for ever to the crown of France. He afti- 
duoufly'cultivated the friendfliip of the king of England, 
and a fecond interview between the two monarchs, at a 
village equally diftant from Calais and Boulogne, dif- 
played every mark of mutual confidence. Vet, incapa¬ 
ble of abandoning his hopes of the Milanefe, he folicited 
a conference with pope Clement VII. At Marfeilles he 
embraced the holy father ; and to engage him more ftre- 
nuoufty in his views on Italy, he demanded and obtained 
the hand of the celebrated Catharine of Medicis, the 
niece of Clement, for his fecond fon Henry; the nuptials 
were celebrated in 1534, with uncommon magnificence ; 
but the death of Clement," only eleven months after¬ 
wards, difiipatcd the expectations which the king had 
fondly formed from this alliance. 
Five years of peace had contributed to heal the wounds 
of war, when Francis, indignant of the humiliating con¬ 
ditions of the treaty of Cambray, feized the opportu¬ 
nity of his rival’s abfence, then acquiring laurels, and 
breaking the chains of the Chriftian captives in Africa, 
to renew his claims on Italy. The execution of Mar- 
veille, his agent at Milan, whom Sforza caufed to be 
privately put to death, afforded a pretence for public 
hoftilities ; and the duke of Savoy, by refilling per- 
miftion to the French troops to pafs through Pied¬ 
mont, drew upon himfelf the immediate fury of the tem¬ 
ped. The troops of France, commanded by the admiral 
Brion, fwept the dominions of Savoy; and Francifco 
Sforza expired with terror at the approach of an enemy, 
by whom he had been twice expelled. Francis again 
flattered himfelf with the vain hope of acquiring the 
afcendancy in Italy; but this profpect was blafted by the 
peculiar circumftances of his allies, and by the activity of 
the emperor. With an army of forty thoufand infantry, 
and ten thoufand cavalry, Charles entered Piedmont; 
and the forces of France retired before him. Francis had 
penetrated into the aefign of his rival, not to confine his 
operations to the recovery of Piedmont and Savoy, but 
to puftt forward into the fouthern provinces of France. 
He was determined to remain on the defenfive; without 
hazarding a battle, to throw garrifons into the towms of 
the greateft ftrength ; and to deprive the enemy of fiub- 
fi(fence by laying wafte the country before them. The 
execution of this plan he devolved on the celebrated 
marefchal Montmorency. Chailes, fanguineand ardent, 
entered Provence; but was ftruck with aftonifhment at 
the face of defolation which reigned over the whole 
country. A few defencelefs towms immediately fubmitted 
to him; but the fields, deftitute of cattle and grain, 
chilled the fire of the invaders; Montmorency, ftrongly 
encamped under the walls of Avignon, defied his arms; 
and the cities of Marfeilles and Arles had been ftrength- 
ened by new fortifications. Againft the former the af- 
faults of the emperor w ere directed ; for two momhs the 
inglorious fiege was continued ; famine and difeafe incef- 
fantly preyed upon his troops; and he at length reluc¬ 
tantly confented to abandon the hopelefs enterprife, in 
which his braveft officers had perifned, and his army had 
been reduced to one half of their original number. In 
his retreat terror and confufion hung upon his rear, and 
lie was only preferved from total deftruClion by the per¬ 
tinacious caution of Montmorency, who declared that a 
bridge of gold ought to be made for a flying enemy. 
Tints Francis, by the prudence of his meafures, and the 
union and valour of his fubjeCts, rendered abortive the 
formidable fchemes of his rival. One circumftance 
alone embittered his fucccfs ; in the midft of the cam¬ 
paign in 1536, the dauphin expired ; a prince who ex¬ 
tremely refemblcd his father, and vvhofe bidden death w«s 
imputed to poifon. His cup-bearer was feized on fufpi- 
cion, and openly accufed the imperial generals Gonzaga 
and Leyva; but "the mod unprejudiced hiftorians have 
rejected the evidence. 
The enmity of thefe two celebrated monarchs feems at 
length to have exceeded their refources, and their coffers 
became exhauffed by their frequent and bloody wars. 
A truce in the Low Countries for ten months had been 
extorted by their mutual necefllties, and was foon after 
extended to Piedmont; Charles dreaded the formidable 
armaments of fultan Solyman, with whom Francis had 
been driven to contradl a clofe alliance ; nor was the lat¬ 
ter monarch infenfible to the infamy which accompanied 
his confederacy with infidels againft a Chriftian king. 
Though innumerable obffacles oppofed a definitive treaty, 
each prince aftedted to liflen to the exhortations of the 
Roman pontiff', and Paul at laft prevailed on them to fuf- 
pend their hoftile efforts by a truce for ten years. During 
thefe tranfadtions James V, of Scotland, mindful of an¬ 
cient alliances, had fitted out a fleet and army for the af- 
fiftance of Francis; though contrary winds retarded his 
embarkation till the hour of danger was paft. Francis 
rewarded his zeal with the hand of his daughter Magda¬ 
len, who accompanied her bufband to Scotland, where 
fhe foon after died; and James, ffill defirous of cement¬ 
ing his connedtions with France, efpoufed Mary of Guife, 
widow 7 of the duke of Longueville. 
A few days after figning the treaty of peace at Nice, 
the emperor, in his palfage to Barcelona, was driven by 
contrary winds to the ifland of St. Margaret, on the coaft 
of Provence. Francis, informed of the accident, invited 
him to take ffielter in his dominions, and propofed a per- 
fonal interview at Aigues-mortes. To this the emperor 
Charles V. confented ; and thefe two auguft fovereigns, 
in 1538, after twenty years open hoftilities, vied with 
each other in expreffions of refpedt and friendihip. After 
the departure of the emperor, Francis, relieved from the 
concerns of war, amufed himfelf with a journey into 
Dauphiny, and gratified a liberal mind with exploring 
the treafures of nature, and patronizing the liberal arts. 
Far different cares occupied his rival ; the citizens of 
Ghent, animated by the remembrance of former freedom, 
had refufed to contribute to the fupport of the late war; 
and, erecting the ftandard of rebellion, had offered to ac¬ 
knowledge the fovereignty of the king of France ; but 
that monarch, ffill flattering himfelf with the vain hope 
of obtaining the inveffiture of Milan from the juflice of 
the emperor, rejected the propofalsof the Flemings, and 
communicated their fchemes and intentions to the empe¬ 
ror. Charles, though free from any danger on the fide 
of France, was alarmed at the revolt of a people, rich, 
turbulent, and obflinate. The exigency, he was fenfible, 
demanded liil immediate prefence, and he refolved, as 
the fhorteff way, to demand a padage through France. 
He at the fame time reprefented to Francis his inclina¬ 
tion to fettle the affair of the Milanefe to his fatisfaCtion ; 
but he entreated that he would not exaCt any new pro- 
2 ’ mile 
