as he was for intelligence and valour, had become so great a favourite with the chivalrous monarch of France, that he wished to have him by his side, not only in the field but also in the council. To this end he had, by permission of the sublime republic, removed him from its troops into his own camp, and caused a tent to be erected for him not far from his own. Frangipani’s time was so wholly occupied by the important events that were preparing, and the numerous consultations held respecting them, that he had not a moment to spare for the endearments of love.
The city of Milan had surrendered to King Francis by capitulation: almost all the other towns in the duchy had fallen into his hands, and he therefore invested Pavia, which alone put itself in a posture of resistance, in the confident hope that he should make himself master of it in a few weeks. The garrison, however, composed of Spanish troops under the brave Leyra, made such a gallant defence, that at the expiration of four months the besiegers had not gained the slightest advantage. This loss of time was the more ruinous, as it enabled the constable of Bourbon, one of the greatest generals of his age, to hasten with a considerable force to the relief of Pavia, and to offer battle to the enemy under its walls. Whether Frangipani’s heroism, and the eagerness of the young Venetian nobility for fighting, obscured his otherwise so clear military
