confirmation yet
exists: it is dated in the year just mentioned; two years after which,
the Earl of Suffolk, who had always previously been victorious,
experienced a reverse of fortune, and was made prisoner at Gageau,
together with his brothers, Alexander and John de la Pole. The
consequence was, that he was compelled to sell his lands in the Cotentin
to pay his ransom.

They were purchased by Sir Bertyn Entwyssle, a knight of the county of
Lancaster, who, in the archives of the castle of Briquebec, dated about
the year 1440, is styled Admiral of England; as his brother, Henry
Entwyssle, in the same documents, bears the title of the King of
England's Lieutenant-General in Normandy. In the hands of this nobleman,
Briquebec continued, till the battle of Formigny compelled the British
to evacuate Normandy. Sir Bertyn afterwards took part with Henry VI.
against the Duke of York, and was slain at the battle of St. Albans, in
1455.

Upon the restoration of the province to the crown of France, the family
of D'Estouteville were replaced in the lordship of Briquebec. They had
deserved eminently well of the French King, for whom Louis
D'Estouteville had continued to hold possession of Mount St. Michael,
the only fortress that offered an availing resistance to the English.

In succeeding times, Briquebec and Hambye passed, by different
marriages, into the families of Bourbon St. Pol, and of Orleans
Longueville; but at the close of the sixteenth century, Mary of Orleans,
Duchess of Nemours, sold this property to Jaques Gougon de Matignon,
Marshal of France.--The descendants of the marshal continued lords of
Briquebec till the revolution. It had shortly before that event fallen
into the hands of a female, the only survivor of that family, and she
had married the eldest son of the Duke de Montmorency. But the
revolution swept away the whole of their fortune. A few detached
fragments of the property, which had not been alienated, have recently
been restored to them: the rest has long since been sold, including the
castle, the only habitable part of which now serves for an ale-house.
All the remainder is hastening fast to decay.

The walls of the castle inclose a considerable space of ground; and, at
the time when they were perfect, they comprised eight towers, of
different sizes and forms, including the multangular keep, the principal
feature of the plate. This tower, which is a hundred French feet in
height, is still nearly pe