being more mad than usual
that day, could not come; but the Queen came, and with her the Princess
Catherine: who was a very lovely creature, and who made a real impression
on King Henry, now that he saw her for the first time. This was the most
important circumstance that arose out of the meeting.

As if it were impossible for a French nobleman of that time to be true to
his word of honour in anything, Henry discovered that the Duke of
Burgundy was, at that very moment, in secret treaty with the Dauphin; and
he therefore abandoned the negotiation.

The Duke of Burgundy and the Dauphin, each of whom with the best reason
distrusted the other as a noble ruffian surrounded by a party of noble
ruffians, were rather at a loss how to proceed after this; but, at length
they agreed to meet, on a bridge over the river Yonne, where it was
arranged that there should be two strong gates put up, with an empty
space between them; and that the Duke of Burgundy should come into that
space by one gate, with ten men only; and that the Dauphin should come
into that space by the other gate, also with ten men, and no more.

So far the Dauphin kept his word, but no farther. When the Duke of
Burgundy was on his knee before him in the act of speaking, one of the
Dauphin's noble ruffians cut the said duke down with a small axe, and
others speedily finished him.

It was in vain for the Dauphin to pretend that this base murder was not
done with his consent; it was too bad, even for France, and caused a
general horror. The duke's heir hastened to make a treaty with King
Henry, and the French Queen engaged that her husband should consent to
it, whatever it was. Henry made peace, on condition of receiving the
Princess Catherine in marriage, and being made Regent of France during
the rest of the King's lifetime, and succeeding to the French crown at
his death. He was soon married to the beautiful Princess, and took her
proudly home to England, where she was crowned with great honour and
glory.

This peace was called the Perpetual Peace; we shall soon see how long it
lasted. It gave great satisfaction to the French people, although they
were so poor and miserable, that, at the time of the celebration of the
Royal marriage, numbers of them were dying with starvation, on the
dunghills in the streets of Paris. There was some resistance on the part
of the Dauphin in some few parts of France, but King Henry beat it all
down.

And now, with his