in such a manner as made France to feel his loss, while he stained his memory with the appellation of a traitor.

It is a singular fact, that Francis hastened to the fatal battle of Pavia, in opposition to all the remonstrances of his wisest ministers and generals, and that when he heard that his mother was advancing by rapid journies to Provence, to use her influence in dissuading him, he began his march before her arrival, that he might avoid an interview. By way of atonement for his neglect of his mother, he appointed her sole regent in France during his absence. In this elevated situation, she displayed such prudence and virtue as almost obliterated her former defects. The king having transmitted the earliest intelligence of that fatal day in a letter which contained only these words, "Madam, all is lost, except our honour," she then began to display those great abilities which saved the kingdom, which the violence of her passions had more than once exposed to the greatest dangers. Instead of giving herself up to such lamentations as were natural to a woman so remarkable for her maternal tenderness, she discovered all the foresight, and exerted all the activity of a consummate politician. She assembled the nobles at Lyons, and animated them by her example, no less than by her words, with such zeal in the defence of their country, as its present circumstances required. She collected the remains of the army which had served in Italy, ransomed the prisoners, paid the arrears, and put the army in a condition to take the field. She levied new troops, provided for the security of the frontiers, and raised sums sufficient for defraying these extraordinary expenses. Her chief care, however, was to appease the resentment, or to gain the friendship of the king of England; and from that quarter the first ray of comfort broke in upon

the French. Henry, in his alliances with Charles, expected to seize some favourable opportunity of recovering some of those territories in France which had belonged to his ancestors; but he never anticipated any event so decisive and so fatal as the victory at Pavia, which seemed not only to have broken, but to have annihilated the power of one of the rivals; so that the prospect of the sudden and entire revolution which this would occasion in the political system, filled him with the most disquieting apprehensions. He saw all Europe in danger of being overrun by an ambitious prince, to whose power there now remained no counterpoise; and though he himself might at first be admitted in quality of an ally to some share in the spoils of the captive monarch, it was easy to discern, that with regard to the manner of making the partition, as well as his security for keeping it, he must absolutely depend upon the will of a confederate, to whose forces his own bore no proportion. Concern for the situation of the unhappy monarch co-operated with these political considerations: his gallant behaviour in the battle of Pavia had excited an high degree of admiration, which never fails of augmenting sympathy; and Henry, naturally susceptible of generous sentiments, was fond of appearing as the deliverer of a vanquished enemy from a state of captivity. The passions of Wolsey, the prime minister, seconded the inclinations of the monarch, who had not forgot the disappointment of his hopes in the election to the papal chair, which had been encouraged and neglected by Charles. To these causes, Louise owed her rapid success with the king of England.

The negotiation concerning the release of Francis, did not linger in the hands of an affectionate mother, and a grateful nation. Some of these articles were sufficiently severe. Among others, he

was to give as hostages to the emperor, his eldest son the dauphin, his second son the duke of Orleans, or, in lieu of the latter, twelve of the principal nobility, whom he was to nominate. Louise, according to her usual prudence during her regency, sent the two sons, instead of sending twelve noblemen, whose services and talents were necessary upon such an emergency.

There is another fact recorded of this woman, not less honourable to her abilities and character. The various contending powers of Europe, from different motives, were become all desirous of peace, but durst not venture too hastily on the steps necessary for attaining it. At this critical conjuncture of affairs, Margaret of Austria and Louise undertook to procure this blessing so much desired by all Europe. They met at Cambray, were lodged in two adjoining houses, between which a communication was opened, met without ceremony or observation, and no person was admitted to their conferences. As both were profoundly skilled in business, thoroughly acquainted with the secrets of their respective courts, and possessed with perfect confidence in each other, they soon made great progress towards a final accommodation; and the ambassadors of all the confederates waited in anxious suspense to know their fate, the determination of which was entirely in the hands of these illustrious negotiators. The treaty was speedily terminated to the satisfaction of all parties.

22

ALBERT OF BRANDENBURGH.

THE history of this prince is fertile of important events. In that period when the phrenzy of the Crusades possessed all Europe, several orders of knighthood were founded in defence of the Christian faith against infidels. Among these the Teutonic order in Germany was one of the most illustrious. Being driven at last from their settlements in the east, they were obliged to return to their native country; there they invaded the province of Prussia, the inhabitants of which were still idolaters, and having completed their conquest, held it as a fief depending on the crown of Poland. Fierce contests arose during this period between the grand master of the order and the kings of Poland, the former struggling for independence, while the latter asserted their right of sovereignty. Albert, who was elected grand master, engaging keenly in this quarrel, maintained a long war with Sigismund king of Poland; but having become an early convert to Luther's doctrines, this gradually lessened his zeal for the interests of his fraternity, so that he took the opportunity of the confusions in the empire, and the absence of the emperor, to conclude a treaty with Sigismund, greatly to his own private advantage. By it, that part of Prussia which belonged to the Teutonic order was erected into a secular and hereditary dutchy, and the investiture of it granted to Albert, who in return bound himself to do homage for it to the kings of Poland as their vassal. In process of time, this rich inheritance fell to the electoral branch of the family; all dependence on the crown of Poland was shaken off, and the Margraves of Brandenburgh having assumed the title of kings of Prussia, have not only risen to an equality with the

first princes in Germany, but take their rank among the great monarchs of Europe.

But we have only at present to trace the footsteps of Albert, as prince of Brandenburgh. In the confederacy formed under Maurice, Albert was intrusted with the command of eight thousand men, consisting chiefly of mercenaries, who had resorted to his standard rather from the hope of plunder than the expectation of regular pay. Albert, seeing himself at the head of such a number of desperate adventurers, ready to follow him wherever he should lead them, soon began to disdain a state of subordination, and to form such extravagant schemes of aggrandizing himself, as seldom occur even to ambitious minds, unless when civil war or violent factions rouse them to bold exertions, by alluring them with immediate hopes of success. Full of these aspiring thoughts, Albert made war in a manner very different from the other confederates. He endeavoured to spread the terror of his arms by the rapidity of his motions, as well as the extent and vigour of his devastations; he exacted contributions wherever he came, in order to amass such a sum of money as would put it in his power to keep his army together. He in particular turned his rage against the popish ecclesiastics, whose territories he plundered with such wanton and merciless barbarity, as gave them. a very unfavourable impression of the spirit of that reformation in religion, with zeal for which he pretended to be animated. The bishops of Bambergh and Wurtzburgh, by their situation, lay particularly exposed to his ravages: he obliged the former to transfer to him, in property, almost one half of his extensive diocese; and compelled the latter to advance a great sum of money in order to save his country from ruin and desolation. During all these wild sallies, Albert paid no regard either