their peace better than he: and, as he was the strongest, so he persuaded him to be the wisest, to prevent them from separating and breaking the confederacy, to keep them together with all possible industry, and smother his resentment, whatever he thought. However, he told him that, indeed it raised the wonder of several people (and of some even about his person) that such inconsiderable persons as those two before mentioned, should be employed in managing so important an affair; and he said that it could not but be very dangerous, in respect of the bounty and liberality of the king. It is true the Lord of Contay hated Bische; however, he said no more than what others had said before him; and I am of opinion it was not his passion so much as the necessity of the matter, that made him speak as he did; however, the Count of Charolois was well pleased with his counsel, and applied himself to treat and be more merry with the princes than formerly, and to converse more freely both with them and their creatures, than he had been used; and, in my judgment, there was a necessity for this, in respect of the great danger, lest they should have forsaken him, and the whole confederacy have been dissolved. In matters of this moment, a wise man is of great importance (but he must be believed), and then he is not to be purchased at too dear a rate. But I could never meet with any prince that would distinguish the difference between men, till his necessity instructed him; and if he did, it was to no purpose, for they generally distribute their authority to such as are most agreeable to them, and suitable to their years, or complying with their humours; and sometimes they are managed by such as are only subservient to their pleasures. However, those princes who have any understanding, do quickly recollect themselves when they are in distress, and find their mistake; and so I observed our king did, as did also the Count of Charolois at that time, Edward IV., King of England, and several other princes; but these three especially I have seen in such exigence, that they have been glad of those very persons whom before they had despised. As for the Count of Charolois, when he was Duke of Burgundy, and fortune had exalted him to a greater height of glory and honour than ever any of his family had arrived at, and made him so great, that he thought no prince in Christendom equal to him, God was pleased to put a stop to his glory, and to infatuate him so, that, despising all counsel but his own, he lost his own life unhappily, sacrificed the lives of many thousands of his subjects, and brought his family to desolation, as is now visible to all the world. CH. XIII.—How Rouen was delivered into the hands of the Duke of Bourbon to be kept for the Duke of Berry; and the Conclusion of the Treaty of Conflans.—1465.