Note 587 — BOOK THE FIFTH. (continued 2)
Reading edition
On his first visit to Cambray, Louis XI. had effaced the imperial arms from the public buildings of the town, and substituted the arms of France in their stead; but he afterwards directed the authorities to restore the holy imperial eagle, saying, “We wish you to be neutral, and to continue in your former condition. We are viscount of your city, and intend to maintain our jurisdiction and rights over it. But in regard to our arms, you may take them down some evening, and put up your bird again, and you may say it had flown away for a time, but returned to its place just like the swallows which return with the spring.” Molinet, ii. 154.