ing to give him double, he would be forced to
depart; and he accordingly begged the said Robertet to acquaint him
as soon as might be with the will of the King. To this the Secretary
replied that he could not better advance the business than by going to
the King straightway; and he undertook the mission right willingly, for
he had seen the warnings that the Governor had received.

6 This is Florimond Robertet, the first of that family of
statesmen who served the French crown from Charles VIII. to
Henri III. It was Charles VIII. who appointed Florimond
Treasurer of France and Secretary of Finances, offices in
which he displayed great skill and honesty. Louis XII., who
confirmed him in his functions, habitually consulted him on
important political affairs. He acquired considerable
wealth, and was often called "the great baron," after the
barony of Alluye, which he possessed in Le Perche. One of
the curiosities of Blois is the Hotel d'Alluye, a house of
semi-Moorish style, erected by Robertet at the close of the
fifteenth century. Another of his residences was the chateau
of Bury, near Blois, where he set up Michael Angelo's famous
bronze statue of David, presented to him by the city of
Florence, and the fate of which has furnished material for
so much speculation. Under Francis I. Robertet enjoyed the
same credit as during the two previous reigns. Fleuranges
declares that no one else was so intimate with the King, and
commends him as being the most experienced and competent
statesman of the times. According to the _Journal d'un
Bourgeois de Paris_, Robertet died "at the Palais (de
Justice) in Paris, of which he was concierge," on November
29, 1527. Francis repeatedly visited him during his illness,
and, on his death, ordered that his remains should lie in
state, and be interred with great pomp and ceremony. Clement
Marot's works contain a poem, four hundred lines in length,
celebrating Robertet's virtues and talents.--L., B. J., and
Ed.

As soon, therefore, as the King was awake he failed not to lay the
matter before him in the presence of the Lord de la Tremoille and the
Admiral de Bonnivet, who were ignorant of the trick that the King had
played the Count the day before.

Then the King laughed, and said to them--"You desired to banish Count
William, and you see he is banishing