a considerable following there.  They had held it for three centuries; and they had always treated it well in respect of local liberties, agriculture, and commerce.  Charles VII., on recovering it, was less wise.  He determined to establish there forthwith the taxes, the laws, and the whole regimen of Northern France; and the Bordelese were as prompt in protesting against these measures as the king was in employing them.  In August, 1452, a deputation from the three estates of the province waited upon Charles at Bourges, but did not obtain their demands.  On their return to Bordeaux an insurrection was organized; and Peter de Montferrand, Sire de Lesparre, repaired to London and proposed to the English government to resume possession of Guyenne.  On the 22d of October, 1452, Talbot appeared before Bordeaux with a body of five thousand men; the inhabitants opened their gates to him; and he installed himself there as lieutenant of the King of England, Henry VI.  Nearly all the places in the neighborhood, with the exception of Bourg and Blaye, returned beneath the sway of the English; considerable reenforcements were sent to Talbot from England; and at the same time an English fleet threatened the coast of Normandy.  But Charles VII. was no longer the blind and indolent king he had been in his youth.  Nor can the prompt and effectual energy he displayed in 1453 be any longer attributed to the influence of Agnes Sorel, for she died on the 9th of February, 1450.  Charles left Richemont and Dunois to hold Normandy; and, in the early days of spring, moved in person to the south of France with a strong army and the principal Gascon lords who two years previously had brought Guyenne back under his power.  On the 2d of June, 1453, he opened the campaign at St. Jean-d’Angely.  Several places surrendered to him as soon as he appeared before their walls; and on the 13th of July he laid siege to Castillon, on the Dordogne, which had shortly before fallen into the hands of the English.  The Bordelese grew alarmed and urged Talbot to oppose the advance of the French.  “We may very well let them come nearer yet,” said the old warrior, then eighty years of age; “rest assured that, if it please God, I will fulfil my promise when I see that the time and the hour have come.”

On the night between the 16th and 17th of July, however, Talbot set out with his troops to raise the siege of Castillon.  He marched all night and came suddenly in the early morning upon the French archers, quartered in an abbey, who formed the advanced guard of their army, which was strongly intrenched before the place.  A panic set in amongst this small body, and some of them took to flight.  “Ha! you would desert me then?” said Sire de Rouault, who was in command of them; “have I not promised you to live and die with you?” They thereupon rallied and managed to join the camp.  Talbot, content for the time with this petty success, sent for a chaplain to come and say mass; and, whilst waiting