"Gave God the glory, even while the blood "That he had shed was reeking up to Heaven. "He bade us think what mercy they had found "Who yielded on the plain of Azincour, "And what the gallant sons of Caen, by him, "In cold blood murder'd. Then his scanty food "Sharing with the most wretched, he would bid us "Bear with our miseries cheerly. "Thus distress'd "Lest all should perish thus, our chiefs decreed "Women and children, the infirm and old, "All who were useless in the work of war, "Should forth and find their fortunes. Age, that makes The joys and sorrows of the distant years "Like a half-remembered dream, yet on my heart "Leaves deep impress'd the horrors of that hour. *Henry, not satisfied with the reduction of Caen, put several of the inhabitants to death, who had signalized their valour in the defence of their liberty. H. Clarendon "Then as our widow wives clung round our necks, "And the deep sob of anguish interrupted "The prayer of parting, even the pious priest "That merciless man. The wretched crowd pass'd on: My wife-my children-thro' the gates they pass'd, "Then the gates clos'd.-Would I were in my grave "That I might lose remembrance. "What is man "That he can hear the groan of wretchedness "And feel no fleshly pang! Why did the All-Good "Create these warrior scourges of mankind, "These who delight in slaughter? I did think † After the capture of the city "Luca Italico, the Vicar Generall of the archbishoprike of Rouen for denouncing the King accursed was delivered to him and deteined in prison till he died." Holinshed. Titus Livius. "There was not on this earth a heart so bard "Could hear a famish'd woman cry for bread, “And know no pity. As the outcast train " Drew near, the English Monarch bade his troops "Force * back the miserable multitude. "They drove them to the walls-it was the depth "Of winter-we had no relief to grant. "The aged ones groan'd to our foe in vain, "The mother pleaded for her dying child "And they felt no remorse !" The mission'd Maid Starts from her seat-" The old and the infirm "The mother and her babes-and yet no lightning "Blasted this man!" "Aye Lady," Bertram cried, "A great number of poore sillie creatures were put out of the gates, which were by the Englishmen that kept the trenches, beaten and driven back againe to the same gates, which they found closed and shut against them, and so they laie betweene the wals of the citie and the trenches of the enemies, still crieing for help and releefe, for lack whereof great numbers of them dailie died." Holinshed. "And when we sent the + herald to implore + One of the deputed citizens" shewing himself more rash than wise, more arrogant than learned, took upon him to shew wherein the glorie of victorie consisted; advising the King not to shew his manhood in famishing a multitude of poore simple and innocent people, but rather suffer such miserable wretches as laie betwixt the walls of the citie and the trenches of his siege, to passe through the camp, that theie might get their living in other places; then if he durst manfullie assault the place, and by force subdue it, he should win both worldlie fame, and merit great meed from the hands of almightie God, for having compassion of the poore, needie and indigent people. When this orator had said, the King with a fierce countenance and bold spirit, reproved them for their malapert presumption, in that they should seeme to go about to teach him what belonged to the dutie of a conqueror, and therefore since it appeared that the same was unknown to them, he declared that the Goddesse of Battell called Bellona had three handmaidens, ever of necessitie attending upon her, as Blood, Fire, and Famine, and whereas it laie in his choice to use them all three, he had appointed onelie the meekest maid of those three damsels to punish them of that citie till they were brought to reason. This answer put the French ambassador in a great studie, musing much at his excellent wit and hawtinesse of courage. Holinshed. Scoffing their agonies. On the high wall "I stood and mark'd the miserable outcasts, "And every moment thought that Henry's heart, "Hard as it was, must feel. All night I stood— "Their deep groans sounded on the midnight gale, "Fainter they grew, for the cold wintry wind "Blew bleak; fainter they grew, and at the last "All was still, save that ever and anon "Some mother shriek'd o'er her expiring child * "The shriek of frenzying anguish. * The names of our Edwards and Henrys are usually cited together, but it is disgracing the Black Prince and his father to mention them with Henry of Monmouth. We have seen what was the conduct of this cold-hearted and brutal soldier to the famished fugitives from Roan. The same circumstance occurred at the siege of Calais, and the difference between the monarchs cannot be better exemplified than in the difference of their conduct upon the same occasion. "When Sir John de Vienne perceived that King Edward intended to lie long there, he thought to rid the town of as many useless mouths as he could; and so on a Wednesday, being the 13th of September, he forced out of the town more than seventeen hundred of the poorest and least necessary people, old men, women and children, and shut the gates upon them: who |