2 5 o HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

C ir a r. were , however, several vessels lost in this shortin. passage; and as the wind again proved contrary,the army began to imagine,that heaven had declaredagainst them, and that, notwithstanding the pope’sbenediction, they were destined to certain destruc-tion. These bold warriors , who despised realdangers, were very subject to the dread of imaginaryOnes; and many of them began to mutiny, andeven to desert their colours; when the duke, inorder to support their drooping hopes, ordered aprocession to be made with the reliques of St.Yalori " , and prayers to be said for more favour-able weather. The wind instantly changed; andas this incident happened on the eve of the feastof St Michael , the tutelar faint of Normandy,the soldiers , fancying they saw the hand of heavenin all these concurring circumstances, set out withthe greatest alacrity : They met with no oppositionon their passage : A great fleet, which Haroldhad assembled, and which had cruized all summeroff the Isle of Wight, had been dismissed, on hisreceiving false intelligence, that William, discour-aged by contrary winds and other accidents, hadlaid aside his preparations. The Norman armament,proceeding in great order, arrived, without anymaterial loss, at Pevensey in Sussex; and thearmy quietly disembarked. The duke himself, ashe leaped on shore, happened to stumble and fall;but had the presence of mind, it is said , to turn th?

* 4 Higden, p. 285. Order. Vitalis, p. 5^0. Matth.Paris, edit. Pariliis anno 1644. p. 2.