they came to joining, overreached their battle, and so distressed them there greatly, and so drew near towards the King, who was about the midst of the battle, and sustained all the might and weight thereof. Nevertheless upon the same little distress at the west end, anon ran the news to Westminster, and to London, and so further to other countries, that the King was distressed, and his field lost; but the laud be to Almighty God! it was otherwise; for the King, trusting verily in God's help, our blessed Lady's and Saint George, took to him great hardiness and courage, for to suppress the falsehood of all them that so falsely and so traitorously had conspired against him, wherethrough, with the faithful, well-beloved, and mighty assistance of his fellowship, that in great number dissevered not from his person, and were as well assured unto him as to them was possible, he manly, vigorously, and valiantly, assailed them in the midst and strongest of their battle, where he, with great violence, beat and bare down before him all that stood in his way, and then turned to the range, first on that hand, and then on that other hand, in length, and so beat and bare them down, so that nothing might stand in the sight of him, and the well assured fellowship that attended truly upon him; so that, blessed be God! he won the field there, and the perfect victory remained unto him, and to his rebels the discomfiture of thirty thousand men, as they numbered themselves. In this battle was slain the Earl of Warwick.... On the morrow after, the King commanded that the bodies of the dead lords, the Earl of Warwick, and his brother, the Marquis, should be brought to St. Paul's in London, and, in the church there, openly shewed to all the people; to the intent that after that the people should not be abused by feigned seditious tales, which many of them, that were wont to be towards the Earl of Warwick, had been accustomed to make; and, peradventure, so would have made after that, had not the dead bodies there been shewed, open and naked and well known; for, doubtless, else the rumour should have been sown about in all countries that they both, or else at the least, the Earl of Warwick was yet alive, upon the cursed intent thereby to have caused new murmurs, insurrections and rebellions amongst indisposed people. THE PLAGUE (1471). =Source.=--_Paston Letters_, vol. iii., Nos. 675, 681. _Sir John Paston to John Paston._