To this hour, the Belgians firmly believe in the traditionary legend of the Abbey of Cambrai, and the duel between Jean le Flamand and a Jew. The Virgin of Cambrai having appeared in a vision to Jean le Flamand, an old carpenter, and complained of the injury done to her image by the impious Israelite, who had falsely pretended to abjure his faith, our worthy immediately repaired to the chapel, and beheld the image of the Virgin with five wounds of a lance, from each of which the blood was flowing. The Jew, named Wilhelm, was immediately apprehended and tortured, but no avowal could be extorted from him by the most ingenious torments. Jean le Flamand thereupon begged to consult the Abbé of Cambrai, who told him that the Virgin commanded him to call out the Hebrew to a single combat, to knock out his brains, and then cut off his empty head. The battle took place with shield and stave, when the Jew, who was a powerful youth, was thoroughly thrashed,--_Divinâ cooperante gratiâ_; after which he was duly hanged between two dogs, according to custom. Why the poor dogs were hanged with the unbeliever, history does not state. A celebrated combat that took place at Valenciennes in 1455 has been recorded by many historians. This battle was fought in maintenance of an ancient franchise, which provided that any man who killed another in self-defence, might claim a franchise at Valenciennes, and maintain with staff and shield that the contest had been fair. In this instance, a tailor, named Mahuot Cocquel, sought refuge in this town, after having killed a citizen of Tournay, one Philippe du Gardin, who had had the impertinence to refuse him his daughter. A relation of the deceased, Jacotin Plouvier, followed the tailor, and accused him of having feloniously killed Du Gardin. The two champions were forthwith put in prison; and a Breton (Britanny being renowned for its skill in cudgelling) was attached to each of the parties, to teach them the use of the staff. On the 20th of May, the field being appointed, the Duke of Burgundy, and his son the Duke de Charolais, attended by a numerous court, proceeded to the spot. A triple barrier had been raised in the market-place, and the ground was deeply covered with sand; the space between the second and third barrier was appropriated to the accommodation of the _prevost_, the jury-men, and several of the nobility; and the third row was for the reception of three hundred knights, their squires, and the wealthy burghers.