ra, there to pass the
last years of his life, distracted with gout, at one time resting from
the world and its turmoil, at another vexing himself about what was doing
there now that he was no longer in it. Before abandoning it for good, he
desired to do his son Philip the service of leaving him, if not in a
state of definite peace, at any rate in a condition of truce with France.
Henry II. also desired rest; and the Constable de Montmorency wished
above everything for the release of his son Francis, who had been a
prisoner since the fall of Thorouanne. A truce for five years was signed
at Vaucelles on the 5th of February, 1556; and Coligny, quite young
still, but already admiral and in high esteem, had the conduct of the
negotiation. He found Charles V. dressed in mourning, seated beside a
little table, in a modest apartment hung with black. When the admiral
handed to the emperor the king's letter, Charles could not himself break
the seal, and the Bishop of Arras drew near to render him that service.
"Gently, my Lord of Arras," said the emperor; "would you rob me of the
duty I am bound to discharge towards the king my brother-in-law? Please
God, none but I shall do it;" and then turning to Coligny, he said, "What
will you say of me, admiral? Am I not a pretty knight to run a course
and break a lance, I who can only with great difficulty open a letter?"
He inquired with an air of interest after Henry II.'s health, and boasted
of belonging himself, also, to the house of France through his
grandmother Mary of Burgundy. "I hold it to be an honor," said he, "to
have issued, on the mother's side, from the stock which wears and upholds
the most famous crown in the world." His son Philip, who was but a
novice in kingly greatness, showed less courtesy and less good taste than
his father; he received the French ambassadors in a room hung with
pictures representing the battle of Pavia. There were some who concluded
from that that the truce would not be of long duration. [_Histoire
d'Espagne,_ by M. Rosseeuw Saint-Hilaire, t. viii. p. 64.]

And it was not long before their prognostication was verified. The
sending of the Duke of Guise into Italy, and the assistance he brought to
Pope Paul IV., then at war with the new King of Spain, Philip II., were
considered as a violation of the truce of Vaucelles. Henry II. had
expected as much, and had ordered Coligny, who was commanding in Picardy
and Flanders, to hold himself in