to undertake the
office of preceptor and guide to the young prince in learning and in
arms. Henry next left a charge for his brother Humfrey to be careful
that no division of affection and interests should take place between
them; he conjured them also not to quarrel with the Duke of Burgundy,
and enjoined them not to release the Duke of Orleans, and some (p. 306)
other prisoners, till his son was arrived at years of discretion.

This was a mournful hour for those noblemen and friends and relatives
who surrounded his bed. At length, having given all necessary
directions for the government of his kingdom and his family,[233] he
fixed his thoughts wholly on another world. He urged the physicians to
tell him the real state of his disease; but they evaded any direct
answer. Very soon he required them to tell him how long, in all human
probability, he had to live. After some consultation, one of them,
speaking for the rest, knelt down and said, "Sir, think of your soul;
for, without a miracle, in our judgment you cannot survive two hours."
His confessor and other ministers of religion then surrounded his bed,
and administered the parting rite of the Roman church, as it was at
that time and is still practised. He next desired them to join in the
seven penitential psalms; and when in the 51st psalm they read, "Build
thou the walls of Jerusalem," caught by the words, Henry bade them
stop awhile; and with a loud voice declared to them, on the faith of a
dying person, that it verily had been his fixed purpose, after
settling peace in France, to proceed against the infidels, and rescue
Jerusalem from their tyranny, if it had pleased his Creator to (p. 307)
lengthen out his days. He then requested them to proceed; and when
they had finished their devotions, between two and three o'clock in
the morning, he breathed his last.

[Footnote 233: Elmham says, Henry added several
codicils to his Will, leaving large sums to
discharge the debts not only of himself, but also
of his father, and also to reward many of his
faithful servants.]

Henry of Monmouth died 31st August 1422; and when he resigned his soul
into the hands of his Redeemer, he seemed to fall asleep rather than
to expire.[234]

[Footnote 234: Elmham.]

Such a Christian end of his mortal existence is not surprising when we
remember (a point on which