with a great deal of caution; superstitious, though without the least tincture of virtue and true religion; and meanly parsimonious, though justly censured for want of economy and ill-judged profusion. He rose to the throne by perfidy and treason; and established his authority in the blood of his subjects, and died a penitent for his sins, because he could no longer enjoy the fruit of his transgressions. Smollet.

CHRONICLE.

1405. 1407.

1400. Geoffrey Chaucer the poet died, aged 72. His friend and companion Gower, who joined him in reforming the English language, died soon after. 1402, Sept. 14. Battle of Homildon Hill. 1404, Jan. 15. William Wickham, Bishop of Winchester died, aged 80.* 1403, July 21. The Battle of Shrewsbury. Great guns first used in England at the siege of Berwick. A terrible plague raged in London, which swept off above 30,000 inhabitants. 1411. Guildhall rebuilt as it now stands. About this time gipsies were first known in England; they were called Egyptians. In this reign flourished the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London; he built Newgate, above half of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and tne Library in Grey Friars, now called Christ's Hospital. Whittington College, near Stepney, also owes its foundation to the same munificent benefactor.

REIGN OF HENRY V.

FROM 1413 TO 1422-9 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 11 DAYS.

HENRY'S REFORMATION.

As soon as his father expired the young king retired to his closet, spent the rest of the day in privacy and prayer, and in the evening hastened to his confessor, a recluse in the church of Westminster, by whom he was confirmed in his resolution to atone for the scandal of his past, by the propriety of his subsequent conduct. The dissolute companions of his pleasures were instantly dismissed; men of knowledge and experience were invited round the throne; and those who by checking his excesses had earned the enmity of the prince, found themselves, to their surprise, honoured with the approbation and friendship of the king. † As an act of justice he

* He was celebrated for his genius in architecture. Henry III. rebuilt Windsor Castle by his direction; he was preferred to the See of Winchester in 1367, and soon after made Lord Chancellor of England. It is said that being represented to the King as a man of no learning, and not fit for a bishoprick, he told the king, that what he wanted in learning himself he would supply by being the founder of learning; accordingly be built the new College at Oxford, and the College at Winchester, which he designed as a nursery for that of Oxford; upon this last foundation he settled an estate for a warden, ten fellows, two school-masters, and seventy scholars.

The Chief Justice Gascoigne himself, who trembled to approach the royal presence, met with praises instead of reproaches for his past conduct, and was exhorted

set at liberty the Earl of March, who from his childhood had been kept in confinement by the late monarch, for no other crime than his right to the throne. After some time he restored the son of Hotspur, an exile in Scotland, to the honours and hereditary estates of the Percies; and when the remains of the unfortunate Richard were removed by his orders from Langley to Westminster Abbey, he testified his respect for that prince by attending as chief mourner in the funeral procession. Lingard, vol. v., p. 2.

BATTLE OF AGINCOURT.

At day break on Friday, the 25th October, 1415, the French army drew up in order of battle, in three lines, in the plain of Agincourt, through which was the route to Calais. As soon as they were formed they seated themselves in companies, as near as possible to their respective banners, awaiting with full confidence of victory the approach of the English. Henry rose at the earliest dawn, and immediately heard mass; he was habited in his “cote d'Armes,' ,"* containing the arms of France and England quarterly, and wore on his bacinet a magnificent crown. Being equipped for action, he mounted a small grey horse, and without commanding the trumpets to sound, ordered his men out of their quarters, and drew them up in order of battle upon a fine plain of young corn. The main body of the English army, consisting of men-at-arms, was commanded by Henry in person; the vanguard, by the Duke of York, was posted as a wing on the right; and the rear guard, commanded by Lord Camois, as a wing on the left; the archers were placed between the wings in the form of a wedge, with their poles (long stakes sharpened at each end) fixed before them, to defend them from an attack of cavalry, and the flanks were protected by hedges and coppices. Everything being prepared for the contest, Henry rode along his lines, and addressed them with great spirit and effect. After the armies had remained in the same position for some hours, each waiting the advance of the other, a negociation was commenced with the view of forming a truce, but the terms proposed by the English king not being acceded to, the venerable Sir Thomas Erpingham, a knight of the garter, and a soldier of the highest reputation, was ordered to array the archers, and place them in front, and he exhorted all in Henry's name to fight vigorously; then riding before the archers, he drew them up, and when this was done he threw his baton into the air, exclaiming, "Now strike," which was answered by a loud cry; after which he dismounted, and placed himself in the king's bat

to persevere in the same rigorous and impartial execution of the laws. The surprise of those who expected an opposite behaviour augmented their satisfaction; and the character of the young king appeared brighter than if it had never been shaded by any errors. Hume, vol iii., p. 87.

Literally, "coats of atms," or jupons embroidered with the arms of the owner, then the usual costume in the field of persons entitled to bear coat armour; they are now cailed tabards, and are only worn by heralds.

tallion, who was also on foot, opposite his men, with his banner borne before him. It was now between ten and eleven in the forenoon, and Henry, finding that the greater part of the day had been wasted, and that the French would not approach, but were probably either waiting for reinforcements, or expecting to oblige him to surrender for want of provisions, resolved to commence the attack. Having issued the command, Banners advance," the soldiers immediately prostrated themselves to the ground, beseeching the Almighty; and each of them put a small piece of earth into his mouth, in remembrance, as has been conjectured, that they were mortal, and formed of dust.* They then marched towards the enemy in three lines, with great firmness and intrepidity, uttering repeated shouts, and with their trumpets sounding. The constable, on seeing them approach, after earnestly admonishing his men to confess their sins and fight bravely, ordered his advanced guard to march towards the English, which they did, crying, Montjoye! montjoye." The battle commenced by the English archers shooting their arrows as soon as they were within reach of the enemy, and much execution was done among them before the combatants closed. The French cavalry, posted along the flanks, attacked the archers on each side; but the division commanded by Elignet de Brabant, admiral of France, which consisted of eight hundred horse, and was intended to break through them, was reduced to about one hundred and fifty, who attempted it in vain, being compelled to retreat from the vollies of arrows. Sir William de Saveuse, with three hundred men-at-arms, likewise gallantly endeavoured to accomplish this object, but he was immediately killed: his followers were repulsed by the archers placing their pointed stakes before them; and the horses being infuriated by wounds from the arrows, became unmanageable, great part of them, with their riders, rolling on the earth from pain, whilst the others fled at the utmost speed upon the van threw it into confusion, and forced it back on some newly-sown ground. Of this fortunate circumstance Henry took instant advantage, by causing his men to advance upon them with the greatest celerity, at which moment the flanks of both armies immerged into the woods on each side. When the French advance guard, who had boldly marched towards them under the great disadvantage of having the sun in their eyes came near, whether from the effect of the heavy discharges of arrows, which pierced through the sides and beavers of their bacinets, or with the view of sooner penetrating the English lines, they suddenly formed themselves into three divisions, and charged with so much impetuosity in the three places where the banners stood, that for a short period the English

*This singular custom had been introduced by the peasants of Flanders before the great victory which they gained over the French cavalry at Courtray, in 1302. A priest stood in front of the army, holding the consecrated host in his hand, and each man, kneeling down, took a particle of earth in his mouth, as a sign of his desire, and an acknowledgment of his unworthiness to receive the sacrament. Lingard, vol. i., p. 20.

gave way; but quickly rallying, they recovered their ground and repulsed their assailants with tremendous loss. The conflict was then very severe, and as soon as the English archers had exhausted their arrows, they threw aside their bows, and fought with overwhelming impetuosity with the swords, bill. lances, and hatchets, with which the field was covered, slaying all before them. A dreadful slaughter consequently took place in the van of the French army, and the assailants speedily reached the second line, which was posted in the rear of the first. For a time the English met with a spirited opposition, but the confusion which produced the defeat of the van now extended to this division, and those immense numbers upon which they placed such reliance became the chief cause of their destruction. Standing upon soft ground and heavily armed, without sufficient room to move, they necessarily impeded each other; and being thus unable to offer any material resistance, they fell victims as much to the unfortunate situation and circumstances in which they were placed, as to the valour of their enemies.* When the French lines gave way, the Duke of Alençon mounted his horse, with the hopes of rallying the fugitives; but finding it impossible, he returned to the scene of danger, and after performing prodigies of valour was slain, whilst in personal combat with the King of England. The rear seeing what had befallen their companions, took to flight, leaving only the chief leaders on the field; and such of them as survived were made prisoners. At that moment great numbers of the French who had been routed, including part of the rear guard, collected as if they intended to renew the conflict, and Henry being informed that they had actually attacked his rear, and plundered his baggage, expected that he was to be again engaged, an event which from the amount of his prisoners, who would of course join their countrymen, he had every cause to fear might prove fatal; imperative necessity consequently dictated what no other circumstance could possibly palliate, and every man was ordered to put his prisoner to death. They refused, however, to obey; and it would be an honourable trait in the character of the conquerors, if the refusal sprang from feelings of honour and humanity; but unfortunately this reluctance is attributed to an unwillingness to lose the benefit of their ransoms, as the greater part were persons of distinction. An esquire, and two hundred archers were therefore ordered to perform the horrible office, who obeyed the command in a manner which is described as having been " a fearful sight to see." In this shocking massacre few were spared except

The men-at-arms were encumbered by the weight of their armour to such a degree as to be nearly incapable of moving. They wore heavy breast and back plates of steel, which reached to their knees, besides armour for their legs, and hanase cols, or gorgets of steel, which were placed over the Camail that hung from the bacinet; their horses at every step sunk so deeply in the mud, that it required great exertion to extricate them, and the narrowness of the place caused their ar chers to be so crowded as to prevent them from drawing their bows. Sir H. Nicolas' Aginco rt, p. 111

ing the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon, and some other illustrious individuals. The English archers, to whose gallantry and steadiness the victory may be chiefly attributed, wore little armour, but were habited in jackets, and had their hose loose, with hatchets or swords hanging from their girdles, and many were barefooted and without hats, whilst others had caps of thick leather crossed with iron. The battle lasted about three hours; the slaughter on the part of the French was appalling, and cannot be more forcibly described than in the words of one of the chroniclers who witnessed it. "When some of the enemy's van were slain, those behind pressed over their bodies, so that the living fell over the dead, and others again falling on them, they were immediately put to death; and in three places near Henry's banners, so large was the pile of corpses, and of those who were thrown upon them, that the English stood on the heaps, which exceeded a man's height, and butchered their adversaries below with their swords and axes.' The French, indeed, fell almost passive in their lines. The total loss of the French was about ten thousand slain on the field; that of the English appears to have been about twelve hundred; most of the dead were afterwards buried in enormous trenches.* Henry being left master of the field, walked over the plain, attended by several noblemen, and returned solemn thanks to God for his success. Whilst the soldiers were employed stripping the dead, he called to him Montjoye, the principal herald of France, and asked him whether the victory belonged to him or to the King of France; to which Montjoye replied, "to him;" the king then asked the name of a castle which he saw near him, and being told that it was called Agincourt, "then" said he, "as all battles should bear the name of the nearest fortress to which they occur, this shall be for ever called the Battle of Agincourt."

"

Sir Harris Nicolas' Agincourt, p. 109.

HENRY'S RETURN TO ENGLAND.

Henry arrived at Dover on the 17th of November; the crowd plunged into the waves to meet him, and the conqueror was carried in their arms from the vessel to the beach; the road to London exhibited one triumphal procession. The lords, commons and clergy, the mayor, aldermen and citizens conducted him into the capital; tapestry, representing the deeds of his ancestors, lined the walls of the houses; pageants were erected in the streets; sweet wines ran in the conduits; bands of children tastefully arrayed sang his praise, and the whole population seemed intoxicated with joy. Lingard, vol. v., p. 24.

A square of 25 yards was measured, in which three trenches were dug each of the width of twelve feet, and five thousand eight hundred men were there buried, the ground was afterwards consecrated by the Bishop of Guisnes, and was surrounded by a thick hedge of thorns, to prevent the wolves and dogs from devouring its contents; a chapel was afterwards built there by the Marchioness of Tra:necourt. This chapel was destroyed in 1793, and its materials employed to construct piga-styes. Note to Sir H. Nicolas' Agincourt, p. 137.