scene 7), may very well
indicate one who was already an expert in that sort of
trifle; and the game of proverbs he plays with the Constable
in the same scene, would be quite in character for a man who
spent many years of his life capping verses with his
courtiers. Certainly, Charles was in the great battle with
five hundred lances (say, three thousand men), and there he
was made prisoner as he led the van. According to one story,
some ragged English archer shot him down; and some diligent
English Pistol, hunting ransoms on the field of battle,
extracted him from under a heap of bodies and retailed him to
our King Henry. He was the most important capture of the
day, and used with all consideration. On the way to Calais,
Henry sent him a present of bread and wine (and bread, you
will remember, was an article of luxury in the English camp),
but Charles would neither eat nor drink. Thereupon, Henry
came to visit him in his quarters. "Noble cousin," said he,
"how are you?" Charles replied that he was well. "Why,
then, do you neither eat nor drink?" And then with some
asperity, as I imagine, the young duke told him that "truly
he had no inclination for food." And our Henry improved the
occasion with something of a snuffle, assuring his prisoner
that God had fought against the French on account of their
manifold sins and transgressions.
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