profefllon of a lawyer, or that of his father, who was, as we have before' dated, a painter of heraldry. A fmgular meaning of the word ' marchandife* in Commines may perhaps give us a plaufible explanation. Commines, born in the fame country, and not very far from the time of Froiflart, employs this word to fignif a negotiation of affairs between princes. The bufinefs of a'negotiator; or rather ar man of intrigue, who-feeks, without any apparent character, to penetrate the fecrets of courts, would perhaps* be that which Froiflart repents having. followed. The details into which we have entered refpecting«his various travels, the long. refidence which he has often made, in critical times, With feveral princes, and the talent which he poflefled of infinuatmg himielf into their goodi graces, feem to me to warrant this conjecture. Extract from a Manuscript taken from thè Archiva of the Chapter of'Saint' Monegunda at Chimay, in which arc found the Obituaries and pious • Foundations belonging to-this Chapter, and other Antiquities*—Folio $9* and 40; *- The obituary of fir John Froiflart, born at Valenciennes, canon and treafurer of the aforefaid church, who ftourifhed in 1364, may have place here, according to his quality, as having been domeftic chaplain to the renowned GuydeCbàtihon, count deSoiflons and déBlois, lord of Avênes, Chimay and Beaumont, &c. who has alfo been à very celebrated hiftorian of his time, and has written the wars and chronicles~of the moft remarkable events from-the- year- 1335 until the year 1400, according to his owa declaration in divers parts of his hiftory, and more efpecially in the 51ft. chapter of his fourth book, and as we find it represented in the eulogiuoii written in his praifey in the following words. *'CognitaRomanae vix effet gloria gentis, Pluribus hune fcriptis nidecoraflèt honos.-Tanti nempe refert totum fcripfifle per orbenv Qnxlibet et doctos fec'la tuliflè viros.