thought he had tired and blown
them sufficiently, he suddenly mounted Glocester's horse, and called
to his attendants that he had long enough enjoyed the pleasure of
their company, and now bade them adieu. They followed him for some time
without being able to overtake him; and the appearance of Mortimer with
his company put an end to their pursuit.

* Chron. T. Wykes, p. 67. Ann. Waverl. p. 218. W. Heming, p.
585. Chron Durst. vil. i i. p. 383, 384.

The royalists, secretly prepared for this event, immediately flew to
arms; and the joy of this gallant prince's deliverance, the oppressions
under which the nation labored, the expectation of a new scene of
affairs, and the countenance of the earl of Glocester, procured Edward
an army which Leicester was utterly unable to withstand. This nobleman
found himself in a remote quarter of the kingdom; surrounded by his
enemies; barred from all communication with his friends by the Severn,
whose bridges Edward had broken down; and obliged to fight the cause
of his party under these multiplied disadvantages. In this extremity he
wrote to his son, Simon de Mountfort, to hasten from London with an army
for his relief; and Simon had advanced to Kenilworth with that view,
where, fancying that all Edward's force and attention were directed
against his father, he lay secure and unguarded. But the prince, making
a sudden and forced march, surprised him in his camp, dispersed his
army, and took the earl of Oxford and many other noblemen prisoners,
almost without resistance. Leicester, ignorant of his son's fate, passed
the Severn in boats during Edward's absence, and lay at Evesham, in
expectation of being every hour joined by his friends from London; when
the prince, who availed himself of every favorable moment, appeared in
the field before him. Edward made a body of his troops advance from
the road which led to Kenilworth, and ordered them to carry the banners
taken from Simon's army; while he himself, making a circuit with the
rest of his forces, purposed to attack the enemy on the other quarter.
Leicester was long deceived by this stratagem, and took one division of
Edward's army for his friends; but at last, perceiving his mistake,
and observing the great superiority and excellent disposition of the
royalists, he exclaimed, that they had learned from him the art of war;
adding, "The Lord have mercy on our souls, for I see our bodies are the
prince's!" The battle immediatel