/At this period the duke ofGueldres came to Eng-land to vifit the king and his uhcles, and to offer his legal fervices, for he was fo bounden by faith and ho-mage. The duke would gladly have feen the king making preparations for war, fot he difliked peace. The duke of Gueldres had many conversations with the duke of Lancafter refpe&ing the intended expedition of the counts of Hainault'and of Oftrevant agtinft Friefland ; for at this moment Fierabras de Vertain was in England, having been fent thither by the count d'Oftrevant to feek men at arms and archers. _ . . The earl ôf Derby had been requefted to ac-company his coufins of Hainault and Oftrevant, to which he was well inclined, and had told Fierabras that he fhould be well pleafed to go to Friefland, if it met the approbation of the king and his fa-ther. When, therefore, the duke of Gueldre* came to England, the duke of Lancafter fpoke to him ôrt this fubjeft, and defired him to fay what he thought of it. He replied, 'that the ex-pedition would be attended with much danger; that Friefland was not a Country eaflly conquered, and that many counts of Holland and Hainault, who in former times claimed it as their inheritance, had marched thither with great force, to bring it Under their fubjeftion, but had never returned. The Fricflanders are a people void of honour and uuderftariding, and fhew mercy to none who fall in their way. They pay no refpeft to any lord, however great his rank,; and their country is very ftrong, furrounded by the fea, and full of bogs, " iflands ËS5