different character, had complained of his having once cheated
him: "He lies, the drunkard!" said he; "I have cheated him above twenty
times." This prince considered his close connections with Henry only as
the means which enabled him the better to take advantage of his want of
experience. He advised him not to invade France by the way of Calais,
where he himself should not have it in his power to assist him: he
exhorted him rather to send forces to Fontarabia, whence he could easily
make a conquest of Guienne, a province in which it was imagined the
English had still some adherents. He promised to assist this conquest
by the junction of a Spanish army. And so forward did he seem to promote
the interests of his son-in-law, that he even sent vessels to England,
in order to transport over the forces which Henry had levied for that
purpose. The marquis of Dorset commanded this armament, which consisted
of ten thousand men, mostly infantry; Lord Howard, son of the earl of
Surrey, Lord Broke, Lord Ferrars, and many others of the young gentry
and nobility, accompanied him in this service. All were on fire to
distinguish themselves by military achievements, and to make a conquest
of importance for their master. The secret purpose of Ferdinand, in this
unexampled generosity, was suspected by nobody.

The small kingdom of Navarre lies on the frontiers between France and
Spain; and as John d'Albert, the sovereign, was connected by friendship
and alliance with Lewis, the opportunity seemed favorable to Ferdinand,
while the English forces were conjoined with his own, and while
all adherents to the council of Pisa lay under the sentence of
excommunication, to put himself in possession of these dominions. No
sooner, therefore, was Dorset landed in Guipiscoa, than the Spanish
monarch declared his readiness to join him with his forces, to make with
united arms an invasion of France, and to form the siege of Bayonne,
which opened the way into Guienne:[*] but he remarked to the English
general how dangerous it might prove to leave behind them the kingdom of
Navarre, which, being in close alliance with France, could easily give
admittance to the enemy, and cut off all communication between Spain
and the combined armies. To provide against so dangerous an event, he
required that John should stipulate a neutrality in the present war; and
when that prince expressed his willingness to enter into any engagement
for that purpose, he also require