of black, in order, as it were, to share his
distress. "He was a perfect gentleman," said Francis I., "both in peace
and in war." He heaped upon him marks of esteem and almost of
confidence. "How do you think," he asked, "the emperor will behave to
me?" "I think," replied Pescara, "I can answer for the emperor's
moderation; I am sure that he will make a generous use of his victory.
If, however, he were capable of forgetting what is due to your rank, your
merits, and your misfortunes, I would never cease to remind him of it,
and I would lose what little claim upon him my services may have given
me, or you should be satisfied with his behavior." The king embraced him
warmly. He asked to be excused from entering Pavia, that he might not be
a gazing-stock in a town that he had so nearly taken. He was,
accordingly, conducted to Pizzighittone, a little fortress between Milan
and Cremona. He wrote thence two letters, one to his mother the regent
and the other to Charles V., which are here given word for word, because
they so well depict his character and the state of his mind in his hour
of calamity:--

1. "To the Regent of France: Madame, that you may know how stands
the rest of my misfortune: there is nothing in the world left to me
but honor and my life, which is safe. And in order that, in your
adversity, this news might bring you some little comfort, I prayed
for permission to write you this letter, which was readily granted
me; entreating you, in the exercise of your accustomed prudence, to
be pleased not to do anything rash, for I have hope, after all, that
God will not forsake me. Commending to you my children your
grandchildren, and entreating you to give the bearer a free passage,
going and returning, to Spain, for he is going to the emperor to
learn how it is his pleasure that I should be treated."

2. "To the Emperor Charles V.: If liberty had been sooner granted
me by my cousin the viceroy, I should not have delayed so long to do
my duty towards you, according as the time and the circumstances in
which I am placed require; having no other comfort under my
misfortune than a reliance on your goodness, which, if it so please,
shall employ the results of victory with honorableness towards me;
having steadfast hope that your virtue would not willingly constrain
me to anything that was not honorable; entreating you