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1415, Henry V. embarked, and set sail from Southampton; his fleet, which consisted in part of ships he had hired from Ireland, Holland, and Friesland, amounted to twelve or fourteen hundred sail of vessels, from twenty to three hundred tons burthen; his army to six thousand five hundred horse, and about twenty-four thousand foot, of all kinds. He anchored in the mouth of the river Seine, three miles from Harfleur, on the 13th of August. On the following day he began to land his troops and stores,-an operation which occupied three whole days; and it is remarkable that it was never interrupted or resisted, although the place of disembarkation presented many natural and artificial obstacles. A proclamation was issued, forbidding, under pain of death, all excesses against the peaceful inhabitants; and it is noted by many contemporary historians, French as well as English, that Henry, with honourable perseverance, enforced the uniform good treatment of the people through

whose districts he afterwards passed, and that, too, when suffering the most dreadful privations in his own army. On the 17th he laid siege to Harfleur, a very strong fortress, with a numerous garrison, situated on the left bank of the river. The conduct of the siege was according to the rules laid down by "Master Giles," the principal military authority of that period. The loss sustained by the besieging army was very great, not so much from the sword and the awkward artillery of those times, as from a frightful dysentery, brought on by the damp, unwholesome nature of the place. The men perished by hundreds, and many of the most eminent captains died of the disease. Seeing, however, no prospect of being relieved, and suffering from the same dysentery, the garrison capitulated, and the town was surrendered on the 22d of September, after a siege of thirty-six days. Henry then shipped his sick and wounded (among whom was Mortimer, Earl of March) for England, and remained a few days at Harfleur. While here he sent a chivalrous challenge to the Dauphin, offering to decide the contest in personal combat. The Dauphin, who was fonder of fiddling than of fighting, returned no answer.

With the insignificant force the English king now had, it seemed madness to undertake any great enterprise. The sea was open to him, but he scorned the notion of returning to England with no honour gained save the capture of a single town; and it is exceedingly probable that had he so returned, he would have suffered a dangerous loss of popularity. It is said, however, that a council of war recommended that he should re-embark; but if this opinion were really entertained by the chiefs of the army, they seem to have given it up without demur. "No," said Henry; "we must first see, by God's help, a little more of this good land of France, which is all our own. Our mind is made up to endure every peril rather than they shall be able to reproach us with being afraid of them. We will go, an it please God, without harm or danger; but if they disturb our journey, why, then, we must fight them, and victory and glory will be ours." The

forces were drawn out, and prepared to march through the hostile provinces of Normandy, Picardy, and Artois, to Calais. With the reductions made by the casualties of the siege, by sickness, and by leaving a garrison in Harfleur, they did not exceed nine thousand men. The march began on the 6th of October, when a great force, with the king and dauphin at their head, lay at Rouen, and another, under the Constable of France, in front of the English, in Picardy, whither troops were pouring in from all directions. In his passage through Normandy, Henry met with no great resistance; but detachments more numerous than his whole force watched his movements, and cut off stragglers: the country was laid waste before his approach, but that was more owing to the poverty than to the ill-will of the inhabitants; then the people in the towns and villages furnished him with little or no provisions-they were half starving themselves; sickness was reproduced by this want of proper food and the fatigues of the march. At the passage of the river Bresle, beyond Dieppe, the garrison of Eu made a sortie, and fell upon his rear, but the leader of the French was killed, and the rest fled back to the covering of their ramparts. On the 12th of October, he reached the memorable ford of BlancheTaque, where he hoped to pass like Edward III.; but the French pursued the same plan now that they did then; they resolved to defend the line of the Somme; and, taught by experience, they had fortified both banks, had driven strong palisades across the ford, and placed troops of archers behind them. Henry retreated to Ariennes, the little town where Edward III. had slept two nights before the battle of Blanche-Taque, and there the English army spent this night of the 12th. He had now to seek for a passage up the river, as his great-grandfather had sought for one in descending it. He marched along the left bank to Bailleul, where he slept on the 13th. The Constable of France had fixed his headquarters at Abbeville. On the opposite side of the river, every bridge was broken down, every ford was fortified, and columns of horse and foot manoeuvred along the right

bank, keeping in line with him as he proceeded up the left. Many of his people lost heart at being thus foiled in all attempts to cross the Somme, and at seeing that their march was leading them far from the sea-shore. "I, who write," says a chaplain of the army, "and many others looked bitterly up to heaven, and implored the divine mercy and protection of the Virgin, and of England's saint, St. George, to save us from the imminent perils by which we were surrounded, and enable us to reach Calais in safety." On the 14th, Henry made an attempt to pass at Pont St. Remy, and was repulsed, as Edward had been at the same place. On the 15th, he tried to force a passage at Ponteau de Mer, but he met with no better success. Still continuing to ascend the river, he tried several other passages in the course of the 16th and 17th; but every where insurmountable obstacles presented themselves. It seems astonishing, that while he was losing all this precious time, no attempt was made to fall upon his right flank and his rear. On the night of the 18th, having got above Amiens, he halted at Bainvillers. His troops were suffering every possible discomfort, and were disheartened by their repeated disappointments; but on the morning of the 19th, he was so fortunate as to find a ford between Betencourt and Voyenne, which had not been staked by the people of St. Quentin. The English made a dash across this ford; the van-guard established themselves on the right bank, which they had so long yearned to reach, and the whole army with its baggage got safely across. Having lost this line of defence, the Constable, quite disconcerted, fell back from the Somme, and marched along the Calais road as far as St. Pol, in Artois. Henry quietly followed by the same road; but while his small force was every hour farther reduced by sickness, that of the Constable was continually strengthened; and, in a few days, the whole of the royal army of France was in Artois. On the 20th of October, three heralds arrived from the Constable and the Duke of Orleans and Bourbon, to acquaint the king of their resolution to give him battle before he reached Calais.

Henry replied that the will of God would be done,—that he did not seek them-but fear of them should never induce him to move out of his way, or to go either slower or faster than he intended: his march was before him, straight on by the road to Calais, and if the French attempted to stop him, it would be at their peril. True to his word, the king of England marched on with the greatest calmness and regularity. From St. Pol, the Constable fell back to the villages of Ruisseauville and Azincourt, and there (having received nearly all the reinforcements he expected) he determined to make his stand. On the 24th, Henry crossed the deep and rapid river of Ternois (a tributary of the Canche) at Blangi; and soon after he came in sight of some of the enemy's columns. Expecting an attack, he formed in order of battle; but the columns he saw withdrew to Azincourt, and towards evening he marched on to Maisoncelles, a large village, which was only a few bow-shots from the enemy's outposts. Some provisions were brought in, and the men refreshed themselves, and took some rest. As soon as the moon arose, officers were sent out to survey the position, and ascertain the nature of the ground occupied by the French. During the whole night the English played on their trumpets and other martial instruments, so that the whole neighbourhood resounded with their music. Notwithstanding they were much fatigued and oppressed by cold and hunger, they kept up a cheerful spirit; and many of them confessed their sins, took the sacrament, and made their wills. These hours of suspense were the most trying of all, but not a man among them spoke of surrender-retreat or flight was impossible.

On the side of the French there was no want of confidence, but an evident absence of order and discipline. The The Constable struck the royal banner into the ground on the Calais road, a little in advance of the village of Ruisseauville; and the Admiral of France, the master of the crossbows, the princes, barons, and knights, planted their banners. round it, with loud acclamations of joy. The Constable ordered them to pass the night where they were, every troop

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