The Antiquities of Hastings and the Battlefield (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867. Excerpt: ... The Battle of Hastings, E meet to-day on the most interestmg spot on English ground--to call back the memories "Sof 800 years, and in imagination to behold -% S$f -(r) once more that bloody strife from morn to I eve on which the destinies of England hung, and which shaped the course for good or ill of all our future story--which has left its stamp for ever on England and her wide domains, and, "high mettling" our honest and sturdy Saxon nature with Norman chivalry and enterprise, has raised a race of islanders to be the lords of one sixth part of the lands trodden upon by man, whose flag is planted in every region of the world. Had we met here but to commemorate the one great disaster of our English annals, we should not be so eager to be here, and should look abashed upon the ground. But we meet here in the proud knowledge that since that fatal Saturday, no foe has lorded it over our peaceful vales. Only when England felt sick to her heart's core, under the tyrant John--when England kept not true unto herself, did foreign banners flaunt fitfully on English soil. Since then full many a mighty host and fleet have hovered threateningly around our coasts, but never dared to face us on our shores; to meet us, man to man; to listen to an English cheer; or stand the charge of English steel. We feel so far removed from that sad day, so fraught to us with weal and woe, that we can calmly gaze on these quiet dales, once filled with strife, but hardly listen unmoved to the spirit-stirring tale. It is not for me to say, what all know so well, how it chanced that the two boldest warriors of that age--who had each in his own land no other peer, to whose standards victory seemed chained, and who had fought together as brothers in arms--both claimed to themselve.