having failed, both nations looked to a field of battle as the arbiter of their respective differences.

The truth appears to be, that the Scots, having made very formidable preparations for resisting any attack upon them, were little inclined even to make a shew of abandoning that line of policy which was most popular in the country. The Protector, being apprised of this, travelled towards the end of August to Newcastle, and assumed the personal command of an army awaiting there orders to commence hostilities. This force, consisting of sixteen thousand men, soon after entered unopposed the Scottish territory. The English, indeed, found the roads broken up, and some small castles to bid them a temporary defiance: but the dryness of the season prevented them from suffering much inconvenience from the former cause, and their great numerical superiority soon compelled the surrender of the petty garrisons which pretended to impede their progress. At length an advanced party of the Scots was encountered at Falside, and defeated with great loss, after a protracted struggle. The main body of the enemy, thirty thousand strong, well supplied with artillery, and ably commanded, was now in sight; and the English generals could not contemplate the prospect before them without great uneasiness. Indeed the Scottish army was formidable from the spirit which pervaded it, as well as from its numbers and appointments. The national pride was fired by a report, industriously spread abroad, that

• Ibid. 50.

the Protector aimed at carrying away by force their infant Queen; and in order to maintain confidence among the troops it was asserted, that twelve gallies, with fifty other vessels, having already set sail from France, might be expected every day to land ample reinforcements upon the Scottish shore. Fully aware of the situation in which he stood, Somerset tried the effect of a pacific overture. He begged the Scots to consider, that both parties as Christians were bound to prevent as much as possible the effusion of blood; that the war was undertaken by the English only for the purpose of uniting in perpetual peace two communities already one people by identity of language, contiguity of territory, and insular separation from all the world besides; that an unexceptionable opportunity for extinguishing the hostile spirit, ever plunging into trouble the two nations, was now offered by means of a marriage between the two young sovereigns, an arrangement calculated to benefit importantly both kingdoms, but especially the northern one. In the event of these representations being found to fail in bringing about a ratification of the matrimonial treaty, it was even proposed to withdraw the English army, and to compensate all who had suffered by the invasion, if the Scots would only stipulate to educate the Queen in her own country, and not to affiance her to any suitor before she should be of sufficient age to make her own election. Confident in their superiority of numbers, and aware, that a want of provisions was apprehended by

the enemy, the Scottish leaders refused to treat upon these equitable terms. They would not even allow the purport of the English overtures to be known through the camp, lest it should damp the ardour of their troops. It was merely resolved among a few officers of distinction, who deliberated upon Somerset's proposals, that if the English were disposed to withdraw, they should be allowed an unmolested passage into their own country. The bearer of this reply also related that he had heard the Earl of Huntley express a wish to be allowed an opportunity, in company with ten or more of his countrymen, to meet Somerset, attended by an equal number of Englishmen, and to have the disputes between the two nations decided by the issue of a combat between these chosen champions. The Protector, however, would not consent to render his administration contemptible at the outset by retreating ingloriously into England, and as for Huntley's reported challenge, he observed, that the quarrel being not personal, but national, it demanded no attention. Somerset's mode of treating this affair displeased the Earl of Warwick, and he sent an intimation to Huntley of his willingness to give him the meeting which he was understood to desire. The northern peer replied, that he had never spoken the words imputed to him, and both parties, finding negociation hopeless, prepared for the frightful realities of war'.

The rival camps were pitched on opposite sides of the Esk, at some distance from its banks. The English were first in motion, having advanced to occupy a hill commanding the enemy's position. In order to frustrate this design, the Scots, who were encamped much nearer to the river than their opponents, promptly forded it, and posted themselves upon the elevated ground to which the hostile commander was marching. Their exultation at the success of this movement was increased, when they saw the English fall back, and an opinion immediately prevailed among them, that the invaders, at length seriously alarmed, were taking measures to embark on board the fleet, which was stationed off the neighbouring coast. The object, however, of the English was merely to occupy another commanding position, one in fact, as it afterwards appeared, more advantageous than that to which their steps were originally directed. The low ground now between the two armies was called the field of Pinkey, and into it the Scots descended, eager to prevent the hostile force from taking refuge in its ships, before it had smarted under the vengeance of an exasperated people. The English generals had marked the enemy's approach, and made dispositions to receive him. The two armies met" so near the shore, that a fire from the shipping was opened upon the Scots, and it caused a troop of Irish in their pay to fall into considerable disorder. This

"September 10. Ibid.

was no sooner observed by Lord Grey, who commanded the men at arms, than, without waiting for orders, he charged the enemy; but his temerity cost him dear, for his gallant horsemen, after sustaining some loss, were fain to retreat in confusion; and the noble commander was severely wounded. Elated by this advantage, the Scots appear to have been thrown somewhat off their guard, and accordingly, by another charge of the English horse, judiciously made, and sufficiently supported, they were plunged into inextricable confusion. They concluded that all was lost, many threw down their arms, some of them even stripped off, for the sake of greater celerity, the heavier articles of their dress, and all fled with the utmost precipitation. The English Infantry were scarcely even engaged on this memorable day. The cavalry, however, not contented with having achieved a victory so signal, pursued the panic-stricken enemy with great ardour, and even cruelty. The country was for miles strewed with the bodies of the slain, and a bloody tinge discoloured the waters of the Esk as they mingled with the ocean". From the circumstances of this as well as of other encounters between the two British nations, it appears, that the English were far more advanced in military science than their northern neighbours. Like most communities in the infancy of civilization, the Scots evinced unquestionable bravery whenever an opportunity was afforded for the

■ Hayward, 284.

Holinshed, Hayward.