hen the armies were arranged for battle, they paus ed for some time, gazing at each other in solemn si lence ; till l henry, rearing lest the French should discover tin it (Langer, and decline the engagement, ordered the charge to be sounded. Before beginning the attack, the archers kneeled down and kissed the ground ; then in stantly starting up, discharged a volley of arrows, which prodigiously galled the crowded ranks or the enemy. On a signal given, the archers in ambush arose, and levelling their arrows at the flank of the French line, threw it into some disorder. The deep clay soil, mois tened by late rains, and the pallisadoes fixed in front of the English archers, occasioned the complete confusion of the French cavalry ; the narrow compass in which they were confined prevented them from recovering any order ; consternation became general through the army ; and Henry, perceiving his advantage, ordered his ar chers to advance, and seize the moment of victory. Hav ing expended their arrows, they threw away their bows, and falling with their battle-axes upon the French, hew ed them down with resistless Fury. The first line of the enemy being thus cut to pieces, the second advanc ed to the charge, and was encountered by the line which Henry commanded in person. A furious conflict ensued. The duke of Gloucester was wounded, and thrown to the ground ; and the king, while protecting his fallen bro ther, was assailed with great violence by the duke d'Alencon. Henry, recovering F1'0111 the shock, struck
his antagonist to the ground ; and the French, disheart ened by the fall of their leader, made no more resistance. The English had now leisure to make prisoners, and had advanced without interruption to the open plain, when they observed the remains of the enemy's rear-guard still maintaining the appearance of a line of battle. An alarm at the same time was heard from the camp, which was attacked by 600 peasants, led on by some gentlemen of Picardy ; and Henry, beginning to entertain appre hensions from his prisoners, issued general orders for putting them to death. lie soon discovered, however, the true cause of the alarm, and stopping the slaughter, was yet able to save a great number of the prisoners. " No battle," says Hume," was ever more fatal to France, by the number of princes and nobility slain or taken pri soners." The French are said to have left 10,000 on the field, among whom were many persons of the highest distinc tion ; and 14,000 prisoners fell into the hands of the Eng lish. Henry is said to have lost only 40 men ; but among these was the duke of York, who perished fight ing by the king's side ; a death too honourable for his infamous life. The victorious monarch was received with transport by his subjects, many of whom leaped in to the sea to meet his barge as it approached the shore.
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