and
Paris; his comradeship is worth nothing on our side of the sea; on the
other side, over yonder, I should like very well to have him for good
brother and good friend." Throughout the whole course of the negotiation
Louis had shown pliancy and magnificence; he had laden Edward's chief
courtiers with presents; two thousand crowns by way of pension had been
allowed to his grand chamberlain, Lord Hastings, who would not give an
acknowledgment. "This gift comes of the king your master's good pleasure,
and not at my request," said he to Louis's steward; "if you would have me
take it, you shall slip it here inside my sleeve, and have no letter or
voucher beyond; I do not wish to have people saying, 'The grand
chamberlain of England was the King of France's pensioner,' or to have my
acknowledgments found in his exchequer-chamber." Lord Hastings had not
always been so scrupulous, for, on the 15th of May, 1471, he had received
from the Duke of Burgundy a pension for which he had given an
acknowledgment. Another Englishman, whose name is not given by Commynes,
waxed wroth at hearing some one say, "Six hundred pipes of wine and a
pension given you by the king soon sent you back to England." "That is
certainly what everybody said," answered the Englishman, "that you might
have the laugh against us. But call you the money the king gives us
pension? Why, it is tribute; and, by St. George, you may perhaps talk so
much about it as to bring us down upon you again!" "There was nothing in
the world," says Commynes, "of which the king was more fearful than lest
any word should escape him to make the English think that they were being
derided; at the same time that he was laboring to gain them over, he was
careful to humor their susceptibilities;" and Commynes, under his
schooling, had learned to understand them well: "They are rather slow
goers," says he, "but you must have a little patience with them, and not
lose your temper. . . . I fancy that to many it might appear that the
king abased himself too much; but the wise might well hold that the
kingdom was in great danger, save for the intervention of God, who did
dispose the king's mind to choose so wise a course, and did greatly
trouble that of the Duke of Burgundy. . . . Our king knew well the
nature of the King of England, who was very fond of his ease and his
pleasures: when he had concluded these treaties with him, he ordered that
the money should be found with the g