"His knowledge is, in feats of arms,
As yet but very small;

His tender joints much fitter were
To toss a tennis ball."

A tun of tennis balls, therefore,
In pride and great disdain,
He sent unto our noble king
To recompense his pain.*

Which answer when our king did hear,
He waxéd wroth in heart;

And said he would such balls provide
Should make all France to smart.

An army then our king did raise,
Which was both good and strong;
And from Southampton is our king
With all his navy gone.

In France he landed safe and sound,
With all his warlike train;

And to the town of Harfleur straight
He marchéd up amain.

But when he had besieged the same,
Against their fencéd walls,

To batter down their stately towers
He sent his English balls.

This done, our noble English king
Marched up and down the land;
And not a Frenchman for his life
Durst once his force withstand;

Until he came to Agincourt,
Where as it was his chance
To find the king in readiness,
With all his power of France.

A mighty host he had prepared
Of arméd soldiers then,
Which were no less by just account
Than forty thousand men.

Which sight did much amaze our king;

For he and all his host

Not passing fifteen thousand had,
Accounted at the most.

* Just as a mother, when refusing a petted child some foolish request, gives him a sugar-plum to keep him from crying.

The king of France, which well did know
The number of our men,

In vaunting pride unto our prince
Did send a herald then,

To understand what he would give
For ransom of his life,

When he in field should taken be
Amidst their bloody strife.

And then our king, with cheerful heart,
This answer soon did make;
And said, "Before this comes to pass
Some of their hearts shall quake.

"And to your proud, presumptuous prince,
Declare this thing," quoth he,

"Mine own heart's blood shall pay the price: None else he gets of me."

With that bespoke the Duke of York:
"O, noble king," quoth he,
"The leading of this battle brave
Vouchsafe to give to me."

"Brave cousin, valiant York," quoth he,
"I grant thee thy request;
Then march thee on courageously,
And I will lead the rest."

Then came the bragging Frenchmen down
With greater force and might,

With whom our noble king began

A hard and cruel fight.

The archers they discharged their shafts
As thick as hail from sky;

That many a Frenchman in the field
That dreadful day did die.

Ten thousand men that day were slain
Of enemies in the field;

And full as many prisoners

That day were forced to yield.

Thus had our king a happy day,
And victory over France;

And brought them quickly under foot
That late in pride did prance.

The Lord preserve our noble king,
And grant to him likewise

The upper hand and victory
Of all his enemies.

OLD BALLAD.

Popular Stories.

THE TOM-TIT AND THE BEAR.

NE summer day, as the wolf and bear were walking together in the wood, they heard a bird singing most delightfully. "Brother," said the bear, "what can that bird be that is singing so sweetly?" "O!" said the wolf, "that is his majesty the king of birds; we must take care to show him all possible respect." (Now I should tell you that this bird was, after all, no other than the tom-tit.) "If that is the case," said the bear, "I should like to see the royal palace; so pray come along and show it to me." "Gently, my friend," said the wolf; 'we cannot see it just yet; we must wait till the queen comes home."

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Soon afterwards the queen came with food in her beak, and she and the king began to feed their little ones. "Now for it!" said the bear, and was about to follow them to see what was to be seen. "Stop a little, Master Bruin," said the wolf; we must wait now until their majesties are gone again." So they marked the hole where they had seen the nest, and went away. But the bear, being very eager to see the royal palace, soon came back again, and, peeping into the nest, saw five or six young birds lying at the bottom of it. "What nonsense!" said Bruin; "this is not a royal palace. I never saw such a place in my you are no royal children, you little base-born brats!"

life;

and

As soon as the young tom-tits heard this they were very angry, and screamed out, "We are not base-born, you stupid bear! Our father and mother are honest, good sort of people; and depend upon it you shall suffer for your insolence." At this the wolf

and the bear grew frightened, and ran away to their dens. But the young tom-tits kept crying and screaming; and when their father and mother came home and offered them food they all said, "We will not touch a bit; no, not the leg of a fly, though we should die of hunger, till that rascal Bruin has been punished for calling us base-born brats." "Make yourselves easy, my

darlings," said the old king; "you may be sure he shall meet with his deserts.'

So he went out, and stood before the bear's den and cried out in a loud voice, "Bruin the bear! thou hast shamefully insulted our lawful children: we therefore declare bloody and cruel war against thee and thine, which shall never cease until thou hast been punished as thou so richly deservest." Now when the bear heard this, he called together the ox, the stag, the ass, and all the beasts of the earth, in order to consult about the means of his defence. And the tom-tit also enlisted on his side all the birds of the air, both great and small, and a very great army of hornets, gnats, bees, flies, and other insects.

As the time approached when the war was to begin, the tom-tit sent out spies to see who was the commander-in-chief of the enemy's forces; and the gnat, who was by far the cleverest spy of them all, flew backwards and forwards in the wood where the enemy's troops were, and at last hid himself under a leaf of a tree, close by which the orders of the day were given out. And the bear, who was standing so near the tree that the gnat could hear all he said, called to the fox and said, "Reynard, you are the cleverest of all the beasts, therefore you shall be our general, and lead us to battle; but we must first agree upon some signal by which we may know what you want us to do." "Behold!" said the fox; "I have a fine long bushy tail, which is very like a plume of red feathers, and gives me a very warlike air. Now, remember, when you see me raise up my tail you may be sure that the battle is won, and you have nothing to do but to rush down upon the enemy with all your force. On the other hand, if I drop my tail the day is lost, and you must run away as fast as you can." Now when the gnat had heard all this, she flew back to the tom-tit and told him everything that had passed.

At length the day came when the battle was to be fought; and, as soon as it was light, behold! the army of beasts came rushing forward with such a fearful sound that the earth shook. And his majesty the tom-tit, with his troops, came flying along in warlike array, flapping and fluttering, and beating the air so that it was quite frightful to hear; and both armies set themselves in order of battle upon the field. Now the tom-tit gave

orders to a troop of hornets that, at the first onset, they should march straight towards Captain Reynard, and, fixing themselves about his tail, should sting him with all their might and main. The hornets did as they were told; and when Reynard felt the first sting he started aside and shook one of his legs, but still held up his tail with wonderful bravery. At the second sting he was forced to drop his tail for a moment; but when the third hornet had fixed itself he could bear it no longer, but clapped his tail between his legs and scampered away as fast as he could. As soon as the beasts saw this, they thought, of course, all was lost, and scoured across the country in the greatest dismay, leaving the birds masters of the field.

And now the king and queen flew back in triumph to their children, and said, "Now, children, eat, drink, and be merry, for the victory is ours!" But the young birds said, "No! not till Bruin has humbly begged our pardon for the insult he has done us. So the king flew back to the bear's den, and cried out, "Thou villain bear! come forthwith to my abode and humbly beseech my children to forgive thee the insult thou hast offered them; for if thou wilt not do this every bone in thy wretched body shall be broken to pieces." So the bear was forced to crawl out of his den very sulkily, and do what the king bade him; and after that the young birds sat down together, and ate and drank and made merry.

AN ANECDOTE OF A MUSICIAN.When Yaniewicz, the musician, first came to this country, he lived at the west end of London. One day, after paying several visits, he called a hackney coach, and having seated himself, the coachman enquired whither he should drive him.- Yaniewicz: "Home, mon ami; you go me home."-Coachman: "Home, sir! but where?"-Faniewicz: "Ah! me not know; de name of de street has eschapè out of my memory-I have forgot him. What shall I do?" The coachman smiling, he continued: "Ah! you are gay; come, now, you understand de musique, eh?”—Coachman: "Music, what's that to do with the street ?"-Yaniewicz: "Ah! vous verrez, you shall see." He then hummed a tune, and inquired, "Vat is dat?"-Coachman: "Why, Malbrook."-Yaniewicz: "Ah! dat is him, Marlbro' street; now you drive me home."