there was something more than ungrateful forgetfulness of a veteran's
ancient services. While Francis was bringing about a renewal of war in
Italy, in the Low Countries, and on the frontier of Spain, he was
abandoning himself at Paris, Tours, Amboise, and wherever he resided, to
all the diversions and all the enticements of the brilliant court which
was gathered around him. Extravagance and pleasure were a passion with
him. "There has been talk," says Brantome, "of the great outlay,
magnificence, sumptuousness and halls of Lucullus; but in nought of that
kind did he ever come near our king . . . and what is most rare is,
that in a village, in the forest, at the meet, there was the same service
as there would have been in Paris. . . . One day, when the king was
expecting the Emperor Charles to dinner, word came that he had slipped
away, and had gone to give a sudden surprise to the constable, just as he
was sitting down to table, and to dine with him and all his comrades
comradewise. He found this table as well furnished and supplied, and
laden with victuals as well cooked and flavored, as if they had been in
Paris or some other good city of France; whereat the emperor was so
mightily astonished that he said that there was no such grandeur in the
world as that of such a King of France. . . . In respect of ladies,
of a surety it must be confessed that before the time of King Francis
they set foot in and frequented the court but little and in but small
numbers. It is true that Queen Anne (of Brittany) began to make her
ladies' court larger than it had been under former queens; and, without
her, the king her husband (Louis XII.) would have taken no trouble about
it. But Francis I., coming to reign, and considering that the whole
grace of the court was the ladies, was pleased to fill it up with them
more than had been the ancient custom. Since, in truth, a court without
ladies is a garden without any pretty flowers, and more resembles a
Satrap's or a Turk's court than that of a great Christian king. . . .
As for me, I hold that there was never anything better introduced than