The illumination represents the moment of his reception by the Duke of Brittany. The figures of Sir Peter and his attendant are very well executed, but some of the others are carelessly finished, appearing as though sketched out by the master, but finished by inferior hands. Most of the miniature pictures in the magnificent volumes from which these are taken, are placed, like the present, at the commencement of the chapters, and the pages so ornamented are additionally enriched with an elaborate border, occupying the outside margin. The pages are written in double columns, and the present Plate is a fac-simile of the outside column of page 238 of the Vol. containing this portion of the Chronicles. The volume is about eighteen inches high by twelve broad. The words at the top of the Plate are the conclusion of a chapter, relating to a truce between England and France, and are--“ne jamais la paix tant que je vive ne me accorderay”--words spoken by the Duke of Gloucester, uncle of Richard II., who declares, he will never, while he lives, consent to make peace by the surrender of Calais. The head of the chapter, written like all the others in red ink, is:--“De Messire Pierre de Craon, et comment il enchey en l’indignation du roy de France et duc de Thouraine son frere et comme’t il fut recoeilles du duc de Bretagne[3].”--Chapp’re XXV. The chapter commencing with a richly-ornamented capital, begins:--“En ce temporal dont je parolle estoit trop gran[4].” [Illustration: The sudden death of Count Gaston de Foix.] PLATE XIII. THE SUDDEN DEATH OF COUNT GASTON DE FOIX. The Count having passed the morning in the forest of Sauveterre, on the road to Pampeluna, in Navarre, in hunting, during greater part of which he had much exerted himself in hunting a bear, repaired in the afternoon to dinner at the inn of Riou, on his way to his town of Orthés. Having called for water to wash, his two squires, Raymonet de Lasne and Raymonet de Copane, advanced, Emaudon d’Espaign took the silver basin, and another knight, called Sir Thibaut, the napkin. The Count rose from his seat and stretched out his hands to wash; “but,” says Froissart, “no sooner had his fingers, which were handsome and long, touched the cold water, than he changed colour, from an oppression at his heart, exclaiming, ‘I am a dead man; Lord God have mercy on me!’” He never spoke afterwards; and the two squires who had brought the basin, drank the water, that they might not be suspected of having poisoned it. Gaston de Foix was born 1331, and died 1391. This illumination is coarsely executed in many respects, doing but little justice to the fine person of the great Count, who was considered one of the handsomest men of his time. It is, however, very interesting, as detailing accurately many interior domestic arrangements, which will be found not greatly differing from old country inns still remaining in remote parts of England, but more frequently in France and Germany.