athen plunderers had at this
time just begun their ravages in Neustria, when, notwithstanding its new
walls, St. Lo was soon obliged, in common with the rest of the province,
to submit to their sway; and they emptied upon the Christian city the
full phials of pagan wrath, by burning it to the ground.

In subsequent, and probably not distant, times, St. Lo was again
converted into a place of defence; and mention of it as such repeatedly
occurs in the various unquiet periods of French history. Even at the
present day, when fortifications in that part of the kingdom have long
been neglected, there remain sufficient vestiges of them at St. Lo, to
convey the most imposing idea of their original strength, aided as they
must have been, by their situation upon the summit of a lofty and
inaccessible rock.--St. Lo was one of the last towns in Lower Normandy
that opened their gates to the victorious arms of the Empress Maude: it
remained unshaken in its allegiance till 1142, only two years before the
death of the English monarch.--In the third year of the following
century, it surrendered without bloodshed to Philip-Augustus, then on
his march towards the capture of Mount St. Michael; nor does it appear
to have offered more than a trifling resistance to Edward III. by whom
it was taken in 1346. Froissart, upon that occasion, gives the following
details relative to the English army, as well as to the state of the
town and its capture:--"The King of England and Prince of Wales had, in
their battalion, about three thousand men at arms, six thousand archers,
and ten thousand infantry, without counting those that were under the
marshals; and they marched in the manner I have before mentioned,
burning and destroying the country, but without breaking their line of
battle. They did not turn towards Coutances, but advanced to St. Lo, in
Coutantin, which, in those days, was a very rich and commercial town,
and worth three such towns as Coutances. In the town of St. Lo was much
drapery, and many wealthy inhabitants; among them you might count eight
or nine score that were engaged in commerce. When the King of England
was come near the town, he encamped: he would not lodge in it for fear
of fire. He sent, therefore, his advanced guard forward, who soon
conquered it at a trifling loss, and completely plundered it. No one can
imagine the quantity of riches they found in it, nor the number of bales
of cloth. If there had been any purchasers, they