undred
yeomen, armed cap-a-pie, who fought with pike and battle-axe--men robust
of frame and of prodigious strength. The worthy padre Fray Antonio
Agapida describes this stranger knight and his followers with his
accustomed accuracy and minuteness.

"This cavalier," he observes, "was from the far island of England, and
brought with him a train of his vassals, men who had been hardened in
certain civil wars which raged in their country. They were a comely race
of men, but too fair and fresh for warriors, not having the sunburnt,
warlike hue of our old Castilian soldiery. They were huge feeders also
and deep carousers, and could not accommodate themselves to the sober
diet of our troops, but must fain eat and drink after the manner of
their own country. They were often noisy and unruly also in their
wassail, and their quarter of the camp was prone to be a scene of loud
revel and sudden brawl. They were, withal, of great pride, yet it was
not like our inflammable Spanish pride: they stood not much upon the
"pundonor," the high punctilio, and rarely drew the stiletto in their
disputes, but their pride was silent and contumelious. Though from a
remote and somewhat barbarous island, they believed themselves the most
perfect men upon earth, and magnified their chieftain, the Lord Scales,
beyond the greatest of their grandees. With all this, it must be said of
them that they were marvellous good men in the field, dextrous archers
and powerful with the battle-axe. In their great pride and self-will
they always sought to press in the advance and take the post of danger,
trying to outvie our Spanish chivalry. They did not rush on fiercely
to the fight, nor make a brilliant onset like the Moorish and Spanish
troops, but they went into the fight deliberately and persisted
obstinately and were slow to find out when they were beaten. Withal,
they were much esteemed, yet little liked, by our soldiery, who
considered them stanch companions in the field, yet coveted but little
fellowship with them in the camp.

"Their commander, Lord Scales, was an accomplished cavalier, of gracious
and noble presence and fair speech: it was a marvel to see so much
courtesy in a knight brought up so far from our Castilian court. He was
much honored by the king and queen, and found great favor with the fair
dames about the court, who, indeed, are rather prone to be pleased with
foreign cavaliers. He went always in costly state, attended by pages and
esq