On the 20th of September, Louisa, feeling a little better, left Fontainebleau for Romorantin; but she had hardly reached Grez, near Nemours, when her failing voice, her labouring breath, and her words so sad 'that no one could listen to them, gave her daughter a sorrow and vexation impossible to describe.'[187] 'It is probable that she will die,' wrote Margaret to the king. Louisa, notwithstanding her weakness, still busied herself with affairs of state; she wished to die governing. Deep sorrow filled her daughter's heart. It was too much for her, this sight of a mother whom she loved with intense affection, trifling on the brink of the grave, strengthening herself against death by means of her power and her greatness, 'as if they would serve her as a rampart and strong tower,' forgetting that there was another besides herself, who disposed of that life of which she fancied herself to be the mistress. Margaret did not rest content with only praying for her mother; she sat by her and spoke to her of the Saviour. 'Madame,' she said, 'I entreat you to fix your hopes elsewhere. Strive to make God propitious to you.'[188] This woman, so ambitious, clever, false, and dissolute, whose only virtue was maternal love, does not appear to have opened her heart to her daughter's voice. She breathed her last on the 29th of September, 1531, in the arms of the Queen of Navarre. Thoughts of a different order were soon to engross Margaret's attention. Hers was a sincere and living piety, but she had an excessive fear of contests and divisions, and, like many eminent persons of that epoch, she desired at any cost, and even by employing diplomatic means, to achieve a reform which should leave catholicity intact. To set before herself a universal transformation of the Church was certainly a noble and a christian aim; but Calvin, Luther, Farel, and others saw that it could only be attained at the expense of truth. The Queen of Navarre's fault was her readiness to sacrifice everything to the realisation of this beautiful dream; and we shall see what was done in France (Francis lending himself to it from mere political motives) to attain the accomplishment of this magnificent but chimerical project. [Footnote 166: _Lettres de la Reine de Navarre_, i. p. 247.] [Footnote 167: _Lettres de la Reine de Navarre_, i. p. 246.] [Footnote 168: Ibid. ii. p. 105.] [Footnote 169: Flor. Rémond, _Hist. de l'Hérésie_, p. 487.] [Footnote 170: 'Jussu reginæ Navarræ, ut hoc tandem dissidium tollatur.'—Buceri _Opera Anglicana_, fᵒ 693. Gerdesius, ii. p. 33.] [Footnote 171: 'Præbetur telum hostibus.'—Gerdesius, iv. p. 33.] [Footnote 172: 'Nunquam suo officio deest christianissima illa heroīna, regis soror.'—Ibid.] [Footnote 173: 'Procerum magnus numerus jam veritati accessit.'—Ibid.] [Footnote 174: 'Ut cœperint eam vocare _parvam Allemaniam_.'—Ibid.] [Footnote 175: 'Rex a veritate alienus non est.'—Ibid.]