The emperor says that he would make himself monarch of the whole world if he had a Brissac to second his plans." His men, irritated at getting no pay, one day surrounded Brissac, complaining vehemently.

"You will always get bread by coming to me," said he; and he paid the debt of France by sacrificing his daughter's dowry and borrowing a heavy sum from the Swiss on the security of his private fortune.

It was by such devotion and such sacrifices that the French nobility paid for and justified their preponderance in the state; but they did not manage to succeed in the conduct of public affairs, and to satisfy the interests of a nation progressing in activity, riches, independence, and influence.

Disquieted at the smallness of his success in Italy, Henry II.

flattered himself that he would regain his ascendency there by sending thither the Duke of Guise, the hero of Metz, with an army of about twenty thousand men, French or Swiss, and a staff of experienced officers; but Guise was not more successful than his predecessors had been.