"Looking far forth into the ocean wide, A goodly ship with banners bravely dight, And flag in her top-gallant I espied, Through the main sea making her merry flight; Fair blew the wind into her bosom right, And the heavens look'd lovely all the while, That she did seem to dance as in delight, And at her own felicity did smile."[268] [Sidenote: A.D. 1345.] And in this gallant trim the English fleet bore down upon the superior force of their ungenerous foe. The arrows of the one side, and the cross-bows of the other, did murderous execution; and when the lords, knights, and squires came together, the battle was so dreadful that it furnished matter of song to the minstrels of England and France for years afterwards. The countess that day was worth the bravest knight; she had the heart of a lion, and, with a sharp glaive in her hand, she fought fiercely. They contended till it became so dark that one could scarcely know another. The fleets then separated, the men remaining in their harness, intending to renew the battle next morning. But at midnight a tempest arose so horrible that every one thought the end of the world was approaching; and those very cavaliers who, a few hours before, had gallantly courted death, would now have abandoned their chivalry and their cause, if a safe landing could have been effected.[269] The battle was not renewed the next day; the English fleet sailed to Brittany; the troops landed near Vannes, which they immediately besieged, the countess being always foremost in the press. Soon afterwards Edward III. went to France, in the contest for whose throne the affairs of Brittany were lost, and the noble Countess of Mountfort disappeared from the scene[270], while her husband escaped from prison only to die of a fever at Hennebon.[271] [Sidenote: And of Marzia.]