portal that the English encamped at the opening of the siege of the city. According to Lemaire, Louis XI. in the ensuing reign, intended to enclose these outskirts with a wall; but he was deterred, on account of the frequent inundations of the river Loire to which it is exposed.

Page 2. Nor construct any fortification against the city.

"As soon as the inhabitants of Orleans had a knowledge of the intended siege, they began to raise soldiers on every side, causing quantities of arms, corn, and other provisions to be sent from all the surrounding towns and villages, to cleanse the moats, repair the boulevards and the walls of their city, to station good body-guards, and in brief, to make an ample provision of every thing necessary for maintaining an obstinate siege."-Dubreton, pp. 13, 14.

Page 2.

Stones that weighed one hundred and sixteen pounds.

"The earl of Salisbury suddenly commenced his work in earnest, and having, with diligent captains, raised batteries on the highest and most commodious places, began to batter the city in ruins. The violence of these engines was so great, that not only the walls, but the houses, were thrown down as by a rude and furious tempest." "Those of Orleans had caused a fort to be erected beyond the Loire for the defence of the fortress which joins the bridge of the city; and

which is commonly called Les Tournelles."-Dubreton, pp. 15, 16.

Page 2. Living near the Postern Chesneau.

The designation of this Postern has varied according to different authors. Aldrevaldus, who flourished at the period of Louis the Fat, calls it the Postern of Saint Benedict, after the church dedicated to that saint which stands in the vicinity Posterula, quæ usque hodie Sancti Benedicti dicitur; while in a diploma of the period of Philip I. anno 1080, it is named Postica aglerii: what the word aglerii means is, however, at present wholly unknown; and lastly in our Diary the words Postern Chesneau are for the first time adopted to designate this gate.

Page 3. Placed in front of the Tournelles.

This fort stood at the extremity of the old bridge, but was separated from the left bank of the river by a ravelin surrounded with water, over which was a small bridge. See Polluche, note 117, p. 147, and Expilly, 351. Vil. laret designates these forts and boulevart by the name of Tourelles, but the editor has preferred using the term Tournelles, which is adopted by ancient writers.

Opposite the Tournelles was the isle of the two Mottes, that divided the old bridge in two, which stood nearer the city than the suburb. That part of the island, situated east of the bridge, was called La Motte Saint Antoine, on which stood a chapel so called, while that to the west bore the name of La Motte des Poissonniers. In the

former was the almonry for strangers, otherwise called the hospital of Saint Anthony; an edifice appropriated, from remotest antiquity, for the reception of needy travellers. By an account of hospitals taken in 1625, it appeared that these Mottes had been anciently given up to the inhabitants of Orleans under the proviso, that they should cause to be erected one or two chambers, "To yield a shelter to poor pilgrims and other travellers, and afford them a resting place, and a covering for the night only." We also learn from an account bearing date from 1383 to 1386, that a female had then the superintendence of this charity. "To Marguerite la Chaumette, mistress of the Hotel Dieu upon the said bridge, for the guardianship of the said Hotel Dieu, for which she has a C sols a year, CIC sols." The hospital being ruined during the siege, was rebuilt by order of Louis XII. in 1501. This small island was destroyed on the erection of the modern bridge.

Page 3. The Lord of Sainctes Trailles.

Jean Poton de Saintrailles, grand seneschal of Limousin, born of a noble family of Gascony, greatly signalized himself by his services under the respective reigns of Charles VI. and V1I. He made the famous lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, prisoner at the battle of Patay, in 1429; as also the earl of Arundel at the conflict of Gerberoy, in 1435: he equally pursued with the most heroic ardour all the expeditions which conduced to liberate the provinces of Normandy and Guienne from the shackles of the English, and was presented with the

staff of marshal of France in 1454; of which he was, however, deprived in 1461, by Louis XI. the implacable enemy of the best and the most valiant supporters of his father Charles VII. Two months subsequent to this unjust treatment on the part of his sovereign, Poton de Saintrailles died at the castle of Trompette, of which he was the governor; his courage, in conformity with his chivalric character, was at once frank, noble, and decided.

Page 4. The Tournelles from the end of the bridge.

The ancient bridge at Orleans consisted of nineteen arches, and was divided in two about the centre by the island of the Mottes before described. This structure was nearly eleven hundred feet long, on which formerly stood the famous bronze monument erected in honour of the Pucelle, melted at the period of the Revolution, as well as a beautiful Cross of the same metal. During the troubles that occurred on the subject of religion, the Reformers destroyed the crucifix so frequently mentioned in the Diary, and which had been erected in 1407, while the more recent one had been placed there in 1578.

At the end of this bridge, on the left bank of the river, was a gate flanked with two towers, which were called the Tourelles or Tournelles, and fortified with a ravelin environed by water, over which was a small bridge communicating with this portal, called Le Pont Jacquin. It was customary every year to place a bird upon these Tourelles, at which a company, regularly installed, used to shoot with their arquebuses at the festival

of Pentecost, and which, at a more remote period, used to be placed on the tower of the church of Saint Aignan.

Page 5. The most renowned and dreaded of all the English.

As the accounts of the death of this nobleman vary, the following extracts from French and English chroniclers may not prove devoid of interest.

"Tantost apres & durant le dit siege, le conte de Salbery estoit en la tour et bastille de dessus le bout du pont dudit Orleans, lesquelles avoient gaignees lesd Anglois sur les François, et regardoit ledit conte par une fenestre vers la dicte ville, et disoit on qu' ung de ses capitaine nomme Glassidal lui disoit telles parolles ou semblables: "Monseigneur, regardez vostre ville vous la voyez diey vient a plai." Et soubdainement vit une pierre de canon de la dicte ville ferir contre ung des costez de ladicte fenestre, tellement que ladicte fenestre ferirent ledit comte parmy le visage en telle maniere que trois ou quatre jours apres il alla de vie a trespas. Et touteffois oncques homme de ladicte ville ne peut scavoir qui avoit boute le feu ne tire icellui canon & nen scavoit on riens en ladicte ville."-Croniques de France dicte de Saint Denys, Imprime a Paris, par Anthoine Verard, 1493. Vol. III. p. 143.

"Shortly after, and during the said siege, the earl of Salisbury was in the tower and bastille above the end of the bridge of the said Orleans, the which had the said English gained of the French, and the said earl looked through one of the windows towards the said city; and as it was said, one of his captains, named