 correspondent, has pointed out to me that I have
been mistaken in alleging that the Cardinal was a bad rider. If so, I owe his
memory an apology; for there are few men who, until my latter days, have loved
that exercise better than myself. But the Cardinal may have been an indifferent
horseman, though he wished to be looked upon as equal to the dangers of the
chase. He was a man of assumption and ostentation, as he showed at the siege of
Paris in 1465, where, contrary to the custom and usage of war, he mounted guard
during the night with an unusual sound of clarions, trumpets, and other
instruments. In imputing to the Cardinal a want of skill in horsemanship, I
recollected his adventure in Paris when attacked by assassins, on which occasion
his mule, being scared by the crowd, ran away with the rider, and taking its
course to a monastery, to the abbot of which he formerly belonged, was the means
of saving his master's life. - See JEAN DE TROYES' Chronicle.
 
28 Charlemagne, I suppose on account of his unsparing rigour to the Saxons, and
other heathens, was accounted a saint during the dark ages; and Louis XI., as
one of his successors, honoured his shrine with peculiar observance.
 
29 Forward, Scotland.
 
30 During his residence in Burgundy, in his father's lifetime, Genappes was the
usual abode of Louis. This period of exile is often alluded to in the novel.
 
31 The nature of Louis XIth's coarse humour may be guessed at by those who have
perused the Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, which are grosser than most similar
collections of the age.
 
32 Concerning things unknown to the generality of mankind.
 
33 Martius Galeotti was a native of Narni, in Umbria. He was secretary to
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and tutor to his son, John Corvinus. While
at his court, he composed a work, De jocose dictis et factis Regis Matthiæ
Corvini. He left Hungary in 1477, and was made prisoner at Venice on a charge of
having propagated heterodox opinions in a treatise entitled, De homine interiore
et corpore ejus. He was obliged to recant some of these doctrines, and might
have suffered seriously but for the protection of Sextus IV., then Pope, who had
been one of his scholars. He went to France, attached himself to Louis XI., and
died in his service.
 
34 Martius Galeotti was a native of Narni, in Umbria. He was secretary to
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and tutor to his son,
