BATTLE OF FLODDEN 301 



at Flodden. An outline was all that could be attempted. 

 At the outset, however, the position of the armies should be 

 clearly \iiiderstood : 



"The English Line stretched East and West, 

 And Southward were their faces prest. 

 The Scottish Line stretched East and West, 

 And Northward were their faces prest." 



Each army, therefore, faced its own country. Still, it were 

 better to conceive of the English Line as being somewhat 

 diagonal — the right (Sir E. Howard) being the first, and the 

 left (Stanley), the last to be engaged. .Dacre's Horse were 

 posted behind Piper's Hill in reserve, and rendered important 

 services later. The engagement opened about four o'clock in 

 the afternoon with an artillery duel, which did not last very 

 long, as the fire from the English guns so galled the Scots 

 that they made haste to descend the slopes and come to close 

 quarters. To the present day, -almost, cannon balls had been 

 turned up by the plough, and judging from the localities 

 where they had been found, it seemed that leaden balls 

 chiefly were used by the Scots, iron by the English. [The 

 lecturer here exhibited a small leaden ball recently exhumed, 

 mentioning that one of eleven pounds' weight was preserved 

 at Pallinsburn House.] The fortunes of the day were not 

 to be decided by gunpowder. The terrible hand-to-hand conflict 

 which was to decide them was initiated by a charge of the 

 extx'eme Scottish left wing, consisting of 8,000 to 10,000 

 Borderers and Highlanders under the Earls of Home and 

 Huntly, upon the extreme English right wing about 3,000 

 strong under Sir Edmund Howard, which being hopelessly 

 outnumbered were (pirckly put to flight. At this critical 

 juncture, when Admiral Lord Howard's division was in danger, 

 Dacre's Horse came forward, checked Home's followers, and 

 enabled the remnant of Sir Ednmnd's men to join the Admiral, 

 who was advancing to encounter the formidable " plump " 

 under Crawford and Montrose, which was routed, both Earls 

 being slain. After Dacre's charge, Home's division unaccount- 

 ably disappeared for the .remainder of the day — why and 



