The Bastile, and consequently the power of entering Paris, was yet held by Tannegui du Châtel. In the hope of recovering the capital, before preparations could be made for its defence, he hurried back from Melun, along with other officers, among whom was Barbazan, who is honourably distinguished in the French annals, as the irreproachable knight, and the restorer of the kingdom and crown of France. At the head of a large body of gendarmes, he, on the first of June, made a sally from the Bastile, and advanced up St. Anthony’s-street, towards the palace, with the intention of making himself master of the king’s person. The king, however, had been removed, and Tannegui was soon encountered by l’Isle Adam, who had gathered together some troops, and was every moment reinforced by the citizens. A desperate contest took place, but the Armagnac general was finally compelled to retreat, with the loss of four hundred men. The corpses of the slain were ignominiously thrown into the common sewer by the victors. Leaving a small garrison in the Bastile, he retired with the remainder of his force, and distributed it among the neighbouring fortresses of Corbeil, Meaux, and Melun. Two days after the departure of Tannegui, the governor of the Bastile deemed it prudent to capitulate. Already irritated by Tannegui’s attempt, the partisans of the Burgundians were excited almost to madness by a letter from the queen, in which she declared that neither she nor the duke would return to Paris, till it was purged of the Armagnacs. It has been truly remarked, that “such a letter was, in reality, a decree of death.” That was the construction put upon it by the Burgundian faction; and, unrestrained by any religious or humane feeling, they promptly carried the sentence into effect. On the morning of the 12th of June, a report being spread that the enemy were attacking two of the gates, the citizens hastily assembled from every quarter. “All issued from their houses,” says an old writer, “like swarms of bees from various hives. Malls, hatchets, axes, clubs, poles shod with iron points, swords, pikes, javelins, and halberts, were called into use by the insurgent people.”