It was no easy task to convert a body of brave
knights and gentlemen and sturdy country men into regular troops, and
to give them the advantages conferred by discipline and order. But the
work was rendered the less difficult by the admixture of the volunteers
who had been bravely fighting for ten years under Morgan, Rowland
Williams, John Norris, and others. These had had a similar experience
on their first arrival in Holland. Several times in their early
encounters with the Spaniards the undisciplined young troops had
behaved badly; but they had gained experience from their reverses, and
had proved themselves fully capable of standing in line even against
the splendid pikemen of Spain.
While the English had been drilling and fighting in Holland things had
gone on quietly at Hedingham. The village stands near the head waters
of the Colne and Stour, in a rich and beautiful country. On a rising
ground behind it stood the castle of the Veres, which was approached
from the village by a drawbridge across the moat. There were few more
stately piles in England than the seat of the Earl of Oxford.
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