agreeable in private life and in the bosom of her family,
Blanche was, nevertheless, according to all contemporary authority, even
the least favorable to her, "the most discreet woman of her time, with a
mind singularly quick and penetrating, and with a man's heart to leaven
her Woman's sex and ideas; personally magnanimous, of indomitable energy,
sovereign mistress in all the affairs of her age, guardian and
protectress of France, worthy of comparison with Semiramis, the most
eminent of her sex." From the time of Louis's departure on the crusade
as well as during his minority she had given him constant proofs of a
devotion as intelligent as it was impassioned, as useful as it was
masterful. All letters from France demanded the speedy return of the
king. The Christians of Syria were themselves of the same opinion; the
king, they said, has done for us, here, all he could do; he will serve us
far better by sending us strong re-enforcements from France. Louis
embarked at St. Jean d'Acre, on the 24th of April, 1254, carrying away
with him, on thirteen vessels, large and small, Queen Marguerite, his
children, his personal retinue, and his own more immediate men-at-arms,
and leaving the Christians of Syria, for their protection in his name,
a hundred knights under the orders of Geoffrey de Sargines, that comrade
of his in whose bravery and pious fealty he had the most entire
confidence. After two months and a half at sea, the king and his fleet
arrived, on the 8th of July, 1254, off the port of Hyeres, which at that
time belonged to the Empire, and not to France. For two days Louis
refused to land at this point; for his heart was set upon not putting his
foot upon land again save on the soil of his own kingdom, at Aigues-
Mortes, whence he had, six years before, set out. At last he yielded to
the entreaties of the queen and those who were about him, landed at
Hyeres, passed slowly through France, and made his solemn entry into
Paris on the 7th of September, 1254. "The burgesses and all those who
were in the city were there to meet him, clad and bedecked in all their
best according to their condition. If the other towns had received him
with great joy, Paris evinced even more than any other. For several days
there were bonfires, dances, and other public rejoicings, which ended
sooner than the people wished; for the king, who was pained to see the
expense, the dances, and the vanities indulged in, went off to the wood
o