have been reduced, to see himself pressed so hard by the French forces on one side, and the English menaces on the other; especially at a time when Nuz was reduced to such a miserable condition, that in fifteen days they must have surrendered unconditionally, or starved? Nay, I was told by a captain who was then in the town, and whom the king afterwards took into his service, that it could not have held out ten days longer; and yet for these urgent reasons the Duke of Burgundy was forced to raise the siege in 1475. CH. V.—How the King of England passed the Sea with a powerful Army to assist his Ally, the Duke of Burgundy, against the King of France, to whom he sent a Defiance by one of his Heralds-at-arms.—1475. But to proceed. The King of England, in order to embark for Calais[432], had marched down to Dover with an army; the most numerous, the best disciplined, the best mounted, and the best armed, that ever any king of that nation invaded France withal. He was attended by the flower of the English nobility, consisting of 1500 men-at-arms, richly accoutred after the French fashion, well mounted, and most of them barded, and every one of them had several persons on horseback in his retinue. His archers were 15,000, on horseback, with their bows and arrows, besides a great number of foot soldiers, and others to pitch his tents and pavilions, take care of the artillery, and enclose his camp; and there was not one page in the whole army; besides which, there was a body of 3000 men who were to be landed in Bretagne. I have already mentioned this before, but however, it is not impertinent to do it again, if it were for no other reason but to show, that, if the providence of God had not, by peculiar mercy to this kingdom (which He has preserved more graciously than any other in the world), infatuated the Duke of Burgundy’s understanding, no one could ever have believed that he would be so blind to his own interest as to invest, and obstinately to carry on the siege of, a town so strongly fortified and so bravely defended as Nuz was; and especially at that juncture, when he had at last prevailed upon the English, after many importunities, to pass the seas, and invade France in conjunction with him; a thing that he had been labouring at all his life-time, but could never effect till now. Besides, he knew that the troops of that nation were at present of little importance in his wars with France, and if he expected any real assistance from them afterwards, it was necessary he should have made one campaign with them at least, to have acquainted and instructed them in the method of our wars; for though no nation is more raw and undisciplined than the English at their first coming over, yet a little time makes them brave soldiers, excellent officers, and wise councillors. But the duke did just the contrary, and, among the rest of the disadvantages that followed, the summer was almost spent, and his own