on the holy relics.

"My brother," said the young Saxon prince, "thou canst not deny that
either by force or free will thou hast made Duke William an oath on the
bodies of saints. Why then risk thyself in the battle with a perjury
upon thee? To us, who have sworn nothing, this is a holy and a just war,
for we are fighting for our country. Leave us then alone to fight this
battle, and he who has the right will win."

Harold replied that he would not look on while others risked their lives
for him. Men would hold him a coward, and blame him for sending his best
friends where he dared not go himself. He resolved, therefore, to fight,
and to fight in person; but he was still too good a general to be the
assailant in the action; and he posted his army with great skill along a
ridge of rising ground which opened southward, and was covered on the
back by an extensive wood. He strengthened his position by a palisade of
stakes and osier hurdles, and there he said he would defend himself
against whoever should seek him.

The ruins of Battle Abbey at this hour attest the place where Harold's
army was posted; and the high altar of the abbey stood on the very spot
where Harold's own standard was planted during the fight, and where the
carnage was the thickest. Immediately after his victory William vowed to
build an abbey on the site; and a fair and stately pile soon rose there,
where for many ages the monks prayed and said masses for the souls of
those who were slain in the battle, whence the abbey took its name.
Before that time the place was called Senlac. Little of the ancient
edifice now remains; but it is easy to trace in the park and the
neighborhood the scenes of the chief incidents in the action; and it is
impossible to deny the generalship shown by Harold in stationing his
men, especially when we bear in mind that he was deficient in cavalry,
the arm in which his adversary's main strength consisted.

William's only chance of safety lay in bringing on a general engagement;
and he joyfully advanced his army from their camp on the hill over
Hastings, nearer to the Saxon position. But he neglected no means of
weakening his opponent, and renewed his summonses and demands on Harold
with an ostentatious air of sanctity and moderation.

"A monk, named Hugues Maigrot, came in William's name to call upon the
Saxon King to do one of three things--either to resign his royalty in
favor of William, or to refer it to the arbitration o