I saw also the meeting between the Duke of Burgundy, and Sigismund, Duke of Austria[241], when the latter sold to the Duke of Burgundy the county of Ferrette (which lies not far from the county of Burgundy) for 100,000 florins of gold, as he was unable himself to defend it against the Swiss. These princes also were not well pleased with one another. Afterwards Sigismund made peace with the Swiss, possessed himself again of the county, but never returned his money, from whence great mischiefs resulted to the Duke of Burgundy. At the same time also the Earl of Warwick[242] came to visit the Duke of Burgundy, and ever afterwards a mortal hatred continued between them. I was also at the interview[243] at Picquigny (not far from Amiens) between our king and Edward IV., King of England, and shall give a larger account of it in another place; but must observe by-the-bye that scarce anything was performed that was promised there, but all their whole business was hypocrisy and dissimulation. It is true, they had no wars, because the sea divided them; but there never was any real friendship or good correspondence between them afterwards. To conclude, if great princes have a desire to continue friends, in my judgment they ought never to meet; and my reasons are these: courtiers cannot forbear reflecting upon past actions, and one or other will be sure to take exception[244]; neither is it possible to hinder the train and equipage of the one from being finer and more magnificent than the other, which produces mockery, and nothing touches any person more sensibly than to be laughed at. The princes being of different nations, their language and habits are commonly different, and that which pleases one will not please the other; besides, among the princes themselves it often happens, that the presence of the one is more obliging and acceptable, which gains him honour and reputation, and everybody extols him, which cannot be done without reflecting on the other. For some few days after they are parted, all their fine stories and observations are whispered and told privately up and down, but afterwards having told them often, they become less cautious, and by degrees their tales grow to be table-talk, and are at length carried to both parties; for few things (especially of that nature) can be concealed in this world. And these are part of the reasons which I have known and observed touching this matter. CH. IX.—How the King renounced his League with the Liegeois, to be released out of the Castle of Peronne.—1468.