ABSTRACT
As if to ratify Essex's popularity and endorse his leadership, but also in eerie anticipation of the traitor's charge which led him to the scaffold, Sutcliffe concludes this section of his treatise with the observation that armies will not follow evil commanders. 'And therefore for feare of disloyaltie of some; let no man feare, or omitte to let loyall men be sought out with diligence, and disloyal men remoued, then that the necessarie prouisions of warre should be neglected, or the proceeding hindred fro[m] want of aucthoritie.'55 Realistically speaking, of course, Sutcliffe, as a writer whose reflections are based on firsthand experience, was aware of the impossibility of reforming the high command in a day: 'so many vertues are required in a captaine, and so small faultes lay him open to the enemy: it is no maruell, if perfect Generals be so rare, and hard to finde'.56
