e Bourbon, who was
now being driven to despair and ruin through the hatred of Louise de
Savoie.

Bayard having been made lieutenant of the Governor of Dauphine in 1515, it
was easy to keep him at a distance from Paris at his post, and with his
keen and devoted interest in all matters that concerned his country, these
years in a far-off province were a veritable exile. Several of his letters
written during this period have been preserved, and we have also a friendly
note from the King, written in December 1523, when he had settled to make
another expedition to Italy to recover his former conquests there and to
restore his prestige. It is evidently written in answer to an urgent appeal
from Bayard to be allowed to join him, and, probably in a moment of
impulse, he warmly agrees to employ his bravest captain; but, alas for
France! it was not to be in the position of command and responsibility
which his splendid talents and courage demanded. It was to be his last
expedition, with a hero's death as his only guerdon.

In the beginning of the year 1524 the King of France sent an army into
Italy under the command of the lord of Bonnivet, his admiral, who had no
qualifications for his high post beyond personal courage. He was a man
of narrow views, wilful and obstinate, and from these faults in a
commander-in-chief great disasters followed. A strong Imperial party,
supported by Charles de Bourbon and Giovanni dei Medici, held the city of
Milan, and the French camp was at a little town called Biagrasso, when
Bonnivet said to the Good Knight: "My lord Bayard, you must go to Rebec
with two hundred men-at-arms and the foot-soldiers of de Lorges, and so
find out what is going on in Milan and check the arrival of their
provisions." Now the Good Knight never murmured at any command given him,
but he saw at once what a wild and foolish scheme this was, and replied:
"My lord, the half of our army would scarcely be sufficient to defend that
village, placed where it is. I know our enemies, they are brave and
vigilant, and you are sending me to certain shame; I pray you therefore, my
lord, that you consider the matter well." But the Admiral persisted that it
would be all right, for not a mouse could leave Milan without his hearing
of it, until, much against his own judgment, Bayard set forth with the men
given to him. But he only took two of his own horses, for his mules and the
rest of his train he sent to Novara, as though foreseeing the