Gaftttkt with a large army of Spaniards, wafc be-fieging the good city of Pampeluna, and that the vifcQunt àt Chaftîllon, the lord de l'Efcut, Rai-mena de Raiheren, with feveral others, were (hut up in it ; but he had no intelligence of the king of Navarre, nor where he kept himfeif, which very much tftonifliedbifn*"- he fuppofed, however, that he ihould fbon hear from him. The inhabitants of Bourdeaux and the adjacent countries entreated him not to quit thofe parts, nor $o fend away any of his men at arms, fo long as the Bretons ihould hold any forts near them : they informed him particularly how the garrifon of Berfat very much haralfed the country of the Bour-cjelois. To the enquiries of the lord Neville, how many Bretons there might be in Berfatf; they an-fwercd, there were full five hundred fighting men. Upon this, he called to him the fénéfchal des Landes and fir William Scropc, and faid to them j * Take two or three hundred lances, with as many archers, and march to Berfat, arçd manage fo as to free the country from that garrifon; when we will afterwards turn our thoughts to things of greater importance/ Thefe two knights wifhed nothing more than to obey the orders they had received ; and, col-lecting their men, they croffed the Garonne, and marched towards Berfat. The fame day the Eng* lifh had left Bourdeaux, the garrifon of Berfat had made an excurfion, with about fix fcore lances : they had afcended the river Garonrte in hopes of meeting fome boats, and were under the command of "19