The preparations of the king at length made St. Pol fully aware of his danger. Hesitating as to the measure which in this emergency he ought to adopt, he for a moment half resolved to stand on his defence; but reflection on the superior resources of his enemy persuaded him that he had no chance of success from arms. Yet, had he boldly appealed to the sword, he might, perhaps, have saved his life, or at least have met with an honourable death. He preferred throwing himself on the duke of Burgundy, whom he tempted by offering him his strong towns, as the price of protection. Louis demanded that he should be given up to him; and after some qualms of conscience as to sacrificing a suppliant, who was also his cousin, Charles of Burgundy complied with the demand. St. Pol was conveyed to the Bastile. The French monarch gave him his choice, either to make a full confession, or to be tried in the customary manner. The latter alternative was chosen by the prisoner, who knew not that his letters, to Edward and the duke of Burgundy, were in the king’s hands, and therefore believed that there was not legal evidence to warrant his conviction. His judges sentenced him to lose his head, and he was executed on the 19th of December, 1475. The last captive in the Bastile, during the reign of Louis the Eleventh, or rather the last of whom any record remains—for there were doubtless numbers of the nameless throng—was an Armagnac; a name which seems to have been fatal to its owners. We have seen one Armagnac torn in pieces by the populace, another treacherously slain after the surrender of his stronghold, a third losing his reason in a dungeon, and we are now to witness the leading of a fourth to the scaffold, under circumstances the most horrible. James of Armagnac, duke of Nemours, was the son of the Count de la Marche, who was the governor of the youthful dauphin. When the pupil of the count ascended the throne, he gave his cousin Louisa in marriage to James of Armagnac, and conferred on him the dukedom of Nemours, with all the rights and privileges of the peerage; an honour which had never before been enjoyed by any other than princes of the royal family. Nemours, nevertheless, joined the League of the Public Good. Louis, as we have seen, was obliged to succumb to the League; and, by the consequent peace of Conflans, James of Armagnac obtained the government of Paris and the Isle of France. Little more than three years elapsed before Nemours was again engaged in intrigues against the monarch. But the time was gone by when revolt could lead to promotion. Louis had strengthened his authority, and he was not disposed to see it set at nought. He, however, pardoned him; but it was on condition that any future offence should render him liable to punishment for the past, and that he should then be deprived of his privilege of peerage, and be tried as a private individual.