ford. He then retired to Bois de Vincennes, near Paris, where he grew rapidly worse. He soon felt himself at the point of death, and sent for the duke of Bedford and the earl of Warwick, to come to him, and receive his last directions.

Henry appointed the duke of Bedford regent of France, and the duke of Gloucester regent of England; and his infant son he committed to the care of the earl of Warwick.. He also gave a particular charge that the prisoners taken at Azincourt should not be set at liberty till his son was of age. After he had given his final directions, he asked his physicians" how long they thought he might live?" And when they told him, "about two hours," he shut out from his thoughts every earthly care, and spent his remaining moments in devotion.

Henry V. died Aug. 31, in the thirty-fourth

A. D. 1422. year of his age, and the tenth of his reign. His death is said to have been hastened by the unskilfulness of his physicians. His funeral procession was conducted with prodigious pomp through France, and afterwards from Dover to Westminster, where he was buried. Tapers were kept burning day and night on his tomb for nearly 100 years, and might be burning still, perhaps, if all customs of that kind had not been abolished at the Reforma tion.

Henry married Catharine of France, and left one son,— Henry, born at Westminster, December 6, 142k. The queen afterwards married Owen Tudor, a Welsh gentle man, by whom she had three sons: Edmund, earl of Richmond, married Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort, duke of Somerset, and was the father of Henry Tudor, afterwards king Henry VII.; Jasper, earl of Pembroke; and Owen.

Manners and customs of the reign of Henry V. were improving in England, but the conveniences of life were still far behind ours of the present age. The nobility at

What were the last appointments of Henry V.?

What were the obsequies of Henry V.?

Who were the family of Henry V.?

What was the domestic architecture of Henry the Fifth's time?

that time no longer lived shut up in gloomy castles; but began to inhabit large mansions, built of timber, and covered with plaster. The outside wood work was very much carved, and the windows were large and wide. The principal apartment was the hall, which was two or three stories high, and commonly had an entrance porch. The floor of the upper half of the hall was raised about a foot higher than the rest, and called the dais, and there the lord of the mansion sat with his guests. The lower part was common to the menials of the family. of whom there were in every house a great number. The furniture of these halls was not very sumptuous, and usually consisted of only a long table fastened to the floor, three or four wooden benches for the gentlemen, with some low stools for the ladies, and perhaps a corner cupboard.

The walls were covered with large pieces of tapestry. hung on tenter-hooks, and taken down in summer. Some houses had chimneys; but in many the fire-place was in the middle of the floor, and, unless when a hole in the roof was made for it, the smoke found its way out through the rafters.

In the halls, while the nobles and their guests sat at table, they were entertained by singers, minstrels, and dancers. Over their heads were the perches for their hawks, and at their feet the pavement was crowded with dogs, gnawing the bones that were thrown to them: and besides all this, was the bustle and confusion of the nume rous and noisy attendants, who, it should appear, were allowed to bawl, and shout, and talk to each other.

When the master of the house and his guests had eaten what they chose, the serving men took their share, and what remained was given to the poor, who, at the hour of din ner, stood in crowds about the gate to receive it.

Accommodations for sleeping were not very comfortable. In the reign of Henry V. a flock bed, and a chaff bolster, were considered extraordinary luxuries, and pillows were only made for sick people. Feather beds, however, were used by kings and princes. The beds of the middle classes of people, were straw pallets, covered with a sheet, and a log

Describe the hall, the dais, the furniture, the chimneys?
What were the manners of the old barons in their country houses?
What sort of bedding was used in this age in England?

of wood for a bolster, with a blanket and coverlet, like what is now used for horse-cloths. Servants had very seldom any sheets at all, and the sleeping in night clothes was an extravagance they did not indulge in. And in war even such accommodations as these were sometimes denied to princes themselves.

CHAP. XX.

HENRY VI.

[Years after Christ, 1422-1461.]

The duke of Bedford, who was appointed to the regency of France by the late king, was not his inferior either in valor or wisdom, and was much superior to him in the excellent virtues of clemency and command of temper. The earls of Warwick, Salisbury, Arundel, and lord Talbot, who held high offices in the state and army, were all men of distinguished abilities; so that the death of Henry made no immediate change in the situation of affairs in France.

Charles VI. ended his unhappy reign a few months af ter the death of Henry. The dauphin, Charles VII., immediately assumed the name of king, and lost no opportunity of trying to regain his kingdom: but Bedford did all that a wise and politic man could do to support the interests of his nephew. He agreed to the ransom of the king of Scotland, and made a seventeen years' truce with that country which prevented Charles from obtaining any farther assistance from it.

The earl of Salisbury, with a powerful A. D. 1428. army, laid siege to Orleans, which still adhered to Charles. At the second assault a small tower which defended the bridge was taken. At the top of this

Who were the chief men in England at the time of Henry the Fifth's death?

What was the state of affairs in France?

Where was the Earl of Salisbury killed?

tower was a grated window, which overlooked the town; and while the earl of Salisbury was taking a survey from it, he was perceived by the master gunner of the enemy, who aimed a gun at the window, which shivered the iron bars of the grate, and wounded the earl so desperately that he died a few days afterwards.

The siege was continued under the direction of the earl of Suffolk and lord Talbot, who completely defeated the army which had been sent to the relief of the town, and Charles now thought it impossible to save it; when one of the most extraordinary circumstances that has ever been recorded in history occurred, and not only preserved Orleans from the English, but also greatly contributed to their being deprived soon after of all their late conquests in France.

There was a young woman of the name of Joan d'Arc, who was servant at an inn at Neufchatel in Lorraine. The accounts she was continually hearing from the travellers who came to the inn, of the distress the people of Orleans were reduced to, and of the little probability there was that Charles would be able to preserve that town, or any other that remained to him, worked up her mind to such a pitch of sympathy for the sufferers, and of enthusiasm for the cause of her king, that she fancied herself delegated by God to raise the siege of Orleans, and restore to Charles the kingdom of his ancestors.

Joan imparted what she considered her high commission to the governor of a neighboring town, and desired him to send her to the king. At first the governor treated her as an insane enthusiast; but at last, being overcome by her importunities, he allowed some of his attendants to conduct her to the royal presence. It was two days before she could gain admittance; but when she appeared before the king, and announced her errand, he and his courtiers were so much astonished by her appearance and manner, that they declared themselves convinced of her being commissioned by Heaven to expel the English from

Did an extraordinary circumstance preserve the city of Orleans?
Who was Joan of Arc?

How did the French king and his nobles regard Joan of Arc?

France; and an escort was ordered to conduct her to Orleans.

The hardships to which Joan had been A. D. 1429. inured had qualified her to bear the fatigue of a soldier's life. It having been part of her business at the inn to tend the horses, she was already an expert rider: and when she got admitted into the town, she headed the troops, and made several sallies against the English, in which she was always victorious.

The belief of her sacred mission, while it revived the sunk spirits of her countrymen, depressed those of the English soldiers, who joining in the general superstition, imagined, when they were combatting with her, that they were fighting against Heaven: and Suffolk was obliged to raise the siege of Orleans, May 8, 1429.

The French, improving this advantage, laid siege to several of the towns which were held by the English; and in all these sieges the Maid of Orleans, as Joan was now called, behaved with the intrepidity of an experienced soldier. On one occasion, when scaling a wall, she was wounded in the head, and fell from the top of the ladder into the ditch; but without regarding the hurt, she exclaimed with a loud voice, "Advance, advance my countrymen! the Lord hath doomed the English to destruction," -Another time she was wounded in the neck by an arrow, and drawing out the arrow herself, she retired to have the wound dressed, and then returned to lead on the troops.

In the month of June, the French and English armies met. So much discord and confusion prevailed among the English, that the French obtained an easy victory. These successes greatly increased the fame and influence of Joan: and now, having raised the siege of Orleans, she insisted on being allowed to attempt the object which she had next. at heart, that of crowning Charles at Rheims; and in this attempt also she succeeded, although the country about Rheims was for the most part in possession of the enemy.

What had been the occupation of Joan of Arc?

What were the achievements of Joan of Arc?

Were the French armies victorious under the influence of Joan, and how did she crown her enterprise?

P