cency of a brave young man who is
speaking of the first great affair in which he has been engaged and in
which he did himself honor. The victory of Melegnano was the most
brilliant day in the annals of this reign. Old Marshal Trivulzio, who
had taken part in seventeen battles, said that this was a strife of
giants, beside which all the rest were but child's play. On the very
battle-field, "before making and creating knights of those who had done
him good service, Francis I. was pleased to have himself made knight by
the hand of Bayard. 'Sir,' said Bayard, 'the king of so noble a realm,
he who has been crowned, consecrated and anointed with oil sent down from
heaven, he who is the eldest son of the church, is knight over all other
knights.' 'Bayard, my friend,' said the king, 'make haste; we must have
no laws or canons quoted here; do my bidding.' 'Assuredly, sir,' said
Bayard, 'I will do it, since it is your pleasure;' and, taking his sword,
'Avail it as much,' said he, 'as if I were Roland or Oliver, Godfrey or
his brother Baldwin; please God, sir, that in war you may never take
flight!' and, holding up his sword in the air, he cried, 'Assuredly, my
good sword, thou shalt be well guarded as a relic and honored above all
others for having this day conferred upon so handsome and puissant a king
the order of chivalry; and never will I wear thee more if it be not
against Turks, Moors, and Saracens!' Whereupon he gave two bounds and
thrust his sword into the sheath." [_Les testes et la Vie du Chevalier
Bayard, by Champier,_ in the _Archives curieuses de l'Histoire de
France,_ Series I. t. ii. p. 160.]

[Illustration: Bayard Knighting Francis I----19]

The effect of the victory of Melegnano was great, in Italy primarily, but
also throughout Europe. It was, at the commencement of a new reign and
under the impulse communicated by a young king, an event which seemed to
be decisive and likely to remain so for a long while. Of all the
sovereigns engaged in the Italian league against Francis I., he who was
most anxious to appear temperate and almost neutral, namely, Leo X., was
precisely he who was most surprised and most troubled by it. When he
knew that a battle was on the eve of being fought between the French and
the Swiss, he could not conceal his anxiety and his desire that the Swiss
might be victorious. The Venetian ambassador at Rome, Marino Giorgi,
whose feelings were quite the other way, took, in his diplom