Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/312

292 the horse of an aide-de-camp at his side; but he crossed the bridge, rode within two bowshots of the Scottish lines, and was returning at his leisure, when he was overtaken by a herald bringing him a challenge from the Earl of Huntley to fight out the quarrel either by themselves alone, or ten to ten, or twenty to twenty.

The time was passing away when disputes of nations could be settled by duels: Somerset's courage was unimpeachable, but he refused: the Earl of Warwick offered to take his place, but it could not be; the herald retired, and as the night closed, the English artillery was ordered forward to command the road. The enemy's position was dangerously strong; the morning would show if there was a practicable mode of assaulting it; but if the Scots had sat still to receive the attack, the defeat of Flodden might, perhaps, have been revenged at Musselburgh. As soon, however, as they had ascertained the extent of the force which the Protector had brought with him, confident in their numbers, their cause, and their enthusiasm, they began to think less of defeating the English than of preventing their escape. They persuaded themselves that, conscious of their inferiority, the invaders thought only of retreat, and that the fleet was in attendance to take them on board. When the day broke Somerset found them already across the water, their tents thrown down that not a loiterer might remain concealed there; the main body covering the hills between himself and the land to the south, the four thousand Irish archers in front of him towards the sea. The latter, as