fire. They had a kind of bomb, of
which they were not a little proud, wherefrom they fired iron shot of
one hundred and twenty livres in weight. The Master of Gunners of
Shakespeare's play, whose name was John de Monsteschere, made also
extraordinary practice with his culverin; and he could pick off marked
men in the Tournelles, as, for the misfortune of the English, had been
proved in the case of Salisbury. At times Master John would sham dead,
and, just as the English were congratulating themselves on his demise,
would reappear, and again use his culverin with deadly effect.

On the last day but one of the year (1428), the English had been
reinforced, and were now commanded by William de la Pole, Earl, and
afterwards Duke of Suffolk, under whose command acted Suffolk's
brother, John de la Pole, Lord Scales, and Lancelot de Lisle. In order
to maintain touch with his troops posted at the Tournelles, Suffolk
threw up flanking batteries on the northern side of the town. To
Suffolk's already large force Sir John Fastolfe brought a force of
twelve hundred men, in the month of January (1429).

The number of troops mustered by the besieged and besiegers was as
follows:--

On the side of the English, there were quartered at the Tournelles
five hundred men, under the command of Glansdale; three hundred under
Talbot; twelve hundred with Fastolfe. Including those who had come
with Suffolk at the commencement of the siege, the English force
amounted to four thousand five hundred men.

On the side of the besieged, excluding the armed citizens, who were
from three to four thousand strong, was a garrison numbering between
six and seven hundred men; also some thousand soldiers had been thrown
into the city between the middle of October 1428 and the January
following.

Both in strength of position, and as regards the number of their
troops, the French had the advantage. The comparative weakness of the
English force--which, all told, could only count about four thousand
men to carry on the siege--is to be accounted for by the garrisons
which were left in the conquered places over the north and south of
the country.

The siege was weakly conducted during the winter--a series of
skirmishes from the bastilles or towers thrown up by the besiegers led
to little result on either side; and it was not till the month of
February that a decisive engagement took place.

Near Rouvray a battle was fought, which is known by the singular
ap