400. 'He sent them home to wherever they came from _by water_,' i. e. he
made them 'walk the plank,' as it used to be called; or, in plain English,
threw them overboard, to sink or swim. However cruel this may seem now, it
was probably a common practice. 'This battle (the sea-fight off Sluys) was
very murderous and horrible. Combats at sea are more destructive and
obstinate than upon land'; Froissart's Chron. bk. i. c. 50. See Minot's
Poems, ed. Hall, p. 16. In Wright's History of Caricature, p. 204, is an
anecdote of the way in which the defeat of the French at Sluys was at last
revealed to the king of France, Philippe VI., by the court-jester, who
alone dared to communicate the news. 'Entering the King's chamber, he
continued muttering to himself, but loud enough to be heard--"Those
cowardly English! the chicken-hearted English!" "How so, cousin?" the king
inquired. "Why," replied the fool, "because they have not courage enough
_to jump into the sea_, like your French soldiers, who went over headlong
from their ships, leaving them to the enemy, who had _no inclination to
follow them_." Philippe thus became aware of the full extent of his
calamity.' And see Essays on Chaucer, p. 460.