(some writers say ten children,) had not been able to afford him a good horse. However, seeing one of his cousins in the crowd, Bertrand asked him when he should have seen enough of the sight himself to be so kind as to lend him his horse for an hour or two. The cousin was good-natured, and almost immediately lent him not only his horse but his armour, going with him to a quiet stable to help to put it on. When Bertrand came back to the square, nobody knew who he was, for the vizor of his helmet was down, so that they could not see his face, and there was no blazon upon his shield. Blazon is the painted coat of arms.

Bertrand rode forward and made the usual sign that he was ready to break a lance. One of the bravest of the young knights did the same in answer. The gate of the railing was opened, the two young men rode into the enclosure and took their places opposite to each other, then each couched his lance and galloped at the other. Bertrand drove his horse along with so much force, and pointed his lance so well, that he struck his adversary on the head, knocked off his helmet, and bore him and

C

his horse to the ground. The horse was killed -the rider lay stunned by the violence of the shock. Bertrand sat upright in his saddle, waiting for some other knight to come against him.

Another knight soon rode in, and stopped opposite to him. Bertrand looked at his shield, saw the arms painted upon it, and knew that this knight must be his own father. He could not fight with him. He threw his own shield far away from him upon the ground, and sat still on his horse without defence, in token that he would not fight. The people wondered; they thought he was seized with sudden fear. But now another knight came forward; instantly Bertrand leaped off his horse, picked up his shield, then vaulting into his saddle, couched his lance once more, charged, and unhorsed this knight as he had done the first. Then the people were pleased and clapped their hands and shouted; but more than all the rest, how pleased was his father when the conqueror's helmet having been unbarred, he beheld his own son.

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CHAPTER II.

BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN INVOLVED IN THE CIVIL WARS OF BRITANY.

WE come now to the civil war in Britany. The expression "civil war," is taken from the Latin bellum civile, and means a war in which the people of the same country, fellowcitizens, or fellow-countrymen, in Latin cives, are fighting amongst themselves. Of all wars, civil wars are by far the most dreadful, because in them friends and neighbours, and even near relations often, differing in opinion upon the question in dispute, take different sides.

The cause of the civil war in Britany was this:-The last Duke of Britany had died in 1341, leaving no children of his own to succeed him in his duchy; but there were two candidates for it, in what is called the collateral

line, -a niece and a half-brother. The niece was daughter to his next brother Guy, who had died before him, and was, as you have heard, married to the Count of Blois. The brother was younger than Guy, and bore the title of Count of Montfort. Now which of these two was to succeed? By the law of England, it would be the niece,-by the law of France, it would be the brother, because it had been settled, but only about twenty years before, that women might not reign. But in those days many of the independent portions of France were governed by laws of their own, and the Countess of Blois maintained that this French law of succession was not the law of Britany; that women were there allowed to reign, and therefore that she was the lawful heir. The Count of Montfort, on the other hand, insisted that the law of France, called the Salic law, ought to prevail in Britany; and both uncle and niece sent to their respective friends to bring their soldiers and fight it out.

The King of France, who was an uncle of the Count of Blois, summoned the princes and peers of France to meet at Paris, to consider