Chapter I: The Great Rebellion (2)

No exertions were spared by the Parliament at the same time to induce the king to come to an arrangement; but he showed that he was at heart totally unchanged, for he replied to their overtures by still insisting that the Lord Kimbolton and the five Members of the Commons should be given up to him, as well as Alderman Pennington, the Lord Mayor of London, and Captain Venn, commander of the train-bands. He demanded indictments of high treason against the Earls of Essex, Warwick, and Stamford, Sir John Hotham, Major-General Skippon, and all who had dared to put in force the ordinance of Parliament for the raising of the militia. Yet at the same time he was in secret negotiation with Hotham for the betrayal of Hull; and Hotham sullied that reputation for patriotic bravery which he had acquired by listening to him. He was, however, stoutly resisted by the inhabitants, the garrison, and his own son. The king then invested Hull, and intrigued with some traitors within to set fire to the town, so that he might assault it in the confusion. But the plot was discovered, and the incensed inhabitants made a sortie under Sir John Meldrum, and put the king's forces to a precipitate flight.

Charles then marched away to Nottingham, where he raised his standard on the 25th of August, according to Clarendon; on the 22nd, according to Rushworth. It was a most tempestuous time; the standard, which was raised on the castle-hill, an elevated and exposed place, was blown down in the night, an ominous occurrence in the opinion of both soldiers and people, and it was three days before it could be erected again, owing to the fierceness of the wind. Besides the prostration of the standard, the condition of the king's affairs was equally discouraging. The people showed no enthusiasm in flocking to the royal banner, the arms and ammunition did not arrive from York, and the royal arms had received a severe repulse at Coventry. News came that the Earl of Essex was at the head of fifteen thousand men at Northampton, and the Earl of Southampton and his other officers entreated the king to make overtures of peace to the Parliament, telling him that if they refused them, it would turn the tide of popular favour against them. At first Charles listened to such counsels with anger, but at length despatched Sir John Colepepper to London to treat. But the Parliament would not hear of any accommodation till the king had pulled down his standard, and withdrawn his proclamations of high treason against the Earl of Essex, the accused Members of Parliament, and all who had supported them. In fact, all attempts at agreement were become useless, and were rendered more so by the conduct of Charles's nephew, Prince Rupert, who, with his younger brother Maurice, sons of Charles's sister, Elizabeth of Bohemia, had arrived in England, and were placed at the head of the royal cavalry. Whilst Colepepper was trying to effect a peace in London, Rupert, with that rashness which afterwards grew so notorious, and so fatal to Charles's army, was making war through the midland counties, insulting all who advocated peace, ordering rather than inviting men to the king's standard, and plundering towns and villages at will for the supply of his troopers.

About the middle of September Charles marched from Nottingham, intending to reach the west of England and unite his forces with those of the Marquis of Hertford. He conducted himself in a very different manner to the fiery Rupert, or Robber, as the people named him. He everywhere issued the most positive assurances of his love for his people, and his resolve to maintain their liberties; but these assurances were not well maintained by his actions betraying the fact that he was playing a part. He in one place invited the train-bands to attend his march as his bodyguard, but when they arrived, he expressed his doubts of their loyalty, forcibly seized their arms, and sent them away. In spite of his professions to respect his subjects' rights, he still levied money and supplies in the old arbitrary manner. On the 20th of September he was at Shrewsbury, where he assured the inhabitants that he would never suffer an army of Papists, and on the 23rd he wrote to the Earl of Newcastle, telling him that the rebellion had reached that height, that he must raise all the soldiers he could, without any regard to their religion. He received five thousand pounds in cash from the Catholics in Shropshire, sold a title of baron for six thousand pounds more, and began minting money from plate with great alacrity. And to put the finish to his insincerity, he despatched orders to Ireland to send him as many troops thence as they could, who were almost wholly Catholic.

But the Earl of Essex was carefully watching the king's progress; he had sent him the Parliamentary proposals of accommodation, which he refused to receive from what he called a set of traitors. Essex reached Worcester, in his march to cut off the king's movement towards London, just as Prince Rupert and Colonel Sandys had had a skirmish in that town, from which Rupert was forced to fly. There Essex lay still for three weeks, till at length Charles, encouraged by his inaction, ventured to quit Shrewsbury on the 20th of October, and by a bold march by Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and Kenilworth, actually shot past Essex's position on the road to London. The Parliamentary general, however, gave quick pursuit, and on the 22nd reached Kineton, in Warwickshire, just as the king encamped on Edge Hill, close above him.

Charles had the way open, but a council of war advised the attack of Essex, who had marched at such a rate, that a great part of his forces was left behind. On the following morning, the 23rd of October--it was Sunday--Essex accordingly found the royal army drawn up in order of battle on the heights of Edge Hill. It was a serious disadvantage to the Parliamentary army to have to charge up hill, and both parties were loth to strike the first blow. They remained, therefore, looking at each other till about two o'clock in the afternoon. Charles was on the field in complete armour, and encouraging the soldiers by a cheerful speech. He held the title of generalissimo of his own forces; the Earl of Lindsay was his general, an experienced soldier, who had fought side by side in the foreign wars with Essex, to whom he was now opposed. So much, however, was he disgusted with the youthful insolence of Prince Rupert, that he gave himself no further trouble than to command his own regiment. Sir Jacob Astley was major-general of the horse, under Lindsay, Prince Rupert commanding the right wing of the horse, and Lord Wilmot the left, two reserves of horse being also under the command of Lord Digby and Sir John Byron. In numbers, both of horse and foot, the royal army exceeded that which Essex had on the field; but Essex had a better train of artillery.

Essex had drawn out his army at the foot of the hill in the broad Vale of the Red Horse. Sir John Meldrum, who had so lately chased the king's forces from Hull, led the van. Three regiments of horse were posted on the right, commanded by Sir Philip Stapleton and Sir William Balfour. On the left were the twenty troops of horse under Sir James Ramsay. In the centre, behind the cavalry, were posted the infantry, Essex's own regiment occupying the main position, flanked by two reserves of horse under Lord Brooke and Denzil Holles.

At two o'clock, according to one historian, Essex commanded his artillery to fire on the enemy. According to another, the cavaliers grew impatient of inaction, and demanded to be led against the foe; and the king firing a cannon with his own hand as a signal for the assault, the Royalists began to descend the hill. When they came within musket shot, their spirits were greatly raised by seeing Sir Faithful Fortescue fire his pistol into the ground, and range himself with two troops of horse on their side. The Parliamentary cavalry made a charge on the king's centre, and endeavoured to seize the standard, but could not resist the pikes of the Royalists. Prince Rupert made a furious charge on the left wing of the Parliamentarians, broke it, and pursued it in headlong chase into the village of Kineton, where finding the baggage of the enemy, he allowed his men an hour to plunder it. This uncalculating conduct on the part of Rupert continued through the whole war, and no amount of experience of the disastrous results of it ever cured him of it in the least. Put him at the head of a body of horse, and such was his valour and impetuosity that he would carry all before him, but he was rarely seen again in the field till the battle was over, when he returned from the headlong chase, often to find his friends totally defeated.

To-day, during Rupert's absence, the main bodies of infantry were led into action by Essex and Lindsay, each marching on foot at the head of his men. The steady valour of the Roundheads astonished the Cavaliers. The left wing of Charles's army, under Lord Wilmot, sought refuge behind a body of pikemen, but Balfour, one of the commanders of the Parliamentary right wing, wheeled his regiment round on the flank of the king's infantry, broke through two divisions, and seized a battery of cannon. In another part of the field the king's guards displayed extraordinary valour, and forced back all that were opposed to them. Essex perceiving it, ordered two regiments of infantry and a squadron of horse to charge them in front and flank, and at the same time Balfour, abandoning the guns he had captured, attacked them in the rear. They were now overpowered and broke. Sir Edward Varney, the standard-bearer, was killed, and the standard taken; but this being entrusted by Essex to his secretary, Chambers, was, by treachery or mistake, given up to a Captain Smith, one of the king's officers, whom Charles, for this service, made a baronet on the field. Charles beheld with dismay his guards being cut to pieces by overwhelming numbers, and advanced at the head of the reserve to their rescue. At this moment Rupert returned from his chase, and the remnant of the guards was saved. Lord Lindsay had received a mortal wound, his son, Lord Willoughby, and Colonel Vavasour, were taken prisoners in endeavouring to rescue him, and Colonel Monroe and other officers had fallen. Had Rupert returned on having put to the rout the Parliamentary right wing, all this might have been prevented. As it was, a check was given to the vehemence of the Roundheads, the firing ceased, and both armies having stood looking at each other till the darkness fell, each drew off, the Royalists back to their hill, the Parliamentarians to Kineton.

Both parties claimed the victory, but if remaining on the field of battle, and being the last to march away, are any criterions of success, these were on the side of Essex. His men lay in the field all night, a keenly frosty one, without covering, but supplied with meat and beer; and the next morning Charles marched away to Banbury. It was said that gunpowder failed in Essex's army, or that he would have pursued the royal army up the hill. As it was, though strengthened by the arrival of most of his forces left behind under Hampden, he did not think fit to follow Charles the next day, but allowed him to continue his route, himself retreating to Warwick. This was not the part of a victor, so that neither could be said to have won. The number of slain has been variously estimated; most writers state it at about five thousand, but the clergyman of Kineton, who buried the dead, reports them only twelve hundred.

Charles marched from Banbury to Oxford, where a number of gentlemen, well mounted, having heard his engagement at Edge Hill represented as a victory, came in, and thus recruited the wasted body of his cavalry. Rupert, during the king's stay, kept up that species of warfare which he had been taught to admire in Count Mansfeld, in Germany. He made rapid rides round the country, to Abingdon, Henley, and other towns, where he levied contributions without scruple from the Roundhead partisans. The Londoners were in the greatest alarm at the tidings of the king's growing army at Oxford, and sent pressing orders to Essex to hasten to the defence of the capital. The train-bands were kept constantly under arms, trenches were thrown up round the city, forces were despatched to hold Windsor Castle, seamen and boatmen were sent up the Thames to prevent any approach in that direction, and the apprentices were encouraged to enrol themselves by the promise of the time they served being reckoned in the term of their apprenticeship. At length Essex reached London, posted his men about Acton on the 7th of November, and rode to Westminster, to give an account of his campaign. It could not be said that he had shown much generalship, but it was not a time to be too critical with commanders: the brilliant military genius of Cromwell had not yet revealed itself, therefore the Parliament gave him hearty thanks, voted him five thousand pounds, and recommended the capital to his care.

Essex was scarcely arrived when news came that Charles had quitted Oxford, and was directing his march on London. Henry Martin, a member of the Commons, who commanded at Reading, considering that town untenable, fell back on London. The panic in the capital was great. A deputation was sent, consisting of the Earl of Northumberland and three members of the Commons, to meet the king and present a petition for an accommodation. They encountered him at Colnbrook: he received the petition very graciously, and called God to witness that he desired nothing so much as peace, and the sparing of his bleeding country. This being reported to Parliament, they ordered Essex to suspend hostilities, and sent Sir Peter Killigrew to request the same on the part of the king, supposing that after this gracious message, in which he promised to reside near London till the differences were settled, he would have ceased all offensive operations. But scarcely was Killigrew gone, when Parliament was startled by the sound of artillery, and Essex rushed from the House and rode in the direction of the sound. He found Prince Rupert closely followed by the king in the full attack of Brentford, which was defended by a small force of Holles's horse. The king had taken advantage of a thick November fog to endeavour to steal a march on London; but Holles's horse though few were stout, and withstood the whole weight of the attack till reinforced by the regiments of Hampden and Brooke. Thus the king's object was defeated, and the next day, the 13th of November, being Sunday, there was such an outpouring from London of the train-bands, and of zealous citizens, that Essex found himself at the head of twenty-four thousand men, drawn up on Turnham Green. Hampden, Holles, and all the members of Parliament advised sending a body of soldiers to make a detour and get into the king's rear, and then to fall vigorously on in front, and Hampden with his regiment was despatched on this service. But Essex speedily recalled him, saying he would not divide his forces; and thus not only was the retreat left open to the king, but three thousand troops, which had been posted at Kingston Bridge, were called away to add to the force in London. Charles therefore finding a very formidable body in front and the way open behind, drew off his forces and retreated to Reading, and then again to his old quarters at Oxford. Again Essex had displayed miserably defective tactics, or he might have readily surrounded and cut up the royal force. It was in vain that the Parliamentary leaders urged Essex to give instant pursuit of the retreating army; other officers also thought it better to let the king take himself away. The Parliament, in great indignation at the king's conduct, passed a resolution never to enter into any negotiations with him again; and Charles, pretending equal surprise and resentment, declared that the Parliament had thrown three regiments into Brentford after sending to treat with him. But it must be remembered that they proposed this accommodation at Colnbrook, and what business, then, had he at Brentford? The march, and the hour of it, were sufficiently decisive of the king being the aggressor.

Charles lay with his army at Oxford during the winter, and Prince Rupert exercised his marauding talents in the country round. Of the Parliamentary proceedings or preparations we have little account, except that the Parliamentarians were generally discontented with Essex, who was slow, by no means sagacious, and, many believed, not hearty in the cause. Sir William Waller, however, drove Goring out of Portsmouth and took possession of it, so that he was dubbed by the people William the Conqueror, and it was agitated to put him at the head of the army in the place of Essex. But another man was now being heard of. This was Oliver Cromwell, who had quitted his farm and raised a regiment of his own. He was Colonel Cromwell now. He had told Hampden at the battle of Edge Hill, where they both were, that it would never do to trust to a set of poor tapsters and town apprentices for fighting against men of honour. They must have men, too, imbued with a principle still higher, and that must be religion. Hampden said it was a good notion if it could be carried out; and from that time Cromwell kept it in view, and so collected and trained that regiment of serious religious men, known as his invincible Ironsides. Cromwell was active all this winter along the eastern coast, in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Essex, and elsewhere, raising supplies, stopping those of the enemy, and forming Associations of counties for mutual defence. Four or six were formed, but all soon went to pieces except that of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, of which Lord Grey of Wark was the commander, and Oliver, his lieutenant, the soul. This Association maintained its district during the whole war. In February we find Cromwell at Cambridge, the castle of which, with its magazines, he had taken by storm, and had now collected there great forces from Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.

The queen's arrival in Yorkshire early in February created immense enthusiasm amongst the Cavaliers. Her spirit, her manners, her condescension fascinated all who came near her. She was in every sense now a heroine, and the fact of the Parliament having impeached her of high treason, and her head being forfeited if she fell into their hands, only raised her own resolution and the devotion of all around her. She was conducted to York by a guard of two thousand Cavaliers, headed by the Marquis of Montrose himself, and attended by six pieces of cannon, two mortars, and two hundred and fifty waggons of ammunition. The Lord Fairfax, who was the only Parliamentary general with any force in the north besides the Governor of Hull, was gallant enough to offer to escort her himself with his Roundheads; but she knew she was outlawed, and declined the honour. She rode on horseback on the march, calling herself the "she-majesty-generalissima," ate her meals in the sight of the army, in the open air, and delighted the soldiers by talking familiarly to them. She remained nearly four months at York, doing wonderful service to the king's cause, and, as we shall find, succeeding through the Earl of Newcastle even in corrupting the faith of the Hothams at Hull. Her arrival gave new spirit to the royal cause, but was undoubtedly, at the same time, the most fatal thing which could have happened to it, as it strengthened the king in his obstinate determination to refuse all accommodation with the Parliament.

And although the Parliament, in its resentment at the king's treachery at Brentford, had vowed never to treat with him again, in March, 1643, it made fresh overtures to him. The deputation sent to him consisted of the Earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury, and Holland, Viscounts Wenman and Dungarvan, John Holland and William Litton, knights, and William Pierpoint, Bulstrode Whitelock, Edmund Waller, and Richard Winwood, esquires. They were received by the king in the garden of Christ Church, and permitted to kiss his hands. On Waller performing that ceremony, Charles said graciously, "You are the last, but not the worst, nor the least in my favour." In fact, Waller at that moment was engaged in a plot for the king, whence the significant remark. As the two parties insisted on their particular demands, the interview came to nothing. Courteous as the king was to Waller, he was otherwise by no means so to the deputation. The queen was in the country with abundant supplies of arms and ammunition, and he was elated with the fact. He interrupted the Earl of Northumberland so rudely and so frequently, whilst reading the Parliamentary proposals, that the earl stopped, and demanded proudly whether his majesty would allow him to proceed. To which Charles replied curtly, "Ay! ay!" The negotiations continued for several weeks, but during their abortive proceedings military movement was going on. Essex took Reading after a siege of ten days, and Hampden proposed to invest Oxford and finish the war at once, which Clarendon confesses would have done it, for the town was ill fortified, was so crowded with people that it could not long hold out, and Charles had not then received his ammunition from the queen. The dilatory spirit of Essex, however, and his officers prevailed, and this opportunity was lost. In May the ammunition arrived, and whilst Charles was preparing to act, the Parliament was busy in unravelling different plots against them. One was that in which Waller was engaged. This was a most daring one. Waller had been one of the most determined declaimers in Parliament against the king; but now he had been won over by Lord Falkland, and had entered into a scheme for betraying London to the Royalists, and seizing the leaders of the opposition. Mixed up with this scheme, besides himself, were Tomkins, his brother-in-law, Challoner, Blinkhorne, and others. A commission of array was smuggled into the City through Lady Aubigny, whose husband fell at Edge Hill, by which all inclined to the king's service might receive due authority. But the servant of Tomkins overheard the conspirators, carried the news to Pym, and they were speedily in custody. Tomkins and Challoner were hanged within sight of their own houses; Blinkhorne, White, Hasell, and Waller were, by the intercession of Essex, reprieved, but Waller was fined ten thousand pounds and confined in the Tower for a year.

About the same time a similar plot for betraying Bristol was detected by Colonel Fiennes, the governor, son of Lord Say and Sele. The chief conspirators were Robert and William Yeomans, who were condemned to be executed; but one of them was saved by the king declaring that he would hang as many of his prisoners. The prospect which was opened of terror and barbarity by such retaliation put an end to it, and saved at this time Colonel Lilburne, who had been taken at Brentford. Lilburne was an ultra-republican, and at the same time a declaimer from the Bible on the mischief of kings. He had been whipped in Westminster, but had only been made more outrageous, and was so pugnaciously inclined, that it was said that if he were left alone in the world, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John. Charles ordered his execution, but the threats of the Parliament of sweeping retaliation saved the democratic orator and soldier.

The Parliament now made a new Great Seal, and passed under it no less than five hundred writs in one day. All other events, however, sank into comparative insignificance before one which now occurred. Prince Rupert had extended his flying excursions of cavalry, and committed great depredations in Gloucestershire, Wilts, Hants, and even as far as Bath; and though the Earl of Essex had his forces lying about Thame and Brickhill, in Buckinghamshire, yet he was so inert that Rupert burst into both Bucks and Berkshire in his very face. Colonel Hurry, who had gone over from Essex to the king, now informed Rupert that two Parliamentary regiments were lying at Wycombe, apart from the rest of the army and easy to be cut off. The fiery prince at once determined to make a night attack upon them. He trotted away from Oxford on the 17th of June with two thousand horsemen, rode past Thame, where Essex was lying, without any opposition, and reached the hamlet of Postcombe at three o'clock in the morning. Here, to their surprise, they found a body of horse posted to stop them. Hampden, in fact, who ought to have been at the head of the army, had been uneasy about the unprotected condition of the two regiments at Wycombe, and had in vain urged Essex to call in the outposts from Wycombe, Postcombe, and Chinnor. Not being able to rouse him to this prudent measure, he continued on the alert, and hearing of the march of Rupert in that direction, despatched a trooper in all haste to Essex, to advise him to move a body of horse and foot instantly to Chiselhampton Bridge, the only place where Rupert could cross the Cherwell. Not satisfied with this, he himself rode with some cavalry in that direction, and found Rupert on the field of Chalgrove, in the midst of the standing corn. On being checked at Postcombe, Rupert had diverged to Chinnor, surprised the outpost there, killed fifty men, and captured sixty others. On descrying Hampden's detachment coming down Beacon Hill, he posted himself in the wide field of Chalgrove, where he was attacked by the troops of Captains Gunter and Sheffield, with whom Hampden had ridden. They boldly charged Rupert, but Gunter was soon slain, and Hampden, who was looking impatiently but in vain for Essex's reinforcements, rode up to lead on Gunter's troopers to the charge, and received a mortal wound. He did not fall, but, feeling his death blow, wheeled round his horse, and rode away towards the house of his father-in-law at Pyrton, whence he married his first wife, whose early death had made such a change in him. The soldiers of Rupert barred the way in that direction, and he made for Thame, and reached the house of Ezekiel Browne. He still continued to live for a week, and spent the time with what strength he had in urging on Parliament a correction of the palpable military errors of the campaign, and especially of the dilatory motions of Essex, which in fact had cost him his life. He expired on the 24th of June, and was buried in his own parish church at Hampden, followed to the grave by his regiment of green-coats with reversed arms and muffled drums.

The news of this national disaster spread dismay through London and over the whole country. The prudence, the zeal, and activity united in Hampden, had made him one of the most efficient men in the House and in the field. The suavity of his manners, the generosity of his disposition, the soundness of his judgment, had won him universal confidence. It was clearly seen that nothing but the deepest and most patriotic concern for the real welfare of the country animated him. Though he was conscientiously convinced of the mischief of political bishops, he was attached to the doctrines of the Church of England; and though he was, like Pym, firmly persuaded that nothing but the strongest obligations, the most imperative necessity, would ever tie down Charles to an observance of the limits of the Constitution, he was far from dreaming of his death, or of sweeping away the monarchy to make way for a republic. A little more time must have placed him at the head of the army, and, with such a right-hand man as Cromwell, must have soon terminated the campaign. His death seemed like a general defeat, and struck the deepest and most lasting sorrow into the public mind. Time has only increased the veneration for the name of John Hampden, which has become the watchword of liberty, and the object of popular appeal in every great crisis of his country's history.

Other discouragements fell on the Parliament at the same period. The Earl of Newcastle had established so strong a power in the North, that he had reduced the resistance of the Fairfaxes to almost nothing. His army abounded with Papists, and was officered by many renegade Scots, amongst them, conspicuous, Sir John Henderson. He had possession of Newark Castle, and even repulsed Cromwell in Lincolnshire. But his greatest triumph was in seducing the Hothams, father and son, and nearly succeeding in obtaining possession of Hull from their treason. Newcastle had defeated the Fairfaxes at Atherton Moor, and if Hull was lost, all was lost in the North. It was therefore proposed to put Hull into the hands of Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas, which probably hastened the defection of the Hothams. The plot, however, was discovered in time; the Hothams were seized, their papers secured, their letters intercepted, the whole treason made open to the daylight, and the delinquents shipped off to London. Great as had been their services in Hull, their apostasy wiped away all past merits, and they were condemned and executed on Tower Hill.

These melancholy events were considerably softened by the growing successes of Cromwell, who seemed to be almost everywhere at once, always fighting, mostly successful. On the 13th of March he dashed into St. Albans and seized the sheriff, who was enrolling soldiers by the king's writ, and sent him off to London. On the 17th he marched from Norwich and took Lowestoft, with a number of prisoners, amongst them Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettus, and Sir John Wentworth, who were glad to compromise with good fines, Wentworth paying one thousand pounds. He next made an attempt to wrest Newark Castle from the Earl of Newcastle, but in vain (it stood out to the end of the war); but he raised the siege of Croyland, made his appearance at Nottingham and Lynn, and in July he defeated Newcastle's troops near Grantham, took Burghleigh House and Stamford, and, before the month closed, fought a stout battle under the walls of Gainsborough to relieve Lord Willoughby, who was sorely pressed in that town by Newcastle's forces, and but for Cromwell's timely march to his aid, would have been cut to pieces. Cromwell attacked the besiegers on some sandhills near the town, dispersed them, and killed General Cavendish, a cousin of Newcastle's. After this exploit, however, Newcastle's main army came down upon them, and they were compelled to retreat to Lincoln, and even beyond it.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary affairs went greatly wrong in the West. Waller, who had gained the name of Conqueror by his rapid reduction of Portsmouth, Winchester, Malmesbury, and Hereford, was now defeated with an army eight thousand strong by Prince Maurice, near Bath, and by Lord Wilmot, near Devizes. His whole army was dispersed, and he hastened to London to complain of the inaction of Essex as the cause of his failure. Indeed, the army of Essex distinguished itself this summer so far only by inaction, whilst Rupert in the west laid siege to Bristol, and in three days made himself master of it, through the incapacity of Fiennes, the governor, who was tried by a council of war and sentenced to death, but pardoned by Essex with loss of his commission.

It was imagined that Charles, being now reinforced by a number of French and Walloons who came with the queen, and strengthened by victory, would make a grand attempt on the capital. There was no little alarm there. Essex, who had done nothing through the summer but watch his men melt away from his standard, recommended Parliament to come to terms with the king, and the Lords were of his opinion. Many of them were ready to run off to Charles on the first opportunity. Bedford, Holland, Northumberland, and Clare, father of Denzil Holles, were strongly suspected, and soon after proved that these suspicions were not unjust. Four nobles had been appointed to raise new forces, but seeing how things were going, all declined their commissions except Lord Kimbolton, now by the death of his father become Earl of Manchester. He accepted the command of the Eastern Association, having Cromwell and three other colonels under him, and soon had a fine force in those counties.

Parliament, listening to neither Essex nor the faint-hearted fears of the peers, refused to open fresh negotiations with the king. They called on the Londoners to invigorate their train-bands, and to put the City into a state of defence; and their call was zealously responded to. Ladies as well as gentlemen turned out and handled spades and pickaxes in casting up an entrenchment all round the City. Pym and St. John were sent to the army and seemed to infuse a new spirit into Essex, pronouncing him sound in the cause. Charles, if he ever thought of attacking London, seeing the spirit there, turned his attention to the West and invested Gloucester. Essex was despatched to relieve that city, and made a march much more active and efficient than was his wont. He set out on the 26th of August, and on the night of the tenth day--though he had been harassed on his way by the flying troopers of Rupert and Lord Wilmot--that is, on the 5th of September, the people of Gloucester saw his signal fires on the top of Prestbury Hill, amid the rain and darkness. The king also saw them, fired his tents in the morning, and marched away. From that hour the prospects of Charles grew gloomier.

Essex having relieved Gloucester, and left a good garrison there under the brave governor, Colonel Massey, made the best of his way back again, lest the king should outstrip him and take up a position before London. Charles had not neglected the attempt to cut off his return. At Auborne Chase Essex was attacked by the flying squadrons of Rupert, and after beating them off he found the king posted across his path at Newbury on the 20th of September. The royal army occupied the bank of the river which runs through the place, to prevent his passage. Every part where there was a chance of the Parliamentary forces attempting to cross was strongly defended by breastworks, and musketeers lined the houses facing the river. It was supposed that Charles could easily keep the Roundheads at bay, and force them to retreat or starve. Essex drew up his forces, however, with great skill upon an eminence called Bigg's Hill, about half a mile from the town, and Charles was prepared to wait for a chance of taking him at a disadvantage. But the rashness of the young Cavaliers under Digby, Carnarvon, and Jermyn, led to skirmishes with the Parliamentarians, and Charles soon found himself so far involved, that he was obliged to give orders for a general engagement. The royal horse charged that of Essex with a recklessness amounting almost to contempt; but though they threw them into disorder, they found it a different matter with the infantry, consisting of the train-bands and apprentices of London. These received the Cavaliers on their pikes, and stood as immovable as a rock, and showed such resolute and steady spirit, that they soon allowed the horse to recover itself, and the whole army fought with desperation till dark. The effect was such, that Charles would not risk another day of it. Waller was lying at Windsor with two thousand horse and as many foot, and should he come up as he ought, the king would be hemmed in and placed in imminent peril. But Waller lay perfectly still--purposely, as many thought--leaving Essex to take care of himself, as the earl had formerly left him at Roundaway Hill. In the morning, therefore, Essex found the king's forces withdrawn and the way open. Charles had retreated again towards Oxford, having deposited his guns and ammunition at Donnington Castle, Chaucer's old residence, which lay within sight, and ordered Rupert to harass the Parliament army on its march. Essex made his way to Reading, whence he hurried up to town to complain of the neglect of Waller, and to offer the surrender of his commission. This was not accepted, but the only alternative was adopted, that of withdrawing the command from Waller, which, after much reluctance, was done on the 9th of October.

The Parliamentarians lost five hundred men in the battle, the king three times that number and many officers; but the greatest loss of all was that of the amiable and conscientious Lord Falkland, a man on the Royalist side as much respected as Hampden was on the Parliament side. He had gone with the Parliament till he thought they had obtained all that they were justly entitled to, and pressed too hard on the king, when he felt it his duty to support the Crown, and had accepted office as Secretary of State. He was a man of a most cheerful, cordial, courteous disposition; but from the moment the war broke out, his cheerfulness fled. He seemed to feel in himself the wounds and miseries of his bleeding country. He was constantly an advocate of peace, and was often observed sitting in a state of abstraction, uttering aloud and unconsciously the words, "Peace! peace!" As the war went on his melancholy increased; he neglected his dress, and became short and hasty in his temper. He declared that "the very agony of the war, and the view of the calamities and desolation which the kingdom did and must endure, took his sleep from him, and would break his heart." Whitelock says that "on the morning of the fight he called for a clean shirt, and being asked the reason of it, answered that if he were slain in the battle, they would not find his body in foul linen. Being dissuaded by his friends against going into the fight, as having no call to it, being no military officer, he said he was weary of the times, and foresaw much misery to his country, and did believe he should be out of it ere night, and could not be persuaded to the contrary, but would enter into the battle, and was there slain." His death was deeply lamented by all parties. Besides him fell the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarvon.

When the king's affairs were in the ascendant by the successes in the West, the taking of Bristol, and the defeat of Waller at Roundaway Hill, near Devizes, the Earls of Bedford, Northumberland, Holland, and Clare deserted the Parliament cause. Northumberland, being cautious, retired to Petworth, to see how the other lords who meant to go over to Charles should be received. Bedford, Clare, and Holland offered their services to the king, and went to Wallingford, where they were suffered to wait a great while, much to their chagrin. They then went to Oxford, whilst Charles was in the West, and were ordered to await his return. The queen and the courtiers, meanwhile, treated them not as valuable and influential allies, whose good reception would certainly bring over many more, but, with consummate folly, as renegades, who had forfeited all respect by taking part with the king's enemies. They followed the king to Gloucester, where they were coolly enough received, and afterwards fought on his side at Newbury; but nothing winning them that estimation which good policy would have granted them at once, they made their peace with Parliament and went back to London, where, however, they found they had sunk greatly in public opinion, and were not permitted to take their seats in the House of Peers or hold office. Their flight had lowered the public estimation of the Lords, and their reception at Oxford had seriously injured the king's cause. Whilst the king and queen retained their impolitic resentments, there was no hope of winning over friends from the ranks of their opponents. It was clear that neither time nor trouble had really taught them anything. Moreover we also learn from the pages of Clarendon that there existed great discord and division in the camp at Oxford. Every one was jealous of the slightest promotion or favour shown to another; and the Cavaliers, he says, had grown disorderly, and devoted to the plundering of the people, just as the Parliamentary army was growing orderly, zealous, and efficient. To such an extent was this the case that one side seemed to fight for monarchy with weapons of confusion, and the other to destroy the king and Government with all the principles and regularity of monarchy.

This was seen in nothing more than in the management with regard to Scotland. To both parties it was of the highest consequence to have the alliance of the Scots. Charles, on his last visit, had flattered the people, given in to the notions of the Covenanters, and conferred honours on their leaders. But Montrose, who knew the Covenanters well, assured the king that he would never get them to fight on his side. They were too much united in interest and opinion with the Puritan Parliament not to adhere to it. He proposed, therefore, to raise another power in Scotland--that of the nobility and the Highlanders, who should at least divide the country, delay if not prevent the army of the Covenanters from leaving the country, and thus save the king from the danger of an invasion in that quarter, the first result of which would be the loss of his ascendency in the northern counties of England. When the queen came to York, Montrose waited on her, and did all in his power to awaken a sense of peril in Scotland, and offered to raise ten thousand men there, and paralyse the designs of the Covenanters. But when these representations were made to Charles, the Marquis of Hamilton, now made duke, strongly opposed the advice of Montrose, declared that it was monstrous to set Scots against Scots, and that he would undertake to keep them quiet. He prevailed, and Montrose, disappointed, retired again to Scotland to watch the progress of events. Hamilton went to Scotland, with authority from the king to take the lead in all movements of the Royalists.

As was foreseen, the English Parliament made overtures to the Scots for assistance, and the Scots were by no means loth to grant it, provided they could make advantageous terms. A Commission was sent to Edinburgh to treat, and the Scots on their part resolved to call a Parliament to receive their offers. The time fixed for the reassembling of the Scottish Parliament was not come by a full year, and the Duke of Hamilton had most particularly pledged himself to the king to prevent it from meeting. Yet on the 22nd of June, notwithstanding his remonstrance, it came together, and on the 20th of July the Commissioners from the English Parliament arrived, and were received by both Parliament and General Assembly with exultation, and their letters from the Parliament of England were read with shouts of triumph--by many, with tears of joy. Their arrival was regarded as a national victory.

The conduct of Hamilton was now suspicious. If he was honest he had misled the king, for he found he had no power to resist the popular feeling in Scotland; but the general opinion coincided with that of Montrose, that he was a traitor. The Royalists called upon him to summon them to his aid, to assemble them in a large body, mounted and armed, and, supported by them, to forbid the meeting of Parliament as illegal. But that, Hamilton assured them, would frighten the people, and lead to disturbance. He proposed that the meeting should take place, that all the Royalist members should appear in their places, and then he would declare the meeting illegal, and dismiss it. To their astonishment, however, Hamilton did not dismiss it, but allowed it to sit. On this Montrose posted away to England, followed the king to Gloucester, and represented to him the conduct of Hamilton as confirming all former declarations of his perfidy. After the battle of Newbury, Charles listened more at leisure to these representations. He was so far convinced that he thought of ordering the Earl of Newcastle to send for Hamilton and his brother Lord Lanark, and to confine them at York. But at that moment the two brothers, probably aware of the proceedings of Montrose, appeared themselves at Oxford, where Charles ordered the Council to examine into the charges against them. Lanark managed to escape from custody, and hastened direct to London and to the Parliament, which received him most cordially, a pretty strong proof of mutual understanding. This satisfied Charles of Hamilton's complicity, and he sent him in custody to the castle of Bristol, thence to Exeter, and thence to Pendennis in Cornwall.

The Commissioners sent to Scotland were Henry Vane the younger, Armyn, Hatcher, Darley, and Marshall, with Nye, an independent. The Scots proposed to invade England on condition that the Parliament adopted the Covenant, and engaged to establish uniformity of religion in both countries, "according to the pattern of the most reformed Church," which, of course, meant Presbyterianism. But the Commissioners knew that this was impossible, for though a considerable number of the people were Presbyterian in doctrine, many more were Independent, and just as sturdy in their faith, to say nothing of the large section of the population which held conscientiously to both Episcopacy and Catholicism. Vane himself was a staunch Independent, and he was at the same time one of the most adroit of diplomatists. He consented that the Kirk should be preserved in its purity and freedom, and that the Church of England should be reformed "according to the Word of God." As the Scots could not object to reformation according to the Word of God, and "the example of the first Reformed churches," which they applied especially to their own, they were obliged to be content with that vague language. Vane also obtained the introduction of the word League, giving the alliance a political as well as a religious character. It was concluded to send a deputation with the Commissioners to London, to see the solemn "League and Covenant" signed by the two Houses of Parliament, at the head of which went Alexander Henderson, the well-known Moderator of the Assembly. Whilst they were on their journey, the ministers in Scotland readily proclaimed from their pulpits that now the Lord Jesus had taken the field against antichrist, that Judah would soon be enslaved if Israel was led away captive, and that the curse of Meroz would fall on all who did not come to the help of the Lord against the mighty.

On the 25th of September, the very day that Essex arrived in London after the battle of Newbury, and received the thanks of Parliament, the two Houses met with the Westminster divines in the church of St. Margaret, where, after various sermons, addresses, and blessings, the two Houses signed the League and Covenant, and their example was followed by the Scottish Commissioners and the divines. It was then ordered to be subscribed in every parish by all persons throughout the country.

It was agreed that the Estates of Scotland should send an army of twenty-one thousand men into England, headed by the old Earl of Leven. They were to receive thirty-one thousand pounds a month,--one hundred thousand pounds of it in advance, and another sum at the conclusion of peace. Sixty thousand pounds were soon remitted, the levies began, and in a few months Leslie mustered his army at Harlaw.

The union of the Scots with the Parliament was an alarming blow to the Royalists. If they had found it difficult to cope with Parliament alone, how were they to withstand them and the Scots? To strengthen himself against this formidable coalition, Charles turned his attention to Ireland. There the army had actually grown to fifty thousand men. As the restorers of the English influence, these were to be paid out of the estates of the revolted Irish, and numbers of both English and Scots had flocked over. A large body of Scots had landed under the command of General Monro, eager to avenge the massacre of their Presbyterian brothers in Ulster. The natives had been driven back, and the invaders were busy parcelling out the evacuated lands. Two million and a half of acres had been promised by the English Parliament as the reward of the victors.

To resist the tempest which threatened to exterminate them, the Irish Catholics formed themselves into a confederation, and created a kind of Parliament at Kilkenny. They imitated in everything the measures by which the Scots had succeeded in enfranchising their religion. They professed the most profound loyalty to the sovereign, and asserted that they were in arms only for the protection of their religion and their lives. They established a synod which assumed the same religious authority as the Scottish Assembly, and ordered a covenant to be taken, by which every one bound himself to maintain the Catholic faith and the rights of the sovereign and the subject. They appointed generals in each province, and all necessary officers for the command of their force. Charles, who suspected the allegiance of the Earl of Warwick, had contrived to remove him, and appointed the Marquis of Ormond in his place. To him the confederate Catholics transmitted their petition, avowing the most unshaken loyalty, declaring that they had only taken up arms to defend their lives and properties from men who were equally the enemies of the king and their own,--from the same puritanic people, so they said, who were seeking to deprive the king of his crown. These petitions, forwarded to Charles, suggested to him the idea of deriving use from these forces. As they prayed him to assemble a new Parliament in Ireland, to grant them the freedom of their religion and the rights of subjects, he instructed Ormond to come to terms with them, so that in their pacification they might be able to spare a considerable body of troops for his assistance in England. This was effected in September, 1643, and the confederates contributed directly thirty thousand pounds for the support of the royal army, fifteen thousand pounds in money, and fifteen thousand pounds in pensions.

This was not accomplished without exciting the notice of the English Parliament, who sent over Commissioners to endeavour to win over the Protestants in Ormond's army, but in vain. In November Ormond shipped five regiments to the king. These were sent to Chester to garrison that town under Lord Byron; but they were rather marauders than soldiers; they had been raised by the Parliament, yet fought against it for the king; and they were as loose in discipline as in principles. In about six weeks after their arrival, they were visited by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Nantwich, when fifteen thousand of them threw down their arms, amongst them the afterwards notorious General Monk. Nor was this the only mischief occasioned to the royal cause by these Irish troops. Their arrival disgusted the royal forces under Newcastle in the North, who declared they would not fight with Catholics and Irish rebels.

Whilst the Scots were mustering to enter England, the Marquis of Newcastle was bearing hard on the Parliament forces in Yorkshire. He had cleared the country of them except Hull, which he was besieging; and Lincolnshire was also so overrun with his forces, that Lord Fairfax, governor of Hull, was obliged to send his son, Sir Thomas, across the Humber, to the help of the Earl of Manchester. Fairfax united with Cromwell near Boston, and at Winceby-on-the-Wolds, about five miles from Horncastle, the united army under Manchester came to a battle with the troops of Newcastle, and completely routed them, thus clearing nearly all Lincolnshire of them. Cromwell had a horse killed under him, and Sir Ingram Hopton, of Newcastle's army, was killed. The battle was won by Cromwell and Fairfax's cavalry.