Note 96 — Chapter I · —How the King of France cajoled the English after the Duke of Burgundy’s Death, for fear they should have interrupted him in the Conquest of the Territories belonging to the said Duke.—1477.

“He immured himself,” says Sir Walter Scott, “in his castle of Plessis, intrusting his person to the doubtful faith of his Scottish mercenaries. He never stirred from his chamber; he admitted no one into it; and wearied Heaven and every saint with prayers, not for the forgiveness of his sins, but for the prolongation of his life. With a poverty of spirit totally inconsistent with his shrewd worldly sagacity, he importuned his physicians, until they insulted as well as plundered him. Bodily health and terrestrial felicity seemed to be his only object. Making any mention of his sins when talking on the state of his health was strictly prohibited; and when, at his command, a priest recited a prayer to St. Eutropius, in which he recommended the king’s welfare both in body and soul, Louis caused the two last words to be omitted, saying it was not prudent to importune the blessed saint by too many requests at once. Perhaps he thought, by being silent on his crimes, he might suffer them to pass out of the recollection of his celestial patrons, whose aid he invoked for his body.”