eady to march till about the middle of July,
and as long before as the 23d of June a French fleet of ten galleys and
thirty-five trans-ports had been driven off by the English. John de
Vienne wrote to Philip, "Everything has been eaten, cats, dogs, and
horses, and we can no longer find victual in the town unless we eat human
flesh. . . . If we have not speedy succor, we will issue forth from
the town to fight, whether to live or die, for we would rather die
honorably in the field than eat one another. . . . If a remedy be not
soon applied, you will never more have letter from me, and the town will
be lost as well as we who are in it. May our Lord grant you a happy life
and a long, and put you in such a disposition that, if we die for your
sake, you may settle the account therefor with our heirs!" On the 27th
of July Philip arrived in person before Calais. If Froissart can be
trusted, "he had with him full two hundred thousand men, and these French
rode up with banners flying as if to fight, and it was a fine sight to
see such puissant array; and so, when they of Calais who were on the
walls saw them appear and their banners floating on the breeze, they had
great joy, and believed that they were going to be soon delivered! But
when they saw camping and tenting going forward they were more angered
than before, for it seemed to them an evil sign." The marshals of France
went about everywhere looking for a passage, and they reported that it
was nowhere possible to open a road without exposing the army to loss,
so well all the approaches to the place, by sea and land, were guarded by
the English. The pope's two legates, who had accompanied King Philip,
tried in vain to open negotiations. Philip sent four knights to the King
of England to urge him to appoint a place where a battle might be fought
without advantage on either side; but, "Sirs," answered Edward, "I have
been here nigh upon a year, and have been at heavy charges by it; and
having done so much that before long I shall be master of Calais. I will
by no means retard my conquest which I have so much desired. Let mine
adversary and his people find out a way, as they please, to fight me."

Other testimony would have us believe that Edward accepted Philip's
challenge, and that it was the King of France who raised fresh
difficulties in consequence of which the proposed battle did not take
place. Froissart's account, however, seems the more truth-like in