UISE, MARGUERITE."

This close and tender union of the three continued through all
separations and all trials; the confidence of the captive king was
responsive to the devotion of his mother the regent and of his sister who
had become his negotiatrix. When the news came of the king's captivity,
the regency threatened for a moment to become difficult and stormy; all
the ambition and the hatred that lay dormant in the court awoke; an
attempt was made to excite in the Duke of Vendome, the head of the
younger branch of the House of Bourbon, a desire to take the regent's
place; the Parliament of Paris attacked the chancellor, Duprat, whom they
hated--not without a cause; but the Duke of Vendome was proof against the
attempts which were made upon him, and frankly supported the regent,
who made him the chief of her council; and the regent supported the
chancellor. She displayed, in these court-contentions, an ability
partaking both of firmness and pliancy. The difficulties of foreign
policy found her equally active and prudent. The greatest peril which
France could at that time incur arose from the maintenance of the union
between the King of England and Charles V. At the first news of the
battle of Pavia, Henry VIII. dreamed for a moment of the partition of
France between Charles and himself, with the crown of France for his own
share; demonstrations of joy took place at the court of London; and
attempts were made to levy, without the concurrence of Parliament,
imposts capable of sufficing for such an enterprise. But the English
nation felt no inclination to put up with this burden and the king's
arbitrary power in order to begin over again the Hundred Years' War.
The primate, Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to Cardinal Wolsey,
"It is reported to me that when the people had orders to make bonfires
for the capture of the King of France, many folks said that it was more
reason for weeping than for rejoicing. Others openly expressed their
desire that the King of France might be set at liberty, that a happy
peace might be concluded, and that the king might not attempt to conquer
France again, a conquest more burdensome than profitable, and more
difficult to keep than to make." Wolsey himself was cooled towards
Charles V., who, instead of writing to him as of old, and signing with
his own hand, "your son and cousin," now merely put his name, Charles.
The regent, Louise of Savoy, profited ably by these feelings and
c