BUCKINGHAM
encouraged. The Duke shared the lot of the common soldier, went amongst them with a smile and a greeting, and at night slept in the open fields to set them an example! We are irresistibly reminded of Shakespeare's hero:
For forth he goes and visits all his host, Bids them good morrow with a modest smile, And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen
That every wretch, pining and pale before, Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks, A largess universal like the sun His liberal eye doth give to everyone, Thawing cold fear.l
All his men combined in praising the personal demeanour of their leader, and, had he possessed the necessary experience and good fortune, this expedition might easily have given to Buckingham that hero worship from the nation which he so ardently craved. But in military tactics he could not be other than a novice, this being his first engagement, whilst, despite his courage, his luck seemed always to be against him. For once, Fortune deserted her favourite. The necessary support, from one cause or another, never reached him at the critical moment.
That the expedition had been built upon shifting sands was soon to be revealed. The political intrigues which Buckingham had directed to be carried out in France did not bear their expected fruit. Becher and Soubise from the mainland soon reported that the Rochellese were very halfhearted in supporting their champion. A small handful of men was offered, but they firmly declined to do anything further without counsel.
This desertion was a sharp reverse, but Buckingham did
1 King Henry V, Act IV, Prologue. 268