dent
of his councillors, Philip de Commynes, and, three centuries afterwards,
by one of the most thoughtful and the soundest intellects amongst the
philosophers of the eighteenth century, Duclos, who, moreover, had the
advantage of being historiographer of France, and of having studied the
history of that reign in authentic documents. We reproduce here the two
judgments, the agreement of which is remarkable:--

"God," says Commynes, "had created our king more wise, liberal, and full
of manly virtue than the princes who reigned with him and in his day, and
who were his enemies and neighbors. In all there was good and evil, for
they were men; but without flattery, in him were more things appertaining
to the office of king than in any of the rest. I saw them nearly all,
and knew what they could do."

"Louis XI.," says Duclos, "was far from being without reproach; few
princes have deserved so much; but it may be said that he was equally
celebrated for his vices and his virtues, and that, everything being put
in the balance, he was a king."

We will be more exacting than Commynes and Duclos; we will not consent to
apply to Louis XI. the words liberal, virtuous, and virtue; he had nor
greatness of soul, nor uprightness of character, nor kindness of heart;
he was neither a great king nor a good king; but we may assent to Duclos'
last word--he was a king.

CHAPTER XXVI.----THE WARS OF ITALY.-- CHARLES VIII.-- 1483-1498.

[Illustration: CHARLES VIII.----263]

Louis XI. had by the queen his wife, Charlotte of Savoy, six children;
three of them survived him: Charles VIII., his successor; Anne, his
eldest daughter, who had espoused Peter of Bourbon, Sire de Beaujeu; and
Joan, whom he had married to the Duke of Orleans, who became Louis XII.
At their father's death, Charles was thirteen; Anne twenty-two or
twenty-three; and Joan nineteen. According to Charles V.'s decree, which
had fixed fourteen as the age for the king's majority, Charles VIII., on
his accession, was very nearly a major; but Louis XI., with good reason,
considered him very far from capable of reigning as yet. On the other
hand, he had a very high opinion of his daughter Anne, and it was to her
far more than to Sire de Beaujeu, her husband, that, six days before his
death, and by his last instructions, he intrusted the guardian-ship of
his son, to whom he already gave the title of King, and the government of
the realm. They were oral instructions n