HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. 349 



gate. And for the scaladoes, they had so bad suc 

 cess, as the rebels were driven from the walls with 

 the loss of two hundred men. 



The king when he heard of Perkin s siege of 

 Exeter, made sport with it, and said to them that 

 were about him, that the king of rake hells was 

 landed in the west, and that he hoped now to have 

 the honour to see him, which he could never yet do. 

 And it appeared plainly to those that were about the 

 king, that he was indeed much joyed with the news 

 of Perkin s being in English ground, where he could 

 have no retreat by land ; thinking now that he 

 should be cured of those privy stitches, which he had 

 had long about his heart, and at some times broken 

 his sleep?, in the midst of all his felicity. And to set 

 all men s hearts on fire, he did by all possible means let 

 it appear, that those that should now do him service 

 to make an end of these troubles, should be no less 

 accepted of him, than he that came upon the eleventh 

 hour, and had the whole wages of the day. There 

 fore now, like the end of a play, a great number 

 came upon the stage at once. He sent the Lord 

 Chamberlain, and the Lord Brook, and Sir Rice ap 

 Thomas, with expedite forces to speed to Exeter, to 

 the rescue of the town, and to spread the fame of his 

 own following in person with a royal army. The 

 Earl of Devonshire, and his son, with the Carews, 

 and the Fulfordes, and other principal persons of 

 Devonshire, uncalled from the court, but hearing 

 that the king s heart was so much bent upon this 

 service, made haste with troops that they had raised, 



