captain; but he found nothing except a letter from the King of England, desiring me to try if the Court of Rome would assist him with money.  When this letter came to be talked of, it was maliciously reported that it came from the Protector.  I was carried in one of the King’s coaches, under guard, to Vincennes.  As we passed we found at several of the gates a battalion of Swiss with their pikes presented towards the city, where everybody was quiet, though their sorrow and consternation were visible enough.  I was afterwards informed, however, that all the butchers in the veal market were going to take up arms, and that they might have made barricades there with all the ease in the world, only they were restrained for fear that I should have paid for their tumult with the loss of my life; so that the women remained in tears, and the men stood stock-still in a fright.  I was confined at Vincennes for a fortnight together, in a room as big as a church, without any firing.  My guards pilfered my, linen, apparel, shoes, etc., so that sometimes I was forced to lie in bed for a week or ten days together for want of clothes to dress myself.  I could not but think that such treatment had been ordered by the higher powers on purpose to break my heart; but I resolved not to die that way, and though my guard said all he could to vex me, I affected to take no notice.

The influence of the clergy of Paris obliged the Court to explain itself concerning the causes of my imprisonment, by the mouth of the Chancellor, who, in the presence of the King and Queen, acquainted them that his Majesty had caused me to be arrested for my own good, and to prevent me from putting something that I designed into execution.  The chapter of Notre-Dame had an anthem sung every day for my deliverance.  The Sorbonne and many of the a religious orders distinguished themselves by declaring for me.  This general stir obliged the Court to treat me somewhat better than at first.  They let me have a limited number of books, but no ink and paper, and they allowed me a ‘valet de chambre’ and a physician.

During my confinement at Vincennes, which lasted fifteen months, I studied both day and night, especially the Latin tongue, on which I perceive one cannot bestow too much pains, since it takes in all other studies.  I dived into the Greek also, and read again the ninth decade of Livy, which I had formerly delighted in, and found as pleasant as ever.  I composed, in imitation of Boetius, a treatise, which I entitled “Consolation de la Theologie,” in which I proved that every prisoner ought to endeavour to be ‘vinctus in Christo’ (in the bonds of Christ), mentioned by Saint Paul.  I also compiled “Partus Vincennarum,” which was a collection of the Acts of the Church of Milan for the use of the Church of Paris.