At length the great event arrived on which the hopes of Savoy reposed. On the 2nd December one of the duke’s officers informed the syndics that the duchess had been delivered at noon of a prince. Immediately the bells were rung, the trumpets sounded: bishop, canons, priests, monks, confraternities, boys and girls dressed in white and carrying tapers in their hands, all walked in long procession. Bonfires were lighted in every open place, and the cannons on the esplanade (La Treille) which looks towards Savoy announced to that faithful country that the duke had a son.[320] ‘As he was born in Geneva,’ said the courtiers to one another, ‘the citizens cannot refuse him for their prince.’[321] The duchess had the matter very much at heart, and erelong, richly apparelled and seated in her bed, as was the custom, she would say in the frivolous conversations she had with the persons admitted to pay their court to her: ‘This city is a _buena posada_’ (a very good inn). The delighted duke replied: ‘Geneva shall be yours,’ which she was very pleased to hear.[322] Everything in Geneva and even in Europe seemed to favour the designs of Savoy. Charles V. the duke’s brother-in-law, and Francis I. his nephew, were preparing for the war in Lombardy. The struggle between the pope and Luther occupied men’s minds. The Swiss were ‘in great care and discord, city divided against city, and one against another in the same city.’ Bishop Pierre de la Baume was fickle, worldly, fond of gambling, of feasting, of waiting upon the ladies, and of pursuing other pleasures which diverted him from better occupations. Timid and even fearful, changing like a weathercock with every wind, he dreaded above all things to lose the benefices he possessed in the territory of his Highness. All this permitted Charles--at least he thought so--quietly to invade Geneva and unite it to Savoy without Europe’s saying a word. To have his hands still freer, he persuaded De la Baume that his presence in Italy was necessary for the emperor’s service.[323] That done, and thinking the fruit ripe and ready to fall, the duke and duchess made preparations for striking the final blow. They clearly saw the hostile disposition of many of the Genevans; but that was only an additional reason for increased exertions. If, now that a prince of Savoy was born in Geneva, the duke failed in his projects, everything would be lost for many a day. The cue was therefore given to all the Savoyard nobility. The beauty of their gold pieces dazzled the shopkeepers; sports, dinners, balls, masquerades, plays, tournaments, pomp, finery, pleasures, luxuries, and all the allurements which seduce men (say contemporary writers), captivated the worldly and particularly the youth. Some few huguenots talked loudly of independence; some old Genevans still strove to retain their sons; some venerable mothers, seeing their children setting out for the court dressed in their gayest clothes, asked them if they did not blush for