sulted in nothing but reverses, were a heavy
heritage for the succeeding reign. But at home, in his relations with
his king and in his civil and religious administration, Cardinal
d'Amboise was an earnest and effective friend of justice, of sound social
order, and of regard for morality in the practice of power. It is said
that, in his latter days, he, virtuously weary of the dignities of this
world, said to the infirmary-brother who was attending him, "Ah! Brother
John, why did I not always remain Brother John!" A pious regret the
sincerity and modesty whereof are rare amongst men of high estate.

[Illustration: Cardinal d'Amboise----347]

"At last, then, I am the only pope!" cried Julius II., when he heard that
Cardinal d'Amboise was dead. But his joy was misplaced: the cardinal's
death was a great loss to him; between the king and the pope the cardinal
had been an intelligent mediator, who understood the two positions and
the two characters, and who, though most faithful and devoted to the
king, had nevertheless a place in his heart for the papacy also, and
labored earnestly on every occasion to bring about between the two rivals
a policy of moderation and peace. "One thing you may be certain of,"
said Louis's finance-minister Robertet to the ambassador from Florence,
"that the king's character is not an easy one to deal with; he is not
readily brought round to what is not his own opinion, which is not always
a correct one; he is irritated against the pope; and the cardinal, to
whom that causes great displeasure, does not always succeed, in spite of
all influence, in getting him to do as he would like. If our Lord God
were to remove the cardinal, either by death or in any other manner, from
public life, there would arise in this court and in the fashion of
conducting affairs such confusion that nothing equal to it would ever
have been seen in our day." [_Negociations Diplomatiques de la France
avec la Toscane,_ t. ii. pp. 428 and 460.] And the confusion did, in
fact, arise; and war was rekindled, or, to speak more correctly, resumed
its course after the cardinal's death. Julius II. plunged into it in
person, moving to every point where it was going on, living in the midst
of camps, himself in military costume, besieging towns, having his guns
pointed and assaults delivered under his own eyes. Men expressed
astonishment, not unmixed with admiration, at the indomitable energy of
this soldier-pope at seven