The expression brute vastness is taken from the same work of Milton, where he relates the death of Morindus. "Well fitted to such a beastial cruelty was his end; for hearing of a huge monster that from the Irish sea infested the coast, and in the pride of his strength foolishly attempting to set manly valour against a brute vastness, when his weapons were all in vain, by that horrible mouth he was catched up and devoured." "The tournelles adjoining to the bridge was kept by Glacidas (one of the most resolute captains among the English), having well encouraged his men to defend themselves and to fight for their lives. 6 6 "The skirmish begins at nine of the clock in the morning, and the ladders are planted. A storm of English arrows falls upon our men with such violence as they recoiled. How now!' saith the Virgin, have we begun so well to end so ill? let us charge! they are our own, seeing God is on our side!' so every one recovering his forces, flocks about the Virgin. The English double the storm upon the thickest of the troops. The Virgin fighting in the foremost ranks and encouraging her men to do well was shot through the arm with an arrow; she, nothing amazed, takes the arrow in one hand and her sword in the other, This is a favour!' says she, let us go on! they cannot escape the hand of GOD!'" Chapelain has dilated this exclamation of the Maid into a ridiculous speech. Quoy! valeureux Guerriers, quoy! dans vostre avantage Un peu de sang perdu vous fait perdre courage! Pour moy, je le repute a supreme bonheur, Et dans ce petit mal je trouve un grand honneur ; Vous n'en verrez pas moins vos bras victorieux, J'en verray seulement mon nom plus glorieux. .L. III. I can make nothing English of this name. Monstrellet calls him Clacedas and Clasendas. Daniel says the principal leaders of the English were Suffolk, Talbot, Scales, Fastolffe, et un nommé Glacidas ou Clacidas, dont le mérite suppléant à la naissance, l'avoit fait parvenir aux premières charges de l'armée. The importance attached to a second name is well exemplified by an extract in Selden, relating to "the creation of Rohert earle of Glocester natural sonne to king Henry I. The king having speech with Mabile the sole daughter and heire of Robert Fitz Hayman lord of Glocester, told her (as it is reported in an old English rithmical story attributed to one Robert of Glocester), that -he seold his sone to her spousing avonge, This maid was ther agen, and withsaid it long. The king of sought her suithe ynou, so that atten ende Mabile him answered, as gode maide and hende, And that ne might noght be his that of his kunne noght nas. Therefore, syre, vor Godes love, ne let me non mon owe, Sir Roberd le Fitz Roy is name shall be. Sire, quoth this maid tho, that is vayr name As woo seith all his life and of great fame. Ac wat shold his sone hote thanne and other that of him come, Sone might hii hote noght thereof nameth gone. The king understood that the maid ne sede non outrage, As this Roberd of all thulke that long byvore were, This was enleve hundred yeare, and in the ninth yeer right After that ure louerd was in his moder alygt." Selden's Titles of Honor. Page 143. line 462. · Seeking the inner court. On entering the outer gate, the next part that presented itself was the outer ballium or bailey, separated from the inner ballium by a strong embattled wall and towered gate. Page 146. line 536. way. The engines shower'd their sheets of liquid fire. When the Black Prince attacked the castle of Romorantin, "there was slain hard by him an English esquire named Jacob Bernard, whereat the prince was so displeased, that he took his most solemn oath, and sware by his father's soul not to leave the siege, till he had the castle and all within at his mercy. Then the assault was renewed much hotter than ever, till at last the prince saw there was no likelihood of prevailing that Wherefore presently he gave order to raise certain engines, wherewith they cast combustible matter enflamed after the manner of wild fire into the base court so fast, and in such quantities, that at last the whole court seemed to be one huge fire. Whereupon the excessive heat prevailed so, that it took hold of the roof of a great tower, which was covered with reed, and so began to spread over all the castle. Now therefore when these valiant captains within saw, that of necessity they must either submit entirely to the prince's courtesy, or perish. by the most merciless of elements, they all together came down and yielded themselves absolutely to his grace." — Joshua Barnes. Page 148. line 621. The oriflamme of death. The oriflamme was a standard erected to denote that no quarter would be given. It is said to have been of red silk, adorned and beaten with very broad and fair lilies of gold, and bordered about with gold and vermillion. Le Moyne has given it a suitable escort: Ensuite l'oriflamme ardent et lumineuse, Marche sur un grand char, dont la forme est affreuse. Et de pourpre, d'azur, et de vert emaillez, Aussi paroist ce sang animer leur menace. Le char roulant sous eux, il semble au roulement, Et de la poudre, en l'air, il se fait des fumées A leur bouches du vent et du bruit animées. Philip is said by some historians to have erected the Oriflamme at Cressy, where Edward in return raised up his burning dragon, the English signal for no quarter. The Oriflamme was originally used only in wars against the Infidels, for it was a sacred banner, and believed to have been sent from Heaven. Page 149. line 638.- The tower, the bridge, and all its multitudes, Sunk with a mighty crash. At this woman's voice amidst the sound of war, the combat grows very hot. Our men, greatly encouraged by the Virgin, run headlong to the bastion and force a point thereof; then fire and stones rain so violently, as the English being amazed, forsake their defences: some are slain upon the place, some throw themselves down headlong, and fly to the tower upon the bridge. In the end this brave Glacidas abandons this quarter, and retires into the base court upon the bridge, and after him a great number of his soldiers. The bridge greatly shaken with artillery, tryed by fire, and overcharged with the weight of this multitude, sinks into the water with a fearful cry, carrying all this multitude with it. De Serres. - This circumstance has been magnified into a miracle. "The French, for the most part, draw the institution of the order of St. Michael principally from a purpose that Charles had to make it, after the apparition of the archangel upon Orleans bridge, as the tutelary angell of France assisting against the English in 1428.” - Selden's Titles of Honour. The expressions are somewhat curious in the patent of this ordre de Monsieur St. Michael Archange. Louis XI. instituted it " à la gloire et louange de Dieu nostre createur tout puissant, et reverence de la glorieuse vierge Marie, à l'honneur et reverence de St. Michael, premier chevalier, qui par la querelle de Dieu, battaile contre l'ancien enemy de l'humain lignage, et le fit tresbucher de Ciel." Page 150. line 666. The ascending flames Blaze up. Lesdictes bastiles et fortresses furent prestement arses et demolies jusques en terre, affin que nulles gens de guerre de quetconque pays quilz soient ne si peussent plus loger. Monstrellet, II. f. 43. Page 151. line 15. Silence itself was dreadful. Un cry, que le besoin ou la peur fait jetter, Et les airs agités les peuvent agiter. Une haleine, un souspir et mesme le silence Aux chefs, comme aur soldats, font perdre l'assurance. Chapelain, L. ix. |