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mediately returning with his soldiers to Poissy, repaired the bridge with incredible speed, passed over, and advanced by quick marches into Flanders. The disappointed French followed him, but the English continued their march till they reached the banks of the Somme. There the bridges were likewise either broken down, or strongly guarded; an army under the command of Godemar de Faye, was stationed on the opposite side to attack them, and Philip, at the head of one hundred thousand men, was advancing in the rear. Here was a difficult position! The English were in danger of being enclosed, and starved to death in an enemy's country! However, the soldiers depended on the skill and sagacity of the gallant leader, and their dependence was not in vain. He offered a reward of a thousand marks to any one who would show him a ford over the Somme. Alas! what will not money effect! The tempting bribe proved too much for the fidelity of a peasant named Gobin Agace, and for a thousand marks he betrayed the interests of his country. He informed Edward of a ford over the river below Abbeville, where it was possible to cross at low water. The King hastened thither, but found Godemar de Faye on the opposite bank.

Urged by necessity he hesitated not a moment, but threw himself into the river, sword in hand, calling out to his troops, "Let him who loves me, follow."

They followed bravely, and Godemar de Faye and his men were pursued to a distance on the plain.

Just as the last of the soldiers were crossing the ford, Philip and the French army came up. So narrow was Edward's escape from this danger! The tide was then rising, so that Philip had to take his troops round by the bridge of Abbeville, and thereby lost. much time, which Edward took advantage of, by placing his army in an excellent position. He chose a gentle eminence near the village of Cressy, and calmly awaited the arrival of the enemy. Having divided his army into three lines, he gave the youthful Prince of Wales the command of the second, and he himself took charge

of the third. Imagine the feeling of the young prince,a boy of fifteen, as he took his post, and knew that on his skill and courage the fortune of the day in a great measure depended! No fear, however, blanched his cheek; on the contrary, his bright and flashing eye, and joyous look as he mounted his war horse, inspired his men with hope and courage.

Still they felt it would be a desperate conflict; there were only 30,000 English to oppose 120,000 Frenchmen, and they knew they must fight for their lives. And Edward knew it too; so he rode along the lines with such an air of cheerfulness and alacrity, and spoke so encouragingly to the soldiers, that every heart acquired fresh confidence. He told them they must be bold and brave that day, if they did not wish defeat in an enemy's country; that he knew they could conquer if they were determined; and that he only asked them to follow his own example, and that of the Prince of Wales.

"Ah!" thought the young Edward, as he heard his father's words, "then my example shall not teach them to be cowards; they shall follow me to victory or to death!"

And now the French approached, an immense host, but not in the order of Edward's small but well-disciplined band. Philip had ordered them to rest and refresh themselves before the battle, but so eager were they to defeat the English that they refused to obey him. In the front line of his army he placed 15,000 archers, but a thunder-storm coming on, the rain moistened and relaxed the strings of their crossbows, so that when they came to shoot, their arrows fell short of the enemy. The English archers, more wisely, had kept theirs in cases.

On the 26th of August, 1346, about three in the afternoon, the famous battle of Cressy began. The English arrows flying thick and fast, soon routed the French archers, with their wet bow-strings, and they, falling back amongst the cavalry, produced much confusion. In this battle, cannon was first used, and Edward had posted some on a hill, which now firing

on the French, filled them with terror and dismay. A cannon-ball is indeed an engine of destruction. Down they came, men and horses; till the dead and the dying choked up the way. The Black Prince had the presence of mind to take advantage of this confusion, and led his men to the charge. And now the brave boy set an example of valor which was imitated by all his followers. Sword in hand, he was in the thickest of the fight, conspicuous by his daring courage, and by his black armor. The French fought bravely too; the battle became hot and dangerous; and the Earl of Warwick, fearing from the superior force of the enemy that the Prince would be surrounded and slain, and the English defeated, sent a messenger to King Edward, who had stationed himself with his division on the top of a hill, to request he would send immediate help to the Prince of Wales. The King, who was surveying with tranquillity the scene of action, instantly inquired if the prince were wounded or slain. Receiving an answer to the negative, he replied: "Return to my son and tell him I leave the honor of the day in his hands. I am confident he will show himself worthy of the honor of knighthood which I lately conferred upon him: he will be able without my assistance, to repel the enemy."

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The speech being reported to the prince and his soldiers, inspired them with more courage than a strong re-inforcement could have done. With a tremendous shout, and redoubled ardor, they again charged the enemy, and overthrew them on all sides with prodigious slaughter.

The whole French army was completely routed and followed by the victors, till the darkness of the night put an end to the pursuit.

King Edward, on his return to the camp, embraced the Prince of Wales with joy and exultation at his conduct. "My brave son!" he exclaimed, “go on as you have begun. You are my son; for valiantly have you acquitted yourself to-day. You have shown yourself worthy of an empire!"

The king of Majorca and the king of Bohemia were slain in the battle of Cressy. The fate of the latter was remarkable. He was blind from age; but being resolved to hazard his person, and set an example to others, he ordered the reins of his bridle to be tied on each side to the horses of two gentlemen of his train; and his body, and those of his attendants, were afterwards found amongst the slain, with their horses standing round them in that position. His crest was three ostrich feathers; and his motto the German words, Ich dien, "I serve," which the Prince of Wales and his successors adopted in memorial of the glorious victory.

White.

OF THE INTRODUCTION, IMPROVEMENT, AND FALL OF THE ARTS OF ROME.

The city of Rome, as well as its inhabitants, was in the beginning rude and unadorned. Those old rough soldiers looked on the effects of the politer arts as things fit only for an effeminate people; as too apt to soften and unnerve men; and to take from that martial temper and ferocity which they encouraged so much and so universally in the infancy of their state. Their houses were (what the name they gave them signified) only a covering for them, and a defence against bad weather. These sheds of theirs were more like the caves of wild beasts than the habitations of men; and were rather flung together as chance led them, than formed into regular streets and openings: their walls were half mud, and their roofs pieces of wood stuck together; nay, even this was an after improvement; for in Romulus's time their houses were only covered with straw. If they had any thing that was finer than ordinary, that was chiefly taken up in setting off the temples of their gods; and when these began to be furnished with statues (for they had none till long after Numa's time) they were probably more fit to give. terror than delight; and seemed rather formed so as to

be horrible enough to strike an awe into those who worshipped them, than handsome enough to invite any one to look upon them for pleasure. Their design, I suppose, was answerable to the materials they were made of: and if their gods were of earthen ware, they were reckoned better than ordinary; for many of them were chopt out of wood. One of the chief ornaments in those times, both of the temples and private houses, consisted in their ancient trophies: which were trunks of trees cleared of their branches, and so formed into a rough kind of posts. These were loaded with the arms they had taken in war, and you may easily perceive what sort of ornaments these posts must make, when half decayed by time, and hung about with old rusty arms, besmeared with the blood of their enemies. Rome was not then that beautiful Rome whose very ruins at this day are sought after with so much pleasure; it was a town which carried an air of terror in its appearance; and which made people shudder whenever they first entered within its gates.

Spence.

THE GORILLA.

In 1847

Professor Owen received a letter from Dr. Savage, a church missionary at Gaboon, a richlywooded tract in the western part of Africa, enclosing sketches of the cranium of an ape, which he described as much larger than the chimpanzee, ferocious in its habits, and dreaded by the negro natives more than they dread the lion or any other wild beast of the forest.

The gorilla is of the average height of man, five feet six inches; his brain case is low and narrow, and, as the fore part of the skull is high, and there is a very prominent ridge above the eyes, the top of the head is perfectly flat, and the brow, with its thick integument, forms a "scowling pent-house over the eyes." Couple with this a deep lead-colored skin, much wrinkled, a prominent jaw with the canine teeth (in

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