The king hearing of the advance of Essex_Memoirs of a Cavalier A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England. From the Year 1632 to the Year 1648.

come to Aylesbury, had summoned what forces he had within call, to

join him; and accordingly he received 3000 foot from Somersetshire;

and having battered the town for thirty-six hours, and made a fair

breach, resolves upon an assault, if possible, to carry the town

before the enemy came up. The assault was begun about seven in the

evening, and the men boldly mounted the breach; but after a very

obstinate and bloody dispute, were beaten out again by the besieged

with great loss.

Being thus often repulsed, and the Earl of Essex's army approaching,

the king calls a council of war, and proposed to fight Essex's army.

The officers of the horse were for fighting; and without doubt we were

superior to him both in number and goodness of our horse, but the foot

were not in an equal condition; and the colonels of foot representing

to the king the weakness of their regiments, and how their men had

been balked and disheartened at this cursed siege, the graver counsel

prevailed, and it was resolved to raise the siege, and retreat towards

Bristol, till the army was recruited. Pursuant to this resolution, the

5th of September, the king, having before sent away his heavy cannon

and baggage, raised the siege, and marched to Berkeley Castle. The

Earl of Essex came the next day to Birdlip Hills; and understanding

by messengers from Colonel Massey, that the siege was raised, sends

a recruit of 2500 men into the city, and followed us himself with a

great body of horse.

This body of horse showed themselves to us once in a large field fit

to have entertained them in; and our scouts having assured us they

were not above 4000, and had no foot with them, the king ordered

a detachment of about the same number to face them. I desired his

Majesty to let us have two regiments of dragoons with us, which was

then 800 men in a regiment, lest there might be some dragoons among

the enemy; which the king granted, and accordingly we marched, and

drew up in view of them. They stood their ground, having, as they

supposed, some advantage of the manner they were posted in, and

expected we would charge them. The king, who did us the honour to

command this party, finding they would not stir, calls me to him, and

ordered me with the dragoons, and my own regiment, to take a circuit

round by a village to a certain lane, where in their retreat they must

have passed, and which opened to a small common on the flank; with

orders, if they engaged, to advance and charge them in the flank. I

marched immediately; but though the country about there was almost all

enclosures, yet their scouts were so vigilant, that they discovered

me, and gave notice to the body; upon which their whole party moved to

the left, as if they intended to charge me, before the king with

his body of horse could come. But the king was too vigilant to be

circumvented so; and therefore his Majesty perceiving this, sends away

three regiments of horse to second me, and a messenger before them, to

order me to halt, and expect the enemy, for that he would follow with

the whole body.

But before this order reached me, I had halted for some time; for

finding myself discovered, and not judging it safe to be entirely

cut off from the main body, I stopped at the village, and causing my

dragoons to alight, and line a thick hedge on my left, I drew up my

horse just at the entrance into the village opening to a common.

The enemy came up on the trot to charge me, but were saluted with a

terrible fire from the dragoons out of the hedge, which killed them

near 100 men. This being a perfect surprise to them, they halted,

and just at that moment they received orders from their main body

to retreat; the king at the same time appearing upon some heights in

their rear, which obliged them to think of retreating, or coming to a

general battle, which was none of their design.

I had no occasion to follow them, not being in a condition to attack

the whole body; but the dragoons coming out into the common, gave them

another volley at a distance, which reached them effectually, for it

killed about twenty of them, and wounded more; but they drew off, and

never fired a shot at us, fearing to be enclosed between two parties,

and so marched away to their general's quarters, leaving ten or twelve

more of their fellows killed, and about 180 horses. Our men, after the

country fashion, gave them a shout at parting, to let them see we knew

they were afraid of us.

However, this relieving of Gloucester raised the spirits as well as

the reputation of the Parliament forces, and was a great defeat to us;

and from this time things began to look with a melancholy aspect, for

the prosperous condition of the king's affairs began to decline. The

opportunities he had let slip were never to be recovered, and the

Parliament, in their former extremity, having voted an invitation

to the Scots to march to their assistance, we had now new enemies to

encounter; and, indeed, there began the ruin of his Majesty's affairs,

for the Earl of Newcastle, not able to defend himself against the

Scots on his rear, the Earl of Manchester in his front, and Sir Thomas

Fairfax on his flank, was everywhere routed and defeated, and his

forces obliged to quit the field to the enemy.

About this time it was that we first began to hear of one Oliver

Cromwell, who, like a little cloud, rose out of the east, and spread

first into the north, till it shed down a flood that overwhelmed the

three kingdoms.

He first was a private captain of horse, but now commanded a regiment

whom he armed _cap-à-pie à la cuirassier_; and, joining with the Earl

of Manchester, the first action we heard of him that made him anything

famous was about Grantham, where, with only his own regiment, he

defeated twenty-four troops of horse and dragoons of the king's

forces; then, at Gainsborough, with two regiments, his own of horse

and one of dragoons, where he defeated near 3000 of the Earl of

Newcastle's men, killed Lieutenant-General Cavendish, brother to the

Earl of Devonshire, who commanded them, and relieved Gainsborough; and

though the whole army came in to the rescue, he made good his retreat

to Lincoln with little loss; and the next week he defeated Sir John

Henderson at Winceby, near Horncastle, with sixteen regiments of horse

and dragoons, himself having not half that number; killed the Lord

Widdrington, Sir Ingram Hopton, and several gentlemen of quality. Thus

this firebrand of war began to blaze, and he soon grew a terror to

the north; for victory attended him like a page of honour, and he was

scarce ever known to be beaten during the whole war.

Now we began to reflect again on the misfortune of our master's

counsels. Had we marched to London, instead of besieging Gloucester,

we had finished the war with a stroke. The Parliament's army was in

a most despicable condition, and had never been recruited, had we not

given them a month's time, which we lingered away at this fatal town

of Gloucester. But 'twas too late to reflect; we were a disheartened

army, but we were not beaten yet, nor broken. We had a large country

to recruit in, and we lost no time but raised men apace. In the

meantime his Majesty, after a short stay at Bristol, makes back again

towards Oxford with a part of the foot and all the horse.

At Cirencester we had a brush again with Essex; that town owed us

a shrewd turn for having handled them coarsely enough before, when

Prince Rupert seized the county magazine. I happened to be in the town

that night with Sir Nicholas Crisp, whose regiment of horse quartered

there with Colonel Spencer and some foot; my own regiment was gone

before to Oxford. About ten at night, a party of Essex's men beat up

our quarters by surprise, just as we had served them before. They fell

in with us, just as people were going to bed, and having beaten the

out-guards, were gotten into the middle of the town before our men

could get on horseback. Sir Nicholas Crisp, hearing the alarm, gets

up, and with some of his clothes on, and some off, comes into my

chamber. "We are all undone," says he, "the Roundheads are upon us."

We had but little time to consult, but being in one of the principal

inns in the town, we presently ordered the gates of the inn to be

shut, and sent to all the inns where our men were quartered to do the

like, with orders, if they had any back-doors, or ways to get out, to

come to us. By this means, however, we got so much time as to get on

horseback, and so many of our men came to us by back ways, that we had

near 300 horse in the yards and places behind the house. And now we

began to think of breaking out by a lane which led from the back side

of the inn, but a new accident determined us another, though a worse

way.

The enemy being entered, and our men cooped up in the yards of the

inns, Colonel Spencer, the other colonel, whose regiment of horse lay

also in the town, had got on horseback before us, and engaged with

the enemy, but being overpowered, retreated fighting, and sends to Sir

Nicholas Crisp for help. Sir Nicholas, moved to see the distress of

his friend, turning to me, says he, "What can we do for him?" I told

him I thought 'twas time to help him, if possible; upon which, opening

the inn gates, we sallied out in very good order, about 300 horse.

And several of the troops from other parts of the town joining us, we

recovered Colonel Spencer, and charging home, beat back the enemy to

their main body. But finding their foot drawn up in the churchyard,

and several detachments moving to charge us, we retreated in as good

order as we could. They did not think fit to pursue us, but they took

all the carriages which were under the convoy of this party, and laden

with provisions and ammunition, and above 500 of our horse, the foot

shifted away as well as they could. Thus we made off in a shattered

condition towards Farringdon, and so to Oxford, and I was very glad my

regiment was not there.

We had small rest at Oxford, or indeed anywhere else; for the king was

marched from thence, and we followed him. I was something uneasy at my

absence from my regiment, and did not know how the king might resent

it, which caused me to ride after them with all expedition. But the

armies were engaged that very day at Newbury, and I came in too late.

I had not behaved myself so as to be suspected of a wilful shunning

the action; but a colonel of a regiment ought to avoid absence

from his regiment in time of fight, be the excuse never so just, as

carefully as he would a surprise in his quarters. The truth is, 'twas

an error of my own, and owing to two day's stay I made at the Bath,

where I met with some ladies who were my relations. And this is far

from being an excuse; for if the king had been a Gustavus Adolphus, I

had certainly received a check for it.

This fight was very obstinate, and could our horse have come to action

as freely as the foot, the Parliament army had suffered much more; for

we had here a much better body of horse than they, and we never failed

beating them where the weight of the work lay upon the horse.

Here the city train-bands, of which there was two regiments, and whom

we used to despise, fought very well. They lost one of their colonels,

and several officers in the action; and I heard our men say, they

behaved themselves as well as any forces the Parliament had.

The Parliament cried victory here too, as they always did; and indeed

where the foot were concerned they had some advantage; but our horse

defeated them evidently. The king drew up his army in battalia, in

person, and faced them all the next day, inviting them to renew the

fight; but they had no stomach to come on again.

It was a kind of a hedge fight, for neither army was drawn out in the

field; if it had, 'twould never have held from six in the morning to

ten at night. But they fought for advantages; sometimes one side had

the better, sometimes another. They fought twice through the town, in

at one end, and out at the other; and in the hedges and lanes, with

exceeding fury. The king lost the most men, his foot having suffered

for want of the succour of their horse, who on two several occasions

could not come at them. But the Parliament foot suffered also, and two

regiments were entirely cut in pieces, and the king kept the field.

Essex, the Parliament general, had the pillage of the dead, and left

us to bury them; for while we stood all day to our arms, having given

them a fair field to fight us in, their camp rabble stripped the dead

bodies, and they not daring to venture a second engagement with us,

marched away towards London.

The king lost in this action the Earls of Carnarvon and Sunderland,

the Lord Falkland, a French marquis and some very gallant officers,

and about 1200 men. The Earl of Carnarvon was brought into an inn in

Newbury, where the king came to see him. He had just life enough

to speak to his Majesty, and died in his presence. The king was

exceedingly concerned for him, and was observed to shed tears at the

sight of it. We were indeed all of us troubled for the loss of so

brave a gentleman, but the concern our royal master discovered, moved

us more than ordinary. Everybody endeavoured to have the king out

of the room, but he would not stir from the bedside, till he saw all

hopes of life was gone.

The indefatigable industry of the king, his servants and friends,

continually to supply and recruit his forces, and to harass and

fatigue the enemy, was such, that we should still have given a good

account of the war had the Scots stood neuter. But bad news came every

day out of the north; as for other places, parties were always in

action. Sir William Waller and Sir Ralph Hopton beat one another by

turns; and Sir Ralph had extended the king's quarters from Launceston

in Cornwall, to Farnham in Surrey, where he gave Sir William Waller a

rub, and drove him into the castle. But in the north, the storm grew

thick, the Scots advanced to the borders, and entered England in

confederacy with the Parliament, against their king; for which the

Parliament requited them afterwards as they deserved.

Had it not been for this Scotch army, the Parliament had easily

been reduced to terms of peace; but after this they never made any

proposals fit for the king to receive. Want of success before had made

them differ among themselves. Essex and Waller could never agree; the

Earl of Manchester and the Lord Willoughby differed to the highest

degree; and the king's affairs went never the worse for it. But

this storm in the north ruined us all; for the Scots prevailed in

Yorkshire, and being joined with Fairfax, Manchester, and Cromwell,

carried all before them; so that the king was obliged to send Prince

Rupert, with a body of 4000 horse, to the assistance of the Earl of

Newcastle, where that prince finished the destruction of the king's

interest, by the rashest and unaccountablest action in the world, of

which I shall speak in its place.

Another action of the king's, though in itself no greater a cause of

offence than the calling the Scots into the nation, gave great offence

in general, and even the king's own friends disliked it; and was

carefully improved by his enemies to the disadvantage of the king, and

of his cause.

The rebels in Ireland had, ever since the bloody massacre of the

Protestants, maintained a war against the English, and the Earl of

Ormond was general and governor for the king. The king, finding his

affairs pinch him at home, sends orders to the Earl of Ormond to

consent to a cessation of arms with the rebels, and to ship over

certain of his regiments hither to his Majesty's assistance. 'Tis

true, the Irish had deserved to be very ill treated by the English;

but while the Parliament pressed the king with a cruel and unnatural

war at home, and called in an army out of Scotland to support their

quarrel with their king, I could never be convinced, that it was such

a dishonourable action for the king to suspend the correction of

his Irish rebels till he was in a capacity to do it with safety to

himself; or to delay any farther assistance to preserve himself at

home; and the troops he recalled being his own, it was no breach of

his honour to make use of them, since he now wanted them for his own

security against those who fought against him at home.

But the king was persuaded to make one step farther, and that, I

confess, was unpleasing to us all; and some of his best and most

faithful servants took the freedom to speak plainly to him of it; and

that was bringing some regiments of the Irish themselves over. This

cast, as we thought, an odium upon our whole nation, being some of

those very wretches who had dipped their hands in the innocent blood

of the Protestants, and, with unheard-of butcheries, had massacred so

many thousands of English in cool blood.

Abundance of gentlemen forsook the king upon this score; and seeing

they could not brook the fighting in conjunction with this wicked

generation, came into the declaration of the Parliament, and making

composition for their estates, lived retired lives all the rest of

war, or went abroad.

But as exigences and necessities oblige us to do things which at other

times we would not do, and is, as to man, some excuse for such things;

so I cannot but think the guilt and dishonour of such an action must

lie, very much of it, at least, at their doors, who drove the king

to these necessities and distresses, by calling in an army of his

own subjects whom he had not injured, but had complied with them in

everything, to make war upon him without any provocation.

As to the quarrel between the king and his Parliament, there may

something be said on both sides; and the king saw cause himself to

disown and dislike some things he had done, which the Parliament

objected against, such as levying money without consent of Parliament,

infractions on their privileges, and the like. Here, I say, was some

room for an argument at least, and concessions on both sides were

needful to come to a peace. But for the Scots, all their demands had

been answered, all their grievances had been redressed, they had made

articles with their sovereign, and he had performed those articles;

their capital enemy Episcopacy was abolished; they had not one thing

to demand of the king which he had not granted. And therefore they had

no more cause to take up arms against their sovereign than they had

against the Grand Seignior. But it must for ever lie against them as

a brand of infamy, and as a reproach on their whole nation that,

purchased by the Parliament's money, they sold their honesty, and

rebelled against their king for hire; and it was not many years

before, as I have said already, they were fully paid the wages of

their unrighteousness, and chastised for their treachery by the very

same people whom they thus basely assisted. Then they would have

retrieved it, if it had not been too late.

But I could not but accuse this age of injustice and partiality, who

while they reproached the king for his cessation of arms with the

Irish rebels, and not prosecuting them with the utmost severity,

though he was constrained by the necessities of the war to do it,

could yet, at the same time, justify the Scots taking up arms in a

quarrel they had no concern in, and against their own king, with whom

they had articled and capitulated, and who had so punctually complied

with all their demands, that they had no claim upon him, no grievances

to be redressed, no oppression to cry out of, nor could ask anything

of him which he had not granted.

But as no action in the world is so vile, but the actors can cover

with some specious pretence, so the Scots now passing into England

publish a declaration to justify their assisting the Parliament. To

which I shall only say, in my opinion, it was no justification at all;

for admit the Parliament's quarrel had been never so just, it could

not be just in them to aid them, because 'twas against their own king

too, to whom they had sworn allegiance, or at least had crowned him,

and thereby had recognised his authority. For if maladministration be,

according to Prynne's doctrine, or according to their own Buchanan, a

sufficient reason for subjects to take up arms against their prince,

the breach of his coronation oath being supposed to dissolve the oath

of allegiance, which however I cannot believe; yet this can never be

extended to make it lawful, that because a king of England may,

by maladministration, discharge the subjects of England from their

allegiance, that therefore the subjects of Scotland may take up arms

against the King of Scotland, he having not infringed the compact

of government as to them, and they having nothing to complain of for

themselves. Thus I thought their own arguments were against them, and

Heaven seemed to concur with it; for although they did carry the cause

for the English rebels, yet the most of them left their bones here in

the quarrel.

But what signifies reason to the drum and the trumpet! The Parliament

had the supreme argument with those men, viz., the money; and having

accordingly advanced a good round sum, upon payment of this (for the

Scots would not stir a foot without it) they entered England on

the 15th of January 1643[-4], with an army of 12,000 men, under the

command of old Leslie, now Earl of Leven, an old soldier of great

experience, having been bred to arms from a youth in the service of

the Prince of Orange.

The Scots were no sooner entered England but they were joined by all

the friends to the Parliament party in the north; and first, Colonel

Grey, brother to the Lord Grey, joined them with a regiment of horse,

and several out of Westmoreland and Cumberland, and so they advanced

to Newcastle, which they summon to surrender. The Earl of Newcastle,

who rather saw than was able to prevent this storm, was in Newcastle,

and did his best to defend it; but the Scots, increased by this time

to above 20,000, lay close siege to the place, which was but meanly

fortified, and having repulsed the garrison upon several sallies,

and pressing the place very close, after a siege of twelve days, or

thereabouts, they enter the town sword in hand. The Earl of Newcastle

got away, and afterwards gathered what forces together he could, but

[was] not strong enough to hinder the Scots from advancing to Durham,

which he quitted to them, nor to hinder the conjunction of the Scots

with the forces of Fairfax, Manchester, and Cromwell. Whereupon the

earl, seeing all things thus going to wreck, he sends his horse

away, and retreats with his foot into York, making all necessary

preparations for a vigorous defence there, in case he should be

attacked, which he was pretty sure of, as indeed afterwards happened.

York was in a very good posture of defence, the fortifications very

regular, and exceeding strong; well furnished with provisions, and

had now a garrison of 12,000 men in it. The governor under the Earl

of Newcastle was Sir Thomas Glemham, a good soldier, and a gentleman

brave enough.

The Scots, as I have said, having taken Durham, Tynemouth Castle,

and Sunderland, and being joined by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had taken

Selby, resolve, with their united strength, to besiege York; but

when they came to view the city, and saw a plan of the works, and had

intelligence of the strength of the garrison, they sent expresses to

Manchester and Cromwell for help, who came on, and joined them with

9000, making together about 30,000 men, rather more than less.

Now had the Earl of Newcastle's repeated messengers convinced the

king that it was absolutely necessary to send some forces to his

assistance, or else all would be lost in the north. Whereupon Prince

Rupert was detached, with orders first to go into Lancashire and

relieve Lathom House, defended by the brave Countess of Derby, and

then, taking all the forces he could collect in Cheshire, Lancashire,

and Yorkshire, to march to relieve York.

The prince marched from Oxford with but three regiments of horse and

one of dragoons, making in all about 2800 men. The colonels of horse

were Colonel Charles Goring, the Lord Byron, and myself; the dragoons

were of Colonel Smith. In our march we were joined by a regiment of

horse from Banbury, one of dragoons from Bristol, and three regiments

of horse from Chester, so that when we came into Lancashire we were

about 5000 horse and dragoons. These horse we received from Chester

were those who, having been at the siege of Nantwich, were obliged to

raise the siege by Sir Thomas Fairfax; and the foot having yielded,

the horse made good their retreat to Chester, being about 2000, of

whom three regiments now joined us. We received also 2000 foot from

West Chester, and 2000 more out of Wales, and with this strength we

entered Lancashire. We had not much time to spend, and a great deal of

work to do.

Bolton and Liverpool felt the first fury of our prince; at Bolton,

indeed, he had some provocation, for here we were like to be beaten

off. When first the prince came to the town, he sent a summons to

demand the town for the king, but received no answer but from their

guns, commanding the messenger to keep off at his peril. They had

raised some works about the town, and having by their intelligence

learnt that we had no artillery, and were only a flying party (so they

called us), they contemned the summons, and showed themselves upon

their ramparts, ready for us. The prince was resolved to humble them,

if possible, and takes up his quarters close to the town. In the

evening he orders me to advance with one regiment of dragoons and my

horse, to bring them off, if occasion was, and to post myself as near

as possible I could to the lines, yet so as not to be discovered;

and at the same time, having concluded what part of the works to fall

upon, he draws up his men on two other sides, as if he would storm

them there; and, on a signal, I was to begin the real assault on my

side with my dragoons.

I had got so near the town with my dragoons, making them creep upon

their bellies a great way, that we could hear the soldiers talk on the

walls, when the prince, believing one regiment would be too few, sends

me word that he had ordered a regiment of foot to help, and that I

should not discover myself till they were come up to me. This broke

our measures, for the march of this regiment was discovered by the

enemy, and they took the alarm. Upon this I sent to the prince, to

desire he would put off the storm for that night, and I would answer

for it the next day; but the prince was impatient, and sent orders we

should fall on as soon as the foot came up to us. The foot marched out

of the way, missed us, and fell in with a road that leads to another

part of the town; and being not able to find us, make an attack

upon the town themselves; but the defendants, being ready for them,

received them very warmly, and beat them off with great loss.

I was at a loss now what to do; for hearing the guns, and by the noise

knowing it was an assault upon the town, I was very uneasy to have my

share in it; but as I had learnt under the King of Sweden punctually

to adhere to the execution of orders, and my orders being to lie still

till the foot came up with me, I would not stir if I had been sure to

have done never so much service; but, however, to satisfy myself, I

sent to the prince to let him know that I continued in the same place

expecting the foot, and none being yet come, I desired farther orders.

The prince was a little amazed at this, and finding there must be some

mistake, came galloping away in the dark to the place and drew off the

men, which was no hard matter, for they were willing enough to give it

over.

As for me, the prince ordered me to come off so privately as not to

be discovered, if possible, which I effectually did; and so we were

balked for that night. The next day the prince fell on upon another

quarter with three regiments of foot, but was beaten off with loss,

and the like a third time. At last the prince resolved to carry it,

doubled his numbers, and, renewing the attack with fresh men, the foot

entered the town over their works, killing in the first heat of the

action all that came in their way; some of the foot at the same time

letting in the horse, and so the town was entirely won. There was

about 600 of the enemy killed, and we lost above 400 in all, which was

owing to the foolish mistakes we made. Our men got some plunder here,

which the Parliament made a great noise about; but it was their due,

and they bought it dear enough.

Liverpool did not cost us so much, nor did we get so much by it, the

people having sent their women and children and best goods on board

the ships in the road; and as we had no boats to board them with, we

could not get at them. Here, as at Bolton, the town and fort was taken

by storm, and the garrison were many of them cut in pieces, which, by

the way, was their own faults.

Our next step was Lathom House, which the Countess of Derby had

gallantly defended above eighteen weeks against the Parliament forces;

and this lady not only encouraged her men by her cheerful and noble

maintenance of them, but by examples of her own undaunted spirit,

exposing herself upon the walls in the midst of the enemy's shot,

would be with her men in the greatest dangers; and she well deserved

our care of her person, for the enemy were prepared to use her very

rudely if she fell into their hands.

Upon our approach the enemy drew off, and the prince not only

effectually relieved this vigorous lady, but left her a good quantity

of all sorts of ammunition, three great guns, 500 arms, and 200 men,

commanded by a major, as her extraordinary guard.

Here the way being now opened, and our success answering our

expectation, several bodies of foot came in to us from Westmoreland

and from Cumberland; and here it was that the prince found means to

surprise the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which was recovered for

the king by the management of the mayor of the town, and some loyal

gentlemen of the county, and a garrison placed there again for the

king.

But our main design being the relief of York, the prince advanced that

way apace, his army still increasing; and being joined by the Lord

Goring from Richmondshire with 4000 horse, which were the same the

Earl of Newcastle had sent away when he threw himself into York with

the infantry, we were now 18,000 effective men, whereof 10,000 horse

and dragoons; so the prince, full of hopes, and his men in good heart,

boldly marched directly for York.

The Scots, as much surprised at the taking of Newcastle as at the

coming of their enemy, began to inquire which way they should get

home, if they should be beaten; and calling a council of war, they all

agreed to raise the siege. The prince, who drew with him a great train

of carriages charged with provision and ammunition for the relief of

the city, like a wary general, kept at a distance from the enemy, and

fetching a great compass about, brings all safe into the city, and

enters into York himself with all his army.

No action of this whole war had gained the prince so much honour, or

the king's affairs so much advantage, as this, had the prince but had

the power to have restrained his courage after this, and checked his

fatal eagerness for fighting. Here was a siege raised, the reputation

of the enemy justly stirred, a city relieved, and furnished with all

things necessary in the face of an army superior in a number by near

10,000 men, and commanded by a triumvirate of Generals Leven, Fairfax,

and Manchester. Had the prince but remembered the proceeding of the

great Duke of Parma at the relief of Paris, he would have seen the

relieving the city was his business; 'twas the enemy's business to

fight if possible, 'twas his to avoid it; for, having delivered the

city, and put the disgrace of raising the siege upon the enemy, he had

nothing further to do but to have waited till he had seen what course

the enemy would take, and taken his further measures from their

motion.

But the prince, a continual friend to precipitant counsels, would hear

no advice. I entreated him not to put it to the hazard; I told him

that he ought to consider if he lost the day he lost the kingdom, and

took the crown off from the king's head. I put him in mind that it

was impossible those three generals should continue long together; and

that if they did, they would not agree long in their counsels, which

would be as well for us as their separating. 'Twas plain Manchester

and Cromwell must return to the associated counties, who would not

suffer them to stay, for fear the king should attempt them. That he

could subsist well enough, having York city and river at his back;

but the Scots would eat up the country, make themselves odious, and

dwindle away to nothing, if he would but hold them at bay a little.

Other general officers were of the same mind; but all I could say, or

they either, to a man deaf to anything but his own courage, signified

nothing. He would draw out and fight; there was no persuading him to

the contrary, unless a man would run the risk of being upbraided with

being a coward, and afraid of the work. The enemy's army lay on a

large common, called Marston Moor, doubtful what to do. Some were for

fighting the prince, the Scots were against it, being uneasy at having

the garrison of Newcastle at their backs; but the prince brought their

councils of war to a result, for he let them know they must fight him,

whether they would or no; for the prince being, as before, 18,000 men,

and the Earl of Newcastle having joined him with 8000 foot out of the

city, were marched in quest of the enemy, had entered the moor in view

of their army, and began to draw up in order of battle; but the night

coming on, the armies only viewed each other at a distance for that

time. We lay all night upon our arms, and with the first of the day

were in order of battle; the enemy was getting ready, but part of

Manchester's men were not in the field, but lay about three miles off,

and made a hasty march to come up.

The prince's army was exceedingly well managed; he himself commanded

the left wing, the Earl of Newcastle the right wing; and the Lord

Goring, as general of the foot, assisted by Major-General Porter

and Sir Charles Lucas, led the main battle. I had prevailed with the

prince, according to the method of the King of Sweden, to place some

small bodies of musketeers in the intervals of his horse, in the left

wing, but could not prevail upon the Earl of Newcastle to do it in the

right, which he afterwards repented. In this posture we stood facing

the enemy, expecting they would advance to us, which at last they

did; and the prince began the day by saluting them with his artillery,

which, being placed very well, galled them terribly for a quarter

of an hour. They could not shift their front, so they advanced the

hastier to get within our great guns, and consequently out of their

danger, which brought the fight the sooner on.

The enemy's army was thus ordered; Sir Thomas Fairfax had the right

wing, in which was the Scots horse, and the horse of his own and his

father's army; Cromwell led the left wing, with his own and the Earl

of Manchester's horse, and the three generals, Leslie, old Fairfax,

and Manchester, led the main battle.

The prince, with our left wing, fell on first, and, with his usual

fury, broke like a clap of thunder into the right wing of the Scots

horse, led by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and, as nothing could stand in his

way, he broke through and through them, and entirely routed them,

pursuing them quite out of the field. Sir Thomas Fairfax, with a

regiment of lances, and about 500 of his own horse, made good the

ground for some time; but our musketeers, which, as I said, were such

an unlooked-for sort of an article in a fight among the horse, that

those lances, which otherwise were brave fellows, were mowed down with

their shot, and all was put into confusion. Sir Thomas Fairfax was

wounded in the face, his brother killed, and a great slaughter was

made of the Scots, to whom I confess we showed no favour at all.

While this was doing on our left, the Lord Goring with the main battle

charged the enemy's foot; and particularly one brigade commanded by

Major-General Porter, being mostly pikemen, not regarding the fire of

the enemy, charged with that fury in a close body of pikes, that they

overturned all that came in their way, and breaking into the middle of

the enemy's foot, filled all with terror and confusion, insomuch that

the three generals, thinking all had been lost, fled, and quitted the

field.

But matters went not so well with that always unfortunate gentleman

the Earl of Newcastle and our right wing of horse; for Cromwell

charged the Earl of Newcastle with a powerful body of horse. And

though the earl, and those about him, did what men could do, and

behaved themselves with all possible gallantry, yet there was no

withstanding Cromwell's horse, but, like Prince Rupert, they bore down

all before them. And now the victory was wrung out of our hands by our

own gross miscarriage; for the prince, as 'twas his custom, too eager

in the chase of the enemy, was gone and could not be heard of. The

foot in the centre, the right wing of the horse being routed by

Cromwell, was left, and without the guard of his horse; Cromwell

having routed the Earl of Newcastle, and beaten him quite out of the

field, and Sir Thomas Fairfax rallying his dispersed troops, they fall

all together upon the foot. General Lord Goring, like himself, fought

like a lion, but, forsaken of his horse, was hemmed in on all sides,

and overthrown; and an hour after this, the prince returning, too late

to recover his friends, was obliged with the rest to quit the field to

conquerors.

This was a fatal day to the king's affairs, and the risk too much

for any man in his wits to run; we lost 4000 men on the spot, 3000

prisoners, among whom was Sir Charles Lucas, Major-General Porter,

Major-General Tilyard, and about 170 gentlemen of quality. We lost all

our baggage, twenty-five pieces of cannon, 3000 carriages, 150 barrels

of powder, 10,000 arms. The prince got into York with the Earl of

Newcastle, and a great many gentlemen; and 7000 or 8000 of the men, as

well horse as foot.

I had but very coarse treatment in this fight; for returning with the

prince from the pursuit of the right wing, and finding all lost, I

halted with some other officers, to consider what to do. At first we

were for making our retreat in a body, and might have done so well

enough, if we had known what had happened, before we saw ourselves in

the middle of the enemy; for Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had got together

his scattered troops, and joined by some of the left wing, knowing

who we were, charged us with great fury. 'Twas not a time to think of

anything but getting away, or dying upon the spot; the prince kept

on in the front, and Sir Thomas Fairfax by this charge cut off about

three regiments of us from our body; but bending his main strength

at the prince, left us, as it were, behind him, in the middle of the

field of battle. We took this for the only opportunity we could have

to get off, and joining together, we made across the place of battle

in as good order as we could, with our carabines presented. In this

posture we passed by several bodies of the enemy's foot, who stood

with their pikes charged to keep us off; but they had no occasion, for

we had no design to meddle with them, but to get from them.

Thus we made a swift march, and thought ourselves pretty secure; but

our work was not done yet, for on a sudden we saw ourselves under a

necessity of fighting our way through a great body of Manchester's

horse, who came galloping upon us over the moor. They had, as we

suppose, been pursuing some of our broken troops which were fled

before, and seeing us, they gave us a home charge. We received them as

well as we could, but pushed to get through them, which at last we did

with a considerable loss to them. However, we lost so many men, either

killed or separated from us (for all could not follow the same way),

that of our three regiments we could not be above 400 horse together

when we got quite clear, and these were mixed men, some of one troop

and regiment, some of another. Not that I believe many of us were

killed in the last attack, for we had plainly the better of the enemy,

but our design being to get off, some shifted for themselves one way

and some another, in the best manner they could, and as their several

fortunes guided them. Four hundred more of this body, as I afterwards

understood, having broke through the enemy's body another way, kept

together, and got into Pontefract Castle, and 300 more made northward

and to Skipton, where the prince afterwards fetched them off.

These few of us that were left together, with whom I was, being now

pretty clear of pursuit, halted, and began to inquire who and who

we were, and what we should do; and on a short debate, I proposed we

should make to the first garrison of the king's that we could recover,

and that we should keep together, lest the country people should

insult us upon the roads. With this resolution we pushed on westward

for Lancashire, but our misfortunes were not yet at an end. We

travelled very hard, and got to a village upon the river Wharfe, near

Wetherby. At Wetherby there was a bridge, but we understood that a

party from Leeds had secured the town and the post, in order to stop

the flying Cavaliers, and that 'twould be very hard to get through

there, though, as we understood afterwards, there were no soldiers

there but a guard of the townsmen. In this pickle we consulted what

course to take. To stay where we were till morning, we all concluded,

would not be safe. Some advised to take the stream with our horses,

but the river, which is deep, and the current strong, seemed to bid

us have a care what we did of that kind, especially in the night. We

resolved therefore to refresh ourselves and our horses, which indeed

is more than we did, and go on till we might come to a ford or bridge,

where we might get over. Some guides we had, but they either were

foolish or false, for after we had rode eight or nine miles, they

plunged us into a river at a place they called a ford, but 'twas a

very ill one, for most of our horses swam, and seven or eight were

lost, but we saved the men. However, we got all over.

We made bold with our first convenience to trespass upon the country

for a few horses, where we could find them, to remount our men whose

horses were drowned, and continued our march. But being obliged to

refresh ourselves at a small village on the edge of Bramham Moor, we

found the country alarmed by our taking some horses, and we were no

sooner got on horseback in the morning, and entering on the moor, but

we understood we were pursued by some troops of horse. There was

no remedy but we must pass this moor; and though our horses were

exceedingly tired, yet we pressed on upon a round trot, and recovered

an enclosed country on the other side, where we halted. And here,

necessity putting us upon it, we were obliged to look out for more

horses, for several of our men were dismounted, and others' horses

disabled by carrying double, those who lost their horses getting up

behind them. But we were supplied by our enemies against their will.

The enemy followed us over the moor, and we having a woody enclosed

country about us, where we were, I observed by their moving, they had

lost sight of us; upon which I proposed concealing ourselves till we

might judge of their numbers. We did so, and lying close in a wood,

they passed hastily by us, without skirting or searching the wood,

which was what on another occasion they would not have done. I found

they were not above 150 horse, and considering, that to let them

go before us, would be to alarm the country, and stop our design, I

thought, since we might be able to deal with them, we should not meet

with a better place for it, and told the rest of our officers my mind,

which all our party presently (for we had not time for a long debate)

agreed to.

Immediately upon this I caused two men to fire their pistols in the

wood, at two different places, as far asunder as I could. This I did

to give them an alarm, and amuse them; for being in the lane, they

would otherwise have got through before we had been ready, and I

resolved to engage them there, as soon as 'twas possible. After this

alarm, we rushed out of the wood, with about a hundred horse, and

charged them on the flank in a broad lane, the wood being on their

right. Our passage into the lane being narrow, gave us some difficulty

in our getting out; but the surprise of the charge did our work; for

the enemy, thinking we had been a mile or two before, had not the

least thoughts of this onset, till they heard us in the wood, and then

they who were before could not come back. We broke into the lane just

in the middle of them, and by that means divided them; and facing to

the left, charged the rear. First our dismounted men, which were near

fifty, lined the edge of the wood, and fired with their carabines upon

those which were before, so warmly, that they put them into a great

disorder. Meanwhile fifty more of our horse from the farther part of

the wood showed themselves in the lane upon their front. This put them

of the foremost party into a great perplexity, and they began to face

about, to fall upon us who were engaged in the rear. But their

facing about in a lane where there was no room to wheel, as one who

understands the manner of wheeling a troop of horse must imagine, put

them into a great disorder. Our party in the head of the lane taking

the advantage of this mistake of the enemy, charged in upon them, and

routed them entirely.

Some found means to break into the enclosures on the other side of the

lane, and get away. About thirty were killed, and about twenty-five

made prisoners, and forty very good horses were taken; all this while

not a man of ours was lost, and not above seven or eight wounded.

Those in the rear behaved themselves better, for they stood our charge

with a great deal of resolution, and all we could do could not break

them; but at last our men who had fired on foot through the hedges at

the other party, coming to do the like here, there was no standing

it any longer. The rear of them faced about and retreated out of

the lane, and drew up in the open field to receive and rally their

fellows. We killed about seventeen of them, and followed them to the

end of the lane, but had no mind to have any more fighting than needs

must, our condition at that time not making it proper, the towns round

us being all in the enemy's hands, and the country but indifferently

pleased with us; however, we stood facing them till they thought fit

to march away. Thus we were supplied with horses enough to remount our

men, and pursued our first design of getting into Lancashire. As for

our prisoners, we let them off on foot.

But the country being by this time alarmed, and the rout of our army

everywhere known, we foresaw abundance of difficulties before us; we

were not strong enough to venture into any great towns, and we were

too many to be concealed in small ones. Upon this we resolved to halt

in a great wood about three miles beyond the place where we had the

last skirmish, and sent our scouts to discover the country, and learn

what they could, either of the enemy or of our friends.

Anybody may suppose we had but indifferent quarters here, either for

ourselves or for our horses; but, however, we made shift to lie here

two days and one night. In the interim I took upon me, with two more,

to go to Leeds to learn some news; we were disguised like country

ploughmen; the clothes we got at a farmer's house, which for that

particular occasion we plundered; and I cannot say no blood was shed

in a manner too rash, and which I could not have done at another time;

but our case was desperate, and the people too surly, and shot at us

out of the window, wounded one man and shot a horse, which we counted

as great a loss to us as a man, for our safety depended upon our

horses. Here we got clothes of all sorts, enough for both sexes, and

thus dressing myself up _au paysan,_ with a white cap on my head, and

a fork on my shoulder, and one of my comrades in the farmer's wife's

russet gown and petticoat, like a woman, the other with an old crutch

like a lame man, and all mounted on such horses as we had taken the

day before from the country, away we go to Leeds by three several

ways, and agreed to meet upon the bridge. My pretended country woman

acted her part to the life, though the party was a gentleman of good

quality, of the Earl of Worcester's family; and the cripple did as

well as he; but I thought myself very awkward in my dress, which made

me very shy, especially among the soldiers. We passed their sentinels

and guards at Leeds unobserved, and put up our horses at several

houses in the town, from whence we went up and down to make our

remarks. My cripple was the fittest to go among the soldiers, because

there was less danger of being pressed. There he informed himself of

the matters of war, particularly that the enemy sat down again to the

siege of York; that flying parties were in pursuit of the Cavaliers;

and there he heard that 500 horse of the Lord Manchester's men had

followed a party of Cavaliers over Bramham Moor, and that entering a

lane, the Cavaliers, who were 1000 strong, fell upon them, and killed

them all but about fifty. This, though it was a lie, was very pleasant

to us to hear, knowing it was our party, because of the other part of

the story, which was thus: That the Cavaliers had taken possession of

such a wood, where they rallied all the troops of their flying army;

that they had plundered the country as they came, taking all the

horses they could get; that they had plundered Goodman Thomson's

house, which was the farmer I mentioned, and killed man, woman, and

child; and that they were about 2000 strong.

My other friend in woman's clothes got among the good wives at an

inn, where she set up her horse, and there she heard the same sad

and dreadful tidings; and that this party was so strong, none of

the neighbouring garrisons durst stir out; but that they had sent

expresses to York, for a party of horse to come to their assistance.

I walked up and down the town, but fancied myself so ill disguised,

and so easy to be known, that I cared not to talk with anybody. We

met at the bridge exactly at our time, and compared our intelligence,

found it answered our end of coming, and that we had nothing to do but

to get back to our men; but my cripple told me, he would not stir till

he bought some victuals: so away he hops with his crutch, and buys

four or five great pieces of bacon, as many of hung beef, and two

or three loaves; and borrowing a sack at the inn (which I suppose

he never restored), he loads his horse, and getting a large leather

bottle, he filled that of aqua-vitae instead of small beer; my woman

comrade did the like. I was uneasy in my mind, and took no care but to

get out of the town; however, we all came off well enough; but

'twas well for me that I had no provisions with me, as you will hear

presently.

We came, as I said, into the town by several ways, and so we went out;

but about three miles from the town we met again exactly where we had

agreed. I being about a quarter of a mile from the rest, I meets three

country fellows on horseback; one had a long pole on his shoulder,

another a fork, the third no weapon at all, that I saw. I gave them

the road very orderly, being habited like one of their brethren; but

one of them stopping short at me, and looking earnestly calls out,

"Hark thee, friend," says he, in a broad north-country tone, "whar

hast thou thilk horse?" I must confess I was in the utmost confusion

at the question, neither being able to answer the question, nor to

speak in his tone; so I made as if I did not hear him, and went on.

"Na, but ye's not gang soa," says the boor, and comes up to me, and

takes hold of the horse's bridle to stop me; at which, vexed at heart

that I could not tell how to talk to him, I reached him a great knock

on the pate with my fork, and fetched him off of his horse, and then

began to mend my pace. The other clowns, though it seems they knew not

what the fellow wanted, pursued me, and finding they had better heels

than I, I saw there was no remedy but to make use of my hands, and

faced about.

The first that came up with me was he that had no weapons, so I

thought I might parley with him, and speaking as country-like as I

could, I asked him what he wanted? "Thou'st knaw that soon," says

Yorkshire, "and ise but come at thee." "Then keep awa', man," said

I, "or ise brain thee." By this time the third man came up, and the

parley ended; for he gave me no words, but laid at me with his long

pole, and that with such fury, that I began to be doubtful of him.

I was loth to shoot the fellow, though I had pistols under my grey

frock, as well for that the noise of a pistol might bring more people

in, the village being on our rear, and also because I could not

imagine what the fellow meant, or would have. But at last, finding

he would be too many for me with that long weapon, and a hardy strong

fellow, I threw myself off my horse, and running in with him, stabbed

my fork into his horse. The horse being wounded, staggered awhile, and

then fell down, and the booby had not the sense to get down in time,

but fell with him. Upon which, giving him a knock or two with my fork,

I secured him. The other, by this time, had furnished himself with a

great stick out of a hedge, and before I was disengaged from the last

fellow, gave me two such blows, that if the last had not missed my

head and hit me on the shoulder, I had ended the fight and my life

together. 'Twas time to look about me now, for this was a madman. I

defended myself with my fork, but 'twould not do. At last, in short, I

was forced to pistol him and get on horseback again, and with all the

speed I could make, get away to the wood to our men.

If my two fellow-spies had not been behind, I had never known what was

the meaning of this quarrel of the three countrymen, but my cripple

had all the particulars. For he being behind us, as I have already

observed, when he came up to the first fellow who began the fray, he

found him beginning to come to himself. So he gets off, and pretends

to help him, and sets him up upon his breech, and being a very merry

fellow, talked to him: "Well, and what's the matter now?" says he to

him. "Ah, wae's me," says the fellow, "I is killed." "Not quite, mon,"

says the cripple. "Oh, that's a fau thief," says he, and thus they

parleyed. My cripple got him on's feet, and gave him a dram of his

aqua-vitae bottle, and made much of him, in order to know what was the

occasion of the quarrel. Our disguised woman pitied the fellow too,

and together they set him up again upon his horse, and then he told

him that that fellow was got upon one of his brother's horses who

lived at Wetherby. They said the Cavaliers stole him, but 'twas like

such rogues. No mischief could be done in the country, but 'twas the

poor Cavaliers must bear the blame, and the like, and thus they jogged

on till they came to the place where the other two lay. The first

fellow they assisted as they had done t'other, and gave him a dram

out of the leather bottle, but the last fellow was past their care,

so they came away. For when they understood that 'twas my horse they

claimed, they began to be afraid that their own horses might be known

too, and then they had been betrayed in a worse pickle than I, and

must have been forced to have done some mischief or other to have got

away.

I had sent out two troopers to fetch them off, if there was any

occasion; but their stay was not long and the two troopers saw them at

a distance coming towards us, so they returned.

I had enough of going for a spy, and my companions had enough of

staying in the wood for other intelligences agreed with ours, and all

concurred in this, that it was time to be going; however, this use we

made of it, that while the country thought us so strong we were in the

less danger of being attacked, though in the more of being observed;

but all this while we heard nothing of our friends till the next day.

We heard Prince Rupert, with about 1000 horse, was at Skipton, and

from thence marched away to Westmoreland.

We concluded now we had two or three days' time good; for, since

messengers were sent to York for a party to suppress us, we must have

at least two days' march of them, and therefore all concluded we

were to make the best of our way. Early in the morning, therefore, we

decamped from those dull quarters; and as we marched through a village

we found the people very civil to us, and the women cried out, "God

bless them, 'tis pity the Roundheads should make such work with

such brave men," and the like. Finding we were among our friends,

we resolved to halt a little and refresh ourselves; and, indeed, the

people were very kind to us, gave us victuals and drink, and took care

of our horses. It happened to be my lot to stop at a house where

the good woman took a great deal of pains to provide for us; but I

observed the good man walked about with a cap upon his head, and very

much out of order. I took no great notice of it, being very sleepy,

and having asked my landlady to let me have a bed, I lay down and

slept heartily. When I waked I found my landlord on another bed

groaning very heavily.

When I came downstairs, I found my cripple talking with my landlady;

he was now out of his disguise, but we called him cripple still; and

the other, who put on the woman's clothes, we called Goody Thompson.

As soon as he saw me, he called me out, "Do you know," says he, "the

man of the house you are quartered in?" "No, not I," says I. "No; so I

believe, nor they you," says he; "if they did, the good wife would not

have made you a posset, and fetched a white loaf for you." "What do

you mean?" says I. "Have you seen the man?" says he. "Seen him," says

I; "yes, and heard him too; the man's sick, and groans so heavily,"

says I, "that I could not lie upon the bed any longer for him." "Why,

this is the poor man," says he, "that you knocked down with your fork

yesterday, and I have had all the story out yonder at the next door."

I confess it grieved me to have been forced to treat one so roughly

who was one of our friends, but to make some amends, we contrived

to give the poor man his brother's horse; and my cripple told him

a formal story, that he believed the horse was taken away from the

fellow by some of our men, and if he knew him again, if 'twas his

friend's horse, he should have him. The man came down upon the news,

and I caused six or seven horses, which were taken at the same time,

to be shown him; he immediately chose the right; so I gave him the

horse, and we pretended a great deal of sorrow for the man's hurt, and

that we had not knocked the fellow on the head as well as took away

the horse. The man was so overjoyed at the revenge he thought was

taken on the fellow, that we heard him groan no more.

We ventured to stay all day at this town and the next night, and got

guides to lead us to Blackstone Edge, a ridge of mountains which

part this side of Yorkshire from Lancashire. Early in the morning we

marched, and kept our scouts very carefully out every way, who brought

us no news for this day. We kept on all night, and made our horses do

penance for that little rest they had, and the next morning we passed

the hills and got into Lancashire, to a town called Littlebrough,

and from thence to Rochdale, a little market town. And now we thought

ourselves safe as to the pursuit of enemies from the side of York. Our

design was to get to Bolton, but all the county was full of the enemy

in flying parties, and how to get to Bolton we knew not. At last we

resolved to send a messenger to Bolton; but he came back and told

us he had with lurking and hiding tried all the ways that he thought

possible, but to no purpose, for he could not get into the town. We

sent another, and he never returned, and some time after we understood

he was taken by the enemy. At last one got into the town, but brought

us word they were tired out with constant alarms, had been strictly

blocked up, and every day expected a siege, and therefore advised us

either to go northward where Prince Rupert and the Lord Goring ranged

at liberty, or to get over Warrington Bridge, and so secure our

retreat to Chester.

This double direction divided our opinions. I was for getting into

Chester, both to recruit myself with horses and with money, both which

I wanted, and to get refreshment, which we all wanted; but the major

part of our men were for the north. First they said there was their

general, and 'twas their duty to the cause, and the king's interest

obliged us to go where we could do best service; and there was their

friends, and every man might hear some news of his own regiment, for

we belonged to several regiments. Besides, all the towns to the

left of us were possessed by Sir William Brereton, Warrington, and

Northwich, garrisoned by the enemy, and a strong party at Manchester,

so that 'twas very likely we should be beaten and dispersed before

we could get to Chester. These reasons, and especially the last,

determined us for the north, and we had resolved to march the

next morning, when other intelligence brought us to more speedy

resolutions. We kept our scouts continually abroad to bring us

intelligence of the enemy, whom we expected on our backs, and also to

keep an eye upon the country; for, as we lived upon them something

at large, they were ready enough to do us any ill turn, as it lay in

their power.

The first messenger that came to us was from our friends at Bolton, to

inform us that they were preparing at Manchester to attack us. One of

our parties had been as far as Stockport, on the edge of Cheshire, and

was pursued by a party of the enemy, but got off by the help of the

night. Thus, all things looked black to the south, we had resolved to

march northward in the morning, when one of our scouts from the side

of Manchester, assured us Sir Thomas Middleton, with some of the

Parliament forces and the country troops, making above 1200 men, were

on the march to attack us, and would certainly beat up our quarters

that night. Upon this advice we resolved to be gone; and, getting all

things in readiness, we began to march about two hours before night.

And having gotten a trusty fellow for a guide, a fellow that we found

was a friend to our side, he put a project into my head which saved

us all for that time; and that was, to give out in the village that

we were marched to Yorkshire, resolving to get into Pontefract Castle;

and accordingly he leads us out of the town the same way we came in,

and, taking a boy with him, he sends the boy back just at night, and

bade him say he saw us go up the hills at Blackstone Edge; and it

happened very well, for this party were so sure of us, that they had

placed 400 men on the road to the northward to intercept our retreat

that way, and had left no way for us, as they thought, to get away but

back again.

About ten o'clock at night, they assaulted our quarters, but found we

were gone; and being informed which way, they followed upon the spur,

and travelling all night, being moonlight, they found themselves the

next day about fifteen miles east, just out of their way. For we had,

by the help of our guide, turned short at the foot of the hills, and

through blind, untrodden paths, and with difficulty enough, by noon

the next day had reached almost twenty-five miles north, near a town

called Clitheroe. Here we halted in the open field, and sent out

our people to see how things were in the country. This part of

the country, almost unpassable, and walled round with hills, was

indifferent quiet, and we got some refreshment for ourselves, but very

little horse-meat, and so went on. But we had not marched far before

we found ourselves discovered, and the 400 horse sent to lie in wait

for us as before, having understood which way we went, followed us

hard; and by letters to some of their friends at Preston, we found we

were beset again.

Our guide began now to be out of his knowledge, and our scouts brought

us word, the enemy's horse was posted before us, and we knew they were

in our rear. In this exigence, we resolved to divide our small

body, and so amusing them, at least one might get off, if the other

miscarried. I took about eighty horse with me, among which were all

that I had of our own regiment, amounting to above thirty-two, and

took the hills towards Yorkshire. Here we met with such unpassable

hills, vast moors, rocks, and stonyways, as lamed all our horses and

tired our men; and some times I was ready to think we should never be

able to get over them, till our horses failing, and jackboots being

but indifferent things to travel in, we might be starved before we

should find any road, or towns; for guide we had none, but a boy who

knew but little, and would cry when we asked him any questions. I

believe neither men nor horses ever passed in some places where we

went, and for twenty hours we saw not a town nor a house, excepting

sometimes from the top of the mountains, at a vast distance. I am

persuaded we might have encamped here, if we had had provisions, till

the war had been over, and have met with no disturbance; and I have

often wondered since, how we got into such horrible places, as much

as how we got out. That which was worse to us than all the rest, was,

that we knew not where we were going, nor what part of the country we

should come into, when we came out of those desolate crags. At

last, after a terrible fatigue, we began to see the western parts of

Yorkshire, some few villages, and the country at a distance looked a

little like England, for I thought before it looked like old Brennus

Hill, which the Grisons call "the grandfather of the Alps." We got

some relief in the villages, which indeed some of us had so much need

of, that they were hardly able to sit their horses, and others were

forced to help them off, they were so faint. I never felt so much of

the power of hunger in my life, for having not eaten in thirty hours,

I was as ravenous as a hound; and if I had had a piece of horse-flesh,

I believe I should not have had patience to have staid dressing

it, but have fallen upon it raw, and have eaten it as greedily as a

Tartar. However I ate very cautiously, having often seen the danger of

men's eating heartily after long fasting.

Our next care was to inquire our way. Halifax, they told us, was on

our right. There we durst not think of going. Skipton was before us,

and there we knew not how it was, for a body of 3000 horse, sent out

by the enemy in pursuit of Prince Rupert, had been there but two days

before, and the country people could not tell us whether they were

gone, or no. And Manchester's horse, which were sent out after our

party, were then at Halifax, in quest of us, and afterwards marched

into Cheshire. In this distress we would have hired a guide, but none

of the country people would go with us, for the Roundheads would hang

them, they said, when they came there. Upon this I called a fellow to

me, "Hark ye, friend," says I, "dost thee know the way so as to bring

us into Westmoreland, and not keep the great road from York?" "Ay,

merry," says he, "I ken the ways weel enou!" "And you would go and

guide us," said I, "but that you are afraid the Roundheads will hang

you?" "Indeed would I," says the fellow. "Why then," says I, "thou

hadst as good be hanged by a Cavalier as a Roundhead, for if thou wilt

not go, I'll hang thee just now." "Na, and ye serve me soa," says the

fellow, "Ise ene gang with ye, for I care not for hanging; and ye'll

get me a good horse, Ise gang and be one of ye, for I'll nere come

heame more." This pleased us still better, and we mounted the fellow,

for three of our men died that night with the extreme fatigue of the

last service.

Next morning, when our new trooper was mounted and clothed we hardly

knew him; and this fellow led us by such ways, such wildernesses, and

yet with such prudence, keeping the hills to the left, that we might

have the villages to refresh ourselves, that without him, we had

certainly either perished in those mountains, or fallen into the

enemy's hands. We passed the great road from York so critically as to

time, that from one of the hills he showed us a party of the enemy's

horse who were then marching into Westmoreland. We lay still that day,

finding we were not discovered by them; and our guide proved the best

scout that we could have had; for he would go out ten miles at a time,

and bring us in all the news of the country. Here he brought us word,

that York was surrendered upon articles, and that Newcastle, which had

been surprised by the king's party, was besieged by another army of

Scots advanced to help their brethren.

Along the edges of those vast mountains we passed with the help of our

guide, till we came into the forest of Swale; and finding ourselves

perfectly concealed here, for no soldier had ever been here all the

war, nor perhaps would not, if it had lasted seven years, we thought

we wanted a few days' rest, at least for our horses. So we resolved to

halt; and while we did so, we made some disguises, and sent out some

spies into the country; but as here were no great towns, nor no post

road, we got very little intelligence. We rested four days, and then

marched again; and indeed having no great stock of money about us,

and not very free of that we had, four days was enough for those poor

places to be able to maintain us.

We thought ourselves pretty secure now; but our chief care was how to

get over those terrible mountains; for having passed the great road

that leads from York to Lancaster, the crags, the farther northward we

looked, looked still the worse, and our business was all on the other

side. Our guide told us, he would bring us out, if we would have

patience, which we were obliged to, and kept on this slow march, till

he brought us to Stanhope, in the country of Durham; where some of

Goring's horse, and two regiments of foot, had their quarters. This

was nineteen days from the battle of Marston Moor. The prince, who

was then at Kendal in Westmoreland, and who had given me over as lost,

when he had news of our arrival, sent an express to me, to meet him

at Appleby. I went thither accordingly, and gave him an account of our

journey, and there I heard the short history of the other part of our

men, whom we parted from in Lancashire. They made the best of their

way north; they had two resolute gentlemen who commanded; and being

so closely pursued by the enemy, that they found themselves under a

necessity of fighting, they halted, and faced about, expecting the

charge. The boldness of the action made the officer who led the

enemy's horse (which it seems were the county horse only) afraid

of them; which they perceiving, taking the advantage of his fears,

bravely advance, and charge them; and though they were above 200

horse, they routed them, killed about thirty or forty, got some

horses, and some money, and pushed on their march night and day; but

coming near Lancaster, they were so waylaid and pursued, that they

agreed to separate, and shift every man for himself. Many of them fell

into the enemy's hands; some were killed attempting to pass through

the river Lune; some went back, six or seven got to Bolton, and about

eighteen got safe to Prince Rupert.

The prince was in a better condition hereabouts than I expected; he

and my Lord Goring, with the help of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, and the

gentlemen of Cumberland, had gotten a body of 4000 horse, and about

6000 foot; they had retaken Newcastle, Tynemouth, Durham, Stockton,

and several towns of consequence from the Scots, and might have cut

them out work enough still, if that base people, resolved to engage

their whole interest to ruin their sovereign, had not sent a second

army of 10,000 men, under the Earl of Callander, to help their first.

These came and laid siege to Newcastle, but found more vigorous

resistance now than they had done before.

There were in the town Sir John Morley, the Lord Crawford, Lord

Reay, and Maxwell, Scots; and old soldiers, who were resolved their

countrymen should buy the town very dear, if they had it; and had it

not been for our disaster at Marston Moor, they had never had it; for

Callander, finding he was not able to carry the town, sends to General

Leven to come from the siege of York to help him.

Meantime the prince forms a very good army, and the Lord Goring, with

10,000 men, shows himself on the borders of Scotland, to try if that

might not cause the Scots to recall their forces; and, I am persuaded,

had he entered Scotland, the Parliament of Scotland had recalled the

Earl of Callander, for they had but 5000 men left in arms to send

against him; but they were loth to venture. However, this effect it

had, that it called the Scots northward again, and found them work

there for the rest of the summer to reduce the several towns in the

bishopric of Durham.

I found with the prince the poor remains of my regiment, which, when

joined with those that had been with me, could not all make up three

troops, and but two captains, three lieutenants, and one cornet; the

rest were dispersed, killed, or taken prisoners. However, with those,

which we still called a regiment, I joined the prince, and after

having done all we could on that side, the Scots being returned from

York, the prince returned through Lancashire to Chester.

The enemy often appeared and alarmed us, and once fell on one of our

parties, and killed us about a hundred men; but we were too many for

them to pretend to fight us, so we came to Bolton, beat the troops

of the enemy near Warrington, where I got a cut with a halberd in my

face, and arrived at Chester the beginning of August.

The Parliament, upon their great success in the north, thinking the

king's forces quite unbroken, had sent their General Essex into the

west, where the king's army was commanded by Prince Maurice, Prince

Rupert's elder brother, but not very strong; and the king being, as

they supposed, by the absence of Prince Rupert, weakened so much as

that he might be checked by Sir William Waller, who, with 4500 foot,

and 1500 horse, was at that time about Winchester, having lately

beaten Sir Ralph Hopton;--upon all these considerations, the Earl of

Essex marches westward.

The forces in the west being too weak to oppose him, everything gave

way to him, and all people expected he would besiege Exeter, where

the queen was newly lying-in, and sent a trumpet to desire he would

forbear the city, while she could be removed, which he did, and passed

on westward, took Tiverton, Bideford, Barnstaple, Launceston, relieved

Plymouth, drove Sir Richard Grenvile up into Cornwall, and followed

him thither, but left Prince Maurice behind him with 4000 men about

Barnstaple and Exeter. The king, in the meantime, marches from Oxford

into Worcester, with Waller at his heels. At Edgehill his Majesty

turns upon Waller, and gave him a brush, to put him in mind of the

place. The king goes on to Worcester, sends 300 horse to relieve

Durley Castle, besieged by the Earl of Denby, and sending part of his

forces to Bristol, returns to Oxford.

His Majesty had now firmly resolved to march into the west, not having

yet any account of our misfortunes in the north. Waller and Middleton

waylay the king at Cropredy Bridge. The king assaults Middleton at the

bridge.

Waller's men were posted with some cannon to guard a pass. Middleton's

men put a regiment of the king's foot to the rout, and pursued them.

Waller's men, willing to come in for the plunder, a thing their

general had often used them to, quit their post at the pass, and their

great guns, to have part in the victory. The king coming in seasonably

to the relief of his men, routs Middleton, and at the same time sends

a party round, who clapped in between Sir William Waller's men and

their great guns, and secured the pass and the cannon too. The

king took three colonels, besides other officers, and about 300 men

prisoners, with eight great guns, nineteen carriages of ammunition,

and killed about 200 men.

Waller lost his reputation in this fight, and was exceedingly slighted

ever after, even by his own party; but especially by such as were

of General Essex's party, between whom and Waller there had been

jealousies and misunderstandings for some time.

The king, about 8000 strong, marched on to Bristol, where Sir William

Hopton joined him, and from thence he follows Essex into Cornwall.

Essex still following Grenvile, the king comes to Exeter, and joining

with Prince Maurice, resolves to pursue Essex; and now the Earl of

Essex began to see his mistake, being cooped up between two seas,

the king's army in his rear, the country his enemy, and Sir Richard

Grenvile in his van.

The king, who always took the best measures when he was left to his

own counsel, wisely refuses to engage, though superior in number, and

much stronger in horse. Essex often drew out to fight, but the king

fortifies, takes the passes and bridges, plants cannon, and secures

the country to keep off provisions, and continually straitens their

quarters, but would not fight.

Now Essex sends away to the Parliament for help, and they write to

Waller, and Middleton, and Manchester to follow, and come up with

the king in his rear; but some were too far off, and could not, as

Manchester and Fairfax; others made no haste, as having no mind to it,

as Waller and Middleton, and if they had, it had been too late.

At last the Earl of Essex, finding nothing to be done, and unwilling

to fall into the king's hands, takes shipping, and leaves his army to

shift for themselves. The horse, under Sir William Balfour, the

best horse officer, and, without comparison, the bravest in all the

Parliament army, advanced in small parties, as if to skirmish, but

following in with the whole body, being 3500 horse, broke through, and

got off. Though this was a loss to the king's victory, yet the foot

were now in a condition so much the worse. Brave old Skippon proposed

to fight through with the foot and die, as he called it, like

Englishmen, with sword in hand; but the rest of the officers shook

their heads at it, for, being well paid, they had at present no

occasion for dying.

Seeing it thus, they agreed to treat, and the king grants them

conditions, upon laying down their arms, to march off free. This was

too much. Had his Majesty but obliged them upon oath not to serve

again for a certain time, he had done his business; but this was not

thought of; so they passed free, only disarmed, the soldiers not being

allowed so much as their swords.

The king gained by this treaty forty pieces of cannon, all of brass,

300 barrels of gunpowder, 9000 arms, 8000 swords, match and bullet in

proportion, 200 waggons, 150 colours and standards, all the bag and

baggage of the army, and about 1000 of the men listed in his army.

This was a complete victory without bloodshed; and had the king

but secured the men from serving but for six months, it had most

effectually answered the battle of Marston Moor.

As it was, it infused new life into all his Majesty's forces and

friends, and retrieved his affairs very much; but especially it

encouraged us in the north, who were more sensible of the blow

received at Marston Moor, and of the destruction the Scots were

bringing upon us all.

While I was at Chester, we had some small skirmishes with Sir William

Brereton. One morning in particular Sir William drew up, and faced us,

and one of our colonels of horse observing the enemy to be not, as he

thought, above 200, desires leave of Prince Rupert to attack them

with the like number, and accordingly he sallied out with 200 horse. I

stood drawn up without the city with 800 more, ready to bring him off,

if he should be put to the worst, which happened accordingly; for, not

having discovered neither the country nor the enemy as he ought, Sir

William Brereton drew him into an ambuscade; so that before he came up

with Sir William's forces, near enough to charge, he finds about 300

horse in his rear. Though he was surprised at this, yet, being a man

of a ready courage, he boldly faces about with 150 of his men,

leaving the other fifty to face Sir William. With this small party, he

desperately charges the 300 horse in his rear, and putting them into

disorder, breaks through them, and, had there been no greater force,

he had cut them all in pieces. Flushed with this success, and loth

to desert the fifty men he had left behind, he faces about again, and

charges through them again, and with these two charges entirely routs

them. Sir William Brereton finding himself a little disappointed,

advances, and falls upon the fifty men just as the colonel came up to

them; they fought him with a great deal of bravery, but the colonel

being unfortunately killed in the first charge, the men gave way, and

came flying all in confusion, with the enemy at their heels. As soon

as I saw this, I advanced, according to my orders, and the enemy,

as soon as I appeared, gave over the pursuit. This gentleman, as I

remember, was Colonel Marrow; we fetched off his body, and retreated

into Chester.

The next morning the prince drew out of the city with about 1200 horse

and 2000 foot, and attacked Sir William Brereton in his quarters. The

fight was very sharp for the time, and near 700 men, on both sides,

were killed; but Sir William would not put it to a general engagement,

so the prince drew off, contenting himself to have insulted him in his

quarters.

We now had received orders from the king to join him; but I

representing to the prince the condition of my regiment, which was

now 100 men, and that, being within twenty-five miles of my father's

house, I might soon recruit it, my father having got some men together

already, I desired leave to lie at Shrewsbury for a month, to make up

my men. Accordingly, having obtained his leave, I marched to Wrexham,

where in two days' time I got twenty men, and so on to Shrewsbury. I

had not been here above ten days, but I received an express to come

away with what recruits I had got together, Prince Rupert having

positive orders to meet the king by a certain day. I had not mounted

100 men, though I had listed above 200, when these orders came; but

leaving my father to complete them for me, I marched with those I had

and came to Oxford.

The king, after the rout of the Parliament forces in the west, was

marched back, took Barnstaple, Plympton, Launceston, Tiverton, and

several other places, and left Plymouth besieged by Sir Richard

Grenvile, met with Sir William Waller at Shaftesbury, and again at

Andover, and boxed him at both places, and marched for Newbury. Here

the king sent for Prince Rupert to meet him, who with 3000 horse made

long marches to join him; but the Parliament having joined their three

armies together, Manchester from the north, Waller and Essex (the

men being clothed and armed) from the west, had attacked the king and

obliged him to fight the day before the prince came up.

The king had so posted himself, as that he could not be obliged to

fight but with advantage, the Parliament's forces being superior in

number, and therefore, when they attacked him, he galled them with

his cannon, and declining to come to a general battle, stood upon the

defensive, expecting Prince Rupert with the horse.

The Parliament's forces had some advantage over our foot, and took the

Earl of Cleveland prisoner. But the king, whose foot were not above

one to two, drew his men under the cannon of Donnington Castle, and

having secured his artillery and baggage, made a retreat with his foot

in very good order, having not lost in all the fight above 300 men,

and the Parliament as many. We lost five pieces of cannon and took

two, having repulsed the Earl of Manchester's men on the north side of

the town, with considerable loss.

The king having lodged his train of artillery and baggage in

Donnington Castle, marched the next day for Oxford. There we joined

him with 3000 horse and 2000 foot. Encouraged with this reinforcement,

the king appears upon the hills on the north-west of Newbury, and

faces the Parliament army. The Parliament having too many generals as

well as soldiers, they could not agree whether they should fight or

no. This was no great token of the victory they boasted of, for they

were now twice our number in the whole, and their foot three for one.

The king stood in battalia all day, and finding the Parliament forces

had no stomach to engage him, he drew away his cannon and baggage out

of Donnington Castle in view of their whole army, and marched away to

Oxford.

This was such a false step of the Parliament's generals, that all the

people cried shame of them. The Parliament appointed a committee to

inquire into it. Cromwell accused Manchester, and he Waller, and so

they laid the fault upon one another. Waller would have been glad to

have charged it upon Essex, but as it happened he was not in the army,

having been taken ill some days before. But as it generally is when a

mistake is made, the actors fall out among themselves, so it was here.

No doubt it was as false a step as that of Cornwall, to let the king

fetch away his baggage and cannon in the face of three armies, and

never fire a shot at them.

The king had not above 8000 foot in his army, and they above 25,000.

Tis true the king had 8000 horse, a fine body, and much superior to

theirs; but the foot might, with the greatest ease in the world, have

prevented the removing the cannon, and in three days' time have taken

the castle, with all that was in it.

Those differences produced their self-denying ordinance, and the

putting by most of their old generals, as Essex, Waller, Manchester,

and the like; and Sir Thomas Fairfax, a terrible man in the field,

though the mildest of men out of it, was voted to have the command

of all their forces, and Lambert to take the command of Sir Thomas

Fairfax's troops in the north, old Skippon being Major-General.

This winter was spent on the enemy's side in modelling, as they called

it, their army, and on our side in recruiting ours, and some petty

excursions. Amongst the many addresses I observed one from Sussex or

Surrey, complaining of the rudeness of their soldiers, from which I

only observed that there were disorders among them as well as among

us, only with this difference, that they, for reasons I mentioned

before, were under circumstances to prevent it better than the

king. But I must do the king's memory that justice, that he used all

possible methods, by punishment of soldiers, charging, and sometimes

entreating, the gentlemen not to suffer such disorders and such

violences in their men; but it was to no purpose for his Majesty to

attempt it, while his officers, generals, and great men winked at it;

for the licentiousness of the soldier is supposed to be approved by

the officer when it is not corrected.

The rudeness of the Parliament soldiers began from the divisions among

their officers; for in many places the soldiers grew so out of all

discipline and so unsufferably rude, that they, in particular, refused

to march when Sir William Waller went to Weymouth. This had turned to

good account for us, had these cursed Scots been out of our way, but

they were the staff of the party; and now they were daily solicited to

march southward, which was a very great affliction to the king and all

his friends.

One booty the king got at this time, which was a very seasonable

assistance to his affairs, viz., a great merchant ship, richly laden

at London, and bound to the East Indies, was, by the seamen, brought

into Bristol, and delivered up to the king. Some merchants in Bristol

offered the king £40,000 for her, which his Majesty ordered should be

accepted, reserving only thirty great guns for his own use.

The treaty at Uxbridge now was begun, and we that had been well beaten

in the war heartily wished the king would come to a peace; but we all

foresaw the clergy would ruin it all. The Commons were for Presbytery,

and would never agree the bishops should be restored. The king was

willinger to comply with anything than this, and we foresaw it would

be so; from whence we used to say among ourselves, "That the clergy

was resolved if there should be no bishop there should be no king."

This treaty at Uxbridge was a perfect war between the men of the gown,

ours was between those of the sword; and I cannot but take notice

how the lawyers, statesmen, and the clergy of every side bestirred

themselves, rather to hinder than promote the peace.

There had been a treaty at Oxford some time before, where the

Parliament insisting that the king should pass a bill to abolish

Episcopacy, quit the militia, abandon several of his faithful servants

to be exempted from pardon, and making several other most extravagant

demands, nothing was done, but the treaty broke off, both parties

being rather farther exasperated, than inclined to hearken to

conditions.

However, soon after the success in the west, his Majesty, to let them

see that victory had not puffed him up so as to make him reject the

peace, sends a message to the Parliament, to put them in mind of

messages of like nature which they had slighted; and to let them know,

that notwithstanding he had beaten their forces, he was yet willing to

hearken to a reasonable proposal for putting an end to the war.

The Parliament pretended the king, in his message, did not treat with

them as a legal Parliament, and so made hesitations; but after long

debates and delays they agreed to draw up propositions for peace to be

sent to the king. As this message was sent to the Houses about August,

I think they made it the middle of November before they brought the

propositions for peace; and, when they brought them, they had no

power to enter either upon a treaty, or so much as preliminaries for a

treaty, only to deliver the letter, and receive an answer.

However, such were the circumstances of affairs at this time, that the

king was uneasy to see himself thus treated, and take no notice of it:

the king returned an answer to the propositions, and proposed a treaty

by commissioners which the Parliament appointed.

Three months more were spent in naming commissioners. There was much

time spent in this treaty, but little done; the commissioners debated

chiefly the article of religion, and of the militia; in the latter

they were very likely to agree, in the former both sides seemed

too positive. The king would by no means abandon Episcopacy nor the

Parliament Presbytery; for both in their opinion were _jure divino_.

The commissioners finding this point hardest to adjust, went from

it to that of the militia; but the time spinning out, the king's

commissioners demanded longer time for the treaty; the other sent up

for instructions, but the House refused to lengthen out the time.

This was thought an insolence upon the king, and gave all good people

a detestation of such haughty behaviour; and thus the hopes of peace

vanished, both sides prepared for war with as much eagerness as

before.

The Parliament was employed at this time in what they called

a-modelling their army; that is to say, that now the Independent party

[was] beginning to prevail; and, as they outdid all the others in

their resolution of carrying on the war to all extremities, so they

were both the more vigorous and more politic party in carrying it on.

Indeed, the war was after this carried on with greater animosity than

ever, and the generals pushed forward with a vigour that, as it

had something in it unusual, so it told us plainly from this time,

whatever they did before, they now pushed at the ruin even of the

monarchy itself.

All this while also the war went on, and though the Parliament had no

settled army, yet their regiments and troops were always in action;

and the sword was at work in every part of the kingdom.

Among an infinite number of party skirmishings and fights this winter,

one happened which nearly concerned me, which was the surprise of the

town and castle of Shrewsbury. Colonel Mitton, with about 1200 horse

and foot, having intelligence with some people in the town, on a

Sunday morning early broke into the town and took it, castle and all.

The loss for the quality, more than the number, was very great to

the king's affairs. They took there fifteen pieces of cannon, Prince

Maurice's magazine of arms and ammunition, Prince Rupert's baggage,

above fifty persons of quality and officers. There was not above

eight or ten men killed on both sides, for the town was surprised, not

stormed. I had a particular loss in this action; for all the men and

horses my father had got together for the recruiting my regiment were

here lost and dispersed, and, which was the worse, my father happening

to be then in the town, was taken prisoner, and carried to Beeston

Castle in Cheshire.

I was quartered all this winter at Banbury, and went little abroad;

nor had we any action till the latter end of February, when I was

ordered to march to Leicester with Sir Marmaduke Langdale, in order,

as we thought, to raise a body of men in that county and Staffordshire

to join the king.

We lay at Daventry one night, and continuing our march to pass the

river above Northampton, that town being possessed by the enemy, we

understood a party of Northampton forces were abroad, and intended to

attack us. Accordingly, in the afternoon our scouts brought us word

the enemy were quartered in some villages on the road to Coventry. Our

commander, thinking it much better to set upon them in their quarters,

than to wait for them in the field, resolves to attack them early in

the morning before they were aware of it. We refreshed ourselves in

the field for that day, and, getting into a great wood near the enemy,

we stayed there all night, till almost break of day, without being

discovered.

In the morning very early we heard the enemy's trumpets sound to

horse. This roused us to look abroad, and, sending out a scout, he

brought us word a part of the enemy was at hand. We were vexed to

be so disappointed, but finding their party small enough to be dealt

with, Sir Marmaduke ordered me to charge them with 300 horse and 200

dragoons, while he at the same time entered the town. Accordingly I

lay still till they came to the very skirt of the wood where I was

posted, when I saluted them with a volley from my dragoons out of the

wood, and immediately showed myself with my horse on their front ready

to charge them. They appeared not to be surprised, and received our

charge with great resolution; and, being above 400 men, they pushed me

vigorously in their turn, putting my men into some disorder. In this

extremity I sent to order my dragoons to charge them in the flank,

which they did with great bravery, and the other still maintained the

fight with desperate resolution. There was no want of courage in our

men on both sides, but our dragoons had the advantage, and at last

routed them, and drove them back to the village. Here Sir Marmaduke

Langdale had his hands full too, for my firing had alarmed the towns

adjacent, that when he came into the town he found them all in arms,

and, contrary to his expectation, two regiments of foot, with about

500 horse more. As Sir Marmaduke had no foot, only horse and dragoons,

this was a surprise to him; but he caused his dragoons to enter the

town and charge the foot, while his horse secured the avenues of the

town.

The dragoons bravely attacked the foot, and Sir Marmaduke falling

in with his horse, the fight was obstinate and very bloody, when the

horse that I had routed came flying into the street of the village,

and my men at their heels. Immediately I left the pursuit, and fell

in with all my force to the assistance of my friends, and, after an

obstinate resistance, we routed the whole party; we killed about

700 men, took 350, 27 officers, 100 arms, all their baggage, and 200

horses, and continued our march to Harborough, where we halted to

refresh ourselves.

Memoirs of a Cavalier A Military Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in England. From the Year 1632 to the Year 1648. · 第 17 / 20 题

The king hearing of the advance of Essex's army, who by this time was