We will now fay fomething of the lord de Coucy and the Germans. When thofe of Auftria and Germany heard that he Was advancing with fo ftrorjg a force to carry on the war againft them, they burnt and deftroyed three days march of country by the river fide, and then they retreated to their mountains and inacceffible places. The men at arms, of whom the lord de Coucy was the leader, expe&ed to find plenty of forage, but they met with nothing : they filtered all thi* winter very great diftrefs, and knew not in what place to feek provifion for themfelves* or forage for their horfes, who were dying of cold, hunger and diforders : for this reafon, when fpring camcj, they returned to France, and feparated into differ-ent troops to recruit themfelves. The . king of France fent the greater part of the companies into Brittany and lower Normandy, as he imagined he fhould have occafion for their fervices. • The lord de Coucy, on his return into France, began to think of becoming a good and true Frenchman ; for he had found the king of France very kind and attentive to his concerns. His rer lationfhip to the king made him conflder it wasnot worth his while to rifle the lofs of his inheritance, fcjr fo (lender a reafon as the war with the king of England; for he-was a Frenchman by name, arms, blood and çxtraftion. He therefore fent the lady his wife to Englahd, and kept with him Qnly the eldeft of his two daughters : the youngeft had been left in England, where foe had been edur cated. The 278