Ixiii * flieWnunto me, and who has fo libefàlly paid me *' for it that I am fatisfied, becaufe he was nephew " to the true duke of Britanny, and fo nearly ro4* lated as fon to count Louis de Blois, brother" german to Charles de Hois, who, as long as he cf i lived, was duke of Brkanny : no, by my troth, it 4 t is not fo; for I will not fpeak at all, unlèfs it " be the truth, and go lirait forward, without *e praifing one more than another : beiides, the gallant prince and court, who have made me un" dertake this hiilory, had no other wifh than for "m e to fay what is true/' Since Froiffart, in all thefe times which carry us almoil to the end of his Chronicle, cannot be' fufpe&ed of hatred to the French, nor of afFedbion to the Engliih ; I return to thofe years I have omitted from 1329 to 1369, of which he paiFed a considerable part in England, attached to the king and queen, and living in a fort of familiarity witK the young princes, their children ; it is in refpefl: to thefe years, that the fufpicion of partiality to the Englifli may be fuppofed to fubfiit with the greatefl force. It was difficult, in a court where every thing breathed hatred to France, for him to preferve that perfeâ neutrality which the quality of an hiflorian demands ; and not to lean towards the paifions and interefts of princes to whom he owed his prefent fortune, and from whom he expe&ed more confiderable eilabliihments* Reafons might be found to weaken this prejudice in the fweet jemper and moderation which queen Philippa ever preferved in, the. midft of all thefe