The fourteenth century was the most brilliant in the history of Foix. These were the days of Gaston Phoebus; and the description of his reception of Charles VI of France at Mazères, as given by the chroniclers, indicates an incomparable splendour and magnificence. Gaston Phoebus, like Henri de Béarn, was what might be called a good liver. Here is how he spent his day--when he was not warring or building castles. He rose at noon and after a mass he dined. Usually there were a great number of dishes; and, on really great occasions, as on a fête or _festin_, the incredible number of two hundred and fifty. These princes of the Pyrenees loved good cheer, and their usage was to surcharge the tables and themselves with the good things until the results were uncomfortable. Gaston's two sons, Yvain and Gratain, usually stood behind him at table, and the youngest son, another Gaston, first tried all the dishes before his august father ate of them. He was weak and sickly, a "mild and melancholy figure," and no wonder! The feasting terminated, Gaston and his court would pass into the Salle de Parlement, "where many things were debated," as the chroniclers put it. Soon entered the minstrels and troubadours, while in the courts there were trials of skill between the nobles of one house and another, stone throwing, throwing the spear, and the _jeu de paume_. The count--"_toujours magnifique_" (no chronicler of the time neglects to mention that fact)--distributed rewards to the victors. After this there was more eating, or at least more drinking. When he was not sleeping or eating or amusing himself, or conducting such affairs as he could not well depute to another, such as the planning and building of castles, Gaston occupied himself, like many other princes of his time, with belles-lettres and poesy. He had four _secrétaires_ to do his writing; and it is possible that they may have written much which is attributed to him, if the art of employing literary "ghosts" was known in that day. He composed _chansons_, _ballades_, _rondeaux_ and _virelais_, and insisted on reading them aloud himself, forbidding any one to make a comment on them. How many another author would like to have the same prerogative! Gaston Phoebus de Foix, so named because of his classic beauty, was undoubtedly a great author in his day. This bold warrior wrote a book on the manners and usage of hunting in mediæval times, entitled the "_Miroir de Phoebus_;" and, while it might not pass muster among the masterpieces of later French literature, it was a notable work for its time and literally a mirror of contemporary men and manners in the hunting field. Gaston de Foix was another gallant noble. He died at the age of twenty-four at the Battle of Ravenna in 1512. Jacques Fournier, who became Pope Benoit XII, also came from Foix.