slaughter by the scaffold, falsehood in a ruler's lips, and shameless
harlotry in the councils of ruthless power. The order I have ever
given in war I give now; we war against the leaders of evil, not
against the hapless tools; we war against our oppressors, not against
our misguided brethren. Strike down every plumed crest, but when the
strife is over, spare every common man! Hark! while I speak, I hear
the march of your foe! Up standards!--blow trumpets! And now, as I
brace my bassinet, may God grant us all a glorious victory, or a
glorious grave! On, my merry men! show these London loons the stout
hearts of Warwickshire and Yorkshire. On, my merry men! A Warwick! A
Warwick!"

As he ended, he swung lightly over his head the terrible battle-axe
which had smitten down, as the grass before the reaper, the chivalry
of many a field; and ere the last blast of the trumpets died, the
troops of Warwick and of Gloucester met, and mingled hand to hand.

Although the earl had, on discovering the position of the enemy, moved
some of his artillery from his right wing, yet there still lay the
great number and strength of his force. And there, therefore,
Montagu, rolling troop on troop to the aid of Oxford, pressed so
overpoweringly upon the soldiers under Hastings, that the battle very
soon wore a most unfavourable aspect for the Yorkists. It seemed,
indeed, that the success which had always hitherto attended the
military movements of Montagu was destined for a crowning triumph.
Stationed, as we have said, in the rear, with his light-armed squires,
upon fleet steeds, around him, he moved the springs of the battle with
the calm sagacity which at that moment no chief in either army
possessed. Hastings was thoroughly outflanked, and though his men
fought with great valour, they could not resist the weight of superior