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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1863. Excerpt: ... HEN on Wednesday, the 14th of May, 1264, we galloped into Lewes, it Was still early morn; indeed, it was so early, that, save a few soldiers who had gone out to seek fodder for their horses, the royalists were asleep. The prince, however, was astir, and he was pacing his chamber with long and agitated steps when I presented myself, flushed and excited. "My lord," said I, as he halted with a look of eager anxiety, "De Montfort is marching hither in all haste, with the design of taking the king by surprise; by this time his vanguard has reached Plumpton Plain." "Enough," said the prince; "you have done your duty. Rouse Hugh Bisset, and let him give the alarm." I obeyed with alacrity; and Bisset, accustomed to such emergencies, sprang up coolly and deliberately to issue the necessary orders. In a short time the castle, and town, and priory were in commotion; soldiers were running to and fro; captains were setting their men in order; and the king, the prince, and the King of the Romans were arraying them for battle. It appears that De Montfort, informed of the alarm having been given, and his project of a surprise having been frustrated, halted on Plumpton Plain. From his car, placed on the eminence in the midst of baggage and sumpier-horses, he displayed his standard, fastening it securely, and surrounding it with soldiers; and in another car he shut up four of the citizens of London who had been engaged in the plot of John de Gizors, with an idea that they might, in the confusion, fall by the weapons of their own friends. After these preliminaries, De Montfort marshalled his army in four divisions. The first of these, consisting of the Londoners, was under the command of Nicholas Segrave, and was to act ut concert with the second division, under John Gilfor...