Henry seemed to hearken to this discourse with willing ears,
Longueville informed his master of the probability which he discovered
of bringing the matter to a happy conclusion; and he received full
powers for negotiating the treaty. The articles were easily adjusted
between the monarchs. Louis agreed that Tournay should remain in the
hands of the English; that Richard de la Pole should be banished to
Metz, there to live on a pension assigned him by Lewis; that Henry
should receive payment of a million of crowns, being the arrears due
by treaty to his father and himself; and that the princess Mary should
bring four hundred thousand crowns as her portion, and enjoy as large
a jointure as any queen of France, even the former, who was heiress of
Brittany. The two princes also agreed on the succors with which they
should mutually supply each other, in case either of them was attacked
by an enemy.[*]

In consequence of this treaty, Mary was sent over to France with a
splendid retinue; and Lewis met her at Abbeville, where the espousals
were celebrated. He was enchanted with the beauty, grace, and numerous
accomplishments of the young princess; and being naturally of an amorous
disposition, which his advanced age had not entirely cooled, he was
seduced into such a course of gayety and pleasure, as proved very
unsuitable to his declining state of health.[**]

* Du Tillet.

** Brantome, Eloge de Louis XII.

{1515.} He died in less than three months after the marriage, to the
extreme regret of the French nation, who, sensible of his tender concern
for their welfare, gave him with one voice the honorable appellation of
"father of his people."

Francis, duke of Angouleme, a youth of one and twenty, who had married
Lewis's eldest daughter, succeeded him on the throne; and, by his
activity, valor, generosity, and other virtues, gave prognostics of a
happy and glorious reign. This young monarch had been extremely
struck with the charms of the English princess; and even during his
predecessor's lifetime, had paid her such assiduous court, as made some
of his friends apprehend that he had entertained views of gallantry
towards her. But being warned that, by indulging this passion, he
might probably exclude himself from the throne he forbore all further
addresses; and even watched the young dowager with a very careful eye
during the first months of her widowhood. Charles Brandon, duke of
Suffolk, was at that time in the