V. THE TIME WHICH1 FROISSART EMPLOYED- IN THE COMPOSITION OF Hit HISTORY* THE principal of thefe divifions, that which divides the hiftory of Froiflart into four volumes, ferves to mark as many different epochs, at which he (topped in the courfe of his work; whether from want of materials, having carried his narration to the timcof his writing,—or whether he wifhed to take fortie repofe himfelf, and allow the fame to his readers. But thefe are not the only places where Froiflart has fufpended. the courfe of his hiftory: many have been pointed out,-—and I will endeavour to fix a date to them, as well as to others, as far as my abilities' and information extend. • Before entering on this examination, I fhall explain the manner in which I underftand Froiflart difcontinued to write his hiftory. From all 1 have faid of his habits, he is feen continually occupied with this objeft :. more than forty years of his life, reckoning from the time he was twenty,. were pafled in this purfuit; but in fuch a long period, there is one part of. it which more dirc6tty belongs to the compofition of this work,—I mean that, when, returning from his travels and laborious inquiries, he collected, his materials, arranged them, and formed a connected hiftory, fuch as we have it at this day. As he wrote it at different periods, I fhall attempt to.-afligo to each part its fuitable time; to fix when it was begun and fioiihedj how many years he employed upon it, and the intervals during which he. ocafed to write : I think all thefe details neceflary. Froiflart travelled over large traâs of country, and made a long refidence in feveral places : he was attached, at different times, to courts whofe intercft were in oppofition :. he lived with a great aumber of princes and lords of contrary parties. It vyould have been difficult not to have been biaffed by prejudices, and not. to have been influenced by affçétion for fome and hatred to others : it .was. unlikely that he fhould always have fleered clear of the illufions of partiality, for his candour alone would have ferved to render Mm more fufceptibk of them. If the circumftances be recolleéted of our hiftorian's life, which. m