nt into the town, wherever they put up they
had nothing to pay; there were nine or ten taverns, well supplied,
whither they went to eat and drink, and asked for what they pleased. And
this lasted three or four days." An agreement was soon come to as to the
terms of peace. King Edward bound himself to withdraw with his army to
England so soon as Louis XI. should have paid him seventy-five thousand
crowns. Louis promised besides to pay annually to King Edward fifty
thousand crowns, in two payments, during the time that both princes were
alive. A truce for seven years was concluded; they made mutual promises
to lend each other aid if they were attacked by their enemies or by their
own subjects in rebellion; and Prince Charles, the eldest son of Louis
XI., was to marry Elizabeth, Edward's daughter, when both should be of
marriageable age. Lastly, Queen Margaret of Anjou, who had been a
prisoner in England since the death of her husband, Henry VI., was to be
set at liberty, and removed to France, on renouncing all claim to the
crown of England. These conditions having been formulated, it was agreed
that the two kings should meet and sign them at Pecquigny, on the Somme,
three leagues from Amiens. Thither, accordingly, they repaired, on the
29th of August, 1475. Edward, as he drew near, doffed "his bonnet of
black velvet, whereon was a large fleur-de-lis in jewels, and bowed down
to within half a foot of the ground." Louis made an equally deep
reverence, saying, "Sir my cousin, right welcome; there is no man in the
world I could more desire to see than I do you, and praised be God that
we are here assembled with such good intent." The King of England
answered this speech "in good French enough," says Commynes. The missal
was brought; the two kings swore and signed four distinct treaties; and
then they engaged in a long private conversation, after which Louis went
away to Amiens and Edward to his army, whither Louis sent to him "all
that he had need of, even to torches and candles." As he went chatting
along the road with Commynes, Louis told him that he had found the King
of England so desirous of paying a visit to Paris that he had been
anything but pleased. "He is a right handsome king," said he: "he is
very fond of women; and he might well meet at Paris some smitten one who
would know how to make him such pretty speeches as to render him desirous
of another visit. His predecessors were far too much in Normandy