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a thing quite contrarie to that which his enemies boaſted of, that the ſaid Regiments ſhould bee called home, and ſhould doo his Maieſtie no ſeruice. Hee departed from the ſaid Chasteadun the fourteenth of Nouember, and the ſame daye his Armie inuironed the towne of Vandoſme. The King arriuing at the towne of Mellay the ſixteenth day, before he lighted, he went and viewed the towne and caſtle, which are both of reaſonable ſtrength, the ſaid towne beeing incloſed with a good ditch well watred, and with a good wall well flanked, and in manie places rampered within. The Caſtle was much ſtronger, beeing ſcituated vpon an hill, inuironed with a good ditch towards the field, and a great height ouer the towne, the wall good and defended with manie towers. The gouernor of the place was the Lord de male-benehard, who perceiuing that it ſhould be beſieged, hee called vnto him certaine Gentlemen his friends, and kept in it an ordinarie garriſon of foure Companies of footemen, which were foure hundred men ſtrong, beſides thoſe of the towne, who were ſeuen or eight hundred men bearing armes. The day of his arriual he cauſed the ſuburbes of the towne to be wonne, & parted my Lordes the Marſhalls de Biron and d’Aumount, the one on the one ſide of the riuer, and the other on the other ſide, with the troupes of the ſaide Armie. And hauing well conſidered of the forme of the ſiege, he determined firſt to deale with the caſtle, which was of moſt ſtrength, to make an end at once: for that the Caſtle being wonne the towne could not eſcape, which would not ſo haue happened, if he had begun with the towne. He paſſed Fridaie and Satur-daie-
