ad
fitted out for that purpose:[*] Edward himself embarked for Bordeaux
with another army; but was so long detained by contrary winds, that he
was obliged to lay aside the enterprise.[**] Sir Robert Knolles, at the
head of thirty thousand men, marched out of Calais, and continued his
ravages to the gates of Paris, without being able to provoke the enemy
to an engagement: he proceeded in his march to the provinces of Maine
and Anjou, which he laid waste; but part of his army being there
defeated by the conduct of Du Guesclin, who was now created constable of
France, and who seems to have been the first consummate general that had
yet appeared in Europe, the rest were scattered and dispersed, and the
small remains of the English forces, instead of reaching Guienne,
took shelter in Brittany, whose sovereign had embraced the alliance
of England.[***] The duke of Lancaster, some time after, made a like
attempt with an army of twenty-five thousand men; and marched the whole
length of France from Calais to Bordeaux: but was so much harassed by
the flying parties which attended him, that he brought not the half of
his army to the place of their destination. Edward, from the necessity
of his affairs was at last obliged to conclude a truce with the
enemy;[****] after almost all his ancient possessions in France had been
ravished from him, except Bordeaux and Bayonne, and all his conquests,
except Calais.

The decline of the king's life was exposed to many mortifications, and
corresponded not to the splendid and noisy scenes which had filled the
beginning and the middle of it. Besides seeing the loss of his foreign
dominions, and being baffled in every attempt to defend them, he felt
the decay of his authority at home; and experienced, from the sharpness
of some parliamentary remonstrances, the great inconstancy of
the people, and the influence of present fortune over all their
judgments.[*****]

* Froissard, liv. i. chap. 302, 303, 304. Walsing. p. 186.

** Froissard, liv. i. chap. 311. Walsing. p. 187.

*** Froissard, liv. i. chap. 291. Walsing. p. 185.

**** Froissard, liv, i. chap. 311. Walsing. p. 187.

***** Walsing. p. 189. Ypod. Neust. p. 530.

This prince, who, during the vigor of his age, had been chiefly occupied
in the pursuits of war and ambition, began, at an unseasonable period,
to indulge himself in pleasure; and being now a widower, he attached
himself to a lady of sense and spirit