s army, saying
quietly, 'God defend the right; we shall fight to-morrow.'

All that day the English worked hard to make their position more
secure. The sides of the hill were covered with woods and vineyards,
and the principal approach was by means of a lane with hedges on either
side, behind which a number of archers posted themselves. All the
weaker places were strengthened by means of palisades.

On the following morning, when all was in order of battle, the prince
addressed his men.

'Sirs,' he said, 'although we be but a small company compared with our
enemies, we must not lose courage. If it is to be our good fortune to
win the day, we shall be the most honoured people in all the world; and
if we die in our right quarrel, I have the king my father and my
brothers, and you have good friends and kinsmen, and they will avenge
our deaths. I beg that each of you will do your duty to-day, and if
God be pleased and St. George, this day you will see me a true knight.'

After this the battle began.

The French cavalry charged up the lane, hoping to break the lines of
archers, but the men who were posted behind the hedges received them
with such a volley of arrows that the horses refused to advance, and
some of them fell, blocking up the way.

Then a body of English knights, galloping down the hill, threw the
foremost of the French lines into confusion.

Lord James Audley, who during the first part of the battle had been by
the side of the prince, now said to him, 'Sir, I have always truly
served my lord your father and yourself also, and I shall do so as long
as I live. I once made a vow that in the first battle that your father
or any of his children should be in, I should be the first setter-on
and the best combatant, or else die; therefore I beg of you that you
will allow me to leave you in order that I may accomplish my vow.'

The prince took him by the hand and said, 'Sir James, God give you this
day the grace to be the first knight of all'; and Lord James rode away
into the battle and fought until he had to be carried, sorely wounded,
from the field.

In the meantime the battle raged with great fury upon all sides, and
many French and English knights were engaged in deadly combat.

An English knight, Sir John Chandos, who had never left the prince,
said to his master, 'Ride forward, noble prince, and the day is yours;
let us get to the French king, for truly he is so valiant a gentleman
that I think