"I have need," said he, "for my heavy business, of a head like his;" and he added, with a ghastly smile, "it is only the head I want; the body may stay where it is." On the 24th of November, 1475, the constable was, accordingly, given up to the king; and on the 27th, was brought to Paris.
His trial, begun forthwith, was soon over; he himself acknowledged the greater part of what was imputed to him; and on the 19th of December he was brought up from the Bastille before the parliament.

"My lord of St.
Pol," said the chancellor to him, "you have always passed for being the firmest lord in the realm; you must not belie yourself to-day, when you have more need than ever of firmness and courage;" and he read to him the decree which sentenced him to lose his head that very day on the Place de Greve.

"That is a mighty hard sentence," said the constable; "I pray God that I may see Him to-day." And he underwent execution with serene and pious firmness.

He was of an epoch when the most criminal enterprises did not always preclude piety.

Louis XI.