2. The wisdom of his nobility.

Thus when the counsel of his priests prevailed, all was fire and

fury; the Scots were rebels, and must be subdued, and the Parliament's

demands were to be rejected as exorbitant. But whenever the king's

judgment was led by the grave and steady advice of his nobility and

counsellors, he was always inclined by them to temperate his measures

between the two extremes. And had he gone on in such a temper, he had

never met with the misfortunes which afterward attended him, or had

so many thousands of his friends lost their lives and fortunes in his

service.

I am sure we that knew what it was to fight for him, and that loved

him better than any of the clergy could pretend to, have had many

a consultation how to bring over our master from so espousing their

interest, as to ruin himself for it; but 'twas in vain.

I took this interval when I sat still and only looked on, to make

these remarks, because I remember the best friends the king had were

at this time of that opinion, that 'twas an unaccountable piece

of indiscretion, to commence a quarrel with the Scots, a poor and

obstinate people, for a ceremony and book of Church discipline, at a

time when the king stood but upon indifferent terms with his people at

home.

The consequence was, it put arms into the hands of his subjects to

rebel against him; it embroiled him with his Parliament in England, to

whom he was fain to stoop in a fatal and unusual manner to get money,

all his own being spent, and so to buy off the Scots whom he could not

beat off.

I cannot but give one instance of the unaccountable politics of his

ministers. If they overruled this unhappy king to it, with design to

exhaust and impoverish him, they were the worst of traitors; if not,

the grossest of fools. They prompted the king to equip a fleet against

the Scots, and to put on board it 5000 land men. Had this been all,

the design had been good, that while the king had faced the army upon

the borders, these 5000, landing in the Firth of Edinburgh, might

have put that whole nation into disorder. But in order to this, they

advised the king to lay out his money in fitting out the biggest ships

he had, and the "Royal Sovereign," the biggest ship the world had ever

seen, which cost him no less than £100,000, was now built, and fitted

out for this voyage.

This was the most incongruous and ridiculous advice that could be

given, and made us all believe we were betrayed, though we knew not by

whom.

To fit out ships of 100 guns to invade Scotland, which had not one

man-of-war in the world, nor any open confederacy with any prince or

state that had any fleet, 'twas a most ridiculous thing. An hundred

sail of Newcastle colliers, to carry the men with their stores and

provisions, and ten frigates of 40 guns each, had been as good a fleet

as reason and the nature of the thing could have made tolerable.

Thus things were carried on, till the king, beggared by the

mismanagement of his counsels, and beaten by the Scots, was driven to

the necessity of calling a Parliament in England.

It is not my design to enter into the feuds and brangles of this

Parliament. I have noted, by observations of their mistakes, who

brought the king to this happy necessity of calling them.

His Majesty had tried Parliaments upon several occasions before, but

never found himself so much embroiled with them but he could send them

home, and there was an end of it; but as he could not avoid calling

these, so they took care to put him out of a condition to dismiss

them.

The Scots army was now quartered upon the English. The counties,

the gentry, and the assembly of lords at York, petitioned for a

Parliament.

The Scots presented their demands to the king, in which it was

observed that matters were concerted between them and a party in

England; and I confess when I saw that, I began to think the king in

an ill case; for as the Scots pretended grievances, we thought,

the king redressing those grievances, they could ask no more; and

therefore all men advised the king to grant their full demands. And

whereas the king had not money to supply the Scots in their march

home, I know there were several meetings of gentlemen with a design to

advance considerable sums of money to the king to set him free, and

in order to reinstate his Majesty, as before. Not that we ever advised

the king to rule without a Parliament, but we were very desirous of

putting him out of the necessity of calling them, at least just then.

But the eighth article of the Scots' demands expressly required, that

an English Parliament might be called to remove all obstructions of

commerce, and to settle peace, religion, and liberty; and in another

article they tell the king, the 24th of September being the time his

Majesty appointed for the meeting of the peers, will make it too long

ere the Parliament meet. And in another, that a Parliament was the

only way of settling peace, and bring them to his Majesty's obedience.

When we saw this in the army, 'twas time to look about. Everybody

perceived that the Scots army would call an English Parliament; and

whatever aversion the king had to it, we all saw he would be obliged

to comply with it; and now they all began to see their error, who

advised the king to this Scotch war.

While these things were transacting, the assembly of the peers meet at

York, and by their advice a treaty was begun with the Scots. I had the

honour to be sent with the first message which was in writing.

I brought it, attended by a trumpet and a guard of 500 horse, to

the Scots quarters. I was stopped at Darlington, and my errand being

known, General Leslie sent a Scots major and fifty horses to receive

me, but would let neither my trumpet or guard set foot within

their quarters. In this manner I was conducted to audience in the

chapter-house at Durham, where a committee of Scots lords who attended

the army received me very courteously, and gave me their answer in

writing also.

'Twas in this answer that they showed, at least to me, their design

of embroiling the king with his English subjects; they discoursed very

freely with me, and did not order me to withdraw when they debated

their private opinions. They drew up several answers but did not like

them; at last they gave me one which I did not receive, I thought it

was too insolent to be borne with. As near as I can remember it was

thus: The commissioners of Scotland attending the service in the army,

do refuse any treaty in the city of York.

One of the commissioners who treated me with more distinction than the

rest, and discoursed freely with me, gave me an opportunity to speak

more freely of this than I expected.

I told them if they would return to his Majesty an answer fit for me

to carry, or if they would say they would not treat at all, I would

deliver such a message. But I entreated them to consider the answer

was to their sovereign, and to whom they made a great profession of

duty and respect, and at least they ought to give their reasons why

they declined a treaty at York, and to name some other place, or

humbly to desire his Majesty to name some other place; but to send

word they would not treat at York, I could deliver no such message,

for when put into English it would signify they would not treat at

all.

I used a great many reasons and arguments with them on this head,

and at last with some difficulty obtained of them to give the reason,

which was the Earl of Strafford's having the chief command at York,

whom they declared their mortal enemy, he having declared them rebels

in Ireland.

With this answer I returned. I could make no observations in the short

time I was with them, for as I stayed but one night, so I was guarded

as a close prisoner all the while. I saw several of their officers

whom I knew, but they durst not speak to me, and if they would have

ventured, my guard would not have permitted them.

In this manner I was conducted out of their quarters to my own party

again, and having delivered my message to the king and told his

Majesty the circumstances, I saw the king receive the account of the

haughty behaviour of the Scots with some regret; however, it was his

Majesty's time now to bear, and therefore the Scots were complied

with, and the treaty appointed at Ripon; where, after much debate,

several preliminary articles were agreed on, as a cessation of arms,

quarters, and bounds to the armies, subsistence to the Scots army, and

the residue of the demands was referred to a treaty at London, &c.

We were all amazed at the treaty, and I cannot but remember we used to

wish much rather we had been suffered to fight; for though we had been

worsted at first, the power and strength of the king's interest, which

was not yet tried, must, in fine, have been too strong for the Scots,

whereas now we saw the king was for complying with anything, and all

his friends would be ruined.

I confess I had nothing to fear, and so was not much concerned, but

our predictions soon came to pass, for no sooner was this Parliament

called but abundance of those who had embroiled their king with his

people of both kingdoms, like the disciples when their Master was

betrayed to the Jews, forsook him and fled; and now Parliament tyranny

began to succeed Church tyranny, and we soldiers were glad to see it

at first. The bishops trembled, the judges went to gaol, the officers

of the customs were laid hold on; and the Parliament began to lay

their fingers on the great ones, particularly Archbishop Laud and the

Earl of Strafford. We had no great concern for the first, but the

last was a man of so much conduct and gallantry, and so beloved by the

soldiers and principal gentry of England, that everybody was touched

with his misfortune.

The Parliament now grew mad in their turn, and as the prosperity of

any party is the time to show their discretion, the Parliament showed

they knew as little where to stop as other people. The king was not in

a condition to deny anything, and nothing could be demanded but they

pushed it. They attainted the Earl of Strafford, and thereby made

the king cut off his right hand to save his left, and yet not save

it neither. They obtained another bill to empower them to sit during

their own pleasure, and after them, triennial Parliaments to meet,

whether the king call them or no; and granting this completed his

Majesty's ruin.

Had the House only regulated the abuses of the court, punished evil

counsellors, and restored Parliaments to their original and just

powers, all had been well, and the king, though he had been more than

mortified, had yet reaped the benefit of future peace; for now

the Scots were sent home, after having eaten up two counties, and

received a prodigious sum of money to boot. And the king, though too

late, goes in person to Edinburgh, and grants them all they could

desire, and more than they asked; but in England, the desires of ours

were unbounded, and drove at all extremes.

They drew out the bishops from sitting in the House, made a

protestation equivalent to the Scotch Covenant, and this done, print

their remonstrance. This so provoked the king, that he resolves upon

seizing some of the members, and in an ill hour enters the House in

person to take them. Thus one imprudent thing on one hand produced

another of the other hand, till the king was obliged to leave them to

themselves, for fear of being mobbed into something or other unworthy

of himself.

These proceedings began to alarm the gentry and nobility of England;

for, however willing we were to have evil counsellors removed, and

the government return to a settled and legal course, according to the

happy constitution of this nation, and might have been forward enough

to have owned the king had been misled, and imposed upon to do things

which he had rather had not been done, yet it did not follow, that

all the powers and prerogatives of the crown should devolve upon the

Parliament, and the king in a manner be deposed, or else sacrificed to

the fury of the rabble.

The heats of the House running them thus to all extremes, and at last

to take from the king the power of the militia, which indeed was

all that was left to make him anything of a king, put the king upon

opposing force with force; and thus the flame of civil war began.

However backward I was in engaging in the second year's expedition

against the Scots, I was as forward now, for I waited on the king

at York, where a gallant company of gentlemen as ever were seen in

England, engaged themselves to enter into his service; and here some

of us formed ourselves into troops for the guard of his person.

The king having been waited upon by the gentry of Yorkshire, and

having told them his resolution of erecting his royal standard, and

received from them hearty assurances of support, dismisses them, and

marches to Hull, where lay the train of artillery, and all the

arms and ammunition belonging to the northern army which had been

disbanded. But here the Parliament had been beforehand with his

Majesty, so that when he came to Hull, he found the gates shut, and

Sir John Hotham, the governor, upon the walls, though with a great

deal of seeming humility and protestations of loyalty to his person,

yet with a positive denial to admit any of the king's attendants into

the town. If his Majesty pleased to enter the town in person with any

reasonable number of his household, he would submit, but would not

be prevailed on to receive the king as he would be received, with his

forces, though those forces were then but very few.

The king was exceedingly provoked at this repulse, and indeed it was

a great surprise to us all, for certainly never prince began a war

against the whole strength of his kingdom under the circumstances that

he was in. He had not a garrison, or a company of soldiers in his

pay, not a stand of arms, or a barrel of powder, a musket, cannon

or mortar, not a ship of all the fleet, or money in his treasury to

procure them; whereas the Parliament had all his navy, and ordnance,

stores, magazines, arms, ammunition, and revenue in their keeping.

And this I take to be another defect of the king's counsel, and a sad

instance of the distraction of his affairs, that when he saw how all

things were going to wreck, as it was impossible but he should see it,

and 'tis plain he did see it, that he should not long enough before it

came to extremities secure the navy, magazines, and stores of war, in

the hands of his trusty servants, that would have been sure to have

preserved them for his use, at a time when he wanted them.

It cannot be supposed but the gentry of England, who generally

preserved their loyalty for their royal master, and at last heartily

showed it, were exceedingly discouraged at first when they saw the

Parliament had all the means of making war in their own hands, and the

king was naked and destitute either of arms or ammunition, or money

to procure them. Not but that the king, by extraordinary application,

recovered the disorder the want of these things had thrown him into,

and supplied himself with all things needful.

But my observation was this, had his Majesty had the magazines, navy,

and forts in his own hand, the gentry, who wanted but the prospect of

something to encourage them, had come in at first, and the Parliament,

being unprovided, would have been presently reduced to reason. But

this was it that balked the gentry of Yorkshire, who went home again,

giving the king good promises, but never appeared for him, till

by raising a good army in Shropshire and Wales, he marched towards

London, and they saw there was a prospect of their being supported.

In this condition the king erected his standard at Nottingham, 22nd

August 1642, and I confess, I had very melancholy apprehensions of

the king's affairs, for the appearance to the royal standard was

but small. The affront the king had met with at Hull, had balked and

dispirited the northern gentry, and the king's affairs looked with

a very dismal aspect. We had expresses from London of the prodigious

success of the Parliament levies, how their men came in faster than

they could entertain them, and that arms were delivered out to whole

companies listed together, and the like. And all this while the

king had not got together a thousand foot, and had no arms for them

neither. When the king saw this, he immediately despatches five

several messengers, whereof one went to the Marquis of Worcester into

Wales; one went to the queen, then at Windsor; one to the Duke

of Newcastle, then Marquis of Newcastle, into the north; one into

Scotland; and one into France, where the queen soon after arrived to

raise money, and buy arms, and to get what assistance she could among

her own friends. Nor was her Majesty idle, for she sent over several

ships laden with arms and ammunition, with a fine train of artillery,

and a great many very good officers; and though one of the first fell

into the hands of the Parliament, with three hundred barrels of powder

and some arms, and one hundred and fifty gentlemen, yet most of the

gentlemen found means, one way or other, to get to us, and most of

the ships the queen freighted arrived; and at last her Majesty came

herself, and brought an extraordinary supply both of men, money,

arms, &c., with which she joined the king's forces under the Earl of

Newcastle in the north.

Finding his Majesty thus bestirring himself to muster his friends

together, I asked him if he thought it might not be for his Majesty's

service to let me go among my friends, and his loyal subjects about

Shrewsbury? "Yes," says the king, smiling, "I intend you shall, and

I design to go with you myself." I did not understand what the king

meant then, and did not think it good manners to inquire, but the next

day I found all things disposed for a march, and the king on horseback

by eight of the clock; when calling me to him, he told me I should

go before, and let my father and all my friends know he would be at

Shrewsbury the Saturday following. I left my equipages, and taking

post with only one servant, was at my father's the next morning by

break of day. My father was not surprised at the news of the king's

coming at all, for, it seems, he, together with the royal gentry of

those parts, had sent particularly to give the king an invitation to

move that way, which I was not made privy to, with an account what

encouragement they had there in the endeavours made for his interest.

In short, the whole country was entirely for the king, and such was

the universal joy the people showed when the news of his Majesty's

coming down was positively known, that all manner of business was laid

aside, and the whole body of the people seemed to be resolved upon the

war.

As this gave a new face to the king's affairs, so I must own it filled

me with joy; for I was astonished before, when I considered what

the king and his friends were like to be exposed to. The news of the

proceedings of the Parliament, and their powerful preparations, were

now no more terrible; the king came at the time appointed, and

having lain at my father's house one night, entered Shrewsbury in the

morning. The acclamations of the people, the concourse of the nobility

and gentry about his person, and the crowds which now came every day

into the standard, were incredible.

The loyalty of the English gentry was not only worth notice, but the

power of the gentry is extraordinary visible in this matter. The

king, in about six weeks' time, which was the most of his stay at

Shrewsbury, was supplied with money, arms, ammunition, and a train of

artillery, and listed a body of an army upwards of 20,000 men.

His Majesty seeing the general alacrity of his people, immediately

issued out commissions, and formed regiments of horse and foot;

and having some experienced officers about him, together with about

sixteen who came from France, with a ship loaded with arms and some

field-pieces which came very seasonably into the Severn, the men were

exercised, regularly disciplined, and quartered, and now we began to

look like soldiers. My father had raised a regiment of horse at his

own charge, and completed them, and the king gave out arms to them

from the supplies which I mentioned came from abroad. Another party

of horse, all brave stout fellows, and well mounted, came in from

Lancashire, and the Earl of Derby at the head of them. The Welshmen

came in by droves; and so great was the concourse of people, that the

king began to think of marching, and gave the command, as well as the

trust of regulating the army, to the brave Earl of Lindsey, as general

of the foot. The Parliament general being the Earl of Essex, two

braver men, or two better officers, were not in the kingdom; they had

both been old soldiers, and had served together as volunteers in the

Low Country wars, under Prince Maurice. They had been comrades and

companions abroad, and now came to face one another as enemies in the

field.

Such was the expedition used by the king and his friends, in the

levies of this first army, that notwithstanding the wonderful

expedition the Parliament made, the king was in the field before them;

and now the gentry in other parts of the nation bestirred themselves,

and seized upon, and garrisoned several considerable places, for the

king. In the north, the Earl of Newcastle not only garrisoned the most

considerable places, but even the general possession of the north was

for the king, excepting Hull, and some few places, which the old Lord

Fairfax had taken up for the Parliament. On the other hand, entire

Cornwall and most of the western counties were the king's. The

Parliament had their chief interest in the south and eastern part

of England, as Kent, Surrey, and, Sussex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk,

Cambridge, Bedford, Huntingdon, Hertford, Buckinghamshire, and the

other midland counties. These were called, or some of them at least,

the associated counties, and felt little of the war, other than

the charges; but the main support of the Parliament was the city of

London.

The king made the seat of his court at Oxford, which he caused to be

regularly fortified. The Lord Say had been here, and had possession of

the city for the enemy, and was debating about fortifying it, but

came to no resolution, which was a very great over-sight in them; the

situation of the place, and the importance of it, on many accounts,

to the city of London, considered; and they would have retrieved this

error afterwards, but then 'twas too late; for the king made it the

headquarter, and received great supplies and assistance from the

wealth of the colleges, and the plenty of the neighbouring country.

Abingdon, Wallingford, Basing, and Reading, were all garrisoned and

fortified as outworks to defend this as the centre. And thus all

England became the theatre of blood, and war was spread into every

corner of the country, though as yet there was no stroke struck. I had

no command in this army. My father led his own regiment, and, old as

he was, would not leave his royal master, and my elder brother stayed

at home to support the family. As for me, I rode a volunteer in the

royal troop of guards, which may very well deserve the title of a

royal troop, for it was composed of young gentlemen, sons of the

nobility, and some of the prime gentry of the nation, and I think not

a person of so mean a birth or fortune as myself. We reckoned in this

troop two and thirty lords, or who came afterwards to be such,

and eight and thirty of younger sons of the nobility, five French

noblemen, and all the rest gentlemen of very good families and

estates.

And that I may give the due to their personal valour, many of this

troop lived afterwards to have regiments and troops under their

command in the service of the king, many of them lost their lives for

him, and most of them their estates. Nor did they behave unworthy of

themselves in their first showing their faces to the enemy, as shall

be mentioned in its place.

While the king remained at Shrewsbury, his loyal friends bestirred

themselves in several parts of the kingdom. Goring had secured

Portsmouth, but being young in matters of war, and not in time

relieved, though the Marquis of Hertford was marching to relieve him,

yet he was obliged to quit the place, and shipped himself for Holland,

from whence he returned with relief for the king, and afterwards

did very good service upon all occasions, and so effectually cleared

himself of the scandal the hasty surrender of Portsmouth had brought

upon his courage.

The chief power of the king's forces lay in three places, in Cornwall,

in Yorkshire, and at Shrewsbury. In Cornwall, Sir Ralph Hopton,

afterwards Lord Hopton, Sir Bevil Grenvile, and Sir Nicholas Slanning

secured all the country, and afterwards spread themselves over

Devonshire and Somersetshire, took Exeter from the Parliament,

fortified Bridgewater and Barnstaple, and beat Sir William Waller at

the battle of Roundway Down, as I shall touch at more particularly

when I come to recite the part of my own travels that way.

In the north, The Marquis of Newcastle secured all the country,

garrisoned York, Scarborough, Carlisle, Newcastle, Pomfret, Leeds, and

all the considerable places, and took the field with a very good army,

though afterwards he proved more unsuccessful than the rest, having

the whole power of a kingdom at his back, the Scots coming in with

an army to the assistance of the Parliament, which, indeed, was the

general turn of the scale of the war; for had it not been for this

Scots army, the king had most certainly reduced the Parliament, at

least to good terms of peace, in two years' time.

The king was the third article. His force at Shrewsbury I have noted

already. The alacrity of the gentry filled him with hopes, and all his

army with vigour, and the 8th of October 1642, his Majesty gave orders

to march. The Earl of Essex had spent above a month after his leaving

London (for he went thence the 9th of September) in modelling and

drawing together his forces; his rendezvous was at St Albans, from

whence he marched to Northampton, Coventry, and Warwick, and leaving

garrisons in them, he comes on to Worcester. Being thus advanced, he

possesses Oxford, as I noted before, Banbury, Bristol, Gloucester, and

Worcester, out of all which places, except Gloucester, we drove him

back to London in a very little while.

Sir John Byron had raised a very good party of 500 horse, most

gentlemen, for the king, and had possessed Oxford; but on the approach

of the Lord Say quitted it, being now but an open town, and retreated

to Worcester, from whence, on the approach of Essex's army, he

retreated to the king. And now all things grew ripe for action, both

parties having secured their posts, and settled their schemes of the

war, taken their posts and places as their measures and opportunities

directed. The field was next in their eye, and the soldiers began to

inquire when they should fight, for as yet there had been little or no

blood drawn; and 'twas not long before they had enough of it; for, I

believe, I may challenge all the historians in Europe to tell me of

any war in the world where, in the space of four years, there were so

many pitched battles, sieges, fights, and skirmishes, as in this war.

We never encamped or entrenched, never fortified the avenues to our

posts, or lay fenced with rivers and defiles; here was no leaguers in

the field, as at the story of Nuremberg, neither had our soldiers any

tents, or what they call heavy baggage. 'Twas the general maxim of

this war, "Where is the enemy? let us go and fight them," or, on the

other hand, if the enemy was coming, "What was to be done?" "Why, what

should be done? Draw out into the fields and fight them." I cannot say

'twas the prudence of the parties, and had the king fought less he had

gained more. And I shall remark several times when the eagerness of

fighting was the worst counsel, and proved our loss. This benefit,

however, happened in general to the country, that it made a quick,

though a bloody, end of the war, which otherwise had lasted till it

might have ruined the whole nation.

On the 10th of October the king's army was in full march, his Majesty,

generalissimo, the Earl of Lindsey, general of the foot, Prince

Rupert, general of the horse; and the first action in the field was by

Prince Rupert and Sir John Byron. Sir John had brought his body of

500 horse, as I noted already, from Oxford to Worcester; the Lord

Say, with a strong party, being in the neighbourhood of Oxford, and

expected in the town, Colonel Sandys, a hot man, and who had more

courage than judgment, advances with about 1500 horse and dragoons,

with design to beat Sir John Byron out of Worcester, and take post

there for the Parliament.

The king had notice that the Earl of Essex designed for Worcester, and

Prince Rupert was ordered to advance with a body of horse and dragoons

to face the enemy, and bring off Sir John Byron. This his Majesty did

to amuse the Earl of Essex, that he might expect him that way; whereas

the king's design was to get between the Earl of Essex's army and the

city of London; and his Majesty's end was doubly answered, for he

not only drew Essex on to Worcester, where he spent more time than he

needed, but he beat the party into the bargain.

I went volunteer in this party, and rode in my father's regiment; for

though we really expected not to see the enemy, yet I was tired with

lying still. We came to Worcester just as notice was brought to

Sir John Byron, that a party of the enemy was on their march for

Worcester, upon which the prince immediately consulting what was to be

done, resolves to march the next morning and fight them.

The enemy, who lay at Pershore, about eight miles from Worcester, and,

as I believe, had no notice of our march, came on very confidently

in the morning, and found us fairly drawn up to receive them. I must

confess this was the bluntest, downright way of making war that ever

was seen. The enemy, who, in all the little knowledge I had of war,

ought to have discovered our numbers, and guessed by our posture what

our design was, might easily have informed themselves that we intended

to attack them, and so might have secured the advantage of a bridge in

their front; but without any regard to these methods of policy, they

came on at all hazards. Upon this notice, my father proposed to the

prince to halt for them, and suffer ourselves to be attacked, since

we found them willing to give us the advantage. The prince approved of

the advice, so we halted within view of a bridge, leaving space enough

on our front for about half the number of their forces to pass and

draw up; and at the bridge was posted about fifty dragoons, with

orders to retire as soon as the enemy advanced, as if they had been

afraid. On the right of the road was a ditch, and a very high bank

behind, where we had placed 300 dragoons, with orders to lie flat on

their faces till the enemy had passed the bridge, and to let fly among

them as soon as our trumpets sounded a charge. Nobody but Colonel

Sandys would have been caught in such a snare, for he might easily

have seen that when he was over the bridge there was not room enough

for him to fight in. But the Lord of hosts was so much in their

mouths, for that was the word for that day, that they took little heed

how to conduct the host of the Lord to their own advantage.

As we expected, they appeared, beat our dragoons from the bridge, and

passed it. We stood firm in one line with a reserve, and expected a

charge, but Colonel Sandys, showing a great deal more judgment than

we thought he was master of, extends himself to the left, finding

the ground too strait, and began to form his men with a great deal of

readiness and skill, for by this time he saw our number was greater

than he expected. The prince perceiving it, and foreseeing that the

stratagem of the dragoons would be frustrated by this, immediately

charges with the horse, and the dragoons at the same time standing

upon their feet, poured in their shot upon those that were passing

the bridge. This surprise put them into such disorder, that we had but

little work with them. For though Colonel Sandys with the troops next

him sustained the shock very well, and behaved themselves gallantly

enough, yet the confusion beginning in their rear, those that had not

yet passed the bridge were kept back by the fire of the dragoons,

and the rest were easily cut in pieces. Colonel Sandys was mortally

wounded and taken prisoner, and the crowd was so great to get back,

that many pushed into the water, and were rather smothered than

drowned. Some of them who never came into the fight, were so frighted,

that they never looked behind them till they came to Pershore, and,

as we were afterwards informed, the lifeguards of the general who had

quartered in the town, left it in disorder enough, expecting us at the

heels of their men.

If our business had been to keep the Parliament army from coming to

Worcester, we had a very good opportunity to have secured the bridge

at Pershore; but our design lay another way, as I have said, and the

king was for drawing Essex on to the Severn, in hopes to get behind

him, which fell out accordingly.

Essex, spurred by this affront in the infancy of their affairs,

advances the next day, and came to Pershore time enough to be at the

funeral of some of his men; and from thence he advances to Worcester.

We marched back to Worcester extremely pleased with the good success

of our first attack, and our men were so flushed with this little

victory that it put vigour into the whole army. The enemy lost about

3000 men, and we carried away near 150 prisoners, with 500 horses,

some standards and arms, and among the prisoners their colonel; but he

died a little after of his wounds.

Upon the approach of the enemy, Worcester was quitted, and the forces

marched back to join the king's army, which lay then at Bridgnorth,

Ludlow, and thereabout. As the king expected, it fell out; Essex found

so much work at Worcester to settle Parliament quarters, and secure

Bristol, Gloucester, and Hereford, that it gave the king a full day's

march of him. So the king, having the start of him, moves towards

London; and Essex, nettled to be both beaten in fight and outdone in

conduct, decamps, and follows the king.

The Parliament, and the Londoners too, were in a strange consternation

at this mistake of their general; and had the king, whose great

misfortune was always to follow precipitant advices,--had the king,

I say, pushed on his first design, which he had formed with very good

reason, and for which he had been dodging with Essex eight or ten

days, viz., of marching directly to London, where he had a very

great interest, and where his friends were not yet oppressed and

impoverished, as they were afterwards, he had turned the scale of his

affairs. And every man expected it; for the members began to shift

for themselves, expresses were sent on the heels of one another to the

Earl of Essex to hasten after the king, and, if possible, to bring him

to a battle. Some of these letters fell into our hands, and we might

easily discover that the Parliament were in the last confusion at

the thoughts of our coming to London. Besides this, the city was in a

worse fright than the House, and the great moving men began to go

out of town. In short, they expected us, and we expected to come, but

Providence for our ruin had otherwise determined it.

Essex, upon news of the king's march, and upon receipt of the

Parliament's letters, makes long marches after us, and on the 23rd of

October reaches the village of Kineton, in Warwickshire. The king was

almost as far as Banbury, and there calls a council of war. Some of

the old officers that foresaw the advantage the king had, the concern

the city was in, and the vast addition, both to the reputation of his

forces and the increase of his interest, it would be if the king could

gain that point, urged the king to march on to London. Prince

Rupert and the fresh colonels pressed for fighting, told the king it

dispirited their men to march with the enemy at their heels; that the

Parliament army was inferior to him by 6000 men, and fatigued with

hasty marching; that as their orders were to fight, he had nothing

to do but to post himself to advantage, and receive them to their

destruction; that the action near Worcester had let them know how easy

it was to deal with a rash enemy; and that 'twas a dishonour for him,

whose forces were so much superior, to be pursued by his subjects in

rebellion. These and the like arguments prevailed with the king to

alter his wiser measures and resolve to fight. Nor was this all; when

a resolution of fighting was taken, that part of the advice which they

who were for fighting gave, as a reason for their opinion, was forgot,

and instead of halting and posting ourselves to advantage till the

enemy came up, we were ordered to march back and meet them.

Nay, so eager was the prince for fighting, that when, from the top of

Edgehill, the enemy's army was descried in the bottom between them

and the village of Kineton, and that the enemy had bid us defiance,

by discharging three cannons, we accepted the challenge, and answering

with two shots from our army, we must needs forsake the advantages

of the hills, which they must have mounted under the command of our

cannon, and march down to them into the plain. I confess, I thought

here was a great deal more gallantry than discretion; for it was

plainly taking an advantage out of our own hands, and putting it into

the hands of the enemy. An enemy that must fight, may always be fought

with to advantage. My old hero, the glorious Gustavus Adolphus, was as

forward to fight as any man of true valour mixed with any policy need

to be, or ought to be; but he used to say, "An enemy reduced to a

necessity of fighting is half beaten."

Tis true, we were all but young in the war; the soldiers hot and

forward, and eagerly desired to come to hands with the enemy. But

I take the more notice of it here, because the king in this acted

against his own measures; for it was the king himself had laid the

design of getting the start of Essex, and marching to London. His

friends had invited him thither, and expected him, and suffered deeply

for the omission; and yet he gave way to these hasty counsels, and

suffered his judgment to be overruled by majority of voices; an error,

I say, the King of Sweden was never guilty of. For if all the officers

at a council of war were of a different opinion, yet unless their

reasons mastered his judgment, their votes never altered his measures.

But this was the error of our good, but unfortunate master, three

times in this war, and particularly in two of the greatest battles of

the time, viz., this of Edgehill, and that of Naseby.

The resolution for fighting being published in the army, gave an

universal joy to the soldiers, who expressed an extraordinary ardour

for fighting. I remember my father talking with me about it, asked

me what I thought of the approaching battle. I told him I thought the

king had done very well; for at that time I did not consult the extent

of the design, and had a mighty mind, like other rash people, to see

it brought to a day, which made me answer my father as I did. "But,"

said I, "sir, I doubt there will be but indifferent doings on both

sides, between two armies both made up of fresh men, that have never

seen any service." My father minded little what I spoke of that; but

when I seemed pleased that the king had resolved to fight, he looked

angrily at me, and told me he was sorry I could see no farther into

things. "I tell you," says he hastily, "if the king should kill and

take prisoners this whole army, general and all, the Parliament will

have the victory; for we have lost more by slipping this opportunity

of getting into London, than we shall ever get by ten battles." I

saw enough of this afterwards to convince me of the weight of what

my father said, and so did the king too; but it was then too late.

Advantages slipped in war are never recovered.

We were now in a full march to fight the Earl of Essex. It was on

Sunday morning the 24th of October 1642, fair weather overhead, but

the ground very heavy and dirty. As soon as we came to the top of

Edgehill, we discovered their whole army. They were not drawn up,

having had two miles to march that morning, but they were very busy

forming their lines, and posting the regiments as they came up. Some

of their horse were exceedingly fatigued, having marched forty-eight

hours together; and had they been suffered to follow us three or four

days' march farther, several of their regiments of horse would

have been quite ruined, and their foot would have been rendered

unserviceable for the present. But we had no patience.

As soon as our whole army was come to the top of the hill, we

were drawn up in order of battle. The king's army made a very fine

appearance; and indeed they were a body of gallant men as ever

appeared in the field, and as well furnished at all points; the

horse exceedingly well accoutred, being most of them gentlemen and

volunteers, some whole regiments serving without pay; their horses

very good and fit for service as could be desired. The whole army were

not above 18,000 men, and the enemy not 1000 over or under, though we

had been told they were not above 12,000; but they had been reinforced

with 4000 men from Northampton. The king was with the general, the

Earl of Lindsey, in the main battle; Prince Rupert commanded the right

wing, and the Marquis of Hertford, the Lord Willoughby, and several

other very good officers the left.

The signal of battle being given with two cannon shots, we marched

in order of battalia down the hill, being drawn up in two lines with

bodies of reserve; the enemy advanced to meet us much in the same

form, with this difference only, that they had placed their cannon on

their right, and the king had placed ours in the centre, before, or

rather between two great brigades of foot. Their cannon began with us

first, and did some mischief among the dragoons of our left wing; but

our officers, perceiving the shot took the men and missed the horses,

ordered all to alight, and every man leading his horse, to advance in

the same order; and this saved our men, for most of the enemy's shot

flew over their heads. Our cannon made a terrible execution upon their

foot for a quarter of an hour, and put them into great confusion,

till the general obliged them to halt, and changed the posture of his

front, marching round a small rising ground by which he avoided the

fury of our artillery.

By this time the wings were engaged, the king having given the signal

of battle, and ordered the right wing to fall on. Prince Rupert, who,

as is said, commanded that wing, fell on with such fury, and pushed

the left wing of the Parliament army so effectually, that in a moment

he filled all with terror and confusion. Commissary-General Ramsey, a

Scotsman, a Low Country Soldier, and an experienced officer, commanded

their left wing, and though he did all that an expert soldier, and

a brave commander could do, yet 'twas to no purpose; his lines were

immediately broken, and all overwhelmed in a trice. Two regiments of

foot, whether as part of the left wing, or on the left of the main

body, I know not, were disordered by their own horse, and rather

trampled to death by the horses, than beaten by our men; but they were

so entirely broken and disordered, that I do not remember that ever

they made one volley upon our men; for their own horse running away,

and falling foul on these foot, were so vigorously followed by our

men, that the foot never had a moment to rally or look behind them.

The point of the left wing of horse were not so soon broken as the

rest, and three regiments of them stood firm for some time. The

dexterous officers of the other regiments taking the opportunity,

rallied a great many of their scattered men behind them, and pieced

in some troops with those regiments; but after two or three charges,

which a brigade of our second line, following the prince, made upon

them, they also were broken with the rest.

I remember that at the great battle of Leipsic, the right wing of the

Imperialists having fallen in upon the Saxons with like fury to this,

bore down all before them, and beat the Saxons quite out of the field;

upon which the soldiers cried, "Victoria, let us follow." "No, no,"

said the old General Tilly, "let them go, but let us beat the Swedes

too, and then all's our own." Had Prince Rupert taken this method, and

instead of following the fugitives, who were dispersed so effectually

that two regiments would have secured them from rallying--I say, had

he fallen in upon the foot, or wheeled to the left, and fallen in

upon the rear of the enemy's right wing of horse, or returned to

the assistance of the left wing of our horse, we had gained the most

absolute and complete victory that could be; nor had 1000 men of

the enemy's army got off. But this prince, who was full of fire, and

pleased to see the rout of an enemy, pursued them quite to the town of

Kineton, where indeed he killed abundance of their men, and some time

also was lost in plundering the baggage.

But in the meantime, the glory and advantage of the day was lost to

the king, for the right wing of the Parliament horse could not be so

broken. Sir William Balfour made a desperate charge upon the point of

the king's left, and had it not been for two regiments of dragoons who

were planted in the reserve, had routed the whole wing, for he broke

through the first line, and staggered the second, who advanced to

their assistance, but was so warmly received by those dragoons, who

came seasonably in, and gave their first fire on horseback, that his

fury was checked, and having lost a great many men, was forced to

wheel about to his own men; and had the king had but three regiments

of horse at hand to have charged him, he had been routed. The rest of

this wing kept their ground, and received the first fury of the enemy

with great firmness; after which, advancing in their turn, they

were at once masters of the Earl of Essex's cannon. And here we lost

another advantage; for if any foot had been at hand to support these

horse, they had carried off the cannon, or turned it upon the main

battle of the enemy's foot, but the foot were otherwise engaged. The

horse on this side fought with great obstinacy and variety of success

a great while. Sir Philip Stapleton, who commanded the guards of the

Earl of Essex, being engaged with a party of our Shrewsbury cavaliers,

as we called them, was once in a fair way to have been cut off by

a brigade of our foot, who, being advanced to fall on upon the

Parliament's main body, flanked Sir Philip's horse in their way, and

facing to the left, so furiously charged him with their pikes, that he

was obliged to retire in great disorder, and with the loss of a great

many men and horses.

All this while the foot on both sides were desperately engaged, and

coming close up to the teeth of one another with the clubbed musket

and push of pike, fought with great resolution, and a terrible

slaughter on both sides, giving no quarter for a great while; and they

continued to do thus, till, as if they were tired, and out of wind,

either party seemed willing enough to leave off, and take breath.

Those which suffered most were that brigade which had charged Sir

William Stapleton's horse, who being bravely engaged in the front

with the enemy's foot, were, on the sudden, charged again in front

and flank by Sir William Balfour's horse and disordered, after a

very desperate defence. Here the king's standard was taken, the

standard-bearer, Sir Edward Verney, being killed; but it was rescued

again by Captain Smith, and brought to the king the same night, for

which the king knighted the captain.

This brigade of foot had fought all the day, and had not been broken

at last, if any horse had been at hand to support them. The field

began to be now clear; both armies stood, as it were, gazing at one

another, only the king, having rallied his foot, seemed inclined to

renew the charge, and began to cannonade them, which they could not

return, most of their cannon being nailed while they were in our

possession, and all the cannoniers killed or fled; and our gunners did

execution upon Sir William Balfour's troops for a good while.

My father's regiment being in the right with the prince, I saw little

of the fight but the rout of the enemy's left, and we had as full a

victory there as we could desire, but spent too much time in it. We

killed about 2000 men in that part of the action, and having totally

dispersed them, and plundered their baggage, began to think of our

fellows when 'twas too late to help them. We returned, however,

victorious to the king, just as the battle was over. The king asked

the prince what news? He told him he could give his Majesty a good

account of the enemy's horse. "Ay, by G--d," says a gentleman that

stood by me, "and of their carts too." That word was spoken with such

a sense of the misfortune, and made such an impression on the whole

army, that it occasioned some ill blood afterwards among us; and but

that the king took up the business, it had been of ill consequence,

for some person who had heard the gentleman speak it, informed the

prince who it was, and the prince resenting it, spoke something

about it in the hearing of the party when the king was present. The

gentleman, not at all surprised, told his Highness openly he had said

the words; and though he owned he had no disrespect for his Highness,

yet he could not but say, if it had not been so, the enemy's army had

been better beaten. The prince replied something very disobliging;

upon which the gentleman came up to the king, and kneeling, humbly

besought his Majesty to accept of his commission, and to give him

leave to tell the prince, that whenever his Highness pleased, he was

ready to give him satisfaction. The prince was exceedingly provoked,

and as he was very passionate, began to talk very oddly, and without

all government of himself. The gentleman, as bold as he, but much

calmer preserved his temper, but maintained his quarrel; and the king

was so concerned, that he was very much out of humour with the prince

about it. However, his Majesty, upon consideration, soon ended the

dispute, by laying his commands on them both to speak no more of it

for that day; and refusing the commission from the colonel, for he

was no less, sent for them both next morning in private, and made them

friends again.

But to return to our story. We came back to the king timely enough to

put the Earl of Essex's men out of all humour of renewing the fight,

and as I observed before, both parties stood gazing at one another,

and our cannon playing upon them obliged Sir William Balfour's horse

to wheel off in some disorder, but they returned us none again, which,

as we afterwards understood, was, as I said before, for want of both

powder and gunners, for the cannoniers and firemen were killed, or

had quitted their train in the fight, when our horse had possession of

their artillery; and as they had spiked up some of the cannon, so they

had carried away fifteen carriages of powder.

Night coming on, ended all discourse of more fighting, and the king

drew off and marched towards the hills. I know no other token of

victory which the enemy had than their lying in the field of battle

all night, which they did for no other reason than that, having lost

their baggage and provisions, they had nowhere to go, and which we did

not, because we had good quarters at hand.

The number of prisoners and of the slain were not very unequal; the

enemy lost more men, we most of quality. Six thousand men on both

sides were killed on the spot, whereof, when our rolls were examined,

we missed 2500. We lost our brave general the old Earl of Lindsey,

who was wounded and taken prisoner, and died of his wounds; Sir Edward

Stradling, Colonel Lundsford, prisoners; and Sir Edward Verney and a

great many gentlemen of quality slain. On the other hand, we carried

off Colonel Essex, Colonel Ramsey, and the Lord St John, who also died

of his wounds; we took five ammunition waggons full of powder, and

brought off about 500 horse in the defeat of the left wing, with

eighteen standards and colours, and lost seventeen.

The slaughter of the left wing was so great, and the flight so

effectual, that several of the officers rid clear away, coasting

round, and got to London, where they reported that the Parliament army

was entirely defeated--all lost, killed, or taken, as if none but them

were left alive to carry the news. This filled them with consternation

for a while, but when other messengers followed, all was restored

to quiet again, and the Parliament cried up their victory and

sufficiently mocked God and their general with their public thanks for

it. Truly, as the fight was a deliverance to them, they were in the

right to give thanks for it; but as to its being a victory, neither

side had much to boast of, and they less a great deal than we had.

I got no hurt in this fight, and indeed we of the right wing had but

little fighting; I think I had discharged my pistols but once, and my

carabine twice, for we had more fatigue than fight; the enemy

fled, and we had little to do but to follow and kill those we could

overtake. I spoiled a good horse, and got a better from the enemy in

his room, and came home weary enough. My father lost his horse, and

in the fall was bruised in his thigh by another horse treading on him,

which disabled him for some time, and at his request, by his Majesty's

consent, I commanded the regiment in his absence.

The enemy received a recruit of 4000 men the next morning; if they had

not, I believe they had gone back towards Worcester; but, encouraged

by that reinforcement, they called a council of war, and had a long

debate whether they could attack us again; but notwithstanding their

great victory, they durst not attempt it, though this addition of

strength made them superior to us by 3000 men.

The king indeed expected, that when these troops joined them they

would advance, and we were preparing to receive them at a village

called Aynho, where the headquarters continued three or four days;

and had they really esteemed the first day's work a victory, as they

called it, they would have done it, but they thought not good to

venture, but march away to Warwick, and from thence to Coventry. The

king, to urge them to venture upon him, and come to a second battle,

sits down before Banbury, and takes both town and castle; and two

entire regiments of foot, and one troop of horse, quit the Parliament

service, and take up their arms for the king. This was done almost

before their faces, which was a better proof of a victory on our side,

than any they could pretend to. From Banbury we marched to Oxford; and

now all men saw the Parliament had made a great mistake, for they were

not always in the right any more than we, to leave Oxford without a

garrison. The king caused new regular works to be drawn round it,

and seven royal bastions with ravelins and out-works, a double ditch,

counterscarp, and covered way; all which, added to the advantage

of its situation, made it a formidable place, and from this time it

became our place of arms, and the centre of affairs on the king's

side.

If the Parliament had the honour of the field, the king reaped the

fruits of the victory; for all this part of the country submitted to

him. Essex's army made the best of their way to London, and were but

in an ill condition when they came there, especially their horse.

The Parliament, sensible of this, and receiving daily accounts of the

progress we made, began to cool a little in their temper, abated of

their first rage, and voted an address for peace; and sent to the king

to let him know they were desirous to prevent the effusion of more

blood, and to bring things to an accommodation, or, as they called it,

a right understanding.

I was now, by the king's particular favour, summoned to the councils

of war, my father continuing absent and ill; and now I began to think

of the real grounds, and which was more, of the fatal issue of this

war. I say, I now began it; for I cannot say that I ever rightly

stated matters in my own mind before, though I had been enough used

to blood, and to see the destruction of people, sacking of towns, and

plundering the country; yet 'twas in Germany, and among strangers; but

I found a strange, secret and unaccountable sadness upon my spirits,

to see this acting in my own native country. It grieved me to the

heart, even in the rout of our enemies, to see the slaughter of them;

and even in the fight, to hear a man cry for quarter in English, moved

me to a compassion which I had never been used to; nay, sometimes

it looked to me as if some of my own men had been beaten; and when

I heard a soldier cry, "O God, I am shot," I looked behind me to see

which of my own troop was fallen. Here I saw myself at the cutting of

the throats of my friends; and indeed some of my near relations. My

old comrades and fellow-soldiers in Germany were some with us, some

against us, as their opinions happened to differ in religion. For my

part, I confess I had not much religion in me, at that time; but I

thought religion rightly practised on both sides would have made us

all better friends; and therefore sometimes I began to think, that

both the bishops of our side, and the preachers on theirs, made

religion rather the pretence than the cause of the war. And from those

thoughts I vigorously argued it at the council of war against marching

to Brentford, while the address for a treaty of peace from the

Parliament was in hand: for I was for taking the Parliament by the

handle which they had given us, and entering into a negotiation, with

the advantage of its being at their own request.

I thought the king had now in his hands an opportunity to make an

honourable peace; for this battle of Edgehill, as much as they boasted

of the victory to hearten up their friends, had sorely weakened their

army, and discouraged their party too, which in effect was worse as to

their army. The horse were particularly in an ill case, and the foot

greatly diminished, and the remainder very sickly; but besides this,

the Parliament were greatly alarmed at the progress we made afterward;

and still fearing the king's surprising them, had sent for the Earl of

Essex to London, to defend them; by which the country was, as it were,

defeated and abandoned, and left to be plundered; our parties overrun

all places at pleasure. All this while I considered, that whatever the

soldiers of fortune meant by the war, our desires were to suppress

the exorbitant power of a party, to establish our king in his just

and legal rights; but not with a design to destroy the constitution of

government, and the being of Parliament. And therefore I thought now

was the time for peace, and there were a great many worthy gentlemen

in the army of my mind; and, had our master had ears to hear us, the

war might have had an end here.

This address for peace was received by the king at Maidenhead, whither

this army was now advanced, and his Majesty returned answer by Sir

Peter Killegrew, that he desired nothing more, and would not be

wanting on his part. Upon this the Parliament name commissioners, and

his Majesty excepting against Sir John Evelyn, they left him out,

and sent others; and desired the king to appoint his residence near

London, where the commissioners might wait upon him. Accordingly the

king appointed Windsor for the place of treaty, and desired the

treaty might be hastened. And thus all things looked with a favourable

aspect, when one unlucky action knocked it all on the head, and filled

both parties with more implacable animosities than they had before,

and all hopes of peace vanished.

During this progress of the king's armies, we were always abroad with

the horse ravaging the country, and plundering the Roundheads. Prince

Rupert, a most active vigilant party man, and I must own, fitter for

such than for a general, was never lying still, and I seldom stayed

behind; for our regiment being very well mounted, he would always send

for us, if he had any extraordinary design in hand.

One time in particular he had a design upon Aylesbury, the capital of

Buckinghamshire; indeed our view at first was rather to beat the

enemy out of town and demolish their works, and perhaps raise some

contributions on the rich country round it, than to garrison the

place, and keep it; for we wanted no more garrisons, being masters of

the field.

The prince had 2500 horse with him in this expedition, but no foot;

the town had some foot raised in the country by Mr Hampden, and two

regiments of country militia, whom we made light of, but we found they

stood to their tackle better than well enough. We came very early to

the town, and thought they had no notice of us; but some false brother

had given them the alarm, and we found them all in arms, the hedges

without the town lined with musketeers, on that side in particular

where they expected us, and two regiments of foot drawn up in view to

support them, with some horse in the rear of all.

The prince, willing, however, to do something, caused some of his

horse to alight, and serve as dragoons; and having broken a way into

the enclosures, the horse beat the foot from behind the hedges, while

the rest who were alighted charged them in the lane which leads to

the town. Here they had cast up some works, and fired from their

lines very regularly, considering them as militia only, the governor

encouraging them by his example; so that finding without some foot

there would be no good to be done, we gave it over, and drew off; and

so Aylesbury escaped a scouring for that time.

I cannot deny but these flying parties of horse committed great spoil

among the country people; and sometimes the prince gave a liberty to

some cruelties which were not at all for the king's interest; because

it being still upon our own country, and the king's own subjects, whom

in all his declarations he protested to be careful of, it seemed to

contradict all those protestations and declarations, and served to

aggravate and exasperate the common people; and the king's enemies

made all the advantages of it that was possible, by crying out of

twice as many extravagancies as were committed.

Tis true, the king, who naturally abhorred such things, could not

restrain his men, no, nor his generals, so absolutely as he would

have done. The war, on his side, was very much _à la_ volunteer;

many gentlemen served him at their own charge, and some paid whole

regiments themselves: sometimes also the king's affairs were straiter

than ordinary, and his men were not very well paid, and this obliged

him to wink at their excursions upon the country, though he did not

approve of them. And yet I must own, that in those parts of England

where the war was hottest, there never was seen that ruin and

depopulation, murders, and barbarities, which I have seen even among

Protestant armies abroad, in Germany and other foreign parts of the

world. And if the Parliament people had seen those things abroad, as I

had, they would not have complained.

The most I have seen was plundering the towns for provisions, drinking

up their beer, and turning our horses into their fields, or stacks

of corn; and sometimes the soldiers would be a little rude with the

wenches; but alas! what was this to Count Tilly's ravages in Saxony?

Or what was our taking of Leicester by storm, where they cried out of

our barbarities, to the sacking of New Brandenburg, or the taking of

Magdeburg? In Leicester, of 7000 or 8000 people in the town, 300 were

killed; in Magdeburg, of 25,000 scarce 2700 were left, and the whole

town burnt to ashes. I myself have seen seventeen or eighteen villages

on fire in a day, and the people driven away from their dwellings,

like herds of cattle. I do not instance these greater barbarities to

justify lesser actions, which are nevertheless irregular; but I do

say, that circumstances considered, this war was managed with as

much humanity on both sides as could be expected, especially also

considering the animosity of parties.

But to return to the prince: he had not always the same success in

these enterprises, for sometimes we came short home. And I cannot omit

one pleasant adventure which happened to a party of ours, in one of

these excursions into Buckinghamshire. The major of our regiment was

soundly beaten by a party, which, as I may say, was led by a woman;

and, if I had not rescued him, I know not but he had been taken

prisoner by a woman. It seems our men had besieged some fortified

house about Oxfordshire, towards Thame, and the house being defended

by the lady in her husband's absence, she had yielded the house upon a

capitulation; one of the articles of which was, to march out with

all her servants, soldiers, and goods, and to be conveyed to Thame.

Whether she thought to have gone no farther, or that she reckoned

herself safe there, I know not; but my major, with two troops of

horse, meets with this lady and her party, about five miles from

Thame, as we were coming back from our defeated attack of Aylesbury.

We reckoned ourselves in an enemy's country, and had lived a little at

large, or at discretion, as 'tis called abroad; and these two troops,

with the major, were returning to our detachment from a little

village, where, at the farmer's house, they had met with some liquor,

and truly some of his men were so drunk they could but just sit upon

their horses. The major himself was not much better, and the whole

body were but in a sorry condition to fight. Upon the road they meet

this party; the lady having no design of fighting, and being, as she

thought, under the protection of the articles, sounds a parley, and

desired to speak with the officer. The major, as drunk as he was,

could tell her, that by the articles she was to be assured no farther

than Thame, and being now five miles beyond it, she was a fair enemy,

and therefore demanded to render themselves prisoners. The lady

seemed surprised, but being sensible she was in the wrong, offered

to compound for her goods, and would have given him £300, and I think

seven or eight horses. The major would certainly have taken it, if he

had not been drunk; but he refused it, and gave threatening words to

her, blustering in language which he thought proper to fright a woman,

viz., that he would cut them all to pieces, and give no quarter, and

the like.

The lady, who had been more used to the smell of powder than he

imagined, called some of her servants to her, and, consulting with

them what to do, they all unanimously encouraged her to let them

fight; told her it was plain that the commander was drunk, and all

that were with him were rather worse than he, and hardly able to sit

their horses; and that therefore one bold charge would put them all

into confusion. In a word, she consented, and, as she was a woman,

they desired her to secure herself among the waggons; but she refused,

and told them bravely she would take her fate with them. In short, she

boldly bade my major defiance, and that he might do his worst, since

she had offered him fair, and he had refused it; her mind was altered

now, and she would give him nothing, and bade his officer that

parleyed longer with her be gone; so the parley ended. After this she

gave him fair leave to go back to his men; but before he could tell

his tale to them she was at his heels with all her men, and gave him

such a home charge as put his men into disorder, and, being too drunk

to rally, they were knocked down before they knew what to do with

themselves, and in a few minutes more they took to a plain flight.

But what was still worse, the men, being some of them very drunk, when

they came to run for their lives fell over one another, and tumbled

over their horses, and made such work that a troop of women might have

beaten them all. In this pickle, with the enemy at his heels, I

came in with him, hearing the noise. When I appeared the pursuers

retreated, and, seeing what a condition my people were in, and not

knowing the strength of the enemy, I contented myself with bringing

them off without pursuing the other; nor could I ever hear positively

who this female captain was. We lost seventeen or eighteen of our men,

and about thirty horses; but when the particulars of the story was

told us, our major was so laughed at by the whole army, and laughed

at everywhere, that he was ashamed to show himself for a week or a

fortnight after.

But to return to the king: his Majesty, as I observed, was at

Maidenhead addressed by the Parliament for peace, and Windsor

being appointed for the place of treaty, the van of his army lay at

Colebrook. In the meantime, whether it were true or only a pretence,

but it was reported the Parliament general had sent a body of his

troops, with a train of artillery, to Hammersmith, in order to fall

upon some part of our army, or to take some advanced post, which was

to the prejudice of our men; whereupon the king ordered the army to

march, and, by the favour of a thick mist, came within half a mile of

Brentford before he was discovered. There were two regiments of foot,

and about 600 horse into the town, of the enemy's best troops; these

taking the alarm, posted themselves on the bridge at the west end of

the town. The king attacked them with a select detachment of his best

infantry, and they defended themselves with incredible obstinacy. I

must own I never saw raw men, for they could not have been in arms

above four months, act like them in my life. In short, there was no

forcing these men, for, though two whole brigades of our foot, backed

by our horse, made five several attacks upon them they could not break

them, and we lost a great many brave men in that action. At last,

seeing the obstinacy of these men, a party of horse was ordered to go

round from Osterley; and, entering the town on the north side, where,

though the horse made some resistance, it was not considerable, the

town was presently taken. I led my regiment through an enclosure, and

came into the town nearer to the bridge than the rest, by which means

I got first into the town; but I had this loss by my expedition, that

the foot charged me before the body was come up, and poured in their

shot very furiously. My men were but in an ill case, and would not

have stood much longer, if the rest of the horse coming up the lane

had not found them other employment. When the horse were thus entered,

they immediately dispersed the enemy's horse, who fled away towards

London, and falling in sword in hand upon the rear of the foot, who

were engaged at the bridge, they were all cut in pieces, except about

200, who, scorning to ask quarter, desperately threw themselves into

the river of Thames, where they were most of them drowned.

The Parliament and their party made a great outcry at this

attempt--that it was base and treacherous while in a treaty of peace;

and that the king, having amused them with hearkening to a treaty,

designed to have seized upon their train of artillery first, and,

after that, to have surprised both the city of London and the

Parliament. And I have observed since, that our historians note this

action as contrary to the laws of honour and treaties, though as there

was no cessation of arms agreed on, nothing is more contrary to the

laws of war than to suggest it.

That it was a very unhappy thing to the king and whole nation, as it

broke off the hopes of peace, and was the occasion of bringing the

Scots army in upon us, I readily acknowledge, but that there

was anything dishonourable in it, I cannot allow. For though the

Parliament had addressed to the king for peace, and such steps were

taken in it as before, yet, as I have said, there was no proposals

made on either side for a cessation of arms, and all the world must

allow, that in such cases the war goes on in the field, while the

peace goes on in the cabinet. And if the war goes on, admit the king

had designed to surprise the city or Parliament, or all of them, it

had been no more than the custom of war allows, and what they would

have done by him if they could. The treaty of Westphalia, or peace of

Munster, which ended the bloody wars of Germany, was a precedent for

this. That treaty was actually negotiating seven years, and yet the

war went on with all the vigour and rancour imaginable, even to the

last. Nay, the very time after the conclusion of it, but before the

news could be brought to the army, did he that was afterwards King

of Sweden, Carolus Gustavus, take the city of Prague by surprise, and

therein an inestimable booty. Besides, all the wars of Europe are full

of examples of this kind, and therefore I cannot see any reason to

blame the king for this action as to the fairness of it. Indeed, as

to the policy of it, I can say little; but the case was this. The king

had a gallant army, flushed with success, and things hitherto had gone

on very prosperously, both with his own army and elsewhere; he had

above 35,000 men in his own army, including his garrison left at

Banbury, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Oxford, Wallingford, Abingdon,

Reading, and places adjacent. On the other hand, the Parliament army

came back to London in but a very sorry condition;[1] for what with

their loss in their victory, as they called it, at Edgehill, their

sickness, and a hasty march to London, they were very much diminished,

though at London they soon recruited them again. And this prosperity

of the king's affairs might encourage him to strike this blow,

thinking to bring the Parliament to the better terms by the

apprehensions of the superior strength of the king's forces.

But, however it was, the success did not equally answer the king's

expectation. The vigorous defence the troops posted at Brentford

made as above, gave the Earl of Essex opportunity, with extraordinary

application, to draw his forces out to Turnham Green. And the

exceeding alacrity of the enemy was such, that their whole army

appeared with them, making together an army of 24,000 men, drawn up

in view of our forces by eight o'clock the next morning. The city

regiments were placed between the regular troops, and all together

offered us battle, but we were not in a condition to accept it. The

king indeed was sometimes of the mind to charge them, and once or

twice ordered parties to advance to begin to skirmish, but upon better

advice altered his mind, and indeed it was the wisest counsel to defer

the fighting at that time. The Parliament generals were as unfixed in

their resolutions, on the other side, as the king; sometimes they sent

out parties, and then called them back again. One strong party of near

3000 men marched off towards Acton, with orders to amuse us on that

side, but were countermanded. Indeed, I was of the opinion we might

have ventured the battle, for though the Parliament's army were more

numerous, yet the city trained bands, which made up 4000 of their

foot, were not much esteemed, and the king was a great deal stronger

in horse than they. But the main reason that hindered the engagement,

was want of ammunition, which the king having duly weighed, he caused

the carriages and cannon to draw off first, and then the foot, the

horse continuing to force the enemy till all was clear gone; and then

we drew off too and marched to Kingston, and the next day to Reading.

Now the king saw his mistake in not continuing his march for London,

instead of facing about to fight the enemy at Edgehill. And all the

honour we had gained in so many successful enterprises lay buried in

this shameful retreat from an army of citizens' wives; for truly that

appearance at Turnham Green was gay, but not great. There was as many

lookers-on as actors. The crowds of ladies, apprentices, and mob was

so great, that when the parties of our army advanced, and as they

thought, to charge, the coaches, horsemen, and crowd, that cluttered

away to be out of harm's way, looked little better than a rout. And I

was persuaded a good home charge from our horse would have sent their

whole army after them. But so it was, that this crowd of an army was

to triumph over us, and they did it, for all the kingdom was carefully

informed how their dreadful looks had frightened us away.

Upon our retreat, the Parliament resent this attack, which they call

treacherous, and vote no accommodation; but they considered of it

afterwards, and sent six commissioners to the king with propositions.

But the change of the scene of action changed the terms of peace, and

now they made terms like conquerors, petition him to desert his army,

and return to the Parliament, and the like. Had his Majesty, at the

head of his army, with the full reputation they had before, and in the

ebb of their affairs, rested at Windsor, and commenced a treaty, they

had certainly made more reasonable proposals; but now the scabbard

seemed to be thrown away on both sides.

The rest of the winter was spent in strengthening parties and places,

also in fruitless treaties of peace, messages, remonstrances, and

paper war on both sides, and no action remarkable happened anywhere

that I remember. Yet the king gained ground everywhere, and his forces

in the north increased under the Earl of Newcastle; also my Lord

Goring, then only called Colonel Goring, arrived from Holland,

bringing three ships laden with arms and ammunition, and notice that

the queen was following with more. Goring brought 4000 barrels of

gunpowder, and 20,000 small arms; all which came very seasonably, for

the king was in great want of them, especially the powder. Upon this

recruit the Earl of Newcastle draws down to York, and being above

16,000 strong, made Sir Thomas Fairfax give ground, and retreat to

Hull.

Whoever lay still, Prince Rupert was always abroad, and I chose to go

out with his Highness as often as I had opportunity, for hitherto he

was always successful. About this time the prince being at Oxford, I

gave him intelligence of a party of the enemy who lived a little at

large, too much for good soldiers, about Cirencester. The prince, glad

of the news, resolved to attack them, and though it was a wet season,

and the ways exceeding bad, being in February, yet we marched all

night in the dark, which occasioned the loss of some horses and

men too, in sloughs and holes, which the darkness of the night had

suffered them to fall into. We were a very strong party, being about

3000 horse and dragoons, and coming to Cirencester very early in the

morning, to our great satisfaction the enemy were perfectly surprised,

not having the least notice of our march, which answered our end more

ways than one. However, the Earl of Stamford's regiment made some

resistance; but the town having no works to defend it, saving a slight

breastwork at the entrance of the road, with a turnpike, our dragoons

alighted, and forcing their way over the bellies of Stamford's foot,

they beat them from their defence, and followed them at their heels

into the town. Stamford's regiment was entirely cut in pieces, and

several others, to the number of about 800 men, and the town entered

without any other resistance. We took 1200 prisoners, 3000 arms, and

the county magazine, which at that time was considerable; for there

was about 120 barrels of powder, and all things in proportion.

I received the first hurt I got in this war at this action, for having

followed the dragoons and brought my regiment within the barricado

which they had gained, a musket bullet struck my horse just in the

head, and that so effectually that he fell down as dead as a stone all

at once. The fall plunged me into a puddle of water and daubed me; and

my man having brought me another horse and cleaned me a little, I was

just getting up, when another bullet struck me on my left hand, which

I had just clapped on the horse's main to lift myself into the saddle.

The blow broke one of my fingers, and bruised my hand very much; and

it proved a very painful hurt to me. For the present I did not

much concern myself about it, but made my man tie it up close in my

handkerchief, and led up my men to the market-place, where we had

a very smart brush with some musketeers who were posted in the

churchyard; but our dragoons soon beat them out there, and the whole

town was then our own. We made no stay here, but marched back with

all our booty to Oxford, for we knew the enemy were very strong at

Gloucester, and that way.

Much about the same time, the Earl of Northampton, with a strong

party, set upon Lichfield, and took the town, but could not take the

Close; but they beat a body of 4000 men coming to the relief of the

town, under Sir John Gell, of Derbyshire, and Sir William Brereton, of

Cheshire, and killing 600 of them, dispersed the rest.

Our second campaign now began to open; the king marched from Oxford

to relieve Reading, which was besieged by the Parliament forces;

but General Fielding, Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Ashton being

wounded, surrendered to Essex before the king could come up; for

which he was tried by martial law, and condemned to die, but the king

forbore to execute the sentence. This was the first town we had lost

in the war, for still the success of the king's affairs was very

encouraging. This bad news, however, was overbalanced by an account

brought the king at the same time, by an express from York, that the

queen had landed in the north, and had brought over a great magazine

of arms and ammunition, besides some men. Some time after this her

Majesty, marching southward to meet the king, joined the army near

Edgehill, where the first battle was fought. She brought the king 3000

foot, 1500 horse and dragoons, six pieces of cannon, 1500 barrels of

powder, 12,000 small arms.

During this prosperity of the king's affairs his armies increased

mightily in the western counties also. Sir William Waller, indeed,

commanded for the Parliament in those parts too, and particularly in

Dorsetshire, Hampshire, and Berkshire, where he carried on their

cause but too fast; but farther west, Sir Nicholas Slanning, Sir Ralph

Hopton, and Sir Bevil Grenvile had extended the king's quarters from

Cornwall through Devonshire, and into Somersetshire, where they

took Exeter, Barnstaple, and Bideford; and the first of these they

fortified very well, making it a place of arms for the west, and

afterwards it was the residence of the queen.

At last, the famous Sir William Waller and the king's forces met, and

came to a pitched battle, where Sir William lost all his honour again.

This was at Roundway Down in Wiltshire. Waller had engaged our Cornish

army at Lansdown, and in a very obstinate fight had the better of

them, and made them retreat to the Devizes. Sir William Hopton,

however, having a good body of foot untouched, sent expresses and

messengers one in the neck of another to the king for some horse, and

the king being in great concern for that army, who were composed of

the flower of the Cornish men, commanded me to march with all possible

secrecy, as well as expedition, with 1200 horse and dragoons from

Oxford, to join them. We set out in the depth of the night, to avoid,

if possible, any intelligence being given of our route, and soon

joined with the Cornish army, when it was as soon resolved to give

battle to Waller; and, give him his due, he was as forward to fight as

we. As it is easy to meet when both sides are willing to be found, Sir

William Waller met us upon Roundway Down, where we had a fair field on

both sides, and room enough to draw up our horse. In a word, there

was little ceremony to the work; the armies joined, and we charged his

horse with so much resolution, that they quickly fled, and quitted

the field; for we over-matched him in horse, and this was the entire

destruction of their army. For the infantry, which outnumbered ours

by 1500, were now at our mercy; some faint resistance they made, just

enough to give us occasion to break into their ranks with our horse,

where we gave time to our foot to defeat others that stood to their

work, upon which they began to disband, and run every way they could;

but our horse having surrounded them, we made a fearful havoc of them.

We lost not about 200 men in this action; Waller lost about 4000

killed and taken, and as many dispersed that never returned to their

colours. Those of foot that escaped got into Bristol, and Waller, with

the poor remains of his routed regiments, got to London; so that it

is plain some ran east, and some ran west, that is to say, they fled

every way they could.

My going with this detachment prevented my being at the siege of

Bristol, which Prince Rupert attacked much about the same time, and it

surrendered in three days. The Parliament questioned Colonel

Nathaniel Fiennes, the governor, and had him tried as a coward by a

court-martial, and condemned to die, but suspended the execution also,

as the king did the governor of Reading. I have often heard Prince

Rupert say, they did Colonel Fiennes wrong in that affair; and that if

the colonel would have summoned him, he would have demanded a passport

of the Parliament, and have come up and convinced the court that

Colonel Fiennes had not misbehaved himself, and that he had not a

sufficient garrison to defend a city of that extent; having not above

1200 men in the town, excepting some of Waller's runaways, most of

whom were unfit for service, and without arms; and that the citizens

in general being disaffected to him, and ready on the first occasion

to open the gates to the king's forces, it was impossible for him to

have kept the city. "And when I had farther informed them," said the

prince, "of the measures I had taken for a general assault the next

day, I am confident I should have convinced them that I had taken the

city by storm, if he had not surrendered."

The king's affairs were now in a very good posture, and three armies

in the north, west, and in the centre, counted in the musters about

70,000 men besides small garrisons and parties abroad. Several of the

lords, and more of the commons, began to fall off from the Parliament,

and make their peace with the king; and the affairs of the Parliament

began to look very ill. The city of London was their inexhaustible

support and magazine, both for men, money, and all things necessary;

and whenever their army was out of order, the clergy of their party

in but one Sunday or two, would preach the young citizens out of their

shops, the labourers from their masters, into the army, and recruit

them on a sudden. And all this was still owing to the omission I first

observed, of not marching to London, when it might have been so easily

effected.

We had now another, or a fairer opportunity, than before, but as ill

use was made of it. The king, as I have observed, was in a very good

posture; he had three large armies roving at large over the kingdom.

The Cornish army, victorious and numerous, had beaten Waller, secured

and fortified Exeter, which the queen had made her residence, and

was there delivered of a daughter, the Princess Henrietta Maria,

afterwards Duchess of Orleans, and mother of the Duchess Dowager of

Savoy, commonly known in the French style by the title of Madam Royal.

They had secured Salisbury, Sherborne Castle, Weymouth, Winchester,

and Basing-house, and commanded the whole country, except Bridgewater

and Taunton, Plymouth and Lynn; all which places they held blocked

up. The king was also entirely master of all Wales, Monmouthshire,

Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire,

Berkshire, and all the towns from Windsor up the Thames to

Cirencester, except Reading and Henley; and of the whole Severn,

except Gloucester.

The Earl of Newcastle had garrisons in every strong place in the

north, from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Boston in Lincolnshire, and

Newark-upon-Trent, Hull only excepted, whither the Lord Fairfax and

his son Sir Thomas were retreated, their troops being routed and

broken, Sir Thomas Fairfax his baggage, with his lady and servants

taken prisoners, and himself hardly scaping.

And now a great council of war was held in the king's quarters, what

enterprise to go upon; and it happened to be the very same day when

the Parliament were in a serious debate what should become of them,

and whose help they should seek. And indeed they had cause for it; and

had our counsels been as ready and well-grounded as theirs, we had put

an end to the war in a month's time.

In this council the king proposed the marching to London, to put an

end to the Parliament and encourage his friends and loyal subjects in

Kent, who were ready to rise for him; and showed us letters from

the Earl of Newcastle, wherein he offered to join his Majesty with a

detachment of 4000 horse, and 8000 foot, if his Majesty thought fit

to march southward, and yet leave forces sufficient to guard the

north from any invasion. I confess, when I saw the scheme the king had

himself drawn for this attempt, I felt an unusual satisfaction in my

mind, from the hopes that he might bring this war to some tolerable

end; for I professed myself on all occasions heartily weary with

fighting with friends, brothers, neighbours, and acquaintance, and I

made no question but this motion of the king's would effectually bring

the Parliament to reason.

All men seemed to like the enterprise but the Earl of Worcester, who,

on particular views for securing the country behind, as he called it,

proposed the taking in the town of Gloucester and Hereford first. He

made a long speech of the danger of leaving Massey, an active bold

fellow, with a strong party in the heart of all the king's quarters,

ready on all occasions to sally out and surprise the neighbouring

garrisons, as he had done Sudley Castle and others; and of the ease

and freedom to all those western parts to have them fully cleared

of the enemy. Interest presently backs this advice, and all those

gentlemen whose estates lay that way, or whose friends lived about

Worcester, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, or the borders, and who, as they

said, had heard the frequent wishes of the country to have the city of

Gloucester reduced, fell in with this advice, alleging the consequence

it was for the commerce of the country to have the navigation of the

Severn free, which was only interrupted by this one town from the sea

up to Shrewsbury, &c.

I opposed this, and so did several others. Prince Rupert was

vehemently against it; and we both offered, with the troops of the

country, to keep Gloucester blocked up during the king's march for

London, so that Massey should not be able to stir.

This proposal made the Earl of Worcester's party more eager for the

siege than before, for they had no mind to a blockade which would

leave the country to maintain the troops all the summer; and of all

men the prince did not please them, for, he having no extraordinary

character for discipline, his company was not much desired even by

our friends. Thus, in an ill hour, 'twas resolved to sit down before

Gloucester. The king had a gallant army of 28,000 men whereof 11,000

horse, the finest body of gentlemen that ever I saw together in my

life; their horses without comparison, and their equipages the finest

and the best in the world, and their persons Englishmen, which, I

think, is enough to say of them.

According to the resolution taken in the council of war, the army

marched westward, and sat down before Gloucester the beginning of

August. There we spent a month to the least purpose that ever army

did. Our men received frequent affronts from the desperate sallies

of an inconsiderable enemy. I cannot forbear reflecting on the

misfortunes of this siege. Our men were strangely dispirited in all

the assaults they gave upon the place; there was something looked like

disaster and mismanagement, and our men went on with an ill will and

no resolution. The king despised the place, and thinking to carry it

sword in hand, made no regular approaches, and the garrison, being

desperate, made therefore the greater slaughter. In this work our

horse, who were so numerous and so fine, had no employment. Two

thousand horse had been enough for this business, and the enemy had no

garrison or party within forty miles of us, so that we had nothing to

do but look on with infinite regret upon the losses of our foot.

The enemy made frequent and desperate sallies, in one of which I had

my share. I was posted upon a parade, or place of arms, with part of

my regiment, and part of Colonel Goring's regiment of horse, in order

to support a body of foot, who were ordered to storm the point of a

breastwork which the enemy had raised to defend one of the avenues to

the town. The foot were beat off with loss, as they always were; and

Massey, the governor, not content to have beaten them from his works,

sallies out with near 400 men, and falling in upon the foot as they

were rallying under the cover of our horse, we put ourselves in the

best posture we could to receive them. As Massey did not expect, I

suppose, to engage with any horse, he had no pikes with him, which

encouraged us to treat him the more rudely; but as to desperate men

danger is no danger, when he found he must clear his hands of us,

before he could despatch the foot, he faces up to us, fires but one

volley of his small shot, and fell to battering us with the stocks of

their muskets in such a manner that one would have thought they had

been madmen.

We at first despised this way of clubbing us, and charging through

them, laid a great many of them upon the ground, and in repeating our

charge, trampled more of them under our horses' feet; and wheeling

thus continually, beat them off from our foot, who were just upon the

point of disbanding. Upon this they charged us again with their fire,

and at one volley killed thirty-three or thirty-four men and horses;

and had they had pikes with them, I know not what we should have done

with them. But at last charging through them again, we divided them;

one part of them being hemmed in between us and our own foot, were

cut in pieces to a man; the rest as I understood afterwards, retreated

into the town, having lost 300 of their men.

In this last charge I received a rude blow from a stout fellow on

foot with the butt end of his musket which perfectly stunned me, and

fetched me off from my horse; and had not some near me took care of

me, I had been trod to death by our own men. But the fellow being

immediately killed, and my friends finding me alive, had taken me up,

and carried me off some distance, where I came to myself again after

some time, but knew little of what I did or said that night. This was

the reason why I say I afterwards understood the enemy retreated; for

I saw no more what they did then, nor indeed was I well of this blow

for all the rest of the summer, but had frequent pains in my head,

dizzinesses and swimming, that gave me some fears the blow had

injured the skull; but it wore off again, nor did it at all hinder my

attending my charge.

This action, I think, was the only one that looked like a defeat given

the enemy at this siege. We killed them near 300 men, as I have said,

and lost about sixty of our troopers.

All this time, while the king was harassing and weakening the best

army he ever saw together during the whole war, the Parliament

generals, or rather preachers, were recruiting theirs; for the

preachers were better than drummers to raise volunteers, zealously

exhorting the London dames to part with their husbands, and the city

to send some of their trained bands to join the army for the relief of

Gloucester; and now they began to advance towards us.