It is impossible for any one, to read the accounts of the old chroniclers and annalists, and to inspect the field of battle, without being struck with the remarkable resemblance, between the spot, and the descriptions of it, meagre as they may be, which they have left us. The stream crossing the high road, by which the Earl of Salisbury would naturally advance from Cheshire and Staffordshire, on his march towards Ludlow, the strong position of the Lancastrians, the name of Blore Heath (still preserved ages after the place had ceased to be a heath), and its contiguity to Mucklestone, as well as to Drayton, all which circumstances are mentioned by the ancient historians, combine, independently of tradition, to place the locality beyond dispute. {37} CHAPTER III. THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF NORTHAMPTON. {39a} “The King from out the town who drew his foot and horse, As willing to give full field-room to his force, Doth pass the river Nen, near where it down doth run, From his first fountain’s head, is near to Harsington, Advised of a place, by nature strongly wrought, Doth there encamp his power: the Earl of March, who sought To prove by dint of sword, who should obtain the day, From Towcester trained on his powers in good array. The vaward Warwick led (whom no attempt could fear); The middle March himself, and Falconbridge the rear. Now July enter’d was, and e’er the restless sun Three hours’ ascent had got, the dreadful fight begun.” MICHAEL DRAYTON’S _Polyolbion_, Song 22nd. RICHARD NEVILLE, Earl of Warwick, {39b} having landed, in the summer of 1460, from Calais, at Sandwich, with the Earls of March {39c} and Salisbury, {39d} and having been met by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, {40a} and other persons of distinction, supporters of the party of the Duke of York, proceeded towards London. In passing through Kent they were joined by Cobham {40b} and many other personages of influence; and on the 2nd of July, 1460, they entered London, with a great accession to their forces, where they were cheerfully received by the Mayor and citizens, and of which they took quiet possession, except the Tower, into which Lord Scales {40c} and other Lancastrian leaders had retired, and which the Yorkists immediately besieged. Without waiting for its surrender, the Earls of March and Warwick, with the Lords Falconberg {41a} and Clinton, {41b} Viscount Bourchier {41c} (Earl of Ewe), the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Exeter, {41d} and other bishops and noblemen, left London with an army, a great portion of which came out of Kent, Essex, Surrey, and Sussex, amounting altogether, as some writers state, to 25,000 men, and proceeded towards Henry VI., {42a} leaving the Earl of Salisbury, Cobham, and Sir John Wenlock, in London, to take care of the city, keep the citizens firm in their fidelity, and push the siege of the Tower. {42b}