46-48.] Then the counsel was wise; but in the month of May, 1428, it seemed less wise, and appeared to have little bearing on the state of affairs at that time.

Since the disaster of Verneuil, the French had not felt equal to giving battle to their enemies; and they were not thinking of it.

Towns were taken and lost, skirmishes were fought, sallies were attempted, but the enemy was not engaged in pitched battles.

There was no need to restrain the Dauphin Charles, whom in those days nature and fortune rendered unadventurous.[333] About the time that Jeanne was uttering these words before Sire Robert, the English in France were preparing an expedition, and were hesitating, unable to decide whether to march on Angers or on Orleans.[334] [Footnote 333: P.de Fenin, _Memoires_, ed.

Mademoiselle Dupont, Paris, 1837, pp.