the assertions of the chroniclers, however
positively affirmed, or frequently reiterated,
whenever they have appeared to be incompatible with
ascertained facts, or inconsistent with what would
otherwise be probable. In the present instance,
after a review of all the circumstances, and an
examination of all the documents with which he is
acquainted, though the supposition here adopted may
be deemed ideal and fanciful, he is inclined to
think that the acquiescence in that view will be
attended with fewer difficulties than the adoption
of any other.]

[Footnote 223: But whilst Henry was thus actively
employed in visiting his subjects, and spreading
the blessing which a good King can never fail to
dispense wherever his influence can be felt, his
ministers of state sought his directions on all
important matters for the management of his affairs
on the Continent. Thus a despatch addressed to the
Treasurer by William Bardolf, Lieutenant of Calais,
is forwarded with all speed to the King in
Yorkshire, that his especial pleasure might be
taken thereon. Payment of the messenger appears in
the Pell Rolls, April 1, 9 Hen. V.]

If, as we are led to believe, Henry returned by the way of Chester,
his ardent imagination and pious turn of thought would have reverted
with mingled feelings of wonder and gratitude to his journey along the
same road two-and-twenty years before; when, returning from his own
captivity in Ireland, he accompanied the captive Richard towards his
metropolis, to resign his throne there, and soon afterwards to lay
down his life. To Henry, indeed, mementos presented themselves on
every side of the frailty of all sublunary possessions, the precarious
tenure by which king or peasant alike holds any earthly thing; whilst
he was himself destined, in the revolution of the next year, to become
in his own person a marked example of the same uncertainty. His spirit
might seem to address us from the grave, in the words of a reflecting
man.[224] "A day, an hour, a moment is sufficient for th