arme Casse_. This last is
a ferocious satire on its subject, coarse in language, like most of the
author's poems, but full of rude vigour. The professional soldier as
distinguished from the feudal militia or the train-bands of the towns
was odious to the later middle ages.

[Sidenote: Baude.]

Henri Baude[160] is a still less substantial figure. He seems to have
been an _elu_ (member of a provincial board) for the province of
Limousin, but to have lived mostly at Paris. He was born at Moulins
towards the beginning of the second quarter of the century, and formed
part of the poetical circle of Charles d'Orleans in his old age. He had
troubles with lawless seigneurs and with the police of Paris; he finally
succeeded in obtaining the protection of the Duke of Bourbon, and he did
not die till the end of the century. Only a selection from his poems has
yet been published. The chief thing remarkable about them (they are
mostly occasional and of no great length) is the plainness, the
directness, and, in not a few cases, the elegance of the diction, which
differs remarkably from the cumbrous phrases and obscure allusive
conceits of the time. Many of them are personal appeals for protection
and assistance, others are satirical. Baude had a peculiar mastery of
the rondeau form. His rondeau to the king, expressing a sentiment often
uttered by lackpenny bards in the days of patrons, is a good example of
his style, though it is hardly as simple and devoid of obscurity as
usual.

[Sidenote: Martial d'Auvergne.]

Martial d'Auvergne[161], or Martial de Paris (for by an odd chance both
of these local surnames are given him, probably from the fact that, like
Baude, he was a native of the centre of France and spent his life in
the capital), like Coquillart and Baude, was something of a lawyer by
profession, and has left work in prose as well as in verse. He certainly
died in 1508, and, as he is spoken of as _senio confectus_, he cannot
have been born much later than 1420, especially as his poem, the
_Vigilles de Charles VII._, was written on the death of that prince in
1461. This poem is of considerable extent, and is divided into nine
'Psalms' and nine 'Lessons.' The staple metre is the quatrain, but
detached pieces in other measures occur. A complete history of the
subject is given, and in some of the digressions there are charming
passages, notably one (given by M. de Montaiglon) on the country life.
Another very beautiful poem, c