at the least four hours till I came to an open heath which was from the bridge about some five or six English miles sending in the mean time messenger upon messenger to the Count Maurice and the Count Hollock for more troops And it pleased Sir Robert Sidney himself who also came up to me and looked on the enemy when he saw the fair occasion to ride back to procure more forces But all this while none came not so much as any principal officer of the armie to see what I did On the left hand of this heath which is little lesse then three miles over were woods and inclosed fields coasting the way the enemy was to take in distance some musket-shot and a half Along these I caused my muskettiers to advance and as they could from the skirts of the heath to play upon the enemy which was more to shew them and our men that were behinde by hearing the shot that we had not forsaken the enemy then for any great hurt we could do them My self with some thirty or fourty horse that were come up to me to see the sport following them aloof off The enemy seeing no grosse troop to follow them began to take heart put themselves into order in four battalions their horsmen on their wings advancing their way easily When we had in this manner passed half the heath our horsmen in sixteen troops for they were so many began to appear behinde us at the entry of the heath not the way we had passed but more to the right hand coasting the skirts of the heath a good round pace This sight made the enemy mend his pace and gave us more courage to follow them so as now we omitted no endeavour which might hinder their way falling again into skirmish with them For they fearing more those that they saw afar off then us that followed them at their heels being a contemptible number to them that might see us and tell us mended still their pace I therefore sent messengers to those horsmen for of our footmen there was no help to be expected to tell them that if they came not with all speed possible the enemy would get into the streight and fast countrey in which there could be no good done on them They were not above two musket-shot from the mouth of the streight when the Count Maurice with six companies of horse came near unto us that followed the enemie in the tail The other horsmen because they fetched a greater compasse and came more upon the front and right flank of the enemie were further off I sent to the Count to desire him to give me those horsmen And in the mean time to give the enemie some stay I made a round proffer to charge the rereward under the countenance of that second with those horse and foot I had which took good effect for they knowing no other but that all the troops were also ready to charge made a stand and seeing our horsmen on the right wing to grow somewhat near put themselves into a stronger order My messenger returning from the Count Maurice told me he would speak with me to whom I made haste and as the time required in few words having delivered my minde he gave me three companies of horse to use as I should see cause with which I went on the spur for the enemie was now marching again and was come even into the entry of the streight The other horsmen with the Count Hollock seeing me go to charge did the like also so that much about one instant he charged on the right corner of their front and on their right flank and I with my troops on the rereward and left flank so roundly that their shot after the first volley shifted for themselves for their pikes being ranged in four battels stood one in the tail of another not well ordered as in that case they should have been to succour their shot and abide the charge of the horsmen and so charged their pikes not breaking through them at the first push as it was anciently used by the men of arms with their barded horses but as the long pistols delivered at hand had made the ranks thinne so thereupon the rest of the horse got within them so as indeed it was a victory obtained without fight For till they were utterly broken and scattered which was after a short time few or none died by handy-strokes The footmen defeated our horsmen disordered as they had been in the charge and execution followed the chase of their horsmen and baggage which took the way of Herentalls I foresaw that the enemies horse that had with-drawn themselves in good order and untouched of us at the beginning of the fight would soon put to rout those disordered men and therefore made all the haste that I could to the mouth of the streight there to stay them Where finding the Count Hollock I told him he should do well to suffer no more to passe so riding forward on the other end of the streight where it opened on a champain I overtook Sir Nicholas Parker who commanded the three companies of English horse under me who had some thirty souldiers with the three Cornets with these I stayed on a green plot just in the mouth of the streight having on either hand a roade washy way with purpose to gather unto me those that came after me and relieve our men if the enemie chased them I had no sooner placed the troop but I might see our men come back as fast and as disordered as they went out passing the streight on either hand of me not to be stayed for any intreaty The most of our men passed and the enemy approaching Sir Nicholas Parker asked me what I meant to do I told him attend the enemy with our troop there Then saith he you must be gone with the rest and so almost with the latest the enemy being upon us I followed his counsel and so all of us great and small were chased through the streight again where our troops gathering head and our foot appearing we held good and the enemy without any further attempt made his retreat There were taken between fourty and fifty ensignes and slain and taken of the enemy near three thousand and their Generall Signieur de Ballancy and Count de Warras died on the place THE BATTEL AT NEVPORT A.D. 1600. The Battel at NEWPORT IN the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred the enemies forces being weak and in mutinies and his affairs in disorder the States resolved to make an offensive warre in Flanders as the fittest place to annoy the enemy most and to secure their own State if they could recover the Coast-towns which was the scope of their enterprise As this action was of great importance so were the meetings and consultations about it many To which though unworthy my self was called where amongst other things the facility of the execution coming in question it was
opinion of our fear or take the opportunity of our stay to fortifie upon the passage to Ostend to cut off our victuals and retreat I alleadged that their army that had been gathered in haste brought into a countrey where they intended no such war could neither have provision of victuals with them for any time nor any magazines in those parts to furnish them nor other store in that wasted countrey and in that latter end of the year to be expected so as fear there was none that they should seat themselves there to starve us that had store of victuals in our shipping and the sea open to supply us with all sailing winds And as for the vain courage they should get by our supposed fear after so long a march with climbing up and down those steep sandy hills in the extreamity of heat wearied and spent before they could come to us and then finding us fresh and lusty and ready to receive them in our strength of advantage it would turn to their greater confusion and terrour They persisted and as it were with one voice opposed so as in the end I was moved to say that all the world could not make me change my counsel The Count Maurice was pleased to like of it resolving not to passe any further towards the enemy and for the ordering of things reposed so much trust in me as that he believed they were well without viewing the places or examining the reasons of my doings but returned to give order to the rest of the army which as the water ebbed he enlarged to the sea-ward next the which the horsmen were placed and six piece of Ordnance advanced into the head of the vanguard In this order we stayed and the enemie though still in the eie moved not forward for the space of two hours and then rather turning from us then advancing they crossed the downs rested other two hours at the foot of them towards the land which confirmed their opinions that held he would lodge But we found reasons out of all their proceedings to keep us from wavering For it was probable to us that the enemy over-wearied tired with that night and dayes travell and seeing us passed the haven of Newport wherein to have hindered and prevented us was the greatest cause of his haste whilest he saw us stirring and ordering our selves might hope that we that were fresh now passed and engaged to fight would advance the rather to have the help of our troops with the Count Ernest if perchance he were retired to Ostend which the nearer the fight were to that place might be of most use to us or else if we had heard of their defeat vve vvould be dravvn on vvith revenge But vvhen they savv that vve held our place not moving forvvard being out of that hope and not provided to make any long stay for the reasons before mentioned they might resolve to refresh themselves and then to advance towards us for which that side was more convenient then the bare sea-sands Withall we considered that their chief trust resting in their footmen which were old trained souldiers and to that day unfoiled in the field they would the rather attend the growing of the tide which was then at the lowest that the scope of the sands might be lesse spacious and serviceable for horsmen About half-floud they crossed again the downs to the sea-sands and marched forward sending some light-horsmen far before the troop one of which as we supposed suffered himself to be taken who being brought to the Count Maurice told him aloud that Count Ernest was defeated and that he should presently have battel augmenting the number bravery and resolution of their men The losse of our men we understood before and therefore were carefull to have few present at the hearing of the prisoner whose mouth being stopped by the Count Maurice his order the rest that heard it bewrayed it either in vvord or countenance to the souldier The enemy grovving nearer and nearer and their horsmen coming in the head of their troops in a competent distance to have been dravvn to a fight I vvould very vvillingly have advanced the horsmen of the vanguard near to them and vvith some choice and vvelmounted men have beaten in their carabins skirmishers to their grosse vvith purpose if they had been charged again to have retired in haste with the said vanguard of horse betwixt the sea and the vanguard of foot and having drawn them from their foot under the mercy of our Ordnance and engaged to the rest of our horse to have charged and followed them resolutely This advise could not savour to that young Nobleman that was not well pleased with the power the Count Maurice had given me over his charge and therefore was not by him put into execution who chose rather as the enemy advanced leasurely so he in like sort to recuil towards the foot This counsel of mine taking no better effect and their horsmen now come within reach of our Cannon I made the motion to have them discharged which was well liked and so well plied that we made them scatter their troops and in disorder flie for safety into the downs which had doubtlesse given us the victory without more adoe if our horsmen had been ready and willing to have taken the benefit of that occasion Their footmen out of our reach kept on their way alongst the sands and the sooner to requite us advanced their Ordnance a good distance before them and shot roundly at us and did some hurt The water now grew very high so as both we and they were forced to streighten our front and the enemy whether of purpose as aforesaid to fight with more advantage as he took it with his foot in the downs or to avoid the shot of our Ordnance for he could not be so carelesse as to be surprised with the tide and so driven to this sudden change put all his forces as wel horse as foot into the downs which his horse crossed to the green way betwixt the low-lands and the downs All our horsemen stood with our rereward hereupon our vanguard altering order our battel and rereward passed into the downs and in the same distances backward sidewise as they had been on the sands on my left hand before ranged themselves so as the front of the three bodies of foot filled the breadth of the downs all the horsmen being placed on the green way betwixt the low-land and the foot of the downs not in any large front but one in the tail of another as the narrownesse of the passage enforced I found a fit place on the top of a hill from whence the green way on the inside of the downs might be commanded with Ordnance on which by the Count Maurice his order two demi-Cannons were presently mounted The enemy growing very near I told the Count it was time for me to go to my charge asking him whether he would command
and for the reputation of the Count Maurice this being the first enterprise wherein he commanded in person as chief it could not be abandoned but with much reproach without the knowledge and order of the States General and that therefore they were first to be informed in what state things stood I undertaking in the mean time the defence of the place Which counsel was followed and I used such industry both in the intrenching of the island and planting artillery that the enemie in the end desisted from the enterprise The relief of RHINBERGH IN the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred eighty nine the town of Bergh upon the Rhyne being besieged by the Marquesse of Warrenbon and distressed for want of victuals I was sent to the Count Meurs governour of Gelderland by the States with nine companies of English At my coming to Arnheim where he lay in a storehouse of munitions in giving order for things necessary for his expedition the powder was set on fire and he so sorely burnt that he died within few dayes after The States of that province called me before them told me in what extremity the town was the importance of the place and facility in succouring it desiring me to proceed in the enterprise which I did willingly assent unto and they appointed seven companies of their own nation to joyn with me which were to be left in Bergh in lieu of so many other companies to be drawn out thence To the Count Oversteyn a young Gentleman and then without any charge as a kinsman follower of the Count of Meurs they gave the command of twelve companies of horse With these troops we passed to the fort Caleti made by Skink over against Rees where finding the carriages appointed for that purpose ready laden with provisions we marched towards Bergh taking our way through a heathy and open countrey and so with diligence surprizing the enemie who lay dispersed in their forts about the town in full view of them put our provisions into the town and so returned to the said fort by Rees the same way we had gone The second relieving of RHINBERGH AFter some dayes refreshing it was thought good by the States new provision of victuals being made who in the mean time had advice how things had passed that we should with all speed put in more provisions being advertized that the enemie gathered great forces in Brabant under the conduct of the Count Mansfeldt for the streight besieging of the Town which made us hasten and withall take the ordinary and ready way near the Rhine-side but because it was shorter and not so open as the other and so more dangerous if perchance the enemie with his full power should encounter us and because there were upon it certain small redoubts held by the enemie we took along with us two small field-pieces When we came within two English miles of Bergh at a castle called Loo which stands on the side of a thick wood within musket-shot of the way we were to take through the said wood being very narrow and hemmed in on both sides with exceeding thick underwoods such as I guesse as those dangerous places of Ireland the enemy from the castle first shewed themselves and then came out towards the place along the skirt of the wood to gall our men and horses in their passage with such bravery as I might well perceive they were not of the ordinary garrison I first sent out some few shot to beat them back giving order to our vantguard in the mean time to enter the passage and the Dutch footmen to follow them and the horsmen and carriages with orders to passe with all diligence to the other side of the place and then to make a stand untill the rest of the troops were come up to them keeping with my self who stayed in the rereward fiftie horse and six trumpeters and all the English foot In the mean time the enemie seconded their troops of shot with to the number of four or five hundred in so much as I was forced to turn upon greater numbers with resolution to beat them home to their castle which was so throughly performed that afterwards they gave us leave to passe more quietly When the rest of the troops were passed I made the English enter the streight who were divided into two troops of which I took an hundred men with six drums placing them in the rereward of all my self with the fifty horse marching betwixt them and the rest of the English footmen This streight is about a quarter of an English mile long and hath about the middle of it another way which cometh into it from Alpen a small town not far off When we were past this crosse way we might hear a great shout of mens voices redoubled twice or thrice as the Spanish maner is when they go to charge but by reason of the narrowness and crookednesse of the place had no sight of them I presently caused the troops to march faster and withall gave order to the trumpeters and drums that were with me to stand and sound a charge whereupon there grew a great stilnesse amongst the enemy who as I afterward understood by themselves made a stand expecting to be charged In the mean time we went as fast from them as we could till we had gotten the plain then having rid to the head of the troops who were then in their long and single orders and giving directions for the embatteling of them and turning their faces towards the streight and the mouths of the pieces also and so riding along the troops of English towards the place I might see from the plain which was somewhat high raised over the woods which were not tall the enemy coming in great haste over a bridge some eight score within the streight with ensigns displayed very thick thronged together and in a trice they shewed themselves in the mouth of the streight My hindermost troops which were then near the streight were yet in their long order and with the suddennesse of the sight somewhat amazed in so much that a captain well reputed and that the very same day had behaved himself very valiantly though he saw me directing as became me often asked what he should do till shortly and roughly as his importunity and the time required I told him that I was never lesse to seek that he therefore should go to his place and do as I had commanded till further order and so doubting the enemie would get the plain before my troops would be throughly ordered to go against them I took some of the hinder ranks of the pikes and some shot vvith vvhich I made out to the streights mouth a great pace vvilling the rest to follovv vvhereupon the enemy made a stand as it vvere doubtfull to come on and so I came presently to the push of pike vvith them Where at the first encounter my horse being slain under me vvith the blovv
my coming aboard the Gallions were run on ground near the shore and their men some swimming others in their boats began to forsake their ships I was then bold to say to my Lord of Essex that it was high time to send his small shipping to board them for otherwise they would be fired by their own men which his Lordship found reasonable presently sent his directions accordingly and in the mean time sent Sir William Constable with some long boats full of souldiers which his Lordship had towed at his stern since the first imbarquing to have landed in the Caletta But notwithstanding he made all haste possible before he could get to the Gallions two of them were set on fire and the other two by this means saved and taken utterly forsaken of their men who retired through the fennes to porto Saint Maria. The Spanish fleet thus set on ground the prosecution of that victory was committed to and willingly undertaken with the sea-forces by a principall officer of the fleet And because longer delay would increase the difficulty of landing our forces by the resort of more people to Calis it was resolved forthwith to attempt the putting of our men on shore and to that end commandment was given that all the men appointed for that purpose should be imbarqued in the long boats and that my Lord of Essex should first land with those men which could be disembarqued and then my Lord Admirall to second and repair to the Generall who the better to be known would put out his flag in his boat The troops that were first to land were the regiments of the Generalls my own that of Sir Christopher Blunt Sir Thomas Gerrard and Sir Conniers Clifford On the right hand in an even front with a competent distance betwixt the boats were ranged the two regiments first named the other three on the left so that every regiment and company of men were sorted together with their Colonels and chief officers in nimble pinnaces some in the head of the boats some at stern to keep good order the Generall himself with his boat in which it pleased him to have me attend him and some other boats full of Gentlemen-adventurers choice men to attend his person rowed a pretty distance before the rest whom at a signall given with a drum from his boat the rest were to follow according to the measure and time of the sound of the said drum which they were to observe in the deeping of their oars and to that end there was a generall silence as well of warlike instruments as otherwise Which order being duly followed the troops came all together to the shore betwixt Puntall and Calis and were landed and severall regiments imbattelled at an instant without any encounter at all the Spaniards who all the day before had shewed themselves with troops of horse and foot on that part as resolved to impeach our landing being clean retired toward the town The number of the first disembarquing was not fully two thousand men for diverse companies of those regiments that had put themselves into their ships again could not be suddenly ready by reason the boats to land them belonged to other great ships Calis on that side was walled as it were in a right line thwart the land so as the sea on both sides did beat on the foot of the wall which strength together with the populousness of the town in which besides the great concourse of Gentlemen and others upon the discovery of our fleet and alarm of our Ordnance there was an ordinary Garrison of souldiers had taken from us all thought of forcing it without battery and therefore being landed we advanced with the troops to finde a convenient place to encamp till my Lord Admirall with the rest of the forces and the Ordnance were landed Being advanced with the troops half the breadth of the neck of the land which in that place is about half a mile over we might perceive that all along the sea-shore on the other side of this neck of land men on hors-back and foot repaired to the town which intercourse it was thought necessary to cut off And therefore because the greatest forces of the enemies were to come from the land it was resolved on to lodge the better part of the army in the narrowest of the neck which near Puntall is not broader then an ordinary harque-bush-shot To which streight Sir Conniers Clifford was sent with three regiments viz. his own Sir Christopher Blunts and Sir Thomas Gerrards there to make a stand to impeach the Spaniards from coming to the town till he received further order for the quartering and lodging of his men Which done the Lord Generall with the other two regiments and his company of adventurers which was of about two hundred and fifty worthy Gentlemen in all not fully a thousand men advanced nearer the town the better to discover the whole ground before it And as we approached a far off we might perceive the enemy standing in battel under the favour of the town with cornets and ensignes displayed thrusting out some loose horse and foot toward us as it were to procure a skirmish I marking their fashion conceived hope of a speedier gaining the town then we intended and were then about and said to his Lordship at whose elbow I attended that those men he saw standing in battel before the town would shew and make the way for us into the town that night if they were well handled and at the instant I propounded the means which was to carry our troops as near and covertly as might be towards the town and to see by some attempt if we could draw them to fight further from the town that we might send them back with confusion and disorder and so have the cutting them in pieces in the town-ditch or enter it by the same way they did His Lordship liked the project and left the handling thereof to me I presently caused the troop to march towards the other side of the neck of land because the ordinary and ready way to the town lay on that side low and inbayd to the foot of the hilly downs so as troops might march very closely from the view of the town Then I chose out two hundred men which were committed to the conduct of Sir Iohn Wingfield a right valiant Knight with order that he should march on roundly to the enemy where they stood in battel and to charge and drive to their battels the skirmishers but if the enemy in grosse profered a charge he should make an hasty and fearfull retreat to their judgement the way he had gone till he met with his seconds that followed him and then to turn short and with the greatest speed and fury he could to charge the enemy The seconds were of three hundred men led as I remember by Sir Matthew Morgan who were to follow the first troop a good distance and so as both of them till
the enemy were engaged might not at once appear to them and to advance with all diligence when the troop before them did retire to meet them charge the enemy enter the town with them peslemesle With the rest of the forces his Lordship and I followed The place served well for our purpose being covert and of no advantage for their horsmen and the directions were so well observed that the enemy was engaged in following our first troop before they discovered the rest and so in hope and assurance of victory being beyond expectation lively encountered they fled in disorder towards the town so nearly followed of our men that most of the horsmen forsook their horses and saved themselves some by the gates others clambering over the walls as did also their footmen our men following them at the heels to the very gate which they found shut against them and men standing over it and upon the walls to resist us The ditch was very hollow but dry out of which was raised a massy rampier with two round half bulwarks the one towards the one sea the other towards the other for height and thicknesse in their perfection but not steeped and scarped so as it was very mountable lying close to the old wall of the town which somewhat overtopped it no higher then in many places a man might reach with his hand To the top of this rampier our men climbed who being for the most part old and experienced souldiers of the Bands I brought out of the Low-countries boldly attempted to climbe the wall from which they beat with their shot the defendants wanting no encouragements that good example of the chiefs could give them the Generall himself being as forward as any Whilest it was hard stroven and fought on that side I sent a Captain and Countrey-man of mine called Upsher with some few men alongst the ditch to see what guard was held along the wall toward the Bay-ward and whether any easier entrance might be made that way or no willing him to bring or send me word which he did accordingly though the messenger came not to me He found so slender a guard that he entred the town with those few men he had which the enemy perceiving fled from the walls and our men entred as fast on the other side My Lord of Essex was one of the first that got over the walls followed by the souldiers as the place would give them leave and such was their fury being once entred that as they got in scatteringly so they hasted towards the town without gathering any strong and orderly body of men as in such case is requisite or once endeavouring to open the gate for more convenient entry for the rest of the troops I therefore foreseeing what might ensue of this confusion held the third body of the men together and with much adoe brake open the gate by which I entred the town and so keeping the way that leads from the gate towards the town joyned to my foot those men I met withall scattered here and there Not farre from the Market-place I found my Lord of Essex at a stand with fourty or fifty men whence I might see some few of the enemy in the Market-place which made me advance towards them without attending any commandment who upon my approaching retired themselves into the Town-house whither I pursued them broke open the gates and after good resistance made by the Spaniards in the upper rooms of the house became Master of it in which I left a guard and went down into the Market-place and found my Lord of Essex at the Town-house-door I humbly intreated his Lordship to make that place good and give me leave to scoure and assure the rest of the town which I did accordingly And though I was but slackly and slenderly followed by reason of our mens greedinesse of spoil yet such Spaniards as I found making head and coming towards the Market-place I drove back into the Fort Saint Philip and the Abby of Saint Francis Those of the Abby yielded to the number of two hundred Gentlemen and others and being disarmed were put into a Chapel and there left guarded Those of Saint Philip it being now in the evening cryed to us that in the morning they would render the place Before which also having put a guard and understanding by some prisoners that there was no other place of any strength but the old town near the Market-place I repaired to my Lord of Essex whom I found in the Market-place and my Lord Admirall with him And after I had made report on what terms things stood where I had been I went to the said old town to visit the guards which were commanded by Sir Edward Conway with part of the forces landed with my Lord Admirall and from thence to that part of the town where we entred And thus all things in good assurance returned to the market-place where the rest of the forces were being held together to be readily imployed upon all occasions Their Lordships went up to the Town-house and there gave God thanks for the victory and afterwards all wounded and bloudy as he was yet undressed gave the honour of Knighthood to Sir Samuel Bagnall for his especiall merit and valour in that dayes service The losse was not very great on either side for as the Spanish troops that stood ordered without the walls got into the town confusedly and disorderly before we could mingle with them so every one as he was counselled by fear or courage provided for his own safety the most flying to the old town and Castle Those that made head after the first entrance being scattered here and there our men as they followed with more courage then order so encountered them in the like scattering manner falling streight to hand-strokes so as it seemed rather an inward tumult and town-fray then a fight of so mighty nations The next day the old town and the Fort of Saint Philip were delivered unto us and the people that were in them except some principall prisoners were suffered to depart with great courtesie shewed especially to the women of better sort There went out of the town Gentlemen and others likely men to bear arms betwixt four and five thousand the brunt of this exploit was born with lesse then a thousand men We could have no help of Sir Conniers Clifford who mistaking his directions went with his troops to the bridge called Punto Zuarro about three leagues distance And my Lord Admirall notwithstanding his Lordsh. used all possible diligence in the landing his men arrived not till we were in a manner full Masters of the town It was long disputed whether the town should be held or no. I offered with four thousand men to defend it till her Majesties pleasure might be known My Lord of Essex seemed to affect to remain there in person which the rest of the Council would not assent unto but rather to abandon and set it on fire
Michael I sent up to the steeple Sir William Constable and some other Gentlemen then about me to see what they could discern who all agreed that they saw troops and as they guessed some Ensignes I willed Sir William Constable to hasten to his Lordship and tell him what he had seen I had yet remaining with me about five hundred souldiers of these I sent out sixty whereof thirty shot were to go as covertly as they could to a Chapel a great musket-shot from the town on the way the enemy was discovered with order upon the enemies approach to give their volley and suddenly and in haste to retire to the other thirty that were placed half way betwixt them and the town and then all together in as much haste and shew of fear as they could to come to the town where I stood ready with the rest of the men in three troops to receive them and repulse and chase those that should follow them This order given my Lord of Essex with the Earl of Southampton and some other Lords and Gentlemen came to the Market-place where he found me with the troops His Lordship enquired of me what I had seen I said I had seen no enemy but what others had seen his Lordship had heard by their own report and might if it pleased his Lordship send to see if the sentinell continued to affirm the same His Lordship made no answer but called for Tobacco seeming to give but small credit to this alarm and so on horseback with those Noblemen and Gentlemen on foot beside him took Tobacco whilest I was telling his Lordship of the men I had sent forth and order I had given them Within some quarter of an hour we might hear a good round volley of shot betwixt the thirty men I had sent to the Chapel and the enemy which made his Lordship cast his pipe from him and listen to the shooting which continued I told his Lordship it were good to advance with the troops to that side of the town where the skirmish was to receive our men which his Lordship liked well and so went a good round pace expecting to encounter our men who unadvisedly in lieu of retiring in disorder maintained the place which the enemy perceiving and supposing some greater troop to be at hand to second held aloof with his main force for the high-way to the town lay by the Chapel and no other passage for a troop by reason of the strong fence and inclosure of the fields but sent out light men to skirmish Thus perceiving that our men held their ground we stayed our troops in covert in the end of two lanes leading directly to the high-way Those of the Island as we were certainly enformed could make three thousand fighting men well armed and appointed besides the ordinary Garrison of the Spaniards Of that number we supposed them because they had sufficient time to gather their strength together and for that they came to seek us and therefore as on the one side we were loth to discover our small number to them unlesse they provoked us by some notable disorder or necessity in the defence of our selves so we thought it not good to lessen our men by imbarquing of men till the night was come that silence and darknesse might cover our retreat And for these reasons I opposed their heat that propounded to charge the enemy and their haste that would needs have the men shipped without delay In the beginning of the evening which ended the skirmish keeping our sentinels in the view of the enemy his Lordship began to imbarque some troops and so continued till about midnight that the last troop was put into the boat his Lordship seeing all imbarqued before he went aboard but those forelorn men which made the last retreat which were committed to Sir Charles Percy with whom I imbarqued without any impeachment of the enemy or shew to have discovered our departure His Lordship made the young Noblemen and some other principall Gentlemen Knights as Sir William Evers Sir Henry Dockwray Sir William Brown and a Dutch Gentleman that accompanied me that voiage in my ship We were no sooner aboard but that the wind blew a stiff gale so as some were fain to forsake their anchors and with this wind we put for England which continuing vehement drave us to the leeward of our course towards the coast of Ireland I got in my ship an extream leak which kept both my pumps going without intermission many dayes and nights before I got to harbour wherewith my company were much wearied and discouraged even to despair which made me keep aloof from the other ships lest the hope of their own safety might make them neglect that of the ship The fleet kept no order at all but every ship made the best haste home they could which as it might have proved dangerous if the Spanish fleet which was then bound for our coast had not been scattered by the same weather so it was in some sort profitable to us for some of our smaller shipping which were driven most leeward toward the coast of Ireland met with two or three of the Spanish ships full of souldiers which they took by which we not onely understood at our coming to Plymmouth their purpose to have landed at Falmouth with ten thousand men but saw the instructions and orders of the sea-fights if they had met with us which was so full of perfection that I have ever since redoubted their sufficiency in sea Cases The fleet arriving thus weather-beaten at Plymmouth his Lordship posted to the Court leaving my Lord Thomas now Earl of Suffolk my Lord Mountjoy and the rest of the Officers there and shortly came provision of monie with Commission to the said Lords Sir Walter Raleigh and my self to see the same issued and distributed by common advise for the repairing victualling and sending about the fleet to Chattham and entertaining of the thousand men I had brought out of the Low-countreys which were then disposed along the coast of Cornwall and after sent into Ireland Which businesse dispatched I passed by post to London and near Mary-bone-parke I met with Sir William Russell in his coach who being my honourable friend then newly returned from Ireland where he had been Deputy I lighted to salute him with much duty and affection who stepping out of his coach received me with the like favour with whom whilest I stood bare-headed being in a sweat I got cold which held me so extreamly that for three weeks after I could not stirre out of my lodging I understood my Lord of Essex was at his house at Wanstead in great discontentment to whose Lordship I gave presently knowledge of my arrivall as also that I would forbear to attend his Lordship til I had been at Court which then I hoped would have been sooner then it fell out my sicknesse would permit For I supposed at my coming to Court her Majesty after her most gracious
me any more service he said no but to do as I saw cause willing us the Chiefs that stood about him to advise him in what part of the army he should be personally whereunto we all answered that for many reasons he was to keep in the rereward of all which he yielded unto So I went to the vanguard and after I had viewed the readinesse and order of the severall troops the enemy now appearing at hand I the better to discover their proceedings and for the readier direction upon all occasions as also with my presence to encourage our men in the abiding of the first brunt took my place in the top of the foremost hill before mentioned where I resolved to abide the issue of that dayes service as wel because the advantages of the ground we had chosen were to stand upon the defence as also for that in that uneven ground to stirre from place to place as is usuall and necessary in the execution and performance of the office of a Captain where the countrey is open and plain I should not onely have lost the view of the enemy upon whose motions in such cases our counsels of execution depend but of my troops and they of me which must needs have caused many unreasonable and confused commandments The enemies forelorn-hope of harquebuziers having gotten the tops of the hills and places of most advantage on the other side of this bottom before mentioned began from thence to shoot at us whilest their vanguard approached which now growing near at hand five hundred Spanish pikes and shot mingled without ensignes or precise order gave upon the place where my self was and very obstinately for the space of a great half-hour laboured to enter and force it favoured with more store of shot from the tops of their hills the grosse of their vanguard standing in some covert from the shot with me on the other side of the bottom In the mean time the vanguard of their horse advanced along the green way so often mentioned betwixt the low-inland and the Downs towards our horse that stood more backward against the flank of our battel Our two pieces of Ordnance were discharged from the top of the hill to good effect and well plyed and when they came nearer and thwart our right flank the five hundred Frison-muskettiers who as I have before said were onely destined to bestow their shot that way did their part and so galled them that upon the first proffer of a charge which our horsmen made they were put to a disordered retreat even to their troops of foot our horsmen following them in the tail who were fain there to give them over At the same instant I gave order that a hundred men should be sent from the foremost troop of foot I had layed as aforesaid in the Downs to have given upon the left flank of the enemy if he attempted to passe by us upon the sands and as covertly as they could to approach and give upon the right flank of those that were in fight with me When they were come up and at hands with the enemy I sent from the hill where I was by a hollow descent some sixty men to charge them in front which amazed the enemy and put them to run our men chasing and killing them till they had passed the bottom and came to the grosse of their vanguard from which were disbanded anew the like number as before who followed our men and seized on some heights that were in the bottom somewhat near us covering their pikes under the shadow of the hills and playing with the shot from the tops upon our disbanded and skirmishing men I sent to drive them from thence being loth they should gain ground upon us one of the same troops from whence I had drawn the hundred men before mentioned with order onely to make that place good This was a bloudy morsell that we strave for for whilest our men and theirs were not covered with the hanging of the hills as they advanced or were chased they lay open to the shot not onely of those that were possessed of those little hills but of the other higher which poured in greater tempests upon them so as the souldiers that I sent hasted as for their safety to get the side of the hill and the enemy for like respect abode their coming with resolution so as in an instant as the hill was round and mountable the men came to handy-blows upon the whole semicircle of it with much slaughter on both sides till in the end the enemy was forced to retire In the mean time the battel of the enemies foot were come up to the grosse of the vanguard which as it had taken the right hand of the Downs so the battel with some distance betwixt them though even in front having been well welcomed with our shot from the tops of the hills stayed in as good covert as the place would afford sending fresh men to beat ours from those grounds of advantage in the bottom so as ours beginning to give back I sent a new supply to make good the place in this bottom sometimes getting and sometimes losing ground The fight was still maintained with new supplies on both sides wherein I persevered though with losse of men because the advantage the ground gave me to beat as well upon their grosse as their loose fighting men made the losse farre greater on their side my design being to engage their whole force upon my handfull of men which I employed sparingly and by piece-meal so to spend and waste the enemy that they should not be able to abide the sight of our other troops when they advanced The horsmen of their battel and ours encountered but somewhat more advanced toward the enemy our men having gotten courage with the first successe so as our fore-mentioned Frison-muskettiers could not so well favour them but our horsmen being put to retreat the enemy in the pursuit being saluted by them were stopped and drew back Their rereward now come up even with the other two bodies for so I term them because their ensignes remained together though most of the men were drawn from them and in fight and the ensignes barely attended advanced on the left hand of the battel and spreading the breadth of the Downs they were to my troop rather on the corner of the right flank then a front and our battel and rereward upon which they directly fronted a musket-shot behinde my troop toward which it seemed they intended to advance First we gave as much to them as we could spare from our hills but when they began to open upon my Frison-muskettiers which as before is said could onely bestow their shot on our rigthtflank and till that time had done no service but against their horse they were exceedingly galled so as they staid suddenly and amazed or ashamed to go back seeing none to chase them in a bottom of some small covert bestowed themselves
North-side towards the sea It should seem that having broken and scattered the enemie who as Sir Francis Vere himself relateth were by them driven into the Downs and seeing Sir Horace Vere also to have taken his way thither they thought it perhaps convenient to hover thereabouts and to hold an eye upon ours and the enemies actions the rather because they might discern Sir Horace Vere now making a new head and so seeing us charge charged also with us which was not disagreeable to their first directions given and mentioned by Sir Francis Vere And this by all probable conjecture must also be the cause why Sir Francis Vere in his discourse maketh no mention of Sir Edward Cecil for he not having his direction from him to charge but from his Excellency as himself hath told me Sir Francis Vere being ignorant thereof and himself likewise not at the charge in person whereby he might take notice of any mans presence would not as appears expose himself to interpretations by making any further relation touching particulars then what might receive credit either from his own eyes or commandments This charge through the hand and favour of God gave us the day what followed is before already set down by that great and worthy Captain Sir Francis Vere CLement Edmonds that learned and judicious Remembrancer of the City of London in an observation of his on the sixth book of Cesars Commentary making it his designe to draw the exact effigies of a good General though he could not be far to seek for an exemplar while he had Cesar so nigh him yet found reason to borrow the best lineaments of his piece out of the actions of Sir Francis Vere And to say truth the whole picture there drawn is so like him that it does most lively represent him with at least a three-quarter-face which is more then the painter it seems could do And lest you should any longer doubt whether it be his picture you shall finde his very Motto expressed in it But because it casts so strong a reflection upon this battel of Newport without reference to which Sir Robert Naunton thought neither he nor his Noble Brother could be taken to the life I have thought good here to give the Reader a copie of it I Have already handled this practice of a pretended fear which the History doth so often recommend to our consideration and have shewed the inconvenience of over-light credulity leading such easie weeners to a disappointment of their hopes and consequently to the hazzard of their fortune I will now proceed to that which is further implied in this relation and respecteth the chiefest duty of a chief Commander and that is what specially is required of a Generall in the carriage and direction of a battel Concerning which point as there is nothing more materiall to the effecting of any businesse then opportunity of time conveniencie of place and an orderly disposition of the MEANS according to TIME Place so in question of encounter or waging battel the duty of a Leader may be included in these three circumstances Concerning the qualitie of the place as the chiefest and first respected in the choice of a judicious directour the whole scope of the Romane discipline from the time of their first Kings even to the last of their Emperours did alwayes aim at the advantage of place as a necessary help for the obtaining of victorie which I have already noted in the Helvetian action Yet forasmuch as the wisedome and experience of those times did deem it a circumstance of such importance give me leave once again to inforce the use thereof by these examples Habetis milites saith Labienus in this place quam petiistis facultatem hostem iniquo atque impedito loco tenetis praestate eandem nobis ducibus virtutem quam saepenumero Imperatori praestitistis Ye have fellow-souldiers that opportunitie which ye desired c. Whereby he cleareth himself of all imputation of ill direction as having performed the uttermost duty of a Commander and given such helps by the advantage of the place as are requisite to an easie victory leaving the rest to the execution of the souldiers Cesar at the losse he received at Dirrachium cleared himself to his souldiers in this sort Quod esset acceptum detrimenti cuivis potiùs quà m suae culpae debere tribui locum securum ad dimicandum dedisse c. The damage that was received was to be attributed to any body rather then him he had chosen them a safe place of fighting c. And as it followeth in the seventh Commentary being imbattelled upon the side of a hill right over against the army of the Galles which stood likewise in a readinesse to entertain the Romane valour he would not suffer his men to hazzard themselves in the passage of a bogge of fifty foot in breadth lying between both the armies but rather perswaded his souldiers disdaining the confrontment of the enemie to endure their contumely rather then to buy a victory with the danger of so many worthy men and patiently to attend some further opportunity Which passage of Cesar even in the said terms as it is there related was urged to good purpose by Sir Francis Vere in the year one thousand six hundred at a consultation before the battel of Newport For the army of the Netherlanders being possest of the Downs which are small swelling hils rising unevenly along the sea-shore upon the coast of Flanders and the enemy making a stand upon the sands at the foot of those hils and so cutting off the passage to Ostend it was disputed by the Commanders whether they should leave the Downs and go charge the enemy where he stood imbattelled upon the sands or attend him in the fastnesse of the Downs whereof they were possest The whole Council of war were earnestly bent to forsake the Downs and to hazzard the fight on equall terms as impatient that their passage and retreat to Ostend should be cut off But Sir Francis Vere well knowing how much it imported the businesse of that day to hold a place of such gain and advantage perswaded Count Maurice by many reasons and specially by this of Cesar which I last alledged not to forgo the help of the Downs but to expect the enemy in that place and so make use of that benefit upon the first encounter rather then to adventure the successe of the battel in worse terms in hope of clearing the passage and shewing also many probable conjectures that the enemie would not continue long in that gaze Wherein as his opinion then prevailed so all that were present were eye-witnesses both of the truth of his conjecture and the soundnesse of his judgement For the enemy within a while after coming on to charge the troops of the States was received with such a counterbuff from the hils and were violently beaten back in such rude manner as our men had the execution of them for the space of a
quarter of a mile or more which was no small advantage to the fortune of that day Touching the opportunity of time which Pindarus calleth the Mother of worthy exploits oftentimes dependeth upon the circumstance of place a General ought carefully to advise that he neither precipitate nor foreslow the occasion which is well expressed in this particular service of Labienus For where his purpose was to draw the enemy over a river that had steep uneasie banks and thereby of a hard and difficult passage he would not shew his resolution until he had drawn them all over the river for he was well assured that the Romane legions would so charge the enemie upon their first encounter with the unresistable weight of their piles that in their giving back they could not escape the danger of the river And therefore to make the victory more absolute and compleat he suffered them all to come over the water that all might be endangered in their passage back again And this is the benefit which opportunitie bringeth which is the rather to be attended with all carefulnesse forasmuch as Non saepe ac diu eadem occasio est a man hath neither often nor long the same opportunity Concerning the last circumstance of the apt and fit disposition of the forces according to Time and Place which is necessarily required in the dutie of a General it is referred to this end onely that they may be ranged in such manner that as one man is assistant to another in their severall files and ranks so one troop may be in subsidiis assistant to another to the end that no part may stand naked or fall in the singlenesse of its own strength but that one may second another from the first to the last C. Sempronius a Romane Consul having fought unadvisedly and received an overthow Julius the Tribune of the people caused Tempanius a horsman that was present at the battel to be called and as Livie reporteth it Coram eis Sexte Tempani inquit arbitrerÃsne C. Sempronium Consulem aut in tempore pugnam iniisse aut firmâsse subsidiis aciem he said thus before them Sextus Tempanius do you belieue that C. Sempronius the Consul chose a good time to fight or that he took order for assistant supplyes to his army for Livie saith he fought incautè inconsultéque non subsidiis firmatâ acie non equite aptè Iocato heedlessely and without good advice neither strengthening his army with supplies nor well placing his cavalry And of these three circumstances consisteth the duty and office of a Generall touching the direction of a battel wherein whosoever faileth doth hazzard the prerogative of his command over that army which he leadeth according to that of Cesar in the first of his Commentaries Se scire quibuscunque exercitus dicto audiens non fuerit aut malè re gestâ fortunam defuisse aut aliquo facinore comperto avaritiae esse convictum that he knew well whensoever an army refused to be obedient to their Commander it was either because upon some ill successe they saw he was unfortunate or that by the discovery of some notorious matter they found him convict of avarice Which Cesar himself needed not to fear if we may believe Plutarch who writeth that he was indowed by nature with an excellent promptitude and aptnesse to take opportunitie in any businesse And in the next Observation he adds I will content my self with a practise of our time at the battel of Newport where after divers retreats pursuits either side chasing the other as it were by turn and mutuall appointment and as it often falleth out in such confrontments At last commandment was given to the English to make head again and after some pause to charge the enemie with a shout which being accordingly performed a man might have seen the enemie startle before they came to the stroke and being charged home were so routed that they made not head again that day The siege of OSTEND IN the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and one The States resolving to send their army into Flanders or a good part thereof to take those forts the enemy held about Ostend and by that means to open the passage into that Countrey for the greater annoyance thereof made choice of my self though farre unfit and unworthy of so great a charge to command the said forces as Generall Of which intent I had first but onely an inkling given me and was by some principall persons of the State encouraged to accept the same and to take upon me a journey into England to inform her Majesty of that purpose and with all the necessary circumstances to frame her liking to the enterprise and to induce her to the yielding of the succours of three thousand bodies of her subjects to be levied transported and paid at their own charge and to be in the Low-countreys by the tenth of May with these speciall instructions for the manner of the enterprise With this errand I passed into England delivered the whole plot to her Majesty who liked and allowed thereof and with some difficulty as her manner was granted the men to be levied and transported in ten dayes warning for so the States desired lest the over-timely stirring of them before their other troops were landed in Flanders might give the enemy an alarm to the difficulting of the enterprise willing me the grant obtained to hasten over Before my coming into the Low-countreys the Count Maurice was marched towards Bergh the enemy that had long threatned to besiege Ostend with a good part of his forces was set down before that town so that it was now question rather of defending then of gaining more footing in that quarter The States therefore dealt with me to take upon me the charge of the place for which they gave me Commission not as Governour but as Generall of the army employed in and about Ostend with very ample power as aforesaid whereof I accepted And they forthwith gave order to the Count Maurice to send into Holland the twenty English companies he then had in the army with which troop I was to go into Ostend At the first he made some difficulty to send any having engaged himself in the siege of Bergh his works for the defence of the quarter not finished and the enemy gathering head in Brabant to succour and relieve that town in the end with importunity he sent eight companies with which my brother came With these being by the States put in good hope the rest should follow and that I should be liberally supplied with forces ammunition and all necessaries for such a service I went into the town and landed as I take it the eleventh of July one thousand six hundred and one on the sands against the middle of the old town The enemy commanded the haven so as there was no entring by it and then the use of the Geule was not known and this place I landed at
Church they had shot down to throw amongst them then we had ropes of pitch hoops bound about with squibs and fire-works to throw among them great store of hand-granadoes and clubs which we called Hercules-clubs with heavy heads of wood and nails driven into the squares of them These and some others because the enemy had sworn all our deaths the Generall provided to entertain and welcome them When it began to grow darkish a little before low-water in the interim while the enemie was a cooling of his Ordnance which had playd all the day long upon the breach and the old town the Generall taking advantage of this precious time commanded Captain Dexter and Captain Clark with some fiftie stout workmen who had a rose-noble apiece for a quarter of an houres work to get up to the top of the breach which the enemies cannon had made very mountable and then with all expedition to cast up a small breast-work and drive in as many Palizadoes as possibly they could that his brother Sir Horace Vere and the rest of the Captains and souldiers which he commanded might have some little shelter the better to defend the breach and repulse the enemie when he strived to enter which blessed be God with the losse of a few men they performed This being done Sir Francis Vere went through the sally-port down into the False-bray and it being twilight called for an old souldier a Gentleman of his company to go out Sentinel-perdu and to creep out to the strand between two gabions giving him expresse command that if he saw an enemy he should come in unto him silently without giving any alarm at all He crept upon his belly as far as he could and at last discovered Count Farneze above mentioned wading and putting over the old-haven above their pile-battery with his two thousand Italians which were to fall on first and as they waded over he drew them up into battalions and divisions which this Gentleman having discovered came in silently to Sir Francis Vere as he had commanded him who asked him What news My Lord said he I smell good store of gold chains buff-jerkins Spanish-cassocks and Spanish-blades Ha sayes Sir Francis Vere sayest thou me so I hope thou shalt have some of them anon and giving him a piece of gold he went up again through the sally-port to the top of Sand-hil where he gave expresse order to Serjeant-major Carpenter to go to Helmont and every man to his charge and not to take any alarm or shoot off either cannon or musket-shot till he himself gave the signall and then to give fire both with the Ordnance and small shot as fast as ever they could charge and discharge When the enemy had put over his two thousand Italians he had also a signall to give notice thereof to the Count of Bucquoy that they were ready to fall on whose signal was the shot of a cannon from their pile-battery with a hollow-holed bullet into the sea towards his quarter which made a humming noyse When Generall Vere had got them under the swoop of his cannon and small-shot he powred a volley of cannon and musket-shot upon them raking through their battalions and making lanes amongst them upon the bare strand which did so amaze and startle them that they were at a non-plus whether they should fall on or retreat back again yet at last taking courage and tumbling over their dead bodies they rallyed themselves and came under the foot of Sand-hil and along the foot of the curtain of the old town to the very piles that were strook under the wall where they began to make ready to send us a volley Which Sir Francis Vere seeing that they were a presenting and ready to give fire upon us because indeed all the breast-work and parapet was beaten down flat to the rampier that day with their Ordnance and we standing open to the enemies shot commanded all the souldiers to fall flat down upon the ground while the enemies shot flew like a shower of hail over their heads which for the reasons above-said saved a great many mens lives This being done our men rising saw the enemy hastâ—ng to come up to the breach and mounting up the wall of the old town Sir Francis Vere flourishing his sword called to them in Spanish and Italian vienneza causing the souldiers as they climbed up to cast and tumble down among them the firkins of ashes the barrels of Frize-ruyters the hoops stones and brick-bats which were provided for them The alarm being given it was admirable to see with what courage and resolution our men fought yea the Lord did as it were infuse fresh courage and strength into a company of poor snakes and sick souldiers which come running out of their huts up to the wall to fight their shares and the women with their laps full of powder to supply them when they had shot away all their ammunition Now were the walls of Ostend all on a light fire and our Ordnance thundring upon them from our bulwarks now was there a lamentable cry of dying men among them for they could no sooner come up to the top of the breach to enter it or peep up between Sand-hil and Schottenburch but they were either knocked on the head with the stocks of our muskets our Hercules-clubs or run through with our pikes and swords Twice or thrice when they strived to enter they were beaten off and could get no advantage upon us The fight upon the breach and the old town continued hotter and hotter for the space of above an houre the enemie falling on at the same instant upon the Porc-espic Helmont the West-raveline Quarriers were so bravely repulsed that they could not enter a man The enemy fainting and having had his belly full those on the West-side heat a dolefull retreat while the Lord of Hosts ended our dispute for the town crowned us with victory and the roaring noise of our Cannon rending the aire and rolling along the superficies of the water the wind being South and with us carried that night the news thereof to our friends in England and Holland Generall Vere perceiving the enemy to fall off commanded me to run as fast as ever I could to Serjeant-major Carpenter and the Auditour Fleming who were upon Helmont that they should presently open the West-slute out of which there ran such a stream and torrent down through the chanel of the West-haven that upon their retreat it carried away many of their sound and hurt men into the sea and besides our men fell down our walls after them slew a great many of their men as they retreated and took some prisoners pillaged and stript a great many and brought in gold-chains Spanish-pistols buff-jerkins Spanish-cassocks blades swords and targets among the rest one wherein was enammeled in gold the seven Worthies worth seven or eight hundred gilders and among the rest that souldier which Sir Francis Vere had sent out to discover with as
had the succours of horse or the foot I called for come sooner to us wherein I will charge and accuse none but the messengers of their slacknesse An Account of the last charge at NEWPORT-battel by Sir John Ogle Sr. IOHN OGLE Lieutenant Colonel to Sr. Francis Vere In this retreat of ours there wanted no perswasions as well by Sir Francis Vere himself as some others to move our men to stand and turn for we saw a kinde of faintnesse and irresolution even in those that pursued us nearest And it is certain if we may call any thing certain whose effects we have not yet seen that if then we had turned and stood we had prevented that storm of fortune wherein we were after threatned at least we had saved many of our mens lives But such apprehensions of fear and amazement had laid hold of their spirits as no perswasion of reason could for that time get any place with them Sir Francis Vere with his troop formerly mentioned took his way towards the Cannons along the sands where he by his Chirurgeon they by their fellows might hope for succour I being faint and weary through heat and much stirring took some few with me and crossed into the downs there awhile to rest me till I should see how the succeeding events would teach me to dispose of my self either by direction or adventure I was no sooner come thither but I met with Captain Fairfax and young Mr. Gilbert who soon after was slain near unto us there we consulted what we should do but the time and place affording no long deliberation taught us to resolve that the best expedient for our safety was to endeavour the speedie increase of our little number which we had with us I think they were thirty men having brought which to a reasonable competency our further purpose was to give a charge when we should finde it most expedient that so with our honours we might put an end to those uncertainties the fortune of that day had to our judgements then thrown upon us It was not very long ere that our little body was multiplied to better then an hundred men for the loose and scattered begun of themselves without labour to rally unto us so much prevails union even in a little body for whilest to it the broken and disbanded ones do willingly offer themselves for safetie and protection they themselves by adding of strength to that body not onely increase the number thereof but do give and take the greater security to themselves and others We were all this while within lesse then musket-shot of a grosse of the enemy which stood in a hollow or bottom within the downs the hills about it giving good shelter against the drops of our shot for the showers of them as also of the enemies were spent and fallen before but neither were they so high nor so steep that they could forbid entry and commodions passage of charging either to our horse or foot This grosse had not many wanting of two thousand men in it and spying as it should seem our little handfull which at the first they might peradventure neglect or contemn in regard it was so small a number now begin to gather some bulk and strength thought it not unfit to prevent a further growth and to this end sent out an hundred and fifty men with colours closely and as covertly as they could along the skirt of the downs next the inland and South-ward with purpose to charge on the flank or back of us which they might very conveniently do as we then stood These men were advanced very nigh us ere we descried them when lo just upon the time of their discovery and our men ready to fall upon them comes Sir Horace Vere on horsback from the strand it should seem from the pursuit of the enemy whom the horse had scattered mentioned by his brother Sir Francis Vere and with a troop of some two hundred men marched along the downs towards us In this troop there were with him Captain Sutton his own Lieutenant-Colonell Lowel that commanded Sir Francis Vere's foot-company and some Lieutenants Morgan also came to us about the time that Fairfax and I joyned unto him and these were the officers that were afoot in the last charge The disbanded troops of the enemy seeing us strengthened with such supplies thought it their fittest course to hasten them the same way they came forth towards us Captain Fairfax and I would have charged but Sir Horace Vere willed us to joyne our troops with his and said we should go together and give one a good charge for all upon that great troop which we saw stood firm before us We had now with us our troops being joyned about some five ensignes amongst which was mine own which after was lost in the charge but recovered again by my officer The vigilant judicious eie of Prince Maurice his Excellency was it should seem upon our actions and motions all this while for as I have been enformed he seeing us make head said to those that stood about him Voyez Voyez Les Anglois qui tournent a la charge and thereupon gave present order to Dubois then Commissary-generall for the Cavallierie to advance some of the horse to be ready to attend and fortifie the events that might happen upon this growing charge This I have not of knowledge but from such hands as it were ill beseeming me or any man to question the credit of one of that ranke qualitie and reputation Our troop now the disbanded troop of the enemies marched both towards this grosse almost with equal pace saving that their haste was a little greater according to the proportion of their danger if they had fallen into our clutches being then much too strong for them ere they recovered the shelter of their own grosse yet such haste they could not make but that we were with them before they had wholly cast themselves into their friends arms who opening to receive them facilitated not a little of our charge the passage who then fell in pesle-mesle together amongst them Much about this time came in the horse namely the troops of Vere Cecill and Ball who rushing in with violence amongst them so confounded and amazed tâ—em that they were presently broken and disjoynted which being done the slaughter was great to them on their side as the execution easie to us on ours This rupture also of theirs was not a little furthered by the Archdukes own troop of Harquebusiers which having advanced somewhat before this grosse on the skirt which lay betwixt the inland and the higher downs was so encountered by Cecil and his troop who had as then received order by Dubois from his Excellency to charge that they were forced with confusion to seek succour amongst their foot Cecil following them in close at their backs Vere and Ball as I take it charged at the front by us having crossed into the downs from the sands and