Indeed it will be a volunteer war, said the king, for the northern gentry have sent me an account of above four thousand horse they have already. I bowed, and told his majesty I was glad to hear his subjects were so forward to serve him. So taking his majesty's orders to be at York by the end of March, I returned to my father. CHAPTER VIII. WAR WITH THE SCOTS-I VOLUNTEER TO MEET THE ENEMY THE SOLDIERS-CHARACTER OF THE HIGHLANDERS. My father was very glad I had not taken a commission; for, I know not from what kind of emulation between the western and northern gentry, the gentlemen of our side were not very forward in the service; their loyalty to the king in the succeeding times made it appear it was not from any disaffection to his majesty's interest or person, or to the cause; but this however made it difficult for me when I came to get any gentleman of quality to serve with me; so that I presented myself to his majesty only as a volunteer, with eight gentlemen, and about thirty-six countrymen, well mounted and armed. And, as it proved, these were enough, for this expedition ended in an accommodation with the Scots; and they not advancing so much as to their own borders, we never came to any action; but the armies lay in the counties of Northumberland and Durham, eat up the country, and sent the king a vast sum of money, and so this war ended, a pacification was made, and both sides returned. The truth is, I never saw such a despicable appearance of men in arms to begin a war in my life; whether it was that I had seen so many braver armies abroad that prejudiced me against them, or that it really was so; for to me they seemed little better than a rabble met together to devour, rather than fight for their king and country. There was indeed a great appearance of gentlemen, and those of extraordinary quality; BAD BEHAVIOUR OF OUR MEN. 105 but their garb, their equipages, and their mien, did not look like war; their troops were filled with footmen and servants, and wretchedly armed, God wot. I believe I might say, without vanity, one regiment of Finland horse would have made sport at beating them all. There was such crowds of parsons (for this was a church war in particular), that the camp and court was full of them; and the king was so eternally besieged with clergymen of one sort or another, that it gave offence to the chief of the nobility. As was the appearance, so was the service. The army marched to the borders, and the head-quarter was at Berwickupon-Tweed; but the Scots never appeared, no, not so much as their scouts. Whereupon the king called a council of war, and there it was resolved to send the Earl of Holland, with a party of horse into Scotland, to learn some news of the enemy; and truly the first news he brought us was, that finding their army encamped at Coldingham, fifteen miles from Berwick, as soon as he appeared, the Scots drew out a party to charge him; upon which most of his men halted, I don't say run away, but it was next door to it; for they could not be persuaded to fire their pistols, and wheel off like soldiers, but retreated in such a disorderly and shameful manner, that, had the enemy but had either the courage or conduct to have followed them, it must have certainly ended in the ruin of the whole party. I confess, when I went into arms at the beginning of this war, I never troubled myself to examine sides; I was glad to hear the drums beat for soldiers, as if I had been a mere Swiss, that had not cared which side went up or down, so I had my pay. I went as eagerly and blindly about my business as the meanest wretch that listed in the army; nor had I the least compassionate thought for the miseries of my native country, till after the fight at Edgehill. I had known as much, and perhaps more, than most in the army, what it was to have an enemy ranging in the bowels of a kingdom; I had seen the most flourishing provinces of Germany reduced to perfect deserts, and the voracious Crabats, with inhuman barbarity, quenching the fires of the plundered villages with the blood of the inhabitants. Whether this had hardened me against the natural tenderness which I afterwards found return upon me or not, I cannot tell; but I reflected upon myself afterwards with a great deal of trouble for the unconcerned ness of my temper at the approaching ruin of my native country. I was in the first army at York, as I have already noted, and, I must confess, had the least diversion there that ever I found in an army in my life; for when I was in Germany with the King of Sweden, we used to see the king, with the general officers, every morning on horseback, viewing his men, his artillery, his horses, and always something going forward; here we saw nothing but courtiers and clergymen, bishops and parsons, as busy as if the direction of the war had been in them. The king was seldom seen among us, and never without some of them always about him. Those few of us that had seen the wars, and would have made a short end of this for him, began to be very uneasy; and particularly a certain nobleman took the freedom to tell the king, that the clergy would certainly ruin the expedition. The case was this, he would have had the king have immediately marched into Scotland, and put the matter to the trial of a battle; and he urged it every day; and the king finding his reasons very good, would often be of his opinion; but next morning he would be of another mind. This gentleman was a man of conduct enough, and of unquestioned courage, and afterwards lost his life for the king. He saw we had an army of young stout fellows, numerous enough; and though they had not yet seen much service, he was for bringing them to action, that the Scots might not have time to strengthen themselves; nor they have time, by idleness and sotting, the bane of soldiers, to make themselves unfit for anything. I was one morning in company with this gentleman, and as he was a warm man, and eager in his discourse, A pox of these priests, says he, it is for them the king has raised this army and put his friends to a vast charge, and now we are come, they won't let us fight. But I was afterwards convinced the clergy saw farther into the matter than we did. They saw the Scots had a better army than we had; bold and ready, commanded by brave officers; and they foresaw, that, if we fought, we should be beaten, and if beaten, they were undone. And it was very true, we had all been ruined if we had engaged. It is true, when we came to the pacification which followed, I confess I was of the same mind the gentleman had been of; CONDUCT OF THE SCOTS. 107 for we had better have fought and been beaten, than have made so dishonourable a treaty, without striking a stroke. This pacification seems to me to have laid the scheme of all the blood and confusion which followed in the civil war; for whatever the king and his friends might pretend to do by talking big, the Scots saw he was to be bullied into anything, and that, when it came to the push, the courtiers never cared to bring it to blows. I have little or nothing to say as to action in this mock expedition. The king was persuaded at last to march to Berwick; and, as I have said already, a party of horse went out to learn news of the Scots, and as soon as they saw them, run away from them bravely. This made the Scots so insolent, that whereas before they lay encamped behind a river, and never showed themselves, in a sort of modest deference to their king, which was the pretence of not being aggressors or invaders, only arming in their own defence; now, having been invaded by the English troops entering Scotland, they had what they wanted; and to show it was not fear that restrained them before, but policy, now they came up in parties to our very gates, braving and facing us every day. I had, with more curiosity than discretion, put myself as a volunteer at the head of one of our parties of horse, under my Lord Holland, when they went out to discover the enemy; they went, they said, to see what the Scots were a-doing. We had not marched far, but our scouts brought word they had discovered some horse, but could not come up to them because a river parted them. At the heels of these came another party of our men upon the spur to us, and said the enemy was behind, which might be true, for aught we knew, but it was so far behind that nobody could see them, and yet the country was plain and open for above a mile before us. Hereupon we made a halt, and indeed I was afraid it would have been an odd sort of a halt, for our men began to look one upon another, as they do in like cases when they are going to break; and when the scouts came galloping in, the men were in such disorder, that, had but one man broke away, I am satisfied they had all run for it. I found my Lord Holland did not perceive it; but after the first surprise was a little over, I told my lord what I had observed; and that unless some course was immediately taken, they would all run at the first sight of the enemy. I found he was much concerned at it, and began to consult what course to take to prevent it. I confess it is a hard question, how to make men stand and face an enemy, when fear has possessed their minds with an inclination to run away; but I'll give that honour to the memory of that noble gentleman, who, though his experience in matters of war was small, having never been in much service, yet his courage made amends for it; for I dare say he would not have turned his horse from an army of enemies, nor have saved his life at the price of running away for it. My lord soon saw, as well as I, the fright the men were in after I had given him a hint of it; and, to encourage them, rode through their ranks, and spoke cheerfully to them, and used what arguments he thought proper to settle their minds. I remembered a saying which I had heard old Marshal Gustavus Horn speak in Germany, If you find your men falter, or in doubt, never suffer them to halt, but keep them advancing; for while they are going forward it keeps up their courage. As soon as I could get opportunity to speak to him, I gave him this as my opinion. That's very well, says my lord, but I am studying, says he, to post them so as that they can't run if they would; and if they stand but once to face the enemy, I don't fear them afterwards. While we were discoursing thus, word was brought, that several parties of the enemies were seen on the farther side of the river, upon which my lord gave the word to march; and as we were marching on, my lord calls out a lieutenant, who had been an old soldier, with only five troopers whom he had most confidence in, and having given him his lesson, he sends him away. In a quarter of an hour, one of the five troopers comes back, galloping and hallooing, and tells us his lieutenant had with his small party beaten a party of twenty of the enemy's horse over the river, and had secured the pass, and desired my lord would march up to him immediately. It is a strange thing that men's spirits should be subjected to such sudden changes, and capable of so much alteration from shadows of things. They were for running before they saw the enemy, now they are in haste to be led on, and, but that in raw men we are obliged to bear with anything, the disorder in both was intolerable. The story was a premeditated sham, and not a word of |