Margaret having gone in, kneels down before
the image of Jesus crucified, prays to God from the depths of her heart,
sighs, weeps, confesses all her transgressions, and laying to herself
alone the cause of her daughter's illness, humbly asks pardon, and begs
that the sufferer's restoration to health may be granted. After this
act of faith Margaret felt relieved, and she had scarcely arrived at
her lodgings when the Bishop of Mende came to announce to her that her
daughter was in the way of recovery." (2)
1 Brantome's grandmother.
2 Oraison funebre, &c, p. 38.
When Jane was barely twelve years old Charles V. asked her in marriage
for his son Philip, but Francis, who was by no means anxious to see the
Spaniards established on the northern side of the Pyrenees, preferred
that the girl should marry William III., Duke of Cleves. It has
frequently been asserted that Francis on this occasion exercised
compulsion not only upon his niece, but also upon the King and Queen of
Navarre, who vainly protested against this abuse of power.
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