The trial was commenced without delay, and, as he refused to confess to any crime, he was put to the torture. With respect to his correspondence with the chiefs of the League, he avowed it, but pleaded that it had the king’s sanction. It is probable that this was really the case. Many motives might have induced the king to allow of his officer corresponding with the enemy. But Louis had now resolved upon the destruction of Melun; and, as he never scrupled at falsehood when he had any point to gain by it, he denied that he had given the permission. By adding that he had long had cause to be dissatisfied with the prisoner, he gave a broad hint as to what kind of verdict he desired. The judges, as in duty bound, pronounced Melun guilty, and he was consigned to the scaffold. His execution took place in 1468. Of his confiscated property, a considerable portion was bestowed on Chabannes. It is said, that the executioner having only wounded him at the first stroke, Melun raised his head from the block, and declared, that he had not deserved death, but that, since the king willed it, he was satisfied. If this be true, we must own that tame submission to the injustice of a despot was never more strikingly displayed. Had Melun lived but a little longer, he might have triumphed in the downfall and punishment of his ungrateful enemy, the cardinal, which took place in 1469. John Balue, the person in question, born in Poitou in 1421, was the son of either a miller or a tailor. He had, perhaps, as many vices, and as few virtues, as any person upon record. Ingratitude, in particular, seems to have been deeply rooted into the nature of this unworthy prelate. Towards the bishops of Poictiers and Angers, who had early patronized and confided in him, and the count de Melun, by whom he was introduced to the monarch, he acted with unparalleled baseness. His sovereign fared no better than his other benefactors. Louis XI. had rapidly raised him to the highest offices in the state, and had loaded him with ecclesiastical preferment, yet the traitor betrayed him. While his power lasted, there was no department of the government with which Balue did not interfere. This trait in the character of the cardinal called forth a pleasant sarcasm from Chabannes, who could not see with patience his own province invaded. Balue having one day reviewed some regiments, Chabannes gravely requested the king’s permission to visit the cardinal’s bishopric of Evreux, for the purpose of examining clerical candidates, and conferring ordination on them. “What do you mean?” said Louis. “Why, surely, sire,” replied Chabannes, “I am as fit to ordain priests, as the bishop of Evreux is to review an army.”