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"from Diuborroe, this 28 of Maye." 1

Add. "To the R. Ho. S Rob. Cecyll, principall Secritarye of Eingland."

End. "28 May, 1602. Sr Edw. Cecyll to my Mr."

The troops of horse put under the command of Sir Edward Cecil were the three English troops.2 This command, which virtually made Cecil a colonel of Horse, was given as a reward for his services in the last charge at Nieuport.3 The bestowal, however just, of a coveted command upon a junior captain of horse, was sure to give

offence to many. That fire-eating nobleman, Lord Grey,*

who had been loth even to be commanded by Sir F. Vere,5 had solicited the command of the English horse from Prince Maurice, and had letters from the Queen to the States-General. So powerful was his interest that he himself made sure of getting the command of the English horse, and he told Sir William Browne, the deputy-governor of Flushing, that he expected to have 700 or 800 horse under his command."

The two following extracts will show that Edward Cecil was not indebted to Sir Robert Cecil, or Sir Francis Vere, for his cavalry appointment. The first is from a letter.

Cecil Papers, Hatfield, 93/86.

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? It does not appear who commanded the other two English troops. See MS. 18 A lxiii. Royal Lib., Brit. Mus., quoted from in chapter iii. Thomas Lord Grey, of Wilton (15th Baron), went to Ireland with the Earl of Essex, and had a high command there. He afterwards served in the Low Countries as a volunteer, and was present at the battle of Nieuport, where he was wounded in the mouth. Having joined "Raleigh's Conspiracy in 1603, he was arrested, tried for high treason and sentenced to death. He was never brought to the block, but died a prisoner in the Tower in 1614. It is said that Frederick, Elector Palatine, earnestly intreated James I. in 1613 to pardon Lord Grey, but ineffectually.

B

Chamberlain to Carleton, May 8, 1602.-S. P. Dom.

• Sir W. Browne to Sir R. Sidney, May 30, 1602.--Collins, ii. p. 253.

addressed, "To the Right honorable Sir Roberte Cecyll, Knyght, her Majesty's principall secretary."

"I have receyved your Ho. Ire concerning the Lo. Grey, and did the very nexte day deale with the States, his Exc, and Barnevelt, according to the order, with all earnestnes. They sayde they woulde consider thereof, and see what coulde be done. His Exce tolde me the Rutters had their owne commanders already, and that the other were under the Count Lodowicą of Nassaw. How beit yf his Lp. coulde be contented to be as Colonel over certaine troupes of horsse (of wch nature there were divers others already appointed, and amongst them St Ed. Cecyll) he woulde doe his best to accomodate him therein. As for any entertainement, or the leavy of a new Company, that belonged to the States, and was by them to be disposed in, wch to further I will continue my uttermoste endeavors. From Emden nothing, but that the Count procedes in his courses, and the Towne remaynes still irresolute. Wherewith till other occasion I moste humbly take leave, beseching th' Almighty for your Ho. long and prosperous estate."

"Your Hon. most humble

"and bownde,
"GEO. GILPIN.

"Haegh, this 21st of May, 1602."

The next extract is from Sir Francis Vere's letter to Sir Robert Cecil, dated from "Rieswicke, 26 May, 1602," in which Sir Francis makes creditable mention of Edward Cecil's fitness for the command given him; and any praise from a soldier like Vere is valuable1 :

"My Lord Grey is not yeatt come, but his fyrst and recende lettes delyvred and thynges ar all preparead agaynest his arryval.

1 Vere was very chary of his praise, and held himself (says Dudley Carleton in a letter to his friend Chamberlain) haut à la main to all his captains, "which breeds a generall discontentment among them." See a letter among S.P. Holland, dated Feb. 15, 1600-1, from Captain Calisthenes Brooke to Sir R. Cecil, complaining of ill-usage by Sir F. Vere.

The command of the Inglyshe compagnyes of horse, was in my absence desposead of by the States and the Prince Maurice to Syr Edwarde Cecyll, from whome I founde them unwylling to wthdraw the chardge, and as I loathe to sollicytt agaynst so good a frende and one so worthy of the commande, wh in regarde he is Captayne of horse doeth belonge more propperly to him then any other. My Lord shall have a Regyment of theas contry horse, and an honorable entretaignmet towardes the defraying of his chardge, more then I have knowne the estates doe for any adventurer, whearin they sheaw theyr care to content her Matio; and Mons' de Barnevelt in perticular hath been very forwarde in the mattre. And I hope that my Lord Grey wyll allowe of my endever though he have nott his desyre accomplyshed in every poynt."

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The States having collected an army of 20,000 foot and 5,000 horse, of which force 8,000 were English,2 were anxious that Prince Maurice should again march into Flanders and relieve Ostend. A bold scheme, and one easily planned and carried out on paper, but not so easy in the performing. The Marquis Ambrose Spinola, an Italian nobleman, and brother of Frederick Spinola,3 a renowned sea commander in the service of the Spaniards, had, with the King of Spain's leave, levied an army of 8,000 men, chiefly in the Duchy of Milan, for service in the Netherlands. "The Marquis arrived," says Bentivoglio, "just at the time when the Archduke stood most in need of such a recruit. Count Maurice was already marched into the field, and with such forces as the United Provinces till then had never had greater. . . . It was thought that his design was to cross through Brabant, and so advance

1 Vere to Sir R. Cecil, May 26, S. P. Holland. Lord Grey once entertained hopes of succeeding Sir Francis Vere in his command in the Low Countries. See a letter from Rowland Whyte to Sir R. Sidney, dated from the Court, May 13, 1600.-Collins, ii. p. 194.

J. Chamberlain to Dudley Carleton, at Paris, June 27, 1602.-S. P. Dom. 3 Killed in a sea fight with the Dutch ships, in May, 1603.

forward to the relief of Ostend, and then to besiege Nieuport again."1 Whatever Maurice's plans for the coming campaign were, he wisely kept them to himself. After reviewing the most splendid army he ever had, he crossed the Waal at Nimeguen and the Meuse at Mook. From thence he marched by easy stages along the side of the Meuse to Massyck. Here an unavoidable delay of five days took place, the cause of which was laid to the English troops. It appears that on arriving at Massyck, it was found, notwithstanding a general order had been issued by Prince Maurice, before taking the field, for the troops to provide themselves with provisions for ten days at least, that the English troops were quite unprovided with food. A halt was therefore obligatory, until the wants of the troops had been supplied." From Massyck the States' army marched to St. Truyden and the immediate neighbourhood of Thienen,3 in the very heart of Brabant, and within a day's march of Brussels.

The Archduke had not been idle all this time. He had sent Mendoza, the Admiral of Arragon, into Brabant, with a force of 6,000 foot and 4,000 horse, to dispute the march of the States' army to Ostend, whither it was believed they were bound. This force would have been quite inadequate

The Compleat History of the Warrs of Flanders, by Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio; translated from the Italian by the Earl of Monmouth, 1654, part iii. p. 408

2 Gilpin to Sir R. Cecil, June 27, 1602.-S. P. Holland.

"The enemy is reckoned 14,000 foot, and between 3 and 4,000 Horse; they lye in and near Tienen, or Tielmont, intrenched." Sir W. Brown to Sir R. Sidney, undated.-Collins, ii. p. 256.

Francis Mendoza, Admiral of Arragon, who was taken prisoner at Nieuport, had been subsequently released on parole, the sum of his ransom having been fixed at nearly 100,000 Flemish crowns. This ransom was afterwards foregone by the States, with consent of the Nassau family, on condition that the Admiral should effect the exchange of all prisoners of the Republic, then held in durance by Spain in any part of the world. This humane plan was carried out, and the Admiral returned to Spain.

to cope with Maurice's troops, had not Spinola arrived on the scene with his Italians at this critical juncture. The Archduke having his hands full in besieging Ostend, despatched Spinola with his contingent to the aid of Mendoza, who was marching towards the States' army, "to discover all their designs, and then to disturb them therein as much as he could." When Maurice arrived with his troops near Thienen, he found his old enemy, the Admiral, strongly entrenched and in great force. Not being able to lure the Admiral into risking "a second Nieuport," and not deeming it prudent to attack Mendoza in his present strong position, the cautious Maurice determined to retrace his steps. Why he went, and where he went, after vainly challenging his foe to give him battle, are plainly set forth in Edward Cecil's narrative of this fruitless march.

SIR E. CECIL TO SIR R. CECIL.

'MAY IT PLEASE Y' HON.,

"Hitherto I coulde not conveniently discharge the dutie where unto affection bindeth mee towards y°. Now, finding this present ocation, I will wth a diutefull and humble remembrence of my selfe, acquant yr H. wth the procedinges of our armye. In the marche wee have had towards the ennemy, wherein, though the exploys are not followed according to the common expectation and desier of us all, yet I thinke not unfitt to informe yo therewth, from the 10 of Jun, that our hole forces did meatte at Nemegame, to this presant daye. Before our departure wee were Mustered at Eltem, to the Number of 20,000 foote and 5,000 horse, and commanded to furnishe oure selves, horse, and menn, for 15 dayes provision wthout farther knowledge of the commaunders dessigne, but to marche towards a village caulled Mouke upon the Mase, where a bridge of bootes (caried for that porpose upon wagines) was presently made to pass over the river as if wee had some meaning to the Grave. But our Army beyng passed over

1 Bentivoglio, part iii. p. 408.

A strongly fortified town on the left bank of the Meuse, besieged and taken by Parma in 1856.

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