Yet in one thing God Almighty favoured him in a peculiar manner, for, as he had made him more prudent, liberal, and virtuous in all things than the contemporary princes, who were his neighbours and enemies, so he suffered him to survive them, though not for a very long time. For Charles Duke of Burgundy, the Duchess of Austria his daughter, King Edward of England, Duke Galeas of Milan, and John King of Arragon, were all dead a few years before him; but King Edward and the Duchess of Austria died very shortly before his decease. In all of them there was a mixture of bad as well as good, for they were but mortals. But, without flattery, I may say of our King, that he was possessed of more qualifications suitable to the majesty and office of a prince than any of the rest, for I had seen most of them, and knew the extent of their abilities. CH. X.—How King Louis sent for his Son Charles a little before his Death; and the Precepts and Commands which he laid upon him and others. In the year 1482 the King desired to see the Dauphin his son, whom he had not seen for several years; for besides his being of opinion that it was better for his son’s health to have but few come near him, he was afraid lest he should be taken out of his management, and made the occasion for some conspiracy against him, as had been done by himself against his father, King Charles VII., when, at eleven[137] years of age, he was taken away by some lords of the kingdom, and engaged in a war called the Praguerie[138], which lasted not long, and was merely a court faction. Above all things, he recommended to the Dauphin certain of his servants, and laid his commands expressly upon him not to change any of his officers, declaring that upon the death of his father Charles VII., and his own accession to the throne, he had imprudently dismissed all the good officers of the kingdom, both military and civil, who had assisted his father in the conquest of Normandy and Guyenne, served him in the expulsion of the English, and contributed much to the restoration of peace and tranquillity throughout the kingdom; which rash method of proceeding proved highly to his prejudice, for it was the foundation of the war called the Public Good, which I mentioned before[139], and which had like to have cost him his crown. Soon after the King had given this advice to his son, and concluded the marriage[140] above mentioned, upon a Monday[141] the illness seized him of which he died, and it lasted until the Saturday following, the last day but one of August, 1483; I was present at the termination of his illness, and therefore I think myself entitled to say something of his death.