not wholly unable both to see and to feel something which has come down to us from those times and those actions to which we may appeal for proof that all this warfare was not waged in vain. "Delirant quicquid reges, plectuntur Achivi," is the usual effect of such contests; not so exactly with the Plantagenets and the commons of England. Harry V. easily obtained his subsidies and fifteenths from a Parliament, which appeared dazzled by his success, and disposed to assist his ambitious projects, but all this time it quietly pursued its own course, little solicitous about acquisitions in France, but especially careful to preserve and extend, and assist the privileges of the English House of Commons. A few years beheld all these mighty foreign acquisitions melt away like the gifts of fairies, and all the disasters of the reign of Henry VI.

Populumque potentem

In sua victrici conversum viscera dextrâ

But in the midst of reverses abroad, and strife at home, the Parliament never lost sight of what it had gained during the days of Agincourt, and at this hour we are in the enjoyment of the plenary results, which have terminated in the establishment of a free constitution. These are matters for reflection at home-but on the fields, bravely fought and fairly won, we may willingly do justice to the merits and glories of our countrymen, which have invested the scenes with an unfading interest. It is one great charm in visiting these places, that we may with perfect confidence believe ourselves beholding, unchanged, the very scene, as far as the face of the country is concerned, which presented itself to the eyes of the actors themselves in those great events. In an open champaign country, unless plantations and houses spring up, or positive violence is done to the surface, the aspect remains unaltered by anything, but the common variations of agricultural crops. What open violence can do, we know well from what it has done upon the arena of another conflict, more desperate and important than Cressy or Agincourt; those who now visit the impressive plain of Waterloo, and were present at the action, can scarcely at first recognize the original ground; the crest of the position is gone" pour construire," as a French writer expresses it, "la montagne artificielle, immense cone haut de plus de cent cinquante pieds et recouvert de gazon; qui supporte le ridicule lion Belge placé là par l'ancien gou

vernement des Pays Bas comme monument de la victoire Anglo-Prussienne du 18 Juin. Le sol, à la sommité, du plateau de Mont Saint Jean, à été baissé de près de dix pieds. L'aspect général du terrain est dont completement changé." Not a

Far different is the case at Cressy. tree has been planted, not a house built to alter the original lineaments of the field. The opponent heights have their three or four windmills on the plateaus once occupied by the hostile armies; but even those objects are probably in keeping with the ancient scene. The intermediate valley lies quietly in its pristine state; nothing has stirred its soil except the patient plough in its annual labor. At Agincourt it is the same-no change is likely to have come over the spirit of the plain. "Henri," says St. Rémy, "sur une belle plaine de jeunes blez ordonna sa bataille;" and there I found the young wheat, "aliusque et idem," and except that it was April instead of October, there seemed nothing to destroy the illusion. I seemed to be walking over the very same corn.

The ages that have elapsed since these victories were achieved, have nearly extinguished any feelings of animosity between the rival nations, such as rankle sometimes at the recollections of more recent events. Each party now can afford to look over Cressy and Agincourt, and discuss the subject of the conflicts with impartial indifference; it must be owned a secret satisfaction comes across our minds at the thought that our countrymen remained superior in the contest; but it must be admitted that much mismanagement existed on the part of the gallant nation to whose faults these amazing victories were in a great measure owing-faults themselves on the right side-the fault of excessive and ungovernable courage, rashly and fruitlessly expended, and then quickly converted into despondency and defeat.

Victories are not so easily purchased in these days of better discipline; but it is marvellous that the compass of a single life should have been a sufficient period to embrace all the great conquests of Cressy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. I say a single life, for we may well suppose that although at the interval of sixty-nine years, there must have been men in both France and England who, on hearing of Agincourt in their old age, would have called to mind what Cressy had been in their youth. Nay, more-it is upon record that the same veteran French chief who gave the signal for advance at Agincourt, had been actually engaged at Cressy

in his early military career. I must throw myself upon your memory for his name,* for my own will not supply me with it at this moment. Such things, however, are not unparalleled; in fact, if we believe the words put into the mouth of Aper by Tacitus, they can be surpassed. "Ipse ego," he says, "in Britanniâ vidi senem qui se fateretur eæ pugnæ interfuisse quâ Cæsarem inferentem arma Britanniæ arcere litoribus et pellere aggressi sunt." Ninety-six years had passed between Cæsar's invasion, and the next under Claudius; Aper's British friend must have been, indeed, a warrior of no ordinary standing.

A single life, with such severe lessons at its commencement, ought to have been sufficient for any military man of genius to have corrected the miserable errors of his country; but we find, in innumerable minor affairs, the English retained their superiority, and their great victories were obtained with a disparity of force truly astonishing, compared with the hosts which opposed them. This inequality was even aggravated at Cressy, for the division under the king himself, amounting to nearly a third of the army, does not appear to have been engaged in the action at all-the Black Prince alone won the day.

Whiles his most mighty father on the hill Stood smiling; to behold his lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility. Oh, noble English, that could entertain, With half their forces, the full pride of France; And let the other half stand laughing by, All out of work, and cold for action!

At Poitiers again, thrice were the massive columns of the French brought up to attack and overwhelm the handful of English under the Black Prince, thrice repulsed with slaughter, and under the influence of the third repulse, while fatigued and disheartened, they were charged in their turn, and utterly defeated. Many an historian has attempted the solution of the mysterious cause of these extraordinary defeats-evidently proceeding from something more than the mere caprice and chance of war.

Sismondi, in his "Histoire des Français," remarking upon the battle of Cressy, has these important observations:

:

"L'infanterie de Philippe était fort inferieure en qualité à celle des Anglais. Ceux-ci

This was the Duke de Berry-he advised the French to an action at Agincourt-he had been in the battle of Poiters fifty-nine years before.

peut-être par une suite de leur hostilité contre la noblesse Normande, qui était établie et fixée chez eux, avait conservé plus d'independance de caractère; accoutumés à se servir sans cesse de l'arbalette, leur armes leur donnaient du courage, et la noblesse les respectait et les craignat. Les gentilhommes Français, au contraire, ne permettaient jamais à leurs serfs de faire usage d'aucune arme; ils les maintenaient dans la terreur, et l'avilissement, et ne pouvoient au besoin en faire des soldats. Ce n'étaient que les Bourgeois des villes qui formaient l'infanterie nationale leurs habitudes casanières avaient moins fortifié leurs corps que celui des paysans, et les rendaient moins propres aux fatigues de la guerre, leurs armes et leur discipline étaient pour eux des gênes accoutumées. Tout fois quand ils avoient combattu pour leur liberté ils avoient souvent montré un brilliant courage. Mais sous les Valois, ils se sentaient opprimés, humiliés, et la force de corvetère ne suppleait plus en eux à la faiblesse du corps. La noblesse accoutumée à mépriser les islains et l'infanterie bourgeoise, étendait le même mépris à l'infanterie étrangère que le roi avait prise à sa solde."

Without acquiescing in the whole of this passage, we may allow Sismondi to be correct in asserting that the French feudal seigneurs dared not place arms in the hands of their peasantry; a similar apprehension was expressed in our House of Lords in a recent debate on the 66 Army Enlistment Bill," which was denounced as likely to turn loose upon the country a number of men, formidable, as having been accustomed to the exercise of fire-arms.

The

Sismondi is however in error in speaking of the arbalette, or cross-bow, as the weapon to which the English were continually trained. M. Louandre also specified the arbalète, and the skill with which the English used it, as one of the causes of their success at Cressy, nor is this mistake of a trivial nature. arbalète was considered an unfair weapon, so formidable from its force, and so dangerous from the facility with which it could be used, that the spiritual weapons of Rome were brought to act against it, and in a council of the Lateran, held in 1139, it was regularly anathematized. The French were said to regard it as a cowardly instrument, and refused to avail themselves of it. "Avec cette arme perfide," they said, "un poltron peut tuer sans risque le plus vaillant homme." They held the bow in equal detestation, as “Ennemie de prouesse.' The sword principally was held in estimation by them, and with it

can be founded no common rule. If any man shall ask, how then came it to pass that the English won so many great battles, having no advantage to help him? I may, with best commendation of modesty, refer him to the French historian, who, relating the victory of our men at Crevant, where they passed a bridge in face of the enemy, useth these words: The English comes with a conquering bravery, as he that was accustomed to gain everywhere without any stay: he forceth our guard placed upon the bridge to keep the passage,' (Jean de Serres.) Ŏr may I cite another place of the same author, where he tells how the Bretons being invaded by Charles VIII., King of France, thought it good policy to apparel 1,500 of their own men in English cassocks, hoping that the very sight of the English red-cross would be enough to terrify the French.

"But I will not stoop to borrow of French historians, (all of which, excepting de Serres and Paulus Æmilius, report wonders of our nation,) the proposition which I first undertook to maintain, that the military virtue of the English, prevailing against all manner of difficulties, ought to be preferred before that of the Romans, which was assisted with all advantages that could be desired. If it be demanded, why then did not our kings finish the conquest as Cæsar had done? My answer may be (I 1.ope without offence) that our kings were like to the race of the acidæ, of whom the old poet Ennius gave this note, 'Bellipotentes sunt magè quam sapientipotentes,' they were more warlike than politic. Whoso notes their proceedings may find that none of them went to work like a conqueror, save only King Henry V., the course of whose victories it pleased God to interrupt by his death."

Sir Walter is unquestionably in the right; to excel in the use of arms is a legitimate and highly commendable portion of the art of war, and, of itself, a species of triumph. But to maintain a permanent superiority we must look to national characters, the "mettle of the pasture," to that indomitable persistive hardihood which will continue the birthright of the British, as long as they maintain their freedom. The mere mechanical advantages of weapons, of which any prudent people will instinctively avail themselves, is not to be put in competition with the golden metal" of the soldier's heart; different nations have different good as well as bad qualities; the French soldier may yield to none in the activity and fury of his attack; but his British adversary surpasses him in

66

enduring perseverance. M. Louandre, in enumerating the causes which contributed to the victory at Cressy, but directing his eye, perhaps, to events of later occurrence, mentions as one, "la belle position militaire qu'ils avoient choisie et dans laquelle ils attendoient qu'on vint les attaquer, selon leur habitude dans tous les tems, sans en excepter le notre." This practice was not invariable, because at Agincourt the English were the assailants; it is indeed true that Henry had awaited an attack from the enemy, until his patience was exhausted, and as a general rule the assertion is probably well founded. At any rate, to take up a good military position is the first step to success, and a proof of good generalship to begin with; but if it has been the usual practice of the English, it has been so, because they have usually been the weaker party in point of numbers, and consequently prudence prescribed the adoption of such a measure.

Take an early instance,-that of Harold at Hastings, although eager to engage, yet finding himself in presence of an enemy of three times his force, he immediately assumed the defensive; and with such tenacity did the English Saxons maintain their position, with such effect were wielded those "sævissimæ secures," the seaxes, or battle-axes, said to have been the origin of their name, that the fortune of the day appeared all but pronounced against the Norman invader. The loss of their brave leader, and the absence of any other iron-nerved chief, gifted with the patient and steady judgment that will coolly await the decisive moment, the eagle glance to espy it, and the firm resolve to give the magic word up," were fatal. Harold's Saxons were tempted prematurely to change. the defensive into the pursuit; they quitted their position and perished accordingly. But,—

What though the field be lost, All is not lost! the unconquerable willAnd courage never to submit or yield.

Saxon perseverance has in the end achieved a moral victory; the institutions, the language, the spirit, and the name, have triumphed, and are carrying irresistibly the effects of their victory into the remotest corners of the globe. Contrast with this, the national character of their neighbors, the Gauls. How quietly did they acquiesce in the domination of their Frankish, or Norman masters, and hug the chains of the feudal system,— with what satisfaction did they assume and

glory in the name of Francs, although in truth it was but the badge of their subjection? not less willingly and tamely had they previously sunk into Roman subjects, "post decennalis belli mutuas clades subjegit Cæsar, societatique nostra fœderibus junxit æternis." Those ten years of desperate struggle preparatory to their fall, were indeed like their furious onset at a single battle, which, if unsuccessful, rapidly changes into disorder and despair. Such onsets have ever been terrible, and no proofs of bravery have been given by any nation surpassing those recorded of the Gauls. Cæsar himself has told us what passed under his own eyes, while he stood in admiration of the daring deeds displayed at the siege of Bourges: "Inspectantibus ipsis dignum memoriâ visum prætermittendum non existimavimus." Yet for want of the quality of patient determination, this brilliant gallantry has repeatedly been thrown away. Such is the secret of Saxon superiority, if indeed it can be called a secret which is known and acknowledged, and fears no concealment, like some patent monopoly, for it is incapable of being counterfeited-it is the genuine, | inherent, inimitable characteristic of the race. Nor are these distinguishing qualities confined to particular times, or peculiar places on the globe-look when and where you will,

He

and the same traits are discernible—the Gallic character is nowhere better described than in the oration of Manlius to his army, when, nearly two centuries before our era, he was preparing to attack the Gauls of Asia. allowed the enemy all his martial virtues, somewhat deteriorated, perhaps, by contact or fusion with imbecile Asiatic tribes:"ferox natio, pervagata bello prope orbem terrarum;" as the description proceeds, we have the exact picture of the Gaul, when his ardor has evaporated, and he begins to yield to despair; jam usu hoc cognitum est. Si primum impetum quem fervido ingenio et cæcâ irâ effundunt, sustinueris-labant arma -molles, ubi ira consedit, animi," &c.

The Saxon, in similarly remote times and places, has given instances of his own peculiar temperament and qualifications; and once more to recall our good old Marathonian reminiscences, whom do we find on that plain by the side of the veterans of the great Cyrus, while the rest of the enormous army of Persia was overthrown right and left of them, whom do we find alone, making a successful resistance to the Greeks, but a body of the Asiatic Saca-the distant, but by all accounts, the indisputable forefathers of the Saxon race?

ONE of the few visitors we have just now in Rome was nearly undergoing, on the 6th October, the punishment so familiar in the Christian martyrology, where it records of a saint that he was "damnatus ad bestias." There exists round Trajan's Pillar a deep excavation, the walls of which are perpendicular, but adorned with various fragments of antiquity; and many granite columns upheave their broken shafts through the soil, marking the site of the forum or marketplace of that Emperor. For years past the people of the adjacent streets have been in the habit of getting rid of their superfluous cats and kittens by the simple process of throwing them down into the Forum Trajani,-a plan which saved the trouble of a

walk to the Tiber, or the cruelty of killing. But they overlooked the far more cruel result of their lingering starvation, or the internecine atrocity of their devouring each other. The foreign connoisseur, unconscious of a practice which all residents were aware of, contrived to let himself down into the area of Trajan's Market Place, and was forth with beleaguered by several dozen wild, starved, and rabid cats, who tore at him in the most desperate way. His shrieks from below drew notice, and happily a ladder was found which he had scarce strength left to crawl up. The Pallade of the following morning regrets to add that he turns out not to be a German."