cords [cap 76.]
_viz._ That She had so great a Command over her Son, and had reduced him
to that Degree of Timidity and Lowness of Spirit, that She would very
seldom suffer the King to converse with his Wife _Margaret_, (her
Daughter-in-Law) whom She hated. And therefore whenever the King went a
Journey, She ordered the Purveyors to mark out different Lodgings, that
the Queen might lie separate from the King. So that the poor King was
forced to place Waiters and Doorkeepers in Ambush whenever He went near
his Queen; Ordering them, that when they heard his Mother _Blanch_
approach the Lodgings, they shou'd beat some Dogs, by whose Cry he might
have Warning to hide himself: And one Day (says _Joinville_) when Queen
_Margaret_ was in Labour, and the King in Kindness was come to visit
her, on a sudden Queen _Blanch_ surprized him in her Lodgings: For
altho' he had been warned by the howling of the Dogs, and had hid
himself (wrapp'd up in the Curtains) behind the Bed; yet She found him
out, and in the Presence of all the Company laid Hands on him, and drew
him out of the Chamber: You have nothing to do here (said She) get out.
The poor Queen, in the mean Time, being not able to bear the Disgrace of
such a Reproof, fell into a Swoon for Grief; so that the Attendants were
forced to call back the King to bring her to her self again, by whose
Return She was comforted and recover'd. _Joinville_ tells this Story
[_cap. hist. 76._] in almost these same Words.

Again, Some Years after this, _Isabella_, Widow of _Charles_ the 6th,
(Sirnamed the _Simple_) got Possession of the Government: For before the
Administration of the Publick Affairs cou'd be taken care of by the
_Great Council_, or committed by them to the Management of chosen and
approved Men, many ambitious Courtiers had stirr'd up Contentions: Six
Times these Controversies were renewed, and as often composed by
Agreement. At last _Isabella_ being driven out of _Paris_ betook her
self to _Chartres_: There, having taken into her Service a subtle Knave,
one _Philip de Morvilliers_, She made up a Council of her own, with a
President, and appointed this _Morvilliers_ her Chancellor; by whose
Advice She order'd a Broad-Seal, commonly called, a Chancery-Seal, to be
engraven: On which her own Image was cut, holding her Arms down by her
Sides: and in her Patents She made use of this Preamble. "Isabella, _by
the Grace of God, Queen of_ France: _who, by Reason of the King's
Infirmity,