It was said at the time, that the two dukes of Berry and Brittany had formed an alliance with the dukes of Bourbon and Calabria, the count de Charolois, and other princes of France, against the king, should he attempt to molest any of them,--for the king was obstinately bent upon executing his own designs, which appeared to many strange and unreasonable. The king was extremely mortified to find that his brother had so suddenly departed, and sent in haste to all the principal towns and castles, to put them on their guard, and commanding them to keep a good look-out. In addition to this, he took off certain tolls and taxes which the regained towns on the Somme were accustomed to pay, the more effectually to obtain their loves and services. In this week, which was the first of March, the count de Dammartin, whom the king detained prisoner in the bastile at Paris, found means to make a hole in the wall of one of the towers, through which he escaped to a boat that was waiting for him in the moat, and rowed to the opposite bank, where were horses ready, and, having instantly mounted, made all possible haste to escape into Brittany. In this same week, the lord de Roubais, by orders from the count de Charolois, went with a body of men at arms to seize the town and castle of Launoy, thinking to take the lord thereof at the same time. The lord de Launoy was then governor of Lille, bailiff of Amiens, and nephew to the lord de Croy; but they neither found him, nor his wife or children,--for having had information of what was intended, he had quitted the place with his family and most valuable effects, and saved himself in the city of Tournay, two leagues distant from his house. At the same time, the abbot of Havons was arrested, by orders from the count de Charolois, together with one called Pierrechon, the servant and master of the wardrobe to the lord de Croy, and one in whom he had the greatest confidence: they were detained prisoners a long time. Soon afterward, the count de Charolois made a present of the town and castle of Launoy to James de St Pol, brother to the count de St Pol: in which castle were provisions for the garrison, consisting of six score salted bacons, great abundance of flour, corn and oats, and also a new mill for the grinding of them. In the month of March, the duke of Berry sent a letter from Nantes to the duke of Burgundy, dated the 15th of that month, of the following tenour: