ho was destined to play a part so
prominent, so pregnant of results, and yet so trivial in the affairs of
Europe. Providence, it would seem, deigns frequently to use for the most
momentous purposes some pantaloon or puppet, environing with special
protection and with the prayers and aspirations of whole peoples a mere
manikin. Such a puppet was Charles. 'From infancy he had been weak in
constitution and subject to illness. His stature was short, and his face
very ugly, if you except the dignity and vigor of his glance. His limbs
were so disproportioned that he had less the appearance of a man than
of a monster. Not only was he ignorant of liberal arts, but he hardly
knew his letters. Though eager to rule, he was in truth made for
anything but that; for while surrounded by dependents, he exercised no
authority over them and preserved no kind of majesty. Hating business
and fatigue, he displayed in such matters as he took in hand a want of
prudence and of judgment. His desire for glory sprang rather from
impulse than from reason. His liberality was inconsiderate, immoderate,
promiscuous. When he displayed inflexibility of purpose, it was more
often an ill-founded obstinacy than firmness, and that which many people
called his goodness of nature rather deserved the name of coldness and
feebleness of spirit.' This is Guicciardini's portrait. De Comines is
more brief: 'The king was young, a fledgling from the nest; provided
neither with money nor with good sense; weak, willful, and surrounded by
foolish counselors.'

These foolish counselors, or, as Guicciardini calls them, 'men of low
estate, body-servants for the most part of the king,' were headed by
Stephen de Vesc, who had been raised from the post of the king's valet
de chambre to be the Seneschal de Beaucaire, and by William Briconnet,
formerly a merchant, now Bishop of S. Malo. These men had everything to
gain by an undertaking which would flatter the vanity of their master,
and draw him into still closer relations with themselves. Consequently,
when the Count of Belgioioso arrived at the French Court from Milan,
urging the king to press his claims on Naples, and promising him a free
entrance into Italy through the province of Lombardy and the port of
Genoa, he found ready listeners. Anne de Beaujeu in vain opposed the
scheme. The splendor and novelty of the proposal to conquer such a realm
as Italy inflamed the imagination of Charles, the cupidity of his
courtiers, t