"
The last straw came, however, when the Marshal de Lautrec demanded from
Andrea the prisoners taken by Philippin Doria at Salerno. To this Doria
returned a curt negative, whereupon Francis sent one Barbezieux to
supersede Doria and to seize upon the person of the veteran admiral. But
that seaman, now sixty years of age, was not to be taken by any king or
soldier. He moved his twelve galleys from Genoa to Lerici, on the east
coast of the Gulf of Spezzia, and when Barbezieux arrived he sarcastically
told him to take the galleys. Barbezieux had no better fortune than his
predecessor, the Vicomte de Tours, and retired discomfited and boiling over
with rage to report matters to the King.
It has been said that among the prisoners of Philippin Doria was the
Marquis de Guasto. This nobleman had been an interested spectator of the
quarrel, and now approached Doria suggesting that he should throw in his
lot with Charles. The admiral, who all through had been acting in the
interests of his native country, seeing its ruin approaching from the
ambitions of Francis, consented, and wrote to his nephew Philippin telling
him of his decision, and his reasons for that which he proposed to do.
Philippin therefore rejoined his uncle at Lerici with his eight galleys.
The negotiations were short, sharp, and decisive, and were conducted
through the medium of De Guasto. Charles offered the admiral sixty thousand
ducats a year; this was accepted.
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