iser part of the council declared for a retreat; and represented,
that all the past misfortunes of the French had proceeded from their
rashness in giving battle when no necessity obliged them; that this
army was the last resource of the king, and the only defence of the few
provinces which remained to him; and that every reason invited him to
embrace cautious measures, which might leave time for his subjects to
return to a sense of their duty, and give leisure for discord to arise
among his enemies, who, being united by no common bond of interest or
motive of alliance, could not long persevere in their animosity against
him. All these prudential considerations were overborne by a vain point
of honor, not to turn their backs to the enemy; and they resolved to
await the arrival of the duke of Bedford.

The numbers were nearly equal in this action; and as the long
continuance of war had introduced discipline, which, however imperfect,
sufficed to maintain some appearance of order in such small armies, the
battle was fierce, and well disputed, and attended with bloodshed
on both sides. The constable drew up his forces under the walls of
Verneuil, and resolved to abide the attack of the enemy: but the
impatience of the viscount of Narbonne, who advanced precipitately, and
obliged the whole line to follow him in some hurry and confusion, was
the cause of the misfortune which ensued. The English archers, fixing
their palisadoes before them, according to their usual custom, sent
a volley of arrows amidst the thickest of the French army; and though
beaten from their ground, and obliged to take shelter among the baggage,
they soon rallied, and continued to do great execution upon the enemy.
The duke of Bedford, meanwhile, at the head of the men at arms, made
impression on the French, broke their ranks, chased them off the field,
and rendered the victory entirely complete and decisive.[*]

* Hall, fol. 83, 89, 90. Monstrelet, vol. ii. p. 15. Stowe,
p 365., Holingshed, p. 588.

The constable himself perished in battle as well as the earl of Douglas
and his son, the counts of Aumale, Tonnerre, and Ventadour, with many
other considerable nobility. The duke of Alencon, the mareschal de la
Fayette, the lords of Gaucour and Mortemar, were taken prisoners. There
fell about four thousand of the French, and sixteen hundred of the
English; a loss esteemed, at that time, so unusual on the side of
the victors, that the duke of Bed