And, as retreating looks something like running
away, especially when an enemy is at hand, our men had much ado to
make their retreat pass for a march, and not a flight; and, by their
often looking behind them, anybody might know what they would have
done if they had been pressed.
I confess, I was heartily ashamed when the Scots, coming up to the
place where we had been posted, stood and shouted at us. I would have
persuaded my lord to have charged them, and he would have done it with
all his heart, but he saw it was not practicable; so we stood at gaze
with them above two hours, by which time their foot were come up to
them, and yet they did not offer to attack us. I never was so ashamed
of myself in my life; we were all dispirited. The Scots gentlemen
would come out single, within shot of our post, which in a time of war
is always accounted a challenge to any single gentleman, to come out
and exchange a pistol with them, and nobody would stir; at last our
old lieutenant rides out to meet a Scotchman that came pickeering on
his quarter. This lieutenant was a brave and a strong fellow, had been
a soldier in the Low Countries; and though he was not of any quality,
only a mere soldier, had his preferment for his conduct.
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