Prior to this affair Furstemberg apparently showed some regret for his earlier schemes against Francis I., for Queen Margaret, writing to her brother in 1536, remarked:—­

“Count William has asked me to write and tell you that there is a great difference between the shameful purgatory of Italy and the glorious paradise of this camp, (3) and he spoke to me of his past misdeeds, which I would rather he should speak of to you,” &c.—­Genin’s Lettres de Marguerite, p. 321.

2 This occurred in September 1544.  From an unpublished MS. in the public library at Rheims it appears that Furstemberg was wearing a disguise when captured.  The Emperor had sent him forward expressly to sound the river.  Another unpublished MS. at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (anc. fol. 8561. f. 22), gives some particulars of his operations about this time.—­Ed.

     3 That of Avignon.  See vol. i. p. liv.—­Ed.

In a poetic epistle sent by Margaret to Francis I. in January 1543, to celebrate the New Year, there is an allusion to a “Conte Guillaume,” whom Messrs. de Lincy and Montaiglon conjecture to be Furstemberg, though other commentators think that the Queen refers to William Poyet, the dishonest chancellor, who was sent to the Bastille in 1542 for peculation.  We share, however, the opinion of Messrs. de Lincy and Montaiglon, as in various contemporary MSS. which we have referred to, we have frequently found Furstemberg alluded to as “Conte” and “Comte Guillaume,” without any mention of his surname.  The passage in Margaret’s epistle alluded to above may be thus rendered in prose:—­

“God, fighting for the King in every spot, curses his enemies and brings them to shame and ruin, so that none hold them of account; as witness ‘Compte ["Conte” in the MS.] Guillaume,’ who, in serving the King and the kingdom, became rich, feared and highly esteemed.  Now, however, a fugitive, poor and contemned, he may well meditate as to whence came his honours, who it was that maintained him wealthy, happy and feared; and thus it is that all the King’s enemies are cursed by God in Paradise.”—­Les Marguerites de la Marguerite, 1873, vol. ii. p. 203.

Apropos of Furstemberg the following entry occurs in M. de Laborde’s Comptes des Batiments du Roi (vol. ii. p. 229):—­

“Paid to Francis de Cadenet, doctor to Count William of Furstemberg, as a gift and favour for his services, 30 crowns, value 67 livres 10 sols.”—­L., M. and Ed.

END OF VOL.  II.