294 BATTLE OF FLODDBN 



brought round by sea to Tynemouth under Lord High Admiral 

 Howard, Surrey's eldest son. How was such a surprisingly 

 prompt assemblage of such an army to be explained, remem- 

 bering that in those far distant days there were no organised 

 means of communication'? People got along, strange as it 

 might appear to us, witliout post-otfices, newspapers, telegraphs, 

 railroads, or even coaches. Tlie explanation was, that before 

 Henry VIII. left for France, being apprehensive of danger 

 from the other side of the Border, he warned Surrey, Earl- 

 Marshal and Lord Treasurer of England and General-in-Chief 

 of the North, to be prepared : 



' Then caused he watch in every street 



And posts to ran through downs and dales, 

 So what was wrought he knew of it, 

 From Carlisle to the coast of Wales. 



By this time came the flying post 

 Which made the Earl to understand 



How that the King of Scotland's host 

 Already entered had the land." 



King James's character had already been considered ; Surrey's 

 must be briefly outlined. Dr Hodgkin, whose admirable 

 description of Flodden already referred to should be carefully 

 studied by every student of its histoiy, calls him the "grand 

 old man" of his time ; though a Scottish historian contemp- 

 tuously alluded to him as "an old cruiked carle in a chariott." 

 He was seventy — old enouglt to be James's father — brave, 

 loyal, skilful, courageous and enduring. For his services at 

 Flodden he was cieated 2nd Duke of Norfolk, the 1st Duke's 

 title having been forfeited. The Eail was accompanied by his 

 two sons, Thomas Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral, and 

 his younger brother Sir Edmund Howard. 



The stay at Bolton was short, for on the 6th September 

 the army was moved to Wooler Haugh about six miles 

 distant across Milfield Plain from the Scottish camp on 



