he French
army was drawn up in order of battle, they were stopped by the
appearance of the cardinal of Perigord; who, having learned the approach
of the two armies to each other, had hastened, by interposing his good
offices, to prevent any further effusion of Christian blood. By John's
permission, he carried proposals to the prince of Wales; and found him
so sensible of the bad posture of his affairs, that an accommodation
seemed not impracticable. Edward told him, that he would agree to any
terms consistent with his own honor and that of England; and he offered
to purchase a retreat, by ceding all the conquests which he had made
during this and the former campaign, and by stipulating not to serve
against France during the course of seven years. But John, imagining
that he had now got into his hands a sufficient pledge for the
restitution of Calais, required that Edward should surrender himself
prisoner with a hundred of his attendants; and offered, on these terms,
a safe retreat to the English army. The prince rejected the proposal
with disdain; and declared that, whatever fortune might attend him,
England should never be obliged to pay the price of his ransom. This
resolute answer cut off all hopes of accommodation; but as the day
was already spent in negotiating, the battle was delayed till the next
morning.[*]

* Froissard, liv. i. chap. 161.

The cardinal of Perigord, as did all the prelates of the court of Rome,
bore a great attachment to the French interest; but the most determined
enemy could not, by any expedient, have done a greater prejudice to
John's affairs, than he did them by this delay. The prince of Wales had
leisure, daring the night, to strengthen, by new intrenchments, the post
which he had before so judiciously chosen; and he contrived an ambush
of three hundred men at arms, and as many archers, whom he put under the
command of the Captal de Buche, and ordered to make a circuit, that
they might fall on the flank or rear of the French army during the
engagement. The van of his army was commanded by the earl of Warwick,
the rear by the earls of Salisbury and Suffolk, the main body by the
prince himself. The Lords Chandos, Audeley, and many other brave and
experienced commanders, were at the head of different corps of his army.

John also arranged his forces in three divisions, nearly equal: the
first was commanded by the duke of Orleans, the king's brother; the
second by the dauphin, attended