down by despair Wherefore the king caused to be given to her horses and arms, and an army with a good number of great captains, in company of whom she carried succour to those of Orleans." Du Haillan, our informant, being first historiographer of France, and living but one hundred and forty years after the death of Jeanne, must, from the post he occupied, have possessed ample means of ascertaining the above facts, which, if true, set the matter at rest concerning any supernatural interposition in her favour; a circumstance that tends to exalt still more the noble disinterestedness of the heroic but unfortunate Maid of Orleans. When speaking of the tree under which Jeanne is stated to have received her celestial commands, Dubreton says, at page 114, "That which the people of the country assert is greatly to be admired, namely, that the tree (it was a pear tree) beneath which she was seated, the first time that the voice from heaven commanded her to repair to the king, is neither subject to be worm-eaten, nor to the effects of age, neither to thunder, to hail, nor to any other injuries of time or the air." In order to proceed to Blois. Blois, capital of the department of Loire and Cher, is a very old but beautiful city, on the banks of the Loire, and is so renowned for the fertility of its soil, as to be surnamed The Granary of France. As the French court formerly resided in this place, it is highly reputed for having the best French spoken by its inhabitants. Page 25. Messire John Fascot, &c. conducted about "In the Lent season, vittels and artillerie began to waxe scant in the English campe, wherefore the earle of Suffolke appointed Sir John Fastolfe, Sir Thomas Rampston, and Sir Philip Hall, with their retinues, to ride to Paris, to the lord regent, to informe him of their lacke, who incontinentlie upon that information provided vittels, artillerie, and munitions necessarie, and loded therewith many chariots, carts, and horsses: and for the sure conveieng of the same, he appointed Sir Simon Morhier, provost of Paris, with the gard of the citie, and diverse of his owne houshold-servants, to accompanie Sir John Fastolfe and his complices to the armie lieng at the siege of Orleance. They were in all to the number of fifteene hundred men, of the which there were not past five or six hundred Englishmen."- Holinshed, page 599. Page 27. That no one should dismount. From this particular order, so strictly issued by the count de Clermont, one might be led to infer, that the. armour worn at that period by the knights on horseback, was particularly cumbersome; and that, consequently, danger was to be apprehended in the event of the riders quitting their steeds. Shakspeare makes Richard the Third, in his soliloquy, on the night prior to the battle of Bosworth, use the following expression: "The armourers accomplishing the knights and closing rivets up," &c. by which it should appear that the warriors were literally rivetted into their iron trappings. Mezeray, the French historian, giving an account of a conflict, wherein some Italian knights were engaged and worsted, informs the reader that the victors, unable to uncase the vanquished, kindled a fire, whereon they placed the unfortunate warriors, who were thus roasted, like lobsters, within their shells. Page 29. Holinshed, speaking of this battle, and the loss sustained by the French and their confederates the Scots, says, at page 600: "Wherefore Sir John Fastolfe set all his companie in good order of battell, and pitched stakes before everie archer, to breake the force of the horssemen. At their backes they set all the waggons and carriages, and within them they tied all their horses. In this manner stood they still, abiding the assault of their enemies. The Frenchmen, by reason of their great number, thinking themselves sure of the victorie, egerlie set on the Englishmen, which with great force them received, and themselves manfullie defended. At length, after long and cruell fight, the Englishmen drove backe and vanquished the proud Frenchmen, and compelled them to flee. In this conflict were slaine the lord William Steward, constable of Scotland, and his brother, the lord Dorvalle, the lord Chateaubrian, Sir John Basgot, and other Frenchmen and Scots, to the number of five and twentie hundred, and above eleven hundred taken prisoners, although the French writers affirme the number lesse." Dubreton, at page 86, adverting to the deaths of John Stewart, constable of Scotland, and his brother, at the battle of Herrings, thus expresses himself: "Those two valliant brothers, as they were about to disengage themselves from their perilous situation, from the love they bore to each other, were killed, after having fought most bravely; and covered the error of their imprudence and inconsiderate ardor by the most signal proofs of their affection and their courage." Page 30. John Fastolff, knight, and knight banneret, was a general, a governor, and a nobleman, in France, under the several kings, Henry IV., V., and VI., of England, and was also a knight of the garter. Some have supposed this personage of French extraction, while others erroneously fixed his birth-place in Bedfordshire; whereas he was the descendant of an ancient and famous English family of the county of Norfolk, which had flourished there anterior to the conquest. As early as 1405, it appears that Sir John Fastolff accompanied Thomas of Lancaster, afterwards duke of Clarence, son of Henry IV., to Ireland; the said Thomas being appointed lord lieutenant of that country; where Sir John Fastolff married a rich young widow named Milicent, lady Castlecomb, daughter of lord Tibetot, relict of Sir Stephen Scrope, knight. Upon the nomination of the English regency in France, Sir John was appointed to the command of some forces in that country, and he, in consequence, removed thither from his estate in Norfolk, and continued for many years on the Gallic soil; for, according to Caxton, in his edition of Tully's Offices, to use that printer's phraseology, when speaking of Fastolff, he states that," exercisyng the warrys in the royame of Fraunce and other countrees, &c., by fourty yeres enduryng." So that we see no reasonable pretence for supposing that the Sir John Falstaff of Shakspeare was intended as a representation of the character now under consideration; who, for his bravery, was made knight banneret on the field of battle, and on account of his discreet, valiant, chaste, and sober habits, was intrusted with the highest commands abroad; created also a baron in France, and knight of the garter in England, In 1428, Sir John Fastolff, with other approved captains, was despatched by William de la Pole, duke of Sffollk, to the regent at Paris, for supplies for the army besieging Orleans; who not only provided him plentifully, but appointed a strong guard at his return to secure the safe conveyance of the same. The French, being fully aware of the importance of this succour, united two armies to meet the convoy, but they were completely overthrown, their loss in slain being computed at more than Fastolff had under his command; which gallant victory was called the battle of Herrings. In the ensuing year, however, the tide of fortune was turned, for at the conflict at Patay Sir John Fastolff was obliged to fly to Corbeil, in order to escape being killed, with the lord Talbot, or made prisoner of war with lord Hungerford and Sir Thomas Rampston. In 1430 we find Fastolff named lieutenant of Caen, in Normandy; and in 1435, when the regent died at Rouen, he named Fastolff one of the executors of his will: after which, in 1440, Sir John made his final return to England, laden with the laurels |