a Frenchman by making war, in his turn, upon the English, from whom he had by the treaty of Arras effected only a pacific separation.  In June, 1436, he went and besieged Calais.  This was attacking England at one of the points she was bent upon defending most obstinately.  Philip had reckoned on the energetic cooperation of the cities of Flanders, and at the first blush the Flemings did display a strong inclination to support him in his enterprise.  “When the English,” they said, “know that my lords of Ghent are on the way to attack them with all their might they will not await us; they will leave the city and flee away to England.”  Neither the Flemings nor Philip had correctly estimated the importance which was attached in London to the possession of Calais.  When the Duke of Gloucester, lord-protector of England, found this possession threatened, he sent a herald to defy the Duke of Burgundy and declare to him that, if he did not wait for battle beneath the walls of Calais, Humphrey of Gloucester would go after him even into his own dominions.  “Tell your lord that he will not need to take so much trouble, and that he will find me here,” answered Philip proudly.  His pride was over-confident.  Whether it were only a people’s fickleness or intelligent appreciation of their own commercial interests in their relations with England, the Flemings grew speedily disgusted with the siege of Calais, complained of the tardiness in arrival of the fleet which Philip had despatched thither to close the port against English vessels, and, after having suffered several reverses by sorties of the English garrison, they ended by retiring with such precipitation that they abandoned part of their supplies and artillery.  Philip, according to the expression of M. Henri Martin, was reduced to covering their retreat with his cavalry; and then he went away sorrowfully to Lille, to advise about the means of defending his Flemish lordships exposed to the reprisals of the English.

Thus the fortune of Burgundy was tottering whilst that of France was recovering itself.  The constable’s easy occupation of Paris led the majority of the small places in the neighborhood, St. Denis, Chevreuse, Marcoussis, and Montlhery to decide either upon spontaneous surrender or allowing themselves to be taken after no great resistance.  Charles VII., on his way through France to Lyon, in Dauphiny, Languedoc, Auvergne, and along the Loire, recovered several other towns, for instance, Chateau-Landon, Nemours, and Charny.  He laid siege in person to Montereau, an important military post with which a recent and sinister reminiscence was connected.  A great change now made itself apparent in the king’s behavior and disposition.  He showed activity and vigilance, and was ready to expose himself without any care for fatigue or danger.  On the day of the assault (10th of October, 1437) he went down into the trenches, remained there in water up to his waist, mounted the scaling-ladder