ious other purely paper reparations, this was about the
outside of what Charles was to effect in that direction. He lived five
years, and grew up from sixteen to twenty-one, in the midst of the most
horrible civil war, or series of civil wars, that ever devastated
France; and from first to last his wars were ill-starred, or else his
victories useless. Two years after the murder (March 1409), John the
Fearless having the upper hand for the moment, a shameful and useless
reconciliation took place, by the King's command, in the Church of Our
Lady at Chartres. The advocate of the Duke of Burgundy stated that Louis
of Orleans had been killed "for the good of the King's person and
realm." Charles and his brothers, with tears of shame, under protest,
_pour ne pas desobeir au roi_, forgave their father's murderer and swore
peace upon the missal. It was, as I say, a shameful and useless
ceremony; the very greffier, entering it in his register, wrote in the
margin, "_Pax, pax, inquit Propheta, et non est pax._"[26] Charles was
soon after allied with the abominable Bernard d'Armagnac, even betrothed
or married to a daughter of his, called by a name that sounds like a
contradiction in terms, Bonne d'Armagnac. From that time forth,
throughout all this monstrous period--a very nightmare in the history of
France--he is no more than a stalking-horse for the ambitious Gascon.
Sometimes the smoke lifts, and you can see him for the twinkling of an
eye, a very pale figure; at one moment there is a rumour he will be
crowned king; at another, when the uproar has subsided, he will be heard
still crying out for justice; and the next (1412), he is showing himself
to the applauding populace on the same horse with John of Burgundy. But
these are exceptional seasons, and for the most part he merely rides at
the Gascon's bridle over devastated France. His very party go, not by
the name of Orleans, but by the name of Armagnac. Paris is in the hands
of the butchers: the peasants have taken to the woods. Alliances are
made and broken as if in a country dance; the English called in, now by
this one, now by the other. Poor people sing in church, with white faces
and lamentable music: "_Domine Jesu, parce populo tuo, dirige in viam
pacis principes._" And the end and upshot of the whole affair for
Charles of Orleans is another peace with John the Fearless. France is
once more tranquil, with the tranquillity of ruin; he may ride home
again to Blois, and look