SKIRMISH AT HAWKHILL. ?75 Leith.]
defend the town ?to the last of their blood and
breath.?
At their head was Pictro Strozzi, Lord of Epernay,
a Florentine, who had been made a marshal
of France five years before, and whose two brothers
served in these Scottish wars-Gaspare, who was
killed at Inchkeith, and Leon, who was prior of
Capua and general of the galleys of France at the
capture of St. Andrews.
Under Mardchal Strozzi were Monsieur Octavius,
brother of the Marquis d?Elbceuff, a peer of the
house of Lorraine, who led into Scotland some of
,the old Bandes Franpises, or Free Companies ; the
IConite de Martigues (aftenvards Duc d?Estampes), a
young noble of the house of Luxembourg ; Captain
the Sieur Jacques de la Brosse, one of the hundred
knights of St. Michael ; General d?Oisel, a d many
ather French officers of high family and the highest
spirit.
In those days the use of fire-arnis had led to a
great many alterations in military equipment ; breastplates
were made thicker, in order to be bullet
proof, and the tassettes attached to these were
.of one plate each; and many of the morions
worn by the French and Italians were beautifully
embossed; and carbines, petronels, and dragons
(hence dragoons) are frequently mentioned as
among the fire-arms in use at this time ; while the
pike was still considered the (( queen of weapons ?
for horse and foot.
Mardchal Strozzi ordered the tower of St. Anthony?s
Preceptory? near the Kirkgate, to be armed ;
cannon were accordingly swayed up to its summit.
Holinshed says the English raised a mound, which
they naged Mount Pelham, on the south-east
side of the town, and armed it with a battery of
guns. Another to the south of this was named
Mount Somerset, and both of them remain till
the present day; and when the young grass is
sprouting in spring, the zig-zags that led therefrom
to the walls can often be distinctly traced in the
Links.
Before Lord Grey got his men comfortably encamped
at Restalrig, ?( in halls, huts, and pavilions,?
Strozzi had despatched go0 arquebusiers against
him to check his advance.
Marching across the Links, this force took possession
of the wooded eminence named Hawkhill,
and a sharp conflict at once ensued with the
English. For several hours the French fought
gallantly, but were compelled, after severe loss,
to fall back upon Leith, while the English took
possession of Hawkhill, planted guns upon it, and
advancing with caution and care under a cannonade,
occupied all the rising ground mending to Hermitage
Hill, which completely commands town and
Links on the east.
After this repulse, and before the siege formally
commenced, the French resorted to a little treachery
by sending a special messenger to Lord
Grey requesting a brief truce, which he readily
granted. On this, great numbers of them, previously
instructed, issued from Leith, and thronged
about the English camp at Restalrig, the Hawkhill,
and elsewhere, as if merely actuated by curiosity.
Ere long they became offensive in manner, and
began to pick quarrels with English sentinels, who
were not slow in retorting, and Lord Grey eventually
ordered them instantly to retire. On this,
they demanded whence came his right to order
them off the ground of their mistress the Queen
Regent of Scotlznd. They were told that if the
truce had not been granted at their own request
they would have been compelled to keep at a
distance.
On this the French fired their carbines and
petronels into the faces of those nearest them;
volleys of oaths and outcries followed, and several
Frenchmen who had been in concealment came to
aid the pretended loungers in the m 2 , and soldiers
were seen rushing to arms in all directions, without
comprehending what the uproar was about ; at last
the French were again driven in, but with the loss
of one hundred and forty men killed and seventeen
taken prisoners. The loss of the English is not
stated ; but it was probably greater than that of the
French, as they were taken by surprise.
The next event was a sally made by the Comte
de Martigues on the English trenches, when, according
to Keith, he spiked three pieces of cannon,
put 600 men to the sword, and took Sir Maurice
Berkeley prisoner.
Frequent and sanguinary sallies were thus made
by the French to scour the trenches and retard
their progress, till the English, instead of waiting
patiently within them to repel such assaults, now
resolved to become the aggressors, and whenever the
French were seen to issue from the town, an equal
force met them with sword and pike on the Links ;
and the bitterness and fury of these encounters
were increased by the knowledge of those engaged
that they were overlooked on either side by their
respective comrades and commanders
Elizzbeth having despatched reinforcements to
the allied camp-for such it was-before Leith,
Lord Grey determined to press the siege with
greater vigour, the more so as the town was already
beginning to suffer from famine. On the 4th of
May he set fire to the water-mills, and destroyed
them, notwithstanding all the efforts of the French
