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and he permitted them not to pursue any other object than their enemies. A considerable body having retired to the adjacent mountains, he prevailed on his soldiers to join him in the pursuit, in order to oblige these to surrender. He began by inclosing them with a line drawn at the foot of the mountain; but they quickly abandoned a post which was untenable for want of water, and endeavoured to reach the city of Larissa. Cæsar, leading a part of his army by a shorter way, intercepted 2 their retreat. However, these unhappy fugitives again found protection from a mountain,3 at the foot of which 4 ran a rivulet, which supplied them with water. Night approaching, Cæsar's men were almost spent and fainting with their incessant toil since morning; yet still he prevailed upon them once more to renew their labours, and to cut off the rivulet that supplied the defendants. The fugitives, thus deprived of all hopes of succour or subsistence, sent deputies to the conqueror, offering to surrender at discretion. During this interval of negotiation, a few senators that were among them took the advantage 5 of the night to escape, and the rest next morning gave up their arms, and experienced the conqueror's clemency. In fact, he addressed them with great gentleness, and forbade the soldiers to offer violence, or to take any thing from them. Thus Cæsar gained the most complete victory that had ever been obtained: and by his great clemency after the battle, seemed to have deserved it. His loss amounted only to two hundred men; that of Pompey to fifteen thousand twenty-four thousand men surrendered themselves prisoners of war, and the greatest part of these entered into Cæsar's army, and were incorporated with the rest of his forces. To the senators and Roman knights who fell into his hands he generously gave liberty to retire

1 he obtained from his soldiers that they should join (se joindre à, in the imperf. subj.). See page 260, note 1

2 Use couper, and see page 10, note 10. Larissa,' Larisse.

3 a mountain which served

them as a (simply, de) refuge.' A full stop here.

5

Simply, 'At the foot.' -the rest gave profitèrent. up; see page 118, note 17. 6 See page 13, note 5.

7 Use the plural.

wherever they thought proper; and as for the letters which Pompey had received from those who wished to be thought neutral, Cæsar, unwilling to know who had failed to support him, burned them all unread,1 as Pompey had done upon a former occasion. Thus having performed all the duties of a general and a statesman, he sent for the legions which had passed the night in camp, to relieve those which had accompanied him in the pursuit, and arrived the same day at Larissa.

As for Pompey, who had formerly shown such instances of courage and conduct, when he saw his cavalry routed, on which he had placed his sole dependence, he absolutely lost his reason.2 Instead of thinking how3 to remedy this disorder, by rallying such troops as fled, or by opposing fresh troops to stop the progress of the conqueror, being totally amazed by this first blow,5 he returned to the camp, and in his tent waited the issue of an event which it was his duty to have directed, not to follow: there he remained for some moments speechless, till being told that the camp was attacked, "What!" says he, "are we pursued to our very entrenchments?" when immediately quitting his armour for a habit more suited to his circumstances, he 10 fled on horseback to Larissa: thence, perceiving that he was not pursued, he slackened his pace, giving way to all the agonising reflections which his deplorable situation must 11 naturally suggest. In this melancholy manner he passed along 12 the vale of Tempe, and pursuing the course of the river Peneus,13 at last arrived at a fisherman's hut. Here he passed the night, and then went on

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1 without reading them.' 2 'reason,' here, tête; see page 19, note 5, and page 26, note 12.

3 Use songer aux moyens de, and turn 'He did not think,' &c., so as to make short sentences.

4 Simply, les fuyards.

5 A full stop after conqueror ;' and begin, Amazed' (Consterné), &c.-' blow,' échec, here.

6the issue of,' &c.; simply, l'événement, qu'il devait plutôt tra

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board a little bark;1 keeping along the sea-shore till he 2 descried a ship of some burthen,3 which seemed preparing to sail. In this he embarked; the master of the vessel still paying him that homage which was due to his former station. (GOLDSMITH, History of Rome.)

THE BATTLE OF OTTERBURN.

(PERCY AND DOUGLAS.)
[ANN. 1388.]

It was from prudence, not from want of courage, that the Scots avoided great battles with the English. They readily engaged in smaller actions, when they fought with the utmost valour on both sides, till, as an old historian expresses it, sword and lance could endure no longer, and then they would part 7 from each other, saying, “Good day; and thanks for the sport you have shown." A very remarkable instance of such a desperate battle occurred in the year 1388.

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The Scottish nobles had determined upon an invasion of England on a large scale,10 and had assembled a great army for that purpose; but learning that the people 11 of Northumberland were raising an army on the eastern frontier, they resolved to limit their incursion 12 to that which might be achieved by the Earl of Douglas, with a chosen band 13 of four or five thousand men. With this force he penetrated into the mountainous frontier of

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refused their service.'

7 See page 45, note 4.

ment que vous m'avez procuré.

9 de ces combats à outrance (see page 132, note 19).

10had formed the project of making a formidable invasion in England.'

11the inhabitants.'-'of Northumberland;' see page 26, note 12 Use the plural.

13 troupe d'élite (as corps d'élite,

8 Au revoir, merci de l'amuse- 'picked men').

England, where an assault was least expected,1 and issuing forth 2 near Newcastle, fell upon the flat and rich country around, slaying, plundering, burning,3 and loading his army with spoil.

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Percy, Earl of Northumberland, an English noble of great power, and with whom the Douglas had frequently had encounters, sent his two sons, Sir Henry and Sir Ralph Percy, to stop the progress of the invasion. Both were gallant knights; but the first, who, from his impetuosity, was called Hotspur, was one of the most distinguished warriors in England, as Douglas was in 5 Scotland. The brothers threw themselves hastily into Newcastle, to defend that important town; and as Douglas, in an insulting manner, drew up his followers before the walls, they came out to skirmish with the Scots. Douglas and Henry Percy encountered personally; and it so chanced,10 that Douglas in the struggle got possession 11 of Hotspur's spear, to the end of which was attached a small ornament of silk, embroidered with 12 pearls, on which was represented a lion, the cognizance, as it is called, of the Percies.13 Douglas shook this trophy aloft, and declared that he would carry it into Scotland, and plant it on his castle of Dalkeith.

1 'a side (page 27, note 2) where they least expected an assault (attaque, in this sense, and sometimes insulte-a term of war).'

2 et se montrant tout à coup (page 148, note 2); or, et débouchant tout à coup.-The English have now adopted, as a military term, the French verb déboucher, and given it an English termination, thus'to debouch.'

3 mettant tout à feu et à sang. 4 Hotspur (i. e., éperon brûlant -tête chaude).

5 See page 31, note 11, and page 15, note 9.

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13 A semicolon after lion ;' c'était le cimier des Percys.-The student must not fancy that all proper names take the mark of the plural, in French: on the contrary, as a rule they do not, and this case is only an exception to the rule. The exception is, that proper names, in French, become plural when they may be considered as a title common to an illustrious family, a royal race, a clan, &c.: thus, les Stuarts, les Bourbons, and also in some cases somewhat similar to the preceding, as les Curiuces, les Gracques, les Scipions, &c.

I will

"That," said Percy, "shalt thou never do.1 regain my lance ere thou canst get back into Scotland." Then," said Douglas, "come to seek it, and thou shalt find it before my tent."

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The Scottish army, having completed the purpose of their expedition, began their retreat up the vale of the little river Reed, which afforded a tolerable road running north-westward towards their own frontier. They encamped at Otterburn, about twenty miles from the Scottish border, on the 19th August, 1388.

In the middle of the night, the alarm arose in the Scottish camp, that the English host were coming upon them, and the moonlight showed the approach of Sir Henry Percy, with a body of men 5 superior in number to that of Douglas. He had already crossed the Reed water," and was advancing towards the left flank of the Scottish army. Douglas, not choosing to receive the assault in that position, drew his men out of the camp, and, with a degree of military skill which could scarce have been expected when his forces were of such an undisciplined character, he altogether changed the position of the army, and presented his troops with their front to the advancing English.9

Hotspur, in the meantime, marched his squadrons through the deserted camp, where there were none left

1 C'est ce que tu ne feras, &c. 2 à se retirer le long de la vallée qu'arrose (page 6, note 3). 3 Au. 4 'it was said that.' 5 of troops.' 6 Simply, the Reed' (fem.). 7'feeling the disadvantage of his.' 8 'skill... expected,' &c. The idea is not expressed correctly: the discipline of soldiers has to do not with the 'skill' of the chief, but with the execution of his orders; turn, se retira du camp avec toutes ses troupes, et par une manœuvre aussi habile que savante, qu'on n'aurait jamais cru de pareils soldats en état d'exécuter. See page 244, note1. Here the past participle cru remains invariable, because it is not preceded by the

object of the verb (aurait cru): that object is the following part of the proposition, whilst manœuvre que is the object of exécuter. What is it, in fact, that 'one would never have believed'? Surely not 'the manoeuvre' (une manoeuvre que), but one would never have believed that such soldiers were able to execute.' If the sentence ran thus, a manœuvre which one would never have believed practicable,' the French would be... crue praticable' (crue, feminine, here, agreeing with manœuvre que, which would then be the object of the verb, and placed before the verb). 9 Simply, et fit face à l'ennemi.

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