In the month of January, in this year, that most noble and potent prince Arthur duke of Brittany departed this life, who, before and after he had succeeded to the dukedom, had been constable of France. He was succeeded by the lord Francis, son to madame d'Estampes, sister to the duke of Orleans, who, in person, conducted him to take possession of the duchy of Brittany. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 5: Mont Richart, or Mont Tricard,--six leagues from Amboise.] [Footnote 6: Granville,--a sea-port in Normandy, six leagues from Coutances.] [Footnote 7: 'John duke of Alençon was condemned to death by a celebrated sentence given by king Charles VII. sitting in a bed of justice, at Vendôme, the 10th of October 1458, which sentence was instantly commuted to perpetual imprisonment. The duke was confined in the castle of Loches until Louis XI. came to the throne in 1461, who granted him a free pardon in the month of October in the same year. 'The duke could not remain quiet, but attempted again to throw the kingdom into confusion,--and Louis XI. had him arrested a second time, the 22d September 1472. Another sentence was passed on him, but its execution was again suspended,--and the duke remained a prisoner in the Louvre, but did not die there, as is supposed. He was transferred to the house of a burgher, as a private prisoner. He died in the year 1476.' See more in the note from which this is copied, page 595 of the viiith volume of the Memoires de l'Académie.] [A.D. 1459.] CHAP. VI. THE AMBASSADORS FROM ENGLAND ARE DENIED ACCESS TO THE KING OF FRANCE.--THE DUKE OF CLEVES ATTENDS THE MEETING OF PRINCES AT MANTUA.--THE DAUPHINESS BROUGHT TO BED OF A SON, AT GENAPPE.--THE KING OF SCOTLAND KILLED BY A SPLINTER FROM A BOMB. This year, ambassadors from England arrived in France, anxious to obtain an alliance with the king by a marriage or truce; but the king would neither hear nor see them. They were, therefore, forced to return without effecting any thing; and what was more, neither lord nor lady would accept of their palfreys, which they had brought with them in numbers, to gain the friendship of the lords and ladies of the court. In the month of June, in this year, the duke of Burgundy, being very desirous of the welfare of Christendom, sent his nephew the duke of Cleves, as his proxy and ambassador, to Mantua, where the meeting was to take place of the pope and the princes, and cardinals of Europe, to consider on the means of opposing the enterprises of the grand Turk, who was making daily conquests on the Christians, more especially in Greece. The duke of Cleves was nobly received wherever he passed, as well to honour the duke of Burgundy, whose proxy he was, as out of respect to his own personal worth.