



Produced by David Widger from page images generously
provided by the Internet Archive







THE CONSTABLE DE BOURBON

By William Ainsworth




BOOK I.--THE AFFRONT.




I. FONTAINEBLEAU.

|On a fine day, in the early part of June, 1523, a splendid cavalcade,
consisting of three hundred well-mounted gentlemen, habited in velvet,
and each having a massive gold chain round his neck, entered the Forest
of Fontainebleau from the side of Nemours, and proceeded along an avenue
bordered by noble trees towards the palace.

For the most part, the persons composing this brilliant troop were young
and handsome cavaliers, whose looks and haughty bearing proclaimed
their high birth, but there were some veterans among them, whose bronzed
visages and martial deportment showed that they