s concession, Francis bound himself and his successors to
pay forever fifty thousand crowns a year to Henry and his successors;
and that greater solemnity might be given to this treaty, it was agreed
that the parliaments and great nobility of both kingdoms should give
their assent to it. The mareschal Montmorency, accompanied by many
persons of distinction, and attended by a pompous equipage, was sent
over to ratify the treaty; and was received at London with all the
parade which suited the solemnity of the occasion. The terror of the
emperor's greatness had extinguished the ancient animosity between the
nations; and Spain, during more than a century, became, though a more
distant power, the chief object of jealousy to the English.

This cordial union between France and England, though it added influence
to the joint embassy which they sent to the emperor, was not able to
bend that monarch to submit entirely to the conditions insisted on by
the allies. He departed, indeed, from his demand of Burgundy as the
ransom of the French princes; but he required, previously to their
liberty, that Francis should evacuate Genoa, and all the fortresses held
by him in Italy; and he declared his intention of bringing Sforza to a
trial, and confiscating the duchy of Milan, on account of his pretended
treason. The English and French heralds, therefore, according to
agreement, declared war against him, and set him at defiance. Charles
answered the English herald with moderation; but to the French he
reproached his master with breach of faith, reminded him of the private
conversation which had passed between them at Madrid before their
separation, and offered to prove by single combat that he had acted
dishonorably. Francis retaliated this challenge, by giving Charles the
lie; and, after demanding security of the field, he offered to maintain
his cause by single combat. Many messages passed to and fro between
them; but though both princes were undoubtedly brave, the intended duel
never took place. The French and Spaniards, during that age, zealously
disputed which of the monarchs incurred the blame of this failure; but
all men of moderation every where lamented the power of fortune, that
the prince the more candid, generous, and sincere, should, by unhappy
incidents, have been reduced to so cruel a situation, that nothing but
his violation of treaty could preserve his people, and that he must ever
after, without being able to make a proper