thee. Overtake Somerset; he hath fled westward, and tell him, from
me, if he can yet rally but one troop of horse--but one--and charge
Edward suddenly in the rear, he will yet redeem all. If he refuse,
the ruin of his king and the slaughter of the brave men he deserts be
on his head! Swift, a tout bride, Marmaduke. Yet one word," added
the earl, in a whisper,--"if you fail with Somerset, come not back,
make to the Sanctuary. You are too young to die, cousin! Away! keep
to the hollows of the chase."

As the knight vanished, Warwick turned to his comrades "Bold nephew
Fitzhugh, and ye brave riders round me,--so we are fifty knights!
Haste thou, Montagu, to the wood! the wood!"

So noble in that hero age was the Individual MAN, even amidst the
multitudes massed by war, that history vies with romance in showing
how far a single sword could redress the scale of war. While Montagu,
with rapid dexterity, and a voice yet promising victory, drew back the
remnant of the lines, and in serried order retreated to the outskirts
of the wood, Warwick and his band of knights protected the movement
from the countless horsemen who darted forth from Edward's swarming
and momently thickening ranks. Now dividing and charging singly, now
rejoining, and breast to breast, they served to divert and perplex and
harass the eager enemy. And never in all his wars, in all the former
might of his indomitable arm, had Warwick so excelled the martial
chivalry of his age, as in that eventful and crowning hour. Thrice
almost alone he penetrated into the very centre of Edward's body-
guard, literally felling to the earth all before him. Then perished
by his battle-axe Lord Cromwell and the redoubted Lord of Say; then,
no longer sparing even the old affection, Gloucester was hurled to the
ground. The last time he penetrated even to Edward himself, smiting