him, the two others behind him, and all his retinue
following, they traversed a long line of apartments full of guards and
servants, and at last arrived in the reception-room, where the pope was
seated on his throne, with his son, Caesar Borgia; behind him. On his
arrival at the door, the King of France began the usual ceremonial, and
when he had gone on from genuflexions to kissing the feet, the hand, and
the forehead, he stood up, while the first president of the Parliament
of Paris, in his turn stepping forward, said in a loud voice:

"Very Holy Father, behold my king ready to offer to your Holiness that
oath of obedience that he owes to you; but in France it is customary
that he who offers himself as vassal to his lord shall receive in
exchange therefor such boons as he may demand. His Majesty, therefore,
while he pledges himself for his own part to behave unto your Holiness
with a munificence even greater than that wherewith your Holiness shall
behave unto him, is here to beg urgently that you accord him three
favours. These favours are: first, the confirmation of priveleges
already granted to the king, to the queen his wife, and to the dauphin
his son; secondly, the investiture, for himself and his successors, of
the kingdom of Naples; lastly, the surrender to him of the person of the
sultan D'jem, brother of the Turkish emperor."

At this address the pope was for a moment stupefied, for he did not
expect these three demands, which were moreover made so publicly by
Charles that no manner of refusal was possible. But quickly recovering
his presence of mind, he replied to the king that he would willingly
confirm the privileges that had been accorded to the house of France
by his predecessors; that he might therefore consider his first demand
granted; that the investiture of the kingdom was an affair that required
deliberation in a council of cardinals, but he would do all he possibly
could to induce them to accede to the king's desire; lastly, he must
defer the affair of the sultan's brother till a time more opportune for
discussing it with the Sacred College, but would venture to say that, as
this surrender could not fail to be for the good of Christendom, as
it was demanded for the purpose of assuring further the success of a
crusade, it would not be his fault if on this point also the king should
not be satisfied.

At this reply, Charles bowed his head in sign of satisfaction, and
the first president stood up,