678 
generated into personal hatred, and the- 
assassinations of the principal members 
of their powerful families, served as 
the prelude to a terrible civil war. 
The house of Orleans beheld with 
chagrin the extinction of its power, 
while that of the Duke of Burgundy, 
seemed to be more consolidated than 
before. The demise of Philip-le-Hardi, 
produced no alteration; his son Jean- 
sans-Peur, immediately succeeded and 
placed. himself. at the head of the 
regency. A pretended reconciliation 
concealed for a while that flame of en- 
mity which~ afterwards burst forth, 
while the English taking advantage of 
these intestine divisions carried their 
arms into France. Whodoes not bear 
in mind the too fatal overthrow of 
the field of Agincourt! France at that 
period beheld . herself overwhelmed 
with enemies. The English penetrated 
to Mantes, while the Duke of Burgun- 
dy determined to treat with Henry V. 
theirking.. To prevent this, the Dau- 
phin himself proposed to conclude a 
peace with him, and in the mean time 
Jean-sans-Peur is poniarded on the 
bridge de Monteraux. The queennow 
formed an alliaace with Philip-le-Bon 
his successor ;. she also. entered~ into 
atruce with England. Henry V. soon 
after espoused Catharine, fifth daugh- 
of Charles VI. and assumed the title of 
regent and heir to the kingdom... In> 
the midst of these events, Charles VI,. 
dies, leaving France a prey to all these 
horrors; at which epoch the first vo- 
lume closes. 
The second exhibits Charles VII. 
wandering about and almost destitute 
of an asylum in his ownkingdom; not- 
withstanding this, he finds means to be 
consecrated at Poitiers, and also to 
reconquer Mantes and Compeigne: but 
he receives a check at.Cravant. Du- 
nois.soon after kills a creat number of 
the English at Montargis; the city of 
Orleans is besieged, and saved. by .a 
prodigy: that isto say, by the valour 
of Joan of Arc, whom Monstrelet terms 
une capitainesse Amazonne, nomme 
Jeanne la Puceile. This astonishing 
female changes the face of affairs, and 
by means of her assistance Charles VII. 
as at length consecrated at Rheims,and 
retakes all his towns. ‘‘ The unfortu- 
“nate end of the seroine justalluded to 
is well known, and it remains equally 
an opprobrium to the English who 
murdered, andthe king who did not 
avenge her judicial assassination.”?. » 
. The 3d, volume «commences at the 
truce madg with the English in 1444, 
-ders of his own reign. 
. 
Retrospect of French Literature— History. 
and continues the recital ofthe vic. 
tories of Charles VII. who, according to 
the observation of the president Hai- 
nault, was merely a witness of the won- 
Monstrelet 
while alluding to his amours with 
Agnés Sorel, seems desirous to insi- 
nuate, that his passion for her was 
strictly legitimate: it is certain, how-. 
ever, that he had three children by that 
lady. The divisions of the King and 
Dauphin occupy parl of this volume, 
and the account of the thirteen last - 
years is not written by the pen of Mon- - 
strelet. It is likely, however, that his 
continuator has profited by some of 
the materials which the former had 
prepared relative to the war of the 
people of Ghent with the Duke of Bur- 
gundy ; but he scarcely deserves the 
title ofan historian, having sometimes 
copied from the Grandes Chroniques, 
and sometimes from Jean Chartier, 
with more or less fidelity. 
As to the vignettes those of the first 
volume are 22 in number. Aka 
1. The portrait of the author writ- 
ing his Chronicles, aud by the side of 
it, the frenzy which seized on Charles 
VI. in his way to Mons en Bretagne, in 
S92. 
2. The death of Jean de Montford, 
Duke of Britany, &c. The vignettes 
of the 2d volume are 52, consisting : 
1. Of the intelligence of the death of 
Charles VI. ; 
2. Jacques de Harcourt, and R. La- 
boutville ; Me 
3..The destruction of Braque in 
Hainault ; 
3. The recapture of Moques in 
Champagne; : 
5. The siege of Orleans; _ 
4. The encounter of the King and 
the Duke of Bedford, &c. &c. 
‘¢ The dates are precise, the: style is 
bold and simple, and the work announ- 
ces a writer without pretensions, a 
‘circumstance that renders the whole- 
more estimable. This.publication will 
ensure him a distinguished rank among 
historians ; his name will do honour to 
the records of Cambray, and the re- 
collection of it thus consecrated anew, 
does equal credit to the zeal and the 
justice of the Society of Emulation of 
that city.” alae 
_ 2. §* Histoire du Commerce Bysantin, 
&c.” The History of the Byzantine 
Commerce, until the Time of the Cru- 
sades, translated from the German of 
Charles Dietrich Hullmann, by G. J. 
Oberlin..24-.00.- .. Coe 
This is a curious work, which has” 
