10 fpetk in Ms betalf, but that courageous young lady the duchefs of Berry. Too often had that good lady caft herfelf at her lord's feet, faying, with uplifted hands,—c Ah, my lord, you allow yourfelf to be fwayed wrongly finfully, by the envious md difappointed, who poifon your mind with tales againft this valiant knight, and virtuous man, the lord de la Riviere. They accufe him ynjuftly, and no one dares to fay a word in his defence. I wifh you therefore to know, that, if he be put to death, I fhall never again tafte happinefs, but remain all my days in lorrow and affliction. He is, whoever may fay ^ thç contrary, a moft loyal and prudent knight. Ah, my lord, you littfc remember the handfome ftrvkos he has done you, nor the pains and dif-ficulty he Had to encounter when he accomplifhed our marriage* I do not fay this as pretending to have been worth the trouble, for I am but a poor lady in companion to you ; but you, who were fo anxious to have me, had to deal with a hard and cunning lord, the late count de Foix, in whofc wardfhip I then was $ and, if it had not been for the pexfuafive manners of the lord de Ja Riviere, I fhould have never been your duchefs, but fettled in England i for the duke of Lancafter foficitcd me • for the earl of Derby, and the count de Foix in-clined more to him than to you- Moft dear fir, you ought not to be forgetful of thefe things* for ypu^ know what I fay is true- I therefore moft humbly entreat ^ that you would have compaflion m the gallant knight who fo courteoufly conduced iff*