Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/491

 HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. and ill led, and without horse or artillery, they were with no great difficulty cut in purrs, and put to flight. And for their three leaders, the i Loid Audley, the blacksmith, and Flammock, as commonly the captains of commotions are but half-couraged men, suffered themselves to be j taken alive. The number slain on the rebels part were some two thousand men; their army amounting, as it is said, unto the number of six teen thousand. The rest were, in effect, all j taken ; for that the hill, as was said, was encom- j passed with the king s forces round about. On the king s part, there died about three hundred, most of them shot with arrows, which were re ported to be of the length of a tailor s yard ; so strong and mighty a bow the Cornish men were said to draw. The victory thus obtained, the king created divers bannerets, as well upon Blackheath, where his lieutenant had won the field, whither he rode in person to perform the said creation, as in St. George s Fields, where his own person had been encamped. And for matter of liberality, he did, by open edict, give the goods of all the prisoners unto those that had taken them; either to take them in kind, or compound for them as they could. After matter of honour and liberality, followed matter of severity and execution. The Lord Audley was led from Newgate to Tower- Hill, in a paper coat painted with his own arms ; the arms reversed, the coat torn, and at Tower- Hill beheaded. Flammock and the blacksmith were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn ; the blacksmith taking pleasure upon the hurdle, as it seemeth by words that he uttered, to think that he should be famous in after-times. The king was once in mind to have sent down Flam- mock and the blacksmith to have been executed in Cornwall, for the more terror; but being ad vertised that the country was yet unquiet and boiling, he thought better not to irritate the people further. All the rest were pardoned by proclamation, and to take out their pardons under seal, as many as would. So that, more than the blood drawn in the field, the king did satisfy himse f with the lives of only three offenders, for th&amp;lt; expiation of this great rebellion. It vas a strange thing to observe the variety and inequality of the king s executions and par dons and a man would think it, at the first, a kinrf of lottery or chance. But, looking into it mo e nearly, one shall find there was reason for it- much more, perhaps, than after so long a dis tance of time we can now discern. In the Kent- j ish commotion, which was but a handful of men, j there were executed to the number of one hundred j and fifty; but in this, so mighty a rebellion, but three. Whether it were that the king put to ac count the men that were slain in the field, or that he was not willing to be severeinapopularcause, or that the harmless behaviour of this people, that came from the west of England t j the east, with- lit mischief almost, or spoil of the country, did somewhat mollify him, and move him torompas- sion; or lastly, that he made a great dill, n nt-e between people that did rebel upon wantonness, and tin in that did rebel upon want. After the Cornish men were defeated, there came from Calais to the king an honourable em- bassage from the French king, which had arrived at Calais a month before, and there was stayed in respect of the troubles, but honourably entertained and defrayed. The king, at their first coming, sent unto them, and prayed them to have patience, till a little smoke, that was raised in his country, were over, which would soon be: Blighting, as his manner was, that openly, which nevertheless he intended seriously. This embassage concerned no great affair, but only the prolongation of days for payment of mo neys, and some other particulars of the frontiers. And it was, indeed, but a wooing embassage, with good respects to entertain the king in good affection; but nothing was done or handled to the derogation of the king s late treaty with the Italians. But during the time that the Cornish men were in their march towards London, the King of Scot land, well advertised of all that passed, and know ing himself sure of a war from England, whenso ever those stirs were appeased, neglected not his opportunity; but thinking the king had his hands full, entered the frontiers of England again with an army, and besieged the castle of Norham in person, with part of his forces, sending the rest to forage the country. But Fox, Bishop of Duresme, a wise man, and one that could see through the present to the future, doubting as much before, liad caused his castle of Norham to be strongly fortified, and furnished with all kind of munition; and had manned it likewise with a very great number of tall soldiers, more than for the propor tion of the castle, reckoning rather upon a sharp assault than a long siege. And for the country likewise, he had caused the people to withdraw their cattle and goods into fast places, that were not of easy approach ; and sent in post to the Earl of Surrey, who was not far off, in Yorkshire, to come in diligence to the succour. So as the Scottish king both failed of doing good upon the castle, and his men had but a catching harvest of their spoils; and when he understood that the Earl of Surrey was coming on with great forces, he returned back into Scotland. The earl, find ing the castle freed, and the enemy retired, pui sued with all celerity in Scotland, hoping tohavo overtaken the Scottish king, and to have given him battle ; but, not attaining him in time, sat down before the castle of Ayton, one of the strong est places, then esteemed, between Berwick and Edinburgh, which in a small time lie took. And soon after, the Scottish king miring arther into