said
he, "to M. d'Esquerdes [Philip de Crevecoeur, Baron d'Esquerdes, a
distinguished warrior, who, after the death of Charles the Rash, had,
through the agency of Commynes, gone over to the service of Louis XI.,
and was in command of his army] to attempt no doings as to Calais. We
had thought to drive out the English from this the last corner they hold
in the kingdom; but such matters are too weighty; all that business ends
with me. M. d'Esquerdes must give up such designs, and come and guard
my son without budging from his side for at least six months. Let an
end be put, also, to all our disputes with Brittany, and let this Duke
Francis be allowed to live in peace without any more causing him trouble
or fear. This is the way in which we, must now deal with all our
neighbors. Five or six good years of peace are needful for the kingdom.
My poor people have suffered too much; they are in great desolation. If
God had been pleased to grant me life, I should have put it all to
rights; it was my thought and my desire, let my son be strictly charged
to remain at peace, especially whilst he is so young. At a later time,
when he is older, and when the kingdom is in good case, he shall do as
he pleases about it."

[Illustration: Louis XI----260]

On Saturday, August 30, 1483, between seven and eight in the evening,
Louis XI. expired, saying, "Our Lady of Embrun, my good mistress, have
pity upon me; the mercies of the Lord will I sing forever (misericordias
Domini in ceternum cantabo)."

"It was a great cause of joy throughout the kingdom," says M. de Barante
with truth, in his _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_: "this moment had
been impatiently waited for as a deliverance, and as the ending of so
many woes and fears. For a long time past no King of France had been so
heavy on his people or so hated by them."

This was certainly just, and at the same time ungrateful.

Louis XI. had rendered France great service, but in a manner void of
frankness, dignity, or lustre; he had made the contemporary generation
pay dearly for it by reason of the spectacle he presented of trickery,
perfidy, and vindictive cruelty, and by his arbitrary and tyrannical
exercise of kingly power. People are not content to have useful service;
they must admire or love; and Louis XI. inspired France with neither of
those sentiments. He has had the good fortune to be described and
appraised, in his own day too, by the most distinguished and indepen