and his advisers learned that the Count of Nassau, having arrived in Brittany with the proxy of Archduke Maximilian, had by a mock ceremony espoused the Breton princess in his master's name.

This strange mode of celebration could not give the marriage a real and indissoluble character; but the concern in the court of France was profound.

In Brittany there was no mystery any longer made about the young duchess's engagement; she already took the title of Queen of the Romans.

Charles VIII.

loudly protested against this pretended marriage; and to give still more weight to his protest he sent to Henry VII., King of England, who was much mixed up with the affairs of Brittany, ambassadors charged to explain to him the right which France had to oppose the marriage of the young Duchess with Archduke Maximilian, at the same time taking care not to give occasion for thinking that Charles had any views on his own account in that quarter.