him as an intriguer, and spread the report that he was a spy in the
pay of Spain. His position speedily became intolerable, unsafe even,
and he was forced to escape secretly from the city; nor did he stop
until he reached his native Lombardy, where he might rely upon the
protection of his kinsmen, the Marshal Trivulzio and the Borromeos, to
shield him from the consequences of his indiscretion.

He writes with emotion of the visit he paid to his native town of
Arona and the scenes of his childhood, where he renewed acquaintance
with the charms of one of the loveliest landscapes in Italy. He
yielded to early memories, and the gentle dream of one day returning
to the shores of Maggiore, there to pass his declining years, took
shape in his fancy. When peace between France and Spain was later
restored, after King Ferdinand's marriage to the Princess Germaine
de Foix, he obtained the King's intercession to procure for him the
abbacy of St. Gratian at Arona. He himself solicited the protection
of the Cardinal d'Amboise to obtain him this favour, declaring the
revenues from the abbacy were indifferent to him, as he would only use
them to restore to its pristine splendour the falling church in which
reposed the holy relics of SS. Gratian, Fidelius, and Carpophorus.
The peace between the two countries was too ephemeral to permit the
realisation of his pious hope.

The Marshal Trivulzio accompanied his kinsman to Asti and from
thence to Carmagnola where they obtained an audience of the Cardinal
d'Amboise, Legate for France. Despite his undisguised hostility to
Spaniards, the Legate furnished the ambassador with a safe-conduct
over the frontier into Spain.

If the Catholic monarchs felt any vexation at the excess of zeal their