n of serving his native city,
for which he had shown himself so ready to die. He lived four years as a
subject of the King of England. At his death, which happened in 1351,
his heirs declared themselves faithful subjects of the King of France,
and Edward confiscated away from them the possessions he had restored to
their predecessor. Eustace de St. Pierre's cousin and comrade in
devotion to their native town, John d'Aire, would not enter Calais again;
his property was confiscated, and his house, the finest, it is said, in
the town, was given by King Edward to Queen Philippa, who showed no more
hesitation in accepting it than Eustace in serving his new king.
Long-lived delicacy of sentiment and conduct was rarer in those rough and
rude times than heroic bursts of courage and devotion.

Philip of Valois tried to afford some consolation and supply some remedy
for the misfortune of the Calaisians banished from their town. He
secured to them exemption from certain imposts, no matter whither they
removed, and the possession of all property and inheritances that might
fall to them, and he promised to confer upon them all vacant offices
which it might suit them to fill. But it was not in his gift to repair.
even superficially and in appearance, the evils he had not known how to
prevent or combat to any purpose. The outset of his reign had been
brilliant and prosperous; but his victory at Cassel over the Flemings
brought more cry than wool. He had vanity enough to flaunt it rather
than wit enough to turn it to account. He was a prince of courts, and
tournaments, and trips, and galas, whether regal or plebeian; he was
volatile, imprudent, haughty, and yet frivolous, brave without ability,
and despotic without anything to show for it. The battle of Crecy and
the loss of Calais were reverses from which he never even made a serious
attempt to recover; he hastily concluded with Edward a truce, twice
renewed, which served only to consolidate the victor's successes. A
calamity of European extent came as an addition to the distresses of
France. From 1347 to 1349 a frightful disease, brought from Egypt and
Syria through the ports of Italy, and called the black plague or the
plague of Florence, ravaged Western Europe, especially Provence and
Languedoc, where it carried off, they say, two thirds of the inhabitants.
Machiavelli and Boccaccio have described with all the force of their
genius the material and moral effects of this t