About the time that all of them had evacuated the town, except the thirty left in the castle (and of these one or other came away every day), the Swiss arrived, to the number of eight or ten thousand, in our camp, in which we had already about two thousand who had served in our expedition to Naples. There were also ten thousand more, but they were quartered at some distance from Vercelli; for the king was advised not to suffer the conjunction of two such great bodies, which would have amounted together to twenty-two thousand men, the greatest number (I think) that ever came out of their country at one time; and I have been informed by those that were well acquainted with the affairs of Switzerland, that they scarce left any fighting men behind them; and those who did come, came for the most part, in spite of our teeth, and their wives and children would also have come along with them, had we not set guards upon the passes in Piedmont on purpose to stop them. It may be demanded whether this extraordinary alacrity proceeded from any extraordinary affection; for King Louis XI. had done them many good offices, and contributed much to make them a reputation in the world. Indeed there were some old soldiers who had a respect for the memory of King Louis; and some of their officers were above seventy-two years old, and had been captains in the wars against Charles Duke of Burgundy; but the chief motives that induced them to leave their own country were avarice and poverty. To speak truth, all their best men came to us; and such a number of brave fellows I had never seen before together in my life; and to me it seemed impossible to conquer them, unless by cold, famine, or some other distress.