325 (Paris, 1862).] Knowing as she was, Anne was at the same time proud and headstrong; she had a cultivated mind; she was fond of the arts, of poetry, and of ancient literature; she knew Latin, and even a little Greek; and having been united, though by proxy and at a distance, to a prince whom she had never seen, but whom she knew to be tall, well made, and a friend to the sciences, she revolted at the idea of giving him up for a prince without beauty, and to such an extent without education, that, it is said, Charles VIII., when he ascended the throne, was unable to read.

When he was spoken of to the young princess, "I am engaged in the bonds of matrimony to Archduke Maximilian," said Anne: "and the King of France, on his side, is affianced to the Princess Marguerite of Austria; we are not free, either of us." She went so far as to say that she would set out and go and join Maximilian.

Her advisers, who had nearly all of them become advocates of the French marriage, did their best to combat this obstinacy on the part of their princess, and they proposed to her other marriages.

Anne answered, "I will marry none but a king or a king's son." Whilst the question was thus being disputed at the little court of Rennes, the army of Charles VIII.

was pressing the city more closely every day.