), gilded, and
looking earnestly towards England, holding in one hand a banner, in
the other an ivory horn, on which he is sounding a joyful reveillee.

But long the fleet waited at St. Valeri for a fair wind, until the
barons became weary and dispirited. Then they prayed the convent to
bring out the shrine of St. Valeri and set it on a carpet in the
plain; and all came praying the holy relics that they might be allowed
to pass over sea. They offered so much money, that the relics were
buried beneath it; and from that day forth they had good weather and a
fair wind. "Than Willyam thanked God and Saynt Valary, and toke
shortly after shyppynge, and helde his course towarde Englande."

On the arrival of the fleet in England a banquet is prepared. The
shape of the table at which William sits has been the theme of some
curious remarks by Father Montfaucon, which have been copied by
Ducarel and others. It is in form of a half-moon, and was called by
the Romans _sigma_, from the Greek +s+. It was calculated only for
seven persons; and a facetious emperor once invited eight, on purpose
to raise a laugh against the person for whom there would be no place.

"A knight in that country (Britain) heard the noise and cry made by
the peasants and villains when they saw the great fleet arrive. He
well knew that the Normans were come, and that their object was to
seize the land. He posted himself behind a hill, so that they should
not see him, and tarried there watching the arrival of the great
fleet. He saw the archers come forward from the ships, and the knights
follow. He saw the carpenters with their axes, and the host of people
and troops. He saw the men throw the materials for the fort out of the
ships. He saw them build up and enclose the fort, and dig the fosse
around it. He saw them land the shields and armour. And as he beheld
all this his spirit was troubled; and he girt his sword and took his
lance, saying he would go straightway to King Harold and tell the
news. Forthwith he set out on his way, resting late and rising early;
and thus he journeyed on by night and by day to seek Harold his lord."
And we see him in the tapestry speeding to his beloved master.

Meanwhile Harold is not idle. But the fleet which, in expectation of
his adversary's earlier arrival, he had stationed on the southern
coast, had lately dispersed from want of provisions, and the King,
occupied by the Norwegian invasion, had not been able to reinstate