of his writing ; or whether he wiihed to take fome repofe himfelf, and allow the fame to his readers: but thefe are not the only places where Froiffart has fufpended the courfe of his hiflory ; many have been pointed out, and I will endeavour to fix a date to them, as well as to others, as far as my abilities and information extend. Before entering on this examination, I ihall explain the manner in which I underftand Froiffart difcontinued to write his hiilory. From all I have faid of his habits, he is feen contiuually occupied whh this object : more than forty years of bis life, reckoning from the time he was twenty, were paffed in this purfuit: but in fuch a long period, there is one part of it which more directly belongs to the compofition of this work ; I mean that, when, returning from his travels and laborious inquiries, he collected his materials, arranged them, and formed a connected hiftory, fuch as we have it at this day» As he wrote it at different periods, I fhall attempt to aflign to each part its fuitable time ; to fix when it was begun and finiihed; how many years he employed upon it, and the intervals during which he ceafed to write : I think all thefe details neceffary. Froiffart travelled over large tracts of country, and made a long refidence in feveral places; he was attached, at different times, to courts whofe interefts were in oppofition ; he lived with a great number of princes and lords of contrary parties. It would have been difficult not to have been biaffed by prejudices, p.nd not to have been influenced by affection for fonie, aid hatred to others ; it was unlikely that he