naced the fair cotetry of Hainault; hé took . immediate fteps té prevent it, feying, it was . not to be fuffered that fo fine a country fliould be overrun and pillaged. He fummoned to his lodgings his confins, the count de la Marche» the. count de St. Pol, the lord de Coucy, the lord d'Anghien and t feveral more, all holding lands in Hainault, and who had come thither to ferve the king, and remonftrated with them, that they ought not by any means to fù fier the good country of Hainault, whence they had fprung, and where they had eftates, to bè pillaged in any way whatever; for, with regard to the war, Hainault had not been in the leaft wanting, but had moft loyally aflifted the king in this expedition with its barons, and, before the king came into Flan-ders, it had aided the earl of Flanders with its knights and. fquires, who had (hut themfelves in Oudenarde and Dendremonde, at the rifk of their lives and fortunes. . The count de Blois exerted himfelf fo much, and gained fo many partifans, that all thofe meafures were brokep, and Hainault remained in peace. This gallant lord performed another noble fervice. There was in Flanders a knight called the lord d'Efquemine, ,f ho from affec-tion to a relation of his, called Daniel Bufe, killed m Valenciennes by his own fault, had declared he wouldonake war on and harrafs that town. He had done fo, and threatened to infult it still more, being feconded by many friends inclined to evil; for it was reported that he had collect* ed full five hundred fpears, who would follow him '•287