But he had no provisions for a long campaign: and when the levy had fought once, it melted away immediately, every man going back again of necessity to his own home.

If it won the battle, it went home to drink over its success: if it lost, it dissolved, demoralized, and left the burghers to fight for their own walls, or to buy off the heathen with their own money.

But every shire and every kingdom fought for itself alone.

If the Dorset men could only drive away the host from Charmouth and Portland, they cared little whether it sailed away to harry Sussex and Hants.

If the Northumbrians could only drive it away from the Humber, they cared little whether it set sail for the Thames and the Solent.