ought not to have done to preserve a kingdom so different from his own.
Lewis was called into Italy by the ambition of the Venetians, who wished for his assistance to enable them to conquer half of Lombardy. I do not blame this entry of the king into Italy, and the course he then pursued. Wishing to gain an entrance into it, and having no friends there, the misconduct of his predecessor Charles having shut all the avenues against him, he was compelled to avail himself of that alliance, and his enterprise would have succeeded, if he had not committed errors in his subsequent conduct. This monarch soon recovered Lombardy, and, with it, the reputation that Charles had lost. The Genoese submitted to him, the Florentines obtained his friendship, and all were eager to acquire it. The Marquis of Mantua, the Duke de Ferrara, the Bentivolios[1], the Countess de Forli, the Lords of Faënza, Pesaro, Rimini, Camerino, Piombino,; those of Lucca, Pisa, Sienna, &c. It was then that the Venetians perceived the imprudent temerity with which they had acted, and that, in order to acquire to themselves two płaces in Lombardy, they had made the King of France master of two thirds of Italy.
With what facility might this monarch, if he
- ↑ Lords of Bologna.
