]
The last group is thus described in the catalogue:--
'ET FVGA VETERVNT ANGLI.
'Et les Anglais furent mis en fuite. Des hommes a pied, armes de
haches et d'ipies, combattent contre les cavaliers: mais _la
defaite des Anglais est complete_; ils sont poursuivis a toute
outrance par les Normands vainqueurs.
'La scene suivante reprisentent des herauts d'armes a pied, et des
cavaliers galoppant a toute bride pour annoncer probablement le
succes du Conquerant; mais l'interruption subite du monument ne
permet plus de continuer cette chronique figurie, qui allait
vraisemblablement jusqu'au couronnement de Guillaume.
The _design_ of the tapestry is very unequal, some of the latter scenes
being weak in comparison, especially that of the _death of Harold_; the
eleventh-century artist, perhaps becoming tired of the work, or having,
more probably, a presentiment that this scene would be painted and
exhibited annually, by English artists, to the end of time. Perhaps the
most interesting and important scenes are:--first, when Harold takes the
oath of allegiance to William, with his hands leaning on two ark-like
shrines, full of the relics plundered from churches; next, the awful
catastrophe of the _malfosse_, where men and horses, Norman and Saxon,
are seen rolling together in the ditch; and, lastly, the ultra-grotesque
tableaux of stripping the wounded after the battle.
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