Quentin Durward | Page 7

among
those great powers, that their alliance "for the public weal," as they
termed it, but in reality for the overthrow of all but the external
appearance of the French monarchy, dissolved itself, and was never
again renewed in a manner so formidable. From this period, Louis,
relieved of all danger from England by the Civil Wars of York and
Lancaster, was engaged for several years, like an unfeeling but able
physician, in curing the wounds of the body politic, or rather in
stopping, now by gentle remedies, now by the use of fire and steel, the
progress of those mortal gangrenes with which it was then infected.
The brigandage of the Free Companies [troops that acknowledged no
authority except that of their leaders, and who hired themselves out at
will], and the unpunished oppression of the nobility, he laboured to
lessen, since he could not actually stop them; and, by dint of unrelaxed
attention, he gradually gained some addition to his own regal authority,

or effected some diminution of those by whom it was counterbalanced.
Still the King of France was surrounded by doubt and danger. The
members of the league "for the public weal," though not in unison,
were in existence, and, like a scotched snake [see Macbeth. III, ii, 13,
"We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it."], might reunite and become
dangerous again. But a worse danger was the increasing power of the
Duke of Burgundy, then one of the greatest princes of Europe, and little
diminished in rank by the very slight dependence of his duchy upon the
crown of France.
Charles, surnamed the Bold, or rather, the Audacious, for his courage
was allied to rashness and frenzy, then wore the ducal coronet of
Burgundy, which he burned to convert into a royal and independent
regal crown. The character of this Duke was in every respect the direct
contrast to that of Louis XI.
The latter was calm, deliberate, and crafty, never prosecuting a
desperate enterprise, and never abandoning one likely to be successful,
however distant the prospect. The genius of the Duke was entirely
different. He rushed on danger because he loved it, and on difficulties
because he despised them. As Louis never sacrificed his interest to his
passion, so Charles, on the other hand, never sacrificed his passion, or
even his humour, to any other consideration. Notwithstanding the near
relationship that existed between them, and the support which the Duke
and his father had afforded to Louis in his exile when Dauphin, there
was mutual contempt and hatred betwixt them. The Duke of Burgundy
despised the cautious policy of the King, and imputed to the faintness
of his courage that he sought by leagues, purchases, and other indirect
means those advantages which, in his place, the Duke would have
snatched with an armed hand. He likewise hated the King, not only for
the ingratitude he had manifested for former kindnesses, and for
personal injuries and imputations which the ambassadors of Louis had
cast upon him, when his father was yet alive, but also, and especially,
because of the support which he afforded in secret to the discontented
citizens of Ghent, Liege, and other great towns in Flanders. These
turbulent cities, jealous of their privileges, and proud of their wealth,

were frequently in a state of insurrection against their liege lords, the
Dukes of Burgundy, and never failed to find underhand countenance at
the court of Louis, who embraced every opportunity of fomenting
disturbance within the dominions of his overgrown vassal.
The contempt and hatred of the Duke were retaliated by Louis with
equal energy, though he used a thicker veil to conceal his sentiments. It
was impossible for a man of his profound sagacity not to despise the
stubborn obstinacy which never resigned its purpose, however fatal
perseverance might prove, and the headlong impetuosity which
commenced its career without allowing a moment's consideration for
the obstacles to be encountered. Yet the King hated Charles even more
than he contemned him, and his scorn and hatred were the more intense,
that they were mingled with fear; for he know that the onset of the mad
bull, to whom he likened the Duke of Burgundy, must ever be
formidable, though the animal makes it with shut eyes. It was not alone
the wealth of the Burgundian provinces, the discipline of the warlike
inhabitants, and the mass of their crowded population, which the King
dreaded, for the personal qualities of their leader had also much in them
that was dangerous. The very soul of bravery, which he pushed to the
verge of rashness, and beyond it -- profuse in expenditure -- splendid in
his court, his person, and his retinue, in all which he displayed the
hereditary magnificence of the house of Burgundy, Charles the Bold
drew into