Note 57 — [A.D. 1475.]

'A.D. 1475. With fifteen hundred nobles and gentlemen, and fourteen thousand archers on horseback, besides a numerous body on foot, did Edward (IV.) invade the dominions of France from Calais. Had the king been steady, his allies faithful, and his courtiers honest, nothing but a miracle could have saved the dastardly detested Louis (XI.) But the admirable policy of that king, never displayed before or since (on so honest an occasion), the want of conduct in Burgundy and sincerity in St Pol, together with the atrocious corruption of the english nobles and indolence of Edward, combined to rescue the monarchy of France from utter ruin. Louis most wisely abandoned every punctilio, suffered with patience the insolence of the invaders, bribed judiciously with an unsparing hand, consented to an immediate payment of 75,000 crowns, and an annual tribute of 50,000,—and at length sent his enemies, defeated of their expectations and covered with ridicule, to wait the effect of promises which were never meant to be performed.'

Andrews' Hist. of England.