few pages, a tribute of thankfulness; and, if future rewards there
are, may the brightest of these rewards be thine. For us, and not
for ours, may rewards be expected from monarchs who, in apathy, have
beheld our mortal sufferings. Rest, noble soul, murdered though
thou wert by the enemies of thy brother. Again my blood boils,
again my tears roll down my cheeks, when I remember thee, thy
sufferings in my cause, and thy untimely end! I knew it not; I
sought to thank thee; I found thee in the grave; I would have made
retribution to thy children, but unjust, iron-hearted princes had
deprived me of the power. Can the virtuous heart conceive
affliction more cruel? My own ills I would have endured with
magnanimity; but thine are wrongs I have neither the power to forget
nor heal.

Enough of this. -

The worthy Emperor, Francis I., shed tears when I afterwards had the
honour of relating to him in person my past miseries; I beheld them
flow, and gratitude threw me at his feet. His emotion was so great
that he tore himself away. I left the palace with all the
enthusiasm of soul which such a scene must inspire.

He probably would have done more than pitied me, but his death soon
followed. I relate this incident to convince posterity that Francis
I. possessed a heart worthy an emperor, worthy a man. In the
knowledge I have had of monarchs he stands alone. Frederic and
Theresa both died without doing me justice; I am now too old, too
proud, have too much apathy, to expect it from their successors.
Petition I will not, knowing my rights; and justice from courts of
law, however evident my claims, were in these courts vain indeed to