The armies of the queen and of the Earl of Warwick advanced toward
each other, until they met at last at a short distance north of
London. A desperate battle was fought, and the queen's party were
completely victorious. When night came on, the Earl of Warwick found
that he was beaten at every point, and that his troops had fled in all
directions, leaving thousands of the dead and dying all along the road
sides. The camp had been abandoned, and there was no time to save any
thing; even the poor king was left behind, and the officers of the
queen's army found him in a tent, with only one attendant. Of course,
the queen was overjoyed at recovering possession of her husband, not
merely on his own account personally, but also because she could now
act again directly in his name. So she prepared a proclamation, by
which the king revoked all that he had done while in the hands of
Warwick, on the ground that he had been in durance, and had not acted
of his own free will, and also declared Edward a traitor, and offered
a large reward for his apprehension.

The queen was now once more filled with exultation and joy. Her joy
would have been complete were it not that Edward himself was still to
be met, for he was all this time advancing from the westward; she,
however, thought that there was not much to be feared from such a boy,
Edward being at this time only about nineteen years of age. So the
queen moved on toward London, flushed with the victory, and
exasperated with the opposition which she had met with. Her soldiers
were under very little control, and they committed great excesses.
They ravaged the country, and plundered without mercy all those whom
they considered as belonging to the opposite party; they committed,
too, many atrocious acts of cruelty. It is always thus in civil war.
In foreign wars, armies are much more easily kept under control.
Troops march through a foreign territory, feeling no personal spite or
hatred against the inhabitants of it, for they think it is a matter of
course that the people should defend their country and resist
invaders. But in a civil war, the men of each party feel a special
personal hate against every individual that does not belong to their
side, and in periods of actual conflict this hatred becomes a rage
that is perfectly uncontrollable.

Accordingly, as the queen and her troops advanced, they robbed and
murdered all who came in their way, and they filled the whole country
with