Those who formed his retinue, were probably archers; the two first named men, apparently Lancashire men, hailing from Orell, near Wigan, and the others, judging by their patronymic, were Cheshire men. Indeed, from the liberal contingents sent up, the two counties seem to have furnished a very large proportion of the eight thousand fighting men who mustered at Southampton. As the rhyming chronicler has it-- They recruited Cheshire and Lancashire, And Derby hills that were so free; Tho' no married man, nor no widow's son, They recruited three thousand men and three. Great was the bustle and preparation, and exciting were the scenes then witnessed. Michael Drayton, writing three centuries ago, thus describes the separation between those comprising the invading force and their relatives and friends:-- There might a man have seen in ev'ry street, The father bidding farewell to his son; Small children kneeling at their father's feet; The wife with her dear husband ne'er had done: Brother, his brother, with adieu to greet; One friend to take leave of another run; The maiden with her best belov'd to part, Gave him her hand, who took away her heart. The nobler youth, the common rank above, On their curvetting coursers mounted fair; One wore his mistress' garter, one her glove; And he a lock of his dear lady's hair; And he her colours, whom he most did love; There was not one but did some favour wear: And each one took it, on his happy speed, To make it famous for some knightly deed. Many of those engaged in the expedition entered into arrangements for their wives and families that they might have some safe retreat during their absence; in the case of Peter Legh's wife, however, the probabilities are that she would take up her abode with her widowed mother-in-law, Dame Margaret Legh. On the 7th of August (1415) the Royal standard was unfurled, the trumpets flared, and with all the pomp and circumstance of war, the King and his suite embarked on board the Trinity Royal. The ships cast off their moorings, and Peter Legh, with Fluellen and Williams, and Nym--who was hanged for stealing a "pyx"--a very motley force indeed, drifted slowly down Southampton Water upon their venturous quest. Fifteen hundred vessels were comprised in the fleet, and fifteen hundred sails were set; but more than a week elapsed before the voyage, which can now be made in a few hours, was accomplished, and the vessels had cast anchor in the Seine off Kidecaws (_i.e._, Chef de Caux), about three miles from Harfleur, a place not unknown in Cheshire annals, for it was a knight of that country who bestowed honours upon the Du Guesclin, when he succeeded in capturing the great Cheshire hero, Sir Hugh Calveley. After a siege of thirty-six days, Harfleur surrendered to the English King, whose triumph the poet sings:--