to form schemes in his own mind
which little suited such external appearances. Ambition, not
generosity, was the ruling passion in his mind; and the victory at Pavia
opened such new and unbounded prospects of gratifying it as allured him
with irresistible force. But it being no easy matter to execute the vast
designs which he meditated, he thought it necessary, while proper
measures were taking for that purpose, to affect the greatest
moderation, hoping under that veil to conceal his real intentions from
the other princes of Europe.

Meanwhile France was filled with consternation. The King himself had
early transmitted an account of the rout at Pavia in a letter to his
mother, delivered by Pennalosa, which contained only these words:
"Madam, all is lost except our honor." The officers who made their
escape, when they arrived from Italy, brought such a melancholy detail
of particulars as made all ranks of men sensibly feel the greatness and
extent of the calamity. France, without its sovereign, without money in
her treasury, without an army and without generals to command it, and
encompassed on all sides by a victorious and active enemy, seemed to be
on the very brink of destruction. But on that occasion the great
abilities of Louise, the regent, saved the kingdom which the violence of
her passions had more than once exposed to the greatest danger. Instead
of giving herself up to such lamentations as were natural to a woman so
remarkable for her maternal tenderness, she discovered all the foresight
and exerted all the activity of a consummate politician. She assembled
the nobles at Lyons, and animated them, by her example no less than by
her words, with such zeal in defence of their country as its present
situation required. She collected the remains of the army which had
served in Italy, ransomed the prisoners, paid the arrears, and put them
in a condition to take the field. She levied new troops, provided for
the security of the frontiers, and raised sums sufficient for defraying
these extraordinary expenses. Her chief care, however, was to appease
the resentment or to gain the friendship of the King of England; and
from that quarter the first ray of comfort broke in upon the French.

Though Henry, in entering into alliances with Charles or Francis, seldom
followed any regular or concerted plan of policy, but was influenced
chiefly by the caprice of temporary passions, such occurrences often
happened as recalled his a