6s S FRA 
That prince was compelled to retire before the fuperior 
numbers of his rival, who purfued him as far as Orleans. 
On his return he received the fubmifiion of Dreux ; and 
at the requeft of the Parifians befieged Meaux. It was 
obftinately defended by the baftard of Varus, as renowned 
for his bravery as he was detefted for his inhumanity. He 
bad ignominioufly executed all the Englifh adherents of 
the duke of Burgundy that felPinto his hands. His de- 
fpair protracted his fate for eight months : at length 
Meaux furrendered; and Henry immediately commanded 
the governor to be fufpended from a neighbouring tree, 
the inftrument of his former barbarities. 
Henry, every where victorious, fixed his refidence at 
Paris; and, while Charles had a fmall court, he was at¬ 
tended with a very magnificent one. On Whitfunday, 1421, 
the two kings and their two queens, with crowns on their 
heads, dined together in public ; Charles receiving ap¬ 
parent homage, but Henry commanding with abfolute au¬ 
thority. During this time a folemn procefswas inftituted 
againft the dauphin for the murder of the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy : he was fummoned to appear before a tribunal of 
his enemies ; his abfence was^conftrued into a proof of his 
guilt; and he was pronounced incapable of fucceeding to 
the crown. 
Henry had determined to open the campaign of 1422, 
with the invafion of Picardy ; and appeared in the field 
early in the month of July. The united forces of the 
Engliffl and Burgundians threatened to overwhelm all 
oppofition : but while he halted at Senlis to allow the 
earl of Warwick time to fcour the adjacent country, he 
was recalled to Paris by the intelligence that the fickle 
citizens wavered in their allegiance, and had entered into 
a correfpondence with the dauphin to betray the capital 
into his power. The unexpected appearance of Henry 
confounded their intrigues, and commanded their obe¬ 
dience. The king of England immediately returned to 
Senlis, to prefs the operations of war ; where, arnidft the 
pride of victory, and the profpeCt of unbounded domi¬ 
nion, lie was attacked by a fiftula, which loon terminated 
in a mortification ; and Henry, fenfible of his approaching 
end, devoted, with manly firmnefs, the few remaining 
hours of life to the concerns of his kingdom and his 
family, and to the la ft pious duties of religion. 
The wretched and degraded Charles VI. father-in-law 
of Henry, furvived him only fifty.fix days. The dawn' 
of his underftanding had prefented the fairelt profpeCt 
to his fubjeCts ; but it was overeat! by a temporary in- 
fanity ; and the tranfient returns of reafon ferved only to 
increafe the mifery of his people, and his own wretchcd- 
nefs. In the fifty-fourth year of his age, and the forty- 
third of his reign, A.D. 1422, Charles was releafed from 
a life of mifery by.the friendly hand of death ; and the 
ceremony of his funeral was haltily performed, without 
the honours due to his rank, or the attendance of the 
princes of his blood. Cards were invented in the reign 
of this monarch to amufe and relieve the melancholy 
which opprefled his mind. See vol. iii. p. 7B8. 
From the CONQUEST of FRANCE by HENRY V. 
ofENGLAND, to the ACCESSION of the HOUSE 
of ORLEANS. 
On the death of Charles VI. Henry of Lancaficr, the 
foil and fuccelfor of Henry V. was folemnly proclaimed 
at Paris, king of England and of France, A.D. 1422. 
His tender age, being at the decc-afe of his father only 
nine months old, was protected by the integrity and ex¬ 
perience of his two uncles, the dukes of Bedford and of 
Gloucefter. On the former, the regency of France was 
devolved; his prudence, his valour, and his generofity, 
qualified him tor the important trull ; he was feconded by 
the molt renowned generals of the'age, and was at.the 
head of armies enured to victory, while the whole power 
Of England was at his command. 
'I he nidfenger which imparted to the young, dauphin 
the news of fits lather’s death, found him fugitive in the 
N C E. 
mountains of Auvergne, attended only by fome princes 
of the blood, and a few faithful adherents. Charles, 
notwithhanding the proclamation made in favour of 
Henry VI. of England, hefitated not to aflfume a title to 
which he had the fuperior claim ; and he was faluted king 
by his immediate attendants ; and, in the twentieth year 
of his age, was crowned at PoiCliers. But fo extreme 
was his penury, that by the fale of his plate and jewels, 
he could fcarcely fupply the neceftary demands for his 
drefs and table. Yet fome rays of hope gleamed through 
the clouds of adverfity that darkened his acceftion. He 
was the true and undoubted heir of the monarchy; all 
zealous Frenchmen conlidered his eftablifhment as the 
tell of the independence of their country ; the aCt of ex- 
clufion which had palled at Paris, was regarded with 
contempt; the injuries which France had fuffered in a 
long courfe of hoftilities, had inflamed the minds of the 
people, and they loaded the duke of Burgundy with re¬ 
proaches for facrificing the interefts of his country to his 
private refentments. 
The character of Charles VII. began thus early to un¬ 
fold itfelf. The guilt of Montereau was loft in a difpo- 
fition which on every other occafion feemed diftinguilhed 
by its benignity and generofity. Eafy and familiar in his 
manners, he fecured the love of thofe who approached 
his prefence; mild and forgiving, his pardon was readily 
extended to .thofe who had even infulted his perfon and 
his throne. Though the love of pleafure might fonie- 
times triumph over the duties of his ftation, yet on great 
emergencies, and in the hour of danger, he difplayed a 
fpirit which at once attracted the regard and admiration 
of a gallant people. Under thefe circumltances Charles 
came forward to conteft his right to the crown ; and being 
delirous of keeping his enemies in the provinces north of 
the Loire, he contefted every caftle with politic obftinacy. 
He had been lately reinforced by a confiderable army from 
Scotland ; and John Stuart, conftable of Scotland, witli 
the lord of Eftiftac, had formed the fiege of Crevant in 
Burgundy. The earls of Salitbury and Suffolk marched 
to its relief ; the befiegers were routed with the lofs of 
above a thoufand men ; and the conftable of Scotland, 
with the count of Ventadour, were taken prifoners. This 
victory was attended by the capture of Gaillon upon tlie 
Seine, and la Charite upon the Loire ; and the paflage 
of that river was left in the power of the Englifh. 
Charles was not broken-hearted, notwithflanding this 
failure in the offset of his.affairs. The duke of Bedford, 
in 1424, had been long engaged in the liege of Yvri in 
Normandy ; and the governor, finding his refources 
exhaufted, had agreed to furrender the town unlefs reliev¬ 
ed by a certain day. Charles hoped by a forced march 
to preferve Yvri. He collected with diligence an army 
of fourteen thoufand men, of whom one half were Scots; 
andentrufted.it to the command of Buchan conftable of 
France, who had fo ably diftinguilhed himlelf by the de¬ 
feat of the duke of Clarence. He was lupported by the 
earl of Douglas, the duke of Alenfon, the marelchal de 
la Fayette, the count of Aumale, and the vifeount of 
Narbonne. He arrived too late to luccour Yvri, which 
had furrendered : but he immediately inverted Verneui], 
and poftelfed himfelf of it by the treachery of its inhabi¬ 
tants. He had Icarcely time to fecure hisconquert, before 
he was informed of the approach of the duke of Bedford. 
A council of war was alfembled to determine what con- 
duCt they fhould purfue. In vain did the nioft expe¬ 
rienced French officers remonftrate on the imprudence of 
hazarding the defeat of an army, which was the laft re- 
fource of their king; the Scots rejected with contemot 
the indignity of retiring before the Englifh ; and they 
refolved to g:ve battle to the duke of Bedford. The 
armies met near Verneuil, and were nearly equal in point 
of numbers. The earl of Buchan refolved to wait 
the charge of the enemy ; but his mealures were difeon- 
ceited by the impatience of the vifeount Narbonne : that 
nobleman, with the troops under his command, ruffled 
forward 
