Page:Margaret of Angoulême, Queen of Navarre (Robinson 1886).djvu/38

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(1520–1523.)

useless magnificence of the Field of the Cloth of Gold, had exhausted the treasury of France, while Charles, without wasting a son, had obtained a practical interview with Henry. The Emperor was sure of, at least, the neutrality of England; he was rich and ready for war. Francis, on the other hand, had to borrow money from the Florentines, and had secured no aid from England. On the contrary, the whole of the north of France was seized by an intermittent panic; in many a bank of clouds men saw an English fleet coming to lay waste and ravage. And this open unprotected, impoverished northern country was left without armies, almost without garrisons. For all the scanty soldiery of France was drawn away to the south, to light in Navarre and to defend imperilled Milan.

War surprised Francis without men or money. The promised Florentine loan was never paid; nothing remained but to tax the suffering country. Tax after