Her two children became such pets among the Provençals, who loved their captive prince, that they were almost worshipped. Every time they went out the people would follow them in crowds, sing and strew flowers in their path, and present them with offerings of wreaths. At night they would light bonfires in front of the castle, because there was a superstition among them that it was the way to keep off pestilence. Once when a band of people, calling themselves witches and fairies, came with the crowd to see the pretty children, they were all burned alive, the ignorant of those times believing that pestilence was brought by the magic of such creatures. Notwith{284}standing this precaution a plague really did break out, and the queen was obliged to hurry away with her little ones. They embarked at Marseilles and went to Naples, where there was an ancient palace belonging to the family of Anjou. The queen then had her husband proclaimed King of the Two Sicilies. At this ceremony she was seated with her children in the chair of state, which was covered with velvet embroidered with gold, and borne through the streets of Naples. She never ceased working until she obtained her husband's freedom, and witnessed his grand entry into Naples on a stately white charger, followed by a Provençal army. [[A.D. 1435.]] In the treaty for his liberation the following very remarkable article, proposed by the Duke of Burgundy, appears:--"And to cement the peace between the two powers, Margaret of Anjou, second daughter of King René, shall espouse the young King of England." Margaret was then only six years of age. Her parents removed to a magnificent palace, where she and her brother Louis pursued their studies together for several years. Then Louis died and Margaret experienced in this loss her first real sorrow. King René's territories fell into the hands of the English, and he was reduced to such poverty that he retired with his family to Lorraine, where he spent his time writing verses and composing music that was the delight of all Europe. It was he who invented the opera ballet, and while thus pleasantly engaged he bore his trials with perfect indifference.