wn subjects or his neighbors,
would be able to oppose him or disturb the tranquillity of his reign. He
was at peace with England, and made it his chief business to continue so;
yet, though he was freed in this manner from all his apprehensions, God
did not permit him to take such courses in the management of his affairs
as were most proper to promote his own interests and designs.

And certainly, although God Almighty has shown, and does still show, that
his determination is to punish the family of Burgundy severely, not only
in the person of the Duke, but in its subjects and estates, yet I think
the King our master did not take right measures to gain his end. For, if
he had acted prudently, instead of pretending to conquer them, he should
rather have endeavored to annex all those large territories, to which he
had no just title, to the crown of France by some treaty of marriage;
or to have gained the hearts and affections of the people, and so have
brought them over to his interest, which he might, without any great
difficulty, have effected, considering how their late afflictions had
impoverished and dejected them. If he had acted after that manner, he
would not only have prevented their ruin and destruction, but extended
and strengthened his own kingdom, and established them all in a firm and
lasting peace. He might by this means have eased, his own country of
its intolerable grievances, and particularly of the marches and
counter-marches of his troops, which are commanded continually up and
down from one end of the kingdom to the other, sometimes upon very slight
occasions.

In the Duke of Burgundy's lifetime the King often talked with me about
this affair, and told me what he would do if he should outlive the Duke,
and his discourse at that time was very rational and wise; he told me
he would propose a match between his son and the Duke of Burgundy's
daughter, and if she would not consent to that, on the ground that the
Dauphin was too young, he would then endeavor to marry her to some young
prince of his kingdom, by which means he might keep her and her subjects
in amity, and obtain without war what he intended to lay claim to for
himself; and this was his resolution not more than a week before he heard
of the Duke of Burgundy's death; but the very day he received that news
his mind began to change, and this wise counsel was laid aside when the
Admiral and I were despatched into those provinces. However, the King