eng: 
to Arundel archbifhop of Canterbury, as the proper vic¬ 
tim of clerical vengeance ; and lie applied to the king for 
permiflion to indiCt lord Cobham as a dangerous heretic. 
But the g'enerons nature of the prince was wholly averfe 
to fuch fapguinary methods of converfion ; and he re- 
folved firft to try what effects the arts of reafon and per- 
fuafion would produce upon this bold leader of his feCt. 
He accordingly defined a private conference with lord 
Cobham ; but he found that nobleman obftinate in his 
opinions, and determined rather to part with his life than 
his religion. The king, finding him immoveable, gave 
him up to the fury of his enemies. Perfecution ever pro¬ 
pagates thofe errors which it aims at abolifhing. The 
primate indidled lord Cobham; and, with the affiftanceof 
his fuffragans, condemned him, as an heretic, to be burnt 
alive. Cobham, however, efcaping from the Tower, only 
the day before his intended execution, privately went 
among his party; and, ftimulating their zeal, led them 
up to London, to take a fignal revenge of his enemies. 
But the king, apprifed of his intentions, ordered that 
the city gates fliould be flint ; and, coming out by night 
with his guards into St. Giles’s Fields, feized fuch of the 
confpirators as appeared, and afterwards laid hold of fe- 
veral parties that were battening to the appointed place. 
Some of them were executed ; but the greater number 
w'as pardoned. Lord Cobham found means of efcaping 
for that time ; but he was taken about four years after ; 
and never did the cruelty of man invent, or crimes draw 
down, fuch torments as he was deftined to endure. He 
was hung up with a chain by the middle ; and at a flow 
fire burnt, or rather roafted, alive. 
Such cruelties as thefe would naturally excite the dif- 
guft of the people, not only againft the clergy, but the 
government alfo. Henry, to wean his people from fuch 
hideous feenes, refolved to take advantage of the inquie¬ 
tudes in France, to recover his patrimonial dominions. 
Charles the Fifth, who then filled the Gallic throne, was 
fubjeCt to frequent fits of lunacy, which difqualified him 
from resigning. The ambition of his vaffals and courtiers 
had thus room for exertion ; and they grew powerful 
from their fovereign’s infirmity. The adminiftration of 
affairs was difputed between his brother, the duke of Or¬ 
leans, and his coufin-germain, John duke of Burgundy, 
Tfabella, his queen, alfo had her party; and the king 
vainly attempted to fecure a fuperior one of his own. 
Each of thefe, as they happened to prevail, branded 
their competitors with the name of traitors ; and the gib¬ 
bets were at once filled with the bodies of the accufed 
and the accufers. This, therefore, was thought by Henry 
a favourable opportunity to recover his rights from 
France. But, previous to his intended expedition, he 
fent ambaffadors to Paris, offering perpetual peace and 
alliance, on condition of being put in poffeflion of all 
thofe provinces which had been wrefted from his ancef- 
tors during the former reign, and of efpoufing Catharine, 
the French king’s daughter, with a fuitable dowry. 
Though the French court was extremely averfe to war, 
yet the magnitude of thefe demands could not be com¬ 
plied with; which Henry molt probably forefaw. Fie 
therefore affembled a great fleet and army at Southamp¬ 
ton ; and, having folicited all the military men of the 
kingdom to attend him, he put to fea, and landed near 
Flat fleur, at the head of an army of fix thoufand men at 
arms, and twenty-four thoufand foot, moftly archers. 
His fir ft operations were directed againft Harfleur, 
which, being prefled hard, promifed at a certain day to 
furrender, unlefs relieved before that time. The day 
arriving, and the garrifon (till r'efolving to defend the 
place, Henry took the town by ftorm, and put all the 
garrifon to the fword. F'rorn thence the Englifh ad¬ 
vanced into the interior, and laid the country wafte. But, 
although the enemy made a feeble refiftance, the climate 
feemed to fight againft the Englifh, a contagions dyfen- 
tery carrying off three parts of Flenry’s army. In that 
Vol. VI. No. 376. 
-.AND. 6o;j 
fituation, be challenged the dauphin, who commanded 
the French army, to tingle combat, offering to (take all 
his claims upon the tflue of the event. 'I his challenge 
was declined ; and the French, feeing the common danger, 
waved their domeftic feuds. An army of fourteen thou¬ 
fand men at arms, and forty thoufand foot, was aflem- 
bled, under the command of count Albert, and direCted 
to intercept Henry’s weakened forces on their return. 
The Englifh monarch took every precaution to infpire 
his troops with patience and perfeverance ; and mani- 
fefted in his own perfon the nobleft example of fortitude 
and refignation. He was continually harafled in his march 
by flying parties of the enemy ; and, whenever he at¬ 
tempted to pafs the Somme, over which his route lay, he 
faw troops ported on the other fide, ready todifpute his 
paflage. However, he feized by furprife a pafli.ge near 
St. (Luintin, which had not been fufliciently guarded : 
and there he fafely carried over his army. 
The enemy, however, was (till refolved to cut off his 
retreat; and, after he had parted the fmall river of Tertois 
at Blangi, he beheld, from the heights, the w'hole French 
army drawn up in the plains of Agincourt; fo that it 
was impoflible for him to proceed, without coming to an 
engagement. No fituation could be more unfavourable 
than that in which he then found himfelf. His army was 
wafted with difeafe, his foldiers worn down with fatigue, 
deftitute of provifions, and difcoiiraged by a retreat. 
Their whole number amounted but to ten thoufand men, 
who were to fuftain the fliock of an enemy more than ten 
times as many, headed by expert generals, and plenti¬ 
fully fupplied with provifions. This difpurity, as it de- 
preffed the Englifh, naturally raifed the courage of the 
French ; and fo confident were they of victory, that they 
began to treat for the ranfom of their prifoners. Flenry, 
on the other hand, though fenfible of his extreme danger, 
did not omit any circumftance that could ftrengthen his 
fituation. As the enemy were fo much fuperior, he drew 
up his army on a narrow ground between two woods, 
which covered each flank; and he patiently waited, in 
that pofition, the attack of the enemy. The conftable 
of France was at the head of one army ; and Flenry him¬ 
felf, with Edward duke of York, commanded the other. 
For a time both armies filently gazed at each other, un¬ 
willing to break their ranks, as if fearful of the event of 
the day ; which Henry perceiving, he, with a cheerful 
countenance, cried out, “ Come, my friends, fince they 
will not begin, it is with 11s to fet them the example : 
come on! and the blefled Trinity be our protection.” 
Upon this the whole army moved forward with a fhout, 
while the French ftill kept their pofition. The Englifh 
archers, long famous foV their fkill, firft let fly a fliovver 
of arrows, three feet long, which did prodigious execu¬ 
tion. The French cavalry advancing to repel the archers, 
two hundred bow-men, who lay in ambufh, rifing on a 
fudden, produced fuch a confternation, that the archers, 
throwing away their arrows, fell upon them fword in 
hand ; fo that the French were obliged to give way, and 
were totally defeated. But for the particulars of this 
ever memorable battle, fee the article Agincourt, 
vol. i. p. 199. 
The battle of Agincourt was fought October 25, 1415; 
and was very fatal to France, from the number of princes 
and prime nobility killed or taken prifoners. Henry car¬ 
ried his illuftrious prifoners to Calais, and from thence 
to England, where the parliament, dazzled with the 
fplendour of his victories, granted him new levies, though 
unequal to the expences of a campaign. With thefe fup- 
plies he once more landed an army of twenty-five thou¬ 
fand men in Normandy, A. D. 1417, and prepared to 
ftrike a decifive blow for the crown of France, to which 
the Englifh monarchs had long made their claim. That 
devoted country was then in a mod deplorable fituation. 
The whole kingdom appeared as one vaft theatre of fe¬ 
lony, murder, injuftice, and devaftation. The duke of 
7 Q^, Orleans 
I 
