Parties of ten armed men were placed in every street, and the sheriffs and
other leaders marched a large body of men to the Hotel de St. Pol and
surrounded it by a line three deep. They then entered and found the king,
dukes, and nobles all assembled in the great hall.
They then ordered a Carmelite friar, named Eustace, to preach to the king.
He took for his text, "_Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman
waketh but in vain_," and upon this discoursed on the bad state of the
government of the kingdom, and of the crimes committed. The Chancellor of
France demanded of the friar when he had concluded who were those who had
incited him thus to speak, and the leaders at once said they had done so,
and called up a number of other leaders, who on bended knees declared to
the king that Father Eustace had spoken their sentiments; that they had
the sincerest love for the king and his family, and that what they had
done had been for the welfare of himself and the kingdom. While this was
going on, the Duke of Burgundy, at once indignant and alarmed at this
insolence of the Parisians, had gone out, and, finding the lines of armed
men surrounding the hotel, had earnestly entreated them to retire, saying
that it was neither decent nor expedient that the king, who had but just
recovered from his illness, should thus see them drawn up in battle array
round his abode. Those he addressed replied like the leaders within, that
they were there for the good of the kingdom, and then gave him a roll,
saying that they should not depart until those written on it were
delivered up to them.
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