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after the lowly valleys at their feet are green and fragrant with the breath of May.*

Our next sketch will be the family of Francis the First, King of France. This prince was called in his day the Mirror of Knightbood, and in some respects justly. He I was very handsome, of a frank and lofty countenance, with clear blue eyes, a bright smile, a merry laugh, an affable reply for everyone. In the poet's animated words he is brought before us

"With the air he knows so well to don
With cap in hand, and his thick chestnut hair
Fanned from his forehead, bowing to the saddle,
Smiling and nodding-"chiding" at them too
For hindering his progress, while his eye,

His eagle eye, well versed in such discernment,
Roved through the crowd.'

In wrestling, and all games that require speed or strength, he excelled most of his subjects, and he was brave as a lion in battle. So far Francis might be called the Mirror of Chivalry; but more is required of true knights than this. They must be self-denying, pure in heart, faithful to their word; gentle to the old and unsightly, as well to the beautiful and young; and Francis was none of these. I am afraid he was selfish and corrupt at heart, and several learned writers go so far as to say, that in his reign, and from his example, began that decline of virtue in France which ended in the French Revolution. Happily the brighter and better parts of his character will chiefly come before us in this slight sketch.

Francis ascended the throne in 1515, at the death of his distant relative, Louis XII. Nine years before, this king had proposed a marriage between him and his own daughter, the little Princess Claude, and they had been solemnly affianced to one another in 1506. This ceremony took place at the royal abode of Plessis of the

*See Moral Songs for Children, p. 61.

Anne

Towers, the same place which thirty years before Louis XI. had stained with so much innocent blood. On this occasion its walls rang with mirth and jollity; one barquet succeeded another, and for several days the braves lords in the kingdom dared one another to mock fights with the spear and lance. The whole nation rejoiced it this match, and so did King Louis; but his queen, of Brittany, was of another mind. It happened that Francis was the object of her particular dislike; and having in vain opposed the marriage, she showed her spite by keeping him completely aloof, so that for the next eight years he scarcely saw his plighted bride, and never was allowed to speak to her one moment in private. His sorrow, therefore, could not have been deep when, in 1514, Queen Anne died; nevertheless, as heir to the crown, he was called upon to act the part of chief mourner at her funeral, and walked alone next to the coffin, wrapped in a long black mantle. Anne was buried with great splendour in the Abbey Church of St. Denis, and a funeral sermon was delivered over her remains by learned doctor named Parvy. This discourse, according to the fashion of that age, was full of praises of the deceased; and because she had died at the age of thirtysix, the preacher divided his sermon into thirty-six heads, each describing a separate virtue of the queen's. He ended by saying that these thirty-six virtues together formed a chariot to bear her soul to bliss. After this harangue, the coffin was lowered into the vault, and all the nobles looked on, while a herald broke his wand into three pieces, crying aloud three times, 'The most Christian Queen of France and Duchess of Brittany, sovereign lady, is dead!'

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Francis lost not a moment in claiming his bride, and four months later their marriage was solemnized. It must have been a gloomy spectacle, as the bride and bridegroom, and the whole court, were in black, King

Louis not allowing them to put off their mourning a single day. Claude is described as looking very fragile, with fair, delicate features that boasted no beauty, except that of a sweet expression, a slender, girlish figure and a slight lameness, the result of ill health, which rendered her movements slow. It was more from motives of policy than from affection that her kinsman had sought her hand, and very soon after their marriage an event took place which put her in a most uncomfortable position. King Louis's grief for his queen was as short as it had been violent. To the astonishment of all, and the dismay of Francis and Claude, he announced six months after her death his intention of marrying the beautiful Mary of England, sister to Henry the VIIIth. Claude, who had been tenderly attached to her mother, felt deeply this slight to her memory, while the more ambitious Francis dreaded the possibility of a son being born to Louis, and shutting him out from the throne; but resistance would have been quite useless, and they were compelled to stifle their feelings, and take an active part in preparing for the bride.

She came, and the marriage took place with great pomp, but it was followed within ten weeks by the death of the weak old king. A journey which he took to greet her at her first landing in France, the fatigue of the wedding feasts, and sundry changes in his hours and habits, which he made in order to gratify Mary's tastes, brought on a severe fit of gout. This so weakened him, that at a tilt held in the queen's honour, he was obliged to lie on a couch while she stood at his side, all men wondering at her beautie.' Alarming symptoms soon appeared, and though the physicians kept up hope, Louis himself felt certain his end was near. He sent for Francis, embraced him tenderly, and commended his people to his care; he also prayed him to be kind to his young bride, now about to become a widow, and to love and cherish

the Princess Claude. All Francis's better feelings were roused by this appeal, and he affectionately bade the king be of good cheer, for he should yet recover. 'I am dying,' was Louis's only reply; 'take care of my subjects,' and he soon after sank back and expired.

The first summers of Francis's reign were devoted to war, for he was bent on adding the dukedom of Milan to his dominions, and spared neither blood nor treasure for this object. Meanwhile the gentle Claude lived in great retirement, mourning his absence, trembling for his safety, and often hurt and grieved by the wayward tem pers of his mother, Louisa of Savoy. As time wore on. however, a bond of union sprang up between the mother and daughter-in-law. Claude gave birth to two little girls, who were named Louisa and Charlotte; and even her love for them could scarcely exceed that of their stern and haughty grandmother. She would spend hours in their nursery, watch their growth with delight, and write minute accounts of them to their absent father. She would even sit up whole nights by their bed-side in their frequent illnesses; and once, by her exertions in their sick room, she brought upon herself a very long and severe fit of gout.

Her daughter Margaret, Duchess of Alençon, Francis's only and much loved sister, spent much time with Queen Claude in his absence. The sisters-in-law must have been a great contrast to one another, for while Claude was gentle, retiring, and of a pensive turn, Margaret was bright, active, and cheerful; she had a sweet temper, but a high spirit; she loved learning, and the company of learned men, and from her youth had seen and freely expressed her opinion of the corruptions of the Church of Rome. Indeed, the one blot in her character is, that she wrote a very objectionable book to expose the frauds and evil practices of the monks. So enraged were they at this boldness, that Francis had several times to exert his

great power in order to shield his sister from their revenge.

In May, 1517, Claude was solemnly crowned at St. Denis, and two days after made her triumphal entrance into Paris, seated in an open litter, and arrayed in cloth of silver, with a royal mantle of crimson velvet. Around her throat was a necklace of priceless value, given her by the king, and her crown sparkled so brightly with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, that it was said to vie with the rays of the noonday sun. The king's mother followed in a black litter, the trappings of the horses. being black also. The pageant ended in a great supper, at which Claude sat under a canopy of gold and silver tissue, and was entertained with 'such melodious music as made the hall a paradise of delight.'

In 1518 Claude gave birth to a son, to the boundless joy of Francis, and of the whole nation. We have minute accounts of the baptism of the little prince, who was called Francis, after his father. Pope Leo X. was asked to be sponsor, and as he could not himself attend the christening, he sent an ambassador with thirty-six mules laden with rich presents, The castle of Amboise being too small to hold all the guests, its vast court-yard was roofed over so as to shut out wind and rain, and many a squire of gentle blood was glad to sleep on its Pavement. At the christening, five princes walked before the royal babe, carrying a cradle, a waxen taper, a salt-cellar, basin, and ewer. Then Pope Leo's proxy followed, with the infant in his arms, its head supported by the governess of the royal children, and its long robe by four noblemen. The baby princesses, carried by two lords, looked on while the holy rite was performed; their royal parents also witnessed it from their seats at the right of the font.

Within the next five years two more princes and as many princesses were added to the royal nursery, but VOL. 14. PART 80.

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