urage of a conqueror; but being
defective in policy and prudence, qualities no less essential, he was
unfortunate in all his enterprises; and perished at last in battle
against the Swiss;[*] a people whom he despised, and who, though brave
and free, had hitherto been in a manner overlooked in the general system
of Europe. This event, which happened in the year 1477, produced a
great alteration in the views of all the princes, and was attended with
consequences which were felt for many generations. Charles left only one
daughter, Mary, by his first wife; and this princess, being heir of his
opulent and extensive dominions, was courted by all the potentates of
Christendom, who contended for the possession of so rich a prize. Lewis,
the head of her family, might, by a proper application, have obtained
this match for the dauphin, and have thereby united to the crown of
France all the provinces of the Low Countries, together with Burgundy,
Artois, and Picardy; which would at once have rendered his kingdom an
overmate for all its neighbors. But a man wholly interested is as rare
as one entirely endowed with the opposite quality; and Lewis, though
impregnable to all the sentiments of generosity and friendship, was, on
this occasion, carried from the road of true policy by the passions of
animosity and revenge. He had imbibed so deep a hatred to the house
of Burgundy, that he rather chose to subdue the princess by arms, than
unite her to his family by marriage: he conquered the duchy of Burgundy
and that part of Picardy which had been ceded to Philip the Good by the
treaty of Arras: but he thereby forced the states of the Netherlands to
bestow their sovereign in marriage on Maximilian of Austria, son of the
emperor Frederick, from whom they looked for protection in their present
distresses: and by these means, France lost the opportunity, which she
never could recall, of making that important acquisition of power and
territory.

During this interesting crisis, Edward was no less defective in policy,
and was no less actuated by private passions, unworthy of a sovereign
and a statesman. Jealousy of his brother Clarence had caused him to
neglect the advances which were made of marrying that prince, now a
widower, to the heiress of Burgundy;[**] and he sent her proposals
of espousing Anthony, earl of Rivers, brother to his queen, who still
retained an entire ascendant over him.

* Comines, liv. v. chap. 8.

** Polyd. V