Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 1.djvu/206

 132 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS change was not alone in name or station ; his vices and his follies he cast from him, as an unworthy garment, and assumed with royalty a royal mind. The debauched companions of his youth were banished from his presence and his counsels, and forbidden to approach within ten miles of his dwelling. But at the same time we are assured that they were not left in indigence or necessity. Wisdom and virtue became the only recommendations which raised any one to his service, and those who had proved themselves most worthy, under the gov- ernment of the former monarch, found themselves most readily welcomed by the new king. No sooner was the truce at an end which then existed between France and England, than Henry himself proceeded to Southampton to take the command of his army in person. The English armament put to sea, and notwithstanding great preparations which had been made for defending the French coast, Henry landed his troops in safety at the mouth of the Seine, and immediately laid siege to Harfleur, at that time the principal sea-port of Normandy. The Dauphin himself advanced to Vernon on the Seine, and the famous Marshal Boucicault, one of the most celebrated knights of his time, gathered together a large force, and advanced toward the English army. Nevertheless Henry did not suffer his courage to fail, and the siege was continued with unabated vigor. At length the means of defence began to fail within the town. Two wagons of powder, which the French attempted to intro- duce, fell into the hands of the English ; the walls were ruined by the effects of the artillery, and at length the governor agreed to surrender, if he remained un- relieved at the end of three days. The three days expired without succor, and Harfleur was surrendered to the King of England. [Here follows a long and glowing account of Henry's retreat in the face of the overwhelm- ing French forces, and of his greatest victory, the famous battle of Agincourt.] Shortly after his return to England, Henry was visited by Sigismund, Em- peror of Germany, accompanied by French ambassadors commissioned to treat for peace under his mediation. But while Henry continued to exact severe terms, the French gave him constant excuses for proceeding in the war, by their efforts to recover Harfleur, which, however, were constantly defeated by the activity of the English monarch and his officers. To conquer the former patrimony of the British kings seemed the monarch's first object, and in a very short time he made himself master of almost all the principal cities of the duchy. Caen, indeed, resisted with devoted courage, and, after a severe siege, was taken by assault ; but the governors of the other for- tified places in Normandy, divided between the Armagnac and the Burgun- dian parties, had no confidence in their soldiers or each other, and one after an- other submitted to the power of the conqueror. Nor, indeed, did Henry spare any means to obtain his purpose in such a bloodless manner. All his proclama- tions announced that those who submitted should be safe in person and property; and his address to all the French people holds out to them that prospect of peace and protection which had long been unknown amongst the dissensions of their