in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
arm with the returned exile through Paris.

The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
whom he had liked.

For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
Parisians with the fêtes he offered. Equally astonished were they
with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]

From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
in his new château at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a