Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/564

550 At the second meeting Henry looked in vain for the princess. The wily old mother, deeply versed in every scheme and practice of intrigue, had satisfied herself of the perfect produced by her daughter on the young king, and she now studiously kept her out of sight, as a means of exciting his impatience, and inducing him to lower his demands. In vain. Chagrined as Henry obviously was, this chagrin only made him the more obstinate. He now presented his demands in writing, abating not one item of all that he had at first insisted upon. These were, first and foremost, the hand of the princess; then the full possession of Normandy, with all his other conquests, in addition to the territories ceded by the peace of Bretign; the whole to be hold in absolute independence of the crown of France.

The queen and Burgundy demanded four days to deliberate on these sweeping requisitions. When they met again they made no decided objection to them, but they brought forward a string of counter-claims, eight in number, regarding the relinquishment of these territories, the amount of dowry, and the payment of debts. Henry began to flatter himself that the necessities of the French court were in reality about to compel them to concede to his extraordinary terms. He set himself earnestly to work to meet these objections, to modify, and even to contract, in some degree, his demands. But he was not long in perceiving that no progress was made. Difficulties were started at each conference, which were seized upon to seek further consultation, further explanations; and he perceived at the end of a mouth that only seven meetings had been held, between each of which the intervals were growing longer and longer. The princess, in spite of his inquiries, was never again permitted to appear, and the indignant monarch at length broke out in wrathful language to Burgundy, the only person now sent to the conference, saying—"I tell you, fair cousin, that we will have the daughter of your king to wife, and will have her on our own terms, or we will drive both him and you out of this kingdom."

The astute Burgundy replied, "Sire, you are pleased to say so; but I make no doubt that, before you have succeeded in driving us out, you will be heartily tired."

All this denoted that a new game was playing behind the scenes. The fact was, that the dauphin and the Armagnacs had become greatly alarmed at the apparent progress making towards an alliance between the royal party and Henry of England. If it succeeded they were to be crushed. Every engine was instantly put in motion to defeat this object. Overtures for reconciliation were made to Burgundy and the queen; means had been found to purchase the interest of an artful and abandoned woman, a Madame de Giac, the mistress of Burgundy, who, attended by several of the leaders of the Armagnac party, had been going to and fro between the dauphin's retreat and Pontoiso. It was represented that it was far better for the French princes to arrange their own differences than to admit the great enemy of the nation, who would only cajole one party in order to destroy both. Accordingly, when Henry, determined to dally no longer, insisted on a final meeting, he went to the tent of conference at the day and hour appointed, and found—nobody. The queen. Burgundy, and the dauphin, had patched up a reconciliation, and dropped the mask unceremoniously at the feet of the insulted King of England. The reconciled princes met on the road at Poilly-le-Fort, and there, with all outward signs of affection, embraced and vowed eternal amity for the good of France.

The indignation and chagrin of Henry may be imagined. Independently of the promised bride, and sovereignty over a vast portion of France, being thus rudely snatched from him, his position was by no means encouraging. He had only about 25,000 men to enable him to hold his conquests and to pursue them to completion. Whilst Burgundy and the dauphin were uniting all the power of France to oppose him, his own subjects at home were beginning to grumble at the expenditure of the war; and as they saw it likely to succeed in reducing France, to look with dismay on such a result as likely to remove the seat of government to Paris, and make a province of England. The Scots, he found, were at the same time entering into treaty with the dauphin against him, and the Kings of Castle and Arragon had already fitted out a great armament, with which they scoured the coasts of Guienne and menaced Bayonue.

The French were in ecstacies of delight at the turn which affairs had taken; in every quarter of the kingdom vigorous efforts were making to take advantage of it, and the army of Henry was proportionably depressed.

But Henry, though, in addition to this insulting display of the perfidy of his enemies, his treasury was very low, never for a moment suffered an air of doubt or despondency to shade his countenance, much less an expression of it to escape him. He immediately ordered his army to advance on Paris, crossed the Seine, fell on the town of Pontoise, and took it. The leaders of the Burgundian party, after accomplishing their agreement with the dauphin, had quitted it, and Burgundy himself was at St. Denis; but even there he did not deem himself safe, and hastily retreated to Troyes, carrying the poor King of France with him.

Henry had recruited his coffers for the present by the discovery of a grand hoard which L'Isle-Adam had accumulated from the plunder of the Armagnacs during the late massacre. St. Denis was left by Burgundy in charge of the Marshal Chastelluc, whose rude and debauched soldiers expelled the monks of the celebrated abbey, and took up their quarters there with their lewd women. The people were greatly enraged. They exclaimed, "Are these the fruits of the union of our rulers? What could the English do worse?" and they began to call to mind that when Burgundy and the dauphin proclaimed their reconciliation there fell a fierce tempest, in which the thunder and lightning were of a terrible and ominous kind.

Meantime, the victorious troops of Henry appeared before the very gates of the capital, which was left almost wholly destitute of soldiers, and must soon fall into the hands of the enemy if not relieved. The English beat up the whole neighbourhood, and seized all the supplies which should have entered the city, where famine and fever were the only reigning powers. So far from any real union having taken place betwixt the Burgundians and the dauphin, they were paralysed by the rapid pursuit of Henry, and were too conscious of their own internal hatred and treachery to approach each other. Two months had already elapsed since the much-vaunted