2zs HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. him , that the desperate situation of the duke ofHI- Normandy made it requisite for that prince tobring matters to a speedy decision , and puthis whole fortune on the issue of a battle ; butthat the king of England, in his own country,beloved by his subjects , provided with everysupply, had more certain and less dangerousmeans of ensuring to himself the victory : 1 hatthe Norman troops, elated on the one handwith the highest hopes, and seeing, on the other,no resource in case of a discomfiture, would fightto the last extremity ; and being the flower of allthe warriors of the continent, must be regardedas formidable to the English : That if their firstfire , which is always the most dangerous,were allowed to languish for want of action, ifthey were harassed with small skirmishes, straitenedin provisions, and fatigued with the bad weatherand deep roads daring the winter season , whichwas approaching, they must fall an easy and abloodless prey to their enemy : That if a generalaction were delayed, the English, sensible ofthe imminent danger, to which their properties,as well as liberties, were exposed from thoserapacious invaders, would hasten from all quartersto his assistance , and would render his army in-vincible : That, at least, if he thought it necessaryto hazard a battle, he ought not to expose hisown person ; but reserve, in case of disastrousaccidents, some resource to the liberty and in-dependence of the kingdom : And that havingonce been so unfortunate , as to be constrained