236 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



beauty of their architecture. The public library, with 

 its five and twenty thousand volumes, and valuable 

 collection of rare and curious manuscripts the cabinet 

 of natural history the museum of antiquities and the 

 beautiful botanic garden, give a peculiar degree of interest 

 to this antique and venerable town. 



But independent of the influence which this old place 

 obtains over one's feelings, on account of its antiquity 

 and natural position, the English angler has a peculiar 

 interest in beholding it as the theatre of a splendid 

 exhibition of his countrymen's prowess and military 

 renown. At a small village called Maupertuis, very 

 near Poitiers, occurred one of those extraordinary 

 battles so celebrated in history, and yet familiar to us as 

 household words, which took place so frequently between 

 the English and the French, in their furious and pro- 

 tracted struggles for the crown of France. On this 

 occasion, an army of twelve thousand men, reduced and 

 enfeebled by sickness and privation, commanded by 

 Edward, the Black Prince, still a mere stripling, defeated 

 with enormous slaughter a force of full five times their 

 numbers, complete in all military equipments, burning 

 with national ardour, and commanded by the French 

 king in person. A well chosen field of battle, a skilful 

 distribution of his enfeebled and inferior forces, backed 

 by indomitable valour, enabled the gallant prince signally 

 to overthrow and capture his powerful antagonist, with 

 scarcely any loss to himself. In this contest, as in that 

 of Azincour, which last occurred nearly a century later, 

 we find two English armies reduced in numbers, and 

 worn with sickness, and fatigue, and privation, defeating 

 far superior forces with almost incredible slaughter, with 

 comparatively little loss to themselves; but whilst our 



