whole of Quercy, preaching and demonstrating the good cause of the
King of France; and he converted, without striking a blow, Cahors and
more than sixty towns, castles, or fortresses." Charles V. neglected no
means of encouraging and keeping up the public impulse. It has been
remarked that, as early as the 9th of May, 1369, he had convoked the
states-general, declaring to them in person that "if they considered that
he had done anything he ought not, they should say so, and he would amend
it, for there was still time for reparation if he had done too much or
not enough." He called a new meeting on the 7th of December, 1369, after
the explosion of hostilities, and obtained from them the most extensive
subsidies they had ever granted. They were as stanch to the king in
principle as in purse, and their interpretations of the treaty of
Bretigny went far beyond the grounds which Charles had put forward to
justify war. It was not only on the upper classes and on political minds
that the king endeavored to act; he paid attention also to popular
impressions; he set on foot in Paris a series of processions, in which he
took part in person, and the queen also, "barefoot and unsandaled, to
pray God to graciously give heed to the doings and affairs of the
kingdom."

But at the same time that he was thus making his appeal, throughout
France and by every means, to the feeling of nationality, Charles
remained faithful to the rule of conduct which had been inculcated in him
by the experience of his youth; he recommended, nay, he commanded, all
his military captains to avoid any general engagement with the English.
It was not without great difficulty that he wrung obedience from the
feudal nobility, who, more numerous very often than the English, looked
upon such a prohibition as an insult, and sometimes withdrew to their
castles rather than submit to it; and even the king's brother, Philip the
Bold, openly in Burgundy testified his displeasure at it. Du Guesclin,
having more intelligence and firmness, even before becoming constable,
and at the moment of quitting the Duke of Anjou at Toulouse, had advised
him not to accept battle, to well fortify all the places that had been
recovered, and to let the English scatter and waste themselves in a host
of small expeditions and distant skirmishes constantly renewed. When
once he was constable, Du Guesclin put determinedly in practice the
king's maxim, calmly confident in his own fame for