This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 edition. Excerpt: ...well as able leader, was fully sensible of his peril, and received the sacrament in private, after having given strict orders that Dover castle should on no account be surrendered, even though he should be taken prisoner, and his life should be made contingent on its yielding. But the event of the combat like that of so many others, defeated the best caleulations of human reason, showing that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. The English passed the French fleet as if Calais were their object, and then suddenly tacking bore down in a line upon its rear, when the engagement was begun by the archers and crossbow-men. But this did not last long. According to their usual tactics both by land and sea, in ancient as well as in modern times, the English hastened to come to close quarters as soon as possible; having fastened their ships to those of the enemy with chains and hooks, they flung quicklime into the air which the wind carried into the faces of the French, and in the confusion thus produced, they boarded the opposite vessels axe in hand, and by cutting the rigging rendered them unmanageable. Confounded by so novel a mode of assault, the French made but a feeble resistance; of their whole fleet, fifteen ships alone escaped; more than a hundred knights with their squires were made prisoners, and scarcely less than eight hundred officers of inferior note shared the same fate; Le Moine himself, who had sought to escape by hiding in the hold of his vessel, was dragged forth, and his head stricken off, the large sum he offered for ransom being scornfully refused by his captor, Richard Fitzroy, a natural son of the late king John. The loss of this battle was fatal to the hopes of Louis. It left him no choice but...