I was in the first army at York, as I have already noted, and, I must
confess, had the least diversion there that ever I found in an army in
my life. For when I was in Germany with the King of Sweden, we used
to see the king with the general officers every morning on horseback
viewing his men, his artillery, his horses, and always something going
forward. Here we saw nothing but courtiers and clergymen, bishops and
parsons, as busy as if the direction of the war had been in them. The
king was seldom seen among us, and never without some of them always
about him.
Those few of us that had seen the wars, and would have made a short
end of this for him, began to be very uneasy; and particularly a
certain nobleman took the freedom to tell the king that the clergy
would certainly ruin the expedition. The case was this: he would
have had the king have immediately marched into Scotland, and put the
matter to the trial of a battle; and he urged it every day. And the
king finding his reasons very good, would often be of his opinion; but
next morning he would be of another mind.
This gentleman was a man of conduct enough, and of unquestioned
courage, and afterwards lost his life for the king.
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