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CASTLE.]

NIGHT SCENE.-FITZALAN'S TOMB

lity to see his body taken up, that he might be certified of the truth. Which done, and perceiving it was a fable, he commanded the friars to take down his arms, that were set up about the place of his burial, and to cover the grave, so as it should not be perceived where he was buried.

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In less than two years, however, King Richard himself was a captive in the hands of his subjects Young Arundel and the son of the late Duke of Gloucester were appointed his keepers. "Here," said Lancaster, as he delivered Richard into their custody †, "here is the king; he was the murderer of your fathers; I expect you to be answerable for his safety."

During the first five years of Henry the Fourth, young Arundel, among other services, shared with his sovereign the reverses which attended his invasion of the Welsh frontier, and his campaign against

ARGENT

Owen Glendower.-But at length the scenes of the camp gave place to domestic festivities; and his approaching marriage with Donna Béatrice, daughter of John the First, king of Portugal, was publicly announced. Great preparations were made to receive the bride with all the honours due to her beauty and station; the royal palace and the earl's ancestral castle were sumptuously fitted up for her reception. She left Portugal with a splendid retinue, made a prosperous voyage, and arrived in London in the middle of November. On the twenty-sixth of the same month the solemnity took place in the Royal Chapel, where, in the presence of the King and Queen, Donna Béatrice gave her hand to the young Earl of Arundel.

"In the form and manner as you have heard did Duke Henry take King Richard, his lord. The duke led him straight to the Castle, which is fair and strong, and caused him to be lodged in the dungeon. And then he gave him in keeping to the son of the Duke of Gloucester, Humphrey Plantagenet; and Thomas Fitzalan, the son of the Earl

of Arundel; who hated him more than any man in the world, because King Richard had put their fathers to death."-French Metrical History, deposition of King Richard, Archæologia, vol. xx. 173. By the Rev. John Webb, M.A.; also Dallaway, p. 139.

† Froissart, vol. ii. 295. Dallaway, 139.

Their subsequent arrival at Arundel, and the rejoicings which there met the royal bride, may be better imagined than described. All that could add to the splendour of the gala was ingeniously arranged and displayed; and on her triumphant entry under the old Norman gateway of her husband's castle, Donna Béatrice might well confess that "the castled heights of Algarva were not so beautiful as the verdant hills, and embattled towers, of Arundel."

Among the personal exploits by which his brief career was subsequently distinguished, is the following. During the excitement which prevailed in France in consequence of the murder of the Duke of Orleans, "the author of that assassination, Charles Duke of Burgundy, now taking the alarm, applied to the English monarch for assistance." His request was instantly complied with; for Henry had "private motives which prompted him in this instance." Arundel, at the head of a strong body of archers and men-at-arms, was despatched to join the Burgundian leader, whom he met at Arras; and thence directing their march upon the capital, arrived on the twentythird of October. The first point of attack was St. Cloud, where Arundel took charge of the assault, and marching his men to the bridge which here crosses the Seine, carried it by storm; took possession of the town with severe loss to the enemy, and returned with numerous prisoners, immense booty, and the thanks of the Burgundian chief.

1411.

The same Earl was also present at the siege of Harfleur, in the subsequent reign; and under both sovereigns held many distinguished posts of high trust and honour. But returning from the last campaign in ill health, he died at his paternal seat of Arundel, where a magnificent monument, quartered with the royal arms of Portugal, attests his virtues and patriotic services.

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Of John Fitzalan, the eighth Earl, the public services and achievements, during the French wars," are not sufficiently prominent to demand any special notice in these pages; but John Fitzalan, the ninth Earl, is justly celebrated for his abilities both as a soldier and a senator.

In the grand tournament * which took place in the French capital in honour of the coronation of Henry the Fifth, the English monarch, there was a brilliant display of all that was most dazzling to the eye, and daring to the imagination. But at the close of the scenes in which the pride and prowess of chivalry were never more strikingly exemplified, Arundel † and the Comte de St. Pol, grand master of the household, were acknowledged to have carried away the prize from every competitor ‡.

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CASTLE.I

AFFAIR OF GERBEROI.-JOHN FITZALAN.

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Four years later, an event occurred which was destined to close his military career and carry him off in "the blaze of his fame." This happened in an attack upon the old castle of Gerberoi, near Beauvais, during the operations of the English army in Picardy.

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Leaving Gournay at midnight, the Earl arrived in eight hours with the advanced guard in sight of the towers of Gerberoi. But in his impatience to reduce the fortress, he had miscalculated the strength of its walls and garrison, with the experience of its veteran commandant La Hire, and his own diminutive force." The enemy," says Holinshed, "perceiving that his horses were weary and his archers not yet come up, determined to set upon him before the arrival of his footmen, which they knew to be a mile behind." As soon as he came in sight the gates were suddenly thrown open, and three thousand troops rushing upon the handful of men under his command, threw them into confusion. An unequal conflict ensued-struck with panic, and pressed by an overwhelming majority, the rout of the English became general. Arundel, with a few undaunted followers, who had sworn to share his glory or his grave, took up his position in "a little close" or corner of a field, where his rear was under cover of a strong hedge, threw up a hasty fortification of pointed stakes, and thus protected, kept the enemy at bay. But other and more powerful means of annoyance were at hand. La Hire ordered three culverins to be brought from the castle, and planted in front of the "forlorn hope." The first shot told sadly upon the members of this intrepid band;

but in the presence of their chief, nothing could damp their fortitude, nothing could paralyse their exertions. The first discharge was received with a shout of triumph and defiance. But the third striking Arundel in the knee, shattered the bone and threw him to the ground. This shot was the loss of the day. The French commander, seizing the favourable moment, rushed upon the entrenchment-and while Arundel, though faint with loss of blood and racked with pain, still continued to cheer on his men-effected a breach and took captive the gallant earl and his companions.

Arundel survived the disaster for some time, but died at last of his wound, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars-the Frères Mineurs-of Beauvais.

In the collegiate church of Arundel, where he had previously selected his own place of interment, a cenotaph of beautiful design and elaborate workmanship still marks the spot; but, owing to some unknown cause, as Mr Tierney informs us, "his executor neglected this last injunction;" and the soldier was not permitted to find rest in the sepulchre of his fathers.

1304.

Humphrey, his son, became heir to his titles and estates; but, not surviving This father more than three years, they again passed to his uncle, William Fitzalan, then in his twenty-first year. The events of his life, however, are not of a character to interest the reader by any bright displays of moral excellence, which could be handed down as examples to posterity.

"Obsequious--veering round with every change,

Now to the liege professing homage fervent;
Then as the sceptre dropp'd, could it seem strange
That faction found him its most humble servant!"

Yet with all his political faults, there was much in his private life and con versation-much in his munificence to the church-and still more in his encouragement of learning, to rescue his name from oblivion. He died at Arundel, and was buried with his ancestors in the Chapel, where a splendid altar-tomb attests his love and patronage of the fine arts.

In the preface to Caxton's Golden Legende, honourable mention is made of the puissant, "noble and vertuous lorde, Willyam, Erle of Arundelle." Dallaway quoting Vincent says-" William Earle of Arundell, a very father of nurture and courtesy, died at a great age at Arundell, and there triumphantly leth buried."

His successor, Thomas Fitzalan, was a man whose address and accomplishments found ready acceptance at court, and secured the good-will and approbation of more than one sovereign.

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Henry Fitzalan, on succeeding his father this year, returned from Calais to England, and at Arundel kept the Christmas festivities in such style

CASTLE.

EXPLOIT AT THE SIEGE OF BOULOGNE.

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with his neighbours, that it is known, says the MS. Life quoted by Mr. Dalla"the great Xmas of Arundel."

way, as

1544.

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At the siege of Boulogne, in the following year, he was nominated by King Henry as marshal of the field. The siege on this occasion proved tedious; the town and garrison were resolute in their defence, and day after day the besiegers were baffled in their efforts to force them to a capitulation. At last, however, a mine, which had been successfully worked beneath the castle, was sprung at midnight; the explosion shook the whole citadel, and

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general confusion ensued. Seizing the favourable moment, Arundel ordered the battering ordnance to play with redoubled fury upon the walls; and heading at the same time a resolute detachment, took his station in the entrenchments. There, while the shot and shell struck and exploded in the ramparts over his head, he waited till a breach in the masonry was effected; and then throwing himself into the gap, cheered on his men to the assault. Inspired by their leader's example, every soldier did his duty; the besieged were driven from the works; their guns were turned against themselves, the ramparts were cleared; capitulation was effected, and before morning the flag of England floated in triumph from the Castle of Boulogne.*

Grafton's account of this affair is very pictu resque:-"The which town of Bulleyne, he, King

Henry VIII., so sore assauted, and so besieged with such abundance of great ordnance, that never

VOL. I.

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