* they are fo prefumptuous : notwithftanding they have feen all the neighbouring towns do fo,^they pbftinately follow. their own inclinations. They jare but peafants ; for not one gentleman is in the town/ 4 Say no more/ anfwered fir John : ' be-fore four days we will put them in fuch plight, that tfyey will gladly furrender to any who will ' fliew them mercy ; but tell the admiral and me, are the French abroad f ' I was fo informed/ faid fir ThomaS ; * and was affured there were upwards of five hundred in one body. This is very probable ; for men at arms are continually coming from France to Caftille. I afterwards heard, that only fir Barrois des Barres had entered the caftle of Noysu with fifty lances, and I know nothing more of them/ The converfation now ceafed ; and the new comers were lodged among them as well as cir-cumftances would admit, and were well fervedfroni the proyifion which had followed them. Four days .after the arrival of fir John Holland and fir Thomas Percy, great preparations were made for a general pffault ; and a large machine of timber was built, and mounted on wheels, which could be pufhed any where. It would contain, with eafe, one hundred men at arms, and the fame number of archers ; but, for this attack, it was filled with archers only, and the ditches were levelled where it was intended to pafs. When the attack commenced, this machine was ^vhçeled up to the walls by main force ; and the archers, 171