r kingdoms.

It was foreseen, that a young, active prince, like Francis, and of so
martial a disposition, would soon employ the great preparations which
his predecessor before his death had made for the conquest of Milan. He
had been observed even to weep at the recital of the military exploits
of Gaston de Foix; and these tears of emulation were held to be sure
presages of his future valor. He renewed the treaty which Lewis had made
with Henry; and having left every thing secure behind him, he marched
his armies towards the south of France; pretending that his sole purpose
was to defend his kingdom against the incursions of the Swiss. This
formidable people still retained their animosity against France; and
having taken Maximilian, duke of Milan, under their protection, and in
reality reduced him to absolute dependence,--they were determined,
from views both of honor and of interest, to defend him against the
invader.[*] They fortified themselves in all those valleys of the Alps
through which they thought the French must necessarily pass; and when
Francis, with great secrecy, industry, and perseverance, made his
entrance into Piedmont by another passage, they were not dismayed, but
descended into the plain, though unprovided with cavalry, and opposed
themselves to the progress of the French arms. At Marignan, near Milan,
they fought with Francis one of the most furious and best contested
battles that is to be met with in the history of these later ages; and
it required all the heroic valor of this prince to inspire his troops
with courage sufficient to resist the desperate assault of those
mountaineers. After a bloody action in the evening, night and darkness
parted the combatants; but next morning the Swiss renewed the attack
with unabated ardor; and it was not till they had lost all their bravest
troops that they could be prevailed on to retire. The field was strewed
with twenty thousand slain on both sides; and the mareschal Trivulzio,
who had been present at eighteen pitched battles, declared that every
engagement which he had yet seen was only the play of children; the
action of Marignan was a combat of heroes.[**] After this great victory,
the conquest of the Milanese was easy and open to Francis.

The success and glory of the French monarch began to excite jealousy in
Henry; and his rapid progress, though in so distant a country, was
not regarded without apprehensions by the English ministry. Italy was,
during