ransom of three million crowns in gold,--an enormous sum, more
than ten million dollars in our day. Evidently the King was
unfortunate, for he did not continue in France, but, under the
influence of motives differently stated, returned to England,
where he died. Surely here is a lesson.

More famous than John was Francis, with salamander crest, also
King of France, and rich in gayety, whose countenance, depicted by
that art of which he was the patron, stands forth conspicuous in
the line of kings. As the French Emperor attacked Germany, so did
the King enter Italy, and he was equally confident of victory. On
the field of Favia he encountered an army of Charles the Fifth,
but commanded by his generals, when, after fighting desperately
and killing seven men with his own hand, he was compelled to
surrender. His mother was at the time Regent of France, and to her
he is said to have written the sententious letter, "All is lost
except honor." No such letter was written by Francis,[Footnote:
Sismondi, Histoire des Francais, Tom. XVI. pp. 241-42. Martin,
Histoire de France, (genie edit.,) Tom. VIII. pp. 67, 68.] nor do
we know of any such letter by Louis Napoleon; but the situation of
the two Regents was identical. Here are the words in which Hume
describes the condition of the earlier:---

"The Princess was struck with the greatness of the calamity. She
saw the kingdom without a sovereign, without an army, without
generals, without money, surrounded on every side by implacable
and victorious enemies; and her chief resource, in her present
distresses, were the hopes which she entertained of peace, and
even of assistance from the King of England." [Footnote: History
of England, (Oxford, 1826,) Ch. XXIX., Vol. IV. p. 51.]