[Footnote 4: Four hundred. In the original it is _four thousand_,--but this number appeared to me too great.] CHAP. III. THE ENGLISH INVADE SCOTLAND TWICE, AND ARE AS MANY TIMES REPULSED[5].--THE TOWER OF VERNEUIL SURRENDERS TO THE KING OF FRANCE.--OTHER MATTERS. It was evident that Heaven was against the English,--and they were deserving of it, for it is a fact that they have alway encroached on their Christian eighbours, as well in the kingdom of France as in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and elsewhere. Many violences have most unjustly been done by them, by reason of their not having the words of our Saviour JESUS CHRIST before their eyes, 'Render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's and unto God the things that be God's.' Among their various plans of annoyance to their neighbours, they carried one about this time into effect, namely, an invasion of Scotland. The earl of Salisbury sent two lords of great renown, natives of England, sir Thomas de Hanton, knight, and the lord Percy, son to the earl of Northumberland, to wage war against Scotland. They had with them fifteen thousand combatants and a numerous body of peasants, and, crossing the river Solway, entered Scotland, where they remained three days, having advanced six miles of that country, equal to three french leagues. When the earl of Douglas heard of this inroad, he collected, without delay, six thousand Scots, and attacked the English on the plain in open day. The battle was well fought on both sides, and many were killed and wounded; but it was won by the Scots, who kept the field, and made many prisoners: in the number were sir Thomas de Hanton and Percy: the rest escaped as quickly as they could, to carry the melancholy news to lord Salisbury. He was very much grieved, and not without cause, but not cast down; for he instantly raised a greater army than before, consisting of sixty thousand men, thinking to destroy the whole kingdom of Scotland. When the earls of Murray and of Ormond heard of the English having crossed the Solway with a large army, they, having the fear of God before their eyes, and finding the English determined thus conjunctly to destroy their country, took measures to oppose them; for it is perfectly lawful that every one should fight for his country. They soon, with the aid of other scots lords, assembled a force of thirty-two thousand able warriors, and, falling on the english camp unawares, put them to the rout, with great slaughter and loss in prisoners and wounded. They were pursued as far as the Solway, wherein many were drowned. The English lost in these two invasions from twenty to twenty-four thousand men in killed and prisoners.