Not long after, the king sent for me, and I gave him a relation of what had passed, and recommended others to him, who, in my opinion, were more proper for his design; but he would employ no other, and went and talked with him himself, and animated him more with one word than I could do with a hundred. There came along with the king into my chamber only the Lord de Villiers[447], at that time Master of the Horse, and now Bailiff of Caen. When the king had sufficiently prepared and encouraged his man, he sent the Master of the Horse for the banner of a trumpeter to make his herald a coat of arms, for the king was not so stately or vain as to have either herald or trumpeter in his train, as other princes have; wherefore the master of the horse and one of my servants made up the coat of arms as well as they could; and having fetched a scutcheon from a little herald (called Plein Chemin, in the service of the Admiral of France), they fastened it about him, sent for his boots and his cloak privately, and his horse being got ready, he mounted, and nobody perceived him, with a bag or budget at the bow of his saddle, in which his coat of arms was put; and having been well instructed what he was to say, away he went directly to the English army. Upon his arrival in his herald’s coat, he was immediately stopped, and carried to the King of England’s tent; being asked his business, he told them he was come with a message from the King of France to the King of England, and had orders to address himself to the Lords Howard and Stanley. He was carried into a tent to dinner, and very civilly entertained. After the King of England had dined, he sent for the herald, who told him that his errand was to acquaint his majesty, that the King of France for a long time had had a desire to be at amity with him, that both their kingdoms might be at ease, and enjoy the blessing of peace; that since his accession to the crown of France, he never had made war, or attempted anything against him or his kingdom; and as for having entertained the Earl of Warwick formerly, he said he had done that more in opposition to the Duke of Burgundy than out of any quarrel with King Edward. Then he went on to state that the Duke of Burgundy had invited him over, only in order to make his own terms the better with the King of France; and if others had joined with him, it was only to secure themselves against their former offences, or to advance their own private affairs; which when they had once compassed, they would not regard the interest of the King of England, provided they had attained their own ends. He represented likewise the lateness of the season, that winter was approaching, that his master was sensible of the great charge the King of England had been at, and that he knew there were in England many, both of the nobility and merchants, who were desirous of a war on this side the water; yet if the King of England should be inclined to a treaty, his