their expenses; for they expected their reward out of the towns which they should take from the Duke of Milan, had he been suddenly invaded by the Duke of Orleans’ forces. And of those who were his confederates, none would have been able to avoid siding with the king against the Venetians; and for less than eighty thousand crowns the king could have kept all these Italians together a long time; and if the Duke of Milan had been conquered, the kingdom of Naples would have fallen of course. The miscarriage of this important design proceeded merely from the Duke of Orleans’ inconstancy. He intended over-night to set out in the morning; he had sent all his equipage, baggage, and whatever else belonged to his person, before him; so that there was nothing to follow but himself. His army, consisting of eight hundred French men-at-arms and six thousand foot (among whom were four hundred Swiss), lay ready at Asti, and their pay in advance in their pockets; yet on a sudden he changed his mind, and made two several requests to the king, that the expedition might be once more debated before the council; and it was done twice. I was present on both occasions: the result was, _nemine contradicente_ (though there were always ten or twelve in council), that he should proceed on the expedition; because they had given their above-mentioned friends in Italy repeated assurances of his coming; and they had raised men, and been at great expense in expectation of him. But the Duke of Orleans (either by the advice of some other person, or through his own unwillingness to go, on account of the king’s illness, and his being the next heir to the crown,) plainly declared he would not undertake that enterprise upon any quarrel of his own; but as he was the king’s lieutenant, if his majesty pleased to command it, he would go with all his heart; and so the council broke up. The next day, and several days after, the Florentine envoys, and the rest of the ambassadors, pressed the king, that he would command the duke to go; but the king’s answer was, that he would never send him to make war against his inclinations. And thus was that enterprise quashed in a moment, to the king’s great displeasure, who had been at vast charges, and had great hopes of revenging himself on the Duke of Milan, considering his own alliances at that time, and what he might have had by Signor John James de Trivulce, who was lieutenant-general for the king; and that the Duke of Orleans was born, and had great interest and alliance in the duchy of Milan, where many persons would have supported him.