Descriptions of the martial pageant were circulated all over the kingdom.

They contained much that was well fitted to gratify the vulgar appetite for the marvellous.

For the Dutch army, composed of men who had been born in various climates, and had served under various standards, presented an aspect at once grotesque, gorgeous, and terrible to islanders who had, in general, a very indistinct notion of foreign countries.

First rode Macclesfield at the head of two hundred gentlemen, mostly of English blood, glittering in helmets and cuirasses, and mounted on Flemish war horses.

Each was attended by a negro, brought from the sugar plantations on the coast of Guiana.