they had eaten all the horses, all the dogs, and all the rats and mice that could be found in the place; and that, if he did not relieve them, they must either surrender to the English or eat one another. Philip made one effort to give them relief; but they were so hemmed in by the English power that he could not succeed and was fain to leave the place. Upon this they hoisted the English flag and surrendered to King Edward.

19. "Tell your general," said he to the humble messengers who came out of the town, "that I require to have sent here six of the most distinguished citizens, barelegged, and in their shirts, with ropes about their necks; and let those six men bring with them the keys of the castle and the town."

20. When the governor of Calais related this to the people of the market place, there was great weeping and distress; in the midst of which one worthy citizen, named Eustace de Saint Pierre, rose up and said that if the six men required were not sacrificed, the whole population would be; therefore, he offered himself as the first.

21. Encouraged by this bright example, five other worthy citizens offered themselves to save the rest. The governor, who was too badly wounded to be able to walk, mounted a poor old horse that had not been eaten and conducted these good men to the gate, while all the people cried and mourned.

22. Edward received them wrathfully and ordered the heads of the whole six to be struck off. However, the good queen fell upon her knees and besought the king to give them up to her.

The king replied, "I wish you had been somewhere else; but I cannot refuse you."

23. So she had them properly dressed, made a feast for them, and sent them back with a handsome present, to the great rejoicing of the whole camp. I hope the people of Calais loved the daughter to whom she gave birth afterward, for her gentle mother's sake.

III

24. After eight years the Prince of Wales again invaded France with an army of sixty thousand men. He went through the south of the country, burning and plundering wheresoever he went.

The French king, Philip, was now dead, and was succeeded by his son John. The Black Prince, called by that name from the color of the armor he wore to set off his fair complexion, continuing to burn and destroy in France, roused John into determined opposition.

25. So cruel had the Black Prince been in his campaign, and so severely had the French peasants suffered, that he could not find one who for love or money or the fear of death would tell him what the French king was doing or where he was.

Thus

it happened that he came upon the French king's forces all of a sudden, near the town of Poitiers, and found that the whole neighboring country was occupied by a vast French army.

26. "God help us!" said the Black Prince; "we must make the best of it."

So, on a Sunday morning, the 18th of September, the prince whose army was now reduced to ten thousand men in all-prepared to give battle to the French king, who had sixty thousand horse alone.

27. While he was so engaged, there came riding from the French camp a cardinal, who had persuaded John to let him offer terms and try to save the shedding of Christian blood.

"Save my honor," said the prince to this good priest, "and save the honor of my army, and I will make any reasonable terms."

28. He offered to give up all the towns, castles, and prisoners he had taken, and to swear to make no war in France for seven years.

But, as John would hear of nothing but his surrender, with a hundred of his chief knights, the treaty was broken off and the prince said quietly, "God defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow."

29. Therefore, on Monday morning at break of day, the two armies prepared for battle. The English were posted in a strong place, which could only be

approached by one narrow lane, skirted by hedges on both sides. The French attacked them by this lane, but were so galled and slain by English arrows from behind the hedges that they were forced to retreat. Then went six hundred English bowmen round about, and coming upon the rear of the French army, rained arrows on them thick and fast.

30. The French knights, thrown into confusion, quitted their banners and dispersed in all directions.

Said Sir John Chandos to the prince: "Ride forward, noble prince, and the day is yours. The King of France is so valiant a gentleman that I know he will never fly, and may be taken prisoner."

31. Said the prince to this, "Advance, English banners, in the name of God and St. George!" and on they pressed until they came up with the French king fighting fiercely with his battle-ax; and when all his nobles had forsaken him, attended faithfully to the last by his youngest son, Philip, only sixteen years of age. Father and son fought well, and the king had already two wounds in his face and had been beaten down when he at last delivered himself to a banished French knight and gave him his righthand glove in token that he had done so.

32. The Black Prince was generous as well as brave, and he invited his royal prisoner to supper in his tent and waited upon him at table, and, when they afterward rode into London in a gorgeous pro