*wiJl not be poffible for lis to arrive there in time, if they be in the fituation you defcribe/ He added, c Come, let us dine/ Sir John feared him-felf with his knights at table, and eat of the firft courfe : as the fécond was ferved, and indeed begun on, fir John Chandos, who had much thought on this bufmefs, raifed his head, and, looking at his companions fpoke as follows, which gave much pleafure to thofe around him. c The earl of Pembroke (a lord of fuch high birth and rank that he has even married a daughter of my natural lord the king of England, and is brother in arms as in every thing elfe with my lord of Cambridge,) entreats me fo courteoufly that it behoves me to comply with his fequeft to fuccour and refcue him, if it be pofliblc to arrive in time/ He then pufhed the table from him, and, rifing, faid to his knights and fquires, c Gen-tlemen, I am determined to go to Puirenon/ This was heard with joy, and they were foon ready to attend him. The trumpets founded, and every man at arms in Poitiers was mounted in the beft way he could ; for it had been fpeedily told abroad, that fir John Chandos was marching to Puirenon, to the afiiftance of the earl of Pembroke and his .army* who were there befieged by the French. " When thefe knights and fquires took the field, they amounted to upwards of two hundred lances, and increafed every montent. They marched with all hafte : news of this was brought to the French, who had constantly been engaged at this affault from day-break until noon, by their fpies, who faid ; c Dear lords, f3