then adduced the letters of confiscation issued by his father against Louis d’Amboise: and if this property had been subsequently restored to that nobleman, it was, urged the king’s advocates, on conditions which had not been accomplished—among others, on condition that Jeanne d’Amboise should not marry without the consent of Charles VII. That permission, replied La Tremoille, had been obtained; but where was the proof? doubtless in the archives of the Chateau de Thouars, the ancient residence of their ancestors. Louis XI., it will be remembered, had ordered the Seigneur de Bressuyre to take possession of this chateau at the beginning of the last illness of Louis d’Amboise. After his decease, no member of his family, not even his widow, was allowed to enter it. A very summary inventory of the furniture was hastily prepared, and great care was taken not to particularise the contents of the charter chests. In order to sustain his pretended rights against the persistent opposition of the La Tremoille family, and to cloak the most revolting iniquity with a show of justice, the king appointed a commission of inquiry to search the archives of Thouars for letters likely to serve his case. Two documents of great importance were found, under the hand and seal of Charles VII.; one granting the Vicomte de Thouars the restitution of all his confiscated property, and the other giving him permission to marry his daughter to the Prince of Bretagne, or any other husband he might select. Commines, who was one of the commissioners, saw at once that these papers would destroy all his chances of success, and he threw them into the fire. Jean Chambon, another commissioner, took them out again immediately, expressing his indignation at such culpable conduct; and the papers were transmitted to the king, whom Commines had informed of their character. On receiving them from the Seigneur de Bressuyre, the wily monarch threw them into the fire, saying, “It is not I who burn them, but the fire:” and he required all present to swear never to divulge what they had seen.