deemed an object worthy consideration. The state was plunged in one chaos of anarchy; every mansion-house, castle, or dungeon, was converted into a fortress, wherein each petty officer who could collect a few soldiers established himself the feudal despot of the surrounding villages, the pillage of which became the wages of their troops, whensoever the leaders of the respective factions did not find it necessary to purchase their assistance. Jean sans Peur was at the head of the most puissant party; and the count of Armagnac, fatherin-law of the young duke of Orleans, commanded the other, which he nominated after himself. He certainly was not a member of the royal family; but, sovereign of a large territory, descended from the most ancient house of France, allied to all those possessing an illustrious name, being equal in personal bravery to any nobleman of that age, and superior to all for his talents and his genius, public opinion bestowed upon him that dignity, of which he proved himself worthy in every respect by his character, which was a tissue of egotism, ambition, hatred, pride, vindictiveness, and cruelty. From this period, and for several succeeding years, the two factions were in constant motion, contending for the possession of the capital, the king, and the dauphin, in order to carry them off. The good and - peaceable citizens, victims of the alternate fury of the Burgundians and the Armagnacs, used every effort to restore tranquillity: several truces as well as treaties of peace, signed and sworn to, were almost instantaneously violated; so that the soil of France presented a scene of devastation and bloodshed. Upon one of these occasions, when the duke of Burgundy had Paris at his disposal, in order to render his dominion permanent, he gave arms to the lowest and the most ferocious band he could collect together; the butchers,* and those employed to skin the slaughtered animals, became the satellites of a prince of the blood royal, and one of the first potentates of Europe. To this mob of plunderers the partisans of the Armagnacs were delivered up; † so that the proscriptions of a Marius * This measure was effected by means of Saint Pol, governor of Paris, a most determined Burgundian. In the month of December, 1411, Jean, duke of Burgundy, assisted at the funeral of one Legoix, a leading man among the butchers, who was killed in a combat, and matters went so far that an inscription was placed upon his tomb. See Laboureur, page 803; Juvenal, page 297; and Villaret, xiii. page 201. + When the dauphin Louis succeeded in rescuing Paris from the butchers, there were found in the house of one of the sanguinary chiefs of this band, two lists of proscription, the first of which contained a catalogue of no less than fourteen hundred persons; and in the second were a great many having the letters T., B., and R. before them, meaning (à tuer, &c.) to be killed, banished, or ransomed.—See Laboureur, page 899; Juvenal, page 332; Villaret, xiii. page 274. and a Sylla were almost exceeded by the atrocities then committed. These excesses tended to infuse energy into the minds of moderate men, who were seconded by Louis the dauphin, a prince that could ill submit to the yoke of the duke of Burgundy, and who, therefore, strove to form a party. Consultations and assemblies were held; and at length Paris was taken, and surrendered up to the Armagnacs, who did not, it is true, arm the multitude, yet their administration was almost as insupportable. The Burgundians in their turn were pursued and oppressed; the slightest movement, the least expression in their favour, was magnified into a crime, punished by death as soon as suspected, and the sentence always pronounced without judgment. Twenty years were already passed away since the first access of insanity had seized upon Charles VI.; yet during the troubles that uniformly desolated France for such a protracted period, England had not been in a situation to take advantage of her disasters. Richard II., the successor of Edward III., who was despised by his subjects, had already courted the assistance of the French king;* and subse * After some renewals and partial treaties entered into with France, particularly those of 1381, 1383, 1384, and 1392, Richard II., in 1393, ratified a treaty of five years with Charles VII., and on the 19th of March, 1395, he prolonged quently Bolingbroke, the usurper of his throne, was sufficiently occupied in supporting and establishing his unjust tenure to the crown, and in defending his ill-acquired authority against the Scotch and the Welsh, to be empowered to hazard an attempt on the territory of France. As Henry IV., however, --- it for a period of twenty-eight years, so that it would not have terminated until 1426; and by a treaty of the 9th March, 1395, he also affianced Isabella, or Elizabeth, of France. — See Laboureur's History, pages 307, 320, where copies of these two treaties are inserted. Hume is guilty of error, when he ascribes their date to the year 1396; as well as in regard to the duration of this treaty, which he reduces to twenty-five years: and Smollett is equally faulty, giving the date as 1396, and the duration of the truce as for twenty-six years.-See Juvenal des Ursins, page 159. Richard, in 1396, ceded Brest to the duke of Brittany, and Cherbourg to the king of Navarre. †The only enterprises attempted by England, were some trifling excursions, during which the French coast was plundered; and among others in 1402, 1403, 1404, and 1406. The French on their side likewise made descents on England in the years 1403, 1404, and 1405; the most considerable of those excursions having for object to forward succours to the Scotch and the Welsh, which occurred in 1384 and 1405. There were also some naval combats, for the most part fought by the natives of Brittany, namely in 1387, 1403, 1406, and 1410. Treaties were also entered into with Henry IV. almost each succeeding year from 1400 until the period of his death; (see Dutillet's Rec. des Traités, page 335-339,) they did not, however, prevent this species of aggressions from taking place on either side. towards the close of his reign enjoyed more tranquillity, the policy of that monarch led him to foment the divisions of the French, in order that he might reap the advantage when a favourable opportunity should present itself; and this policy succeeded, since by furnishing in turns sufficient succour to the two factions, he maintained the just equilibrium on either side. We are now arrived at a period of our Summary, when it becomes necessary to detail the ignominy that marked the conduct of too many Frenchmen; and although their historians may have wept over their errors, they certainly have accorded no pity or even indulgence for their vices and their crimes. Such writers are more worthy commiseration than the judge, not being, like him, at liberty to express pity when pronouncing sentence on a relative, or a friend for whom he may feel interested; the historian, on the contrary, is compelled to steel his heart against every tender sentiment, in order to condemn those who have violated the precepts of virtue: it is not sufficient for him to exclaim, Mihi Galba, Otho, Vitellius, nec beneficio nec injuriâ cogniti; he must either abandon the pen, or adopt the maxim-Amicus Plato, magis amica veritas. Sovereigns, potentates, ministers, divines, soldiers, the learned, all in short, are desirous of having their memories honoured in futurity; and they are all equally well convinced that, sooner or |