When the states-general had separated, Anne de Beaujeu, without difficulty or uproar, resumed, as she had assumed on her father’s death, the government of France; and she kept it yet for seven years, from 1484 to 1491.  During all this time she had a rival and foe in Louis, Duke of Orleans, who was one day to be Louis XII.  “I have heard tell,” says Brantome, “how that, at the first, she showed affection towards him, nay, even love; in such sort that, if M. d’Orleans had been minded to give heed thereto, he might have done well, as I know from a good source; but he could not bring himself to it; especially as he found her too ambitious, and he would that she should be dependent on him, as premier prince and nearest to the throne, and not he on her; whereas she desired the contrary, for she was minded to have the high place and rule everything. . . .  They used to have,” adds Brantome, “prickings of jealousy, love, and ambition.”  If Brantome’s anecdote is true, as one is inclined to believe, though several historians have cast doubts upon it, Anne de Beaujeu had, in their prickings of jealousy, love, and ambition, a great advantage over Louis of Orleans.  They were both young, and exactly of the same age; but Louis had all the defects of youth, whilst Anne had all the qualities of mature age.  He was handsome, volatile, inconsiderate, impudent, brave, and of a generous, open nature, combined with kindliness; she was thoughtful, judicious, persistent, and probably a little cold and hard, such, in fact, as she must needs have become in the school of her father, Louis XI.  As soon as the struggle between them began, the diversity of their characters appeared and bore fruit.  The Duke of Orleans plunged into all sorts of intrigues and ventures against the fair regent, exciting civil war, and, when he was too much compromised or too hard pressed, withdrawing to the court of Francis II., Duke of Brittany, an unruly vassal of the King of France.  Louis of Orleans even made alliance, at need, with foreign princes, Henry VII., King of England, Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Arragon, and Maximilian, archduke of Austria, without much regard for the interests of his own kingly house and his own country.  Anne, on the contrary, in possession of official and legal authority, wielded it and guarded it with prudence and moderation in the interests of France and of the crown, never taking the initiative in war, but having the wit to foresee, maintain, and, after victory, end it.  She encountered from time to time, at her own court and in her own immediate circle, a serious difficulty:  the young king, Charles, was charmed by the Duke of Orleans’s brilliant qualities, especially by the skill and bravery that Louis displayed at tournaments.  One day, interrupting the Bishop of Montauban, George of Amboise, who was reading the breviary to him, “Send word to the Duke of Orleans,” said the king, “to go on with his enterprise, and that I would fain be