“My Lord,—­The fear that I have gone through about your children, without saying anything of it to Madame (Louise of Savoy), who was also very ill, obliges me to tell you in detail the pleasure I feel at their recovery.  M. d’Angouleme caught the measles, with a long and severe fever; afterwards the Duke of Orleans took them with a little fever; and then Madame Madeleine without fever or pain; and by way of company the Dauphin without suffering or fever.  And now they all are quite cured and very well; and the Dauphin does marvels in the way of studying, mingling with his schooling a hundred thousand other occupations.  And there is no more question of passions, but rather of all the virtues; M. d’Orleans is nailed to his book, and says that he wants to be good; but M. d’Angouleme does more than the others, and says things that are to be esteemed rather as prophecies than childish utterances, which you, my lord, would be amazed to hear.  Little Margot resembles myself; she will not be ill; but I am assured here that she has very graceful ways, and is getting prettier than ever Mademoiselle d’Angouleme (1) was.”

     1 Genin’s Lettres de Marguerite, &c, p. 70.  The
     Mademoiselle d’Angouleme alluded to at the end of the letter
     is Margaret herself.

Francis having consented to the onerous conditions imposed by Charles V., was at last liberated.  On March 17th, 1526, he was exchanged for his two elder sons, who were to serve as hostages for his good faith, and set foot upon the territory of Beam.  He owed Margaret a deep debt of gratitude for her efforts to hasten his release, and one of his first cares upon leaving Spain was to wed her again in a fitting manner.  He appears to have opened matrimonial negotiations with Henry VIII. of England, (1) but, fortunately for Margaret, without result.  She, it seems, had already made her choice.  There was then at the French Court a young King, without a kingdom, it is true, but endowed with numerous personal qualities.  This was Henry d’Albret, Count of Beam, and legitimate sovereign of Navarre, then held by Charles V. in defiance of treaty rights.  Henry had been taken prisoner with Francis at Pavia and confined in the fortress there, from which, however, he had managed to escape in the following manner.

Having procured a rope ladder in view of descending from the castle, he ordered Francis de Rochefort, his page, to get into his bed and feign sleep.  Then he descended by the rope, the Baron of Arros and a valet following him.  In the morning, when the captain on duty came to see Henry, as was his usual custom, he was asked by a page to let the King sleep on, as he had been very ill during the night.  Thus the trick was only discovered when the greater part of the day had gone by, and the fugitives were already beyond pursuit. (2)

     1 Lettres de Marguerite, &c, p. 31.

     2 Olhagaray’s Histoire de Faix, Beam, Navarre, &c,
     Paris, 1609. p. 487.