194 HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. 



was like to be in the end : that Martin Swart with 

 his Germans performed bravely, and so did those few 

 English that were on that side : neither did the Irish 

 fail in courage or fierceness ; but being almost naked 

 men, only armed with darts and skeins, it was rather 

 an execution than a fight upon them ; insomuch as 

 the furious slaughter of them was a great discourage 

 ment and appalment to the rest : that there died 

 upon the place all the chieftains ; that is, the Earl 

 of Lincoln, the Earl of Kildare, Francis Lord Lovel, 

 Martin Swart, and Sir Thomas Broughton : all 

 making good the fight without any ground given. 

 Only of the Lord Lovel there went a report, that he 

 fled, and swam over Trent on horseback, but could 

 not recover the farther side by reason of the steep 

 ness of the bank, and so was drowned in the river. 

 But another report leaves him not there, but that he 

 lived long after in a cave or vault. The number that 

 was slain in the field, was of the enemies part four 

 thousand at the least ; and of the king s part, one 

 half his vant-guard, besides many hurt, but none of 

 name. There were taken prisoners, amongst others, 

 the counterfeit Plantagenet, now Lambert Simnell 

 again, and the crafty priest his tutor. For Lambert, 

 the king would not take his life, both out of magna 

 nimity, taking him but as an image of wax that 

 others had tempered and molded ; and likewise out 

 of wisdom, thinking that if he suffered death, he 

 would be forgotten too soon ; but being kept alive, 

 he would be a continual spectacle, and a kind of 

 remedy against the like enchantments of people in 



