352 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



was the flower of French chivalry either dispersed or de- 

 stroyed ; and even men-at-arms, when cased in mail, vainly 

 endeavoured to keep their stand before the force 



" Of England's arrowy sleet-like hail." 



Hear what old chroniclers have written concerning the 

 last momentous contest : " The warlike band of archers, 

 with their strong and numerous vollies, covered the air 

 with clouds, shedding, as a cloud shades with a shower, 

 an intolerable multitude of piercing arrows, and inflicting 

 wounds on the horses, which either threw their enemies, 

 the French horsemen, who were arrayed to charge them 

 to the ground, or else forced them to retreat, and so their 

 dreadful and formidable purpose was defeated. And when 

 the French nobility rushed forward to seize the English 

 standard, and the battle raged very fiercely, our archers pierced 

 the flank with their arrows, and forced them to retreat." 

 Thus, also, were the Scots sorely worsted at Hamilton, 

 and the Irish in old times. But of deadly feuds and 



