fifty in all, whom Leicester had been no longer due to restrain from taking part in the adventure.

A force of infantry, the amount of winch at be starty STEPtained, had been criered by the ear to moss the bobre sa & later momNDA. Sir Philip Sidney's Crisin these was then I wèkè place it had been sent in order to assist in quelling an antiqued revolt: so that he came, he most of his compains is a private later and knight errant.

The arrival of the expected convoy was soon more distinctly heard; but no scouts or outposts had been stationed to give notice of the enemy's movements. Suddenly the fog which had shrouded the scene so closely rolled away like a curtain, and in the full light of an October morning the English found themselves face to face with a compact body of three thousand men. The Marquis del Vasto rode at the head of the force,

surrounded by a band of mounted arquebus men. The cavalry was under other distinguished commanders; columns of pikemen and musketeers lined the hedgerow on both sides, while between them the long train of waggons slowly advanced under their protection. The whole force had got in motion, after having sent notice of their arrival to Verdugo, who with one or two thousand men was expected to sally forth almost immediately from the city gate.

There was but brief time for deliberation. Notwithstanding the tremendous odds there was no thought of retreat. Norris called to Stanley, with whom he had lately been at variance :

"There hath been ill blood between us. Let us be friends together this day and die side by side, if need be, in her Majesty's cause."

"If you see me not serve my prince with faithful courage now," rang out the voice of Stanley, "account me for ever a coward. Living or dying, I will stand or die by you in friendship."

While they spake the gallant young Earl of Essex spurred his horse and called to his troopers :

"Follow me, good fellows-for England, and for England's Queen!" As he spoke he dashed, lance in rest, upon the enemy's cavalry, overthrew the foremost man, horse and rider, shivered his own spear to splinters, and then, swinging his curtle-axe, rode merrily forward. His whole troop, compact as an arrow-head, flew with an irresistible shock against the opposing columns, pierced clean through them, and scattered them in all directions. At the very first charge one hundred English horsemen drove the Spanish and Albanian cavalry back upon the musketeers and pikemen. Wheeling with rapidity, they retired before a volley of musket shot, by which many riders and a few horses were killed, and then formed again to renew the attack. Sir Philip Sidney, in coming into the field, having met Sir William Pelham, a veteran soldier, lightly armed, had with chivalrous devotion thrown off his cuishes and now rode to the battle with no armour but his cuirass. At the second charge his horse was shot under him, but, mounting another, he was seen everywhere in the thick of the fight, behaving himself with a gallantry which extorted admiration even from the enemy.

The battle was a series of personal encounters in which high officers were doing the work of private soldiers. Lord North, who had been lying "bed-rid" with a musket shot in the leg, had got himself on horseback, and "with one boot on and one boot off," bore himself most valiantly

through the whole affair. As to Sir William Russell, he laid about him with his curtle-axe to such purpose, that the Spaniards pronounced him a devil and not a man. "Wherever," said an eye-witness, "he saw five or six of the enemy together, thither would he; and with his hard knocks soon separated their friendship." Lord Willoughby encountered George Crescia, general of the famed Albanian cavalry, unhorsed him at the first shock, and rolled him in the ditch. "I yield me thy prisoner," cried out Crescia in French, "for thou art a preux chevalier;" while Willoughby, trusting to his captive's word, gallopped onward, and with him the rest of the little troop, till they seemed swallowed up by the superior number of the enemy. His horse was shot under him, his bosses were torn from his legs, and he was nearly taken prisoner, but fought his way back with incredible strength and good fortune. William Stanley's horse had seven bullets in him, but bore his rider unhurt to the end of the battle.

Hannibal Gonzago, leader of the Spanish cavalry, fell mortally wounded... The Marquis del Vasto, commander of the expedition, nearly met the same fate. An Englishman was just about to cleave his head with a battle-axe, when a Spaniard transfixed the soldier with his pike. The most obstinate struggle took place about the train of waggons. The teamsters had fled in the beginning of the action, but the English and Spanish soldiers, struggling with the horses and pulling them forward and backward, tried in vain to obtain exclusive possession of the convoy which was the cause of the action. The carts at last forced their way nearer and nearer to the town, while the combat still went on, warm as ever, between the hostile squadrons. The action lasted an hour and a half, and again and again the Spanish horsemen wavered and broke before the handful of English, and fell back upon their musketeers. Sir Philip Sidney, in the last charge, rode quite through the enemy's ranks until he came upon their entrenchments, when a musket ball from the camp struck him upon the thigh, three inches above the knee. Although desperately wounded in a part which should have been protected by the cuishes he had thrown aside, he was disinclined to leave the field; but his own horse had been shot under him in the beginning of the action, and the one upon which he was now mounted became too restive for him thus crippled to control. He turned reluctantly away, and rode a mile and a half back to the entrenchments, suffering extreme pain, for his leg was dreadfully shattered. As he was supported by his attendants at the edge of the battle-field, one of them brought him a bottle of water to quench his raging thirst. At

that moment a wounded English soldier looked up wistfully in his face. Sidney instantly handed him the flask, exclaiming, "Thy necessity is even greater than mine." He then pledged his dying comrade in a draught, and was soon afterwards met by the earl.

"Oh! Philip," cried Leicester in despair, "I am truly grieved to see thee in this plight."

Sidney comforted him, assuring him that death was sweet in the cause of queen and country.

Sir William Russell, too, all blood-stained from the fight, threw his arms around his friend, wept like a child, and kissing his hand, exclaimed,

"Oh! noble Sir Philip, never did man attain hurt so honourably, or serve so valiantly as you."

The fight was over. Sir John Norris bade Lord Leicester, "be merry, for," said he, "you have had the honourablest day. A handful of men has driven the enemy three times to retreat."

But it was now time for the English to retire in their turn. Their reserve never arrived. The whole force against the thirty-five hundred Spaniards had never exceeded two hundred and fifty horse and three hundred foot; and of this number the chief work had been done by the fifty or sixty volunteers and their followers. The heroism which had been displayed was fruitless, except as a proof that the Spaniards were not invincible. Thirteen troopers and twenty-two foot soldiers upon the English side were killed. The Spaniards lost about two hundred men. But they succeeded in carrying their convoy into Zutphen and completely victualling the town. Very little save honour was gained by the English. "I think I may call it," said Leicester, "the most notable encounter that hath been in our age, and it will remain to our posterity famous."

It has done so-not for any gain to the English cause, but on account of the heroic daring of the gentlemen volunteers, and chiefly on account of the melancholy close of Sir Philip Sidney's bright career. He died from the effect of his wounds a few days after receiving the injury.

"The

During the period which intervened between the battle and the death of Sidney, the siege operations before Zutphen were continued. city, strongly garrisoned and well supplied with provisions, as it had been by Parma's care, remained impregnable; but the sconces beyond the river and upon the island fell into Leicester's hands. The great fortress which commanded Veluwe, and which was strong enough to have resisted Count Hohenlo on a former occasion for nearly a whole year, was the scene of much hard fighting. It was gained at last by the signal valour of Edward Stanley, lieutenant to Sir William. That officer at the commencement of an assault upon a not very practicable breach, sprung at the long pike of a Spanish soldier, who was endeavouring to thrust him from the wall, and seized it with both hands. The Spaniard struggled to maintain his hold of the weapon, Stanley to wrest it from his grasp. Α dozen other soldiers broke their pikes upon his cuirass, or shot at him with their muskets. Conspicuous by his dress being all in yellow but his corslet, he was in full sight of Leicester and five thousand men. The earth was so shifty and sandy that the soldiers who were to follow him