[Footnote 275: It is somewhat amusing, in the light of subsequent events, to read such outbursts of sisterly enthusiasm as this: "O que bien-heureuse sera vostre brefve prison, par qui Dieu tant d'ames deslivrera de celle d'infidélité et esternelle damnacion." Lettres de Marg. d'Ang., 2de Coll., No. 5, Lyons, May 1525. See, too, 1ère Coll., No. 26, addressed to Montmorency.] [Footnote 276: Margaret's letters to Count Hohenlohe were translated into Latin and published by himself. M. Génin has rendered them into French, and inserted them in his Lettres de Marg. d'Angoulême, 1ère Coll., Nos. 48-51. The letter of July 5, 1526, is the most important.] [Footnote 277: This precious bit of special pleading deserves notice. In the instructions of the king to the Archbishop of Lyons, to be read at the council in that city, Francis thus expressed himself: "Et combien que pour ung tel et si bon œuvre que celluy qui se offre de présent, _le dict sire fut conseillé_, que juridiquement et par tous droicts divins et humains, _il pouvoit et debvoit raisonnablement mettre, subimposer et faire contribuer toutes manières de gens_, de quelque qualité, auctorité, condition qu'ils fuissent, soient d'église, nobles, ou du tiers et commun estat, au paiement de la ditte rançon, etc." Labbei Concilia, xix. fol. 1137.] [Footnote 278: The reason assigned for not convoking the States General in proper form, viz., that time did not permit the necessary delay, must be considered scarcely sufficient to explain the irregularity. Ibid., _ubi supra_.] [Footnote 279: "Fist un discours farci de latin et de citations de l'Écriture, dans lequel il conclut que le traité de Madrid estoit nul." Isambert, xii. 299.] [Footnote 280: The declaration is significant and noteworthy as the first of many similar assurances. Among the documents in Isambert, Recueil des anc. lois françaises, is a full account of the proceedings of the notables, xii. 292-301.]