in deceiving themselves, that Henry forgot, in those moments, all
the blood spilt by his ambition; and received comfort from this late and
feeble resolve, which, as the mode of these enterprises was now passed,
he certainly would never have carried into execution. He expired in the
thirty-fourth year of his age and the tenth of his reign.

* Monstrelet, chap. 265. Hall, fol. 80.

** St. Remi, chap. 118, Monstrelet, el ap. 265.

This prince possessed many eminent virtues; and if we give indulgence
to ambition in a monarch, or rank it, as the vulgar are inclined to do,
among his virtues, they were unstained by any considerable blemish. His
abilities appeared equally in the cabinet and in the field: the boldness
of his enterprises was no less remarkable than his personal valor
in conducting them. He had the talent of attaching his friends by
affability, and of gaining his enemies by address and clemency. The
English, dazzled by the lustre of his character, still more than by
that of his victories, were reconciled to the defects in his title: the
French almost forgot that he was an enemy: and his care in maintaining
justice in his civil administration, and preserving discipline in his
armies, made some amends to both nations for the calamities inseparable
from those wars in which his short reign was almost entirely occupied,
That he could forgive the earl of Marche, who had a better title to the
crown than himself, is a sure indication of his magnanimity; and that
the earl relied so entirely on his friendship, is no less a proof of his
established character for candor and sincerity. There remain in history
few instances of such mutual trust; and still fewer where neither party
found reason to repent it.

The exterior figure of this great prince, as well as his deportment,
was engaging. His stature was somewhat above the middle size; his
countenance beautiful; his limbs genteel and slender, but full of vigor;
and he excelled in all warlike and manly exercises.[*] He left by his
queen, Catharine of France, only one son, not full nine months old;
whose misfortunes, in the course of his life, surpassed all the glories
and successes of his father.

* T. Livii, p. 4.

In less than two months after Henry's death, Charles VI. of France, his
father-in-law, terminated his unhappy life. He had for several years
possessed only the appearance of royal authority: yet was this mere
appearance of considerable advantag