ngland, but he was to send his brother for her, and not go
personally to fetch her; and all these penalties the king imposed upon
himself for having indulged in too great freedom of speech.

As soon as king Edward had received his money, and delivered the lord
Howard and sir John Cheyne as hostages until he was landed in England, he
retired towards Calais by long and hasty marches, for he was suspicious of
the duke of Burgundy's anger, and the vengeance of the peasants; and,
indeed, if any of his soldiers straggled, some of them were sure to be
knocked on the head.

"Uppon the xxviijth daye of Septembre folowynge he was with great tryumphe
receyved of the mayor and cytezeyns of London at Blakheth, and with all
honoure by theym conveyed thorugh the cytie unto Westmynster, the mayer and
aldermen beynge clade in scarlet, and the commoners to the nombre of v C.
in murrey."[67]

The treacherous constable of France again turning round, in order if
possible to recover his lost favour with his own sovereign,[68] sent a
messenger to Louis, offering to persuade the duke of Burgundy to join his
forces with the king's, and destroy the king of England and his whole army
on their return. But this last shift of the baffled traitor only
contributed to confirm his ruin. King Edward communicated to Louis
(probably before this offer) two letters which the constable had addressed
to him, and related all the proposals he had from time to time made; so
that his three-fold treasons were revealed to all the princes with whose
rival interests he had endeavoured to play his own game, and they were all
alike provoked to join in his destruction.

Louis contemplated his punishment with the bitterest animosity. When he
received the overture above stated, there were only in his presence the
lord {xlv} Howard the English hostage, the lord de Coutay, who was newly
returned from an embassy to the duke of Burgundy, the lord du Lude, and
Commines, which two had been employed to receive the constable's messenger.
The king, calling for one of his secretaries, dictated a letter to the
constable, acquainting him with what had been transacted the day before in
relation to the truce; and adding that at that instant he had weighty
affairs upon his hands, and wanted such a head as his to finish them. Then
turning to the English nobleman and to the lord de Coutay, he said, "I do
not mean his body. I would have his head with me, and his body where it
is." After