The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon a few centuries later.  He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a comparison.  There was still a terrible fear of the duke’s ambition, even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world wondered at the duke’s obstinacy displayed in the wrong place.  The belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles’s understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.

At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not successfully curbed in the ranks.  The urgent entreaty of the embassy was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town’s supplies.  Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.  He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to receive him when he landed.  A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse into the situation[13]: 

“For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke’s men ben.  And also, the Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys heer.  When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.

    “The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....

    “For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn.”

There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close.  On May 22d, there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces, wherein Charles claimed the victory.  In reality, there was none on either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his amour propre, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would not detract from his dignity.

A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea.  Six thousand men in the duke’s pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation.  Other matters also demanded Charles’s personal attention.  Months had elapsed and Hericourt was unpunished—­Berne had not been reproved.