COMINES, Philippe de, Lord of Argenton, was born at the castle of Comines, near Menin, in 1443. Descended from an illustrious family of Flanders, he passed his youth at the court of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, where lie became attached to the Count de Charolais, whom he attended in the war of the Public Good, and was present at the battle of Montlhćry. When the count had succeeded his father, under the name of Charles the Rash, Comines continued to enjoy his confidence and intimacy, and was in attendance on him when, irritated by the bad faith of Louis XL, the duke detained that artful monarch as prisoner at Péronne. Comines, though then young, showed his prudence and sagacity in endeavouring to calm his headstrong master, who was transported with the most violent resentment against Louis; and by his wise counsels he contributed to the conclusion of the treaty of pacification which for the moment united these princes. He was afterwards employed in various negociations, which he conducted with equal ability and address. But the impetuous temper of the Duke of Burgundy becoming more and more exasperated by his reverses, and a species of frenzy having seized him in consequence of the failure of schemes rashly undertaken and imprudently executed, Louis, profiting by the faults of his rival, set himself to detach from the service of the duke all the men of ability or consideration by whom he had been surrounded, and uitimatel, 7 succeeded in his design. Comines was one of those who were thus gained over by the artful monarch, and in 1472 he passed from the service of Burgundy to that of France. Various reasons have been assigned for this desertion, respecting which Comines himself observes the most guarded silence in his Mémoires; the most probable is, that he had become disgusted with the service of a prince who habitually yielded to the most ungovernable transports of passion, and who was manifestly rushing headlong to destruction. Mézérai, however, remarks, with some appearance of truth, that, if the reasons of Comines had been honourable, he, who has discoursed so well on all other subjects, would certainly have explained them. But be this as it may, Louis XI. loaded him with favours; for scarcely had he entered the service of that monarch when he received a donation of the principality of Tahnont, and of the lordships of Olone, La Chaume, Curzon, Chûteau-Gontier, Chastel-Berry, Brem, and Brandois. The king also married him to Hélène de Jambes, the heiress of a rich and noble family of Poitou, assisted him to purchase the estate of Argen-tpn, conferred upon him the office of seneschal of Poitou, and confirmed all his g∙¾nts and donations by letters patent under the royal seal. Confines, in fact, became one of the most confidential servants of the king, near whose person he was constantly employed; and although he was neither the friend nor the favourite of Louis, who never had any such, he was better suited to the government of that monarch than any other person of his time, and maintained his influence solely by rendering himself useful. He executed several important commissions with great ability, and preserved undiminished to the last the confidence of his jealous and suspicious master. On the death or Louis, Comines, having plunged into a variety of intrigues against the government of Anne of Beaujeu, was at length expelled from the court by Duke René of Lorraine, and retired to Moulins, the residence of the Constable of Bourbon, to whose party he had attached himself. Nor did his misfortunes end here. The constable, having made his peace with the court, discarded Comines, who soon afterwards became involved in a new conspiracy formed [7:7:152]by Count Dunois and the Duke of Orleans; but the plot having been discovered when on the very eve of breaking out, Comines was arrested, and sent prisoner to Loches, where he passed eight months in one of those iron cages which Louis XI. had employed for the confinement of state criminals. “Plusieurs les ont maudites, et moi aussi,” says he, “qui en ai tâté sous le roi d’à présent.” When the Duke of Orleans had been vanquished and taken prisoner at St Aubin, and the authority of the regent had been confirmed by victory, Comines was put on his trial by the parliament, upon a charge of having maintained a treasonable intercourse with the rebels; and being found guilty by his judges, he was sentenced to banishment for ten years to his estates, and the confiscation of the fourth part of his property. It does not appear, however, that this sentence was executed. In 1493, he assisted in the treaty which was concluded at Senlis, between the king and the Archduke of Austria asDuke of Burgundy. Charles VIII. carried him into Italy, and, when the expedition to Naples had been resolved upon, sent him to Venice in order to induce that republic to observe a strict neutrality, which was of the utmost consequence to the success of the enterprise. Comines discharged this important duty with his usual ability, and delayed, though he could not prevent, the declaration of the republic in favour of the enemies of France; upon which he returned to Florence, where the king then was. Comines does not seem to have been employed in any public capacity during the last three years of Charles VIII.; but when Louis XII. ascended the throne in 149S, he appeared at court to render homage to the new sovereign. This is the last circumstance in the life of Comines of which any notice has been preserved. He died at Argenton on the 16th of August 1509, at the age of sixty-four, having apparently retained to the last the possessions and rank which had been conferred upon him by Louis XI. It was after his return from Italy, and in the retirement to which he had betaken himself, that Comines commenced writing his Mémoires, at the solicitation of Angelo Cattho, Archbishop of Vienne, who, like himself, had been in the service first of the Duke of Burgundy, and afterwards of Louis XI.; and it is to this work that he is alone indebted for the celebrity of his name. Indeed, among modern historians, none has been estimated more highly than Comines, who, to the charm of a natural and flexible style, which receives the direct impress of his thoughts, exhibiting them in all their lights and shadows, and to the interest which belongs to the fresh and animated recital of an eye-witness, unites a profound knowledge of men and affairs, and displays cool observation in happy alliance with sound judgment and accurate discrimination. In estimating the qualities of conduct and the shades of character, Comines is perhaps unrivalled. Taking men as he found them, and regarding them merely as the instruments of Providence, whom he is neither called upon to love nor to hate, he depicts them with a cool, rigorous, yet apparently unstudied severity; and so true do his delineations appear, that he seems to have looked into the very bottom of their souls, and to have discovered the real principles or motives of which their actions were the necessary result or, expression. We look in vain in his Mémoires for noble sentiments, chivalrous feelings, or lofty aspirations. He paints men as he knew them, with strict truth and fidelity; but he never rises above the level of his subject, nor sacrifices that calm dignity of tone which he sustains without effort, because it seems to have been natural to his character. He speaks little of himself; and the most important circumstances of his life are omitted, probably because the recital of them might have embarrassed him. The first edition of the Mémoires of Comines, published at Paris in 1525, contains only the reign of Louis XI. from 1464 to 1483, and is divided into six books; but two more, containing r the history of Charles VIII. till the year 1498, appeared in 1528, Paris, folio. A new edition, however, revised and corrected, was published at Paris in 1552, folio, by the Sieur du Parc, and has often since been reprinted. But of the modern editions, the most complete and valuable is that of Lenglet-Dufresnoy, London, 1747, four volumes 4to.