so obviously tending to
the welfare of both countries, and of the reigning Princes of either.
    The notice of so great and so wise a King was in itself a mighty bribe;
promises did much, and direct gifts, which the customs of the time permitted the
Burgundian courtiers to accept without scruple, did still more. During a
boar-hunt in the forest, while the Duke, eager always upon the immediate object,
whether business or pleasure, gave himself entirely up to the ardour of the
chase, Louis, unrestrained by his presence, sought and found the means of
speaking secretly and separately to many of those who were reported to have most
interest with Charles, among whom D'Hymbercourt and Comines were not forgotten;
nor did he fail to mix up the advances which he made towards those two
distinguished persons with praises of the valour and military skill of the
first, and of the profound sagacity and literary talents of the future historian
of the period.
    Such an opportunity of personally conciliating, or, if the reader pleases,
corrupting, the ministers of Charles, was perhaps what the King had proposed to
himself as a principal object of his visit, even if his art should fail to
cajole the Duke himself. The connection betwixt France and Burgundy was so
close, that most of the nobles belonging to the latter country had hopes or
actual interests connected with the former, which the favour of Louis could
advance, or his personal displeasure destroy. Formed for this and every other
species of intrigue, liberal to profusion when it was necessary to advance his
plans, and skilful in putting the most plausible colour upon his proposals and
presents, the King contrived to reconcile the spirit of the proud to their
profit, and to hold out to the real or pretended patriot the good of both France
and Burgundy, as the ostensible motive; whilst the party's own private interest,
like the concealed wheel of some machine, worked not the less powerfully that
its operations were kept out of sight. For each man he had a suitable bait, and
a proper mode of presenting it, he poured the guerdon into the sleeve of those
who were too proud to extend their hand, and trusted that his bounty, though it
descended like the dew, without noise and imperceptibly, would not fail to
produce, in due season, a plentiful crop of good will at least, perhaps of good
offices, to the donor. In fine, although he had been long paving the way by his
ministers for an establishment of such an interest in the Court of Burgundy as
should be advantageous to the interests of France,