wis ntprly related to feveral Mags, hail aâed- a principal part in many of thefe tranfa&ions. • . Froiflart, în thefe thirty years, which are anterior to the battle of Poitiers* in 1350, enters more into the detail of the hiftory of the Engiifh than of the French,—perhaps from having followed, in this refpeét, hi* original author, who .had taken a much greater intcreft in the hiftory of England from its connexions with the count de Hakanlt. TMs curtoinlf is the canfe why thofe manufcripts, which only contain the firft years of the chronicle of Froiflart, are called Chronicles of England : it alfi has given rife to- the reproach which has been made againft him of being the partifan of England, and difefteaed towaids. France/an aexufkion, which I fhaE examine at the end of this criticifm. . I do not think Froiflart could have chofen a better guide for the hiftory of the thirty years than the author he fays he followed. To jjidge of the infwmation which this hMtorian might have drawn from his-intimacy with John of Hainault, we muft recoileét the fituation of this earl at the time in queftion* The queen- tf England,, Ifebelk of France, had fled- from England with the young prince of Wales, her fon, afterwards Edward III-to- free herfelf from the perfections of the Spencers^ and the. other favourites of her hufband, Edward 1L ' Charles le Bel, king of France, brothei to-this queen,• .was- forced to' order her to quit his kingdom, after he had afforded her an afylum foe feme time. The court of the count de Hainault, of whom we are fpeaking, was the only refuge for the mother and fen : not only was this, open to them, but theyraifed there powerful fuccours to cany with them* to England, and to draw down vengeance on thek enemies^ The young prince there met with a virtuous and amiable princefs (fhe was one of the daughters of the count), who* fete for, him thofe firft fentiments of a natural inclination which feem toforttel the moft durable, attachments : he conceived a firong affe&ioa for her* made her his- bride, and afterwards fhe was placed with him on the throne of England* She is the perfon to whom Fraiflkrt: prefented his hiftory. Froiflart wrote then after an author who- was himfdf perfonalljc acquainted with all thefe feels, ind from the perlons- the beft informed,—-for it was their own Wftoiy. • The woter^ who appears to have been