[1] The MS. of the Journal was incomplete at the time of its discovery, certain leaves having been torn away from the beginning, but the concluding paragraphs supply the date at which Montaigne must have left home, _i.e._ June 22, 1580. He seems to have halted at the outset of his journey near La Fère, which was at that time besieged by the forces of the League under Marshal de Matigon, and to have gone thence to Beaumont-sur-Oise, where the Journal begins on September 4th. The siege of La Fère was undertaken by Henry III. as a counter-move to the recent capture of Cahors by the Huguenots. Operations were some time delayed by the shortness of money and by an outbreak of whooping-cough, the first recorded appearance of this distemper. The king, the greater part of the courtiers, and thousands of the people of Paris were attacked, and the whole city was panic-stricken. When the Catholic leaders were at length ready to move, they spoke of the task before them as “_un siège de velours_,” anticipating little difficulty or danger; but they lost two thousand men before the place fell on August 31st. [2] For notice of Mattecoulon and D’Estissac, see Introduction. [3] There is no exact clue to the identity of this person, but there is a passage in the Essais, iii. 4, which seems to refer to him: “Je fus entre plusieurs autres de ses amis, conduire à Soissons le corps de Monsieur de Grammont, du siège de la Fère, où il fut tué.” [4] Meaux was besieged by the English under Henry V. in 1422. The Marché was the last part to surrender. After the English had gained the town, Monstrelet writes (_Ch._ cclvii.): “Dedens laquelle ville se loga le roy d’Angleterre et grant multitude de ses gens. Et tantost après gaigna une petite ysle assez près du marchié, en laquelle il fit asseoir plusieurs grosses bombardes qui moult terriblement craventèrent les maisons du dit marchié et aussi les murailles d’icelleui.” Ed. Paris, 1860.