It seems to me, that upon good and solid advice, and not without the particular grace of God, that law was made in France, whereby women are excluded from the succession, and no daughter suffered to inherit the crown, to prevent its falling into the hands of a foreign nation, or prince; which the French would hardly endure, nor, indeed, would any other nation; for there is no sovereignty whatever but at length revolves upon the natives. This may be seen in France, where the English had great possessions for forty years together, and at this present time have nothing left of all their conquests but Calais and two little castles[17], which cost them a great deal to keep; the rest they lost much more easily than they conquered it; for they lost more in one day than they had gained in a year. The same thing is observable in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, and other provinces, of which the French had possession for many years together; in all which there is now no monument of their power remaining but the sepulchres of their fathers. And, if it were possible for a nation to admit a foreign prince whose wisdom was great, and his retinue small and well-regulated, yet they could hardly be prevailed upon to receive him with a great train, or suffer that he should send for great numbers of his other subjects, upon pretence of making war upon his neighbours; because animosities will certainly arise among them, by reason of their diversity of manners and disposition, and the violences the new-comers will commit; for they cannot feel so much love and affection for the country as those who were born in it; especially if they aspire and aim at offices or employments which belong more properly to the natives. So that it is very requisite for a wise prince, upon his coming into a foreign country, to adjust all differences in his towns; and, if he be not master of this virtue (which proceeds more immediately from God than anything else), the rest, though called virtues, will be of no advantage to him: and, if he reigns long, he and all his subjects will find themselves involved in troubles, especially when he comes to be aged, and his ministers and servants have no hopes of amendment in his condition.