conspiracy, took the readiest means to bring it to issue. Hé released and made a friend of his valiant rival and prisoner, Douglas, entered into a correspondence with Glyndwr, and reared the standard of rebellion, round which all his vassals and adherents rallied. He was joined by a powerful levy from Scot land under Earl Douglas and other chiefs, who, won by his example, and impelled by a rooted animosity to the king of England, warmly espoused the cause of the conspirators. When all was in readiness for open war, the earl of Northumberland was suddenly taken ill at Berwick; Lord Percy took command of the army, and advanced to Stafford, where he was joined by his uncle Worcester. Having consulted on their affairs and inspirited their army by an harangue on the justice and glory of the cause, they directed their march towards Wales, in order to effect a junction with Glyndwr. Henry, who was apprized of their movements, placed himself at the head of a body of troops, which had been destined to act against the Scots, and was then posted at Burton on Trent; with this army he hurried into Shropshire, having previously ordered his sons, the Prince of Wales and Lord John of Lancaster, and his steady adherent, the Earl of Westmorland, to meet him with reinforcements at Bridgenorth. Aware that every thing depended on celerity of movement, he took possession of Shrewsbury just as the forces of Lord Percy were preparing to assail it. Meantime, Glyndwr having mustered at Oswestry a numerous levy of Welshmen, had sent off a detachment of four thousand; but on being apprised of the king's success, thought proper to suspend the march of his main body. The gallant leaders of the rebel army,' undismayed by this failure of succour, by the protracted illness of Northumberland, and by the tardy arrival of aid from other quarters, determined to give battle immediately. On the evening of the 21st of July, 1403, in answer to an offer of pardon, they sent a defiance to the king, grounded on certain charges in justification of their revolt. These have been so ably summed up by Shakespeare, that we quote his words in preference

to

to those of the chronicler on whose authority he composed them.

HOTSPUR.

The king is kind; and well we know, the king
Knows at what time to promise, when to pay.
My father, and my uncle, and myself,
Did give him that same royalty he wears:
And when he was not six-and-twenty strong,
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low,
A poor, unminded outlaw, sneaking home,---`
My father gave him welcome to the shore:
And,-when he heard him swear, and vow to God,
He came but to be Duke of Lancaster
To sue his livery* and beg his peace ;
With tears of innocency and terms of zeal,---
My father, in kind heart and pity moved,
Swore him assistance, and perform'd it too.
Now, when the lords and barons of the realm
Perceived Northumberland did lean to him,
The more and less came in with cap and knee;
Met him in boroughs, cities, villages;
Attended him on bridges, stood in lanes,
Laid gifts before him, proffered him their oaths,
Gave him their heirs; as pages followed him;
Even at the heels in golden multitudes.
He, presently,---as greatness knows itself,---
Steps me a little higher than his vow,
Made to my father, while his blood was poor
Upon the naked shore at Ravenspurg;
And now, forsooth, takes on him to reform
Some certain edicts, and some strait decrees,
That lie too heavy on the commonwealth!

Cries out upon abuses, seems to weep
Over his country's wrongs; and by this face,
This seeming brow of justice, did he win

The

This is a law phrase belonging to the feudal tenures, meaning to sue out, the delivery or possession of his lands from those persons who on the death of any of the tenants of the crown, seized their lands, till the heir sued out his livery. STEEVEN'S SHAKESPEARE.

arms.

The hearts of all that he did angle for:
Proceeded further; cut me off the heads
Of all the favourites, that the absent king
In deputation left behind him here,
When he was personal in the Irish war.

In short time after, he deposed the king;
Soon after that, deprived him of his life;
And in the neck of that, task'd the whole state:
To make that worse, suffered his kinsman March
(Who is, if every owner were well placed
Indeed his king,) to be incaged in Wales,
There, without ransom to lie forfeited:
Disgrac'd me in my happy victories;
Sought to entrap me by intelligence ;

Rated my uncle from the council-board;

In rage dismissed my father from the court;

Broke oath on oath, committed wrong on wrong:

And in conclusion, drove us to seek out

This head of safety; and withal to pry

Into his title, the which we find

Too indirect for long continuance.

A declaration so decisive and hostile closed every prospect which the king might entertain of a compromise, and left no chance for a termination of the quarrel, but by an appeal to Had the valour of Hotspur been tempered by discretion, he would have paused on this last resort, until the junction of his ally had given him better assurance of success. His army was indeed already equal in number to that under the royal standard, and it had the superior advantage of being commanded by two of the bravest captains of the age. His confidence in his own prowess, and his experience of that of his compeer, Douglas, banished every doubt of victory from his mind. His ardour, however, was damped by the transient impression of an incident, which strongly exemplifies the universal superstition of the times. In preparing for the field he called for his favourite sword, when he was informed that he

had

had left it at the village of Berwick, near Shrewsbury, where he had rested the preceding night. The name of the place startled him, and heaving a deep sigh, he exclaimed, "Alas! then my death is near at hand, for a wizard once told me, that I should not long live after I had seen Berwick, which I thought was the town in the north, so called. -Yet will I not be cheaply

won."

On the morrow, being the eve of St. Magdalene, July 22, 1403, both armies were ready for action. The field, on which they were to contend, was an open plain, extending north of Shrewsbury, before which town the king had drawn out and encamped the greater part of his forces. The battle commenced at dawn, in a place called Bullfield, a short distance from the north gate. Percy had stationed a body of his choice troops amidst some acres of ripe peas, in order to check the advance of his adversary's heavy-armed infantry. A flourish of trumpets, mingling with the contending shouts of "St. George and Victory!" and "Esperaunce Percy!" was the signal of onset, which was answered by a tremendous discharge of arrows from both lines. The Scots, who had the van in the confederate army, attacked the king's centre with great fury, and threw it into disorder, but he hastening with fresh succour, rallied his broken troops, and recovered their ground. He displayed a degree of courage and constancy worthy of the important stake for which he fought, frequently exposing himself in the thickest of the battle, which indeed he might the more safely do, since he had, with his usual precaution, diminished the chances of personal danger, by investing several officers in regal habiliments. Events soon proved the pru dence of this stratagem: Percy sought him in every quarter of the field, and Douglas with equal impetuosity slew three of these mock-monarchs with his own hand. The fight soon became general, and extending from Berwick westward, to the vicinity of Haghmon Abbey, in the east, continued for

• Otterbourne,

three

three hours with various success. The undaunted bravery and valour of the king, were nobly seconded by the valour of his son, prince Henry, who that day performed his noviciate in arms, in a manner which atoned for the profligacy of his former life, and gave earnest of the future glory of Agincourt. The Scottish champion, seconded by Hotspur, made another furious assault on the royal station, slew Sir Walter Blount, the standard-bearer, and came nearly within sword's point of the monarch, who fled for his life. Thus foiled in their repeated attempts, the confederate chiefs, carried away by the rage of lions, broke into the ranks of the enemy, with an impetuosity that their followers were unable to support. In one of these charges, while victory was inclining strongly in his favour, Hotspur was shot through the brain by an arrow, from an unknown hand; he fell gloriously in the midst of his foes. This circumstance rendered it difficult to conceal the news of his death, which some knights of his party in vain tried to do, by exclaiming, "The King is slain, long live Percy!" Henry, at this moment returning to the charge, cried out, "The King lives; Percy is slain-St. George and Victory!" The fate of the hero being thus proclaimed, entirely turned the fortune of the field; his army gave way on all sides, and

ensued.

total rout

Douglas fled with precipitation, but being hotly pursued, he was thrown from his horse while taking a desperate leap on Haghmond hill, and seized by the enemy. The Earl of Worcester was also taken prisoner. A gallant body of knights and gentlemen of Cheshire, whose loyalty to king Richard had united them to the avengers of his murder, were overtaken and cut to pieces. Of the brave Scots, who were ever foremost in the fight, few were left alive. Henry having with difficulty put a period to the slaughter, and abated the ardour of pursuit, halted to return thanks for his victory on the field of battle, which he sanctified and commemorated by decreeing the erection of the collegiate church of Battlefield.

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