e, but was
received with equal valour by the English; and after a furious combat,
which remained long undecided, the former, overcome by the difficulty
of the ground, and hard pressed by the enemy, began first to relax
their vigour, then to retreat; and confusion was spreading among the
ranks, when William, who found himself on the brink of destruction,
hastened with a select band to the relief of his dismayed forces. His
presence restored the action; the English were obliged to retire with
loss; and the duke, ordering his second line to advance, renewed the
attack with fresh forces, and with redoubled courage. Finding that
the enemy, aided by the advantage of ground, and animated by the
example of their prince, still made a vigorous resistance, he tried a
stratagem, which was very delicate in its management, but which seemed
advisable in his desperate situation, where, if he gained not a
decisive victory, he was totally undone: he commanded his troops to
make a hasty retreat, and to allure the enemy from their ground by the
appearance of flight. The artifice succeeded against those
inexperienced soldiers, who, heated by the action, and sanguine in
their hopes, precipitately followed the Normans into the plain.
William gave orders, that at once the infantry should face about upon
their pursuers, and the cavalry make an assault upon their wings, and
both of them pursue the advantage which the surprise and terror of the
enemy must give them in that critical and decisive moment. The
English were repulsed with great slaughter, and driven back to the
hill; where, being rallied by the bravery of Harold, they were able,
notwithstanding their loss, to maintain their post, and continue the
combat. The duke tried the same stratagem a second time with the same
success; but even after this double advantage, he still found a great
body of the English, who, maintaining themselves in firm array, seemed
determined to dispute the victory to the last extremity. He ordered
his heavy-armed infantry to make an assault upon them; while his
archers placed behind, should gall the enemy, who were exposed by the
situation of the ground, and who were intent on defending themselves
against the swords and spears of the assailants. By this disposition
he at last prevailed: Harold was slain by an arrow while he was
combating with great bravery at the head of his men: his two brothers
shared the same fate: and the English, discouraged by the fal