ravaged till they
were a terror to the country. At last the Dutch, being sorely pressed
by the Spaniards, offered to take them into their pay, and the bands
marched out from Lorraine in high spirits.

"They were in sore plight for fighting, for most of them had been
obliged to sell even their arms and armour to procure food. Spinola,
hearing of their approach pushed forward with a strong force to
intercept them, and so came upon them at Fleurus, eight miles from
Namur, on the 30th of August, 1622.

"The Scots were led by Hepburn, Hume, and Sir James Ramsay; the English
by Sir Charles Rich, brother to the Earl of Warwick, Sir James Hayes,
and others. The odds seemed all in favour of the Spaniards who were
much superior in numbers, and were splendidly accoutred and well
disciplined, and what was more, were well fed, while Mansfeldt's bands
were but half armed and almost wholly starving.

"It was a desperate battle, and the Spaniards in the end remained
masters of the field, but Mansfeldt with his bands had burst their
way through them, and succeeded in crossing into Holland. Here their
position was bettered; for, though there was little fighting for them to
do, and they could get no pay, they lived and grew fat in free quarters
among the Dutch. At last the force broke up altogether; the Germans
scattered to their homes, the English crossed the seas, and Hepburn led
what remained of Sir Andrew Gray's bands to Sweden, where he offered
their services to Gustavus. The Swedish king had already a large number
of Scotch in his service, and Hepburn was made a colonel, having
a strong regiment composed of his old followers inured to war and
hardship, and strengthened by a number of new arrivals. When in 1625
hostilities were renewed with Poland Hepburn's regiment formed part
of the army which invaded Polish Prussia. The first feat in which he
distinguished himself in the service of Sweden was at the relief of
Mewe, a town in Eastern Prussia, which was blockaded by King Sigismund
at the head of 30,000 Poles. The town is situated at the confluence of
the Bersa with the Vistula, which washes two sides of its walls.

"In front of the other face is a steep green eminence which the Poles
had very strongly entrenched, and had erected upon it ten batteries
of heavy cannon. As the town could only be approached on this side the
difficulties of the relieving force were enormous; but as the relief of
the town was a necessity in order to e