protected and having the
deep and sluggish waters of the Till flowing in front. Surrey advanced
and reconnoitred, and then sent the king a herald requesting him to
descend into the plain, as he acted ungallantly in thus practically
shutting himself up in a fortress. The king would not admit the herald.
Surrey then attempted a stratagem. Crossing the Till on the 8th, he
encamped at Barmoor Wood, about two miles from the Scottish position,
concealing his movement from the enemy. On the 9th he marched down the
Till to near its confluence with the Tweed, and recrossed to the eastern
bank. This, too, was uninterrupted by the Scots, who remained strangely
inactive, though it is recorded that the chief Scottish nobles implored
the king to attack the English. The aged Earl Angus begged him either to
assault the English or retreat. "If you are afraid, Angus," replied the
king, "you can go home." The master of artillery implored the king to
allow him to bring his guns to bear upon the English, but James returned
the reply that he would meet his antagonist on equal terms in a fair
field, and scorned to take an advantage. Then Surrey drew up his line
between James and the Border, and advanced up the valley of the Till
towards the Scots. The king set fire to the temporary huts on the
hillside where he had been encamped, and descended to the valley, the
smoke concealing the movements of each army from the other; but Surrey's
stratagem was thus successful in drawing him from his strong position.
The English van was led by Lord Thomas Howard, Surrey commanding the
main body, Sir Edward Stanley the rear, and Lord Dacre the reserves. The
Scottish advance was led by the Earls of Home and Huntley, the king
leading the centre, the Earls of Lennox and Argyle the rear, and the
reserves, consisting of the flower of the Lothians, were under the Earl
of Bothwell. The battle began at four in the afternoon, when the
Scottish advance charged upon the right wing of the English advance and
routed it. Dacre promptly galloped forward with his reserves, and
restored the fortunes of the day for the English right. The main bodies
in the mean time became engaged in a desperate contest. The Scottish
king in his ardor forgot that the duties of a commander were distinct
from the indiscriminate valor of a knight, and placed himself in front
of his spearmen, surrounded by his nobles, who, while they deplored the
gallant weakness of such conduct, disdained to leav