a perjured duke, and that I
am determined never to leave the war till I have lost mine own life, or
utterly extinguished and put down my foes." [Hall.]

After this terrible defection, neither his remaining forces, nor the
panic amongst them which the duke's desertion had occasioned, nor
the mighty interests involved in the success of his arms, nor the
irretrievable advantage which even an engagement of equivocal result
with the earl in person would give to Edward, justified Warwick in
gratifying the anticipations of the enemy,--that his valour and wrath
would urge him into immediate and imprudent battle.

Edward, after the vain bravado of marching up to the walls of Coventry,
moved on towards London. Thither the earl sent Marmaduke, enjoining the
Archbishop of York and the lord mayor but to hold out the city for three
days, and he would come to their aid with such a force as would insure
lasting triumph. For, indeed, already were hurrying to his banner
Montagu, burning to retrieve his error, Oxford and Exeter, recovered
from, and chafing at, their past alarm. Thither his nephew, Fitzhugh,
led the earl's own clansmen of Middleham; thither were spurring Somerset
from the west, [Most historians state that Somerset was then in London;
but Sharon Turner quotes "Harleian Manuscripts," 38, to show that he had
left the metropolis "to raise an army from the western counties," and
ranks him amongst the generals at the battle of Barnet.] and Sir Thomas
Dymoke from Lincolnshire, and the Knight of Lytton, with his hardy
retainers, from the Peak. Bold Hilyard waited not far from London, with
a host of mingled yeomen and bravos, reduced, as before, to discipline
under his own sturdy energies and the military craft of Sir John
Coniers. If London would but hold out till these forces could unite,
Edward's destruction was still inevitable.

BOOK XII. THE BATTLE OF BARNET.

CHAPTER I. A KING IN HIS CITY HOPES TO RECOVER HIS REALM--A WOMAN IN HER
CHAMBER FEARS TO FORFEIT HER OWN.

Edward and his army reached St. Alban's. Great commotion, great joy,
were in the Sanctuary of Westminster! The Jerusalem Chamber, therein,
was made the high council-hall of the friends of York. Great commotion,
great terror, were in the city of London. Timid Master Stokton had been
elected mayor; horribly frightened either to side with an Edward or
a Henry, timid Master Stokton feigned or fell ill. Sir Thomas Cook, a
wealthy and influential citize