of five or six foot, to be pitched before the archers, and each side of the footmen like a hedge, to the intent that if the barded horses ran rashly upon them, they might shortly be gored and destroyed. Certain persons also were appointed to remove the stakes, as by the moving of the archers occasion and time should require, so that the footmen were hedged about with stakes, and the horsemen stood like a bulwark between them and their enemies, without the stakes. This device of fortifying an army, was at this time first invented; but since that time they have devised caltraps, harrows, and other new engines against the force of horsemen." The "herse," or triangle, was again the figure in which this important corps was drawn up, and Henry stationed it, "by reason of his small number of people, to fill up his battle, so on the right hand of his main battle, which he himself led, that the distance betwixt them might scarce be perceived, and so in the like case was the rearward joined on the left hand, that the one might the more readily succor another in time of need." With the king's division, in which were all the strong billmen, was his brother the Duke of Gloucester, the Earls of Suffolk, Oxford, and others. "The Duke of Exeter, uncle to the king, led the rearward, which was mixed both with billmen and archers. The horsemen, like wings, went on every side of the battle." "When he had thus ordered his battles, he left a small company to keep his camp and carriage, which remained still in the village, and then calling his captains and soldiers about him, he made them a right glorious oration, assuring them, in conclusion, that England should never be charged with his ransom, nor any Frenchman triumph over him as a captive, for either by famous death or glorious victory would he, by God's help, win honor and fame!"

On the other side of the plain the French army were drawn up in three divisions. The first corps was composed of "eight thousand helms of knights and esquires, four thousand archers, and fifteen hundred cross-bows, which were guided by the Lord de la Bret, Constable of France, having with him the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, the master of the cross-bows and other captains;" this division was supported by sixteen hundred menat-arms as a wing on the one side, and on the other wing eight hundred men-of-arms of "elect, chosen persons." "In the middle ward were assigned as many persons, or more, as were in the foremost battle, and the charge thereof was committed to the

Dukes of Bar and Alençon, and other noblemen. In the rearward were all the other men-at-arms, guided by the Earls of Marles, Dammartin, and others." Although it is stated that the French on this occasion were not unprovided with artillery, yet we hear nothing of their performances during the action-a proof that the example of Cressy had not tended to encourage any improvement in this arm, and an inference that at Cressy the cannon were not of sufficient importance to justify their being ranked among the causes of that victory. gisters of Abbeville record that in the year of the battle of Agincourt, "1415, l'échevinage fit tailler deux mille cent soixante-onze pierres rondes ou boulets de grès pour juer de canons contre l'ennemi."

The re

"Thus the Frenchmen being ordered under their standards and banners, made a great show; for surely, they were esteemed in number six times as many, or more, than was the whole company of the Englishmen, with waggoners, pages, and all."-" Verité est," says St. Rémy, "que les Franchois avoient ordonné les batailles entre deux petits bois l'un serrant à Agincourt, et l'autre à Tramecourt; la place estoit estroite, et très avantageuse pour les Anglois, et au contraire pour les Franchois, car les Franchois avait esté toutte la nuit à cheval, et si pleuvait." This was the first grand error committed by the French; after having had the choice of a field of battle so completely within their command, they selected this of Agincourt, and could not possibly have picked out a worse. The second error was, neglecting to reconnoitre the ground, so that the small body of English archers, secreted in the lower part of Tramecourt, remained unobserved until they discovered themselves but too manifestly by the unexpected discharge and fatal effect of their arrows.

An awful pause succeeded these preparations, and each army remained immovable in position. It formed no part of Henry's policy to commence an attack, and the overnight ardor of the French appeared to diminish considerably when the actual moment for its display had arrived. They again, whether in jest or not seems uncertain, despatched a herald to the English monarch to treat for his ransom; but the undaunted Henry replied, that in two or three hours he hoped the French would be compounding for their own ransoms, and, for his own part, he promised them his dead carcass rather as a prize, than that his living body should pay any ransom. The rejection of this overture

in spite of an effort on the part of his royal antagonist to preserve his life. Henry himself slew two of the duke's body-guard. Yet in the midst of all the confusion of the general battle and these personal encounters, Henry did not lose sight of his duty as commanderin-chief. Perceiving the shaken state of the greater part of the enemy's forces, he adopted a second manoeuvre, which proved completely successful. "He ordered his horsemen to fetch a compass about, and to join with him against the rearward of the Frenchmen, in which was the greatest number of people." I conjecture this circuit must have been made round the inclosure of Agincourt. This unexpected attack appears to have completely paralyzed the enemy, who made no more attempts at resistance, but either fled the field, or yielded themselves prisoners, and victory settled on the brows of the English monarch. Henry's position for command of the left wing, brought him up to the Agincourt side of the field of battle, and having inquired the name of the neighboring chateau, and being answered that it was Agincourt, he directed that the conflict should be called the battle of Agincourt.

Then call we this the field of Agincourt, Fought on the day of Crispin Crispanus!

Had he chosen to command the right wing, his advance would have led him towards Tramecourt, and, in that case, we should, perhaps, have heard for ever of the battle of "Tramecourt," instead of "Agincourt." In the meantime, the Seigneur of Agincourt himself, together with some other ruffians less occupied in sharing the duties and dangers of their countrymen in the action, than in thinking of what plunder might be obtained in the outskirts, perceiving the unprotected state of the English baggage, entered Maisoncelles, and with 600 horsemen began despoiling the tents, breaking open chests, carrying off caskets and all valuables, and slaying such servants as made the least resistance. But when the outcry of lackeys and boys came to the king's ears, he, doubting lest his enemies should gather together again, and begin a new field, while his army were embarrassed with numerous prisoners, and contrary to his accustomed gentleness, he commanded by sound of trumpet, that every man, upon pain of death, should incontinently slay his pris

oner."

LETTER VI.

NOTHING but the direst necessity, the sternest and most imperious instinct of selfpreservation, could have dictated this fearful order. A few moments, perhaps, and the real state of affairs might have been discovered, and the order countermanded, but in such a crisis a moment's hesitation might have compromised the safety of the whole of Henry's slender forces--they were victors where they stood, but naturally must have been somewhat exhausted, and were surrounded by confused masses of enemies, so as to be in reality ignorant whether, although masters of the field of battle, they could consider the day already won. Quickly forming, and prepared for a fresh action, they attacked a column of French under the Comte de Marne, which remained unbroken, and having defeated this body, the king sent a herald to some more of the enemy he observed still assembled, "commanding them. either to depart out of his sight, or to come forward at once and give battle;" but accompanying this message with a threat that in the event of their renewing the attack no quarter would be given either to them or to such prisoners as remained in his hands.

The Frenchmen, fearing the sentence of so terrible a decree, without further delay posted out of the field, and so about four of the clock in the afternoon, the king, when he saw no appearance of enemies, caused the retreat to be blown, and gathering his army together, gave thanks to Almighty God for so happy a victory, causing his prelates and chaplains to sing this Psalm, In exitu Israel in Egypto,' and commanding every man to kneel down on the ground at this verse, 'Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam,' which done, he caused the 'Te Deum' with certain anthems to be sung, giving laud and praise to God without boasting of his own force or any human power."

These decorous observances were in accordance with the same pious spirit which previous to the engagement had led the whole army to bend devoutly to the earth, and each man to place in his mouth a morsel of the "tawny soil" of Agincourt, in lieu of the consecrated wafer, and thus shroven and. assoiled, to rush fearlessly to action.

Ten thousand French, many, indeed most of them, gentlemen of note, perished in this fatal conflict. The number of slain was augmented, doubtless, by the unfortunate slaughter of so many prisoners. The laurels of

Henry cannot with justice be deemed to have been sullied by what was in truth accidental, and originated in the misconduct of the enemy. The best contradiction to the charge of the order having been issued under the influence of a groundless apprehension, or a needless cruelty, is to be found in the fearless, generous, and humane character of the king himself, who throughout the campaign had protected not only the persons of the French, but even their private property, hanging up the Nyms and Bardolphs of the army who were convicted of plundering. Indeed so much convinced were the French that the real authors of the massacre were the cowardly bandits whose attack upon the baggage had first created the alarm, that had the dauphin lived, the Seigneur d'Agincourt and the rest of his party would undoubtedly have been led to execution; "his death was their life, and his life would have been their death."

An honorable interment was all that the slain could receive at the hands or by the permission of the victors; a sepulchral chapel was subsequently erected over the bodies of the great men who fell in this action, and this remained in a ruined state until very lately. You probably remember its being examined by Sir Alexander Woodford at the time the Guards were quartered in that vicinity. I have heard that some representation from the préfet put a stop to his researches, but this interposition does not seem to have arisen from any especial veneration for the spot; at least if any such sentiment then existed, it speedily evaporated, and with it the mortuary chapel itself, for not a vestige of it is now to be seen. With respect to the illustrious prisoners who remained in Henry's hands, and were conveyed by him to England, the lengthened captivity, and sorrows and poems of Charles Duke of Orleans, are the most remarkable. He, like another literary Duke of Orleans, four centuries later, survived a long exile in England, returning to France, not indeed to be king himself, but being father of the future monarch Louis XII.

Of the 500 English who fell at Agincourt, those of rank were extremely few; the brave Gam died nobly in the field, and his body alone received the honor of knighthood, which the soul that had left it did not remain to accept of. The remains of the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk were bouilli*

*I would not translate this word" boiled," in spite of the authority of Sir Harris Nicholas. The English

and transported to England; the body of the duke, after a magnificent funeral service performed in St. Paul's, was deposited in a collegiate building he had founded at Fotheringay; that of the Earl of Suffolk was interred at Ewelm. All England rang with rejoicings, but amid the triumphal scenes the modest bearing of the victorious monarch was the most marked as well as the most pleasing feature.

We live in days of prolonged peace-few there are among us unable to perceive and appreciate its inestimable blessings-still fewer who would seriously contemplate any renewal of scenes of bloodshed without a revulsion of horror. We are told indeed that the sword has been a civilizer, and that crusades and military expeditions have proved beneficial to the human race, as the promoters eventually of social intercourse; and we may readily and reasonably believe that such events would not have been permitted to take place without adequate good cause. As regards the general question of warfare tending to the development of human destinies, such may be the case in barbarous countries, in Čabul, Scinde, or China, and cannot be denied even to the sanguinary conflicts which followed the French Revolution; but we will hope that Europe at least has now adopted the better and happier means of that friendly diffusion of persons and ideas, in which are discernible the real elements of the security and improvement of mankind.

Where are we to look for the benefits produced by the famous contests of the Plantagenets for the unattainable possession of France? The mere glory which attaches to these victories is an insufficient result. When it was proposed in the House of Commons in the days of Pitt to omit the lilies from the escutcheons of England, and the D. G. Franciæ Rex" from the legend of George III.'s coinage, the minister objected at first to an attack upon a "harmless feather." The "feather"-the object of Henry's or Edward's ambition--might have been as unimportant, although not so harmless as the armorial bearings and titles transmitted to their successors. But it is not in France, the scene of all their glory, that we are able to detect anything like a real advantage purchased by their vast expenditure of blood and treasure.

We are, however, in England

signification of "boil" does not quite correspond with the French "bouillir" as thus applied. In the description of the armor of the archers we have "hamettes ou capelines de cuir bouilli," which would signify tanned or pickled.