4Mfc omits the difficulties which the Englifh- made, nor the authorities which king Philip oppofed to them ; and he accompanies thefe details with the original a&s, the moft proper to confirm them, fo that if the kings of France fhould ever have occafion to verify their rights, the depofition alone of Froiflart would furnifh an authentic and inconteftible title. The Englifh accufe the French of not being very fcrupulous in obferving treaties, and maintain, that fir GeofFry de Charni a&ed by the fecret orders of the king erf France, when, in contempt of a truce which had been made, he attempted to furprife Calais in 1349. Rapin embraces this opinion, and fupports it by the teftimony of Froiflart, whom he quotes in the margin. I know not from what copy, or what manufcript, he has taken his authority,—but, for my part, I read in all the printed books, and in all the manufcripts, thefe words, which are quite contrary to his fentirnents : .* I believe that Geoffry de Charni had not fpoken of it to the king of France, for the king would never have advifedhiiiLto attempt it,, on account of the truce.1 • The Englifh again impute to Charles V. the infraction of the treaty of: Bretigny, which they firft broke, if we believe the French. Far from: finding any thing in Froiflart which favours the imputations-of the Englifh, I believe that if the terms in. which he exprefies himfelf were ftriétly examined, they would at leaft form a preemption againft them. I do not defpair but that one day a brother academician will give us all the proofs which a foiind criticifm, and a mature reading of the hiftorical monuments of that age, can furnifh, on a point of hiftory which is of equal confequence to the nation and to truth. The Angular combat propofed in 1354 between the kings of France and of England is flili a matter of diipute between the hiftorians of the two nations. According to the French, the challenge fent in the name of king . John was not accepted by JEdward ; whilft the Englifh fay, their king dared the king of France to battle, but that he refufed the combat. Froiflart decides formally for the French. € The king of France,' fays he, * went after him as far as St Omer, and fent a meflàge to him (the king of England) by the marfhai d'Authain, and by feveral other knights, that he would fight with him, if he pleafed, body to body, or army againft army^