queen, he employed six months in Scotland, and pene trated as far as the Highlands. He travelled on horseback with his portmanteau behind him, and followed by a greyhound. The king of Scotland, and many lords whose names he has preserved to us, treated him so handsomely, that he could have wished to have returned thither. William earl of Douglas lodged him during fifteen days in his castle of Dalkeith, near Edinburgh; but we are ignorant of the date of this journey, and of another which he made into North Wales. It may be inferred, however, that he was at this time no ordinary character, and that he must have possessed talents and accomplishments to entitle him to so much respect.

He was in France, at Melun sur Seine, about April 20, 1366; perhaps private reasons might have induced him to take that road to Bourdeaux, where he was on All Saints' day of that year, when the princess of Wales was brought to bed of a son, who was afterwards Richard II. The prince of Wales setting out a few days afterwards for the war in Spain, Froissart accompanied him to Dax, where the prince resided some time. He had expected to have attended him during the continuance of this grand expedition; but the prince would not permit him to go farther; and shortly after his arrival, sent him back to the queen his mother. Froissart could not have made any long stay in England, since in the following year, 1368, he was at different Italian courts. It was this same year, that Lionel duke of Clarence, son of the king of England, espoused Joland, daughter of Galeas II. duke of Milan. Froissart, who probably was in his suite, was present at the magnificent reception which Amadeus count of Savoy, surnamed the count Verd, gave him on his return: he describes the feasts on this occasion, which lasted three days; and does not forget to tell us that they danced a virelay of his composition. From the court of Savoy he returned to Milan, where the same count Amadeus gave him a good cotardie, a sort of coat, with twenty florins of gold; and from thence to Bologna and Ferrara, where he received forty ducats from the king of Cyprus, and then to Rome. Instead of the modest equipage he travelled with into Scotland, he was now like a man of importance, travelling on a handsome horse attended by a hackney.

It was about this time that Froissart experienced a loss which nothing could recompense, the death of queen.

Philippa, which took place in 1369. He composed a lay on this melancholy event, of which, however, he was not a witness; for he says, in another place, that in 1395 it was twenty-seven years since he had seen England. According to Vossius and Bullart he wrote the life of queen Philippa; but this assertion is not founded on any proofs. Independently of the employment of clerk of the chamber to the queen of England, which Froissart had held, he hadbeen also of the household of Edward III. and even of that of John, king of France. Having, however, lost his patroness, he did not return to England, but went into his own country, where he obtained the living of Lestines. Of all that he performed during the time he exercised this ministry, he tells us nothing more than that the tavernkeepers of Lestines had five hundred francs of his money in the short space of time he was their rector. It is mentioned in a MS journal of the bishop of Chartres, chancellor to the duke of Anjou, that according to letters sealed Dec. 12, 1381, this prince caused to be seized fifty-six quires of the Chronicle of Froissart, rector of the parish church of Lestines, which the historian had sent to be illuminated, and then to be forwarded to the king of England, the enemy of France. Froissart attached himself afterwards to Winceslaus of Luxembourg, duke of Brabant, perhaps in quality of secretary. This prince had a taste for poetry; he had made by Froissart a collection of his songs, rondeaus, and virelays, and Froissart adding some of his own pieces to those of the prince, formed a sort of romance, under the title of "Meliador, or the Knight of the Sun;" but the duke did not live to see the completion of the work, for he died in 1384.

Almost immediately after this event Froissart found another patron in Guy count de Blois, who made him clerk of his chapel; and he testified his gratitude by a pastoral, and epithalamium on a marriage in the family. He passed the years 1385, 1386, and 1387, sometimes in the Blaisois, sometimes in Touraine; but the count de Blois having engaged him to continue his history, which he left unfinished, he determined in 1388 to take advantage of the peace which was just concluded, to visit the court of Gaston Phoebus count de Foix, in order to gain full information in whatever related to foreign countries, and the more distant provinces of the kingdom. His health and age still allowed him to bear great fatigue; his memory was suffi

ciently strong to retain whatever he should hear; and his judgment clear enough, to point out to him the use he should make of it. In his journey to the count de Foix, he met on the road with sir Espaing du Lyon, a gallant knight who had served in the wars, and was able to give him much information. At length they arrived at Ortez in Bearn, the ordinary residence of the count de Foix, where Froissart met with a society suited to his views, composed of brave captains who had distinguished them selyes in combats or tournaments. Here Froissart used to entertain Gaston, after supper, by reading to him the ro mance of Meliador," which he had brought with him. After a considerable residence at this court, he left it in the suite of the young duchess of Berry, whom he accom panied to Avignon. His stay here, however, was unfor tunate, as he was robbed; which incident he made the subject of a long poem, representing his loss, and his expensive turn. Among other things he says that the composi tion of his works had cost him 700 francs, but he regretted not this expence, for he adds, "I have composed many a history which will be spoken of by posterity."

After a series of travels into different countries, for the sake of obtaining information, we find him in 1390 in his own country, solely occupied in the completion of his history, at least until 1392, when he was again at Paris. From the year 1378 he had obtained from pope Clement VII: the reversion of a canonry at Lille, and in the collection of his poetry, which was completed in 1393, and elsewhere, he calls himself canon of Lille; but pope Cle ment dying in 1394, he gave up his expectations of the reversion, and began to qualify himself as canon and treasurer of the collegiate church of Chimay, which he probably owed to the friendship of the count de Blois. In 1395, after an absence of twenty-seven years, he returned to England, where he was received with marks of high favour and affection by Richard II. and the royal family; and here he went on collecting information for his history, and had the honour to present his "Meliador" to the king, who was much delighted with it. After a residence of three months, he was dismissed with marks of princely favour, which he endeavoured to return by his affectionate and grateful lamentation on the death of his royal patron, at the end of the fourth volume of his history.

The time of the death of Froissart has not been decided.

by his biographers. He relates some events of the year 1400, and by some is thought to have lived considerably beyond that period, but nothing certain can be affirmed. He probably ended his days in his own chapter, and was interred in the chapel of St. Anne in the collegiate church. Although he was the author of 30,000 verses, his poetical character is forgotten, and he is now celebrated, and most justly, as a historian. His Chronicle, which is divided into four books, comprehends the period between 1326 and 1400, and relates the events which took place not only in France, but in Flanders, Scotland, and Ireland, with numerous details respecting the papal courts of Rome and Avignon, and collateral particulars of the transactions in the rest of Europe, in Turkey, and even in Africa. His reputation stands high as a faithful and diligent narrator of what he saw and heard. By the French he has been charged with gross partiality towards the English; they bring against him the crime of making Edward, and his son, the Black Prince, the heroes of his history. But it cannot be denied that they were the heroes of the age in which they flourished, and therefore an impartial historian was obliged to represent them in their true colours, and to make them the leading characters of the day. Mr. Johnes, to whom the public is indebted for an admirable edition of Froissart's Chronicles, has successfully vindicated the character of the historian from the charge of partiality: throughout the whole work, he says, there is an evident disposition to give praise to valour on whatever side it was employed. The historian mourns over the death of each valiant knight, exults in the success of every hardy enterprize, and seems carried away almost by his chivalrous feelings, independently of party considerations. Till the publication of Mr. Johnes's translation, the best edition of the "Chronicles" was that of Lyons in four volumes folio, 1559; and Mr. Johnes has since gratified the public wish by an equally accurate and well illustrated edition of Froissart's continuator, Monstrelet. '

FRONTEAU (JOHN), canon regular of the congregation of St. Genevieve, and chancellor of the university of Paris, was born at Angers in 1614. His father was a notary of that place. He was first educated under a private

Life of Froissart, by St. Palaye, translated and edited by Thomas Johnes esq. M. P. 1801, 8vo, a work which supersedes the necessity of referring to any other authority.

ecclesiastic in the neighbourhood of Angers, and is said to have made such rapid progress in these his early studies, that in less than five years he could readily translate into Latin and Greek. On his return to Angers he studied three years in the college of the oratory there, and was afterwards sent to that of La Fleche, where he completed his classical course. In 1630 he took the habit of a canon regular of the abbey of Toussaint, at Angers, and made profession the year following. Having dedicated his philosophical thesis to father Favre, this led to an acquaintance with the latter, by whose orders he came to Paris in 1636, and in 1637 was chosen professor of philosophy in the abbey of St. Genevieve. His first course of philosophical lectures being finished in 1639, he was employed to lecture on divinity, which he did with equal reputation, following the principles of St. Thomas, to which he was much attached; but his lectures were not dry and scholastic, but enlivened by references to the fathers, and to ecclesiastical history, a knowledge of which he thought would render them more useful to young students: and besides his regular lectures on theology, he held every week a conference on some subject of morals, or some part of the scriptures. Jansenius having published his "Augustinus," he read it with attention, and thought he discovered in it the true sentiments of St. Augustine. Some time after, the Jesuits having invited him to be present at the theological theses of the college of Clermont, and having requested him to open the ceremony, he delivered a very learned and eloquent discourse, which was at first well received, but having attacked a proposition concerning predestination, he was suspected of inclining towards innovation. In a conference, however, with two fathers of the congregation, he explained his sentiments in such a manner as to satisfy them. In 1648 he was made chancellor of the university of Paris, although with some opposition from the members of the university, not upon his own account, but that of the fathers of the congregation in general, who had rendered themselves obnoxious to the university by the erection of a number of independent seminaries.

After passing some years in the quiet prosecution of his studies, he encountered some opposition in consequence of the five propositions condemned by the popes Innocent X. and Alexander VII. He was now suspected of favour