In the midst of such miseries, King Charles, thin, dwarfed in mind and body, cowering, timorous, suspicious, cut a sorry figure. Yet he was as good as another; and perhaps at that time he was just the king that was needed. A Philippe of Valois or a Jean le Bon would have amused himself by losing his provinces at the point of the sword. Poor King Charles had neither their means nor their desire to perform deeds of prowess, or to press to the front of the battle by riding down the common herd. He had one good point: he did not love feats of prowess and it was impossible for him to be one of those chivalrous knights who make war for the love of it. His grandfather before him, who had been equally lacking in chivalrous graces, had greatly damaged the English. The grandson had not Charles V's wisdom, but he also was not free from guile and was inclined to believe that more may be gained by the signing of a treaty than at the point of the lance.[584] [Footnote 584: P. de Fenin, _Memoires_, p. 222. De Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles VII_, Introduction. E. Charles, _Le caractere de Charles VII_, in _Revue contemporaine_, vol. xxii, pp. 300-328.] Concerning his poverty ridiculous stories were in circulation. It was said that a shoemaker, to whom he could not pay ready money, had torn from his leg the new gaiter he had just put on, and gone off, leaving the King with his old ones.[585] It was related how one day La Hire and Saintrailles, coming to see him, had found him dining with the Queen, with two chickens and a sheep's tail as their only entertainment.[586] But these were merely good stories. The King still possessed domains wide and rich; Auvergne, Lyonnais, Dauphine, Touraine, Anjou, all the provinces south of the Loire, except Guyenne and Gascony.[587] [Footnote 585: Le doyen de Saint-Thibaud, _Tableau des rois de France_, in _Trial_, vol. iv, p. 325.] [Footnote 586: Martial d'Auvergne, _Les vigiles de Charles VII_, ed. Coustelier, 1724 (2 vols. in 12mo), vol. i, p. 56.] [Footnote 587: L. Drapeyron, _Jeanne d'Arc et Philippe le Bon_, in _Revue de geographie_, November, 1886, p. 331.] His great resource was to convoke the States General. The nobility gave nothing, alleging that it was beneath their dignity to pay money. When, notwithstanding their poverty, the clergy did contribute something, it was still, always the third estate that bore more than its share of the financial burden. That extraordinary tax, the _taille_,[588] became annual. The King summoned the Estates every year, sometimes twice a year. They met not without difficulty.[589] The roads were dangerous. At every corner travellers might be robbed or murdered. The officers, who journeyed from town to town collecting the taxes, had an armed escort for fear of the Scots and other men-at-arms in the King's service.[590]