Series 1 > History of Greater Britain, as well England as Scotland

CHAP. IV.]
OF GREATER BRITAIN
327
Englishmen were close upon the Scots, the Scots sounded a
marvellous blast, and remained steadfast in their ranks.
Thereupon did George Dunbar, earl of March, a man of keen
and fiery temper, and likewise one who had borne no small part
in many a warlike fray, stir up by these words the spirit of his
men : ‘ All the burden of battle and its heat has been ours, George Dun-
my noble Scots, throughout this night; we have put to the Jj’o h^men!*
rout the flower of Northumbrian youth, with its two leaders ;
nothing remains but that we await this priest’s attack,—
nothing is left for us but that we should each man of us deal
two blows, for, believe me, at the third the fugleman will turn
his heel, and his flock will follow him. For if the combat
should last longer, and we in the end—which God forbid !—
should be defeated, we shall basely lose the glory that we have
won by the sweat and labour of this night. We shall teach
this priest, if we only quit us like men, that it would better
become him to apply the birch to schoolboys that will not do
their tasks than to enter the lists with bearded men.’
Now when the bishop and his men had well considered the
bearing of the Scots, they took the determination to retreat, The English
and made no attack upon the Scots ; or, as Froissart imagines, retire'
they said amongst themselves that by the Scots they had much
to lose and little to gain. When the Scots saw how the
English were in retreat, they prepared to refresh themselves
with food along with their English prisoners ; and inasmuch as Ralph Percy
Ralph Percy was sore wounded, he besought the earl of Moray, upon oath,
whose prisoner he was, that he would grant him to go to
Newcastle, where he might be cured of his wound ; and he gave
his oath that at the word of the earl of Moray he would return
to what part of Scotland soever, or pay whatever fine should
be fixed by his captor. To this petition the earl of Moray
readily gave his consent; and on the same terms more than six
hundred prisoners returned to their homes.
Henry Percy, however, was carried into Scotland, and along Henry Percy
with him four hundred other prisoners. Froissart relates how Scotland1 int°
he was told by a certain man of Chastel-Neuf in Bearn, of the
household of the count de Foix1, who had been a prisoner with
the Scots, that for his ransom the Scots demanded no more
1 F. ‘ quidam de Novo Castro in Berna in domo comitis Foxensis [Orig.