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MEMORIALS
OF
THE CIVIL WAR.

Walker pina
Robert Devereux
EARL OF ESSEX
London Richard Bentley, 1849
JW Cook sc
MEMORIALS
OF
(C
COMPRISING
THE CIVIL WAR:
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE FAIRFAX FAMILY
WITH THE MOST DISTINGUISHED PERSONAGES ENGAGED IN THAT
MEMORABLE CONTEST.
EDITED BY
ROBERT BELL,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA,”
""LIFE OF CANNING," ETC.
NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS.
FORMING THE CONCLUDING VOLUMES of
MUNALASTOMATATENIEIUS INNENOMURS
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
THE FAIRFAX CORRESPONDENCE.
SOUTEN DE TIME, HUTAALIDARAANI ILEGAL DASANAMING KVE ZAMES BU
KORRA
14361
M11.40
I
OF TAP
VIVA EL REY YUMVERA EL MAL GOBIERNO
THAT
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השווווווווווווווויוועוי שס ודייוינרויות [ZAIN
*
LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1849.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, whitefriARS.
SIH SO
11-2-39
RAS
INTRODUCTION.
THESE volumes embrace the period of the Civil War
and the Restoration, and contain a mass of Original
Letters from nearly all the famous men who were
actively engaged in the struggle,-the Fairfaxes, Crom-
well, Fleetwood, David Leslie, Hugh Peters, Hammond,
Hutchinson, Buckingham, and many others. Crowded
with minute details and individual experiences, they
bring us closer to the actual vicissitudes of the flying
campaigns-from the hoisting of the Royal Standard
at Nottingham, to the imprisonment of the King at
Carisbrook,—than any previous publication. Written
for the most part on the instant, under the walls
of besieged towns, in the committee rooms of the
House of Commons, on the field of battle, or in the
midst of councils of war, they are distinguished by
a freshness and freedom seldom found in documents
of a more formal character. In some cases—such
as Rushworth's account of the forcible entry of the
•
vi
INTRODUCTION.
London Apprentices into the House of Commons-these
letters afford circumstantial relations of particular facts
which have not hitherto been so completely described;
and in other instances they reveal secret opinions and
feelings which exercised an important influence upon
the conduct of public men.
Fairfax's share in the
Restoration is here, for the first time, disclosed in full.
The Correspondence also incidentally illustrates the
Personal History and Social Life of the times.
The Volumes are enriched by the addition of many
unpublished letters bearing upon contemporary events,
from a valuable collection in the possession of Mr.
Bentley.
In preparing the whole for publication, the Editor has
confined himself to the duty of elucidating obscure pas-
sages, and supplying such links of History and Biography
as appeared essential to a distinct exhibition of the
events and persons referred to in the Correspondence.
He has endeavoured to avoid all superfluous matter,
and has specially forborne to encumber the work with
notes and authorities.
April, 1849.
TABLE OF LETTERS.
1642.
Christopher Browne to his Son, 17th February
Embarkation of the Queen. Dispatch of Parliamentary business.
Christopher Browne to his Son, 16th March
Domestic gossip.
Christopher Browne to his Daughter, 16th June
Family affairs and country matters.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 13th June
The new oath of allegiance at York.
Mr. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax,-August
Shadows of coming events.
انا
The Committee of Safety to the Gentry of Yorkshire, 27th
September
Appointment of Lord Fairfax to the command of the forces in the
North.
The Committee of Safety to Lord Fairfax, 21st October
Approbation of his Lordship's proceedings.
Lord Fairfax to the Committee of Safety, 10th December
Giving an account of his proceedings and state of the army.
Speaker Lenthall to Lord Fairfax, 23rd December
Conveying the thanks of Parliament and orders to billet the army.
Mr. Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 8th September
Answer to a summons to come to England.
PAGE
6
8
10
13
17
21
23
25
30
31
viii
TABLE OF LETTERS.
1643.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 9th January
Military occupation of the Clothing Districts.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 27th January
Wakefield and the neighbourhood. Captain Hotham under suspicion.
The Earl of Essex to Lord Fairfax, 31st January .
Appointing a Council of War for the North.
Commissary Copley to Lord Fairfax, 1st February
Captain Hotham created Lieutenant-General.
The Parliamentary Committee of Safety to Lord Fairfax, 1st
February
Payment of the troops. Acknowledgment of services.
The Parliamentary Committee of Safety to Lord Fairfax, 13th
April
Further provision for the army.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 20th April
Revolts and alarms.
Captain Hotham to Lord Fairfax, 24th May
His misery from not knowing the movements of the enemy.
Captain Hotham and the Officers at Nottingham to Lord
Fairfax, 2nd June
Declaring that they think it best to stay where they are.
Lord Fairfax (a postscript) to Hotham and the Nottingham
officers.
Peremptorily ordering them not to stay where they are.
Lenthall (the Speaker) to Lord Fairfax, 19th July
Thanks for his services, and appointing him Governor of Hull, on
discovery of the conspiracy of the Hothams.
Dr. Wilson to Sir Richard Browne, 29th June
Gossip. Waller's trial.
Death of Hampden. Subscriptions for
Irish Distress. Articles against her Majesty. Chess out of
Fashion, owing to the misfortunes of Kings and Queens.
PAGE
33
35
37
39
41
43
44
45
46
47
49
52
TABLE OF LETTERS.
ix
The Committee of the Associated Counties to the gentlemen of
Huntingdonshire, 17th June
Mutinies in the Garrisons for want of Money.
Oliver Cromwell to the Bachelors and Maids of Huntingdon,
2nd August
Muscles and money wanted for the common cause. Raise troops of
godly men, buy pistols and saddles, and Cromwell will supply
horses.
Oliver Cromwell to the Commissioners at Cambridge, 8th
August
News of the enemy. Urgent appeal to quicken friends and collect
money.
Lord Francis Willoughby to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 23rd
October
Begging protection for Lady Casselton.
Narrative of Winceby Fight
The Earl of Newcastle beaten, and hunted to Horncastle.
Distressed Officers to Sir Thomas Fairfax
Setting forth their grievances.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Committee at Stamford, 27th
December
Announcing his determination to march for Nantwich.
1644.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lady Fairfax, 28th January
Crowned with laurels, and suffering hardships and heart-burnings at
Nantwich.
Propositions for the Gentlemen of Lancashire, 15th February .
To raise money and horses and distribute the forces.
The Earl of Denbigh to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 23rd March
Failure before Newark.
PAGE
54
56
58
61
62
66
68
74
76
78
X
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Colonel Duckenfield to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 6th March
The soldiers, disheartened for want of pay, disband themselves, and
return to the plough.
¡
0,000
Colonel Copley to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 6th March
March into Yorkshire resolved upon. Ordnance for £10,000.
Defection of Sir Richard Greenfield.
Colonel Bright to Sir Thomas Fairfax
News from Ashburne and Newark.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lady Derby
Great distress for money.
Summoning her Ladyship to surrender Lathom House.
Colonel Rigby to the Deputy Lieutenants of Lancashire, 1st
May
Requiring help in the siege of Lathom House.
Colonel Lambert to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 6th March
Enemy's quarters routed at Hemstell.
Colonel Lambert to Mr. Secretary Nicholas, 11th March
Requesting the disbursement of money. Stamford Bridge taken.
Mr. Walter Lye to Monsieur Browne, 26th March .
Pleasanter to drink wine in Paris than to swallow ditch-water under
a hedge in England.
Ex-Judge Randolph Crewe to Sir Richard Browne, 10th
April
The country and the writer reduced to extremities and living upon
credit.
Prince Elector Charles to Mr. Braun, 5th June
Requesting his good offices with the French Ministers.
Prince Elector Charles to Mr. Braun, 20th July
Thanks for his intercession.
Sir William Waller to the Earl of Leven, 18th June
Flight and pursuit of the King from Oxford. Prince Rupert ex-
tremely in want of powder.
John Ashe (of the Goldsmiths' Hall) to the County Com-
mittee, 10th April
Loans to Parliament
Leon Watson to the Earl of Manchester, 30th June
The Horse drawn up at Marston Moor. The enemy advancing.
PAGE
79
81
82
85
90
94
94
97
98
100
100
105
109
111
TABLE OF LETTERS.
xi
The Earl of Manchester to Lord Fairfax, 24th August
The spoils of Sheffield Castle.
Gilbert Talbot [to, probably, Sir Thomas Brown], 27th
August
Secret correspondence from France. Distress of Lord Germain.
An Irish agent at Paris. Murmurs of a
Lord Goring in dudgeon. Prince Edward
Madame Grotius.
battle in the West.
and Lady Banbury.
Colonel Crosland-Propositions for the surrender of Helmesley
Castle-6th November
Safe conduct to civilians-garrison to march out with drums beating,
colours flying, and matches lighted-castle to be demolished.
Lord Howard to Lord Fairfax, 15th November
Interceding for an 66 orthodoxal" chaplain to be nominated in the
room of Peter du Moulins, turned out.
Lord Howard to Lord Fairfax, 10th December
•
The "orthodoxal " chaplain is called Mr. Tindal, a Bachelor in
Divinity, and Fellow of Corpus Christi.
Lord Howard to Lord Fairfax, 17th December
The patent made out. The "orthodoxal" chaplain laden down with
testimonials.
Lord Howard to Lord Fairfax, 7th January, [1645.]
The "orthodoxal" chaplain begs for a little delay.
Lord Howard to Lord Fairfax, 15th January, [1645.]
•
The" orthodoxal " chaplain is sorry for the trouble he has given, and
cannot come.
W. Wolstenholme to Lord Fairfax, 22nd December
A picture of a violated homestead in the Civil War.
Lord Mulgrave to Lord Fairfax, 9th December
Military valour and a transition to the business of the Attornies.
Algernon Percy, Earl of Northumberland, to Lord Fairfax, 9th
December .
House, woods, and tenants broken up by the soldiery.
PAGE
113
118
121
124
125
126
126
Lord Francis Willoughby to Lord Fairfax, 14th December . 129
Touching the exchange of Major Benson.
127
131
132
133
xii
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Lord Clare to Lord Fairfax, 18th August
A little private influence in the matter of protections.
Philip, Lord Wharton, to Lord Fairfax, 16th December
The Self-denying Ordinance. The Generalissimo looming in the
distance.
Lord Morley and Monteagle to Lord Fairfax, 14th November. 137
The inveterate malady of the spleen. Begs a pass to go home.
Lord Edmund Sheffield to Lord Fairfax, 19th November
The wrongs of his grandfather.
Philip, Lord Wharton, to Lord Fairfax, 31st December.
No news.
1645.
[Sir Francis Rokeby] to Lady Mary Fane
Scraping
A fashionable Pastoral. A morning in the Country.
sweethearts out of the ashes. The new Spanish Monarch at
Court. Family Parties. A shattered beau.
Mr. James Chaloner to Lord Fairfax, 14 January
Business in Parliament. The Self-denying Ordinance. The Treaty
of Uxbridge oscillates.
Philip, Lord Wharton, to Lord Fairfax, 5th February
The Ordinance for the New Model. The commissioners on both
sides intend the treaty very seriously.
•
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 11th February
Can't tell anything yet about the Treaty. The New Model ordinance
modified by the Commons.
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 18th February
Arrival in London of Sir Thomas Fairfax, Generalissimo.
Mr. James Chaloner to Lord Fairfax, 24th February
PAGE
The Treaty exploded. The Houses sitting loose in their saddles.
136
140
142
143
151
155
157
159
161
162
TABLE OF LETTERS.
xiii
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 25th February
The Treaty Commissioners give an account to the House that they
have done nothing.
Sir Thomas Widdrington [printed by mistake L. Fairfax] to
Lord Fairfax, 4th March
Sir Thomas's list of New Model officers approved. Movements of
troops.
The Rev. Edward Bowles to Lord Fairfax, 18th March
The list carried against opposition by the firmness of the City.
Colonel Mitton to the Speaker of the Commons, 15th March
An account of the taking of Shrewsbury.
Sir John Savile to Lord Fairfax, 2nd March
Mr. Thomas D'Arcy to Lord Fairfax, 12th February
Spies, in disguise, passing through Carlisle, supposed to be for Oxford.
Sir George Wentworth to Lord Fairfax, 2nd March
Thanks for protection to the broken family of the Straffords.
March through Pontefract and Ferrybridge to Bradford.
Sir John Savile to Lord Fairfax, 3rd March.
Sir John Savile to Lord Fairfax, 14th March
•
The enemy retreating to Doncaster. Prince Rupert advancing on
the Gloucester side.
Matches and powder wanted. Marching and counter-marching.
Sir John Savile to Lord Fairfax, 22nd March
•
Colonel Lowther to Lord Fairfax, 9th March
Proposal for a meeting to treat.
•
Requesting leave to retain Captain Spencer for the service of Sandall
Castle.
Colonel St. George to Lord Fairfax
Exchange upon parole.
Sir John Savile to Lord Fairfax, 23rd March
Captain Spencer gone. Too weak to attempt Sandall Castle.
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 11th March .
Prince gone northward. Money in prospect.
Colonel Lowther to Lord Fairfax, 5th March
The chirurgeons short of medicaments for the wounded at Pontefract.
¡
PAGE
165
166
168
170
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
185
185
186
xiv
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Colonel Willys to Lord Fairfax
A pass for the Lady Cooke.
Colonel Willys to Lord Fairfax
An exchange.
•
Colonel Atkins to Lord Fairfax, 22nd March
For a safe convoy.
Lord Mulgrave to Lord Fairfax, 30th March
The miserable case of his tenants.
Peter du Moulin to Lord Fairfax, 30th March
A bitter "cry for justice," in consequence of having been put out of
his church.
The Ladies Jane and Francis Cavendish to Lord Fairfax, 17th
April
Humble thanks for favours received.
Mrs. Katherine Middleton to Lord Fairfax, 20th April
A suit for the pardon of her husband, who had broken his promises.
Mary and Anne Middleton to Lord Fairfax, 20th April
To the same effect.
Lady Osborne to Lord Fairfax, 23rd April.
Begging protection against the soldiery.
•
Lady Katherine Graham to Lord Fairfax, 12th May
Complaining of the rudeness of the military.
Colonel Cholmeley to Lord Fairfax, 8th May
The case of Lady Musgrave.
Mr. Roe to Colonel Cholmeley, 12th April
Directing him to conduct Lady Musgrave to Carlisle.
Lady Musgrave to Lord Fairfax, 8th May
•
Praying to be allowed to remain at Eden Hall, her "jointure."
Mr. Ibson to Lord Fairfax, 11th May .
. 190
PAGE
187
188
Ruinous condition of the northern estates. Poverty and desolation
through the country.
189
Sir Thomas Fairfax-Commission appointing Algernon Sidney
to a Colonelcy of Horse
[Which he soon afterwards resigned.]
191
194
196
197
. 203
199
. 206
205
207
209
213
TABLE OF LETTERS.
XV
The Commanders and Officers in Alured's regiment to Sir
Thomas Fairfax .
Professing their readiness to hazard their lives in his service.
Officers at Nantwich to Sir Thomas Fairfax
Soliciting help for the siege of Chester.
The Committee sitting at the Star Chamber to the Mayor and
Aldermen of Norwich, 9th Sept.
Recommending to their care and protection the burnt and plundered
town of Taunton.
V
•
Colonel Hutchinson to Lord Fairfax, 23rd May
Enclosing a letter from Cromwell.
Colonel Hutchinson to Lord Fairfax
Enemy in motion for Pontefract.
The Committee for the Army to the City of Norwich, 16th
May
Trying stringent measures for the collection of Assessments.
The Speakers of Parliament to the Norwich Committee,
19th May ·
To the same effect.
The Committee of Derby House to the City of Norwich,
21st May.
To hasten monies and recruits.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 4th June
The siege of Oxford raised. Marching to Buckingham.
Mr. Gervaise Lomax to Lord Fairfax, 6th June
Review of the troops. Hanging on the King's rear.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 11th July
Defeat of Lord Goring at Langport. First appearance of the Club-
risers.
•
Lord Goring to Sir Constantine Huggens, 22nd June
Hoping to be readmitted to the Prince's favour.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 16th July
It is resolved to storm Bridgewater.
•
;
PAGE
214
218
219
221
221
223
225
227
228
229
235
236
239
xvi
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 24th July
Bridgewater stormed and taken.
Sir Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 1st August
Rates and assessments in the Three Ridings of Yorkshire.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 4th August
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax,-August
Bath taken. Sherborne invested. The Club-risers dispersed, and
their leaders taken. Money wanted for the troops. The
General appointed Governor of Pontefract.
Still before Sherborne.
Making mines, and hoping to finish the
work in a few days. Colonel Overton or Major Crooke to
command Pontefract under the General.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 12th September
S
Bristol taken. Sickness in the town. Recruits from Somersetshire
and Gloucestershire. Prince Rupert ready to compound his
glory for a pass to go to France.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 8th October .
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax [22nd or 23rd] August. 248
Shuts up Prince Rupert with all his horse in Bristol. Goring's
army breaking daily with distractions.
List of prisoners taken at Sherborne, 15th October. [In the
hand-writing of Sir Thomas Fairfax]
Several slain-several wounded-300 or 400 prisoners. Lord
Digby's coach taken with secret correspondence of the King.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 14th November
In the swamps before Exeter.
At Chard, waiting for money and recruits. Goring's army 6000
strong, and posted in advantageous passes. The General suffer-
ing from his hurts and rheumatism.
. 241
•
Lord Arthur Capel to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1st December
Conveying the Prince's refusal to "quit his piety and loyalty to his
father."
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 3rd December
Sickness breaking out in the Army.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 10th December
Mr. Blackbeard speechless of the Sickness.
PAGE
240
245
246
249
250
254
257
260
261
263
TABLE OF LETTERS.
xvii
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 12th December
Movements at Autree and Tiverton.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 19th December
Discomfited at Poldram House. Troops wasting from fever.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 20th December
Skirmishing at Crediton.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 23rd December
More skirmishing.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 27th December
Reinforcements on the march. The enemy gathering about
Tavistock and Oakhampton.
1646.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 3rd January
Tiverton election. The Prince at Dartmouth.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 10th January
Army advances to the south side of Devonshire, routs the Royalists,
and hunts them into Cornwall.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 13th January
Siege of Plymouth raised.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 16th January
Dartmouth invested by land and sea.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 20th January
Dartmouth taken.
Hugh Peters to Sir Thomas Fairfax
Admiration and spiritual rejoicing.
David Leslie to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 17th January
Personal matters.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 26th January
Before Exeter again. Poldram Castle surrenders at last.
b
PAGE
263
264
265
266
268
273
274
276
276
277
279
280
281
xviii
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 31st January
Exeter blockaded. Queen's letters intercepted.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 7th February
Siege delayed by the floods.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 13th February
On the march against Lord Hopton.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 18th February
Hopton routed and a church blown up.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 23rd February
It is determined at a council of war to follow the enemy into Corn-
wall.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 13th March.
Hopton compelled to disband his Army.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 15th March .
Total breaking up of the Royalists in Cornwall.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 1st April
Back again before Exeter. Negociations in prospect.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 4th April
Treaty begun.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 9th April
Treaty concluded.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 16th April
Royalists march out and Parliamentarians march in.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 5th May
Oxford besieged.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 26th May
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 13th June
The treaty for the surrender of Oxford.
•
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 13th June
King's letter to the Parliament. Sorry for the blood shed.
Ready
to sign the Uxbridge treaty. Anxious for the settlement of
religion. Willing that both Houses should dispose of his per-
Wishes the Governor of Oxford to surrender..
son.
•
Treaty nearly concluded. Hudson, who fled from Oxford with the
King, taken.
PAGE
282
283
283
285
286
287
288
289
. 290
289
291
292
293
. 294
295
TABLE OF LETTERS.
xix
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 23rd July
Gone to Bath to recruit, after the surrender of Oxford, Wallingford,
and Worcester,
Sir George Wentworth to Lord Fairfax, 16th June
About the composition for his estate.
F. Gorges to Lord Fairfax, 1st June
A country gentleman keeping clear of both sides.
T. [one of the Fairfaxes] to Lord Bellasise
A voluntary exile resolved to stay abroad till times get better at
home.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 17th January
Professional business. Roger Dodsworth, the antiquary, and author
of the "Monasticon.'
99
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 8th April
Appointed under-steward of Pontefract. State of the towns in the
West Riding. Free school at Ottley. Services to Lord and
Lady Pembroke.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 18th April
Put to great straits between the Ladies Cork and Pembroke.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 24th July
A proposal of marriage for his daughter, Nell.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 14th August
The suitor on his road to the lady.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 29th August
Confident of the sincerity of the suitor.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 10th October
Has not heard from the suitor lately, but expects to see him soon.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 3rd November
The landscapes of Skipton Castle and Bardon Tower.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 13th November
Thanks for the stewardship of the Ripon Courts.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 16th December
Begins to suspect the sincerity of daughter Nell's suitor, who is
supposed to have some thoughts towards another gentleman's
daughter.
PAGE
297
298
299
300
301
303
307
308
309
310
311
312
. 313
314
XX
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 10th August
Before Ragland Castle in South Wales.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 17th September
Back again to the old quarters at Oxford.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 25th September.
Contested election for Pontefract.
Lord Fairfax to the Rev. Henry Fairfax, 20th October .
Announcing his marriage with the Widow Hussey.
Charles Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 27th October
A letter of congratulation.
´Alderman Atkins to the Mayor of Norwich, 23rd Nov.
Relations between members and their constituents.
The Mayor of Lynn to the Mayor of Norwich, 1st December
Urgent for a subsidy of 4007.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 30th December
Having leisure to look into his private affairs, finds that he has
neglected his own business in devoting himself to that of the
country.
1647.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 18th February
At head-quarters at Nottingham.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 23rd March .
The Army makes propositions to Parliament. Stipulates for arrears.
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 16th April
Discontents amongst the soldiery from want of money.
Sir John Bourchier to Lord Fairfax, 16th April
An appeal for "Preaching Ministers.”
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 13th May
Votes in the Commons respecting the Army.
PAGE
316
317
318
320
321
323
325
326
332
333
335
337
340
TABLE OF LETTERS.
xxi
Colonel White to Lord Fairfax, 16th May
Payments at Goldsmiths' Hall. Lord Inchiquin takes the Castle of
Dungarvan. The disbanding of the Army talked of in the
Commons.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 18th May
Uncertainty of affairs. Perplexing situation of the General.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 18th May
Ordered to repair to the Army. Growing discontents between the
Parliament and the Army.
Rev. Edward Bowles to Lord Fairfax, 22nd May
Violent proceedings of the Parliament and the City. Fears the
temper of the military.
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 23rd May
Wonderful harmony in the House.
Sir William Constable to Lord Fairfax, 24th May
Ordinance for an Indemnity passes both Houses. The great joy
turned into a storm.
Colonel Overton to Lord Fairfax, 25th May
Danger of disbanding. Fears for the future.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 9th June
The King guarded at Newcastle. The Army, their honest intentions.
Rev. Edward Bowles to Lord Fairfax, 12th June
Strict and temperate proceedings of the Army.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 15th June
•
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 22nd June
The Army advances to St. Albans, and lays its formal demands
before Parliament.
•
His lordship is not to be surprised if he hears of the soldiers court-
ing ladies in Hyde Park.
Sydenham Poyntz to Sir Thomas Fairfax, 25th June
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 27th June
Communicating orders from Parliament for the arrest of persons
pretending authority from the Army.
Parliament must be upheld, but it must reform its abuses.
PAGE
341
343
344
345
346
347
349
353
354
355
357
359
359
xxii
TABLE OF LETTERS.
Sydenham Poyntz to the Speaker of the House of Commons,
2nd July
The Army refractory to the Parliament, and devoted to Fairfax.
Colonel Holborne to Lord Fairfax, 4th July
Poyntz, unable to carry out the orders of Parliament, resolves to
throw up his commission.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 6th July
Head-quarters removed to Reading.
The King at a house within
two miles of the town. The Royalists, very high and insolent,
thinking the Army is acting their game. They are deceived.
Şir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 12th July
The treaty between the Army and the Parliament for "Purging "
the House.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 13th July
The treaty lingers.
The House is reluctant. The Prince Elector
dines with the General.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 20th July
Council of officers and "Agitators" held at Reading. Resolution
finally agreed upon to be submitted to Parliament.
Sir Thomas Fairfax to Lord Fairfax, 18th July
Resolutions almost ready to be sent to the House.
Sir Thomas Widdrington to Lord Fairfax, 26th July
New oath and confederacy to bring the King to town.
Lord Constable to Lord Fairfax, 27th July
The storm rises.
J. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax, 27th July
Minute account of the riot of the Apprentices in Parliament, and the
adjournment of the Commons.
Articles of agreement between Sir Thomas Fairfax and the
King's Majesty, August.
BM
PAGE
[Draught of a proposed agreement.]
360
362
364
365
367
369
371
376
Sir Thomas Fairfax to the Lord Mayor of London, 19th Nov. 386
Apprising the authorities of h's determination to quarter troops in
the City for the prosecution of the levy for arrears.
378
379
394
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
THE CIVIL WAR. VOL. I.
PORTRAIT OF THE EARL OF ESSEX
PORTRAIT OF LENTHALL
•
PORTRAIT OF SIR W. WALLER
·
•
PORTRAIT OF OLIVER CROMWELL .
•
THE CIVIL WAR. VOL. II.
:..
to face the Title.
page 31
107
to face the Title.
1642-43.
THE KING'S RETREAT TO THE NORTH.
THE KING SHUT OUT AT BEVERLY GATE.
THE ROYAL STANDARD SET UP.
THE FIRST HOSTILITIES.
TREASON OF THE HOTHAMS.
WINCEBY FIGHT.
1642-43.
THE departure of his Majesty from Whitehall, on the
10th of January, was the first incident of the drama
which soon afterwards filled the stage with the thunder
of drums and trumpets. It is tolerably clear that
Charles had a presentiment that he should never return,
or return to his doom. After thanking the captain of
the Trained Bands for his attendance, he added-"I do
now dismiss you ;" and with these words he set out for
Hampton Court. He was secretly devoured by want of
confidence in himself and in everybody about him; but
he had that purple pride which is ashamed to own to
its humanity. The fear that was in his thoughts is
plainly marked out in his vibrations between Windsor
and Hampton, and in his broken route onwards to
the north; skirting and avoiding London, and flying
farther and farther from it at every step. In this
northern journey he was plunging deeper and deeper
into the hot-bed of Puritanism; the country of
the Fairfaxes, the De Veres and their allies; yet
he still contrived to keep up that brave exterior
which looks down contemptuously upon argument and
negociation. He trampled reason and justice under
B 2
+
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
the hoofs of divine right. The sovereign will was
paramount to all claims, sufferings and necessities.
That alone appeared to him proper to assert and
struggle for. The committee which intercepted him
with prayers and entreaties at Newmarket to return to
his Parliament, had an opportunity of tasting the full
flavour of his imperial temper. Great as was his real
trouble at this time, he put a face of royalty upon it
that might have perplexed and shaken men of feebler
penetration and resolution. But in playing out to the
last this part of "every inch a king," he played it so
coarsely as to betray the agitation his bluster and bravado
were intended to conceal. There was a pitiable want
of self-possession and dignity in interrupting the reading
of the declaration by such unkingly exclamations as
"That's false!" "Tis a lie!" and in telling the Earl
of Pembroke that he "would whip a boy in Westminster
School," who had as little understanding as the com-
mittee. People in a great fright, when put to a sudden
extremity, often burst out into this sort of topping inso-
lence-in reality, a nervous escape for terror. But it was
not the language by which a king, in such a crisis, could
have done justice to himself or his people. Under the
improved relations which have grown up in our time
between kings and subjects, this interview with the Parlia-
mentary Committee is scarcely credible. The Parliament
implore his Majesty to return to them, and to reassure
their loyalty and the public confidence by the resumption
of his legitimate place and functions; and he replies
1642.]
5
THE CIVIL WAR.
to them by abrupt and violent expressions, charging
them with lies, and telling them in round terms that
they ought to be whipped. When negociation had
degenerated into outrage, it was full time to try other
methods of bringing their differences to a settlement.
It was upon this journey his Majesty shipped off the
Queen for Holland. She embarked at Dover. The
King is said to have exhibited considerable emotion at
parting. Here was the presentiment again. It shows,
also, how strangely the most obdurate natures preserve,
amidst their hardness and bigotries, some point of tender-
ness or weakness. But the world would have a greater
reliance upon this saving grace, if it were not generally
found to be resolvable into selfishness.
The embarkation is referred to in the following letter,
the writer of which, oblivious of the actual substance of
his own communication, indulges a hope that public
affairs are at last on the way to adjustment. They
were never so much out of the way as at that moment.
Mr. Browne, who writes this, appears to have been
better qualified to pronounce upon canary wines and
mulberry trees, than upon the open questions which were
convulsing the kingdom from end to end under his eyes.
His facts turn his hopes to dust. That remarkable una-
nimity of the two Houses of which he speaks, and the
extensive changes so suddenly carried out in all offices
of trust and authority, might have suggested to him that
matters were not so near adjustment as he imagined.
6
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
i
CHRISTOPHER BROWNE TO HIS SON.
I HAVE received yours of the 4th, and that also of
the 11th February, together with the copy of your bills and
letter to Sir Edward Nicholas, who at this time is absent
with the King, either at Canterbury or Dover, his Majesty
accompanying the Queen so far on towards her intended
journey for Holland. Mr. Ondart is now thence also, with
Sir Edward, and Mr. Beare left for dispatch of business
here. At his Majesty's return, which is expected will be
within a few days, I shall attend Mr. Ondart, for an answer
of your letter, and in the mean time will advise with my
cousin Farrington and my cousin William, and resolve, (if we
can,) upon some meet person to solicit your business both
with the Commissioners and at the receipt. The last time we
had speech thereof, we could not think upon any one more
fit than our cousin Tuke.
There is great hope now conceived of a speedy settlement
of our so long disturbed affairs; for his Majesty having
lately cast himself into the arms of his Parliament, both
Houses concur so unanimously, that they now dispatch more
business in one day than formerly they could in a month's
time; for they have already either discarded or changed all
the lieutenants of the several counties both of England and
Wales, and there is an universal change and alteration daily
expected in the face, I mean the exterior part, both of
Church, Court, and country, by removing, placing, and dis-
placing not only our great officers, but some inferior also.
Amongst the rest, I presume you will no less wonder than
you do wish it, when you shall hear that Sir H. Vane is
restored to his Treasurership. In the mean time, I hear
1642.1
7
THE CIVIL WAR.
that the Earl of Stamford is already designed Mr. Jermyn's
successor in his government of Jersey.
Yesterday, after many journeys to speak with Sir David
Carleton, I happened to meet him in Westminster Hall,
for he hath now no house in town. He tells me that he is
accountable to you for by him received. As for those
other gratuities of money, wine, and fish, he was that day
come to town to inquire after them, but doubts (as the times
now are) they will fall very short of what came in formerly. I
then saluted George Carleton also, lately come out of Ireland
with his wife and family; he commends him kindly to you.
My cousin William will take order forthwith to furnish a
tierce of good wine for Mr. Edisbury; and if you desire any
Canary wine, I have now a quarter cask of that which is
good, and at a reasonable rate, which upon notice may be
sent unto you.
I am glad to hear that little Dick is so refined à la mode,
and become so stout a horseman. Upon notice that he dares
shoot off a gun, I will send him a brass cannon. In the
mean time, I long to know how he hath borne himself in this
time of your carnivals, and with what countenance he hath
entertained those strange disguises. I doubt not but Moll
hath adventured to dance with the ugliest vizards in the
troop. I pray God bless them, &c.
Your loving father,
CHR. BROWNE.
London, 17th February, 1641, [N.S. 1642].*
* The new style will be found thus distinguished from the old throughout
these volumes. According to the old style, the legal year terminated on the 24th
March-according to the new, on the 31st December. The change was not
introduced into England till 1751, when the 1st January 1751 was brevetted
1752; but as the Gregorian Calendar had been adopted upwards of a century
8
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
Mr. Christopher Browne comes out to greater advan-
tage in his domestic correspondence, which, although of
no public or historical importance, may be admitted
into a friendly parenthesis amongst the Fairfax papers.
He seems to have had some connection with Algernon
Sidney, and to have been a lover of gardening and
cheerfulness. His June letter is crammed full of roses
and strawberries, and other seasonable things.
CHRISTOPHER BROWNE TO HIS SON.
YESTERNIGHT I received yours of the 20th March;
and am sorry our hopes of success in the overture I lately men-
tioned to you are become frustrate: the party himself is gone
to play his own game, rather than trouble another to hold his
cards. The particulars import not much, and at this time
somewhat out of the way to relate, for me, who hasten to tell
you that the place I have chosen for those seeds is safe
enough from any injury of the ashen roots, or shade of their
boughs,―voted to be so also by Sir William Russell's gar-
dener, who wishes you had likewise sent, or yet would send,
some cypress seeds; it will not be too late, he tells me, any
time this month. Touching the digging of the old orchard,
I doubt we shall hardly find a customer to undertake it
for the benefit he may hope to reap thereby, the season of
the year being now past for early peas; but we will try
and a half before by most of the countries of Europe, some confusion is
unavoidably apparent in the dates of documents during the interval. This
confusion, however, attaches only to the first three months of each year, and the
reader will be enabled to reconcile all discrepancies by the help of the addition,
within brackets, (as on the preceding page) of the date according to the new style.
1642.]
9.
THE CIVIL WAR.
what will be resolved upon the question. John and Lewes
have already digged the mount, and planted it with beans
and
peas, &c., and are to be sharers in the benefit.
If my daughter shall approve thereof, she is provided of
a gentlewoman, recommended by my cousin Muffats, the
same I think mentioned to her at her departure hence, (re-
ported to be extraordinarily qualified towards performance
of more than is required, be it in the kitchen, larder, buttery,
any office,) only her ambition is to sit at table the first
course, and then to rise and attend my daughter's com-
mands. That which above all pleases me (if I may believe
Dr. Valentine), is a well-tempered cheerfulness, both in her
discourse and deportment every way. I am also solicited
to move for Mrs. Cooper, both by her own and her mother's
earnest desires: the particulars I refer to her own letters,
here inclosed.
I am sorry we can as yet give no better account to Sir
W. B., touching payment of the 60%., the late bill of 2007.
still hanging upon our hands. Nevertheless, you may assure
him that by the next money we can in these difficult times
procure it shall be discharged, with consideration also to the
party for his forbearance.
My cousin William and Mr. Baker are now here, to spend
some time with me, finding the country air more agreeable
than the city, especially at this time of little or no trading.
And I hear also that Mr. Santhill, if he be not come to Paris
already, will very shortly visit you there. I dare now pro-
mise that by the next ordinary you shall receive a particular
account from my cousin William : he is this day gone to
London, and to-morrow will return with the books and
papers of his accounts, which, once perfected, you shall hear
from him,-desiring in the meantime to be excused, his
10
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
many businesses at present not permitting him leisure.
Both he and Mr. Baker (whose wife and family are removed
to Lee, in Essex,) heartily salute you and my daughter;
and myself, recommending you both, with little Dick and
Moll, to God Almighty's gracious blessing, I conclude,
and rest
Your loving father,
Deptford, 16th March, 1641, [N.S. 1642].
CHR. BROWNE.
CHRISTOPHER BROWNE TO HIS DAUGHTER.
DEARLY BELOVED DAUGHTER,
By those I have received from William Bush, and
those likewise from my son, I understand that he hath lately
taken a journey, which I hope neither for the length of the
way, nor time of negotiation, will cause his long absence
from you. In the meanwhile, trusting in God's all-sufficient
providence, I pray be cheerful. My cousin Farrington will
take care for your supply, and hath already added to his
former engagements this last bill of exchange for 1007. to
Mr. Gyttings. Mr. Bartier hath discharged the 1007. bill,
charged from thence by Mr. Algernon Sidney. And though
neither the Court or Chequer hitherto yield any drops, the
clouds (thanks be to God!) have been more propitiously boun-
teous in bestowing a new livery upon the Broomefield, and
Gammer West is now at last dropped out of the clouds also,
and by the assistance of Daniel, her associate, hath not only
fringed the skirts of the gravel walks with pinks and violets,
but embroidered also the borders with varieties of herbs and
flowers. Only the two mulberry trees and great walnuts
languish, I fear, past hope of recovery, though no means of
1642.]
11
THE CIVIL WAR.
refreshment hath been wanting towards their preservation.
Our damask roses also have been much blasted with the
easterly winds; the red have escaped better. My cousin
Farrington and Mrs. Edisbury have tasted of our straw-
berries; Mrs. Valentine's turn is next. As for raspberries
we are like to have great store; and sugar being so abund-
antly cheap at this time, our chief want will be of a skilful
preserver, unless it shall please God (which I heartily desire
of him) to restore my cousin Farrington timely enough to her
strength, much weakened at present by a hard bargain,
though, thanks be to God, well delivered of a pretty, lively
boy, last Friday morning.
Your tokens to Mrs. Edisbury were delivered to her
mother, sealed up. Those, &c.,
Your loving father,
London, 16th June, 1642.
*
CHR. BROWNE.*
Since this letter came I received one from my brother
Will, that my sister is very dangerously taken. I pray God
send us better news from them.
The royal progress into the North awakened the
suspicions of Parliament. There was a great magazine
at Hull, which they desired to transport to the Tower,
and, failing that, to prevent it, at all events, from falling
into the hands of the King. For that purpose, they
appointed Sir John Hotham governor of Hull, and
ordered a party of the Trained Bands of Yorkshire into
the town. The absolute necessity of the measure was
These letters of Mr. Browne's are from Mr. Bentley's Collection.
12
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
shown in the sequel. The King, being still at York,
appeared before Hull at the head of upwards of three
hundred horse, and demanded admittance. The gover-
nor refused to open the gates, unless his Majesty con-
sented to dismiss his troops, and enter with only twelve
followers. This was the first time his Majesty met with
a flat resistance. Hitherto we have had only evasions
and state-paper formalities; but here the matter was
stripped of sophistries and ceremonials, and reduced to
a sword's point. The negociations between the governor
and the King lasted from eleven o'clock in the morning
until five o'clock in the evening, when poor royalty,
finding all threats and persuasions fail, took refuge in
the arms of two heralds, who on the spot proclaimed Sir
John Hotham a traitor. This was all the satisfaction
his Majesty got; for Parliament amply vindicated Sir
John, and declared that the proclamation denouncing
him as a traitor was itself a treason against Parlia-
ment, and a violation of law. The Beverly Gate, at
which this memorable conference took place, may be
set down as the opening scene of the tragic play of the
Civil War. As the play advances, it is rather a solemn
diversion of the interest to find this very Parliament,
which had thus protected and applauded the patriotism
of Sir John Hotham, compelled to put him and his
son to death for betraying their trust in this same
governorship of Hull.
Upon the Beverly Gate failure followed the attempt
to seduce the gentry of York. Charles, cleverly enough,
1642.]
13
THE CIVIL WAR.
took advantage of the hostile reception at Hull to make
out a case for a body-guard. "You see," says he, " that
my magazine is about to be taken from me ;" and so it
was necessary that the gentry should take a new oath of
allegiance to protect his person, and disavow the sepa-
rate authority of Parliament. Sir Thomas Fairfax, who
was at York at the time, thus writes home to his father
an account of the proceeding :-
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
WHEN I received your letters, I thought it would
concern the committee as well as yourself, being directed
with such haste; therefore before I sent them to you I made
bold to carry the packet to them. The King's journey into
Lincolnshire is stayed yet for ten days by the advice of my
Lord of Bath. His intent of going thither was to have seen
if that country would have accepted my Lord Lindsey for their
Lord-Lieutenant. My Lord Clare dislikes their proceedings
here, and will hasten away as soon as he can. Of Saturday
the King made two propositions to the Lords :-first, if they
would defend his person, and raise him some horse; secondly,
whether they would obey an ordinance without his assent.
They all promised to secure his person; but many of the
lords desired to engage themselves further, and that they
would observe those ordinances of Parliament which should
be for his Majesty's honour and the safety of the kingdom.
Those that went this way were Marquis Hertford, Marquis
Hamilton, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Clare, Lord Paulet, and
14
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
some others. My Lady Westmoreland will be at Appleton
to-morrow at night, and stay two nights there. Her chief
intention of coming was to see her sister, and for that time
it will not be much chargeable. My wife presents her
humble duty to your lordship, and had sent this day to have
seen your lordship, but that she understands how you are by
those which came from Denton. So, humbly desiring your
lordship's blessing on us all, and praying for your health,
I rest,
York, June 13th, 1642.
Your lordship's most humble and obedient son,
THO. FAIRFAX.
The Lord Lindsey alluded to in this letter was soon
afterwards appointed general of the King's forces,—a
brief honour, being killed in the following October at
the battle of Edgehill. He brought large supplies to
the King's army, and possessed such influence in
Lincolnshire, (which explains his Majesty's anxiety to
establish him in the Lord-Lieutenancy,) that several of
the companies of his own regiment were commanded
by Lincolnshire gentlemen, who volunteered into the
service to oblige him. Lindsey was brave to rashness,
and haughty and zealous in his devotion to the Sove-
reign. His pride was unable to endure the distinction
shown to Prince Rupert, who, as general of the horse,
was specially exempt from all orders except such as
were delivered expressly by the King himself. Lindsey,
hurt at this exception, which compromised his position,
declared to his friends, that when the day of battle came
1642.]
15
THE CIVIL WAR.
he would die at the head of his regiment. And he kept
his word.
The oath tendered to the noblemen at York was in
these words:-
I, A. B., swear before the Almighty and ever living God
that I will bear a true and faithful allegiance to my true and
undoubted Sovereign Lord King Charles, who is lawful King
of this island, and all other his kingdoms and dominions both
by sea and land, by the laws of God and man, and by lawful
succession; and that I will most constantly and cheerfully
ever, to the uttermost hazard of my life and fortune, con-
stantly oppose all seditions, rebellions, conspiracies, covenants,
conjurations, and treasons whatsoever, against his royal dig-
nity, crown, or person, raised or set up under what pretence
or colour soever; and if it shall come veiled under pretence
of religion, I hold it more abominable before God and man.
And this oath I take voluntarily, in the true faith of a true
Christian and loyal subject, without any equivocation or
mental reservation whatsoever, and from which I do hold no
power on earth can absolve me in any part.
The slight way in which Sir Thomas dismisses this
business, may probably be ascribed to his conviction of
the certainty of its failure. But it did not end exactly
as he says. There was a diversity of answers returned
to the demands of the King. A few went the whole
way in compliance, and some the whole way in refusal.
The greater part halted between. The individuals
alluded to by Sir Thomas promised to defend the
16
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
King's person (as Hollis or Pym, had there been occa-
sion, would have as readily done); but they also pledged
themselves to defend the Protestant religion (which the
King was never tired of professing) and the "lawful
liberties of the subjects of England, and just privileges
of his Majesty and both Houses of Parliament."
Others plainly told him that the best advice they
could give him was to hearken to the councils of his
Parliament, who, they were assured, would be duly
careful of his person and his honour; while the great
body of the freeholders (more important at that junc-
ture than the gentry themselves) protested against the
entire proceeding.
It was clear from all this that Yorkshire was growing
too hot for the King; and, although he continued to
storm about his treatment at Hull, and to let Parlia-
ment know that he was determined to bring the traitor
Hotham to justice, he resolved to get away from the
neighbourhood as soon as he could. Having obtained
a supply of arms and ammunition from Holland (where
the Queen had been foolishly busying herself in pro-
curing succour for him to tempt him on to his ruin), he
issued his famous Commission of Array. This explicit
movement terminated all doubt and irresolution. The
King and the Parliament had now fairly put themselves
upon the country. It was for the people to choose
between the Array and the Militia.
The whole kingdom was thrown into confusion. The
busy note of preparation was heard in all quarters.
1642.]
17
THE CIVIL WAR.
·
The shadows of coming events fell broad and dark
over the surface of the land. The perplexity of the
people broke out in various shapes, and the universal
incertitude penetrated even to the tribunals of justice.
The Judges on the Bench sat in a state of solemn
dubiety. A letter from Mr. Rushworth to Lord Fairfax
touches upon the "signs of the times."
MR. RUSHWORTH TO LORD FAIRFAX.
LETTERS came this day of the certainty of the business
about Bath and Wells in Somersetshire, where about 30,000
of the inhabitants in Somersetshire were in arms, and besieged
Wells, and planted thirty pieces of cannon on the hill that com-
manded the town, where the Marquis Hertford, the Lord
Paulet, and the Lord Seymour, and Lord Cottington, with 500
horse well armed, were quartered. They had four cart-loads
of powder, match, and bullet from Bristol, and so continued in
arms all night. Sir John Horn, Mr. Alexander Popham, Sir
Edward Hungerford, and Mr. Ashe being there in person.
and summoned the Marquis to come to them; but, in the
night time, he and his horse all marched away, and so fled
out of the county; so they are now gone to see if they can
catch Sir John Stowell, Sir John Powlett, and Captain
Digby, who commanded those forces under the Marquis,
that hath slain and wounded divers of the Parliament side
without provocation. The Parliament hath sent 300 horse
to assist the foot in that county, who are generally for the
Parliament.
Three troops of horse are sent to Portsmouth, and a
regiment of foot sent to Banbury, to remove the Earl of
VOL. I.
18
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
Northampton thence, who is there to catch seven pieces of
ordnance of the Lord Brooks, with 600 horse, but the
county begins to rise round about him. The Parliament
hath received a petition from four Lords, and ten of the House
of Commons, residing in Yorkshire, viz., the Lord Savile,
Lord Falconbridge, and Sir William Savile, Mr. Henry
Bellassis, &c., of such a nature as was never signed by
members of Parliament, and voted to be an insolent petition
and they must not go unpunished.
In Worcestershire, at the assizes, there was a grand jury
of knights, &c., but none but one that was legally returned
was admitted to serve. They concluded of a petition in dis-
like of the Parliament. Judge Henden forbore there to
deliver his opinion according to the commands of Parliament
touching the commission of array.
There is an intention and preparation to adjourn speedily.
I see no signs of peace, our preparations come on so fast. I
pray let your, &c.
The messengers of the Yorkshire petition are committed
to the Black Rod not as bearers of this petition, but for
dangerous words spoken by them, as is proved here against
them.
The House is much contented with Sir Thomas Fairfax's
noble carriage of Thursday last.
August, 1642.
Mr. Rushworth, the writer of this letter, was nearly
related to the Fairfax family, and owes much of his
celebrity, as an historical collector, to the advantages he
derived from that connection. A barrister by profession,
he abandoned the common law for state affairs, and
1642.]
19
THE CIVIL WAR.
voluntarily devoted himself for several years to the task
of taking down in short-hand the speeches and pro-
ceedings in Parliament. His industry in this pursuit is
probably unparalleled, and the world is largely indebted
to him for the results. He afterwards became assistant
clerk to the Commons, and the House reposed such
trust in him, as to employ him constantly in conveying
messages and addresses between Parliament and the
King, while his Majesty was at York, a distance of
upwards of 150 miles, which Rushworth is said to
have frequently ridden within the twenty-four hours.
When Sir Thomas Fairfax became generalissimo,
Mr. Rushworth was appointed his secretary. During
the Commonwealth he acted upon a committee for the
reformation of the law, and served in several Parlia-
ments after the death of Cromwell. Yet, notwith-
standing that he acquired the respect of all parties
by the integrity of his character, and had ample
opportunities of securing an independence, he lingered
out the last six years of his life in the King's Bench
prison, where he died in May, 1690. His fine business
faculties became impaired at last, and his end was
hastened by intemperance.
On the 22nd of August the King set up his standard
at Nottingham. The war was now begun in real
earnest. The details are matters of history with which
all readers interested in the English annals are already
familiar. We have here to do only with our own
special celebrities, and with the progress of the war
ċ 2
20
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
in the north, as illustrated in the correspondence
before us.
We have hitherto seen little of Lord Fairfax or his
son in these transactions. The single exploit which
indicated the temper and inclination of the family was
the gallantry of young "Tom"-proud and fiery Tom-
on Heyworth Moor. The military genius of the Fair-
faxes slumbered at the fireside at Denton while the
King bandied protocols with Parliament; but the case
was altered when he issued the Commission of Array.
The time was gone by for hesitation. It was no longer
possible even to be neutral. Fairfax had special reason
to stir himself. The Roundheads looked to him as
the conservator of the zeal and enthusiasm of the north;
and the Cavaliers, fearing his influence, resolved to put
him out of the way. A plan was laid to seize his per-
son, and convey him, on some flimsy pretext of dis-
affection, a prisoner to York; but, forewarned of the
design, he armed his tenantry, took the field, and baffled
his enemies. It was by such electric movements the
King was defeated all throughout. Whichever way he
turned, to fly or fight, he was stopped or anticipated.
Whenever he planned a piece of treachery, he was
caught in his own springe.
Lord Fairfax was immediately appointed to the com-
mand of the Parliamentary forces in the north. The
urgency of the occasion may be seen in the hasty
despatch of a letter addressed to the noblemen and
gentlemen of Yorkshire by the Committee of Safety.
1642.]
21
THE CIVIL WAR.
MY LORDS And Gentlemen,
WE have received information that at a late meeting
at Leeds divers worthy gentlemen and others, well affected
inhabitants of Yorkshire, have declared themselves desirous
to preserve the peace of that county, and to secure his
Majesty's subjects from those violent oppressions executed
upon their persons and estates by the Earl of Cumberland,
the Lord Savile, and others, by pretence of the commission
of array, and other commissions against law, and for that
purpose have thought upon a noble person of your county,
the Lord Fairfax, to command in chief over the forces of that
shire, and that John Hotham, Esq., lately conferred much
help and furtherance to this noble resolution by coming out
of Hull with some forces, both horse and foot. Hereupon,
we have received directions from both Houses of Parliament
to signify unto you their approbation, and to give all encour-
agement and assistance in these proceedings, as conducing
much to that great work which the Parliament hath under-
taken to secure-religion and the liberty and peace of the
kingdom, which are much endangered by the ill council
about his Majesty, and the war now raised against the Par-
liament; in pursuance whereof, we have thought good hereby
to desire and authorize you to draw the forces of that county
together under the conduct of the Lord Fairfax; and to
defend his Majesty's subjects in their persons and liberties
against the said Earl of Cumberland, or any other that shall
oppress the same by pretence of any commission whatsoever.
And for your better performance hereof, we intend to send
down very speedily some experienced officers, with ample
instructions in such manner as hath been given to other
parties of the kingdom in the like case; and to commend the
22
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
Lord Fairfax to the Earl of Essex, intreating his Excellency
to send him a commission to the same effect. And, in the
meantime, we have sent this bearer of purpose to give you
notice of the intention and order of the Lords and Commons
in Parliament; and of our particular care to second our good
affections and endeavours in this so necessary and advan-
tageous a service of the kingdom, and so remain,
NORTHUMBERLAND.
H. VANE.
HEN. MARTIN.
Westmoreland, September 27th, 1642.
At 8 at night.
THO. BARRINGTON.
Jo. PYM.
A few weeks afterwards, the same Committee, in the
name of the Parliament, express their approbation of
his lordship's proceedings, and send Mr. Rushworth
upon a special mission to ascertain the actual state of
his affairs and necessities.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, GENERAL
OF THE FORCES IN YORKSHIRE, FOR THE PARLIAMENT.
MY LORD,
UNDERSTANDING, by your lordship's letter to Sir
Christopher Wray and Captain Hatcher, that you are in the
field with 500 foot, and are increasing daily in your forces
for the service of the Parliament and kingdom, in the
public cause which now they have in hand, it is so great
contentment to us, and so desirous we are to encourage your
lordship in your noble proceedings, that we have thought fit
to assure you nothing shall be wanting on our part to second
your lordship's endeavours in this cause with whatsoever lies
1642.]
23
THE CIVIL WAR.
•
in our power; to which purpose we have despatched by this
bearer, Mr. Rushworth, an express to you, that by him we
may understand the truth of affairs with you, and your
desires to us for the advance of the present service herein;
in the meantime, we have thought fit by this messenger to
send our orders to Mr. Hotham, and the two troops of horse
come to him out of Lincolnshire, to observe such commands
as they shall receive from your lordship; what further
supplies you desire from us, when we shall understand the
same from your lordship, we shall use all possible care to
speed them to you. The good state of our affairs here, and
of the army, we shall refer to the relation of this bearer, who
will inform your lordship of all particulars and resolutions
the Parliament have taken thereupon for the public good in
these troublesome times. And so we rest,
Your very loving friends and servants,
T. NORTHUMBERLAND.
L. N. HOWARD.
PEMBROKE And Mont.
WARWICK.
October 21st, 1642.
H. VANE.
HOLLAND.
W. PIERREPont.
GILB. GERRARD.
Lord Fairfax had been in the discharge of his
duties upwards of two months (without waiting, it
appears, for the formal authority of a commission), when
he forwarded the following dispatch to the committee,
giving an exact account of what had been done in the
interval. This dispatch, with the exception of the most
curious and important part of it, has been already
printed by Rushworth, whose omission of the passage
from "Thus, my lords, I have represented briefly the
24
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
condition of the army," to the end, is too remarkable
not to justify the publication of the whole document.
It would be idle to conjecture how it was that Rush-
worth came to drop out or lose this passage, unless we
are to ascribe it to one of those suppressions of truth
of which he is roundly accused by Nalson and others.
Certain it is that the document was presented in its
entirety to Parliament; for the Speaker's answer, which
is here added, relates almost exclusively to the matters
contained in thé omitted passage.
It will be seen that Lord Fairfax makes a grave com-
plaint of the distresses of the army, and warns the House
of the power of the Royalists, by means of their numerous
garrisons, to cut off the scattered troops should they be
forced to go about the country to levy sustenance. Yet
such are the greater difficulties of the Parliament, that the
House is able to send only a moiety of the sum voted for
the relief of the soldiers, and is compelled to authorise
the general, in case of extreme necessity, to billet the
soldiers on the county. What inadequate notions we can
form, at this distance of time, of the small, harassing impe-
diments against which the Parliament had to contend,
and of the discretion and vigilance demanded in the least
as in the greatest things, to enable them to conduct the
struggle to its triumphant issue! By this single act of
billetting the soldiers the cause was placed in immi-
nent peril. Yet it was unavoidable. The Commission
of Array was out over the county, and was already
making head in several other places. The King had
1642.]
25
THE CIVIL WAR.
garrisons ready for whatever might turn up, and was
watching his opportunity for any sudden stroke of
success that might determine in his favour those
floating masses of opinion, which, at such times, are
always found waiting on events; and here were the
new, raw, incoherent bands of the Parliament army
drifted loose amongst the farmers and shopkeepers to
get house-room and nurture as they might, an easy
prey to the first compact movement of their more
disciplined opponents.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE COMMITTEE OF LORDS AND
COMMONS FOR THE SAFETY OF THE KINGDOM.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDShips,
UPON Saturday last I received a declaration of
Parliament, with a commission from his excellency the Earl
of Essex, to command in chief over the forces of the North
and other adjacent counties, which great honour and trust of
far above my ambition or merit, by your lordships conferred
upon me, I shall exercise with all care and fidelity, not
doubting but that your lordships will enable me therein with
such other supplies as the necessity of the service shall
require, and that reported from hence.
The estate of the affairs in these parts since my last
despatch of the first of this month, stands in this manner:—
The Earl of Newcastle is come to York, and joined his forces
to the Earl of Cumberland, making in all, as I am informed,
about 8000 men, horse and foot, of which there is about
2000 horse and dragooners-a strength far too potent to be
resisted by the small power which I have here, whereof I send
26
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
a list enclosed. Our strength was once estimated by our-
selves far greater than now it appears; for, upon the Earl of
Newcastle coming over the Tees, Sir Edward Loftus with all
the Richmondshire men, and Sir Henry Anderson with all
the Cleveland men, and the rest of the North Riding, which
were estimated at 1000 men, did all return to their own
houses, save about 130 men, brought thither by Sir Matthew
Boynton and some other gentlemen, and one troop of horse,
raised by Sir Henry Fowlis, and about forty horse more,
brought hither by Captain Anderson; and, besides this
defect, our numbers are decreased by Sir Hugh Cholmeley:
to whom I have sent divers orders to march northwards to
join with Captain Hotham and the rest in resisting the Earl
of Newcastle's entry, before he came into Yorkshire, and
since his entry, to come to me and the rest of the army at
Tadcaster; but he found such impediments as he could
do neither, and now I hear he is gone to Scarborough,
and taken his forces with him, which were about 700
men ; and Colonel Boynton, whose regiment consisted of
800 foot, is likewise marched towards Hull, although I
sent him divers orders to march up hither to assist the
forces at Tadcaster, giving me neither reason of his not
coming to me, nor of his march towards Hull. And I,
understanding that Sir John Gell had raised 800 men in
Derbyshire, sent unto him to march hither to our succour;
but I have received an answer from him that he is not
able yet to stir from thence; and from Sir Anthony Irby
nor the Lincolnshire men I hear nothing, though I have
sent to them express messengers. So our whole strength
here, upon return of the forces formerly sent into the North,
consisting of twenty-one companies of foot, and seven troops
of horse, and one company of dragooners, we did send of
1642.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
27
them two companies of foot to secure Selby, one company to
secure Cawood Castle, and quartered the rest part of them at
Wetherby, under command of Captain Hotham, whom I have
nominated to be lieutenant-general of the army; and the
rest at Tadcaster, under my own command. And upon
Tuesday, receiving intelligence that the Earl of Newcastle,
with his whole forces, intended to fall upon our quarter, at
Tadcaster, I sent to Captain Hotham to bring up the forces
at Wetherby, which being done, and the Earl of Newcastle's
army come in sight, we drew our men into the uttermost part
of our quarter, where we had raised some breast-works for
our musketeers; and there the fight began, about eleven of
the clock, and so continued, in sharp dispute, until about
four of the clock in the evening, in which time there was at
least 40,000 musket-shots discharged on both sides, and
great numbers of cannon-shot.
The enemy had once won part of the town, and beaten out
our soldiers, and placed some of their company in two or three
houses, which did much endanger us; but in the end our men,
with great courage, forced them out again, recovered and burnt
the houses, and killed many of the enemy's men that were there
placed, and, in conclusion, forced the whole army to retreat,
leaving many of their men dead, and great numbers wounded.
The certain numbers nor qualities of the persons we could
not take; but it is generally said by the country people that
there was at least 100 found killed and burnt; and we took
seventeen prisoners in the fight. And on our part we lost
six men, and Captain William Lister, a valliant and gallant
gentleman, who was shot with a musket-bullet in the head;
and we had about twenty more wounded; and lost not one
prisoner in the battle, though divers of our men, being negli-
gent in their duty, staid behind us when we quit the quarter,
28
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
and so were taken, the next morning, by the enemy, and made
prisoners. In this fight our men behaved themselves with
very great resolution,-far beyond expectation, insomuch as
I conceive we might have maintained the place still, if we had
been furnished with powder and shot; but having spent in a
manner all our whole store of bullets, match, and powder,
I advised with the commanders, and by general consent it
was thought fit to rise with our forces and march to Cawood
and Selby, to secure those places, and there receive supplies
of ammunition and men, which was accordingly done. And
now I am at Seľby, with part of the army, and the rest with
Captain Hotham, at Cawood. And yesterday I sent my son,
Sir Thomas Fairfax, with five companies on foot and two
troop of horse towards Leeds, intending he should continue
there, to secure that place and the other clothing towns
against the Earl of Newcastle's forces, if it were possible.
But the enemy's forces were laid so strong in the way as he
could not pass; so he only beat up a quarter of the enemy's
in a small village, took five prisoners, and retreated to Selby.
Thus, my lords, I have represented briefly the condition of
this army at present, and which, I must confess, I fear will
very suddenly grow worse, if not utterly broken up, and that
especially for want of money,-I having not above a week's
pay provided beforehand, and no visible means left to raise
maintenance for them, unless I should give the soldiers free
quarters upon the country,-a cure, in my conception, as
dangerous as the disease, and, peradventure, not possible to
be effected, if the enemy be still master of the field, and cut
off our men as they go about to levy sustenance, which they
may do, and yet not able to beat up our quarters. I have
hitherto supported this army by the loans and contributions,
for the most part, of the parishes of Leeds, Halifax, and
1642.]
29
THE CIVIL WAR.
Bradford, and some other small clothing towns adjacent,
being the only well-affected people of the country, who,
I much fear, may now suffer by this popish army of the
North, merely for their good affection to the religion and
public liberty. Out of the rest of the country I was not able
to draw any considerable help, the enemy having garrisons in
so many places, who threatened to ruin any that should assist
the Parliament and the cause with money or other helps.
My lords, in sum, the state of this country is thus: the
enemy is mighty and master of the field, plentifully supplied
from his majesty and the papists, and malignant parties, with
money and all necessaries. The well-affected party, as now
it is divided, not considerable, the aid from Lincolnshire,
Derbyshire, and other counties very uncertain, the want of
money here such as will force us to disband within ten days;
and if the enemy once become absolute master of Yorkshire,
they will force contributions and succours from the country,
which will raise a very formidable army, and put the whole
cause in peril, if God do not miraculously defend it. I
beseech your lordships seriously to consider it, and send such
speedy supplies of men and money as will enable me to go
forward in the service, which I shall not fail to do with a
constant fidelity. Your lordships have heretofore assigned
20007. for our succour, but the most part of it is still at
London, where it lieth for want of exchange or convoy. And
therefore what shall now be sent must come either by suffi-
cient convoy of forces by land, or else by sea to Hull, and
so hither to me. The Scottish officers are now come hither
yesterday, but now we are so straitened that we can have no
men resort to us to put under command, nor have we money
to pay them. The further relation of these affairs I shall
leave to Captain Hatcher, who follows these letters, purposely
30
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
to give a true relation to the House of these affairs, and hath
been an eye-witness of most of the passages in this country,
from the first raising of arms: to whose further expression
I shall leave it, with addition only, that if the country or
cause suffer, your lordships will discern, by this relation, in
whom the default hath been, and impute it accordingly; for
nothing hath been omitted possible to be effected by your
lordships' most faithful and humble servant,
Selby, December 10th, 1642.
F. FAIRFAX.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE FORCES IN THE NORTH, THESE.
MY LORD,
I AM commanded by the House of Commons to
give your lordship thanks for your care, vigilance, and active-
ness in opposing that Popish army commanded by the Earl
of Newcastle, and, according to your lordship's desire, the
House hath appointed 20,0007. for the payment of your army,
whereof 10,0007. they intend to pay presently (though money
at this time is very scant with them), and the other 10,0007.
shall be prepared for you with all possible speed. They
likewise approve of your lordship's billetting your soldiers on
that county (upon the case of extreme necessity), and have
engaged the public faith of the kingdom for the repayment
thereof, as by the enclosed order, under the clerk's hand.
You may perceive the committee for the northern parts are
using all possible care and diligence to supply your lordship
with arms; and the House is resolved likewise to hasten
the supplies of foot and horse, to enforce your lordship's
army, that so, by God's blessing upon all our endeavours,

GPHarding ESA. del
WILLIAM
Speaker of the House of Commons.
LENTHALL.
Jos. Brown, sc
FROM THE ORIGINAL BY S.COOPER, FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION
AT STRAWBERRY HILL.
London Richard Bentley, 1849.
1642.1
31
THE CIVIL WAR.
that army of Papists may be suppressed before the total ruin
of the country where now they are.
Your lordship's very loving friend,
WM. LENTHALL,
December 23rd, 1642.
Speaker.
The Fairfaxes were now committed, life and fortune,
to the cause. The eldest son, Sir Thomas, who had
been knighted two years before in the Scotch war, was
appointed General of the Horse under his father, who
had already twice summoned home from foreign service
his only remaining son, Charles, as appears from the
following letter. The first summons, it seems, was not
very peremptory. The second was decisive, unhappily
for the son, who returned to England, joined his father's
forces, and was killed at the battle of Marston Moor.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS LOVING FATHER, THE LORD
FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN YORK, OR ELSEWHERE, THESE
HUMBLE PRESENTS.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
Two days ago I received your lordship's letter,
dated from Denton, the 18th of August. I shall not seek
now for leave to go over before I hear again from your lord-
ship what I should do. Mr. Strickland who was sent by the
Parliament over hath had audience of the States, but not
openly, which was forbidden him by reason the Queen of
England had spoke before to the States, that they would not
hearken to his message; notwithstanding his coming doth very
much good for the Parliament. Here is like to be much
troubles in these parts, now a beginning and likely to increase,
32
[1642.
MEMORIALS OF
if the distempers in England continue. The interest of these
countries depends upon the welfare of England because of
our religion and laws; it is much feared here that if the
government in England be changed, these countries will also
be debarred of their ancient customs. These States are jealous
of the Prince of Orange, that by his means both ammunition
and monies should have been sent to our King. The States
hath lately arrested some ships which were going over for
England with ammunition. My Lord Benerweart, Serjeant-
Major General of our army, hath desired of every English
company three men, which are granted him; there goes an
English captain and a lieutenant with them to the King's
army, but I think they will be stayed before they can be ready
to go over, by the States, who will have notice of them. There
is an ambassador come the other day to the Hague, out of
England, from the King. To-day I hear the Prince's Leaguer
is broken up, and is coming to garrison; some of the Queen
of England's attendants have much offended by their uncivil
behaviours; the principal of them is Mr. Garmaine, and they
are taken notice of over all these lands. Commending my
prayers to God for your lordship, I humbly take leave.
Your lordship's obedient son,
CHARLES FAIRFAX.
From Clineyard, this 8th of September, 1642.
I humbly intreat of your lordship send not over for me
this winter; that your lordship please to give order to Mr.
Nevell to send me some cloth for a suit of clothes this winter.
When your lordship writes over to me, your lordship may
direct the letter to Mr. Dolphin's house, in Dorte, at the sign
of the Swan, by the Kiddikes port, which will be a better way
than to Rotterdam, because it is nearer.
1643.]
33
THE CIVIL WAR.
In the meanwhile the battle of Edgehill had taken
place, and several skirmishes, with a most fluctuating
fortune; and Sir Thomas, diligently executing his trust
in the clothing districts, was already growing impatient
to raise the country, but prudently delayed for orders
from his father. The following letter is dated from
the scene of his first action, Bradford, where, against
more than double his numbers, and the advantages of
the ground, he compelled the King's troops to draw off
to Leeds:
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
THESE parts grow very impatient of our delay in
beating them out of Leeds and Wakefield, for by them all
trade and provisions are stopped, so that the people in these
clothing towns are not able to subsist, and, indeed, so
pressing are these wants, as some have told me, if I would
not stir with them, they must rise of necessity of themselves
in a thing of so great importance. I thought it fit to acquaint
you with it, to desire your lordship's advice, before I would
undertake it; therefore humbly desire your lordship not to
defer this business, but, if no aid can come to us, then to
give us advice, and order what to do, for long this country
cannot subsist; and to raise the country to assault the
enemy, I would not do it, without your lordship's consent,
being only commanded to defend the parts from them. I
desire, with all speed, this bearer may bring us your lord-
VOL. I.
D
34
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
ship's resolution. I am sure I shall have above six hundred
muskets, if I summons the country to come in, besides 3000
and more with other weapons, that would rise with us. If
your lordship please to give me power to join with the
readiness of the people, I doubt not but, by God's assist-
ance, to give your lordship a good account of what we do.
So, humbly desiring your blessing, I will ever be
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THO. FAIRFAX.
Bradford, January 9th, 1642. [N. S. 1643.]
All circumstances considered, the letter is abundantly
hopeful. Sir Thomas and his father had a serious
responsibility placed upon them with grievously inade-
quate means. Their forces were numerically, and
indeed in every other way, inferior to the royalists;
the officers were inexperienced; the soldiers were ill
paid, sometimes not paid at all; provisions and muni-
tions were scarce; and there were traitors amongst
their foremost men-the greatest calamity of all. On
the other hand, the Royalists were well officered,
liberally provided, better disciplined, and had with them
the prestige and traditions of the kingly authority, "a
tower of strength" in itself. This state of things
accounts for the diffidence and incertitude of Sir
Thomas's movements during this period. After the
action at Bradford, he was joined by Captain Hotham
with three troops of dragoons, and advancing upon
Leeds, found that the enemy had evacuated the town
at his approach. Some collisions subsequently took
1643.]
35
THE CIVIL WAR.
place at Wetherby and Tadcaster, and towards the end
of the month he took the town of Leeds, which was
hotly disputed by Sir William Savile. The next letter
is an acknowledgment of his father's approbation of his
conduct on that occasion :
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER,
FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX, AT SELBY.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THE good success it hath pleased God to give my
weak endeavours hath only proceeded from his goodness, to
whom I desire the honour may redound, and if your lordship
hath received any satisfaction by it I am rewarded with what
I desire. I am at Wakefield now, but I return this day to
Leeds. I found here when I came great numbers of people
in the town, who by Capt. Winge's good government and
care, whom I had sent thither to keep the town, kept them
from doing much hurt by pillaging. According to your
lordship's order, Sir William Fairfax, of Steeton, stays there
to command, and if it be well looked to, I believe 4000l. will
easily be raised out of that town. Some of these forces I
intend to send to Pomfret to quarter in the town, the Castle
hath not above eighty men in it and it cannot annoy those
in the town; the possessing ourselves of that place would
open a free passage to Hull which would be a great benefit
to these towns, and some terror to the enemy to see us go on;
but I desire your lordship to excuse me that I do this with-
out order from your lordship, but you may send them back
again to-morrow if you please. If they lie there because
they have no money, it will be good if your lordship think it
D 2
36
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
fit to allow the guides free billet, yet all plunder forbid. So
very near, your lordship may make good use of them. Capt.
Hotham intends to go to Doncaster this day. When he saw
your lordship's order, he called for pen and ink to copy it out,
it seemed by his peevish humour to have taken some advan-
tage by it, but he did not. No order will be observed by
him but what he please, unless some order be to restrain him;
if he will be accountable for 60007., which I believe he may
raise in those parts and bring it in to the public stock, as we
shall give an account what we raise in our own quarters, he
may be allowed to take the employment. If we could join
all our forces, your lordship might resolve of some notable
design, but Leeds, Wakefield, and other places doth so view
our strength as we can do little; for this I shall attend your
lordship's further order. I thank your lordship for thinking
of sending Capt. Bladen to me. I have great need of one to
assist me, having many things heavy upon me, and being
grown within these few days more unhealthful than I was; if
your lordship could send us more arms we could arm the
country with them, for strangers being restrained of their
will are very mutinous. I think to send the convoy which
came from Selby back to-morrow. So humbly desiring your
lordship's blessing, I rest
Your lordship's humble and most obedient son,
THO. FAIRFAX.
Wakefield, January 27th, 1642. [N. S. 1643.]
It is evident from the allusion to Captain Hotham that
there was a discordance somewhere. Who should have
suspected that treason, which the quick eye of Fairfax
had already discerned, was growing up here. The
Hothams, probably, thought that, after the business at
1643.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
37
Hull, a trust of higher responsibility ought to have been
reposed in them, and were unwilling to be placed under
the command of others, especially this young Fairfax,
who was now only in his thirty-first year. Lord Essex,
the generalissimo, no doubt thinking these expectations
reasonable, appointed Captain Hotham to the post of
Lieutenant-general; a step which he may have after-
wards looked back upon with some misgivings when he
was himself superseded by the Parliament to make way
for Sir Thomas Fairfax. This Lord Essex was the son
of the favourite, and had joined the Parliament in a fit
of resentment against the King, because his majesty
refused to grant him the command of the forest of
Medwood. The appointment of Captain Hotham is
formally announced in a subsequent communication
from Commissary Copley :-
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, GENERAL
OF ALL THE FORCES, &c., IN THE NORTH PARTS, AT SELBY,
THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I FIND myself no way deceived in my confidence of
your lordship's zeal to promote the good of your country of
which you are a great patriarch, and so God owns you by
many earnests of his favour in giving you victories upon the
common enemy, the last of which came to my hands by Mr.
Copley and was right welcome to me, as also those assur-
ances he gives me of a happy concordance betwixt your
lordship, Sir John Hotham, and his son Captain Hotham, to
38
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
which purpose I have herewith inclosed sent you instructions
to be observed by you all for the future regulating of busi-
ness with you, to which I doubt not you will freely con-
descend, as being the only way under God to carry on your
affairs to public advantage.
My lord, what I do herein is no way to lessen you, but
to keep on our business in such a course as through God's
blessing may make it prosper to further success, and give
way for present to some things which might else bring on
greater inconveniencies. As your lordship is wise in all things,
so I must say you are truly noble in quitting private interests
for public advantage; go on and the Lord will prosper you.
My lord, I send you herewith also a list of names who I
desire should constantly stand for a council of war with you;
leaving to that council power to add more as occasion may
require, and shall be voted by the major part of them. I do
this in respect of the Lincolnshire forces, and those under
my Lord Gray and others; who when they come will expect
to be of the council of war. I have already written to the
Lord Gray, and into Lincolnshire, to march into your
county and to join with you, that whilst fear possesseth the
enemy you may fall upon them at York, or wheresoever they
now quarter, and if it be possible seize the convoy they
expect should bring their money and ammunition from
Newcastle.
My lord, as your hearty pursuit of the instructions I send
will abundantly honour you in the opinion of all good men,
so in particular will very much oblige me to remain,
Your lordship's faithful friend,
ESSEX.
Windsor, January 31st, 1642. [N. S. 1643.]
1643.]
39
THE CIVIL WAR.
A LIST OF NEW OFFICERS OF HORSE AND FOOT.
HORSE.-Lord Fairfax, Major Butler, Colonel Windsor,
Lord Brandon, Earl of Dalkeith, Earl of Warwick, Admiral
of the Fleet.
FOOT.-Sir Richard Atkins, Sir Arthur Chichester, Colonel
Clint, Colonel Edgworth, Colonel Fox, (attended the Commis-
sion who tried the King); Colonel Harrington, Colonel Pack,
Colonel Hamilton, Colonel Freak, Trenchard, Norcoate, Lord
Mountjoy, Blaney, (1646, taken prisoner by the Rebels in
Ireland); Shelborn, Charlemont, Colonel Ross, Colonel Smith.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE NORTH, AT SELBY, YORKSHIRE, THESE
PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I WAS commanded to intimate to your lordship that
his Excellency forgot to express in his letter to your lord-
ship his desire your lordship should give Captain Hotham a
commission for lieutenant-general under your lordship, and
that he hath written to Captain Hotham to accept it from
your lordship, and go on with your lordship in a hearty
compliance for the future. I perceive my lord General
accounted himself much engaged to you, for that you was so
willing to be bound by him. I represented the business as
it truly stood, with several notes of every your expressions
how far you was willing to subscribe if it came commended
from him, out of which he hath caused the enclosed instruc-
tions to be made and sent, with a note of names for a council
of war, who, though they are more in number, yet being
Colonels, and men now deeply engaged in the country with
40
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
you, he thought they would expect it. My lord, I procured
my lord to write to the men at Manchester, Sir William
Brewerton and Sir John Gell, whose letter I have here
enclosed, and do entreat your lordship would cause them to
be sent, that they give your lordship assistance as soon as
possibly they can, with their forces, as also my Lord Grey
and those in Lincolnshire. My lord, if your lordship please
to enjoin me any service here, I am
Your lordship's faithful kinsman and servant,
LIONEL COPLEY.
London, Feb. 1st, 1642. [N. S. 1643.]
It will be seen that the Earl of Essex praises the
"zeal" of Lord Fairfax, but says nothing about his
ability or the difficulties of his situation. It is plain
enough that this acknowledgment of his "zeal" is only
a courteous hint of want of confidence in his judgment,
which he further testifies in a way that cannot be
mistaken, by the appointment of a council of officers to
assist him. If the Earl of Essex had really desired to
break down the zeal he applauded so much, this was an
excellent way to do it.
to do it. A general, in circumstances so
new and harassing, and laden with such heavy respon-
sibility, requires, above all things, to be assured of the
confidence and support of those who are placed in
authority above him. But Fairfax, (who was otherwise
by no means the fittest man for such a position) in
addition to the discontents and inefficiency of an ill-paid
and worse disciplined army, had also to fight against the
consciousness that his difficulties were not properly appre-
1643.]
41
THE CIVIL WAR.
ciated, while his power to cope with them was seriously
crippled. The multitude of advisers had the effect of
weakening the influence of the General, and producing
disastrous divisions of opinion. Sir Thomas Fairfax
himself, notwithstanding all his brilliant successes, had
occasion to make the same complaint towards the close
of the war. "My commission as General," he tells us,
(C
obliged me to act with council; but the arbitrary and
unlimited power of this council would act without a
General and all I could do was ineffectual to oppose
them; especially when the Parliament itself became
divided.” *
That the Parliamentary Committee of Safety enter-
tained a juster sense of Lord Fairfax's services, and
entered more heartily into his circumstances, than the
Earl of Essex, is evident from the following letters:
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MY LORD,
We have been made acquainted by Mr. White, with
a desire of your lordship's, to be resolved what companies
your lordship shall pay out of the monies now sent down unto
you. We conceive that the sense of the House is, that your
lordship shall cause payment from time to time to be made
unto all the companies and troops, both foot and horse,
which are, or shall be under your command, as monies shall
be supplied unto you. And that for the present out of the
money now sent down, payment shall be made both to the
* A Short Memorial.
42
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
Lincolnshire troops, and also unto the Hull forces, which
are actually in the service under your command; for it is
conceived that it will be a very great occasion of discontent
in your lordship's army, should not an equal hand be observed
by way of payment.
Your lordship we hope needs not to doubt but that such a
continued supply will be made by the Parliament. Care for
your army, that (by God's assistance) your lordship will not
hereafter be put to wrestle with such difficulties as have now
been forced upon you. My lord, we acknowledge that the
Commonwealth oweth much, not only to your lordship's
valour and fidelity to the cause, but also, to that noble and
prudent moderation which you have used to its advantage,
in so gently handling those wounds which have been made
amongst your forces. Your lordship may be ascertained by
us that the House hath fixed a serious apprehension upon the
particulars of your lordship's letter, and are and will be so
tender of all things which may concern your lordship's house,
that you must not fail of a just and seasonable satisfaction.
This is all that we have to present to your lordship, save that
we ever shall remain,
Your lordship's affectionate friends and servants.
My Lord,—I was appointed by Mr. Pierpoynt, Sir Philip
Stapleton, Mr. Hampden, and Mr. Pym, to draw a letter to
this effect to your lordship, and they would subscribe it. I
showed it to Sir Philip, and Mr. Pym, who approved of it as
their sense, but by reason the Commissary Copley came so
suddenly away, I could not get them together to have their
hands to it.
Your lordship's servant,
The Close Committee, February 1st.
WILLIAM WHITE.
1643.]
43
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD GENERAL OF THE
NORTHERN FORCES.
April 13, 1643.
MY LORD,
THE Houses of Parliament, since you have been
employed by them, are very sensible of the great services
your lordship hath done them, and by us do return thanks
for the same. They understand, by your lordship's letter of
the 2nd of this instant, to the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons, the state of your army since your last encounter with
the enemy; and they do much approve of your ingenuity in
representing the same, and are applying all their powers to
furnish you with moneys and arms, and will instantly send
to the L.-General to make provision to furnish you with
six or eight troops of horse. And that you may know how
much your preservation is taken to heart, the House of
Commons has this day taken order to provide the other
10,000l. promised you, one thousand whereof is this day put
into the hands of Mr. White, and the rest shall be paid with
all speed. We therefore continue our requests that your
lordship will use your utmost care and vigilance to preserve
those parts you are in, being so considerable, as it may
means to secure Lancashire and Cheshire, and to regain the
lost parts of Yorkshire and the rest of the northern counties.
My lord, within a day or two you shall hear more particu-
larly from us by an express. In the meantime we wish your
lordship all success, and rest
be a
Your lordship's very loving friends,
and humble servants,
PEMBROKE & MONT. SALISBURY.
L. N. HOWARD. H. VANYS.
GILBT. GERRARD. HOLLANDE.
Jo. PYM.
44
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
During the past year, up to this time, nothing re-
markable had been done on either side. Skirmishes and
battles with variable issue had hitherto produced no
important results. All that can be gathered from the
next batch of letters is, that the movements of the
Parliamentary forces were rendered very irregular from
want of proper co-operation, perhaps of insubordination;
and that there was a possibility of the cause being
sacrificed to the pretensions of inferior officers, who
considered themselves qualified to judge what was best
to be done in their own localities, without reference to
unity of action or the general safety.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, GENERAL
OF THE ARMY.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I Do not know whether your lordship sent any
order to stay the Lancashire companies, yet upon the
intelligence from you of the enemy's return to Wakefield,
I sent to intreat their stay yet awhile. This town is
very weak by reason many are gone to defend Ambry,
and those parts; but I hear Captain Ratliffe is revolted
to the enemy, and most of his company, if not all the
other company, being not strong enough, retired to Elam;
there Captain Morgan, who hath raised some dragoons, joins
with them for the defence of those parts this day; some of
Peniston men came also to demand aid, their being seventeen
colours in Barnesley, five miles of them. I advised them to
seek help from Rotherham and Sheffield, and whilst they
1643.]
45
THE CIVIL WAR.
stood upon their guards to get their goods to places of most
safeguard, for it will be impossible without more horse to
defend the country from spoil. I desire your lordship, if you
can spare an engineer, to send one hither, having some works
necessary to be done speedily. The enemy lies strong at
Wakefield, but I shall have an eye on them, and doubt not
but by God's assistance to keep this place safe. So humbly
desiring your blessing, I remain,
.
Your lordship most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
Bradford, April 20th, 1643.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES, THESE PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I RECEIVED your letter, and do intend to fulfil your
commands with all expedition. I am now marched up to
Nottingham, and Colonel Cromwell's forces with me; here
is Lord Gray come too, and this day we expect Sir John
Gell; Sir William Brereton hath order to draw down to us,
then we shall be strong. The Manchester forces have
orders to draw down to you, and furnish you with what you
want. I shall endeavour all I can to join with you, or
otherwise to distress the enemy. Our misery is, we know
not where his force lies, nor in what condition he is. I
shall desire to have some information from you on that point,
and I shall not fail to endeavour that which may be best
for the public service, and will ever remain,
Your lordship's humble servant,
Nottingham, May 24th, 1643.
JOHN HOTHAM.
46
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES, THESE PRESENT
AT LEEDS.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
We were even ready to march with all the forces
here to attend you, when we had certain intelligence of the
state of my Lord Newcastle's army, so weak and in such a
distraction, that we conceive it far unfit to force your lord-
ship in your quarters. We had certain notice likewise that
a good strength of horse and foot were marched from him
to Newark, to face and attend the moving of the forces that
are here. Upon Tuesday last there was towards forty troops
of horse and dragooners appeared in a body some four
miles from this place; and we hear behind them stood
their foot. We drew out to fight them; but they had
chosen such a ground as we could not come to them without
great disadvantage. At night they drew away, and are still
within six or seven miles hovering up and down the country.
Until we see what these people intend, or which way my
Lord Newcastle will move, we think it best to stay here, and
not to draw down into Yorkshire, to eat up that small
remainder of provisions that is left, and by that means do
your lordship more prejudice than the enemy can do. This
we thought fit to offer to your consideration; and if, not-
withstanding all this, you shall think it fit for us to move
towards you, it shall be readily done by your lordship's
humble servants,
JOHN GELL,
OLI. CROMWELL,
Nottingham, June 2nd, 1643.
JOHN HOTHAM,
MI. HOOBERT,
THO. GREY.
1643.]
47
THE CIVIL WAR.
The last letter is in the hand-writing of Captain
John Hotham, and is sealed with his seal. The signa-
tures of the rest are added in their own hands. Lord
Fairfax appears to have attached some importance to
this communication, having folded it up carefully and
endorsed it, "2 June, the Lord Grey, Captain Hotham,
&c." Whether Lord Fairfax had any grounds at this
time for suspecting the honesty of Hotham is not
certain; but the following rapid and decisive answer,
commanding the officers, notwithstanding their objec-
tions, to join him at once, looks very like a distrust of
their intentions. He had just finished a letter to
them as the communication from Hotham reached his
hands.
.
"After I had concluded this letter, I received yours, dated
2nd June. I do, notwithstanding all the objections and
difficulties therein represented, desire that as you tender the
public safety, you draw down this day with all the forces you
have, and join with me to suppress this Popish army here,
which else, whatsoever report gives it out to you, is of
power, without God's miraculous deliverance, to destroy our
force, and so by degrees to ruin the kingdom."
That the Hothams were meditating treason at this
moment is beyond question, and that Captain Hotham
regarded the war as a mere marauding expedition, and
thought only of how he could make the best terms and
the most plunder, the issues of a few days substantially
proved. Less than three weeks after the date of this
48
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
letter to Lord Fairfax, we find Mr. Pym, in the House
of Commons, detailing the extraordinary ill conduct of
this gentleman: how he plundered various persons,
without reference to their party; how on one occasion
he turned his cannon against Cromwell, who belonged to
his detachment, and who may be supposed to have pro-
tested against his proceedings; how he was in the habit
of getting up unseemly brawls amongst the troops; and
how he corresponded with the enemy, especially with the
Queen, who, by this time, had returned from Holland.
The evidence on these points was decisive, and
Captain Hotham was taken in his bed, and imprisoned
in Nottingham Castle; but he managed to make his
escape, and was foolish enough to take refuge in Hull,
with his father, who was himself plotting the surrender
of the town to the Royalists. Secret information of
this design having been conveyed to the Mayor, the
townspeople quietly assembled in the night, and seizing
the magazine, the ordnance, and the guards, made
themselves masters of the place, without shedding a
drop of blood. Sir John, the Governor, scared out of
his sleep by this sudden action, which hardly consumed
the space of an hour, fled out of his house in a state of
utter dismay, and meeting a man riding into the town,
he made him alight, and mounting the horse, galloped
for his life into the open country, through the Beverly
gate;-that gate which, but a few months before, was
the scene of the one great luminous incident of his life,
and now the witness of his total ruin and disgrace. At
1643.]
49
THE CIVIL WAR.
such a time, it was indispensable to the safety of all
other men that traitors should suffer for their guilt;
and the justice of the Parliament in such cases was
swift and sure. In the depth of that winter the
Hothams were tried for the crimes they had com-
mitted during the long days of the summer, and
in the ensuing January they were executed on Tower
Hill.
At the end of June, Lord Fairfax, having succeeded
in getting his troops together, intercepted the progress
of the Earl of Newcastle, and gave him battle on
Adderton Moor. The result was disastrous to the Par-
liament, whose troops were completely routed and com-
pelled to fall back upon Bradford, and hunted from
thence into Hull, which had just been vacated by Sir
John Hotham. But failures were so rapidly balanced
by victories, that there was hardly time to calculate
between them. Parliament, however, found leisure to
recognise and reward the activity and endurance of
Lord Fairfax, wisely availing themselves of this oppor-
tunity to appoint him governor of Hull.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE FORCES RAISED IN THE NORTHERN
PARTS, AND GOVERNOR OF HULL.
MY LORD,
I HAVE communicated your letter, of the 5th of
July, unto the House, who have commanded me to let your
VOL. I
E
50
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
lordship know, that as they have always been sensible of
your many and worthy services, so are they now not without
a deeper resentment of your late sufferings, whereof they
will be ready to give your lordship a full testimony by their
constant endeavours to assist you in the great employment
you have undertaken for the suppressing of that Popish
army which hath so maliciously, and by so many unworthy
and barbarous proceedings, invaded the true religion and
sincere worship of Almighty God, the safety of his Majesty,
and the tranquillity of his kingdoms, in the prosecution of
these honourable designs, so much tending to the settling of
these present distractions. I am commanded to let you
know, and to give all assurance that this House will never
desert you, but, upon all occasions, extend their uttermost
power and authority both to accommodate you with all
necessaries suitable to so great undertakings, and to protect
your lordship against the opposition and malignity of all
those incendiaries, from whose oppression and cruelties they
hope your lordship's wisdom and courage will be a sanctuary
and refuge to many of his Majesty's distressed and most
loyal subjects in the northern parts. And for the better
securing thereof they have, with the concurrence of the
lords, appointed your lordship to be Governor of Hull,
whereby they conceive your lordship will be very much
enabled to proceed in these weighty affairs with much
advantage, by the access of that strong garrison to your
lordship's army. I am likewise to let you understand that
they have been frequently informed of the carriage and
deportment of your son, Sir Thomas Fairfax, in his com-
mand, so full of valour and honour, for which this House
will be ever ready to give to him and the rest of the com-
manders all due encouragement, as opportunity shall be
t
<
1643.]
51
THE CIVIL WAR.
offered. And thus, wishing your lordship all prosperity and
safety, I rest
Your lordship's most humble servant,
WM. LENTHALL,
Speaker.
Westminster, July 19th, 1643.
THE ORDINANCE OF LORDS AND COMMONS FOR THE LORD
FAIRFAX TO BE GOVERNOR OF HULL.
THE Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament,
upon the assured confidence and trust which they have and
do repose in the wisdom, valour, and fidelity of the right
honourable Ferdinando Lord Fairfax, do ordain, declare, and
appoint that the said Lord Fairfax shall be governor of the
town of Kingston-upon-Hull, in the place and stead of Sir
John Hotham, knight and baronet, for securing of the said
town and the magazines there; and that he shall and may
command the said town, and the forces therein, and have the
like power that the said Sir John Hotham had; and that all
persons whom it doth or may concern shall give their
obedience unto the said Lord Fairfax and his emissaries;
and that the said Lord Fairfax, or who else he shall appoint
under him, shall not deliver up the town of Hull, or maga-
zines there, or any part thereof, without the King's authority
signified unto him by both Houses of Parliament. And the
said Lords and Commons do further ordain and declare that
the said Lord Fairfax shall have the like power and allow-
ance of soldiers, both of horse and foot, for the defence of the
said town, and the like pays and allowances for himself, his
officers, and soldiers, as the said Sir John Hotham, his
officers, and soldiers formerly had; and shall and may at his
E 2
52
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
will and pleasure place and displace the officers and soldiers
of the said garrison, so as to him shall seem most necessary
for the defence and safety of the said town.
Die Sabbthd, 22nd July, 1643.
Jo. BROWNE,
H. ELSYNGE,
DR. WILSON TO SIR RICHARD BROWNE.
Cler. Parl.
In other places the King's troops were actively
engaged beating up the Parliament quarters, and her
Majesty, who had recently returned from Holland, was
making a sort of military progress to meet the King,
with whom she fell in at Edgehill, the memorable spot
where he had fought his first battle in arms against the
people. About the same time Hampden was killed at
Chalgrave Field, and Waller's Plot, as it is called, was
detected. Some of these incidents are alluded to in the
following gossiping letter:
NOBLE SIR,
THE last week your letter came so late, that I had
no opportunity to return you thanks for so great a favour,
nor must you now expect any other than jejune expressions,
according to the nature of our monthly solemnity, which falls
out upon
this very day. Your candour, therefore, must take
for current coin the deep apprehension I have of so unde-
served an honour. The truth is, my patience is nearly worn.
out to stay seven hours in a church, my ears being guilty of
scarce three words of sense, and my only comfort that I had
like to have starved in a great audience.
1643.]
53
THE CIVIL WAR.
This next day being Thursday, Mr. Waller and the rest
are to come to their trial in Guildhall, where I believe the
delinquents would find mercy enough, if the fear of tumult
did not urge their judges to some exemplary severity. Our
army's pause makes no good harmony in the citizens' opi-
nions; and Colonel Hampden's death revives the memory
of my Lord Brooke's funeral. I know not what news to
write, unless that we have continual collections for distressed
Ireland, and our own maimed soldiers. It is supposed that
many salve up the ruins of their estates out of their wounds.
The House of Commons are now perfecting the proof of their
articles against the Queen; and the report is that the King
hath declared this Parliament not to he free, and therefore to
have invited the members thereof to Oxford; whereupon
our Lords are much incensed. What Sir William Waller or
Brereton do with their forces we cannot yet understand.
Certainly I think we may better refer ourselves to Paris for
news than take it up at London. Let not these times make
you fall out with chess, for kings and queens may in time
come again in fashion: however, let that keep up their
memory. As for bishops, I must confess I think that here
they will scarce ever recover any other notion, than what that
game in France affords them; for their subversion seems to
be the chief fuel of these desperate troubles.
I have not had the happiness to see your father a long time,
nor your brother this fortnight. Next Friday I purpose to
wait upon them at Deptford. I much rejoice to hear of any
hopes of your wife's so complete a cure, and should account
myself infinitely happy to see the accomplishment. Pray pre-
sent her with my most humble respects, and tell her from me
as a prognostic, that her own resolution will be her best
remedy. If Mr. Batty be with you still, he may take notice
54
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
that I have received my lancets, and for the same, with many
thanks and my best service, remain his debtor. The other day
I met my Lord Downes, and at Piccadilly, the quondam
owner of the Diamond Ring, a day after, who is fitting out his
ship for the last year's voyage. The gentleman is almost out
of conceit with his fortune at picquet. Sir, I confine myself to
the limits of my paper, and request you to honour me still
with your wonted favours, and esteem me,
Your must humble servant.
Winston is cashiered of his Gresham fellowship, and Dr.
De Laen put in his room.
Mr. Greene was with me yesterday in the afternoon, and
he is resolved, so soon as he can get a letter from the King
to you, to come over to you.*
London, 29th June, 1643.
It cannot be concealed that affairs were not so pros-
perous with the Parliamentary forces as their patience
and energy deserved. An appeal to the gentlemen of
Huntingdonshire, from the Committee of the Associated
Counties, sitting at Cambridge, shows to what extremi-
ties they were driven, and how near to dissolution they
were reduced for want of money:
GENTLEMEN,
We are in great strait, being constrained for our
security to guard Huntingdon with some companies, the
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1643.]
55
THE CIVIL WAR.
enemy making many sallies out upon our frontier, coming
down to Peterborough this last night, as we are informed by
our scouts, and since sent to us by our committee at Hunt-
ingdon. We have, according to the resolution of the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons for our association, a rule
of proportion upon every county for what monies we want;
and have sent unto them for 40007., which, according to the
proportion by them agreed, (which herein we send you,)
makes your proportion amount to the sum of eight-score
pounds, which sum we pray you to send us with all speed, for
the payment of our forces herein and at Huntingdon, and
discharging of our necessary dues. For we are debarred of
raising any monies, the ordinance of Parliament limiting the
raising of monies by the particular committees in their several
counties. Then if you shall not speedily send us, our garrison
will disband, our forces will be possessed by the enemies, and
ten special pieces of ordnance will be turned upon you and
us, and repentance will be too late. A word to the wise is
enough. Here we send you the several sums brought into
our treasury since we began out of the several counties, and
the sums disbursed, and what we owe, whereby you may see
what the proportion in expense is since our sitting in Cam-
bridge. You shall be sure, if God permit, and we by your
means be enabled to be kept together, to give you a true
account of your several sums which we shall receive from
time to time from you. Gentlemen, seriously consider the
necessity of keeping this Committee together, and supplying
money for such forces as they need, (which we hope shall be
with all the best care we can, for the security of the charge
and benefit of the several counties,) as a means of the greatest
concernment to all the Association. Pardon the length of our
lines, on account of those who desire not to serve them-
56
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
selves, but the kingdom, our country, yourselves more than
themselves, and shall not fail to rest,
Your assured friends,
JOHN KING.
THOMAS PARKER.
JAMES THOMPSON.
JOHN BREWSTER.
JOHN PALGRAVE.
FRANC. JERMYN.
JNO. EDEN.
SAMUEL READE.
Eight hundred men we desire of the whole Association :
your proportion is thirty-two men.
Further, we are to inform you that Mr. Thomas Corey
being to pay long since 30%. into the treasury here, for which
Mr. Greenwood, your sheriff, is security, we do expect that
he will send up the same accordingly, whereof we entreat you
will be pleased to give them notice.
Gentlemen, we have received this comfort, that by a party
of horse sent to Peterborough we have discovered that the
enemy is retreated.*
Cambridge, the 17th of June, 1643.
SIR,
Here follows a curious relic in Cromwell's hand-
writing, much to the same effect, urging, with a full
heart, the youth of Huntingdon to contribute muscles
and money to the common cause, and to supply horse
troops as the chief necessity :
COLONEL CROMWELL'S LETTER TO THE BACHELORS AND
MAIDS, 2ND AUGUST, 1643, FROM HUNTINGDON.
I UNDERSTAND by these gentlemen the good affec-
tions of your young men and maids, for which God is to be
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1643.]
57
THE CIVIL WAR.
August 2nd, 1643.
praised. I approve of the business, only I desire to advise
you that your foot company may be turned into a troop of
horse, which, indeed, will (by God's blessing) far more advan-
tage the cause than two or three companies of foot, especially
if your men be honest, godly men, which by all means I
desire. I thank God for stirring up the youth to cast in
their mite, which I desire may be employed to the best
advantage; therefore my advice is, that you would employ
your twelve-score pounds to buy pistols and saddles, and I
will provide four-score horses; for 4007. more will not raise a
troop of horse. As for the muskets that are bought, I think
the country will take them of you. Pray raise honest, godly
men, and I will have them of my regiment. As for your
officers, I leave it as God shall or hath directed to choose,
and rest,
Your loving friend,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
a
Cromwell had lately gained what he termed "
notable victory" at Gainsborough, but in the following
interesting letter to the Cambridge Committee (who,
as we have seen, were not to blame for the straits to
which the army were reduced), he shows how uncertain
all prospects were in that direction, and how grievously
the troops were neglected by those whose duty it was to
provide for them. This plain speaking, and calling
aloud for succour, enabled the committee to send the
echo of the crying want back to Parliament with
redoubled force.
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
58
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
GENTLEMEN,
TO MY HONOURED FRIENDS THE COMMISSIONERS AT
CAMBRIDGE, THESE PRESENT.
FINDING Our foot much lessened at Stamford, and
having a great train and many carriages, I held it not safe
to continue there, but presently after my return from you, I
ordered the foot to quit that place and march into Holland,
which they did on Monday last. I was the rather induced
'so to do because of the letter I received from my Lord
Willoughby, a copy whereof I sent you. I am now at
Peterborough, whither I came this afternoon. I was no
sooner come but Lieutenant Colonel Wood sent me word,
from Spalding, that the enemy was marching with twelve
flying colours of horse and foot within a mile of Swinstead,
so that I hope it was a good providence of God that our
foot were at Spalding; it much concerns your association
and the kingdom that so strong a place as Holland is be
not possessed by them; if you have any foot ready to march,
send them away to us with all speed. I fear lest the enemy
should press in upon our foot; he being thus far advanced
towards you, I hold it very fit that you should hasten your
horse at Huntingdon and what you can speedily raise at
Cambridge unto me. I dare not go into Holland with my
horse, lest the enemy should advance with his whole body of
horse this way into your association, but am ready endeavour-
ing to get my Lord Gray's and the Northamptonshire horse
to me, that so, if we be able, we may fight the enemy, or
retreat unto you with our whole strength. I beseech you
hasten your leavers, what you can, especially those of foot;
quicken all our friends with new letters upon this occasion,
which I believe you will find to be a true alarm: the parti-
1643.]
59
THE CIVIL WAR.
August 8th, 1643.
culars I hope to be able to inform you speedily of more
punctually, having sent in all haste to Colonel Wood for
that purpose. The money I brought with me is so poor a
pittance when it comes to be distributed amongst all my
troops that, considering their necessity, it will not half clothe
them, they were so far behind; if we have not more money
speedily they will be exceedingly discouraged. I am sorry
you put me to it to write thus often, it makes it seem a
needless importunity in me; whereas, in truth, it is a constant
neglect of those that should provide for us. Gentlemen,
make them able to live and subsist that are willing to spend
their blood for you. I say no more, but rest
Your faithful servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL.*
The same language is held everywhere with greater
and lesser eagerness; and amidst this universal clamour,
threatening disorganisation and rupture, we find the
Fairfaxes, father and son, steadily pursuing their objects,
moving up and down the country through risks and
perils of no common magnitude, and keeping their breath
for action, while most others are expending theirs in
murmurs and complaints. At Bradford, Sir Thomas
Fairfax, besieged by the Earl of Newcastle, cut his
passage through the Royalists, and made good his way
to Leeds. On this occasion his wife was taken prisoner.
Finding Leeds in the utmost disorder, he fled towards
Hull, and on his way defended the ferry at Selby, while
his father crossed the river. Calamities accumulated
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
¡
60
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
upon him. He was shot in the wrist, and from the
fatigues of this dreadful retreat nearly lost his daughter,
then only five years old, afterwards Duchess of Buck-
ingham. For twenty hours he sat his horse with his
wrist shattered. At Burton he lay down, hoping to get
a little rest, but was called up in a quarter of an hour
by the sudden appearance of the enemy, and had scarcely
time to huddle his ordnance on board a ship in the
Humber, when the King's troops galloped into the town.
In this mangled condition, covered with blood, without a
shirt, and his clothes rent, he arrived alive at Hull. A
few days afterwards the Earl of Newcastle had the
gallantry to send home Lady Fairfax in his own coach,
attended by a maid of honour.
The usual horrors of civil war convulsed the country.
There was no security against the lawlessness of the
soldiery, who availed themselves (on both sides) of the
slightest pretexts for entering private houses, and plun-
dering and menacing the inhabitants. A suspicion of
disaffection either way, or the possession of arms or
gunpowder, was excuse enough for violence and rapine.
Unprotected widows, or ladies who were left in charge
of mansions and domains, while their husbands were
out levying troops, offered irresistible temptation to the
scattered parties of half-fed troops that went marauding
hungrily over the country. The history of these cam-
paigns is highly coloured with personal incidents, such
as that to which the following letter alludes. The
writer is the Lord Francis Willoughby, who was
1643.]
61
THE CIVIL WAR.
drowned at Barbadoes in 1666, and the lady referred
to was the widow of Viscount Castleton, an Irish peer,
whose grandson was created a peer of England by the
same title in 1714 :
FOR THE HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, THIS
PRESENT.
NOBLE SIR,
THERE is a lady, my lady Casselton, a kinswoman
of mine, who hath been frighted by some of your troops
that have plundered in her house; there was some powder
found there, which I hear she hath much exceptions taken
against her for; her lord was a deputy lieutenant, and this
powder was of the country's powder which he had, having a
command of the Trained Bands. You may see by the being
of it there, that she had no intentions against the Parliament,
for you know there have been many occasions for her to show
her affection. She is a lady, and I know you are civil to all,
much more to ladies; only I make this request, in my lady's
behalf, she being a widow, and having many things as chil-
dren and debts of my lord's to look after, that she may have
your favour, as not to have any hard opinion of her; but
that you would be pleased to be a friend to her in answering,
if anything should be informed against her. I will assure
you I should not move it, but that I know she is and ever
hath been no ill friend of the Parliament; in it you shall
oblige me, who am
Totsall, this 23rd of October.
Your most humble servant,
F. WILLOUGHBY.
62
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
The Earl of Newcastle (about this time elevated to
a marquisate) had now penetrated into Lincolnshire
with nearly the whole of his army. His design was to
seize Boston, the "key of the Associated Counties,"
and thence away into Essex to block up London. The
Fairfaxes made a diversion at Stanford Bridge, which
drew him into Yorkshire, where he sat down before Hull
under somewhat hopeless circumstances, the sluices being
opened at his approach, and the country flooded for
two miles round. While his Lordship of Newcastle
was meditating upon this intervention of the waters, the
younger Fairfax crossed over into Lincolnshire at the
head of a body of horse (useless in besieged Hull) to
join the Earl of Manchester. He was eagerly received
on landing by Cromwell. The junction of their forces
led to the battle of Horncastle, or Winceby Fight, as
it is now frequently called. Of this fight we have
the following special relation amongst the Fairfax
papers:
HENDERSON.
AN EXACT RELATION OF THE VICTORY OBTAINED BY THE
FORCES UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE EARL OF MAN-
CHESTER, AGAINST THE EARL OF NEWCASTLE'S FORCES,
IN LINCOLNSHIRE, UNDER THE COMMAND OF SIR JOHN
UPON the 10th day of October, the Earl of Manchester
advanced with his horse and foot from Boston to the towns
about Bullingbrooke, in Lincolnshire, with a purpose to take
the castle of Bullingbrooke, which did enslave all those parts
1643.]
63
THE CIVIL WAR.
of Holland near Teiston. The enemy having taken posses-
sion of Wanflet, began there to fortify, intending to make his
winter quarters there. Upon the Earl's march into those
parts the enemy quitted that pass and upon the 10th day
the Earl quartered at Kirkby, within a mile of Bullingbrooke,
and quartered his horse six miles up in the country beyond
Bullingbrooke; the alarm place for his horse being Horn-
castle; and sent ten foot companies into the town of Bulling-
brooke, under the command of Sir Miles Hubbart, where the
enemy had the church fortified, besides the castle. The
same day eighty colours of horse and dragoons of the enemy
marched from fraising Lincoln and other quarters, and came
in a full body towards Horncastle, and marched so fast as
they were discovered but two hours before they came to
Horncastle; by which means the alarm could not be so
speedily given to the horse quarters of the Earl of Man-
chester, so as to get into a full body before the enemy was at
Horncastle. Yet such was the vigilance and industry of the
Earl, that he went from his own quarters towards Horncastle
upon the first alarm, and got many of his horse into a body
at Horncastle town's end. There he stood, and wanting above
a twentieth of his troops, he thought it not fit to engage, but
fell back into his quarters at Kirkby, that so he might draw
up all his forces to an entire body, while those troops he had
stood in the alarm-place at Horncastle.
Captain Plaine and Captain Moody, their troops coming
from their quarters within seven miles of Lincoln, espied
three bodies of the enemy betwixt them and the town of
Horncastle, and being ordered to march to the rest of the
troops, and having no way to deliver themselves, they charged
the first body of the enemy and routed it, and killed many.
Then they came to another body, and charged them through,
64
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
and so forced their way to the town of Horncastle, without
the loss of above eight men. Captain Johnson coming like-
wise towards the alarm-place, by mistake fell upon a quarter
of the enemy, took twelve prisoners and brought off his men
without any loss. Captain Johnson and Captain Samuel
Moody were under Sir Miles Hubbard's command.
The Earl spent all that night in the field for the better draw-
ing up of his body together against the next morning, when
having intelligence that the enemy would march next day
to Bullingbrooke for the relief of the castle, the Earl, the
next morning, being Wednesday the 12th of October, drew
all his horse and foot into battalions upon Bullingbrooke Hill,
having a very safe place of retreat into Holland. About twelve
of the clock, notice was brought that the enemy was march-
ing within three miles in a full body, whereupon the Earl
marched towards them and met them midway upon a plain
field, near where the armies faced one another about one
hour, and then the forlorn hope had a very sharp encounter,
and my Lord Manchester's regiment and Colonel Cromwell's
gave their body such a charge as they would not abide a
second.
Colonel Cromwell charged at some distance before his regi-
ment, when his horse was killed under him. He recovered
himself, however, from under his horse but afterwards was
again knocked down, yet by God's good providence he got up
again. The enemy's forlorn hope charging ours, and a good
body of horse following them, Sir Thomas Fairfax being in
the rear of Colonel Cromwell's regiment with his first body,
fell in towards the flank of the enemy's body, which they
perceiving, the enemy's body broke, and so Sir Thomas had
the chase and execution of them a great way. Sir Miles
Hubbard's regiments were ready to charge, and the enemy
1643.]
65
THE CIVIL WAR.
turning head, our men fell upon them and pursued them four
miles, killing them and taking prisoners all the way.
Colonel Carnaby, Colonel Hopton, and divers persons of
great quality were slain, whereof many fell in the place of
encounter. 1200 were slain, wounded, and taken prisoners,
and as the countrymen report, betwixt 100 and 200 drowned in
Horncastle river. The Earl pursued the enemy to Horncastle
and there quartered for the night. Very many of our men
are wounded, but we do not hear of above twenty killed. Let
God have all the praise of this victory! Twenty-six colours,
which were taken, are brought already to my lord.
·
While this fight was going on, the roar of cannon
was heard at a distance, and the smoke of other
guns than those of Winceby was seen gathering upon
the heavens. It was from the beleaguered walls of
Hull. The elder Fairfax, while his son was heading
the reserve of horse at Horncastle, and hunting the
dishevelled Royalists into ditches and quagmires, charged
out suddenly upon the Earl of Newcastle, and threw
him and his troops into such consternation that he
fled for York, leaving his ordnance behind him. These
events were decisive as far as they went. Lincoln-
shire was now pretty well cleared of the Array, and
Yorkshire held out but a precarious shelter. The
Royalists, defeated at the same moment at the two
points to which they had directed their main strength,
shut themselves up in their quarters, and attempted
nothing more that winter.
How these signal successes were effected by an army
VOL. I.
F
66
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
in such a condition of bankruptcy is past comprehen-
sion. Food and clothing there was little, and some-
times none. Even the officers, unless they could help
themselves, were reduced to rags. Yet they kept
together and acted together with a devotion quite un-
paralleled. A petition to Sir Thomas Fairfax from
some of his officers, dated about the middle of the
December of this year, affords a conclusive illustration
of the misery through which this high-mettled zeal sur-
vived to show itself in all aspects worthy of its cause:
NOBLE SIR,
.
THE ardent zeal we have to promote the cause of
Almighty God, the great desire we have to enjoy the liberties
of our nation, and our hearty affection to your person, have
drawn us with unwearied endurance of toils, undauntedness
of courage, and unreproveable demeanours, to follow you
through divers countries. How the Omnipotent goodness
hath showered happy successes upon us, is apparent to all
that have seen or heard it. What remuneration we have
had, is known only to yourself. And seeing our extreme
wants do now urge us, we are bold to present our complaints
to you, from whom we look to be supplied; be therefore
pleased to take our condition into your consideration, and
conceive of us, as men who have lived in a reasonable affluence
of all conveniences, and now to be dejected into so deep an
exigency it must needs abate our spirits.
If these countries, for whom (by God's providence) we
have done so great things, be unwilling to supply us, that we
may be enabled to provide clothes for our backs, shoes and
other accoutrements for our horses, and some comfortable
1643.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
67
refreshing for our bodies, in case God shall please to visit us;
that some speedy and effectual course may be taken to compel
them thereunto, before we be drawn hence, and if there be
no hopes of any recompense, and that we must hazard our
lives and fortunes; we rather desire that you would lead us
into our own country, (which hath groaned under longer and
greater desolations than any in the kingdom,) where we, for
the regaining of our estates, the freedom of our country, the
flourishing of the Gospel, and the enjoyment of our liberties,
will be content with our former unwearied diligence to submit
ourselves to your honour's commands.
WILL. LONG.
RICH. STANHOPE.
GEO. SMITHSON.
ROBERT NEWHAM.
THOMAS TAlbot.
RICHARD Oracroft.
THOMAS JOHNSON.
EDWARD HAYWARD.
JOHN WILDon.
LEON. ROBINSON.
THO. ACKLand.
MATT. FOSTER.
RICHARD SMYTH.
JOHN MARSHALL.
MICH. RICHARDSON.
Upon his own credit, Sir Thomas Fairfax clothed
1500 of his men, nor was he wanting in other sacrifices
to encourage them. Having been appointed to a sepa-
rate command, as General of Cheshire, with its adjacent
counties, he found his labours and responsibilities heavily
increased, while his resources were more beggarly than
ever. In the coldest part of the season, with his men,
sick, ill-paid, and half-naked, he was ordered to march for
Nantwich, to raise the siege of that town, which was
put to great extremity by Lord Byron, at the head of a
wild Irish army. In vain he called upon Parliament to
F 2
68
[1643.
MEMORIALS OF
supply the wants of the soldiery. Parliament lacked
the means. Thus left to shift for himself, he put his
ragged followers into the best condition he could, and in
the following letter announced to the committee his
intention, in the face of these most adverse circum-
stances, to set out for Nantwich.
TO MY VERY WORTHY FRIENDS, THE COMMITTEE AT
STANSFORD, THESE.
GENTLEMEN,
I AM not a little grieved to perceive by yours of
December 22nd, that Sir William Brereton is so straitened
by the confluence of such potent enemies. His own truly
noble deportment and worth, besides the interest of the
common cause, do challenge the utmost assistance of the
power of any that bear good affection to the public safety.
For my own part, though many objections arise from the
present condition of the forces under my command, and
otherwise, I resolve, if God permit, to begin my march
towards his relief within two days at the furthest, and had
done so sooner had not the necessary provision of clothes, and
other things for my men, retarded my resolution somewhat.
My purpose is to march by the way of Leicester, and be
there, God willing, about Monday or Tuesday next.
My desire is, that I may by your means receive information
which way from thence I may most safely march; what your
intelligence is concerning the interposition of the enemy's
forces; where it is expected I should fall in with the forces of any
of our friends, (for though your letters mention a besieging of
Sir William Brereton, they name no place where); and what
1643.]
69
THE CIVIL WAR.
else you shall conceive may be most conducible to the expe-
diting of my desires in this service. If you shall think fit
thus to send us any further light, the messenger may either
meet with or hear of us at Leicester; if not, I desire he
should come on further towards my quarters, and I doubt
not but he will meet us on our march. Further I shall not
now add, but commit the issue of all to the blessing of God,
to whose providence in this particular service, and in any
other that may advance the public good, there is none more
desirous to be instrumental than
Your affectionate friend and servant,
Sempringham, Dec. 27th, 1643.
THOS. FAIRFAX.
In two days after the date of this letter, he was on
his way to Nantwich, at the head of 2500 foot, and
28 troops of horse.
1644.
REVERSES AT BOTH SIDES-NANTWICH, NEWARK.
THE SIEGE OF LATHOM HOUSE.
SCATTERED MEMORABILIA, LAMBERT, RANDOLPH CREWE
SIR RICHARD BROWNE, JOHN EVELYN.
THE KING'S EXPERIMENTAL TRIP FROM OXFORD, AND BACK
AGAIN.
BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR.
FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN, AND CLEARANCE OF THE NORTH.
*
1644.
THE winter of 1644 opened with great severity.
The same snow, knee-deep, through which the Scots
crossed the border, was crushed by the troops of the
younger Fairfax on his road to a new triumph. His
father still holding Hull, was still the Parliamentary
general for the whole of the north; yet the bolder
genius of the son had already begun to fill out a larger
space in the eyes of the country. Thundering down to
the gates of Nantwich, with his raw levy of foot soldiers,
and his dragoons in their new suits, he found the town
in such a strait of weakness and famine, that it was on
the point of surrendering. He had just come in time.
Understanding that Lord Byron, who had been apprised
of his approach, had drawn out his troops to meet him,
he adopted the singular expedient of putting his men
into the order in which he intended to fight, and thus
continued his march till he came up within cannon-shot
of the enemy's works. The battle was of short duration,
but most important in its consequences. Lord Byron
and his Irish were utterly routed; and the whole body,
with the exception of a fragment of horse that escaped
to Chester, surrendered themselves in disorder-officers,
74
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
men, arms, colours, and ammunition-into the hands of
the victors. These Byrons were strenuous supporters
of the monarch, and the last and most illustrious of the
name has made it a matter of exultation that four
brothers of them fell in the royal cause.*
Fairfax thus communicated his hardships and success
to his wife:
FROM SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO LADY FAIRFAX.
DEAR HEART,
THOUGH I staid long for an opportunity of writing
to you, yet God be thanked I can now have it, with cause of
much thankfulness; for a great victory it hath pleased Him to
give us over the Irish army, having totally routed their foot,
and taken almost all their chief commanderst and inferior
ones too, a list of whom I send you here inclosed, and a par-
ticular relation to the Lord General of that service. God is
to have the glory, who put them so happily into our hands.
I have not yet heard from you since your coming to London,
but heard you were safely arrived there. I have endured
some hardship since I parted with you, being forced to march
and watch night and day this frost and snowy weather. I
have much trouble to command these forces I now have,
* "On Marston, with Rupert, 'gainst traitors contending,
Four brothers enriched with their blood the bleak field,
For the rights of a monarch, their country defending,
'Till death their attachment to royalty sealed."-Hours of Idleness.
+ Amongst them, Monk, afterwards Duke of Albemarle.
+ Essex. The "particular relation" will be found in Rushworth. It is
dated on the day following the date of this letter. Sir Thomas wrote to his
wife first.
1644.]
75
THE CIVIL WAR.
there being such divisions amongst the commanders, which
doth much impair my health. I desire you to present my
humble duty to my Lady Vere. I had no time to write, but
by this to make my excuse, and acknowledgment of my great
debt for her ladyship's favours. Remember my humble ser-
vice to all my honourable and noble sisters, and to my sister
Elizabeth* and Moll. So, dear heart, farewell.
G
Your most affectionate husband,
For yourself, dear heart.
Nantwich, Jan. 28th, 1643-4. [N. S. 1644.]
THO. FAIRFAX.
Little alleviation of the state of the army appears to
have taken place up to this time. Pay was still in
arrears, and doled out with uncertainty; and outrages,
which no authority, under such circumstances, could
wholly restrain, continued to spread dismay through
the country. With a view to sustain the zeal of his
troops, and keep them in proper condition for the toils
that lay before them, Sir Thomas Fairfax submitted
the following string of resolutions to the principal
officers and gentry of Lancashire :
M
* His sister Elizabeth was married to Sir Wm. Craven, of Linchwicke, in
Worcestershire. If by Moll is meant his daughter Mary, she was at this time
little better than five years old.
76
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
SOME PROPOSITIONS WHEREUPON THE DEPUTY LIEUTENANTS,
COLONELS AND OTHER GENTLEMEN OF LANCASHIRE, ARE
DESIRED TO ADVISE AND GIVE SPEEDY RESOLUTION.
1. That to supply the present necessity of my body of
horse there be speedily procured 40007., which will not amount
to more than a fortnight's pay, and that afterwards the horse
and foot being considered as one entire body, be paid pro-
portionably out of the weekly assessments, and otherwise
by the public treasurer appointed.
2. That for the more speedy raising of the said sum of
40007. such persons throughout the county as have not
advanced upon the possessions, or not proportionable to
their estates, be assessed according to the ordinances of
Parliament, and in particular that there be presently required
and seized, of the persons nominated in a schedule hereunto
annexed, the sum of 30007. in a proportionable way.
3. That there be a speedy course taken to raise upon the
county in a proportionable way 300 able serviceable horse
for the recruiting of my troops.
.
4. That a particular list be given in of the several com-
panies in the county, as well such as are newly raised, as others,
to the end they may be disposed into several regiments, and
exercised and commanded out as there shall be occasion.
5. That some way may be contrived to draw out of the
several regiments 2000 men that may be actually in service
under my command, and move with me out of the county
for the public service as there shall be occasion.
6. That that part of Cheshire that by agreement was
assigned for the maintaining of the garrison of Warrington,
may be returned to be liable to the charge of Cheshire, and
that either the garrison be not continued at Warrington, or
1644.1
THE CIVIL WAR.
77
if there be cause it should, that it be maintained out of the
charge of Lancashire.
7. That it be considered what garrisons are necessary to
be maintained in the county, and what number of men are
requisite thereunto.
8. That in regard of the late outrages by garrisons at
Lathom, some course be thought on to prevent farther
mischiefs, and secure the well affected in those parts.
February 15th, 1643, [N.S. 1644.]
Lord Byron was lieutenant-general to Prince Rupert,
who held the command in this part of the country, and
his defeat at Nantwich operated dismally on the spirits
of the Royalists. Prince Rupert was immediately
despatched to Shrewsbury, Chester, and North Wales,
to look to the security of these places, and then to
attempt the relief of Newark, which was trenched round
by the troops of the Parliament.
The preservation of Newark was of the last import-
ance to the Royalists. Lying between Oxford and
York, the whole of the intermediate country would
have been shut up had the town fallen into the hands of
the Parliamentarians. To that point, therefore, they
directed their energies, and Prince Rupert, collecting all
the strength he could muster on his rapid journey
through Shrewsbury and Chester, poured down upon
Newark with such precipitation that the army, which lay
encamped about its walls, were taken by surprise, and
thrown into consternation. The garrison, consisting
mostly of the gentry and the inhabitants, had been
78
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
reduced to extremity; and, had Prince Rupert's relief
come a little later, the town must have surrendered.
The suddenness of his appearance (for they believed
him to be at some distance) spread such a confusion
amongst the besiegers, that they gave way at once,
and were glad to effect a retreat at the cost of their
arms and munitions. The failure before Newark is
alluded to in a letter from Basil Fielding, Earl of
Denbigh, to Sir Thomas Fairfax. The writer was
ardent in the cause of the Parliament, while his father
fought on the other side. Amongst the revolting
episodes of this civil war was the meeting of father and
son on the field of battle at Edge-hill, where the father
was mangled with wounds, of which he died only a few
months before the date of this letter. The son lived to
distinguish himself in many of the conflicts which
ensued, until the new-modelling of the army of the
Parliament, when he threw up his commission and
withdrew into private life. He survived the Restoration
many years, and died in 1675.
FOR MY NOBLE FRIEND SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
NOBLE SIR,
OUR late mischance at Newark hath necessitated me
to march with all our forces here to the relief of our friends
there, which will defer for a time my going for Shropshire.
It troubles me much to hear the garrison of Wem remains
yet under some danger, and therefore you will be pleased to
1644.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
79
cast your eye upon those parts, upon this enforced delay I
am put to, in consideration of this present design, which
is of so great consequence to the whole Kingdom. If God
will give us success in this attempt, it will enable me to serve
the counties adjoining you with advantage, and be favour-
able to our mutual interests there, which shall be the
endeavour of
Coventry, March 23rd, 1643. [N. S. 1644.]
Some letters, addressed to Sir Thomas Fairfax about
this period, from officers holding different commands,
contain reports of the progress of affairs in other quar-
ters. The first of these is from Colonel Duckenfield, the
governor of Chester, who served in 1649 as high sheriff
for the county of Chester.
"
Your faithful friend, and humble servant,
B. DENBIGH.
PRESENT.
SIR,
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, LIEU-
TENANT-GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES, THIS
S
I HAVE endeavoured (since I knew your pleasure)
to get my soldiers into order fit for service, to advance
to Nantwich; but they have disbanded themselves, and
are following the plough, and from thence they will not
be drawn. Yet upon the receipt of your letter yester-
day, I sent to the captains to join with me presently, to
call their companies together, to march with them and me
to Nantwich; but their soldiers refuse to stir yet. They
pretend that the dragooners are so uncivil, that they plunder
80
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the country extremely, and they dare not leave their houses
for fear of them. Besides, most of them have been upon
service very long without any pay; and the gentlemen of the
country take care to keep our men upon continual hard
duty; but they regard not the poor soldiers when the danger
is passed, which will be our ruin, in regard there is that
general resolution of the country hereabouts. I dare not
take in hand to punish them yet, unless I were more encou-
raged and countenanced by the Council of War, or by other
safe authority; and that my men might be better paid,
I shall be willing to do duty as a common soldier myself,
rather than to command men in this way. I received an
order from the Council of War before Michaelmas last past,
that my regiment should be first paid out of the sequestration
in Macclesfield Hundred, but neither myself nor my soldiers
have received sixpence from them since that time; and now
they demand their pay, or part thereof, from me; and the
sequestrators are ordered to pay the money into the Treasury
at Nantwich, which deprives them of all hope of pay. In
case I keep a guard at Woodhead and Adlington I desire to
know, whether those works must be pulled down or no. The
Marshall-General men do dispose of the prisoners at Stock-
port, and so suffer them to make escape for bribes; and yet
they expect that I or my officers shall both guard them and
provide for them. The country is much offended hereat, and
at the violence of the dragooners and troopers, more than
I dare now inform you of. I am afraid some mischief will
ensue thereof. I commend the business to your honourable
consideration, and rest
.
Your honour's servant,
ROBERT DUCKENFIELD.
Stockport, 6th March, 1643. [N. S. 1644.]
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81
THE CIVIL WAR.
SIR,
FOR THE HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, GENERAL
OF THE NORTHERN FORCES FOR THE PARLIAMENT IN
CHESHIRE, THESE.
AFTER two days' stay at Stafford (for I could not
get a convoy till Mr. Rugeley went to Coventry), I hasted
to London with what speed mine own horses could; for I could
not well be furnished otherwise. The day before I came, the
business concerning your march into Yorkshire was in
agitation, and a little preparation being put on by Sir Philip
Stapleton; but the next day, as soon as I was known to be
in the town, the Yorkshire men were called, and the Cheshire
men, to the Committee for both Kingdoms. Both gave
their opinions each against other concerning it, and we dis-
missed with this :-That it being a business of great import-
ance, they would take time to consider of it. There have
been two debates about it since, but by Sir Philip's strong
endeavours, it is now determined that you shall march into
Yorkshire, as will more plainly appear.
Sir, I received your letter, with that of Colonel Booth's and
those of Colonel Holland's; but, considering your march into
Yorkshire will shortly begin, I have presumed to respite the
negociation of them all till I receive further order from
you, that of Colonel Booth being more proper for Sir
William Brereton; that of Colonel Holland's being a business
that will spin out some time, which you cannot attend, and
that for the levying of money being of late ordered in several
cases to be referred to the committees, and not to any officers
military. The Ordinance for the 10,000l. we got passed
yesterday; and this day Captain Gill and I are to meet some
of the City upon the Exchange about it. We are in hope to
VOL. I.
G
82
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get it shortly; and therein in truth Captain Gill hath taken
much pains, both protecting and prosecuting the business
to the utmost advantage hitherto. We hope to decide equally
with Mr. White, who takes care for my lord's part. My lady
is very well; Sir William Fairfax's lady is indifferently
recovered, and Mrs. Lambert in health also.
A garrison, not far hence, of great importance, hath been
lately stormed by our men, and most of the garrison put to the
sword in the storm, being mostly Walloons. Sir Richard
Greenfield, the Lieutenant-Colonel to Sir William Waller, is
lately fled to the King with fifteen horse. The direction of a
letter, sent from the King the other day to the Parliament, was
yesterday in question, whether to be accepted or no. It was
in these words :-" To the Lords and Commons of Parliament
assembled at Westminster;" but I think it is resolved to be
accepted. This is all the news I hear; wherewith I present
my humble respects to you, desirous to approve myself,
Sir,
Your most humble and faithful servant,
CHR. COPLEY.
Holborn, March 6th, 1643. [N. S. 1644.]
We hear since that the demi-cannon and the great mortar-
piece are sent to Newark for the service there, and that the
Scots have taken a troop of horse from the enemy.
FOR THE HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, GENERAL
OF THE NORTHERN FORCES.
SIR,
THE news in these parts is, that Colonel Hastings
is this day come to Ashburne; and with those forces which
removed from Bakewell (they are about 1000 or 1200
1644.]
83
THE CIVIL WAR.
strong), resolves to march to Chesterfield, there to join with
Colonel Fretchvile; and that strength, with the forces at
Doncaster, intend to raise the siege at Newark. This I
have from a gentleman of this country, who was taken
prisoner the last night by them, and upon some small com-
position was set at liberty, and since gave me this notice.
The best intelligence of Newark which I can learn is a letter
that came from Sir John Gell to me, which I made bold to
present yesterday to you. Here is a matter of twenty
soldiers come to me from Sheffield. If I were allowed to
advance nearer those parts, I doubt not but to make a
good addition to your strength. I shall heartily pray for
your good success against Latham House, desiring, when
either it is taken or surrendered, the dragoons may be sent
up, according to your former order. I find the greatest part
of the people senseless of their own good, and the commanders
slow both in raising men and maintenance for them.
If it please you to send Major Morgan in these parts, we
may effect something upon the garrisoned houses, which do
much hinder the increase of men and money. Sir, I humbly
desire a commission, signed by yourself, to several gentlemen,
whose names I shall put in as occasion or their faithfulness
shows itself for the 'sessing and raising money, which, in the
hundred of Scarsdale, High Yorke, and Wirksworth, we
appointed for the maintenance of our force. It is too great
a burden for me both to raise men and money. A man who
is employed in war ought not to be troubled with the affairs
of the world.
Sir, Captain Lyn and his men, who is both active and
faithful, be in great distress of money, being of my lord's
regiment, and in all the service of Cheshire. My humble
request is, that he may have the same encouragement as
G 2
84
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MEMORIALS OF
all other men, his valour deserving it. I doubt not but
ere this you have received intelligence, if not from me, yet
from others here, that the arms are all come to Derby in
safety. What occurrences happen in these parts he will give
you speedy notice of the same, who will ever rest
Your most faithful and most humble servant,
Jo. BRIGHT.
[About the date of March.]
SIR,—I have already conveyed your former letter to Derby,
and shall despatch the rest with all convenient speed. I
desire your commission for establishing a committee may
be sent with the first conveniency. Little news from Shef-
field, or those parts, but men daily outruns them. I make
bold to present this inclosed; it came to a servant of mine,
from his father, who lives about Sheffield.
The picture given by Colonel Duckenfield of the state
of the army shows that all power of control over the
soldiery was gone. They had disbanded themselves,
gone back to their houses, and refused to obey the
summons of their officers to return to their duty. These
serious embarrassments were heightened by an injudi-
cious movement on the part of the Parliament, who, at
a moment when it was so important to gather into the
North all the available strength of the army, ordered
off Sir Thomas Fairfax to the siege of Latham House,
which he was strictly prohibited from breaking up
without special leave.
Latham, or Lathom House, the chief seat of the
Stanleys, was a great building, standing in a spungy
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85
THE CIVIL WAR.
basin, surrounded by massive walls, flanked by nine
ponderous towers mounting heavy pieces of ordnance,
with a keep, a vast moat, and a breast-work. In this
stronghold the Earl of Derby and his Countess were
holding high revels, when the breaking out of the
Civil War called away the Earl to the service of
the King. During his absence the Countess was
summoned to submit to the propositions of the Parlia-
ment, or surrender. For several months she ingeniously
contrived to evade a direct reply, enduring all the time
the terrors of a siege, being confined to her private walks
and gardens, and suffering the inconveniences of seques-
tration. At last it was resolved that the siege should
be carried out in right earnest, and on the 27th
February Sir Thomas Fairfax established his quarters
round the house. On the next day he transmitted to
Lady Derby the following letter:-
TO MY LADY DERBY, TO RENDER THE GARRISON OF LATHAM.
BEING sent hither over this part by command from the
Parliament to suppress and prevent all force that shall oppose
their legal just power, and to prevent the increasing miseries
of some almost ruinated counties, which, by God's great good-
ness, hath had some happy success; and understanding that
your ladyship keeps Latham with a garrison of soldiers in it,
which doth many injuries to the army and much hinder them,
and is a receptacle and great encouragement to the Papists
and disaffected persons in those parts, (which I cannot believe
your ladyship doth naturally affect); I should not do my duty
86
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MEMORIALS OF
if I neglect the means to remove that mischief. Yet, madam,
I do owe you that so much honour as a lady, as I would use
all just means that would make me capable of serving your
ladyship, and proceed so as may testify so much, though
some force be already near your ladyship.
I desire to have sent your ladyship herein inclosed an Act
of Parliament (indeed I have need to excuse it to your lady-
ship I had not a better to send you, having passed many hands,
there being but this in the county), that your ladyship may
make use of the clemency of the Parliament. And if the Earl
of Derby will make an advantage of it, I shall faithfully serve
his lordship in it; and if your ladyship so render up that place,
Latham House, I shall offer such terms as may be honourable
and convenient for your ladyship,-not but the Parliament,
which aims at nothing but the establishment of true religion
and the honour and peace of the King and kingdom, will have
a tender respect and care over your ladyship. I will add no
more, but an assurance to your ladyship; only I say this to
prevent such that may happen, and to do your ladyship the
best service that is in the power of
Your ladyship's most faithful and humble servant,
THOS. FAIRFAX.
Her ladyship's object was to gain time, and her
policy consisted accordingly in demurs and delays. In
reply to the requisition of the Parliamentary General,
she expressed her wonder at being required to give up
her lord's house, and begged a week's consideration that
she might resolve her doubts of law and conscience.
But Sir Thomas penetrated her purpose, became more
peremptory, and offered to remove her ladyship in her
1644.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
87
carriage to New Park, a house of the earl's, about a
quarter of a mile from Lathom. This message, which
was courteously intended and delivered, surprised her
ladyship into a passion, and she rejected it in a burst
of anger, declaring that it would be more knightly that
Sir Thomas should wait upon her than she upon him.
In this way matters hung for a few days longer, the
agents employed by Fairfax being invariably foiled
by the wit or firmness of her ladyship; until at last
the negociations were suddenly brought to a close
by a final declaration on the part of the Countess that
she could treat no farther, to which she added, that
though a woman and a stranger, [her ladyship was a
French woman, daughter of the Duc de Tremouille, and
descended from the famous Count William of Nassau],
divorced from her friends, and robbed of her estate, she
was ready to receive their utmost violence, trusting in
God for protection and deliverance."
Upon the receipt of this answer, hostilities were begun
promptly enough, but carried on with most dreary
indecision. They were put into motion about the 6th
March, and we find Sir Thomas Fairfax sitting down
here, directing single shots and splashes of powder to no
effect till the 24th April, when he appears to have aban-
doned the business, and proceeded, as he would have
done long before if he had had the power, into York-
shire. This siege of a valiant lady in her castle excited
universal sympathy. It threw a solitary glow of per-
sonal interest upon a corner of the great war; it was
(6
88
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MEMORIALS OF
like a scrap of old romance let into a framework of
coarse violent reality.
The conduct of the siege now devolved upon Mr. or
Colonel Rigby of Preston, a member of Parliament for
Wigan, "a lawyer," says a contemporary, "and a bad
one," of an impetuous disposition, and ill qualified, from
want of military knowledge, to manage such an affair.
He appears to have thought that the best thing he could
do was to gather up his powder, and manufacture it
into grenadoes, which he could fling upon the devoted
garrison as opportunity suited. These grenadoes had
already done much mischief, and he relied more upon
them than upon all the rest of his resources. Having
got his materials ready, he sent a furious message to
Lady Derby, summoning her peremptorily to surrender.
The heroine was standing amongst her soldiers when
this message was delivered. Receiving the paper on
which it was written from the hands of the envoy, she
tore it up, and exclaimed that the proper reward for
Rigby would be to be hanged at her gates. "Tell that
insolent rebel,” she continued, "he shall neither have
person, goods, nor house; when our strength and pro-
visions are spent, we shall find a fire more merciful than
Rigby's, and then, if the providence of God prevent it
not, my goods and house shall burn in his sight; and
myself, children, and soldiers, rather than fall into his
hands, will seal our religion and loyalty in the same
flame."
Apprehending, from the determined spirit of this
1644.]
89
THE CIVIL WAR.
answer, that Rigby would immediately open a fire
upon the castle, her ladyship, whose valour was quite
equal to her eloquent expression of it, resolved to
be beforehand with him; and, at four o'clock the next
morning, her soldiers issued out of the eastern gate
upon the desperate design of endeavouring to secure
the ditch and rampart. It was a choice of deaths.
The cry amongst them was, "We must either kill or be
killed." The horror of the crisis inspired them with a
courage and devotion beyond all ordinary calculation.
There was one mortar-piece which had raked them
piteously, and which they feared more than all the
rest of the enemy's guns. From its dreadful mouth
issued those flaming grenadoes which, tumbling in
showers of fire upon the heads of the beleaguered gar-
rison, produced the most terrible results. The first
thing they did was to make for the trench where this
mortar-piece lay guarded by fifty soldiers.
by fifty soldiers. After a
quarter of an hour's fighting, they won the sconce,
gained the rampart, levelled the ditch, and drawing up
the iron monster by ropes, dragged it into the house.
Having accomplished their object, they looked down
upon Rigby with scorn. It was a jubilee to witness
the mad glee with which the poor soldiers danced round
this fearful trophy when they had got it safely within
doors, and saw it lying dumb and harmless at their feet.
The historian of the siege says, "Now [exulting over
the mortar] neither ditches nor aught else troubled our
soldiers; their grand terror, the mortar-piece, which had
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frightened them from their meat and sleep, lying, like a
dead lion, quietly among them; every one had his eye
and his foot upon it, shouting and rejoicing as merrily
as they used to do with their ale and bagpipes. Indeed,
every one had this estimation of the service, that the
main work had been done, and that what was yet
behind was a mere pastime.'
ور
Rigby's circumstances now became hopeless. He
had been scorned, mocked, and beaten in the ditch, and,
to crown his mortification as well as his defeat, he had
lost his mortar-piece, which had been of more use to
him than either his skill or his soldiers. In this exi-
gency, he applied for help to the deputy lieutenants of
Lancashire, setting before them the usual complaint-
want of money, and defalcation of troops.
-
COLONEL ALEXANDER RIGBY TO THE DEPUTY LIEUTENANTS
OF LANCASHIRE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE siege of Latham House is a matter of great
consequence to this whole county, and hath a further
influence into other places; but herein I need not to enlarge
myself to you, who better understand the state of this county
and who are so much interested therein. This work was
begun with the personal presence and assistance of Sir
Thomas Fairfax and Colonel Ashton, and afterwards others
were by his honour enjoined to Colonel Ashton and my
assistance, and since, though Colonel Ashton and his forces
1644.]
91
THE CIVIL WAR.
have been withdrawn from me, I have not enjoyed the
assistance intended, so that thereby I have been destitute of
means to get in monies to maintain the work, and enforced
to borrow great and considerable sums of money, both upon
my word and bond, for the public use. We have had many
nights together alarms, and beaten them into the house six
and seven times in a night, and by these alarms and great
numbers in the house, and by our losses, my soldiers have
been enforced some to watch and stand upon the guard in
the trenches two nights together, and others two nights in
four, in both which kind my son hath performed his duties
as the meanest captain; and for myself I almost languish
under the burden, having toiled above my strength. The
length of the siege and the hard duties have wearied all
the soldiers; many have departed without license, many of the
volunteers of Leyland and Amounderness (though called) have
forborne to come unto my aid, and divers of Colonel Moor's
soldiers here with me have refused to do duties in times of
necessity; and want of pay was their pretence.
Gentlemen, these things are but part of our sufferings. I
have several times, in most earnest manner, implored many
of you for aid, but not been so happy as to obtain necessary
assistance from you. I am enforced (no other course being
pleasing to me,) to appeal from you to you, desiring that you
will be pleased to meet here, at Ormskirk, on Friday next,
there to understand our condition: and either, which God
forbid to waive the work (pardon, I pray you, that expression,
extorted by want of your aid), or else so to join in carrying
it on, that it may proceed with your assistance: wherein I
shall willingly assent that the honour thereof may be wholly
yours, so that the benefit thereof may be that of the kingdom;
and so, praying God to prosper this design, wherein I am
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now engaged, and to preserve you and us and this whole
county and kingdom from our enemies,
I remain, Your faithful servant,
ALEXANDER RIGBY.
Ormskirk, May 1st, 1644.
This appeal, which put the alternative plainly before
the deputies, was quite useless. No succours came.
The deputies had business of their own to attend to, and
found that difficult enough. Every man, in fact, in
Rigby's position, was left to work out his own salva-
tion as he could, and to exercise his discretion as to
fighting or flying. Rigby did not lose much time in
making up his mind. A few weeks more of sallies and
scrambles in the trenches, and then he raised the siege,
and on the 27th May endeavoured to escape from the
hands of Prince Rupert, who, with the Earl of Derby.
was coming to relieve the Countess. Collecting his
companions on a green in the neighbourhood, he was
for some time in great incertitude which way to march
in order to get clear of the Royalists, and finally deter-
mined on throwing himself into Bolton. This was the
most dangerous point he could have selected. He had
hardly got within the walls when he was surprised by
Prince Rupert, who, surrounding the town, destroyed
more than half the numbers of the Parliamentarians.
In this memorable action the Countess was amply
revenged. The Earl of Derby took the first colour
that fell before the Royalists, and with his own hand
cut down a man who had once been his servant, but
—
}
1644.]
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THE CIVIL WAR.
who had deserted with the intention of betraying his
mistress, in the time of her greatest peril.
The Countess of Derby is said to have been the last
person in the kingdom who submitted to the Parlia-
ment. Her husband was worthy of her heroic nature.
His answer to Ireton, who made him large offers if he
would surrender up the Isle of Man, is a memorable
example of high courage and inflexible resolution :--" I
scorn your proffers; I disdain your favour; I abhor
your treason,”—and this, too, in July, 1649, with the
King dead, and royalty in the coffin with him. In
another passage of that curious document he showed a
peremptory scorn and defiance, which recalls some of
the replies of his beleaguered wife to the ill-mannered
Rigby. Take this for your final answer, and forbear
any farther solicitations; for, if you trouble me with
any more messages of this nature, I will burn the paper
and hang up the bearer." Whatever becomes of Causes
and Rights in the strifes that spring up in their vindi-
cation, the world is bound to honour fidelity and true
services wherever they appear, and especially when they
are seen standing firm in the last hours of disaster. The
Earl of Derby never wavered a jot, was taken prisoner
at the battle of Worcester, and died upon the scaffold.
The following letters from Colonel Lambart, written
while Sir Thomas Fairfax was before Lathom House,
inform us of what was going forward in the North
during that time, and how much the presence of the
General was needed there :-
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FOR MY TRULY HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, &c.
SIR,
THE last night I sent out a party of horse and foot,
commanded by Captain Asquith, to fall upon the enemy's
quarters at Hunstett, which accordingly was done, through
God's assistance, with good success. We took some prisoners;
Major Vavasour, Captain Hughes, Captain Cardhouse, Cap-
tain Laine, Captain Labourne, and Captain Talbot; three
lieutenants, four gentlemen, about 200 common soldiers,
besides some slain: and I bless God, without any loss on our
part at all. Divers other of better quality very narrowly escap-
ing. We all, in these parts, exceedingly long for and desire
your appearance here, which, I am confident, were enough to
clear these parts, if the opportunity be not slipped. General
King is certainly at Durham, but I cannot tell with what
force, but I fear lest his intentions may be for this country.
Sir, I desire you not to think my following lines tedious
unto you, which are in the behalf of my chirurgeon, who,
having spent all his chest at Nantwich, desires that you will
be pleased to afford him some recruit. Sir, I beseech you
pardon his tedious petition, who rests, Sir,
Your most faithful and humble servant,
JO. LAMBART.
Bradford, March 6th, 1643, [N.S. 1644.]
SIR,
FOR MY MUCH RESPECTED FRIEND, MR. SECRETARY
NICHOLAS, &c.
THE reason of my address unto you, is, because I
am informed by some of our friends and countrymen that
Sir Thomas appointed so much money for us out of your
store as would make our horse a month's pay, and because I
1644.]
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THE CIVIL WAR.
hear my general is in Cheshire, and the purse in your keep-
ing. If you be acquainted with Sir Thomas's pleasure, I
desire you will be pleased to disburse unto Mr. Hugh Carrier
the said sum. I have sent you the number of our horses as
they appeared the last muster, and since then they are
increased something. I shall only trouble you farther with
what news I hear. The Scots are certainly at Durham and
Hartlepool, the latter whereof they fortify and settle a gar-
rison. There hath lately been some blows, and the report
goes by divers who came to us from them that Sir Richard
Hutton's regiment is cut off. This you may credit, that
many wounded soldiers are brought to York. My Lord
General hath taken Stamford Bridge and some good ord-
nance. More of the particulars I cannot relate. The enemy
is fortifying Tadcaster; and even now I hear that he is
marched towards Leeds with eighteen colours of foot and the
demi-cannon. I should not in the least kind have credited
it, but that I know the relater to be very faithful, and reports
that his friend saw it. We shall, to the best of our poor
powers, endeavour to resist. God in his mercy do his
pleasure with us! Sir, I must acknowledge many favours
from you, and, in that acknowledgment, rest
Your obliged friend and servant,
JO. LAMBART.*
Bradford, March 11th, [N.S. 1644.]
The writer of these letters was one of the most active
of the Parliamentarian generals. His activity (which
Charles II. considered of the "mischievous" order) was
not forgotten at the Restoration. By a sinister breach
and evasion of the royal word, he was put upon his trial,
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
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MEMORIALS OF
and found guilty, but respited from death at the bar. He
survived his sentence thirty years; but death would have
been a cheaper doom. That long remainder of his life
was passed in close prison in the island of Guernsey.
The condition of the country at this period, torn by
dissention, and thrown into a position "fit to be con-
quered," as Mr. Lye describes it, may be gathered from
a couple of stray epistles addressed to Mr., afterwards
Sir Richard Browne, the English resident in Paris.
Mr. Lye invites Mr. Browne, as a matter of ceremony,
to visit him in Bristol; but knowing how much plea-
santer it was to drink wine in the Tuileries, and cultivate
the good-will of handsome women in peace and quiet-
ness, than to swallow ditch-water and sleep under a
hedge, he insinuates a hint that he would considerably
prefer being invited to visit Mr. Browne in Paris. The
Ranulphe, or Randolf Crewe, who writes the second
letter, was the judge who, in 1626, was removed from
his place for not promoting the loan. We find him
now, eighteen years afterwards, so reduced in circum-
stances, that he is living upon credit. Sir Richard
Browne, to whom these letters were addressed, appears
to have been written to by every body, and to have
received every body-fugitives included. After the
death of the King, we find him still holding his appoint-
ment, and throwing open his doors to Sir Edward
Nicholas, whose connection with him, Sir Edward being
his wife's father, was hardly sufficient to cover the risk
of entertaining so faithful a Royalist.
G
1644.]
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THE CIVIL WAR.
MONSIEUR BROWNE, RESIDENT POUR LE ROY DE LA
GRANDE BRETAGNE, À PARIS.
SIR,
TROUBLES and restraint have taken up all my time
since I had the honour to wait upon you in Paris; and truly
between both, till this last week that I have been in this
town of purpose to rejoice, I have had neither leisure nor
opportunity to perform my promise with you. The last
letter I received from you was the next day after the battle
at Edgehill, wherein it seems fame had me a rebel at Paris;
but before the receipt of it, not many hours, I had given
sufficient testimony of my fidelity. I must humbly thank
you, sir, for your remembrance; for had I been engaged on the
other side, it would certainly have worked powerfully enough
to have drawn me from them. I need not trouble you with
the relation of any of our passages: you have them from
better and more judicious observations. I can only tell you
that we prepare on all sides to cut throats, and put the king-
dom in a posture fit (for any one that will endeavour it) to
be conquered. In the meantime you drink good wine at
Paris, see the beauties upon the course, and refresh in your
own home in the Tuileries, which in my opinion is better
than drinking scurvy ale, marching all day in the wet or
cold, and lying all night under a hedge. If you can away
with that course of life, I will invite you into England; but
truly I had rather receive and obey yours for Paris, where
I will be next winter if I outlive the summer. My service
to your lady.
VOL. I.
Sir, I am,
Your affectionate, humble servant,
WALT. LYE.*
Bristol, March 26th, 1644.
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
H
98
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
Sir, I beseech you do me the favour to send the inclosed
by the next post to Rome, and recommend it to the College
of English Jesuits, to be sent, according to the directions, to
Prussia.
TO MY WORTHY FRIEND, SIR RICHARD BROWNE, BARONET,
AGENT FOR THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, AT PARIS.
SIR,
I WRIT to you by the last, not then knowing the
favour the King had done to you. It seems now there be
mutual preparations and resolutions to fight. This plusq.
civile bellum must be put to the bloody issue. I mourn and
groan to think of it. God, for his mercy's sake, look upon
our miseries! If you saw the counties-how devastated, how
impoverished, how defaced, it would grieve you. It is well it
is out of your eye, howbeit it be familiar to your ear. The
text sways much with me,-" if it be possible, have peace with
all men ;" and would to God mine eyes might be closed in the
days of peace. I still thank you for my youth, for whom I
wish my friend's assistance to make him a man, for he is in
my love and my care, and I shall rest,
Your affectionate friend and servant,
RANULPHE CREWE.
10th April, 1644.
I myself receive nothing of my revenue, and have been
plundered to a great value; the little that my son hath for
him and his son is so impaired, that it will in nowise maintain
them, and I protest I know not how to supply but upon
credit the means of my subsisting, and yet I hope my credit
shall not fail.*
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1644.]
99-
THE CIVIL WAR.
Sir Richard Browne was a distinguished citizen of
London, which he represented in Parliament, and a hot-
brained Presbyterian. He was prominent in the out-
break of the civil war ; accompanied Essex to the field ;
fought at Worcester, and Edgehill, and other places;
and acquired such a reputation for zeal and devotion to
the cause, that he was appointed one of the commis-
sioners from the Scotch army to receive the King.
It is a strange and confounding slide of the magic
lantern which now suddenly brings this Sir Richard
Browne before us representing in Paris the King against
whom he had been so recently engaged in open rebellion.
But, in these times, we tread on a volcanic soil, and
must not be surprised at any changes wrought by its
convulsive throes. The interviews which the commis-
sioners had with the King are said to have converted
Browne back to his allegiance. Whether it was that
his Majesty's dialectics gave him the advantage over the
commissioners, or that Browne had reason to suspect the
concealed designs of the Independents, does not appear;
but, from that time, he became a faithful adherent of
the monarchy, and continued so to the end. He next
appears as resident for the King at Paris; and a couple
of letters addressed to him in 1643, soon after his appoint-
ment, by the unfortunate Elector Palatine, will indicate
the influence he then enjoyed. The Elector, thinking
more of his own affairs than of his correspondent,
gives the German orthography of Mr. Browne's name.
H 2
100
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR MR. BRAUN, THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN'S RESIDENT
IN FRANCE.
SIR,
SINCE your constant good professions towards my
interests, accompanied with the King your master's orders,
have made me confident enough of your readiness to employ
them for the benefit of my affairs at the French Court, and
therefore rendered any request of mine to that purpose
superfluous; yet, to show you how considerable your good
offices are unto me, I cannot also, on my part, omit to desire
you to let this be their scope; that the French ministers
designed for the general treaty may be particularly instructed
to urge my restitution, according to the year 1618, and to
insert it as an article of the general peace, my adversaries
themselves avowing it to be a necessary ingredient thereof.
I shall leave to your own dexterity and affection to my cause
to represent how much it will be for France's honour and
interest to procure it, wherein you will oblige me exceed-
ingly; and I shall omit no occasion wherein I may testify
how sensible I shall be of it, and so I rest
Your very affectionaté friend,
CHARLES,
Hague, this 5th of June, 1643.
Prince Elector Palatine.*
FOR MR. BRAUN, THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN'S RESIDENT
IN FRANCE.
SIR,
I WISH the effects of the French professions towards
my affairs may give me as full satisfaction as your endeavours,
so well expressed in your memorial, to obtain them have
obliged me to assure you of my thankful acknowledgment;
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1
1644.]
101
THE CIVIL WAR.
which I can express no other way than this, until the effects
of their good intentions, concurring with your constant
solicitation, may render me able to show it more really,
whilst, in the meantime, I rest
Your most affectionate friend,
Hague, 20th of July, 1643.
CHARLES,
Prince Elector Palatine.*
About this time John Evelyn, whose pastoral and
timid spirit had been scared out of England by the
first roar of artillery, was travelling on the Continent,
and, finding himself in Paris, became intimate at the
house of Sir Richard Browne-the "home in the
Tuileries "the tranquillity of which was so much
envied by Mr. Lye. It is rather a remarkable "coin-
cidence," with a startling contradiction in it, that it was
a namesake of our gentle "English Peiresc," as John
Evelyn is called, who first brought gunpowder to per-
fection in England; and that, at this very time, another
namesake of his, the member for Blechingley, was taking
an active part against the King in the civil war.
But we
must not snap our little thread of narrative. Sir Richard
Browne had a daughter, and Evelyn fell in love with
her, and was married to her at the Embassy. Of this
lady, Cowley said, in one of his complimentary conceits,
(alluding to the two pursuits which chiefly engaged
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection. Soon after the date of this letter the Elector
returned to England, upon whose bounty he had long subsisted. He alone of
all the members of his family abandoned the Royal cause, and joined the
Parliament.
102
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
Evelyn's thoughts, gardening and reading,) that she
had
"The fairest garden in her looks,
And in her mind the choicest books.”
It is a more interesting memorial of this lady, that it
was through her Evelyn became possessed of Sayes
Court. Sir Richard survived all the troubles, was
knighted and baronetted, and had the honour of com-
manding the city militia, and filling the office of lord
mayor of London in the eventful year of 1660.
The movements in the West began now to assume for
a time even more importance than the variable warfare
in the North, where the arrival of the Scotch, under the
Earl of Leven, combined with the powerful demon-
stration of the associated counties under the Earl of
Manchester, produced a temporary feeling of security.
The conduct of affairs in the West had been committed
to Sir William Waller, who displayed consummate skill
in the feints by which he diverted the attention and
perplexed the plans of the Royalists, hovering between
his Majesty's troops and those of Prince Rupert, to
prevent their junction; and instead of pursuing his
march direct into the far west--the intention of which
was known, and might have been frustrated-keeping
about the small towns and villages of Worcestershire, to
watch his Majesty, who, having prorogued the Par-
liament at Oxford, had taken up his quarters in Newbury
and that neighbourhood, for a similar purpose. They
were watching each other. But Waller had the advan-
1644.]
103
THE CIVIL WAR.
tage of the single hand, and the single head, against
a stronger camp, weakened by divided councils.
On
the King's side there was deaf, drunken Brentford, who
was general over all the rest; hot, imperious Wilmot ;
honest, irresolute Hopton; soldierly Astley, who hated
long debates, and thought the best remedy lay in the
sword; and Digby and Colepepper, two privy council-
lors, who, though of the most different natures, says
Clarendon, always agreed in their opinions. Out of
these elements it was impossible to extract concord, and
the King was constantly kept in collision with his friends
as well as his enemies. The result was a sudden
discursive flight back to Oxford, demolishing in their
march the works of the garrison at Reading-which
place (en parenthèse) was entered by Waller's soldiers
the next day. His Majesty did not stay long at Oxford,
as will be seen presently by a letter, from Sir William
Waller, to the generals in command.
This letter was addressed to the Scotch General and
the Earl of Manchester, because Essex was already out
of favour with the Parliament. They had found him
impracticable, and, under some plausible excuses, had
formed that association of counties, with the Earl at
its head, and Cromwell under him in the command of
the horse, which, united with the Scotch, and taking
their orders direct from the Parliament, virtually super-
seded Essex. This combined force held the North.
There was also a distinct force under Essex, and a third,
in the West, under Waller. By the great means thus
104
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
organised at their disposal, they hoped to bring the war
to a close before the end of the summer.
These designs were kept close from Essex, who never
knew what he was to be required to do till the moment
of execution arrived. His orders were then peremptory.
Nothing was left to his discretion. Upon the King's
return to Oxford his instructions were to follow his
Majesty wherever he went. This instruction he fulfilled
with sufficient energy, tracking the King's footsteps
through Derbyshire, and forcing him to concentrate his
troops at Oxford, where he shut him up. Various
rumours were spread abroad: one, that the King was
planning an escape to London; another, that he had
fallen into the hands of Essex. These rumours pro-
duced dismay in Westminster; and such was the
jealousy and distrust of Essex that the Parliament
instantly wrote to him, desiring him to procure accu-
rate information concerning his Majesty, and to do
nothing.
In his extremity, pent up in the collegiate walls of
Oxford, with Waller on one side, and Essex on the other,
nothing was left for the King but flight, and his escape
was effected with considerable tact. Leaving his banner
flying from the old tower, as if he were still there, he stole
out of the north gate at nine o'clock at night, and joining
his horse and foot who awaited at a distance to receive
him, he marched through the two lines of the beleaguer-
ing armies, and before daybreak was many miles beyond
their outposts. The Earl of Essex sending the next
1644.]
105
THE CIVIL WAR.
morning to reconnoitre was deceived by the banner, so
that the King got two days' march a-head of him. But
Waller had better intelligence, and sent a body of horse
flying after the King to hang upon his rear and harass his
progress until he could come up himself. At Burford,
they nearly caught the fugitives, and were so close upon
them that they fell in with some stragglers from the ranks
of the Royalists, who had lingered to drink or sleep in the
village. Notwithstanding the vigilance of Waller, he was
still a few hours too late, and the King finally escaped
with the echoes of the pursuers' hoofs ringing in his ears.
Waller's letter refers to the flight and pursuit :
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY THE EARL OF LEVEN, AND THE RIGHT
HONOURABLE THE EARL OF MANCHESTER, AND THE LORD
FAIRFAX, HUMBLY PRESENT THIS.
MY MOST HONOURED LORDS,
I HAVE given your lordships several advertisements
of my condition here, with the unfeigned zeal I have to do
you service, and to correspond with you on all occasions. I
signified in my former the reason of my lying at Stourbridge,
his Majesty being at Bewdley; which was to interpose between
him and Prince Rupert, in case he should offer to advance for
that end to Shrewsbury, whither I had a shorter way on this
side the river than his Majesty had on that; but, contrary to
my expectation, on Saturday last his Majesty suddenly dis-
lodged, and retired to Worcester. I durst not suddenly
move after him, for fear it had been but a feint to make me
106
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
lose that ground I had; but his Majesty's intentions were
real, for the next day he marched away to and through
Evesham, and broke the bridge behind him,* as likewise
Bidford Bridge, and halted a while on Broadway Hill, and
from thence directed his course to Burford, so that I make
no question but he is now very well in Oxford again.
So soon as I received assurance of his Majesty's departure
from Worcester I rose, and leaving my foot to march gently
after, with two regiments of horse to secure them, I advanced
with the rest of my horse and dragoons after him to Evesham,
twenty-two miles distant; but when I came thither, I found
that his Majesty had gained above twenty miles before me,
so that I conceived I should but ruin my horse to pursue
him farther, and therefore gave over the chace. We have
taken some prisoners, amongst them Colonel Skirmshay,
with letters of very great importance. The copy of one I
have sent inclosed.
I humbly suppose, his Majesty being now gone, that I
shall not be able to act anything in these parts to corre-
spond with your service; and therefore, according to the
orders I have received from the Committee of both King-
doms, I am directing my course westward. I conceive it
might be of some use if there were a way settled for a con-
stant intelligence between us, and a cypher appointed whereby
there might be a mutual conveyance of matters of secrecy and
importance. I should be glad to receive some directions to
that purpose by the hand of this worthy gentleman, Major
* This was the second bridge his Majesty had destroyed on his flight. The
first was at Pershore. On that occasion unfortunately the whole of the troops
had not passed over when the demolition took place, and three or four officers
and about twenty men were precipitated into the Avon by the sudden falling of
one of the arches, and drowned.
:

SIR WILLIAM WALLER,
Major General of the Parliamentary Army.
ENGRAVED BY JOSEPH BROWN, FROM AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE PRINT BY
RODTTERMONDT AFTER CORNELIUS JANSENS.
London: Richard Bentley, 1849.
1644.]
107
THE CIVIL WAR.
Kerr. I have no more to trouble your lordships with at
present, but the humble assurance that I am,
My Lords,
Your most humble servant,
WILLIAM WALLER.
Evesham, June 18th, 1644.
By some intercepted letters, I find that Prince Rupert
wants powder extremely.
Waller was in error in supposing that the King
entertained any intention of advancing towards Shrews-
bury. He had no intention of doing anything except
trying to escape, and it taxed his resources to the last
to do even that.
Waller's expression of his anxiety to prosecute his
duties in the West, and to establish a means of commu-
nication with the generals, implied an allusion which
was well understood by those to whom it was addressed.
He had been coerced by Essex, and had already com-
plained to the Parliament of the usage he had suffered.
When the King had got off out of Oxford, two days
a-head of Essex, his lordship (not unwilling perhaps to
shift upon others the responsibility of his own neglect)
called a council, at which it was resolved that Waller
should follow the King wherever he went, while Essex
proposed to set out to the relief of Lyme. Waller
resisted this arrangement, declaring that the West was
assigned to him by the committee as his province. But
Essex was peremptory, and Waller, compelled to sub-
mit, laid the case before Parliament, who immediately
108
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
forwarded an angry letter to Essex, desiring him to obey
their former directions, and to direct Waller to attend
the service of the West. To these instructions he sent
back a bold answer-refusing to comply with their orders.
He certainly stated as an excuse that he had already set
out on his march, and that if he returned it would be an
encouragement to the enemy: there was reason in this,
but his general deportment was so overbearing that the
Parliament were not willing to give him credit for being
reasonable, even when he happened to deserve it, which
was not often. Courage as a soldier was his great merit ;
his great defect was want of discretion and vigilance as
a commander of soldiers.
Of all parts of the kingdom, during the pressure of
these costly efforts of the Parliament, London appears
to have borne the burthen of voluntary and involuntary
taxation more cheerfully than any other place. Nor
was this because London was richer than other places,
but because it was sounder at the core. When the
Scots crossed the border it was found necessary to issue
an ordinance for raising subscriptions to maintain them 1;
the counties, however, were so tardy in their advances
that a second ordinance was put forth to compel pay-
ment. Even this menace failed in some cases, and the
Goldsmiths' Hall was obliged to follow it up with a letter,
in which the example of London was referred to, in the
hope of shaming the lingering counties into compliance.
Here is the letter, which was probably a circular for the
defaulters :-
:
1641.]
109
THE CIVIL WAR.
JOHN ASHE, BY ORDER OF THE COMMITTEE AT GOLDSMITHS'
HALL, TO THE COMMITTEE OF THE COUNTY OF
ABOUT THE LOAN TO PARLIAMENT.
WORSHIPFUL AND HONOURED FRIENDS,
I AM commanded by the committee of Goldsmiths'
Hall to let you know that they have long expected a good
sum of money from your county for the payment of our
brethren of Scotland, come into England for our help and
assistance. The committee have been driven to great extre-
mities for that you have been so slow. It is hoped that now
every week you will send up or return a very considerable
sum,
until such time as the sum of 18,000l. be made up, for
that is your proportion to the 200,000%.
It was hoped by the Parliament that, when the first ordi-
nance passed for the free and voluntary loans, there would
have been no need of the second, to compel men to lend; and
indeed, in London, we have made very little use of the second;
for upon the payment of 80,000l., which is the City's propor-
tion, we shall not bring in use the compulsory way much above
10,0007. All the rest, to wit, 70,000l., will be paid voluntarily
upon the first ordinance; for the second ordinance is only to
compel the backward, ill-affected. But if your county shall
prove so far ill-affected as that they must be wholly com-
pelled, you may then expect speedily another ordinance to
compel the payment of the residue.
Wherefore I pray
observe the advice and direction of our clerk, Mr. Sampson,
whom we sent down of purpose to hasten the work, and to
show you the way we have gone. He complains for want of
a sufficient allowance to defray his charges. We hope that
:
110
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
you will not suffer him to want that is come so far to do
you service; but I shall forbear, and rest
Your loving friend,
London, April 10th, 1644.
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
JOHN ASHE.*
The war spread rapidly over the kingdom. Essex
had gone into Dorsetshire, and taken possession of
Weymouth, by invitation of the mutinous townspeople;
Waller had left Worcestershire, and, after a variety of
fruitless manœuvres, had the misfortune to see his army
vanishing before him, without the power to stay or
recruit them; and the King's troops, flushed with an
imaginary success at Cropredy-bridge, had the hardihood
to contemplate a campaign in the West, whither they
went, avowedly in pursuit of Essex, although the mean
jealousies and bickerings of the generals, exasperated by
the favouritism of the Sovereign, threatened the whole
body with hourly dissolution. His Majesty had hardly
advanced two days on his march when he received
intelligence which paralysed him. Fearful disasters had
fallen upon his supporters in the North, where the battle
was already fought, the result of which shadowed forth
his own fate. The coming of that event is anticipated
by a hasty intimation, written between one and two
o'clock in the morning, from a Parliament officer to the
Earl of Manchester :-
I
+
1644.]
111
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF MANCHESTER,
THESE HUMBLY PRESENT.
MY LORD,
OUR intelligence from divers places agreeing that
the enemy's horse and foot did advance this day towards
Otley, and quarter there and the towns thereabouts this
night, hath occasioned us to draw all our horse of both
nations into a body upon the moor close by Long Marston,
within five miles of York, where now we are, expecting what
further orders we shall receive from your lordship and the
other generals.
My Lord, I humbly offer this, that exact orders might be
sent to my Lord Fairfax's troops that are in general parts of
this country to march up either to us or you, that they may
not by their absence be made useless. The Lieutenant-
General commanded me to send this express to your lordship,
being in expectation to hear your lordship's further resolu-
tions. My Lord, I am
Your lordship's most humble servant,
LEON. WATSON.*
Long Marston, this 30th of June, 1644.
Between one and two o'clock in the morning.
The enemy's whole body is about 15,000.
The anticipation here expressed turned out to be
quite accurate: the battle took place on the evening of
the second day after Watson's letter was written. The
haste in which this decisive engagement was begun and
Probably secretary to Cromwell, under whose instructions this letter
appears to have been written.
112
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
I
won may be seen in the shortness of the notice, and the
promptitude with which the troops gathered and took
up their position upon the plain of Long Marston.
There was so much time consumed in preliminary
movements, that the day was spent before firing
opened, and the soldiers fought into the night, when
the whole force of the Royalists, consisting, according to
Watson, of 15,000, but estimated by most other autho-
rities at 20,000, were dispersed like chaff, or cut to
pieces. The Marquis of Newcastle's foot were literally
destroyed by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell at the
head of their horse; and so signal was his lordship's
defeat and disgrace, that, without drawing rein, he fled
to the sea-shore, and, taking the first vessel that offered,
a poor crazy boat, set sail for Hamburgh. This proud
beaten marquis, whose vanity and indiscretion helped
materially to ruin the King's cause, did not see the
shores of England again for sixteen years! Here was
ample revenge for the disaster of Addeston Moor, where,
exactly twelve months before, the Marquis of Newcastle
obtained a victory (for a long time doubtful) over Lord
Fairfax.
Amidst the immediate consequences of the triumph
at Marston Moor were the surrender of Sheffield castle
and the city of York. Respecting the spoils of the
former (about which there seems to have been some
very pitiful evasions attempted) we have the subjoined
appeal from the Earl of Manchester to Lord Fairfax :-
1644.]
113
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MY LORD,
UPON the surrender of Sheffield Castle (as I am
informed) it was agreed by my commanders in chief here,
and Colonel Bright and other Yorkshire gentlemen, that
there should be an inventory taken of all arms, provisions,
and other things in the Castle to them, that a moderate sum
might be allowed for gratification of the soldiers for their
service; and so to have all the arms and other things left
entire in the Castle. After which there was an agreement
signed that 5007. should be paid to the soldiers by Colonel
Bright, and so he to enter upon all things which we found at
first in the Castle, save a hundred muskets and some other
things, which they were to bring along with them, the other
goods and arms left in the Castle being of far greater value.
According to which agreement Colonel Bright was to pay the
next morning 250%., and the other 2507. was to be paid out of
a parcel of iron found in the Castle, which had been sold by
some officers of mine.
Now I understand by Colonel Copley that the said iron
had been fetched from his mills by the King's party, and
that my officers had taken for the service against the
Castle cannon bullet, which they commanded to be cast
there to the value of 100%.; and therefore his expectation
is to receive the monies for which that iron was sold, and
satisfaction for the said bullets. I humbly desire your lord-
ship to take it into your consideration, and endeavour his
satisfaction according to justice. There being no reason why
restitution from me should be expected for either the iron or
bullets, receiving no more than a moderate gratification for
VOL. J.
I
114
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
the soldiers, agreed upon, as appears by the copy of the
agreement which I have caused to be delivered unto him;
and which 5007. is desired to extend no further than giving
each officer and soldier of mine in that service one week's pay.
I leave the premises to your lordship's grave consideration,
and remain,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
E. MANCHESTER.
Lincoln, August 24th, 1644.
No man was better entitled to plead and to be
heard for the soldier than the Earl of Manchester. All
through this war he had shared their fatigues, without
indulging in any of those voluptuous reservations to
which the Marquis of Newcastle used to fly for relief.
This city of Lincoln, from which he writes in August,
he had taken by storm in the preceding April. Yet
for all his laurels, there fell out dissensions between him
and Cromwell, whose energies were of a more fiery
order; and these dissensions became more and more
loud and angry, until they terminated in a grave charge
of backwardness and disinclination to fight preferred
against Manchester by Cromwell on the floor of the
Commons. Of all charges which could have been brought
against Manchester, this of a disinclination to fight was
the most untenable: witness Edgehill, Lynn, Horn-
castle. But it was quite true that after the battle of
Marston Moor, which utterly broke up the King's
power, with the exception of the remnant that followed
his Majesty in his wanderings up and down in search of
[1644.
115
THE CIVIL WAR.
66
Essex, and after the capitulation of York, which swept
the North pretty clear of the Royalists, Manchester
thought that enough had been done to show where the
strength lay, and that something better than fighting
might be attempted to bring about a settlement profitable
to both sides. Cromwell, on the other hand, was for
striking a decisive blow in the field, for he held that a
'thorough" victory, which should split the heart of
royalty, was the only means of closing the war with per-
manent advantage to religion and liberty. There was no
want of decision, or energy, or zeal in Manchester, but he
was opposed to the extremity which Cromwell had fore-
seen and laboured for from the beginning. Cromwell
felt the necessity of getting rid of all men who stood at
this dead-lock of policy; and he was right. He laid his
measures securely to that end, and by the following
April he relieved the country of the hesitating fealty of
Manchester, Essex, and Denbigh.
G
The new modelling of the army, and the appointment
of Sir Thomas Fairfax to the supreme command placed
the Parliament on firmer ground than they had ever
occupied before. A part of their security lay in the
popularity of the commanders. With the principal
exception-Fairfax, who was not yet quite a lord—they
were nearly all men of the people, sprung from the loins
of the people, familiar with their wishes, and intimately
identified with their interests. The lords were gone,
and the cause was now left to be worked out by the
muscles and stout hearts of the eager millions, for whom
I 2
116
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
Kings never had much sympathy, and who had now for
the first time, and to set a great example to the world,
taken in hand the question of human rights as it lay per-
plexed and obscured between sovereigns and subjects.
There was much of this, too, in the quarrel of
Cromwell with Manchester. It was not altogether on
the one side that Manchester refused to pursue the
King, notwithstanding the urgent remonstrances of his
Lieutenant-General, or on the other that Cromwell had
treated with sarcasm and contempt the order of his
commander; but that a new party was growing up which
looked upon certain connections as a blot and hindrance,
and which was uneasy at the core until it had purified
the cause of all association with "lords." It was the
"lordship" of Manchester that chiefly gravelled Crom-
well, who thought of nothing but shaping his means to
his end, and would have made more violent sacrifices to
achieve it, had they been necessary. How Cromwell
carried his purpose, and what iron nerve, clear fore-
thought and practical brains he had, the imperishable
history he lived testifies.
As for Manchester, he went into private life, and kept
there till the Restoration, at which he "assisted," was
appointed Speaker of the Peers to congratulate the King
on his return, was made Commissioner of the Great
Seal, Lord Chamberlain, and Lord of the Bedchamber,
to the "chartered libertine" of that gay revival, and
died full of age, in a strange place for a Parliamentary-
General-Whitehall. But his death-bed was haunted
1644.]
117
THE CIVIL WAR.
by no headless spectre, for he had all along been opposed
to the execution of the King.
The Montagues, from whom he descended, appear to
have always hung about the Court, and preserved them-
selves in high places; and it was the greater merit in
the General to have stepped so far out of the family
wake as to take part with the people. It is possible
that the tradition of his Norman blood-for he was one
of those who "came in with the Conqueror," and the
reputation of the family for numerous inter-marriages,
and consequent quarterings on the public purse, did not
serve him when Cromwell thrust out his hand upon him.
His great-grandfather had been married three times, and
was one of the executors of Henry the Eighth; his father
had also married three times, and held a variety of
offices; he was married himself no less than five times,
and towards the end had the usual family luck of fat
appointments about the palace. It was his father who
was Lord Treasurer, and who bought his staff of office
at Newmarket, from the Countess of Buckingham, for
20,000l. It turned out an unfortunate bargain, for he
was removed within a year; in consequence of which,
on his return to London, somebody was malicious
enough to ask him-" Whether he did not find wood
extremely dear at Newmarket ?"
But, to return from this digression.
The Battle of Marston Moor drove the Queen out of
the kingdom. The Prince of Orange sent some Dutch
ships to wait upon her at Falmouth, and in one of these
M
118
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
escape for
she transported herself precipitately to France, scarcely
a month having elapsed since she had given birth
to the Princess Henrietta. She had a narrow escape
her life in the channel, being pursued so closely by the
stragglers of the Parliament fleet, that one frigate dis-
charged several shots into her vessel. But the wind, of
which she had the advantage, saved her. At the
date of the following letter, she had already arrived at
Brest. Gilbert Talbot seems to have been employed
about her secret business. His correspondent was
probably Sir Richard Browne. Lord Goring, who is here
alluded to, was put upon his trial four years after, and
was rescued from the block by the casting vote of
Lenthal, the Speaker.
LETTER OF GILBERT TALBOT.
WORTHY SIR,
I HAVE this morning received your packet of the
24th, which challengeth my thanks, and this return. I
arrived here on the 25th, and the same morning hired a
frigate for Falmouth, which expecteth nothing but a wind;
although I confess I yet expect my man and my trunk, whom
I sent hither a month ago to wait my coming, but in all this
town I can hear no news of him, and therefore I have sent a
post to Rennes to inquire after him. If I hear not of him
to-morrow by the return of my messenger, I shall bequeath
him to the devil, but not lose my journey for him; although
I must confess I shall go poor and naked without him, for he
hath my money, my clothes, and the Queen's letters: even my
1644.]
119
THE CIVIL WAR.
Dutchman Mr. Church begged from me till my return to
Paris, so that I am all alone, and comfortless; but in your
friendly remembrance of me, and your lady's, whose indis-
position I much bewail.
I make bold to trouble you with a great weight of
inclosures; that of most consequence is my Lord Germain's,
which importeth the preservation or loss of the Castle of
Guernsey, for Sir Peter Osborne is almost famished for
want of supplies, and that which causeth great suspicion
is that his lady is gone eight days since to London,
in a Parliament ship. I have entreated his son (whom I
found here) to steal over to his father, and convey him a
handful of provisions, that may keep him in heart till my
Lord Germain can procure him some supplies from Jersey, or
these parts of France; and I may be able to represent to the
King the exigency wherein he is at present. Good sir, send
away that letter with all possible speed. The next is that to
Madame Grotius, with whom I desire you to strike up an
acquaintance, but seem not to know anything of the main
business.
There is a Dunkirk frigate belonging to a Frieslander,
naturalised English, and enabled by his Majesty's commission
to take all rebels' ships, who is arrested for an unlawful
prize, and is in danger of losing his ship. I have advised him
to send you a short draught of his case, that you may assist
him, and make him handsomely acknowledge the courtesy ;
but he is neglectful, and I will not press him to his own good.
I have learned from him that the Irish have an agent at
Paris, whose name is Dr. Hartecome; I leave it to you
whether it may concern your knowledge and the King's
service to inquire after him and his treaties.
We have here no news at all, but a murmur of a battle in
120
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the West, which I conceive is begotten by conjecture, for no
shipping is come from those parts these eight days. I can
tell you, betwixt
you and me, that my Lord Goring let fall
some words at parting which make me believe that he will
not stir till his letters of revocation be renewed. My best
service to your sweet lady, to my little wife, and all our
friends; and let me beg this favour of you, that you will
esteem me as I do myself,
Your most humble, faithful, and
St. Malo, 27th August, 1644.
obliged servant,
GILB. TALBOT.*
My humblest service to Prince Edward, with my service to
my Lady Banbury. I pray you tell her why I did not send
her ring.
Soon after the surrender of York, Sir Thomas Fairfax
addressed himself to the reduction of Helmesley Castle,
one of the strongholds of the county. In Colonel Cros-
land, the governor of the castle, he found a brave and
honourable opponent. Numerous sallies, without much
effect at either side except wounds and waste of ammu-
nition, led at last to a proposal of surrender. In one of
these deadly onslaughts, Fairfax received a musket-ball
in his shoulder, and was carried off all but dead to York,
where for some time he vibrated fearfully between life
and death. Colonel Crosland drew up the terms of
surrender himself, conceived in a high military spirit,
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1644.]
121
THE CIVIL WAR.
and agreed to by Fairfax. The castle poured out its
garrison accordingly with colours flying, drums beating,
and matches lighted, on the 22nd November.
THEREOF.
PROPOSITIONS DESIRED BY COLONEL CROSLAND, GOVERNOR
OF HELMESLEY CASTLE, CONCERNING THE SURRENDERING
1. That the Governor of the Castle and all other the
officers shall march out with their arms, horses, and all the
rest of their goods belonging unto them, and to be safely
convoyed to the garrison at Scarborough, without any
molestation.
2. That the soldiers shall march out with their arms
loaded, matches lighted, colours flying, and drums beating,
and to be safely convoyed to the said garrison.
3. That the gentlemen, or others the countrymen, that
came hither for protection, may have free liberty to depart
with their goods, unto their own dwellings, and to have my
Lord Fairfax's protection for their safeguard.
4. That the Lady Duchess of Buckingham's goods within
the Castle, her servants and their goods, may remain safe
within the Castle, or the town of Helmesley, under my
Lord Fairfax's protection, as they have been formerly with-
out interruption.
5. That any goods within the Castle belonging to any
gentleman in the country, or to any other whatsoever, may
have three days' time after the surrender thereof for the
disposing of them, and to have my Lord Fairfax's protection
for their convoy.
6. That there may be carriages procured for the conveying
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MEMORIALS OF
of two little drakes, arms and other baggage along with
them, unto the garrison before mentioned.
7. That the Castle of Helmesley be absolutely demolished,
and that no garrison hereafter be kept there by either party.
8. That in performance of these articles, Lieutenant
Colonel Forbes, and all the rest of the prisoners, shall have
their free liberty; and that Lieutenant Spright, and five
soldiers belonging to me, now prisoners at York, shall like-
wise have their liberty.
9. And lastly, that there be time given until the 16th day
of this month, for to consider of these articles, in case there
might be relief had in that time from the Prince, otherwise
we shall perform these articles on our part.
JOR. CROSLAND.
Helmesley Castle, November 6th, 1644.
The time of the Fairfaxes was not wholly occupied in
ditches and ramparts. They had a great deal of civil
and uncivil business on hand besides, and sometimes
had to do with Church affairs, which, considering their
noisier occupations and the sturdiness of their preju-
dices, was probably the most disagreeable part of their
functions. We have a bundle of letters from Lord
Howard about the presentation to the living of Whel-
drake, which he was anxious to procure for a Mr.
Tindall; and after importuning Lord Fairfax grievously
upon the subject, and finally succeeding in obtaining
the appointment, it turned out that Mr. Tindall could
not undertake the journey, so that his lordship's inter-
cession went for nothing, except to impose a great deal
of useless trouble upon Lord Fairfax.
1644.]
123
THE CIVIL WAR.
•
The Doctor Peter du Moulin, whose sequestered
benefice was so eagerly looked after by Lord Howard,
may be noted chiefly as a zealous Calvinist, and as
the author of a book which made a great tumult
in its day, and which was intended to rouse the
indignation of the whole world against the Parlia-
ment that put the King to death, but which book
the world has entirely forgotten, although it has a
vivid recollection of the King's "martyrdom." Upon a
page of a copy of this book, which is called "Histoire
des Nouveaux Presbyteriens Anglois et Escossais," pre-
served in the library of Christ Church, Canterbury,
there is a curious MS. statement in the handwriting of
Du Moulin, in which, after telling us that he had made a
vow that, as far as Latin and French could go in the
world, he would make the King's cause known, he gives
this account of the book itself:-" To pay my vow I first
made this book, which was begun at York during the
siege in a roome whose chimney was beaten down by
the canon while I was at my work; and after the siege,
and my expulsion from my rectory at Wheldrake, it
was finisht in an underground cellar, where I lay hid to
avoid warrants that were out against me from commit-
tees to apprehend me, and carry me prisoner to Hull.
Having finisht the book, I sent it to be printed in
Holland by the means of an officer of the master of the
portes at London, Mr. Pompeo Calandrini, who was
doing great and good services to the King in that place.
But the King being dead, and the face of publique
▾
124
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MEMORIALS OF
businesses altered, I sent for my manuscript out of
Holland, and reformed it for the new King's service.
And it was printed, but very negligently, by Samuel
Browne, at the Haghe." And the "new King" was not
unmindful of all this hiding in cellars, and writing in
canonaded rooms, for suffering Peter leaped into White-
hall the moment his Majesty was restored, and had his
revenge upon the hide-and-seek of the Commonwealth
in the shape of a private chaplaincy at the palace, and
a prebendal stall at Canterbury, upon whose downy
cushions he fell asleep in the eighty-fourth year of his
age, but not, however, says Dr. Burnet, till he had
recanted many of the staunch opinions he had made such
a noise about.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY VERY NOBLE FRIEND,
THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT YORK, THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I AM advertised that upon some complaints, and
just articles exhibited against Doctor Du Moulins, rector
of the church in Wheldrake, that the standing committee at
York have sequestered the profits of his benefice, and intend
to eject him of the same, giving your lordship fit opportunity
to commend another; wherein, my lord, I beseech you con-
sider me thus far, that having the right of presentation at
other times belonging unto me, and at this present a chap-
lain, very orthodoxal, to deserve it, that your lordship will
please to allow me the like favour you have done my Lord
Northumberland and some others, as to nominate him, when
1644.1
125
THE CIVIL WAR.
Du Moulins is rejected, which I shall take for an act of great
kindness done me, and be ready on all occasions to requite
your lordship with the best endeavours of,
My lord,
Your lordship's most affectionate friend
and humble servant,
Kirk House, by Charing Cross, 15th November, 1644.
MY LORD,
FROM LORD HOWARD TO LORD FAIRFAX..
ED. HOWARD.
Kirk House, this 10th December, 1644.
ACCORDING to your letter and favour therein
expressed to me, I here return you, with my most humble
service, the name of the gentleman formerly recommended
by me for the rectory of Wheldrake. He is called Mr.
Tindall, a Bachelor in Divinity, and Fellow of Corpus Christi
College, in Cambridge, whom by long experience I have
known to be a man of unreproachable life, sufficient learning
and consciousness to serve God in any place he shall be
called unto. Yet, my lord, notwithstanding all this, I would
not prejudice the present incumbent by any motion of mine.
But, if he be lawfully ejected, I then beseech your lordship
that I may present the aforesaid gentleman to your favour,
having as clear a right to the rectory, upon a vacancy, as to
any foot of land there, which by my patent, shown to Mr.
Darley and Captain Harrison, appeareth, and I hope will be
testified by them, with some respect then made known to
your lordship, and here again renewed by protesting
myself,
Your most affectionate friend and humble servant,
ED. HOWARD.
126
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, THESE PRESENT, AT YORK.
MY LORD,
YOUR second answer to my letter sent to your
lordship, about the rectory of Wheldrake, doth double your
lordship's favour to me; yet before your last came unto my
hands I had, in all observance to your lordship's first letter,
signified how that Mr. Darley and Captain Harrison had
seen my patent, under the Greek Seal of England, wherein
the presentation to the rectory at Wheldrake is past unto me
(from his Majesty) in the most legal and exactest word that
can be expressed; which I hope your lordship, ere this, hath
received satisfaction in to clear all doubt concerning my
title; and likewise, according to your lordship's direction,
I nominated the minister, Mr. Tindall, whom I desire may
be presented; assuring myself, that the testimonies I then
gave him, both for ability and conversation,
by
all that know him. This my lord is all I can the present,
until your lordship please to signify your further pleasure
concerning this matter; and then my lord just as you direct,
be ready with all obedience to express myself,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
ED. HOWARD.
Kirk House, by Charing Cross, 17th December.
LORD HOWARD TO LORD FAIRFAX.
MY LORD,
UPON all returns your lordship still evidences a full
discovery of favour to me, which I shall always keep in
remembrance, and wait occasions to express my thankful-
1644.]
127
THE CIVIL WAR.
ness. Yet, my lord, to give answer to your lordship's last
letter, dated the 23rd of September, I have acquainted Mr.
Tindall with your intent thereof, who is very willing to close
with the opportunity and hasten the undertaking of the
cure, but for the present is unhappily engaged to attend
business for some part of the next term, and therefore hath
earnestly intimated to me to move your lordship for some
respite, which, if your lordship shall think inconvenient,
I shall without further delay apply myself to your lordship's
next intimation, and in the mean time crave pardon that I
have thus often importuned your lordship's trouble, being so
desirous to appear
Your lordship's most humble servant,
Kirk House, this 7th of January, 1644. [N. S. 1645.]
ED. HOWARD,
LORD HOWARD TO LORD FAIRFAX.
MY HONOURED LORD,
I LATELY made it my request to your lordship, by
Mr. Darley, that you would please to respite for some little time
the Wheldrake Church until that Mr. Tindall had disengaged
of some employment in these parts. But since truly weighing
how much I have trespassed upon your lordship's goodness,
and that his undispatch from hence may hinder the instruc-
tion of the people there, I now wholly refer it to your lord-
ship's pleasure to dispose it to what other worthy person you
shall think fit; beseeching that he who is preferred may
acknowledge your lordship's favour, with preservation of my
title, that so I may thereby be engaged to do him what
other courtesies lie in my power. I shall not trouble your
lordship further in this business, since the gentleman I
128
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
nominated, full of worth to do service in the Church, cannot
undertake so sudden a journey as I enjoined him, but shall
put a period to my request in this matter, though not to the
thankful acknowledgments of him that remains
Your lordship's most humble servant,
Kirk House, 15th of January, 1644. [N. S. 1645.]
ED. HOWARD.
One of the incidents of most frequent occurrence
during the war (particularly in the North, where clan-
ship had stronger and more numerous ties than in other
parts of the country), was the exchange of prisoners.
Scattered through the correspondence there are nume-
rous instances, from which occasional selections will be
made here and there. There is not a single case in
which such applications were not responded to with
kindness and courtesy. Here is a note from Lord Francis
Willoughby, touching the exchange of a friend of his,
Major Benson, then in the hands of the Royalists. The
occasion, and the right to ask this favour of Lord Fairfax,
arose from the gallant conduct of Lord Willougby, who
had distinguished himself in many daring exploits, but
chiefly in having stormed Gainsborough at midnight,
and seized the persons of the Earl of Kingston, Sir John
Orme, and others. It was in exchange for one of these
gentlemen that he petitioned for the liberation of his
friend Benson; and an endorsement in Lord Fairfax's
hand-writing informs us that the exchange was effected
in favour of Sir John Orme on the other side, soon after
the date of this letter:
G
1644.]
129
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN PARTS.
MY LORD,
I RECEIVED a letter from your lordship concerning
the exchange of Major Benson; your lordship's favour to me,
in that you are pleased to take notice of me in it, is an
obligation beyond my desert, which I have ever found in your
lordship's civilities to me. My lord, I shall ever account it
my greatest happiness whenever anything that I had or
shall have an interest in, your lordship will please to command
it; or that I may be so useful to serve you. Sir Benson, my
lord, he is and ever was at your lordship's disposal; and
myself to serve you, as
.
Your lordship's most affectionate and humble servant,
F. WILLOUGHBY.
London, December 14th, 1644.
It makes a striking postscript to Lord Willoughby's
letter to add that this Benson, who “is, and ever was at
his lordship's disposal," went over, not very long after, to
the other party, and died on the scaffold, in 1650, for
attempting the restoration of Charles II. Stranger
things than this happened in those days. Monk, fighting
on the side of the King, was taken prisoner at Nant-
wich, and, not being lucky enough to procure an
exchange, was sent up to the Tower, from whence he
emerged to take arms under the Parliament; "and,"
says Rushworth, whose simple statement of the fact is
VOL. I.
K
**
130
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
very expressive, "after many revolutions, proved the
famous instrument of King Charles the Second's happy
restoration." Monk was made Duke of Albemarle for
having accomplished that which Benson was beheaded
for attempting.
The correspondence of this eventful year of 1644
may be wound up with a few miscellaneous letters,
relating chiefly to the disorders and injuries arising
from the licentiousness of half-disciplined soldiers and
partisans. Friends and foes, the noble and the power-
ful, the humble and the defenceless, alike suffered from
these headlong excesses.
The Lord Mulgrave, whose letter comes first, was
the father-in-law of Lord Fairfax, and the reader will
also remember him as the father-in-law of that spend-
thrift, young Sir Philip Fairfax, whose daughter Ursula
was married to Mr. James Chaloner.
The writer of the second letter was Algernon Percy,
who resigned the office of Lord High Admiral to Charles
the First. He was charged with the custody of the
royal children, which he held till the execution of the
King. He, along with the Essexes and Manchesters,
went into private life after that time, and came out
again in full court bloom upon the Restoration.
Mr. Wolstenholme's circumstantial narrative gives a
curious picture of the outrageous conduct of the soldiers.
It affords a peep also at the condition of the roads,
which were so miry and impracticable, that the honest
country gentleman had no means of getting his family
1644.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
131
to church (frosty weather excepted!) after his horses
were taken from him :
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY VERY LOVING SON-IN-
LAW, FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MY LORD,
I HAVE, with no small alacrity, received intelligence
of the many achievements whereof it hath pleased God to
make you a happy instrument, and of your valour implanted
in your sons, mixed with so much piety, that they also have
made the public cause the whetstone of their fortitude.
Military valour which carrieth with it much renown, hath
been glorious in them, yet but a small ray of that perfection
which dear Charles hath showed in his great encounter with
death. This I mention not to beget a sigh, but as his near-
ness binds me to rejoice with you in the assurance he is gone
to Him that gives and takes at his pleasure.
By this means, my lord, I have an opportunity to descend
into the business of the attorneys, wherein something falls
out which is like to lie heavy upon me, should it not be
removed by timely advertising your lordship of the state
thereof.
I understand by Sir Paul Pinder that a stay is threatened
of the attorneys, and use is to be made thereof for the State's
service; wherein my interest is not only involved, but it will
appear a very hard measure to that good gentleman. For,
my lord, if the works are conceived to be the King's, it is
misconceived; though the King be my immediate tenant,
and Sir Paul Pinder his farmer, yet it is upon account, and
in consideration of many thousand pounds long since paid to
K 2
132
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
the Crown, and securing my rent; and should this be pro-
secuted, it will as well destroy my hopes of 16407. a year,
wherewith you are trusted, as an honest gentleman that, I
fear, is reduced from a plentiful fortune to little else to
subsist with.
My lord, the confidence I have in you, gives me assur-
ance I shall receive a fair account of this business. Thus
wishing prosperity to you and yours, and that the great
Disposer of all things will crown you with success in your
designs, shall be the prayers of
Your lordship's affectionate friend and father-in-law,
MULGRAVE.
London, December 9th, 1644.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MY LORD,
In these distractions I cannot expect to be free
from the oppressions and burthens which are incident to a
war, although (as I am informed by my officers in the north)
your lordship is pleased to afford them your countenance and
protection upon all occasions in my businesses; for which I
do return your lordship many thanks, and desire the con-
tinuance of your favour to them when they shall make their
addresses unto you. I hear that the garrison at Wresell
hath so hurt the house, wasted the woods, and impoverished
my tenants of that lordship, that the seat there will run
a hazard of being utterly destroyed, if that garrison be not
either removed or better ordered. The disbanding of it
and slighting the works, is that which I desire, if it may
stand with your lordship's pleasure, and the service of
the public, to which we must all submit. I shall study
1644.]
133
THE CIVIL WAR.
by all ways to deserve the respect which you have been
pleased to show unto
Your lordship's affectionate and faithful servant,
York House, December 9th, 1644.
NORTHUMBERLAND.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH.
MY LORD,
I was resolved not to have been more troublesome
to your lordship for anything concerning myself; but now I
see myself lie open not only to be undone by plunder, but
myself, wife, children, and servants, subjected to the violence
and rapine of disordered soldiers, before and in the presence
of your captains and officers who commanded them, and
plunder in part justified to be allowed the soldier by the
captain, when he had no commission to enter my house;
two of my servants sore wounded who did nothing to them,
in my wife's presence, and she forced to flee to her chamber
for rescue, and there a naked sword tendered her by a
young ruffian, who called for her and told her he came for
money, and with fearful oaths that money he would have; and
calling all Romish whores, wherein I thank God none with
me are guilty. He had his desire in part, for he snatched
a purse with a gold ring and a seal in it, from a servant
that was giving some to quiet him. By the way I beseech
your lordship to take into consideration, that the sequestrator
gave this commission to one Captain Swaine, to sequester
and appraise all my cattle, but not to bring them away; yet
he not only drove them away, but gave divers of my coach-
horses to one Captain Wood, who set him on work first to do
134
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
this, and who the last week plundered the same horses and
two others notwithstanding. I showed him your lordship's
proclamation against it. I made my address to his colonel, a
very civil man, and he caused three coach-horses and a mare
to be restored; but the other coach-horse and a pacing nag
for my own saddle, the Captain keeps still; and now by
Captain Swaine's means he may set up a coach, for he hath
all four, and your lordship is well acquainted with our dirty
country, that I need not acquaint your lordship that my
wife cannot serve God at church with the congregation
but in frosty weather. Cornet Lambert yet was very civil
to her, though he took the best, and your lordship was
pleased to say I should likewise have him again, you were
so far from taking the rest. Some other colts never backed
he detains likewise for his own use; he drove away my milch
kine, my draught oxen, and five fat oxen, which were for my
own expense, and are valued very high; and either I must
purchase them or lose them. Yet I procured so much favour
with Mr. Lodge, by means of a friend, as to have my cattle
again, all but what Captain Swaine hath disposed of; upon
promise to pay the rate within a few days, if I procured not
your lordship's order to stay the payment. Truly, my lord,
money is very precious with me, and where to borrow so
much I yet know not. My sufferings are infinite every way;
my family great, and consequently my charge, and for my
own security I dare not now lessen. I beseech your lordship's
order to quit it, or to abate it in some reasonable measure,
that I may live; and for the abuses of the two captains and
their officers and soldiers, that you would cause them to be
examined by Mr. Lodge, and whom else you please, and upon
certificate of their demeanour, contrary to their commis-
sion and your lordship's proclamation, your lordship would
1644.]
135
THE CIVIL WAR.
make them examples for the safety of your poor servants
and the rest of the county, and God will bless you in doing
justice, and I shall remain,
Your lordship's humble servant,
JOHN WOLSTENHOLME.
Nostel, December 22nd, 1644.
About three weeks since I had four fatting cattle taken
from me for the heath garrison, and eight fat sheep. Those
your commanders there yet gave me a bill for, but when to be
paid God knoweth; but they set a value of them less than I
am rated to pay for my goods now taken. I beseech your
lordship give me leave to defend my house according to law,
against any but such as show your lordship's commission,
because I live in fear of my life with all my family; and
except I have your lordship's warrant herein, I dare not do it;
as I both would and could barely do in defence thereof.
Mr. Wolstenholme was the eldest son of Sir John
Wolstenholme, of Nostel, Yorkshire, and was married to
Dorothy, the youngest daughter of Lord de Vere, and
sister-in-law to Sir Thomas Fairfax.
A couple of incidental letters from Lords Clare and
Morley, may be inserted here :-—
Lord Clare, whose confidential communication illus-
trates the occasional abuse of the protection system,
was a man of no mark in himself, but derived a sort
of reflected lustre from his brother, Denzil Holles. He
was married to the eldest daughter of Lord de Vere, and
in that way claims cousinship with the Fairfaxes.
136
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MEMORIALS OF
FOR MY VERY GOOD LORD AND COUSIN THE LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE FORCES IN THE NORTH FOR KING AND
PARLIAMENT, AT YORK.
MY LORD,
I COULD not omit this opportunity of saluting you
by Colonel Lambert, and having so many relations unto you
of obligation, alliance, and affection for your own worth, I must
needs let your lordship know of what falls within the narrow
circle of my knowledge which may concern you, as desiring to
be serviceable to you by all the ways I can. Sir John Curson
who serves for Derbyshire, was with me the other day, and
told me (which I think he had from his brother Sir John
Gell) that your lordship had given more commissions for
raising regiments in Derbyshire than the country could bear,
and some of them to strangers to the country; and he com-
plained also of your protection to Mr. Frechevile, with the
countenance whereof he kept twelve pieces of ordnance in
his house, and 200 musketeers, which he billeted upon the
country, which was not laying down of arms, but keeping a
force against the Parliament, and that Gell summoning and
requiring his arms, he sent him your protection, and writ if
it should not be allowed, he would be buried in the ruins of
his house.
The copy of the protection and his letter I have seen,
which if showed the House, would not be so well taken, and
was called for by some malevolent to you both who had got
some inkling of it. But Sir John Curson (I must needs do
him that right) declined it, as unwilling to do you an ill
office; all which I undertook to tell your lordship, so as you
may do well in my opinion to acknowledge his courtesy,
which you have understood from me. Take no notice to
1644.]
137
THE CIVIL WAR.
him that I had any former traffic in the business, though I
know you did it at my instance, which would trouble me the
more that it should reflect upon you, and truly I am confident
Mr. Frechevile is of so much honour as he will be very, very
tender of your safety. But yet I would advise your lordship
to press him to some certainty when he will further declare
himself, and deliver up his house to the use of the Parlia-
ment; and if he should refuse to fix a time, I would wish you
to call in your protection, and declare it void.
But I verily believe you will not be put to it, and that he
will give you a good account of himself; and then it will
be a good service to the public to reduce a person of his
value and esteem, with a place of that strength, which com-
mands a great part of the country, and would require a
considerable expense of men and money to force it. And
when he shall have done what belongs to him, then I believe
you will give an account of it to the great committee, and
withal I shall desire you to recommend him unto them, and
mediate his reception, upon which his friends may take a
rise to move further for him. So, wishing your lordship's
health and happiness, with my service to my sister, my
sweet cousin your daughter, and to Tom Fairfax, I rest
.
Your lordship's very affectionate cousin and servant,
CLARE.
August 18th, 1644.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES, AT YORK, THESE
PRESENT.
MY LORD,
THE inveterate malady of the spleen enforced me
to come to the Spa for my old remedy. My stay at Knares-
138
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
November 14th, 1644.
borough to that end has been ever since I wrote to your
lordship. I intended to have retired myself to my own home,
but was prevented by the sudden coming of your forces.
Upon their approach I betook myself with others to the
Castle, not knowing what treaty the common sort of soldiers
might afford me.
In respect of this my infirmity, and the casualty of the
thing, I would desire your lordship's pass for myself, three
servants, and a boy, to repair to Hornby Castle, or some
other place, where by your lordship's favour I may be at
my own freedom without disturbance. Thus relying upon
our former acquaintance, your lordship's good disposition,
and this my reasonable request, I am confident you will con-
descend unto it without obstacle. The engagement will
oblige me to continue
Your lordship's friend and servant,
MORLEY AND MONTEAGLE.
The "inveterate spleen" is as good a fact to remem-
ber his lordship of Morley and Monteagle by as any
with which we are acquainted. It has not transpired
whether he ever did anything of greater importance than
drink Spa water, solicit passes for safe deliverances,
and nestle himself up in quiet corners of old castles.
Some five years before the date of this letter he had left
off Parliament, and apparently gave himself up exclu-
sively to his malady. And thus in this age of enlist-
ing, drilling, and trumpeting, when men were in inces-
sant motion day and night all over the kingdom, and
1644.]
139
THE CIVIL WAR.
66
alarum-bells were ringing from turrets and churches,
and even from the great gable-ends of factories and
farm-houses, noblemen and others afflicted with the
spleen, and sundry like craven diseases, might be seen
creeping about in search of ease and shelter, taking no
part either way, and holding their breath till the storm
past over, ready to come out when the sky cleared, and
sun themselves in the triumph!
A letter from young Edmund Sheffield to his uncle
by marriage, the Lord Fairfax, relating to personal
matters, but not wholly wanting in more general inte-
rest, discloses an instance of the readiness of base men
to take advantage of social confusion and distrust for
their own ends. The "grandfather" alluded to, who
is so perplexed and maligned by his late steward, is the
Earl of Mulgrave, with whom we renewed our acquaint-
ance a few pages back, and whom we formerly knew, in
the quiet times of the Denton Peerage Case, as the Lord
Sheffield, a most respectable President of the North;
now nearly in his dotage, close upon eighty years of
age,
and fallen from the high glories of fighting the Armada,
and ruling the councils of the Border, to the humiliation
of being torn to pieces by brawling hirelings. In two
years from this time, poor old "grandfather" dropped
into his grave, and the writer of the letter became Earl
of Mulgrave.
Brother Monmouth" was Henry Carey, Earl of
Monmouth. He and Sheffield had married two sisters,
daughters of the Earl of Middlesex, the Lord Treasurer,
140
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
who had been disgraced from his offices by James the
First. Of Monmouth there is nothing known, except that
he was a man of studious and retired habits, who kept as
much as possible out of the way of history; and we are
accordingly left to speculate upon the favour rendered
him by Fairfax, which was probably to supply him with
a pass, or keep the soldiers off his grounds.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, THESE AT YORK.
MY LORD,
I GIVE your lordship many thanks for the favour of
your letter of the 24th of October last, which (as all yours
are) was exceeding welcome to me. I did your commands to
my grandfather, who of late hath been marvellous ill, but took
it very well your lordship was pleased to mention him with so
much respect in your letter to me, and I believe he intends
to write to your lordship, to acquaint you how Mr. Coventry
(his late steward at Mulgrave) and some other ill-affected
and malicious persons go about to asperse my lord's present
officer there, Mr. Shipton, upon no better ground than the
ground of ill-will, because their power is lessened and his
increased there; yet they are so troublesome to my lord's
officer, as my lord's service is much hindered by it, it being
impossible for Mr. Shipton to follow my lord's occasions as
they require, so long as Mr. Coventry and his malignant
associates have the freedom and countenance to molest
Shipton. Wherefore, my lord, I should be very glad (as far
as the rules of justice will bear it) that Mr. Coventry and his
abettors might be restrained from being so troublesome and
1644.]
141
THE CIVIL WAR.
spiteful, and rather that they might have the beam pulled out
of their eyes, than suffered to find out, if it be possible, a
mote in their brother's eye; for Coventry, he gives it upon
his own account, that he did pay to the enemy was in Mul-
grave 1007. of my lord's money, without the least authority
from my lord for it. Many things of this nature I suppose
he is guilty of, which speaks what he is, and therefore I will
say no more of him, but leave him to your lordship's judici-
ous consideration how to keep him, at least, from prejudicing
of my grandfather.
My lord, my brother Monmouth doth acknowledge your
great favour to him, and both he and myself are your very
humble servants for it, and shall be ready to do you any
service we can.
My Lady Fairfax, her sons, are arrived here, which I hope
will be to their improvement, if she can get money to breed
them with, which I doubt is very much wanting to her as yet,
but she tells me your lordship will be so noble to her as to
send her a month's pay of her husband's salary. Truly, my
lord, I think you shall do very honourable in it, and the
larger you extend your favour to her in this kind, the more it
will redound to your own honour, and the seasonable relief of
a distressed widow.
My lord, I remain,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
November 19th, 1644.
And affectionate nephew,
SHEFFIELD.
The next letters relate to an event of some impor-
tance to the Fairfaxes, but of still greater importance
to the country-the elevation of Sir Thomas to the
S
142
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
supreme command of the army of the Parliament.
Philip, Lord Wharton, who writes these letters, was
more distinguished by his tongue and his pen than his
sword. One of the historians positively asserts, that
during the battle of Edge-Hill, where he held a colonel's
commission, he hid himself in a saw-pit!
FOR MY LORD FAIRFAX, AT YORK.
December 17th, 1644.
MY LORD,
DURING my being within doors, I forbore your
lordship's trouble. In this kind be pleased now to pardon me
in the receiving of my acknowledgments of all respect and
service. Your lordship will, from many hands, hear of a vote
passed your House, that no member of either should have any
office, civil or martial, during these civil wars; and for the
trial, that they will not be partial, it was this day carried, that
my Lord of Essex should not be excepted out of that Ordi-
nance. Two things upon this occasion I may safely say, that
I would to God we had such a successor in all other places as
your lordship will have, and that further than your lordship
is generally involved in the Vote, you are not otherwise
concerned or intended in it, that ever I heard of. This
being so, if this Ordinance pass the Houses, your case
will be with honour and comfort, for a general good, to
resign your command over unto him who is properly to
merit, and will constantly make good all the honour you can
leave him. By the letter inclosed your lordship will see
what is the King's answer, and what upon the delivery of it
was said by my Lord Duke of Richmond.
I am your lordship's most humble servant,
P. WHARTON.
1644.]
143
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT YORK.
MY LORD,
I AM to acknowledge my obligation for your last
and many other favours. The worst news I can send you is,
that there is none, our business concerning the armies and
officers depending yet betwixt the Houses upon great uncer-
tainties, and all things in the interim lying very loose.
The way and manner of the treaty is referred to the
preparation of the Committee of both Kingdoms, and will
suddenly be brought to the Houses.
The party sent into the West after relief of Taunton is, by
some unfortunate mistake (we know not how yet), returned,
whereby the advantages we had in those parts are much
retarded.
December 31st, 1644.
I am very glad your lordship's forces are so usefully
employed. It is visible your lordship would work well, if you
had tools; for your accommodation wherein, as in all other
services, you shall always find me ready to approve myself
Your lordship's humble servant,
P. WHARTON.
The appointment of Sir Thomas Fairfax in the room
of Essex has not yet taken place, but it is ripening.
Debates are going on in Parliament which are prepar-
ing the way for changes in the army, and in the conduct
of the war, which must inevitably drive out all half-
measures and the men who support them. In the
meanwhile, looking back through the events of the year,
and counting up gains and losses, it may be inferred
144
[1644.
MEMORIALS OF
that the King's cause is reeling under vital blows, and
that Parliament has now nothing more to do than to
follow them up with swiftness and decision.
And of all men Sir Thomas Fairfax is the fittest for
this hot service. He is in his thirty-fourth year; has
seen the closest and fiercest fighting in streets, ditches,
lanes, on the slopes of hills, inside and outside fortified
walls, and upon open plains; he has been put to the
worst extremities, and carried himself through them
with heroic endurance. The time is gone by for men
like Essex and Manchester who think forbearance the
best policy, and that there is nothing risked in dealing
tenderly with the enemy. The successes won in this
memorable year must be pursued with vigour ; and this
is a function which demands younger blood and bolder
spirits.
These successes were of the most signal kind: the
defeat of Lord Byron in Lincolnshire; the conquest of
several garrisons in Cheshire; the seizure of Helmesley
and Pomfret castles; the overthrow of a large force of
Royalists at Ferrybridge; the total rout of Prince
Rupert's army, and dispersion of the generals, at
Marston Moor; and finally the surrender of York, which
made Sir Thomas Fairfax master of the North. Add to
this list of advantages gained, the divisions in the King's
councils, which prevailed in one shape or another from
the beginning, but which had latterly broken out into
open feud, the strange meandering marches of the
King after Essex, now hemming him in, and now letting
1644.]
145
THE CIVIL WAR.
VOL. I.
him escape, but bringing about no result beyond that of
exposing to public gaze the pitiable spectacle of royalty
in difficulties,—and the flight of the Queen in such sud-
denness and alarm, as to allow nature hardly time to
recover strength after the tender pangs of childbirth :
add these incidents to the larger events of the past
twelvemonths, and there will be more than enough to
justify the Parliament party in the enjoyment of an
exulting Christmas and a confident New Year.
L
1645..
THE SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE.
SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX APPOINTED GENERALISSIMO.
PERSONAL INCIDENTS, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE STATE OF THE
COUNTRY.
THE BATTLE OF NASEBY.
THE CLUB-RISERS.
STORMING OF BRIDGEWATER, SHERBORNE, AND BRISTOL.
THE FLIGHT OF DIGBY.
THE KING AT OXFORD.
1645.
THERE is a gay letter, full of pleasant drawing-room
gallantry, which seems to have dropped out of its place
in the old Fairfax chest, and been left to take chance
of ever finding its way into the daylight-probably
because it is undated and unsigned. Nothing better
can be done with this piece of stray sprightliness than
to bring it in at once at the opening of 1645, a time
when the whole country was beginning to look brightly
into the future.
From internal evidence, this letter is nearly twenty
years older than our present date. It belongs to the
age of our elder Fairfaxes, the age of knighthoods and
chivalries, of armadas and spurs, and maiden Queens;
and it brings down with it into our troubled chambers,
filled with the smoke and roar of civil war, a tone of
leisure and playfulness that steals upon us like a strain
of old forgotten music. The Lady Mary Fane, to whom
it is addressed, came of the stock of the Nevills of
Raby, who were interlaced with many renowned
nobilities, and had many titular honours smouldering
like half-extinguished brands upon their hearth. She
was the only daughter of the fourth Lord Abergavenny,
and was married to Sir Thomas Fane, a descendant of
150
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
some huge, misty Welshman, called Howell ap Vane,
who is said to have lived long before the Conquest,—a
circumstance by no means so remarkable as the fact that
the Fanes founded the house of Westmoreland. Upon
the death of her father, Lady Mary claimed the barony
of Abergavenny, but failed, after a long investigation,
the House of Lords deciding that it went with the male
heirs. By way of compensation, however, for this dis-
appointment, they granted letters patent for reviving in
her the ancient barony of Le Despencer, one of the
numerous titles enrolled in her house of houses. The
Lord Westmoreland alluded to in the letter, was her
son, who was admitted to the peerage as Baron
Burghersh and Earl of Westmoreland, in 1624; and as
her ladyship died in 1626, this letter must have been
written in the interval. The writer appears to have
had something of the bantering youthfulness of Horace
Walpole in his old age; and if he puts on the airs of
a wintry beau with less grace and sparkle, the reader
will be tempted to suspect, perhaps, that he has a little
more muscle to fall back upon. The initials are those of
Sir Francis Rokeby, who, if he was a son of Sir Thomas
Rokeby of Rokeby, (as we are justified in conjecturing)
must have been at this time a gentleman of ruined for-
tunes. So urgent were the necessities of Sir Thomas,
that he had already sold the ancestral domains to a Mr.
Robinson, in whose line they continued until they passed
by purchase into the hands of Mr. Morritt, the friend of
Sir W. Scott.
1645.]
151
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LADY MARY FANE,
HUMBLY.
WELCOME from Windsor, my most good Lady Mary; then
I must ask, madam, how they all stand as to health at Bray,*
and thereabouts. You must answer well if they be so; if
not—mum, for I take no pleasure in ill news. Now I must
inquire how it was with you for diversion-which way you
disposed of yourselves all day; and expect to be told that the
men were no sooner up, and had laid in a good stock of break-
fast, than they bolted abroad with their dogs and guns;
whilst we of the more refined metal, not made for labour and
dirty work, found delights more acceptable at home. I said
my own prayers, and read homilies to the family; my sisters
practised upon the spinnet, and my lady had the satisfaction
of hearing all. I think there is no reason for searching out
what use was made of evenings. I can guess the sportsmen
brought home that little they had taken a great deal of pains
for; you helped to eat it, took each a glass or two of wine,
then scraped three or four sweethearts out of the ashes, and
so to bed. Now, madam, I must take leave to make one
step from country to court, and would be glad to know what
sort of behaviour the new Spanish monarch has shown amidst
the glory of our English beauties; whether he have well
learned the art to ogle without squinting; whether he can
make an amour without words; whether his Austrian lips
can kiss without slobbering; whether he be a man of stra-
tagem amongst ladies, as I hope he will prove in war; and
whether he have not a double countenance-one to please
women, the other to fright men. I am satisfied your ladyship
* Between Maidenhead and Windsor.
152
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
cannot be absolutely certain in your answer, but your
acquaintance with so many gay things that know all may
make you guess at a little.
Now, madam, the tables must turn, and it is upon your
part to put the questions; so you must begin. Welcome
from Fincett and Southwick,* my most sweet Sir Francis.
Pray give me an account, for I cannot imagine what
employment you could spend your time upon at those
two places fifteen or sixteen days together. Why, I will
tell you, madam. In so mixed a multitude, perhaps
there never was a more agreeable conversation, for you
must know the whole family of Southwick (Dim only
excepted) were the first half time at Fincett, and the other
half the whole family of Fincett at Southwick. Sometimes,
when the company were inclinable for a talk, you cannot
think with what admirable handsomeness the pleasing con-
descensions of Lady and Lord Westmoreland, the sweet,
obliging tempers of the ladies, Mary, Susan, and Rachel,
were discoursed of; but when the pretty conceits of my little
hop-about Dallison were once thought on, it was a general
mirth.
I know the next question must naturally be, what my
old, fusty, dying carcase, having lost the pleasure of taste
and sight, should do amongst so much youth and spirit, there
being a vast difference betwixt sky and earth. Why, truly,
madam, it was not by choice, for I was hurried away by
arbitrary power, whether in cart or coach I cannot well say,
but sure I am it had wheels. Neither do I know but that
I might be of some use, for by looking on a man half in the
grave, perhaps it would make them think a little upon their
own mortality. I will not undertake to tell which of the
Southwick, in the county of Southampton.
1645.]
153
THE CIVIL WAR.
ladies danced best, nor who of the men drank most, they
being excellencies. I have no skill in, nor will I make com-
parison with, where you have been; but this I will venture
at, as you were all countesses and kings, we were all gentle-
women and squires of her Majesty's peace. Thus, my
dear
Lady Mary, in having given you a slight description of a
fortnight's living, I have so far killed myself that I am not
able to say more, but wish you every year all the happiness
this world can afford, till God shall call you to a better
enjoyment in that to come, and am,
My most good madam,
Your honour's most humble and obedient,
F. R.
From what has been seen of jealousies, piques, and
differences amongst the commanders of the army, the
business of Parliament was clear at the opening of
1645; but the way to the execution of it was crooked
and difficult. There were two opinions as to the
management of the war the one for delay and
compromise, the other for slipping the hounds in full
cry on the King-hunt. Essex, Manchester, and Den-
bigh, and most of the high Parliament men, who stood
on their traditions and aristocratic associations, were of
the former way of thinking; Fairfax, (who was a
thorough soldier, and nothing more, and saw all
questions through that violent medium), Cromwell, and
the whole movement party of the Parliament, were of
the latter. Such a conflict might have done no great
mischief in Westminster; in the councils of the army it
154
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
•
was fatal. It is in some sort the business of Parliament
to doubt and discuss-it is the express function of an
army to act. Parliament may be made up of hundreds
of atoms of crotchets, throwing out their antennæ in as
many diverging directions; but an army ought to have
only one mind, and move in a mass only to one end.
To bring about this desirable consummation, and (in
order to bring it about) to get rid of the lords and
shufflers, whose compassionate tears threatened to "glue
the sword to the scabbard," was the design of that
famous measure which is known to us by the significant
title of the Self-denying Ordinance.
The pith of this ordinance is expounded in one preg-
nant line, in a letter from Mr. James Chaloner, who,
busily engaged in the debates and proceedings, informs
his friend, Lord Fairfax, at intervals, of what is going
forward. It must be remembered that in those times
there was no electric telegraph, such as the daily
paper of our day, for the diffusion of intelligence; so
that information, even thus hastily and scantily commu-
nicated, was of incalculable value. The ordinance had
passed the Commons early in the preceding December,
and had been sent up to the Lords, who, after much
coquetry in committees and conferences, had rejected it
in the middle of January. The expression of a hope
that no stranger should have the Command-in-Chief,
is a plain allusion to Prince Rupert, whose position at
the head of the King's troops gave great offence.
1645.]
155
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH.
MOST NOBLE LORD,
Ir is an infinite content to me, that your lordship
doth continue so high an esteem of me, expressed by your
letters of the 3rd of this instant, wherewith you were pleased
to honour me: it is now my part to endeavour to deserve
it, which (God willing) I shall do upon every occasion. The
Ordinance for withdrawing the members of either House
from employments either civil or military, after several
contestations between the two Houses about it, is rejected
by the Lords. I am sorry for it, in regard it is so vehe-
mently distasted by the Commons' House; the enemy draws
his greatest advantages as well from our divisions as
treacheries. It is said that the King hopes, and hath (by
some letters of his intercepted) so expressed himself, to make
a good peace by means of a moderate party in the House of
Parliament. Such persons in popular counsels are seldom
liked, especially in such times of jealousy as these are, being
suspected to be led by private interests, to the prejudice of
the public; if there be any such in our great councils, I
believe they will be singled out, to their dishonour, when it
shall be held seasonable to call them to question.
There is a design to have the Militia new moulded; if it be
so, then I could wish, and I hope it will be so provided
for, that our own forces in all parts shall exceed the
auxiliaries; and that no stranger, but one of our own
nation, have the command in chief. It is probable Sir
T. Fairfax will be called up to be general of the horse.
I hear Sir W. Witherington is come to the Hague in
156
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Holland, and that my Lord of Newcastle is thought to be
coming also thither. I fear considerable forces will in the
way of volunteers arrive to molest us. The Treaty your
lordship hath heard is voted, with the manner, but partly
because the differences are so great, and for that neither
party is yet reduced to a condition of despair, the issue
of it I fear will be so far from healing the wound, that it
will be only an occasion to inflame it the more.
Canterbury on Friday last lost his head on Tower Hill; for
so much as I have observed in his composition, he was a man
of a bold and austere nature, witty, but exceeding short of
that prudence, which, in a person of his dignity, and of so
high respect with the King as he was, was requisite.
.
My lord, I should be most willing to present your lordship
with anything worthy your consideration; but fearing that I
have but overmuch trespassed upon your patience, and inter-
rupted your great affairs, I will, sir, cease to say for the
present more than that I am,
My lord,
Your most humble, most faithful,
and most affectionate nephew and servant,
JAMES CHALONER.
London, January 14th, 1644, [N.S. 1645.]
My wife presents to your lordship her most humble duty
and service.-J. C.
In the midst of these stirring events we must not
forget that the little wife, who presents her humble
duty and service to his lordship, was the Ursula
Fairfax, to whom the pretty love-letter (which, it is to
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
157
be hoped, the reader remembers,) was addressed, by
Mr. James Chaloner, nearly, to a day, ten years before.*
The anticipation respecting Sir Thomas Fairfax fell
short of the mark. Instead of making him General of
the horse, the Commons made him Generalissimo of
horse and foot. Nor did they give much breathing
time to the Lords after the rejection of the ordinance, but
took the matter at once into their own hands, and went on
re-modelling the army. On the 21st January (six days
after the Lords had expelled the ordinance) they made
out the appointment of the new commander, and sent
for him into the country to attend upon them. In the
meanwhile we hear about the progress of affairs from
Lord Wharton (he who hid himself in the sand-pit at
Edgehill) and Sir Thomas Widdrington. The ordinance
for new-modelling the army, alluded to in these letters,
must not be confounded with the Self-denying Ordinance.
PHILIP LORD WHARTON TO THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MY LORD,
I RECEIVED your lordship's of the 25th of January
concerning Dr. Bathurst, to whom I shall be very ready and
forward to do any good office upon your lordship's recom-
mendation.
There is no great news stirring from without doors. Within
we are entertained principally with the modelling of a new
* Fairfax Correspondence, Memoir I. lxxviii.
158
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
army, which is so far passed, as that both Houses have resolved
to rob the North of a good friend of its and yours.*
The Ordinance this day passed the Lord's House with an
amendment or two for the taking of the Covenant, and
approbation of the officers by both Houses. Another of our
endeavours is to advance the Scotch army's march more
southwards, for which preparations of money, arms, and
other accommodations are now in agitation, and so forward
as we hope will give good encouragement.
In the meantime, the Commissioners of both sides intend
the Treaty † very earnestly, but as yet there is not any one
step gained. Thursday was spent in civilities, and viewing
of powers; Friday, Saturday, and Monday in the proposition
upon religion, the King's commissioners having employed
the first two days in questions and demands about Church
government; and yesterday till eleven at night being wholly
employed upon the business of Episcopacy, whereunto not-
withstanding they would give no full answer. What hath
been the issue of this day's work is not come to my know-
ledge, only thus far, the business appointed to be treated on
is about the Militia.
My lord,
I am your lordship's most humble servant,
P. WHARTON.
*Sir T. Fairfax.
Colonel White told me he would remind your lordship of a
business I spoke to him in, that, upon the sequestration of
Grinton vicarage in Mardale, an honest, faithful, full godly
man might be put in, who might be of a bold spirit and an
able body; which two last are absolutely necessary, considering
+ Treaty of Uxbridge.
Į
1645.]
159
THE CIVIL WAR.
the roughness and multitude of the people, and the wildness
of the place, and having two chapels under his care, (that of
Meteners being eight or nine miles distant,) where it will be
fit for him to exercise every office on every third Lord's day,
and whence a great part of his means ariseth. Most of the
Dale are my tenants, and I should be exceedingly glad, there-
fore, out of that respect, as well as the general, that it were
well supplied; and would contribute my mite to his entertain-
ment, if God enable me with an estate, and if such an active,
honest man be procured. Your lordship will pardon me for
recommending this unto you, amongst your other weighty
employments.
February 5th, 1644, [N. S. 1645].
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX AT YORK,
THESE PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I AM not yet able to tell you of anything concluded
at Uxbridge; having nothing yet but hopes, and those
mixed with fears upon the Treaty. The Ordinance for the
new model, as you heard by the last, is agreed by the
Lords, with some provisoes added by them, which are some-
what qualified by the House of Commons, but not yet sent
up to the Lords again. They are this day sent up to the
Lords. The two principal provisoes are thus qualified, as I
remember:-1. That the commanders and officers shall be
nominated by the Commander-in-chief, but to be approved of
by both Houses of Parliament. 2. That all colonels and
other officers shall take the national Covenant, within twenty
days after they shall be approved of by both Houses of
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Parliament; and that all other soldiers in that army shall
take the Covenant at such time and in such manner as shall
be directed by both Houses. The latter of the two provisoes
lasted in debate from a little after ten till past five at night
upon Saturday last. Sir Thomas Fairfax is expected here
every day. It hath not yet been moved publicly that he
should bring up any of his own horse, but to so many as it
hath been privately intimated, it seems very fitting and
reasonable; and so I hope it will be to the House. I am
very well satisfied that so good a choice is made for the place
which Mr. Clayton desired.
There is a letter sent from both Houses to desire the Scots
to move southwards; and I believe some moneys will be
shortly provided for them to hasten their journey. I am
resolved not to hasten mine northward, till I see how Sir
Thomas Fairfax settles in this place. I have no more to
add but the presentation of my duty to your lordship,
Ever remaining, my lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
February 11th, 1644, [N. S. 1645].
TH. WIDDRINGTON.
My Lord-I am desired by my worthy friend, Sir Benjamin
Rudyard, to present his service and his suit unto your
lordship, on behalf of one Francis Nichols, who serves
under your lordship. The particulars of his request are
mentioned in the inclosed letter, written from Nichols to
Sir Benjamin Rudyard.
On the 18th February Sir Thomas arrived in London,
accompanied by a few officers. Sir Thomas Widdrington
1645].
161
THE CIVIL WAR.
ton, who reports his safe arrival to Lord Fairfax,
appears to have waited upon him at Ware, and attended
him to town.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT THE
CITY OF YORK, THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
I SHALL at this time trouble your lordship with
little, and that in my meanest scribbling way, being newly
returned from Ware with Sir Thomas Fairfax, who is very
safely arrived here, when he was very much expected. He
hath been with Mr. Speaker, and is just now gone to wait
upon my Lord General. The Ordinance for the new model
passed both Houses upon Saturday last, having been delayed
for four or five days upon the debate of the provisoes men-
tioned in my last. Sir Thomas Fairfax is to nominate all
the officers, and the Houses to approve. All the officers are
to take the Covenant, or to be displaced, in case of refusal,
till they take it. Two forts in Weymouth were taken from
the Parliament, but one of them is regained; and it is
said the town will be relieved. I have no more to add, but
my duty to your lordship, remaining,
My Lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
THOMAS WIDDRINGTON.
I doubt Sir Thomas Fairfax will hardly be able to write to
your lordship this week. There is nothing yet concluded at
Uxbridge.
London, February 18th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
VOL. I.
M
162
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MEMORIALS OF
On the following day he was conducted to the House
of Commons by four members, and found a chair placed
for him, which he declined to use, standing bare, while
the Speaker delivered to him the thanks and congratula-
tions of Parliament.
We have further accounts in other letters of his
reception, and of the condition of affairs in the country.
It is pretty obvious from Chaloner's statement that,
although there are some antagonisms to be reconciled
between the two Houses, and a hard battle yet to be
fought by the Commons, nothing more is wanted to
success than to launch Fairfax in the field, at the head
of a fresh army. It will be seen that his activity has
been incessant in the matter of new-officering and new-
modelling since he was before the House on the 19th
February.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH.
MOST NOBLE LORD,
I Do observe that Sir Thomas Fairfax's arrival is
most acceptable to the City and House of Commons, but it
is as little pleasing to some here as to them at Oxford; yet
I hope his fidelity, courage, and vigilance (by the blessing of
God) will blast the designs of his maligners, either secret
or professed. The militia in these parts have been either
actually mutinous, or inclined to be so, about their pay, and
refuse to march under Sir W. Waller. The want of pay
is the reason that we have need, once in six weeks, of a
recruit. But the soldiers' unwillingness to march under any
1645.]
163
THE CIVIL WAR.
k
officers but their own, proceeds from the factiousness of some
of their prime commanders, who being removed, and the
soldier receiving a constant pay, (which they are now pro-
mised,) no doubt but they will give due obedience to such
officers as the Parliament shall set over them. Yet, lest
that upon the removing of their officers the soldiers should
mutiny or disband, and by that means give the enemy advan-
tage to fall into our quarters, I could wish, that, before this
be done, the forces now to be raised, or a competent number
of them, were drawn into their quarters to awe them, and
secure the counties, whatsoever should happen.
The Treaty (I never thought other) determined with the
time. None of the three propositions being granted, what
success could we expect, when it was too manifest how
broken we were in our counsels as well as in our army;
besides the loss of Weymouth-a port most fit to let
in the French, (who, I am of opinion, together with
a party of Irish, who are permitted to land, and are
allowed quarter in Britain, will invade us this summer);
if from Melcombe Regis, situated on the other bank of
the river, we cannot prevent it. It is apparent this Treaty
from the other side was but with an intention to under-
mine us, not to compose the differences really; for how have
they varied in the carriage of it? First, when our Commis-
sioners attended with the propositions at Oxford, the King
promised to send them an answer by messengers of his
own, for which end he desired a safe-conduct for two lords
to come to the Parliament, which was granted; but the lords
arriving, instead of an answer to the propositions, a time and
place was desired for Commissioners to meet at, for the dis-
cussing, &c. The time, place, and commissioners, and the
matters to be treated of were agreed on. Then, after twenty
M 2
164
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
days' debate, and nothing concluded, the other side broached
a new motion, which was, that the Parliament should
take into consideration how to secure his Majesty's person
from violence, and he would come to treat with them at
Westminster.
Yet I believe the enemy is extremely appalled at the
loss of Shrewsbury, the key of North Wales, as Gloucester
is of the south part. Prince Maurice, by this means, will
be able to do the King little service in those parts of the
recruiting his army; so he must now rely only upon Somer-
set, Devonshire, and Cornwall, for men and contribution;
for I make account he is so straitened and wasted in his
head-quarter about Oxford, that there are neither men,
moneys, horses, nor victuals to be had there. How he will
be able, without foreign aid, to bring an army into the field
this summer I see not. For us, if moneys can be procured,
(as I believe they will), to be advanced upon Sir Thomas
Fairfax's ordinance, no question but we shall have him at the
head of a gallant army, which if it can but remove the
Cavalier out of his head quarter, they will not be able to
subsist, without foreign help, six months after. Yet no
wonder is it if the King break the Treaty, and desire to
come in person, when he perceiveth how loose some among
us sit in the saddle.
My lord, I desire your pardon for troubling you with
so long a letter; which I have done, not that I do not
conceive your lordship understands these affairs better
than myself, but only that in delivering of my own appre-
hension I might show myself to be willing to do your
lordship the respects and service of a
Most affectionate and humble nephew and servant,
JAMES CHALONER.
February 24th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
1645.]
165
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT THE
CITY OF YORK.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
FOR such things as concern Sir Thomas Fairfax
you will have them from other hands. He hath the list of
officers ready, and I believe will present it this day to the
House of Commons. The Treaty at Uxbridge is ended.
The Commissioners returned home yesterday, nothing at all
being concluded upon. The Dutch Ambassadors yesterday
also presented their advice to the Houses, to call a national
Synod, for settling of certain differences in point of govern-
ment in the Church, to whom no answer hath been as yet
given in that particular, the consideration of it being referred
to the Committee of both Kingdoms. This day news are
come of the taking of Shrewsbury: the castle not being as
yet taken. I hear the town was gotten with few blows.
The Ordinance for the Scottish moneys is passed both
Houses, and now in print. We are at a stand for the pre-
sent in the Ordinance for the army, because the model of it
is not yet presented to the House from the Committee of
both Kingdoms.
This day the Commissioners of the Treaty gave an
account of their proceedings to the House, and were
thanked for their pains and fidelity. And it is well hoped
that, though this Treaty hath not produced a peace abroad,
yet it will beget a better union at home. Thus, with my
humble service presented to your lordship, I take leave to
remain,
My Lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
THOMAS WIDDRINGTON.
February 25th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
166
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT THE
CITY OF YORK, THESE PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR Lordship,
THE list of officers presented by Sir Thomas Fairfax
to the House of Commons is approved there with some altera-
tions, and was this day sent to the Lords with desire of their
speedy concurrence. One fort at Weymouth is regained, and
Melcombe Regis in a better condition than could be expected,
though Goring hath now set up his regiment before it.
Waller and Cromwell are both going that way. Shrewsbury,
as you have heard, is taken, and we had strong reports of the
retaking of it, but without truth. We hear of Sir M. Lang-
dale's going northwards, with 2000 horse, which I hope is no
news to you. It is thought that his design is to raise the siege
at Pomfret Castle. Here be some reports, but no certainty, of
some Irish landed in Wales. Sir William Brereton, by his
letter this day to the House, desires that some of Scots may
march towards him, being now at Shrewsbury. The monies
are now in good forwardness for the Scots, which is hoped
will hasten their march. You will receive at Hull some
powder shortly from him. It is thought that Prince Maurice,
with some Irish, hath a design to join with Langdale.
Since I writ the former lines, certain news are come to the
House, that Weymouth is miraculously regained, and Goring
with a considerable loss gone away. On account of this, and
for the taking of Shrewsbury and Scarborough, Wednesday
the 12th of this instant is appointed for a day of thanks-
giving. Our thoughts here are for the present much upon
the North, expecting what will be the issue of Langdale's
journey. It is very satisfactory here, that Rossiter was so
closely on his heels, and wish that every particular be known
..
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
167
unto you in time. There are many here that plot as
zealously to crush it in the bud as others do to bring it to
perfection. It is hoped that money will be got in K. upon
the desire of T. to furnish it, and such as follow in his
alphabet; when the greatest part is for him. The wits of G.
act in K., and it is feared in T. also, for no good. Robert
Frank will serve for a schoolmaster in this case.
With my
service to your lordship, I rest,
My Lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
L. FAIRFAX.
March 4th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
The assent of Parliament to Sir Thomas's list was
also communicated to Lord Fairfax by the Rev. Edward
Bowles. This gentleman was a steady Non-conformist,
and for many years private chaplain to Sir Thomas
after he had succeeded to the title. A very curious
anecdote, ascribing to him an important share in the
first movement of the Restoration, transpired some
eighteen or twenty years ago in one of the congrega-
tional publications. It is said to be well authenticated,
and shall be more fully noticed in its proper place.
The following letter discloses to us that at the time when
Sir Thomas was engaged in these heavy and responsible
affairs, he was suffering under a painful disease; and it
also alludes to a fact which is not stated so explicitly
elsewhere, that the Lords were materially influenced in
the adoption of the list by the resolute expression of
public opinion in the City.
168
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE, AT YORK.
RIGHT HONOUrable,
ALTHOUGH the sad loss of a dear father which I have
sustained since my coming hither makes me unfit for these
kind of addresses, yet the constancy of that affectionate ser-
vice I owe your lordship bids me make as few intermissions
as I may in the tender of it. Your lordship hath faithful
intelligences, to which I shall for the most part refer you,
especially in this time, wherein I am shut up from converse.
Only this, the Lords have this day passed the list of Sir
Thomas Fairfax's officers notwithstanding their former
refusals, and the disrelish it found from the Scottish com-
missioners. The ground among others that moved them, I
believe, was this; the City, who are most considerable with us
in regard of money, were ready to declare their willingness
to bring in money in case the list passed, or to offer their
obedience, though the Lords dissented. It is thought some
scruple will be about granting the commission, but it will be
stood upon, and I believe carried, that it be from the Houses
and not my Lord of Essex.
All other particulars the Diurnals will give account of:
only my lord gave me leave to mention something I heard
from Yorkshire of the affront offered, not so much to Mr.
Byard as to your lordship's power, together with the com-
missioners who sat with your lordship in the passing that
sentence which appears juster every day than otherwise.
To meddle with that affair here were to publish either
that your lordship had not power to rectify such things
and pursue your own orders, or that you would not use it,
either of which were very inconvenient. Let me, therefore,
1645.]
169
THE CIVIL WAR.
beseech your lordship on the behalf, not of Mr. Byard, who
may be provided in many places, but of those poor misled
people and your own authority, either to rid the country of
him or to give order that it be done from hence, for no man
will stir to the prejudice of any of your lordship's authority, and
I beseech your lordship not to prejudge it. Such vapours, as
these of the doctor, unchecked, will breed more clouds and
storms in the country; but I have said enough, it may be too
much, in this matter; but it is as easy for your lordship's
goodness to pardon, as for me to do that which should require
it. I have nothing to add, but that I am resolved to be
Your lordship's faithful servant,
EDW. BOWLES.
Sion College, London, March 18th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
Your son hath been ill of the stone lately, and I have been
constrained to be a stranger to him by reason of my sad
condition, but am resolved to be so no longer.
The taking of Shrewsbury, alluded to in these letters,
appears to have been a brilliant achievement, the enemy,
in overwhelming numbers, being within fourteen miles
of the town when it was stormed and taken by the
Parliamentarians. The story is briskly related by
Colonel Mitton, a brave officer, and a native of Shrews-
bury moreover, who had large estates in the neighbour-
hood, and the best possible reasons for adopting the
shortest way to insure the peace of the county. Colonel
Mitton held the office of Governor of Shropshire, and
had already rendered valuable aid to the cause by
seizing upon Wem, and placing there the first Parlia-
ment garrison which had been established in the county.
Ch
170
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
For these services, especially his conduct at Shrewsbury,
he received the thanks of the Parliament in person. In
1648 he was raised to the rank of Major-general.
LETTER FROM COLONEL THOMAS MITTON TO THE SPEAKER
OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
HONOURABLE SIR,
I DESIRE that you will be pleased to excuse my not
writing unto you of the manner of the taking of this town.
I do assure you that the rest of the gentlemen of the Com-
mittee did not acquaint me when they sent the messenger
with their letters, though I was as deep in the action as also
in the contriving of the design with them. Moreover I had
conceived they had put my hand to the letter they had sent
unto you (I being then in town with them, but busy in
settling the garrison), they having showed me a draft of a
particular to be sent.
If it may not be unseasonable or troublesome, I shall yet
take the boldness to relate it :-One Mr. Huson, a minister,
who came out of Ireland with the enemy, and some three
months since came from them unto us, did often press us
to fall upon the town in the place where it pleased God
now to give us entrance. That day se'nnight, before the
town was taken, we intended to have fallen upon it, but the
night being exceeding dark and the ways extremely wet,
retarded our march so much, that it was near day before
we came within a mile of the town, so that we were forced
to retreat at that time. The night we surprised it, the
moon did shine till after twelve o'clock, which helped us so
much in our march, that we were within a mile of the town
1645.]
171
THE CIVIL WAR.
before the going down of the moon. I being at Oswalstree,
twelve miles from Wem, and as far from this town, upon
very short notice marched to meet them.
Our intent was to have conveyed our foot in a boat in the
river above the palisadoes, that they had set in a row from the
out-works of the castle down into the river, but that project
failed us.
Nevertheless, Mr. Huson and one Captain Willier,
who came likewise from the enemy unto us as I remember
about a month before, took axes and sledges and broke down
the palisadoes, and made way for our firelocks to enter
through them, with some forty horsemen that went afoot
with them with their carbines and pistols, which we were
enforced to make use of in respect we had not above sixty
firelocks. At the first beginning of the breaking of the pali-
sadoes they were discovered and shot at out of the castle,
whereupon the alarm was given to the town, our men being
at least twelve score paces from that place in the wall where
they entered; but it pleased God to give them such courage and
resolution that they went on with exceeding great speed, and
scaled the walls with light ladders we had caused to be made.
One part of them went toward the main guard, others went
with their firelocks, beat their guard from the gate near the
castle, and in a short time burst open the gate and let down
the drawbridge, where we were ready with the horse and some
foot. We marched with the horse direct to the main guard,
where we found that they had made our men retreat twice,
but we soon enclosed the guard with our horse, and then
they did cast away their arms and endeavoured to run
away.
At that guard we slew one Captain John Needham, and they
two of our horses, but God be praised we lost not one man.
Within one hour after, they surrendered the castle upon con-
172
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MEMORIALS OF
Shrewsbury, March 15th,
10 at Night.
dition to march to Ludlow, leaving their arms behind them,
and the Irish who were within the castle to be hanged, which
is performed. There was one outwork at the other end of
the town, called Franckwell, which they held, but upon our
coming against them they presently delivered it upon quarter
only for their lives. God be blessed for this great mercy.
Prince Rupert marched this day within six miles of this
town, over Severn, at a place called Byldwas: he is reported to
be 5000 with those that are to join with him from Newark.
Prince Maurice lieth this night at Chirk Castle, as I am now
informed by a messenger from Oswalstree, whither I am
now enforced to go, having received some intelligence from
thence which will concern my being speedily there. I
humbly take leave, and remain
Your humble and faithful servant,
THOS. MITTON.
When Sir Thomas's list of officers went up to the
Lords there were considerable doubts and many con-
ferences; and it was not till the 18th--that is to say a
full fortnight of terrible suspense, at a time when
moments had the value of days—that the Lords agreed
to the list. The Commons were thrown into such an
ecstasy at receiving their Lordships' assent, as to send
them up a message of congratulation, assuring them of
their affection, and of their resolution to support them
in their honours and privileges.
This was excellent policy. The House of Lords was
the House of Obstacles to the Commons; but it was no
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
173
part of the business of the Commons to subvert the other
branch of the Legislature, since, much as it stood in their
way on pressing occasions like the present, it would have
been much more in their way had it gone over to the
other side. Be it observed, too, that no question had ever
been raised about the privileges of the Lords, or even
the privileges of the King. The whole question was the
abuse of privileges, and the denial of rights. It was as
strictly, therefore, within the province of the Commons
to sustain the just exercise of the Lords' privileges, as
it would have been to resist the abuse of them.
Besides, there was urgent work waiting for the appro-
bation of the Lords, and it was more essential than ever
to cultivate friendly relations between the two Houses.
The Self-denying Ordinance had yet to be carried, for,
although the Lords had already rejected it, the Commons
were resolved it should pass, and had no sooner got
Fairfax's list safely endorsed by the Peers, than they
took up the ordinance again, read it a first and second
time, and committed it at a single sitting, and in a week
sent it back to the Upper House. Their Lordships had
grown wise in the interval, and passed the measure at
once. On the same day, 3rd April, Sir Thomas Fairfax
went to Windsor, where he vigorously commenced his
new-modelling of the army, recruiting the old forces,
and re-shaping the whole into fresh companies and
regiments. In three weeks from that day he was again
in the field.
The most significant circumstance in the management
174
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MEMORIALS OF
of the new-modelling was the 'evasion of the Self-
denying Ordinance, by the retention of Cromwell in his
command. Under the provisions of the ordinance,
Cromwell was incapacitated, in common with all other
Members of Parliament, from serving in the army; but
it was necessary for the public interest that he should
be there, and, after some little fencing with the difficulty
in the first instance, a formal dispensation was obtained
from Parliament in June, which enabled him to devote
himself thenceforward to the camp. In the mean time,
Essex, Manchester, Denbigh, and the rest of the ob-
noxious commanders, in addition to some whose loss
was to be regretted, had resigned with as good a grace
as they could put on under compulsion.
While these matters were taking place in London
and Windsor, Lord Fairfax was overwhelmed by feuds
and troubles in the North-clamorous applications for
exchanges and passes, for the raising of subsidies, and
removal of suspected persons, followed up by remon-
strances in proportion, complaints of military outrages
and personal indignities, treacheries and surprises, feints,
skirmishes, and threatening notices, with a terrible
clatter of fifes and drums, from all points of the
compass. A selection from the correspondence of this
period will show what sort of variegated responsibilities,
independently of hard garrison duty, devolved upon his
lordship.
From the following letter it appears that spies, care-
fully disguised, were going about the country :-
1645.]
175
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY SINGULAR GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES
FOR THE KING AND PARLIAMENT, HUMBLY THESE PRE-
SENT.
MY GOOD LORd,
I HAVE stumbled upon an intelligence which I
thought fit to be communicated to your lordship in way of
the public service. There were in this town, about a week
since, two gentlemen which came from Carlisle, and were
making, as I am informed, towards Oxford. They would
not discover their names. They were disguised. One of
them had his periwig very long on his shoulders; the other
of them was somewhat flat-faced, with his chin bending
upwards; and one of them had his eye covered with a black
patch. They left word with one ill enough affected, that my
son, now in Carlisle (if he were not one of the two before
mentioned), was in health, and in great account there, at
which I did not much rejoice; but they gave an especial
charge that they should not be mentioned to me until three
or four days after their departure, which was duly observed.
They seemed to intend their return this way within a fort-
night, which, if they do, will be about Monday or Tuesday
next. If they could be lighted on in their return, they may
happily better your lordship's information of the estate of
that place. What to advise your lordship in way thereof
(the malignity of this town is such) I know not, but I must
leave it to your lordship's wisdom; only I thought it the
duty of the Covenant which I have taken, and of the zeal I
have for the cause now contended for, to give your honour
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MEMORIALS OF
this information, which, with my humble duty, I present
unto your lordship, and rest, my lord,
Your humble servant,
Ripon, this 12th of February, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
THO. DARCY.
The next correspondent is Sir George Wentworth,
brother to the Earl of Strafford. This was the gentle-
man whose marriage with "Mistress Ruisshe" has been
already noticed.* He was a Privy Councillor in Ireland,
and writes, on this occasion, to Lord Fairfax, to thank
him for the protection extended by his lordship to the
Strafford family, or such of them as were yet left at the
old seat of Wentworth Woodhouse, in Yorkshire. The
young Earl (at this time pursuing his education abroad)
was restored to his title and estates at the Restoration.
SIR GEORGE WENTWORTH TO THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
THE great nobleness you are pleased to use to that
poor broken family at Woodhouse, is that for which we are
bound, not alone in words, but in all other ways to acknow-
ledge with all gratitude; and I assure myself, that nobleman
whose fortune it is will so receive your favours therein, that
in all thankfulness they will be returned you. Whilst he is
attending his education abroad, be pleased to give me leave, as
a person near in affections as in blood, and trusted with that
* Fairfax Correspondence, Memoirs, I. lxi.
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
177
estate, to render both in his lordship and my own behalf,
very hearty acknowledgments to your lordship.
And, my lord, I humbly beg the continuance of your
nobleness to that place and the ministers employed therein,
as there shall be occasion, which I can no ways make doubt
of, ever remaining
Your lordship's most humble servant,
Dublin, March the 2nd, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
G. Wentworth.
Of the movements of the troops about Bradford and
Wakefield we have succinct reports in letters from Sir
John Savile.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINAND LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH, THESE.
MY LORD,
BEING now drawn off with my horse and foot from
Sandall to Bradford, Yorkshire, I thought it expedient to
give your lordship an account thereof, and the reasons which
induced me to do it. My lord, it was past three in the
afternoon on Saturday last before your orders came from
Colonel Forbes to draw off to Ferrybridge, which (though I
used all possible expedition therein) I could not do until
within night, and then began to march with not above 240
horse and foot in all; for reason of the sudden notice, many
of my men were absent, expecting to have found no enemy
either at Pontefract or Ferrybridge, but discovered them at
both places, by intelligence from some of them whom we took
prisoners. Whereupon we were forced to break up their
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N
178
[1645,
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quarters in Longhoughton, where some troops of Colonel
Carnaby quartered. We forced our passage there with divers
of their horse and some men of theirs prisoners, and it was
generally conceived most secure to make for Bradford, in
regard we did not know how the enemy had dispersed
themselves towards Leeds.
My lord, your lordship may perceive by these inclosed
what a distraction this late accident hath wrought in these
western places. I have been prevailed with to summon
all within this division, from sixteen to sixty, to be in readi-
ness with such arms as they have at Bradford, where both
they and I shall wait your lordship's further direction to,
Your lordship's faithful servant,
JOHN SAVILE.
Bradford, March 2nd, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
My Lord, Captain Kenyon has assisted me hitherto with
his troop, and is now with me. Major Scarfe, who was sent
me by the Committee, has marched away without order; I
desire your lordship's further order concerning Captain
Kenyon.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH, THESE.
MY LORD,
I DISPATCHED my last letter to your lordship in
haste, immediately after a tedious march, by which we were
partly so toiled and partly so employed in securing our
quarters, by reason of continual but false reports of the
enemies' approach, that I hope your lordship will excuse me
that it came not by a better hand. My lord, it pleased God
1645.]
179
THE CIVIL WAR.
to bless and preserve us in the attempt beyond our expecta-
tion; for, my lord, finding the enemy both in Pontefract
and Ferrybridge, which we little imagined, and having given
them an alarm in both places, we were in that extremity, that
we scarce knew whither to turn; but it pleased God to
incline us for Longhoughton, where we broke through their
quarters without the loss of any, wherein we took about 100
horse and some prisoners. This bearer can acquaint your
lordship more particularly, being an agent with us in the
enterprise.
We have notice that the enemy is retreating to Doncaster,
but we hear of Prince Rupert's advance on this side Glou-
cester. Now that the country about Wakefield is not secured,
the enemy at Sandall ranges at pleasure. My lord, upon
the first notice I shall be ready with these forces to wait on
your lordship to receive your further commands to, my lord,
Your lordship's faithful servant,
JOHN SAVIle.
Bradford, March 3rd, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
GENERAL OF THE NORTH, THESE PRESENT.
?
MY LORD,
I HAVE sent a messenger into Nottinghamshire,
and he is returned. I thought fit to send Major Scarfe to
you, to tell your lordship the particulars; the enemy is not
this side of Newark, and the messenger saw all our horse at
their rendezvous on Wednesday, at Mansfield, and Major
Carter told him they would be at Ferrybrigg on Saturday.
The town of Leeds was too fearful that I sent all my foot
N 2
180
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MEMORIALS OF
thither, and if I should have had occasion to have removed
from hence, I might have made my retreat thither to my
foot, and so have marched in an entire body to Tadcaster.
So they remain there till I shall receive further order. I
shall humbly desire your lordship we may have some match
and powder, and that Captain Clayton's men and Captain
Spencer's may be sent thither to recruit and enjoy with the
rest of my regiment. Colonel Broadling I have sent for to
come together at Methley, and to make good that pass.
Yesterday, at 3 o'clock, he heard nothing of the enemy, but
only Pontefract horse fetching in provisions; neither know
anything of the cause of Colonel Forbes leaving Leadston.
And he lay then quartered at Badsworth Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesday, for Sir Joseph Worstenholme would not let
him quarter at Nostall. In haste, I rest,
Yours ever to serve you,
JOHN SAVILE.
Wakefield, March 14th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTH, THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
YOUR lordship may remember your lordship's order
to Captain Spencer for his march to the rest of my regiment
at Wakefield, to join with me in securing Sandall Castle,
which he did accordingly; since that (beyond my expectation)
another order from your lordship is come to his hands, for
his march to Colonal Bright's regiment, there to remain till
the difference be determined. My lord, it hath been my
desire from the beginning to put an end to the controversy,
1645.]
181
THE CIVIL WAR.
if at least there be any; but, my lord, he being now with me
in obedience to your lordship's first order, and this last order
procured in my absence, and upon suggestions which Captain
Spencer himself disaffirms (for he denies the supply of any
either men or armies from Colonel Lambert), and besides
the common soldiers being unwilling to part from the
regiment; my request to your lordship is, that they may
stay with me, according to their desires, their Captain's
commission, and your lordship's first order; and if any
exceptions be taken, I must solely own the fault, which I
hope your lordship's candour will judge to be innocency in
Your lordship's humble servant,
JOHN SAVILE.
Wakefield, March 22nd, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD GENERAL OF THE NORTHERN FORCES,
THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I HAVE endeavoured to inform myself of their
strength at Sandall, and find that they are one hundred foot
and fifty horse, besides those fifty horse lately gone out upon
a party from Pontefract garrison, and could not return to it
again by reason of our leaguer there. I advised with the
officers here, and the result was, that we were too inconsi-
derable to lie in Sandall, for we are not above 150 foot, now
that Captain Spencer is marched, as (it seems) your lord-
ship's pleasure is; and we humbly conceive 300 foot and six
troops of horse, of fifty in every troop, to be a proportion
small enough for that attempt; yet I refer myself in this, as
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MEMORIALS OF
in all things else, to your lordship's wise consideration;
waiting for your lordship's further commands to
Your humble servant,
JOHN SAVIle.
Wakefield, March 23rd, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
I have here only Major Scarfe's troop, my own troop,
Captain Kinian's troop, and I expect Major Carter's troop,
according to your lordship's order; so we shall want two
troops more.
My Lord, all the duty and charge of the horse might be
spared, if your lordship would be pleased to afford us two
pieces of ordnance, and some more foot to guard them, to
batter the gates and drawbridge, and it would much discourage
them, in regard they have no other sallyport.
About the same time, Lord Fairfax received intelli-
gence from London, apprising him of the approach of
a powerful force under the command of Prince Rupert,
whose junction with the Royalists in the North was
seriously to be apprehended.
SIR THOMAS WIDDRINGTON TO THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I AM sorry to hear of the sad accident in Yorkshire.
Is it very probable that the storm will yet be greater there.
Prince Rupert is gone northward also; and it is conceived
that Prince Rupert, Prince Maurice, and Langdale will, in
conclusion, fall into one body, which will make a considerable
army. The new model is not yet grown into an army. The
1645.]
183
THE CIVIL WAR.
list of officers approved by the House of Commons is, in
many particulars, disapproved of by the House of Lords, with
a recommendation of other persons in their places, and this
day sent back to the House of Commons, for the debate of
which to-morrow is appointed. It is hoped that 80,0007.
will be very shortly ready for this army by the help of the
Court of Aldermen and the Common Council, which is to be
assured unto them out of the monies arising out of the ordi-
nances for the new model. A committee of the House of
Commons spent Friday and Saturday in the last week at
Grocers' Hall, in London, upon this occasion.
I have newly received your lordship's by this post. I
should be most willing to wait upon your lordship, but cannot
yet see how I can do it; and am very doubtful that Colonel
Whyte cannot be spared from hence in regard of Sir Thomas
Fairfax's occasions, in which his presence is very necessary
and useful, but I shall let him know your lordship's pleasure
herein. The matter for your lordship's army is not yet settled;
nor, indeed, can the Ordinance be perfected till the model for
the army be presented to the House from the Committee of
both Kingdoms, which is not yet done, nor am I able to tell
you the reason why it is not. There are 500 muskets provided
for you out of the stores, and order for 1000 more to be
taken upon credit. I have no more to add but the poor sen-
timent of my duty to your lordship, remaining,
My lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
TH. WIDDRINGTON.
March 11th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
My Lord, since I wrote my former lines I have spoken
with Colonel Whyte touching your desires mentioned in
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your lordship's letter to me; and he hopes within ten days
to be able to wait upon your lordship; and, for my particular,
I hope ere long I shall obtain leave to do the like, for I am
told this day that the model for your lordship's army will be
presented to the House upon Thursday; and I hope, within a
few days after, to have the ordinance ready.
T. W.
It is this day recommended to the Committee of both King-
doms to move the Scots to a present march, and the same to
be towards Chester. Some part of their money is ready for
them, and will be sent from hence upon Monday.
The "late accident," and the "sad accident," so deli-
cately alluded to by Sir John Savile and Sir Francis
Widdrington, was nothing less than the total defeat of
Lord Fairfax's army before Pontefract, by Sir Marma-
duke Langdale. On the Parliamentary side the loss
was considerable, more than 1000 men, and all their
colours and ammunition, besides several officers of note,
amongst them, Colonels Armyn, Thornton, and Malevery;
on the Royalist side the loss was trifling. This was,
indeed, a very sad "accident," and one, too, which might
have been fatally disastrous in its results, had it not
been for the prompt measures which the Parliament
took to secure themselves against such accidents for the
future.
K
The wounded were numerous, and concerning their
treatment and the exchange of prisoners, we have
the following short letters from Colonel Lowther, the
governor of Pontefract Castle.
1645.]
185
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE.
MY LORD,
Your officers will inform you how far you are short
in medicaments, the number of the wounded considered.
Here is a chirurgeon of your party that will go as far as he can
with such things as he hath received. Your lordship will
receive with this a list of officers and soldiers, if I may receive
the like from you upon a safe-conduct. I shall send officers
to treat of a general exchange, and remain,
My lord,
Your humble servant,
RICHARD LOWTHER.
Pontefract Castle, March 5th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MY LORD,
YOUR lordship's of the 7th of this instant came but
this morning: for the time and place, the first is precipitated,
for the other it is at too great a distance. If your lordship
please to give a meeting at Ferrybridge, upon mutual engage-
ments for the safety of those who shall be appointed to treat
upon both parties, I shall agree to it, and to that purpose
desire a new safe-conduct for such as I shall nominate; the
time, Wednesday next, by nine in the morning. The list
your lordship sent of our prisoners with yours is altogether
imperfect. I desire a particular under whose commands and
in what regiments they have served, as also a list from Hull
and Teressell in the same way. For your chirurgeon I cannot
admit of him; but if the medicaments be sent, I shall join
186
MEMORIALS OF
[1645.
my own surgeons with one of your party, a prisoner here, to
use the best of their art in the cure of the poor wounded
soldiers, and shall remain,
My lord,
Your humble servant,
RICHARD LOWTHER.
Pontefract Castle, March 9th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
The next letter, without a date, refers also to an
exchange, the writer having obtained permission to
depart upon parole, on strict conditions that by a cer-
tain day he should obtain the return of a Parliament
officer of equal rank. He procured his man, but was
unable to keep time "by reason of the siege ;" and
here is his manly letter of explanation. There is a
reminiscence of the knightly age in the gallantry with
which he holds himself ready to return, if required, "his
lordship's true prisoner."
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MY LORD,
Ir may seem strange to your lordship that I never
sent to disengage my word; the truth is, I never had any
convenience by reason of the siege. The exchange is granted
me for Lieut.-Colonel Forbes; only this doubt was made,
whether your lordship would be satisfied with the exchange.
I have stayed beyond my time, which that your lordship will
be pleased to satisfy Sir John Readman, Governor of Ponte-
fract, that I shall be disengaged of my word, he will, upon
1645.]
187
THE CIVIL WAR.
the receipt of your lordship's letter, return you Lieut.-Colonel
Forbes. In the mean time, I rest,
My lord,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
WILLM. ST. George.
If your lordship shall not be pleased to accept this, by
reason I could not perform my word so punctually as I could
have wished, I shall return your lordship's true prisoner,
when your lordship shall command.
How grievously Lord Fairfax was hampered and
tantalised by applications for exchanges and safe con-
ducts,—the thanks being quite as troublesome as the
remonstrances and complaints-may be inferred from
the following specimens.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT YORK,
THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
UPON the assurance of your lordship's letter, or any
other way that your lordship shall think fit, I shall for the
time to come faithfully observe those articles formerly con-
cluded of. My lord, if I were not again engaged to request
your lordship for a pass for the Lady Cooke, I should not
importune your lordship upon any other occasion; but if
your lordship shall think it reasonable to be granted, I shall
most readily acknowledge the favour, either in the like or
any other occasion, and remain,
My lord,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
R. WILLYS.
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MEMORIALS OF
If your lordship shall think fit to suffer Mr. Rowbotham to
come over hither, I shall give your lordship my faith for his
safe return. If your lordship please to let me know what
officers you demand for Sir Simon Fanshaw from Pomfret, I
shall endeavour to effect the change with Sir Marmaduke
Langdale.
Newark, March 9th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT YORK.
MY LORD,
WHENSOEVER your lordship pleases to command me,
I shall most readily acknowledge your lordship's favour in
giving the Countess of Cork a safe convoy, by doing the like
upon the like occasion. The governor of Pomfret writes me
word, that Sir Simon Fanshaw is mistaken for a lieutenant-
general, upon which his exchange is hindered.
I do assure
your lordship, by all the ways I am enabled to engage myself,
that he was only lieutenant-colonel of horse to Sir Charles ·
Lucas, who was the lieutenant-general. Therefore, if your
lordship shall think the exchange for Mr. Mulling and a
lieutenant proportionable to him, it shall be continued by,
My lord,
%
Your lordship's most humble servant,
R. WILLYS.
I trust so much to your lordship's letter, that hereafter I
hope there will arise no question concerning prisoners but
what that may determine.
Newark, March 17th, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
1645.]
189
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCE THE LORD FAIRFAX, GENERAL OF THE
NORTH, THESE.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
ACCORDING to an order from the general of the
Scotch army, the Lord Montgomery was pleased to acquaint
your excellency with my capitulation of surrendering Naward
Castle, and you were pleased to give me your pass agreeably.
My lord, a party of the Scotch Horse conveyed me to
Pontefract, where the Commander-in-chief, Colonel Forbes,
undertook my farther convoy; but it so fell out that some
party of the King's advancing, and your horse retreating, it
was not held fit I should pass then, but I was modestly
requested to retire to some place until your present affair was
over, which I had no reason to refuse; but I went back to
Gilling, where I have kept myself, expecting, within such
limits as my present condition and your affairs require.
My lord, I hope your business will permit that I may now go,
and I shall humbly request your excellency will please either
to certify me by writing if it be your mind I should pass by
your quarters, or you will please to command some officer or
trumpet to convoy me the way least prejudicial to your
guards, or business. My lord, your action in this shall seriously
oblige,
Your excellency's most humble servant,
Gilling Castle, 22nd March, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
J. ATKINS.
Of another kind is a petition from old grandfather
Mulgrave, interceding on behalf of his tenants who are
too poor to pay taxes, and entreating the appointment
190
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
of a ghostly lecturer for the town of L. This is the
last letter we find from Lord Mulgrave, and it is worth
comparison with that famous first letter, in which he
opened a correspondence with the Fairfaxes. His lord-
ship was then in the palmy days of his Presidency, and
he wrote as haughtily and with as lofty an expression of
his aristocracy as if there was to be no end to the world
as it was constituted at that time. But the wheel had
turned round in the meanwhile, and the Fairfaxes were
now at the top, and poor Lord Mulgrave was prostrate
at the bottom, and he writes up to his son-in-law an
entreaty for help and protection in a tone of forlorn
humility, which makes most piteous contrast with his
former lordly arrogance.
TO MY NOBLE LORD AND SON-IN-LAW, THE LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE.
MY GOOD LORD,
PRESUMING still upon your favour, I make bold to
address myself to your lordship in the behalf of my tenants at
Mulgrave and at Seaton, whose poor low condition I presume is
not unknown unto you, by reason of the late heavy taxes laid
upon them for the maintenance of the Scots army in those
parts. There being now an Ordinance of Parliament issued for
new sums of money to be raised in Yorkshire and elsewhere,
my earnest suit to your lordship and the Committee of both
Kingdoms is, that their miserable case be as favourably consi-
dered as may be possible, they being altogether, as I am
informed, destitute of means for their own livelihood, and
1645.]
191
THE CIVIL WAR.
likewise unable to pay any rent. I do assure myself, my
good lord, that you will have a just and charitable respect of
them, having (as I understand) borne a greater burthen than
others in that behalf.
March 30th, 1645.
I must further crave your lordship's help in a pious work.
The town of L- hath 1007. per annum allowed from the
alum-works, for a lecturer; that exercise hath been deserted
by a malignant minister long since, so that the poor people
have wanted the spiritual means they formerly enjoyed.
Shipton, my steward, hath found one Mr. Nes, of whom he
gives testimony to be an able godly preacher: if he be so,
I do entreat your lordship to afford him your best further-
ance for his establishment in that place. I doubt not of
your lordship's care in a work which will be acceptable to
God, and will also produce much comfort to
Your very loving father-in-law,
MULGRAVE.
Next comes Peter du Moulin, who had at last been
forcibly ejected, head and shoulders, wife and servants,
out of his living, and who in the last extremity appeals,
but appeals in vain, to Lord Fairfax, the general referee
for all Yorkshire discontents.
PETER DU MOULIN TO LORD FAIRFAX.
RIGHT HONOurable,
A THING without example was done against me on
Saturday, March 29th; for I have heard of no minister
residing and serving God in his church, that was forcibly put
192
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MEMORIALS OF
out, but myself. With what violence my wife and servants
were ejected your lordship may know, and God seeth it.
After I had appealed to the King and Parliament, and that
your lordship had promised me a reference to prevent the
appeal, neither your promise nor my appeal was respected,
but I was violently cast out, by persous that abuse your
lordship's authority. The Lord regard it, that great Judge,
before whom we must all appear.
:
My lord, I stand to my appeal, after which I conceive
that no other power but King and Parliament can eject me.
To that end, your honour and justice will not deny me
these just requests: That I may have a copy of the Articles
against me, which I never saw: that I may have a warrant
from your lordship to summon witnesses: that your lordship
appoint some for that examination who may certify it under
their hands that I may have a convenient time to prepare
myself: that I be possessed of my house and church till I
be condemned by the power to which I appeal.
So shall your lordship mitigate the hard measure I had
when I was condemned without a minute's warning, without
witnesses, without so much as seeing the charge against me,
or leave to answer the accusers' witnesses in the hearing.
Those things, my lord, cry for justice; and so do these:
After I had with great care prepared many young persons
for the holy communion, and the whole parish expecting that
blessing the next day, to pluck me off violently from this
service, to put in my church a chaplain of Sir William, at
the request of one household of notorious Anabaptists, that
now keep a child unbaptised, teach community of goods, and
reject all ordinary calling to the ministry as Antichrist's;
against the many petitions, cries, and tears of above two
hundred communicants, good Protestants;-to tear off a
1645.]
193
THE CIVIL WAR.
York, March 30th, 1645.
faithful pastor from a loving people, a husband from his wife,
and both from house and living; I say, my lord, these
things cry up to heaven, and will shortly fill up the cup of
God's judgments, and make it overflow, if not timely pre-
vented by your justice and mercy.
Standing then upon my appeal and your promise, I humbly
crave of your lordship a favourable answer to my just rights,
even by the compassions of Christ and the fear of his great
wrath; so shall ye draw blessing upon yourself by the charity
and righteousness of the action (for I demand nothing but
what the strictness of justice cannot deny); and by the prayers
of my desolate parish, my distressed wife, and myself.
Your honour's most poor, humble servant,
PETER DU MOULIN.
May it please your good lordship to allow me the liberty of
my house, and express your pleasure about these humble
requests of mine to Captain Hoyle, of whose gentleness I
must needs speak well. Not he, but the divines, expressed
a great deal of violence against me.
The Fairfaxes showed much consideration and libe-
rality to the families of the broken Royalists. It is
pleasant to find the deserted Newcastles as much cared
for as the Wentworths, remembering the gallantry which
preserved Lady Fairfax at Bradford, and sent her home
with an escort in the General's coach. Such actions were
not forgotten in the crush and din of war by the Fair-
faxes. Writing from Welbeck Abbey, Notts (now one of
the seats of the Duke of Portland), the ladies Jane and
VOL. I.
0
194
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Frances Cavendish express their earnest thanks to Lord
Fairfax for the constant favours he has extended to
them, having evidently protected them on their estate,
and otherwise provided for their comfort and security.
These ladies were the daughters of the Duke of New-
castle, who, by the time the letter was written, had
found his way to Paris with his two sons and his
brother, having left his daughters behind to propitiate
the Parliament as they might.
Bolsover Castle (also in the possession of the Duke
of Portland), here mentioned as having been turned
into a garrison, was the ancient seat of the Barony of
Cavendish in Derby; and "Sister Brackley" was the
Lady Elizabeth Cavendish, who was married to the
second Earl of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackley. The
writers of this letter were afterwards married, the Lady
Jane to Charles Cheney, Earl of Bucks, and the Lady
Frances to the second Earl of Bolingbroke, whose whole
family were zealously devoted to the cause of the
Parliament.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE HUMBLY
PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
YOUR favours are so continued to us, that they are
not only to be acknowledged, but repeated as comforts, since
your lordship's care of us we may justly confess is much
beyond our merit. Now give us leave to present our humble
)
1645.]
195
THE CIVIL WAR.
April 17th, 1645.
thanks to your lordship for your noble favours, which
oblige us as long as we live to owe your excellence a
faithful acknowledgment. Colonel Bright hath been lately
at Bolsover, and is to give your lordship some account of
that garrison.
We linger our remove from thence till we have some cer-
tainty of that business, hoping, if that he concur with the
committee of Derby and some others for disgarrison of that
place, to have the favour to be admitted to that house, which
we the more desire by reason that town is assigned to us for
maintenance, which will yield very little, I fear, if it continue
still a garrison. However, whatsoever your excellence's plea-
sure, it shall be most welcome to
Your lordship's most humble and obliged servants,
JANE CAVENDYSSHE,
FRA. CAVENDYSSHE.
My sister Brackley presents her most humble services to
your lordship, and gives your excellence many thanks for the
favour of your lordship's protection.
At the head of the list of officers of horse, drawn up
by Sir Thomas Fairfax for the approval of Parliament,
we find the name of Middleton. The person so indi-
cated was, we presume, Lieutenant-General Middleton,
who had served under Waller, and was afterwards, for
his gallant conduct at Philiphaugh (September, 1645),
voted 25,000 marks by Parliament. This gentleman
subsequently ratted to the Royal party, for which he
was rewarded in the long run with a Peerage, having
0 2
196
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MEMORIALS OF
been created Earl of Middleton at the Restoration. No
other Middleton of note, either for good or evil, has
come down to us from those days. Evelyn tells us that
he carried a Colonel Middleton, who seems to have been
connected with the colony of New England, in his
coach to Whitehall; but that was in 1671, a clear
quarter of a century later. Who the Colonel Middleton
was to whom allusion is made in the following letters,
or under what circumstances he incurred the displeasure
of Lord Fairfax, we have not been able to ascertain.
Certain it is that he was not Charles the Second's
Middleton; and that, whoever he was, he appears to
have broken his promises to Lord Fairfax on the con-
fession of his wife and sisters.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE NORTH, PRESENT THESE.
MY LORD,
Be pleased to do me the right as to believe, when
as my husband parted from me, his resolution was according
as I wrote yesterday to your lordship. I protest I knew no
other, nor cannot rest satisfied till I send my servant to
plead my own innocence in it, and to acquaint your lordship
with the truth, which is this: that after Mr. Middleton
parted from me, he had further confirmation of what for-
merly he had heard, which compelled him to that unfor-
tunate place, as I perceive, so incapable of your lordship's
favours, as I conceive by my servants for his own particular;
but if your lordship would honour me in the continuance of
1645.]
197
THE CIVIL WAR.
April 20th, 1645.
them, to me and mine, I would ever endeavour to deserve it,
as that already I have received from your lordship may
challenge as due from me, and the longest day I have to live
will ever acknowledge it. Give me leave, further, to be an
humble suitor to your lordship, as to blot out the memory of
this, my husband's trespass. But esteem him as really he
deserves—as one that truly honours your lordship, though
his great cares of fears and jealousies might cause him
for the present to forfeit your lordship's good opinion,
but I hope for the future to gain it,—a gain which both he
and I will be ambitious on; and in the meantime remain,
my lord,
Your most humble servant,
KA. MIDDLETON.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE NORTH.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY
To vouchsafe me and my sister Ann your honour-
able favour and protection for our goods, and that we may
not suffer though my brother hath broke his promise with
your lordship; which I vow, my lord, I was altogether igno-
rant of, and it grieves me infinitely; for that we have ever
found your lordship so noble a friend to our house. There-
fore I beseech your lordship to commiserate our cases, who
are left orphans, and for my dear deceased father's sake, who
loved and honoured your lordship truly, let not us, who are
innoccnt, suffer; but that your wonted goodness and favour
198
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
may still reflect and shine upon us, by which you shall oblige
us ever to remain, my lord,
Your lordship's most humble servants,
April 20th, 1645.
MARY MIDDleton.
ANNE MIDDLETON.
A letter from Lady Osborne, begging Lord Fairfax's
assistance under rather peculiar circumstances, shows
how the machinery of protection occasionally worked.
Lady Osborne (formerly Mrs. Middleton, a brave York-
shire widow) was the wife of Sir Edward Osborne of
Kiveton, and mother of the first Duke of Leeds. Sir
Edward had been prominent on the King's side, had
been Vice-President of the Council of the North, and
a commander amongst the Cavaliers. In the course of
the troubles he obtained a protection from Lord Fairfax,
under his parole as to residence and neutrality. But
news reaches him that there is a warrant out against
him; and although "he is well assured that when his
lordship had given protection he would not give
warrant for apprehending " him; he nevertheless
thinks that discretion is the better part of valour, and
so runs away, leaving his wife behind to make what
terms she can with the General. In this juncture
her ladyship hears that the Parliament troops up in
garrison at Bolsover, and others scattered about the
country, intend to make a plundering descent upon her,
and, as a last resource, she lays the whole case frankly
1645.]
199
THE CIVIL WAR.
before Lord Fairfax. The latter part of her letter,
referring to her allowance, and her "taking it up in
beds and other household necessaries," shows the
extremity to which people of the best condition were
reduced-people who, under the worst circumstances,
might be supposed to have good credit and strong
friends.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE NORTH AT YORK, THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
Ir is now above six months since my husband
received your lordship's protection, and by it has lived quiet
at his own house, desiring nothing more than to have con-
tinued so.
But after Gell's men had taken Sir Francis
Reed, they gave out they were to take Sir Francis Fane
and Sir Edward Osborne; as my husband was informed from
several hands; which gave him cause to fear that Gell had
got some warrant from the Parliament to take them for the
four committee men of Derby, taken by Newark. For he was
well assured that where your lordship had given protection,
you would not give warrant for apprehending their persons
without cause given for it; but having no time to give your
lordship information he was forced to seek for his safety.
Thus, my lord, I only wish to give a true account of the
reasons of his going, because I know he has many enemies;
no way to justify his actions. He must answer for them him-
self; but since his going, I am threatened both by Colonel
Bright's men, the men of Bolsover, and them from Don-
caster, that I shall be plundered; so as my earnest request to
200
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MEMORIALS OF
your lordship is, that what the Ordinance of Parliament and
the county of York has allowed me may not be taken from
me by the violence of your soldiers. It is no more but a sixth
part or degree below the ordinary allowance, and came to so
small a proportion, that I was forced to take it up in beds
and other household necessaries for myself and servants,
which I doubt not but in justice and charity will still be
allowed me. It is only in your lordship's power to do it;
and by a letter to Colonel Bright to stop the men of Bolsover,
and another to the Commander-in-chief at Doncaster, I assure
myself I shall be freed from their fury, and be further obliged
to continue
Your lordship's most humble servant,
ANN OSBORne.
All my corn and cattle were sold to one John Garland by
the sequestrators, as the committee knows.
Thorp, April 23rd, 1645.
The General's "protection," however formally granted,
was not always a talisman against the licentious violence
of the soldiery. An army ill paid, irregularly provi-
sioned, and cast out for billets and assessments upon
districts already drained by subscriptions and quit-rents,
could hardly be expected to act with faultless modera-
tion. Upon the whole they deserve credit for forbear-
ance; few flagrant violations of discipline can be charged
upon them; and in most cases (of which Oxford was a
special instance) they were more careful than the King's
troops of property which they might have destroyed
with impunity.
1645.]
201
THE CIVIL WAR.
Of course there were many just grounds of complaint
against them. Whenever a Royalist, who held a pro-
tection, suddenly disappeared, he was suspected of
treachery, and the soldiers made no scruple of entering
his house, (or threatening its inmates), with or without
warrant, and scaring his family out of their wits. Or if
there were any difficulty about the billets, or any attempt
to evade them, the troops, having this matter in their
own hands, and being authorised to enforce the levy,
might probably show little tenderness towards their
grudging entertainers. In such cases, harsh and riotous
excesses were no doubt committed; nor was it in the
power of Lord Fairfax adequately to prevent or punish
them.
But the soldiers seldom went beyond threats, unless
they were in extreme distress, or had received singular
provocation. The great bulk of the complaints addressed
to Lord Fairfax, like the following letter from Lady
Graham, are full of terrors in expectancy; and as we
rarely hear any more about them, we may conclude
that his worship interposed and averted the impending
danger. So far as Lady Graham was concerned, there
was excellent reason for the vigilance of Major Smith-
son's men. Her husband (to whom the letter refers)
was Sir Richard Graham of Esk, closely connected by
blood and alliances with the whole clan of the Grahams
of the Border, of Norton-Conyers, of Netherby, and
Plomp, and springing from the same stock with the
Montrose who exactly twelve months before had been
Ad
202
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MEMORIALS OF
raised to a marquisate by the King, who had played a
conspicuous part throughout the war, and was at this
moment raising Scotland in behalf of his master. The
name of Graham, therefore, was not the most musical
in the ears of the Parliamentarians, and Sir Richard
was one of the most prominent and turbulent of the
whole race. He was a great absorber of landed pro-
perty in the north, had purchased Netherby and the
barony of Liddell from the Earl of Cumberland, and
was created a baronet in 1629. Placing his local in-
fluence at the disposal of the King, he joined the royal
army in 1641, and was appointed Master of the Horse
to the Duke of Buckingham. He fought through the
subsequent scenes of the wars up to the battle of Edge-
hill, where he was so severely wounded that he lay the
whole night amongst the dead bodies on the field.
His close connection with the Royal family, and his
notorious devotion to their cause, may be admitted as
excuse enough for the watchfulness of Fairfax's soldiers
when they found that this deeply-implicated gentleman,
known to be living under "protection," had vanished, as
they supposed, without leave. The time, too, was pecu-
liarly unfavourable to the Grahams, considering how
actively Montrose (not long afterwards hanged at the
Tolbooth of Edinburgh for his loyalty) was just then
engaged on the other side of the Tweed.
Lady Graham's letter is dated from Norton-Conyers,
the seat of her second son Richard, who after the
Restoration was raised to the baronetage on account
1645.]
203
THE CIVIL WAR.
of the services he had personally rendered to the King's
cause during the civil war. It is only justice to the
Northumberland Smithsons to observe that the Major
Smithson whose soldiers threatened to plunder her
ladyship does not appear to have been any connection
of that family. At the moment when the Major was
menacing Norton-Conyers, Hugh Smithson of Stanwick,
whose descendant, succeeding the Seymours and Percys,
inherited the Earldom of Northumberland, was distin-
guishing himself with equal zeal on the other side.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX, LORD
GENERAL OF THE NORTH, THESE PRESENT.
RIGHT TRULY HONOURABLE,
NOTWITHSTANDING the protection I have from your
Excellence, there are some of Major Smithson's soldiers who
threaten to plunder my house, because my husband is gone
to wait upon his master, having your lordship's licence for the
same; and now, in his absence, Mr. Fowke, the Receiver,
demands for the use of the Commonwealth, a quit-rent due
from us, we having already paid it above ten times over, in
billet and sesse [assessments] for the use of the Common-
wealth, being much more than the land is worth. If it be
permitted that private ends may once be mixed with the
public service, we are in a most miserable condition.
My suit unto your excellency is, that you would give order
to the Receiver for allowing our sesse and billet in the rent,
and that some of your lordship's soldiers may apprehend
those plunderers; for it will neither stand with the justice.
204
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
nor honour of the Parliament to take such great sesses and
our arms of defence from us, and leave us to the cruelty of
such wicked men. So, with the acknowledgment of my
humblest service for your honourable favours, recommending
the presumption herein to your excellency's pardon,
I am,
The humblest of your excellency's servants,
KATHERINE GRAHME.
Norton-Conyers, near Ripon, Yorkshire,
May 12th, 1645.
The writer of the next letter, the Lady Julian Mus-
grave, was an object of quite as much jealousy and
suspicion as Lady Graham. Her husband, Sir Philip
Musgrave, came of what Camden calls a "warlike
family," and did no discredit to his lineage. The
moment matters took a shape of open hostility between
the King and the Parliament, he withdrew from the
House of Commons, where he had sat as one of the
knights of the shire for Westmoreland, and applied
himself to the task of raising troops for the Royal
service. His labours were so successful, that in a short
time he sent to the Marquis of Newcastle, at York, in
two bodies, no less than 2400 soldiers, and 1000 more
to Prince Rupert. For this valuable aid he was made
Commander-in-Chief in Cumberland and Westmoreland,
where his influence principally lay, and Governor of
Carlisle. The battle of Marston Moor scattered his
troops to the winds, and for a time completely frustrated
his plans.
After that event he retired to Carlisle
1645.]
205
THE CIVIL WAR.
with Sir Thomas Glenham. It was while he was yet
at Carlisle, under these uncomfortable circumstances,
that the ensuing correspondence took place. Lady
Musgrave had been permitted by Lord Fairfax to
remain at Eden Hall (still the residence of the Mus-
graves, erroneously called Ednall, by Colonel Cholmley);
but the Commissioners at Newcastle having intelligence
that she had abused the indulgence, directed Colonel
Cholmley to remove her to Carlisle. Her ladyship,
however, was very reluctant to go to Carlisle ; she
wished to keep in the open air, and at freedom amongst
her friends; and Colonel Cholmley finally refers the
case, with a direct appeal from the lady, to Lord
Fairfax.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS EXCELLENCE, MY LORD
FERDINANDO FAIRFAX, AT YORK, THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCEllence,
I RECEIVED an order from the commissioners from
Newcastle, for the carrying and sending divers ladies into
Carlisle; amongst others the Lady Musgrave, of Ednall, as
you may perceive by a copy of the order here inclosed; but
coming to the lady, she desired rather to go to live at Hartley,
if not with her friends in Yorkshire, and showed me your
excellency's protection, which presently I sent my servant
withall to the commissioners at Newcastle. They returned
this answer, that they had rather she would live with her
friends in Yorkshire, than give occasion of jealousy either by
206
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
living in Westmoreland or Cumberland. All which I refer till
your excellency's pleasure be further known, and shall ever
rest,
Your honour's faithful servant,
From Ednall, this 8th May, 1645.
THOMAS CHOLMLEY.
TO OUR VERY WORTHY FRIEND, COLONEL CHOMELEY.
By the Committees and Commissioners of both Houses of Parliament
of England.
WHEREAS we are informed that the wives of sundry of our
enemies in Carlisle are remaining at their own houses in
Cumberland and Westmoreland, from whence they may give
intelligence of all that passeth amongst yourselves, and are
ready to stir the ill-humours and to improve all discontents,
to the raising up of tumults, and bringing in confusion with
the people and inhabitants, their neighbours, round about
them:
Given at Newcastle, April 12th, 1645.
We think fit, and hereby order, that Colonel Chomeley
shall take care to apprehend all such persons as he may have
just cause to suspect to be stirrers up of sedition and insur-
rection; that in particular he would repair to the Lady
Musgrave at Eden Hall, and conduct her to Carlisle, where
she may remain with her husband, Sir Philip Musgrave, in
more security than in her house at Eden Hall, in these
tumultuous and troublesome times; and of this service we
expect an account as speedily as may be.
WILLIAM ROE,
Secretary to the Commissioners.
1645.]
207
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS EXCELLENCY, LORD
FERDINANDO FAIRFAX, AT YORK, THESE.
Eden Hall, May 8th.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY,
I HAVE formerly received your lordship's protection
for my remaining at Eden Hall, if I be obedient to ordinance
of Parliament, which they cannot tax me, for my accusation
is suspicion of intelligence, without desert or proof. Colonel
Cholmley hath orders for my removing. I did desire the
stay of us till I knew your honour's pleasure. Eden Hall is
my jointure, where my humble suit is to remain, being very
unfit for travel. But I wholly refer myself to your lordship's
pleasure, both for means, and what place I and my children
may remain together at, presuming that your honourable
favour and worth will consider my poor condition, which
shall ever oblige me to be,
Your most obedient servant,
JULIAN MUSGRAVE.
Sir Philip Musgrave's subsequent history is full of
honourable proofs of homage and fidelity. Soon after
this time he was made colonel of a regiment of foot,
which was raised in Cumberland; and in the same year
he was taken prisoner at Rowton Moor, after which he
took Carlisle by surprise, and was a second time
appointed governor. He served at Worcester, and
followed the disastrous fortunes of Charles II. in France,
Holland, and Scotland, proceeding from thence to the
Isle of Man, which he defended to the last under the
208
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MEMORIALS OF
banner of the Stanleys. At the Restoration, he was a
third time made Governor of Carlisle, and raised to the
peerage as Baron Musgrave, but never took out the
patent. Notwithstanding all the vicissitudes through
which he passed, and the frequent perils of life and
property to which he was exposed, Sir Philip died in
his own bed at Eden Hall, at seventy years of age.
Curiously enough, the Musgraves and Grahams are
united in their living descendants by the intermarriage
of the present representative of the former family with
the house of Netherby.
In a letter from Mr. Thomas Ibson, the steward of the
young Lord Fairfax of Emely, we have a minute account
of the deplorable condition to which some of the most
flourishing estates in the north were reduced by the
ravages of the soldiers (especially the Scotch), and the
pressure of assessments. Such was the impoverished
state of the tenantry, that they were not only unable to
pay up the existing heavy arrears, but were compelled
to ask for indefinite indulgence in the discharge of the
accruing rent. The question of rent, and the mutual
responsibilities of landlord and tenant, seem to have
been very imperfectly understood on all hands; nor were
the commissioners who had been appointed to arbitrate
in such cases, much more enlightened on the matter
than the parties who appealed to them. In this
instance we find the commissioners ordering not only
an abatement of the assessments, but a quittance of a
whole year's rent, and a reduction of fifty per cent. till
1645.]
209
THE CIVIL WAR.
the times should get better. What power the commis-
sioners possessed to absolve people from contracts and
running engagements does not appear; but according
to Mr. Ibson's statement, nobody thought of questioning
their decision, although it involved the glaring injustice
of throwing nearly the whole weight of assessments and
depredations upon the proprietor of the land.
The Lord Fairfax, to whom this letter was addressed,
had not yet attained his fifteenth year. He was a
kinsman of Lord Fairfax of Denton, and belonged to
that branch of the family, which in the middle of the
thirteenth century had settled at Walton in Yorkshire.
His grandfather, Sir Thomas Fairfax of Walton and
Gilling, was raised to the Irish peerage, as Viscount
Fairfax of Emely, in the county of Tipperary. The
title became extinct in 1741.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, WILLIAM
VISCOUNT FAIRFAX, OF EMELY, PRESENT THESE.
MY LORD,
Ir pleased his Excellency the Lord Fairfax, one of
the guardians to your estate, and who only taketh care of it,
at the request of your lady mother, to authorise me to receive
your rents. Upon his lordship's warrant for that purpose, I
presently went to your tenants of your several manors, to
demand arrears.
The answer of them all was one and the
same in effect, viz., that the assessments paid to the armies,
and free billet, and freebooting, had so impoverished them,
VOL. I.
P
210
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
that they were scarce able to pay anything. The tenants of
Acaster Malbys, against my coming to them, had prepared a
petition, which they told me they would prefer to the Lord
General for relief, having sustained above 20007. damage by
the Scots, who were quartered there whilst York was be-
leaguered. This petition they preferred, and annexed to it a
certificate under the hands of the sequestrators, appointed
by the commissioners and committee for that wapentake,
who are men of credit, attesting their damage to amount to
so much as is above-mentioned. His Excellency referred the
consideration of the petition to Mr. Henry Darley, one of
the commissioners for the Parliament in this country, and Sir
Robert Barwick, who called me on your honour's behalf, and
your tenants of Acaster before them; which your other tenants
hearing of, came to York to the two gentlemen and desired
that consideration might be had of their losses likewise,
and that they might have allowance in their rents past of
all the assessments they had paid to the armies, free billet,
and other losses sustained by the armies, and that they
might have abatement in their rents for the time to come.
Upon hearing what could be said on both sides, the gentle-
men did order the tenants of Acaster, who had all their corn
wasted, and the sheep, kine and swine eaten by the Scots,
should have all their assessments abated, the last year's rent
wholly forgiven, and that they should pay but half rent for
the time to come; and such assessments as they should pay
to be abated out of that too, and the other half rent to stand
in super.
My lord, this lordship was almost a fourth part of your
estate, and, notwithstanding all these abatements, I have not
gotten out of it 407., and I have ridden five times for that.
And for all your other tenants, the gentlemen [commissioners]
1645.]
211
THE CIVIL WAR.
L
did order that they should have all assessments abated, and
for the time to come have a third part of their rents abated,
until the times were better. My lord, this cuts off a great
part of your revenue, and yet I fear your tenants are so
impoverished, that they will scarce be able to pay what is
now set down.
Skalton and Ampleford, Gillinge and Colton, lay so near
Helmesley Castle, that during the time it was besieged they
were never without soldiers upon free billet, who, besides
their other provisions which they eat up, they [the soldiers]
killed all their sheep.
Heslerton lies near Scarborough, and suffers there;
Walton was plundered at my Lord of Newcastle's first
coming, being supposed to be one of his Excellency's towns ;
and since that the Scots have been thrice there, and pulled
down the houses of office about your manor-house; and at
their last being there, (which was about six weeks or two
months since,) they took all their beans and oats and barley
they had left for seed. They left but three sheep about all
the town, and when they went away the soldiers at divers
houses took away with them the sheets and bedding they had
lain in, and kept some of the tenants till the rest ran to other
towns to borrow ten pounds to give them for a farewell.
For Rudston there has been nothing gotten, I think, this
four years. Mr. Ellis, your tenant, is dead, and it seems was
in arms against the Parliament, and his estate is sequestered,
as some other two of your tenants are; concerning whom
you had need to move, my lord, so that the rents due to you
by those tenants may be allowed in the composition for your
wardship; these men's estates being taken for the public,
otherwise your honour will suffer in two ways.
There is also allowed by order of the Court of Wards 2407.
P 2
212
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Alne, May 11th, 1645.
per annum for the maintenance of your younger brothers
and sisters, besides your lady mother's own allowance out
of the estate. There were lands at Skawton of 701. by
the year value, left about two years ago by some tenants
there; of these grounds, there was not only no profit made
that I can hear of, but I have been forced to pay assessments
for them out of the rents I received for other grounds
which were let, else the sequestrators had driven. There is
much ground at Walton turned into your lordship's hands
too, for which I must pay assessments, though it be arable
land, and lie untilled, besides meadow of 801. value per
annum and above, of which no profit was made. All these
things laid together, which my cousin Dobson knows to be
true, I hope my Lord Say will commiserate your estate and
allow of what is abated the tenants at Acaster, and what the
sequestrators have gotten at Rudston, where there is above
3007. due, and of any other tenants, in part of your composi-
tion, for it is impossible otherwise to raise it.
I humbly crave pardon of your lordship for being thus
tedious. I thought it was my duty and necessary to give you
this account, both for your own satisfaction how it is with
your estate, and to enable you to inform my Lord Say of the
truth of it, and the reason why moneys come in so slowly to
him. There are also annuities to be paid out of your estate
to the value of 2001. per annum, and some servants' wages,
and besides, 2007. will not put your houses into good repair;
the leads of Gilling Castle are quite decayed, so that it
raineth into the house at above forty places, which rotteth
the timber. My lord, all this is but to perform my duty,
and show the good affection of a poor kinsman,
And your honour's most humble servant,
THO. IBSON.
1645.]
213
THE CIVIL WAR.
While Lord Fairfax is regulating affairs as well as
he can in the North, we will return to Sir Thomas
Fairfax, whom we left modelling, marshalling, and
officering his new army at Windsor.
Connected with these proceedings we find the annexed
interesting document a commission appointing the
celebrated Algernon Sidney colonel of a regiment of
horse. This instrument is dated the 2nd of April, the
day before Sir Thomas Fairfax left London for the
general rendezvous at Windsor. In the following June,
we find Sidney leaving this regiment. No reason
is assigned for it. Perhaps it was an impulse of
that "over-ruling temper" which is ascribed to him
by Whitelocke.
COMMISSION FROM SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, KNIGHT, COM-
MANDER-IN-CHIEF, TO ALGERNON SIDNEY, AS A COLONEL
OF A REGIMENT OF HORSE.
Sir Thomas Fairfax, Knight, Commander-in-Chief of all the Forces raised or
intended to be maintained by virtue of an Ordinance of Parliament, bearing
date the fifteenth day of February, one thousand six hundred forty-four,
for the defence of the Kingdom: To Algernon Sidney, Colonel.
By the authority of the aforesaid ordinance, and of
one other ordinance, bearing date the first of April, one
thousand six hundred forty and five, we hereby constitute
and appoint you colonel of a regiment of horse, raised and
to be raised for the service aforesaid, which said regiment
you shall, by virtue of the commission given you, receive into
your charge. These are, therefore, to require you to make
your present repair to the said regiment, and taking the
214
[1645.
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same into your charge as colonel, diligently to exercise your
officers and soldiers of the said regiment, commanding all
officers and soldiers of the said regiment to obey you as their
colonel for the said service, according to this commission
given you, and you likewise to obey, observe, and follow such
order and direction as you shall from time to time receive
from myself and the superior officers of the army, according
to the discipline of war. Given under my hand and seal,
this second day of April, 1645.
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
Sir Thomas showed excellent discrimination in his
choice of officers; nor was he less successful in securing
their attachment. From amongst many proofs of their
devotion to him, the following may be selected. The gen-
tleman whose signature heads the list of names was, no
doubt, the identical Major Smithson, whose menaces gave
so much uneasiness to Lady Graham at Norton-Conyers.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX,
GENERALISSIMO OF ALL ENGLAND.
The Humble Petition of the Commanders and Officers in Colonel
Matthew Alured's Regiment,
HUMBLY SHOWETH:
WHEREAS we are given to understand that your honour is
called into the southern parts for the public service of
the kingdom, your petitioners humbly crave at your
hands, that your honour would accept of the service of
this regiment, who are ready to wait upon you, and
hazard their lives with you wheresoever you shall be
1645.]
215
THE CIVIL WAR.
.
called, or if we cannot be so much honoured herein, that
then you would be pleased to see a course settled, before
your departure hence, of a fitting constant pay for our-
selves and soldiers, for our future subsistence and liveli-
hood, otherwise your petitioners crave attestations under
your hand for our arrears past, and are willing to quit
our present commands, and in our persons to venture
our lives with you in this your expedition (as formerly
we have done), if you please to accept of the service of
your petitioners underwritten.
GEO. SMITHSON.
THOMAS JOHNSON.
MICH. RICHARDSON. THOMAS TALBOT.
HENRY NEVILL.
FRANCIS BLAND.
JOHN WILDon.
Cornelies Vandehorst.
ROBERT NEWHAM.
ROBERT LEGARD.
In order to a clear understanding of the opening
operations of the army at Windsor, it will be useful to
show how some of the principal points of action at both
sides were covered. The King was at Oxford; Prince
Rupert lay about Worcester and the frontier of Wales,
with a tendency in all his incursions towards the North;
General Goring kept flying posts in the neighbourhood
of Hungerford and Marlborough; Sir Richard Grenville,
with a considerable force, was besieging Taunton, now
reduced to the last extremity; and another force was
encamped before Plymouth. Such was the disposition
of the chief divisions of the Royalists. On the other
side Lord Fairfax held York and Hull; Sir William
Brereton was laying close siege to Chester; Colonels
Massey and Hutchinson were in garrison at Gloucester
216
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
and Nottingham; and Sir Robert Pye was in possession
of Leicester. Upon a general survey of the military
occupation of the kingdom, the balance of advantages
was largely in favour of the King in the western and
midland counties. His Majesty had also a great
numerical preponderance. It was under these circum-
stances that the little army of Windsor, which in its
final muster had seriously fallen short of the anticipa-
tions of Parliament, unfolded its companies late in April
for the desultory campaigns of 1645.
The first outward movement was a sudden expedition
under Cromwell, to intercept a convoy of horse which
was expected on the road from Worcester to join the
King at Oxford. Advancing rapidly into Oxfordshire,
Cromwell routed a body of the King's horse at Islop
Bridge, and compelled Colonel Windebank to surrender
Blechington House. Under the articles of surrender,
Windebank obtained safe conduct into Oxford. Safe
conduct with a vengeance!-for he had no sooner
reached the King's quarters, than he was tried by a
council of war for abandoning his post, and shot. At
Witney and Brampton-Bush Cromwell dispersed other
bodies of the Royalists, and took a great number of
prisoners. These signal successes occupied only two or
three days.
While Cromwell was engaged in this service, Fairfax
marched westward to relieve Taunton. It was the only
inland garrison the Parliament possessed in that part of
the country, and its preservation was an object of
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
217
primary importance. He had already proceeded as far
as Andover, when an order came to countermand his
further progress in that direction. Intelligence had
arrived in London that the two Princes, Rupert and
Maurice, were advancing towards Oxford, and it became
necessary to consider whether it might not be advisable,
instead of succouring Taunton, to fall back and con-
centrate upon the head-quarters of the King. Fairfax,
however, was of opinion that, whatever it might be best
to do, the worst was to stand idly on the highway, and
so continued his march steadily towards the beleaguered
town. Two days determined the question, and being
overtaken by positive orders, he dispatched four
regiments of foot to Taunton, and returned with the
remainder of his troops to join Cromwell, and watch
the King's movements. In the meanwhile his Majesty
had left Oxford, effected a junction with the Princes,
and taken the field with the immediate intention of
relieving Chester in person, while he dispatched Goring
into the west to harass Fairfax, whom he believed to
be still there. Had Goring's superior force fallen in
with Fairfax, the issue might have been disastrous for
the Parliament; but Fairfax was enabled, by his intimate
knowledge of the country, to evade that formidable
body, and effect his march securely into Oxfordshire.
The King had long desired to relieve Chester, but
had hitherto been unable to accomplish his purpose;
nor could Sir William Brereton collect sufficient strength
to carry the place, so that he did nothing more than
218
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
maintain a motionless siege. The difficulties to which
he had been exposed so far back as the preceding
February, will appear from the following appeal for
help to Sir Thomas Fairfax.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX, THESE.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
THE preparation is great which the enemy makes
for the relief of Chester and Beston Castle. Colonel Has-
tings unites with his own forces Lichfield, Dudley, Ludlow,
Lincell Tounge, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, with many other
places besides, to join with Prince Maurice in this design,
with whom we must join in battle, or lose the fruit of all our
labour, and long expectations; if in this design the enemy
should give us a blow, the influence thereof would extend to
all the neighbouring counties, and be very prejudicious to all
these parts of the kingdom, which makes us seek abroad for
help, being unable of ourselves for so great a task. We under-
stand by your letters to Sir George Booth of your courteous
tender of assistance to these parts if need were, which makes
us bold to importune your honour for a thousand or two of
horse and dragoons, with what possible speed may be, and if
it please God to repel the enemy, and give Chester into our
hands, which now is in great distress, your forces shall share
alike with our own in recompense for their service, and we
shall ever acknowledge ourselves,
Your honour's most humble servants,
PH. MAINWARING,
GEORGE SIMTOM,
THOMAS CROXTON.
WILLIAM BRERETON,
THOMAS STANLEY,
ROGER WILLIAM,
H. BROOKE,
1645.]
219
THE CIVIL WAR.
The enemy is within three days march, and is resolved to
hazard all rather than lose Chester.
Namptwich, February 4th, 1644, [N. S. 1645.]
Although the Royalists were thus hovering about
Chester in February, it was not until May that they
moved to its relief; and upon their approach in over-
whelming numbers, Sir William Brereton, not having
received the assistance he required, raised the siege
and retired into Lancashire.
The loss of Chester was balanced by the recovery of
Taunton. The besiegers broke up and withdrew on the
appearance of Fairfax's four regiments of foot. The spec-
tacle which presented itself on the entrance of the troops
was harrowing, the town being in a state of ruin and des-
titution, from which it did not recover, as appears from
the following document, for several months afterwards.
TO OUR VERY LOVING FRIENDS THE MAYOR AND ALDERMEN
OF NORWICH, THESE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE sad condition of many hundred inhabitants of
the town of Taunton, whose dwellings are burnt and their
estates utterly wasted by the enemy, have moved the Parlia-
ment to grant them a collection for their relief, by an ordi-
nance to that effect; which, together with our order for the
managing of it, we recommend to your care and furtherance,
not doubting but that your charitable affections to so neces-
sary and pious a work will encourage and enable you to see
220
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
•
it executed and distributed according to the instructions,
with such faithfulness and dispatch as may prevent the
expectation of those poor perishing Christians, and comply
with the desires of
Your very loving friends,
NORTHUMBERLAND.
Jo. WORTHCOTE.
SAML. ROLLe.
Jo. HONGE.
WA. ERLE.
JOHN BAMPFYLDE.
JOHN BROWne.
Star Chamber, September 9th, 1645.
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
ANTH. NICOLL.
GEO. SEARLE.
ROGER.
GEO. BULLEr.
RIDEANT.
JOHN HARRIS.
JO. WADDON.*
The retirement of Brereton from before Chester was
not merely a politic movement to avoid an unequal
conflict, but had reference also to a general scheme
which Sir Thomas Fairfax now began to form for the
purpose of drawing in his troops from isolated positions,
with a view to concentrate them for a decisive action
a scheme soon afterwards brilliantly consummated by
the victory of Naseby. The germs of this design are
indicated in several letters. The following communica-
tions from Colonel Hutchinson bear upon this point.
We see in these hasty notes, the stir and agitation of
detachments moving to a centre at Nottingham under
the special orders of the General. Delays still arise from
various causes, and Colonel Hutchinson apprehends a
mutiny in his own garrison from lack of pay. The issue
lies dimly before us; but there is activity enough in the
1645.]
221
THE CIVIL WAR.
commanders if they can only procure the means of
appeasing the clamours of the soldiery.
The writer of these pregnant little letters is the same
Colonel Hutchinson whose "Memoirs," written by his
widow, constitute one of the most interesting and
picturesque pieces of biography in our language. He
rendered himself famous through the Civil War by the
devotion and integrity with which he served the Parlia-
ment, especially in the important post of Governor of
Nottingham Castle, from whence the letters are dated.
While he held this office, he gave a signal proof of his
integrity, by indignantly refusing a sum of 10,000%., the
hereditary governorship of the place, and a peerage,
which were offered to him by the Earl of Newcastle, as
bribes to induce him to betray his trust. By some
strange and unaccountable good fortune, notwithstand-
ing his active services against the Stuarts in the field,
and in the tribunal which condemned the King, whose
death-warrant he signed, he escaped execution and for-
feiture at the Restoration. Surviving these dangers,
however, he died a prisoner in Sandown Castle.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, COM-
MANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE NORTHERN FORCES
MY LORD,
I HAVE received this letter from Lieutenant-Gene-
ral Cromwell this day. I do not know of what concernment
it may be, and therefore I dispatch it with such haste to your
222
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
lordship that I have not leisure at this present to give you
an account of some passages in this garrison as I ought to
do. I hope I shall have leisure shortly, either to wait on
your lordship myself, or at least fully to acquaint you how
things are here with us. In the meantime, I beseech you be
pleased to pardon the haste of
Your most faithful and humble servant,
JOHN HUTCHINSON.
Nottingham, May 23rd, 1645.
Colonel Rossiter is not joined with us, and hath this day
sent us word that he hath given your lordship a reason for
it, which your lordship is well satisfied in.
Newark do not stir, but lie ready prepared with their
dragoons.
COLONEL HUTCHINSON TO LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I HAVE intelligence at this instant that the enemy
at Newark are drawing out this night with all their horse and
dragoons, whether to the North or to the King is uncertain,
and another messenger tells me they are now drawn out and
are marching this way. Derby and Lincoln horse are not
yet united with those of this garrison, which are in such ill
case to march for want of pay, that they will rather mutiny
than obey commands. Colonel Vermuden, I hear, is upon
his march northward at Elvaston, in Derbyshire, within nine
miles of this garrison. I have given him notice hereof, and
have no more to your lordship but that I am,
My lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
JOHN HUTCHINSON.
1645.]
223
THE CIVIL WAR.
I have intelligence even now, by a drummer of mine from
Newark, that they are designed for Pontefract.
Nottingham, 24th May, 1645, at one of the clock, afternoon.
There were, as usual, great impediments in the way
of recruiting and maintaining the army. The assess-
ments ordered by Parliament were still tardily got in,
although the urgency of affairs demanded greater
activity than ever. Money was the chief want. It was
impossible to procure recruits, or to keep them when
procured, without a constant and liberal revenue.
Yet,
in spite of repeated appeals and menaces, large arrears
remained behind; and day after day, as in the follow-
ing instance, the most stringent measures were enforced
upon the local committees.
TO OUR VERY LOVING FRIENDS THE COMMITTEE OF PARLIA-
MENT WITHIN THE CITY AND COUNTY OF NORWICH
THESE.
GENTLEMEN,
By the many letters and addresses which the
House of Commons and the committee of the army have of
late made unto you, you have been fully informed what
necessity there is that the army under the command of Sir
Thomas Fairfax, (which, under God, is the principal means to
preserve us in safety,) should be recruited and constantly
and orderly paid; and to that end, amongst other supplies
necessary for that army, and, above all, the House and the
committee have been very instant with you, that the monthly
assessments charged upon your county might in due time be
224
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
collected and paid in to the Treasurers at War. And now
that, by God's blessing, (though your recruits of men and
draught horses be not as yet complete, but we hope by your
endeavours will speedily be done,) this army be in a fit
condition to march, and is advanced; and that there are
three whole months' assessments due, which the army should
be paid; yet we find, notwithstanding all the assurances that
we have received by your letters, or from the Parliament's
agents employed to you, that the money paid in by your
county to the Treasurers at War is inconsiderable, or nothing
at all, which we apprehend to be a very great neglect, and of
dangerous consequence, and, as the affairs of the army and
Commonwealth now stand, cannot be longer endured.
This failure we conceive principally to be in the remiss
demeanour of the collectors, either in not collecting, or
having collected the money, in detaining the same in their
own hands; and therefore we, the Committee of Lords and
Commons, appointed by the ordinance of the 28th of March
last, taking the same into consideration, have thought fit,
for the speedy levying of the three months' assessments now
due, and for the preventing of all retardments in this service
for the future, to give power to the agents employed by
Parliament to call the collectors to account, and where they
find any person to have neglected his duty, to bring him in
safe custody before you, that you may inflict such punish-
ment as the ordinances direct, a copy of which order in
that behalf we have inclosed sent you.
And that the Commonwealth may receive the fruits and
effects of this order, we are to desire you, according as
the ordinance doth enjoin, that you the committee would
twice every week meet, and that you would countenance
and encourage the agent, and hear such complaints as he
1645.]
225
THE CIVIL WAR.
shall present unto you, and proceed against the delinquents
with effect and speed; and from time to time to cause
assessments for more months to be made, as you shall find
necessary for this service, which so much concerns the
public good, that we are most earnestly to recommend the
same to you, that all diligence and care be used herein;
whereof not doubting, we rest,
Your very loving friends and servants,
P. WHARTON,
VOL. I.
J. EVELYN.
PEMBROKE & SALISBURY.
W. SAY & SELE.
WM. MASHAM.
VALENTINE WARTON.
At the Committee for the Army, the 16th of May, 1645.
ROBERT SCAWEN.
JOHN VENN.
JNO. PETTS.
THO. HODGES.*
The same necessity is again pressed upon the atten-
tion of the Norwich committee in a letter from both
Houses of Parliament, followed by another and more
urgent requisition from Derby House. In the first of
these letters the threatened siege of Oxford is announced;
in the second, Sir Thomas Fairfax has already arrived,
and cut off all communication with the town.
FOR THE COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF NORWICH.
GENTLEMEN,
THE Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled,
being very sensible of the miseries that this kingdom doth
suffer by the long continuance of this unnatural war, have
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
226
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
resolved, as the most effectual means, with the blessing of
God, to put an end thereunto, that Oxford shall be presently
besieged; having found by experience for these three years
last past, that the advantage of that place, situate in the
heart of the kingdom, hath enabled the enemy to have ill
influences upon this City and the counties adjoining, and to
infest all other parts. This design, though most necessary,
and of great advantage, cannot be prosecuted without
supplies of men and money.
We are therefore, by the command of both Houses,
earnestly to desire you to hasten the collection and send-
ing up of the money due upon the ordinance for main-
taining the forces under the command of Sir Thomas
Fairfax; and the recruits (the want whereof is a great dis-
service to the public). These things have lately been repre-
sented to you by the Committee of Lords and Commons
for the army, it being of great importance, and of present
use for the siege designed. We are by both Houses
directed again to press the same, not doubting but the
benefits which, by God's blessing, this whole kingdom will
receive hereby, will quicken all men's endeavours to further
this great work; and so we rest,
Your very affectionate friends,
GREY OF WARKE,
Westminster, 19th May, 1645.
Speaker of the House of Peers.
WM. LENTHALL,
Speaker of the House of Commons.*
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
1645.]
227
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF NORWICH.
GENTLEMEN,
SINCE the writing of these letters of the Houses,
herewith sent, Sir Thomas Fairfax is come up to Oxford, and
doth straiten that place so that they cannot take in any
further provision. We therefore most earnestly recommend
it unto you, with all possible expedition to hasten up the
monies and recruits according to the letter from the Houses,
which may be in this case an extraordinary service.
Signed in the name and by the warrant of the Committee
of both Kingdoms.
Your very loving friends,
Darby House, May 21st, 1645.
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
P. WHARTON.
LONDON.*
Fairfax pitched his head-quarters at Marston, his
forces being cast upon spots which completely com-
manded the town. But the whole proceeding was
undertaken against his judgment. He felt that he
was wasting his strength behind a breast-work, while
the King was abroad in the field, and that, instead of
reconnoitring the walls of Oxford, he ought to have
been collecting his army for a general action. It was
the obvious business of the New-Model Army (which
had supplanted the procrastinating system) to follow
the King wherever he went, and force the war to a
conclusion. But nothing had yet been done in that
Q 2
228
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
way, and his Majesty had already fully availed himself
of the opportunities to which he was invited by the
dispersion of the Parliament troops, and amongst other
triumphs, had taken Leicester by storm. These feel-
ings and opinions, and the welcome intelligence that
the Parliament had at length consented to release him
from an "unprofitable" siege, are emphatically expressed
in a short note to his father.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
LORD-GENERAL OF THE NORTH.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I AM very sorry we should spend our time unpro-
fitably before a town, whilst the King hath time to strengthen
himself, and by terror to force obedience of all places where
he comes; the Parliament is sensible of this now, therefore
hath sent me directions to raise the siege and march to
Buckingham, where, I believe, I shall have orders to advance
northwards, in such a course as all our divided parties may
join. It is the earnest desire of this army to follow the King,
but the endeavours of others to prevent it hath so much
prevailed; but I trust God will preserve it to do the public
service: to-morrow I begin my march (God willing). If your
lordship strengthen York and Hull, I trust they shall not
have time to besiege any places; so beseeching God to keep
your lordship in health; and those parts in safety, desiring
your blessing, I rest,
Marston, 4th June, 1645.
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
1645.]
229
THE CIVIL WAR.
It was now evident that a crisis was at hand. Fair-
fax was marching to the defence of the Associated
Counties, and letters were hourly dispatched over the
country to hasten the concentration of the troops. Colonel
Vermuden was hanging on the King's rear; but the
direction his Majesty intended to take was yet uncer-
tain. We have a glance at the flying rumours in a
letter from Mr. Gervase Lomax to Lord Fairfax. Mr.
Lomax was a Nottingham man, belonging to the middle
classes, of good understanding, a plain, blunt, honest
Parliamentarian.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE.
MY LORD,
COLONEL Vermuden wrote himself yesterday to be
at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, attending the King's motion,
which, if southwards, then he is to unite with Sir Thomas
Fairfax, who quartered on Wednesday night at Brackley. If
the King come northward, Colonel Vermuden is to unite
with Colonel Rositer, and both with the forces under the
command of Sir John Gell. But it is yet uncertain whether
the King be for north or south, he being yesterday not
past Harbrowe, and at least at a stand, if not retreating
back this way, which is presumed to be upon the noise of
Sir Thomas Fairfax's advance. Your lordship may please to
impart this intelligence in your next to the Earl of Leven.
No more at this time, but that I am
Your humble servant in the Lord Christ,
Welbeck, June 6th, at Six at Night. [1645.]
GERVASE LOMAX.
1
230
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
در
Early on the morning of the same day on which
Lomax dispatched this letter, Colonel Vermuden had
written to Sir Thomas Fairfax, apprising him that he
was on his way to join him at Brackley, and that intel-
ligence had reached him of the King's march towards
Nottingham. "The Lord send us a speedy conjunc-
tion," wrote Vermuden, "and a good engagement, with
blessed success. This brief sentence expressed the
universal desire. The whole army, wearied of fruitless
skirmishing and wasteful sieges, panted for a "speedy
conjunction," and "good engagement."
And all this time, by orders from Parliament, prayers
are putting up in the churches for a blessing on its
efforts! Vermuden, one of the truest and bravest of
Fairfax's officers, was unable to participate in the
glory to which he had looked forward so eagerly, being
compelled, within a week from the date of his letter, to
resign his commission, and go abroad upon urgent
private business: probably to Holland, the native
country of Vermuden the engineer, who drained the
fens, and who is supposed to have been his father.
It was at this moment, when he was collecting
to a centre the flower and strength of his army, that
Fairfax solicited Parliament to dispense with Cromwell's
attendance at Westminster. He had better use for him
in the field; and, immediately upon obtaining the
requisite permission, he appointed him Lieutenant-
General of the cavalry. Fairfax was quartered at Wot-
ton, within two miles of Northampton, and the King
1645.]
231
THE CIVIL WAR.
1
""
lay at Daventry. Cromwell was ordered to bring up
his horse without delay, and breathless dispatches were
sent off to Coventry, Warwick, Northampton, and every
place within reach, desiring the garrisons to "come up
with all the strength they could muster. Major-General
Skipton, second in command, was directed to draw a
plan of battle; and the impetuous masses, from distant
points, pouring in with portentous fury, were rapidly
drafted off into brigades of horse and foot, and assigned
their several positions.
While Fairfax was making these systematic arrange-
ments, his Majesty, always a little too confident of the
divinity which hedged him, was amusing himself hunt-
ing! And it was not until Fairfax had hemmed him
round, and scared the van of his army, at Harborough,
that his Majesty, called up out of his sleep, summoned a
council of war, to consider what was best to be done.
It was eleven o'clock at night, and seeing that Ireton
was hanging upon their flank, within two miles of
Naseby, and that Fairfax had shut up the road at
Gilling, it was concluded that retreat was impossible,
and that nothing remained but to give battle,—of the
result of which, in their pride of superior horse and
experienced commanders, they appear to have enter-
tained no doubt. Flushed with recent fluctuating suc-
cesses, his Majesty believed that it was as easy to hunt
down Fairfax's army as to chase deer and rabbits; and
accordingly, taking up his ground on some undulating
heights opposite to the little hamlet of Naseby, he drew
232
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
out his force in full pomp, to receive the enemy. His
Majesty himself commanded in person in the centre,
with the two Princes and Sir Marmaduke Langdale on
the right and left, and strong reserves of horse and life-
guards behind. Fairfax cast his lines on the low moor-
land hills close to the hamlet, sustained at the extremi-
ties by Ireton and Cromwell, with his artillery train,
enclosed in a ring of firelocks in the rear.
The picture
of the array of both armies, which has been handed
over to us, discloses a ghastly solemnity of preparation,
ominous, on both sides, of a frightful carnage. A wide
sweep of irregular plain lies between the contending
phalanxes, and here, upon this open, naked space,
Charles stakes his last chance for the throne.
The battle-cry on the side of the King is "Queen
Mary!" and on that of the Parliament "God our
strength!" The right wing at each side opens the
onslaught, Prince Rupert charging up the heights of
Naseby, and Cromwell plunging down into the broad
plain with such fierce resolution, that he falls upon
Langdale's horse at the sword's point, throws them
into a panic, and pursues them over hedge-rows, ditches,
and roads, a quarter of a mile beyond the field. Prince
Rupert at the same moment is scattering Ireton's left
wing, whose movements are embarrassed by dykes and
pits of water, while Ireton has his horse shot under him,
is wounded in the thigh with a pike and in the face
with a halbert, and in the rush of the melée taken pri-
soner; soon afterwards, however, finding means, through
1645.]
233
THE CIVIL WAR.
the general confusion, to regain his liberty. Prince
Rupert having broken through Ireton's cavalry, and
forced them to retreat towards Naseby, on his return
reaches the artillery train (where Rushworth is standing
taking notes), and, being mistaken by his dress for
General Fairfax, an officer advances, hat in hand, to
ask how the day goes. The mistake is soon discovered.
Rupert offers them quarter, to which they reply by a
volley of bullets. There is no time to argue the matter
with these obstinate firelocks, and, seeing that the main
body, under the command of the King, is in imminent
peril, Rupert flies back with his victorious horse to
succour his Majesty. It is too late. The fate of the
day is already decided. Fairfax's troops, beaten back
at first, are rallied by his officers-old General Skipton,
who is shot in the side, still staggering on his saddle,
and refusing to stir from the ground while there is a man
left—and others, clutching their colours, and bringing
up the reserves to supply the void of the broken centre.
The whole of that gallant body of cavaliers, which, only
three hours ago, presented so bold a front, is now
shattered and dispersed. Fairfax, recovering his position,
has formed his line again, with his wings of cavalry and
his foot marshalled between them, to make a last descent
upon the King, who, to do him justice, is endeavouring,
with desperate courage, to bring up his troops for one
charge more. But no human influence can induce them
to turn back, and they break away from the field in
disorder, Langdale's horse taking the road to Newark,
234
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
and the King flying towards Leicester, pursued by
Cromwell's cavalry for a distance of twelve or fourteen
miles.
In this memorable battle, fought on the 14th of June,
Fairfax took nearly 5000 prisoners, including 4000
private soldiers, the whole train of artillery, a quantity
of rich pillage, which the cavaliers had possessed them-
selves of at Leicester, several coaches, and his Majesty's
private cabinet, containing letters and papers which
furnished crushing evidence of kingly treachery and
duplicity.
The Royal fugitive made good his retreat to Leicester,
where he had a garrison which was doomed to be driven
out after him within the space of three days. His evil
fortune had filled him with terrors, and afraid to stay in
Leicester, even for rest and refreshment, he fled the same
evening to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where he snatched a
hasty supper, and was on the road again at midnight,
on his way to Wales, to beat up for recruits. The
reverse was prophetic, from the chivalry of Naseby to
the donjon of Ragland Castle.
The prisoners taken at Naseby were that night, for
want of accommodation, cooped up in Harborough
church; and the next day Fairfax advanced upon
Leicester, which surrendered on the 17th June. He
now resolved to move to the relief of Taunton, which was
besieged by Goring; but Goring, having notice of his
approach, broke up the siege and turned back to oppose
him. Both armies met upon the river at Langport.
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
235
Goring had the advantage of the passes, but was
dislodged, and beaten with great loss, after a fierce
engagement. It will be seen from the following letter,
that Goring acted against orders in risking this battle,
his Majesty having commanded him not to engage until
his forces should be strengthened by new levies out of
Wales, and by a further reinforcement from the western
garrisons.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
.
To pardon my seldom writing. I have taken this
occasion to let your lordship know God's great goodness to
us in defeating Gen. Goring's army; 2000 prisoners are
taken, two pieces of ordnance, many arms and colours, both
of horse and foot, but not many slain.* His horse that got
off, is gone towards Cornwall, and some foot to Bristow. It
pleased God to give them this blow in good season. The
King had given Goring strict commands not to engage before
himself, with the Welsh forces, were joined with him, and
Greenwill with those out of the West, which, altogether,
would have made a very great army, besides many thousands
of club-men in Wiltshire and Dorsetshire, which was ready
to declare themselves for the King, as soon as he had crossed
the Severn; so as we cannot esteem this mercy less, all
things considered, than that of Naseby fight. I have writ
* The journals of the day estimate the killed at 200; Rushworth at 300.
236
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
to both Houses, but not so fully as the bearer of these
letters, Col. Ransbrough, or Major Harrison, can inform
them. I wish my wife, and the house she is in, could be any
ways serviceable to your lordship. So, humbly desiring your
lordship's blessing, I remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THO. FAIRFAX.
Chedsey, 11 July, within two miles of
Bridgewater, 1645.
At the close of the war (anticipating the result, that
we may dismiss this rash gentleman from our pages),
we find Goring falling under the displeasure of the
Prince, who, remembering this fatal business at Lang-
port, was not slow, probably, to find out reasons for
dismissing him from his favour. The Sir Constantine
Huygens, to whom Goring sends his whining complaints,
was a Dutchman, Lord of Zuylichan, and had served
three successive Princes of Orange, in the quality of
secretary. He came to England in 1622, as secretary
to the Dutch embassy, and was father of Huygens, the
famous astronomer and mathematician.
SIR,
FOR MY MUCH HONOURED FRIEND, SIR CONSTANTINE
HUGGENS, AT THE ARMY.
THIS war is ended with more loss to me than any
other body, for I hear the Prince is displeased with me for
the coming away of those officers that did it without my
knowledge, and I have now my lameness so much renewed,
1645.]
237
THE CIVIL WAR.
Berwick, June 22.
that I cannot come to clear myself; as soon as the bath has
restored me to my strength, I shall employ it in his Highness'
service, if he please to let me return into the same place of
his favour that I thought myself happy in before, being not
at all guilty of deserving any declination in his Highness's
good opinion no more than I was worthy of coming into it;
and I set too great a value upon his favour and myself to
quit any pretensions to it, when I keep the same affections
to his service that I always had and sir, you will do me a
particular favour to let me know what my posture is there,
and to be assured that howsoever his Highness disposes of
me, I am,
Sir, your most affectionate,
and most humble servant,
GEORGE GORING.*.
The "Club-men" (or Club-risers, as they were some-
times called), alluded to in Fairfax's last letter, was the
title of a new party recently conjured into existence, and
which, about this time, had set up an audacious and for-
midable front. The ostensible object was the protection
of life and property, irrespective of King or Parliament
-a springe which entrapped hundreds of honest, foolish
people, who were terribly harassed by the trampling
of dragoons over their fields, and who sincerely believed
that it was true patriotism to harass the dragoons in
return. In reality this confederation was a Royalist
conspiracy, managed by bold and subtle leaders, who
* From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
238
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
laid their plans so successfully that they were able to
collect at different points masses of two or three
thousand armed men to waylay the supplies of the
Parliamentarians, and prevent the levy of contributions.
Fairfax encountered a cluster of these club-men on his
march into the west; and Cromwell fell in with large
bodies of them on two occasions, and was at last com-
pelled to take summary means for bringing them to
their senses.
But the club-men, and all other combi-
nations, under whatever pretext they came into the
world, went out of it with impressive suddenness. Some
of their leaders were taken, and sent to London, and
the roving cohorts, frightened at their own valorous
folly, broke up and vanished.
From Langport, Fairfax had removed, as we have
seen, to Chedsey, close to Bridgewater, which was
strongly fortified by the Royalists, and which occupied
a position that rendered it nearly impregnable. On
the night of 11th July, Fairfax and Cromwell went out
to examine the fortifications; and on the 16th (the date
of the following letter), the proposition to storm the
place, or to abandon it, was debated at a council of
war. As soon as the council broke up, Sir Thomas
Fairfax communicated the result of their deliberations
to his father.
►
C
!
1645.]
239
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX.
Chedsey, 16 July, 1645.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
SINCE the last fight we have only settled our
quarters about Bridgewater, as necessary before we enter into
action again, to give some rest to the soldiers, who have
extreme hard duties in marches and service. This town is of
greater consequence, as we conceive, than any in the western
parts; for if we have it, we shall garrison in a line which will
reach from Severn's mouth to the South Sea, and so divide
Devonshire and Cornwall, where their chief force is driven.
We intend presently, God willing, either to storm or block it
up, that the rest of the army may be at liberty to go after
Goring, or where there is most need. I hope we shall carry
this place if we storm it. All things are preparing for it.
Our greatest want in the army is match, which I desire there
may be a care taken a good quantity may be sent to Lyme.
I shall trouble your lordship with no more, but humbly desire
your blessing, and remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THO. FAIRFAX.
On the 22nd the town was stormed, and on the fol-
lowing day it surrendered.
240
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
YESTERDAY I gave an account to both Houses of
our taking Bridgewater, part of it by storm; and finding their
obstinacy I was forced to fire two or three houses, which
presently made them to render the town and themselves to
mercy. The governor told me, some of his own men set fire
on several parts of the town, for which he had committed
some to prison, else we had done little hurt by fire. Now
we shall, God willing, in a day or two, undertake some other
business, either towards Bath and Bristow, or towards Gor-
ing in Cornwall; the latter seems fittest to be undertaken.
Forces from France and Ireland may readily join with him
there. I hope we shall leave force enough for the west, and
have a considerable army for any other service. We have
had great testimony of God's goodness to us, and I trust He
will still assist us in this work, that we may finish it or our
lives to His glory and the good of this kingdom, for which I
desire your lordship's blessing. So remain
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
Near Bridgewater, July 24th, 1645.
The King is expected this night in Bristow if the news of
taking Bridgewater stay him not. His greatest hopes now
seems to be in the clubmen, and God's providence is much
seen in the timely taking of this town. If the King had had
time to have got his forces and these numerous clubmen
together, we must have left it.
We are interrupted in the midst of these anxious
1645.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
241
scenes by a letter from Mr. Charles Fairfax to his
brother, concerning certain investigations into divers
complicated questions of taxation in Yorkshire, upon
which that worthy lawyer and antiquary had been for
some time engaged. Deeply as he was absorbed in
the "study" at Denton, he found leisure for such
scanty intelligence as he could get, from week to week,
of the progress of the army. The matter of this letter
is of no present import. The old divisions and interests
to which it refers are obliterated; but it shows that
there was hard work to be done in dusky offices and
civic chambers, as well as in camps and castles, to
sustain the heart of the great cause. It is apparently
a dry discussion about rights of levy; but these assess-
ments were the life-blood of the army.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS LODGINGS IN QUEEN STREET, THESE.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
You may please to take information that the rates
of the three Ridings are now vehemently controverted, and
both North and East oppose the West; the City (who are no
less violent against us), these will not admit part of our
twelve, but a distinct twentieth part of the whole. They
insist upon the seidance of their proportions in the two late
ordinances, one for the Irish, the other the Scottish assess-
ments; the act for poll-money; the irregular charge of ship-
money; the postscript of an old letter to the mayor, &c.,
from my Lord of Huntingdon, 1595 (point blank against
VOL. I.
R
242
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
them, being in pursuance of our claims), and the City's
answer, that Pierce Stanley, as muster-master of the county,
ought not to view their arms, being a distinct county. Pur-
veyance they admit; but it is not against them, being an
act of prerogative. Each objection has his answer. But
most of that I heard at this board I had formerly learned
from your lordship by frequent discourses, besides the view of
seidall notes, both my father's and yours, concerning arms
and purveyance.
As a twentieth part, it is but as Strafford
and Tickhill, from whose high constables they have received
their charge; that (because it is a distinct county) the sta-
tutes enable them to claim their privileges for arms and
bridges; yet for arms (besides the Lord President Hunting-
don's letter, who says we claim them) there is shown a note
of Sir Henry Savile's, taken 1625, wherein the City forces are
reckoned with the West.
A poor thing to what I have seen in your study, but espe-
cially in my father's desks, in several bundles of far ancienter
date. In Henry the Sixth's time they were made a county,
and (though now no part of us) are concomitant witli
us to their former proportions, which such charters can
neither diminish nor alter more than the late separation of
Clifton, Tulford, Rouchliff, &c., taken both from the North
and East Ridings, where (by joint assent of the justices and
gentry) it was ordered they should pay assessments (as before)
with those Ridings. A like may be intended upon their first
charter.
For the charge of shipping, each particular sheriff had his
writ; and if our proportion have exceeded, it (being irregu-
lar) can be no authentic precedent. That of Camden they
would urge against us. He (speaking of York) having for-
merly mentioned the three Ridings, says, "Que nec illius nec
1645.]
243
THE CIVIL WAR.
cujusque alterius partis censetur, sed suis guadet immunita-
tibus." By one casting voice (there being twelve of both
Ridings and thirteen of ours, with their Mr. Chalanour siding
in that point with us) the month of August is voted to be
assessed as it usually has been, and a new day assigned to
determine the controversy, or at least for the present, until
the Parliament decide it, there being the interests of many
thousand pounds in lands above the value of 200,000l. per
annum concerned.
I purpose to go or send to my cousin Malory, and all
others who may contribute any assistance to the work, to
vindicate those rights which lie now a-gasping. They being
confident to carry it, it will be discussed in Parliament; and
your lordship's memory (though you have often complained
of it) is a faithful repertory, and ever was, in all things that
concerned the good of the country. In the mean time your
letter hither may be very useful. Some things I bundled in
your chest, of impertinences concerning musters, which I
hope I may get to, for it was not in your study. They may
be of as good consequence as Sir Henry Savile's note.
My lord, I am much comforted in the weekly relations,
wherein I read God's mercies in legible characters both of
you and your son. The giving all unto God (of which he
has an honourable testimony) is the most thriving way. I
have many engagements to remember your lordship; and I
know you cannot forget
Your most affectionate servant,
C. F.
1st August, 1645.
Mr. Stockdale has now shown me your lordship's letter
concerning this business, and I hope will join with the
carriage of the business.
R 2
244
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Sir Thomas Fairfax, following up his successes at
Langport and Bridgewater, directed his course westward
against Bristol, where Prince Rupert was in command of a
powerful garrison. On his way he stormed Bath, which,
after a brisk surprise at the gates, surrendered on his own
terms. In his next letter we follow him to Sherborne.
FROM SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX TO HIS FATHER, LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
SINCE the taking of Bath, (I have left there two
regiments of horse and two of foot, which, with the assistance
of the county with the well-affected there about, I hope will
straighten Bristow very much), I am come to Sherborne.
The necessity of staying in these parts till we receive our
recruits and ammunition made me willing to attempt some-
thing on it, which I hope in a very short time will be to
very good purpose, if it please God we take this place. It is
more considerable than to force Goring into Cornwall, for
the clubmen of Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire, are
like to be of dangerous consequence, if not prevented. We
have taken thirteen or fourteen of their chief leaders. Lieu-
tenant-General Cromwell is gone out with some horse to
hinder the clubmen's meeting, which I hear they have
appointed, to come and demand their leaders. We must
not neglect this business, for their violence is probable to
lead them to some foolish attempt, which I hope may make
them repent their errors, if they will not be advised; which
way,
I desired him just to make use of. I am sorry money
is so slowly sent to the army; indeed our soldiers have been
1645.]
245
THE CIVIL WAR.
put to hard service and strict obedience; but if they want
pay, both these will be neglected, and nothing carries on our
business with more advantage than keeping our soldiers from
doing violences, which I do desire we may still be able to do.
I shall trouble your lordship with no more at this time, but
humbly desiring your blessing, remain
Your lordship's most obedient soï,
THO. FAIRFAX.
Sherborne, August 4th, 1645.
Since the writing of this letter, I received yours of the
24th July. I perceive the Parliament hath been pleased to
name me Governor of Pontefract. I am so little serviceable
to those parts, as I cannot desire more commands there.
Either of those your lordship names are fit to command the
castle; but if your lordship think it convenient to have that
government, I am content; and desire that either Colonel
Overton or Major Crooke may command under me there.
I now received this inclosed from Lieutenant-General Crom-
well I desire your lordship would acquaint the House with
it, and that they would let me know what they would have
me do with the ring-leaders of them.
The "inclosed" from Cromwell contained an account
of the dispersion of the Clubmen, who were totally
routed by Cromwell, and glad to escape, on condition of
never showing their heads again. "Many of them," said
Cromwell, in his letter to Fairfax, "are poor silly
creatures, whom, if you please to let me send home,
they promise to be very dutiful for time to come, and
will be hanged before they come out again.
""
The ammunition and money, so much needed by
246
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Fairfax, arrived on the 11th August. The spirits of
the army rose at the good news. They had been
upwards of a week before Sherborne waiting for cannon,
but not failing to make a show of strength at intervals
by sending trumpets to the gates, whose summonses
were answered by flat negatives, and occasional shots
out of loopholes. It was by some of these shots the
officers mentioned in the following letter were wounded.
Captain Horsey, and another officer, Captain Fleming,
died of their hurts, and were buried with military honours
in the church—a solemn pause in the fury of the siege!
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, IN QUEEN
STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
We find nothing more difficult than sieges, where
things are not provided for that work. Necessity and reason
now puts us upon that way; for no army, God be thanked,
now for the present is like to keep the field against us. We
shall neglect half our work if we leave Sherborne untaken;
but in a few days we hope, by God's assistance, to force it.
We have already lost some of our stoutest and best officers
before it, as Major Done, Captain Horsey, and others hurt.
We are making mines, which I hope in a few days will be
finished.
I received this day your lordship's letters by Captain Hoyle.
I shall do what I can for him; but when places.fall in this
army they are presently challenged either by antiquity or
merit, as it is hard to place any stranger in it. I shall desire
1645.]
247
THE CIVIL WAR.
Colonel Overton or Major Crooke to command Pontefract
under me, if you think fit; or if you desire, it may be abso-
lutely under the command of one of them. I desire to know
your lordship's pleasure, and I shall be very well content.
So, humbly desiring your lordship's blessing, I remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
On the 12th the miners were at work under a hur-
ricane of burning faggots. On the 13th the cannon was
planted, and the miners, cutting through the naked rock,
were within two yards of the walls. On the 14th the
guns began to play, beating down a tower, and making
a breach wide enough for ten men to enter abreast.
A poor drummer, who was sent in this strait to summon
the garrison to surrender, was told that he deserved to
be hanged, and that the Governor was a man who
would rather lose his life than his honour; and on the
15th the said brave, boisterous Governor surrendered.
On the 16th the soldiers made high market of their
booty with the country people.
Before the end of a week (having reduced Nunney
Castle on his way) Fairfax sat down before Bristol.
His name had become a word of fear amongst the
Royalists. Fortifications seemed to melt before him
wherever he appeared, and belligerent Bristol was
struck with terror at his approach. So soon as he was
known to be in the neighbourhood, several lords and
people of rank begged for passes to come out of the
248
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
city, declaring that they were ready to leave the
country, and get out of the way altogether. Fairfax
refused their request, "it being a received opinion," says
quaint old Rushworth, "that persons of quality and
great estate, in a besieged town, rather incline to a
timely yielding than hazardous defending thereof, when
no relief is at hand." And so, with the gates locked
upon these helpless persons of quality and great estate,
Fairfax prepares to batter down the walls. The next
letter, without a date, appears to have been written on
the 22nd or 23rd August.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
UPON serious debate on the consequence of affairs,
we marched to Bristol with the army, else the good success
God hath given us in Somersetshire might have been to little
purpose; for Prince Rupert, with 3000 horse and foot which
he had, might have raised force in all the county behind
us, which would have been more considerable than Goring's
army is, which breaks daily with distractions, and so less
dangerous. We have shut Prince Rupert, with all his horse,
up in Bristol; the plague is much there. I hope God will
direct all things for the best, that we may give some good
account of that which is so much expected. So, desiring your
blessing, I remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
1645.]
249
THE CIVIL WAR.
This inclosed letter from my Lord Falkenbridge was inter-
cepted coming from France, with other letters, which is sent
to the committee of both kingdoms. It appears by them
little assistance can be expected from thence.
Having secured all the surrounding posts, and borne
much distress for several days from sudden sallies of the
besieged, it was determined, after much deliberation, to
storm the city. This resolution was carried into effect
on the 10th September. Nearly all the forts and
bulwarks gave way, after a resistance hardly less heroic
than the devotion of the storming parties; and Rupert,
seeing that all was lost, fired the town in three places,
and sent a trumpet amidst the flames to propose a
treaty of surrender, which was accepted. The treaty
was concluded on the 11th; and on the next day,
while Fairfax was writing to his father, Prince Rupert
was riding out under a convoy of horse to Oxford.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
By the good providence of God we are now possessed
of Bristol, which was rendered, September 11th, upon these
inclosed conditions, after a fierce and resolute storm: the
particulars will be expressed in the Speaker's letters. I have
left only a regiment of foot in the fort and castle, for the
sickness is much in the town; the army removes this day to
Cavesham and Penford; we must needs lay them in quarters
free from sickness, till the monies come up from Riding, and
250
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
this place be settled.
Somersetshire is raising 2000 men
to recruit the army, part of which we are to receive to-morrow.
I hope to have 1500 more out of Glostershire. The
enemy seems much dejected since the taking of this town,
and I think the Prince would be glad of a pass to go into
France. I believe I shall hear from him shortly to that
purpose, if he would not have it so public as to desire it of
the Parliament, but rather from me. I humbly desire some
advice in it, but I think it would be happy for the kingdom if
he would go out of it. Rushworth will acquaint your lordship
more particularly of things. So, desiring your lordship's
blessing, I remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Bristol, 12th September, 1645.
Devizes Castle, Berkeley Castle, Winchester, and Basing
House, were now rapidly reduced in succession; the
King's troops were beaten on Rowton Heath, and soon
after at Sherborne; and Fairfax, making forced marches
westward, took up his head-quarters at Chard, on the
8th of October. Up to this time no money had been
received by the army since the remittance of the 11th
of September, and wherever they came they were obliged
to take up free quarters.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
IN QUEEN STREET.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
WE are now at Chard, upon the confines of Devon-
shire, and shall be forced to stay there till our monies and
1645.]
251
THE CIVIL WAR.
recruits come to us; Goring is about 6000 horse and foot,
being the more considerable, having the advantage of rivers
and other strong passes to maintain against us; yet we
perceive much fearfulness in them to engage with us, and
many soldiers, and some officers daily run from them to us.
They will not have any assistance from Cornwall, and I hope
Devonshire will be our friend when we come in to them, that
they dare declare it. I am exceedingly troubled with
rheumatism and a benumbing coldness in my head, legs, and
arms, especially on that side I had my hurts. It hath pleased
the Lord to help me through much extremities, and I trust
He will lay no more on me than He will enable me to bear;
the mercies I have received ought to stop all complaints in
His service.
My wife is gone to Sir John Paulett's, and intends to stay
there till my lady be able to go up to London with her. As
there is occasion I shall give your lordship further account,
and now desiring your blessing, remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Chard, 8th October, 1645.
The action at Sherborne was the most important of
all the flying encounters which occurred at this time.
It happened thus:-the King, being at Welbeck on the
12th of October, and desirous of assisting Montrose,
then actively engaged on the Scottish border, and com-
plaining grievously of want of cavalry, appointed 1200
horse for that service, which he confided to the command
of Lord Digby, assisted by Sir Marmaduke Langdale.
George Digby laboured under the misfortune of being
252
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
one of the handsomest men of his day. His vanity was
in proportion to the grace and beauty of his person.
It was the dye which lay at the root of his character,
and infused its colour into all the transactions of his life.
One who knew him intimately tells us that he thought
the most difficult things easy, and that he never troubled
himself to calculate consequences, as if he had the
power by mere volition to overrule them. His whole
career, up to the moment when he got this unlucky
command of horse, exhibited a succession of hot-brained
impulses, in which his self-confidence predominated over
all other men's judgments, and even over the most
palpable suggestions of prudence. Like all men who,
for the glory of standing alone, prefer their own opinions,
even in the wrong, to the wisdom of combined counsel,
he cultivated singularity to the total wreck of his
fortunes. The results of this eccentricity of temper,
dangerous to his associates and fatal to himself, were
conspicuous in the caprice, inconstancy, and failure of
everything he undertook. However far he might
advance with a party, he was sure to strike off some-
where on some crotchet or humour of his own. He
began with the Parliament, and ended with the King,
and boasted that he was hated equally by Papists and
Puritans, which he took to be a mark of distinction, and
a proof of independence. However enthusiastically he
might respond to the affections of his friends, he was
sure to differ from them at some time, and lose them at
last. His truest and best friend, through all reverses,
1645.]
253
THE CIVIL WAR.
was the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, whom, in the long
run, he impeached of high treason. Possessed of great
natural talents, his mind was so elevated by conceit, and
so incapable of discipline or application, that he never
could employ them in any direction with success. He
dabbled in literature out of a spirit of elegant ostenta-
tion, and left nothing behind him worth remembering.
The only things in this way by which he is known are
a translation of three books of the Cassandra, and a
couple of comedies, (played at Lincoln's Inn Fields in
1665), which he constructed out of the Spanish, and
afterwards condensed into one, and published under the
name of "Elvira."
Elvira." The complexional intrigue of this
piece, which shows clearly from whence it came, sur-
vives in "The Wonder" of Mrs. Centlivre.
Impetuous Digby, at the head of his 1200 horse,
marched off to Doncaster, where he valiantly seized a
few stray Parliament soldiers, who had sought shelter
in the place, and were incapable of offering any resist-
ance; and pursuing his victory to Sherborne, surprised
Colonel Wren, and took about a thousand prisoners.
Exulting in this exploit, he gathered up the arms of the
vanquished in a heap in the street; but while he was
waiting for carriages to convey them away, Colonel
Copley appeared before the town. Digby drew out his
forces and gave battle. The contest was short and
decisive. Digby was soundly beaten and put to flight,
and lost not only all the prisoners and arms he had
taken, but three hundred men of his own, and his
254
MEMORIALS OF
[1645.
private coach, containing bundles of letters full of royal
secrets. The papers seized upon this occasion, and at
Naseby, were published by the orders of Parliament,
and disclosed to the country a scheme which the King
was carrying on to marry his son to the Prince of
Orange's daughter, with a view to secure the aid of
Holland, and sundry negotiations in which he was
engaged for bringing over foreign armies and sub-
sidies. But it was evident, from one of these letters,
that his Majesty, in the midst of all his plans and
alliances, was reduced to despair. "I confess," he
observes in a communication to Prince Rupert,
"that,
speaking as a mere soldier, or statesman, I must say
there is no probability but of my ruin." The battle of
Naseby had broken down his last hope.
The following list of prisoners taken at Sherborne,
is from a memorandum in the hand-writing of Sir
Thomas Fairfax.
PRISONERS TAKEN AT THE LATE BATTLE AT SHERBORNE,
ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, ABOUT FOUR OF THE
CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON, 1645.
COLONEL SIR FRANCIS ANDERSON, Coloner Bulmer,
Colonel Clayton, Colonel Carnaby, Lieutenant-Colonel Went-
worth, Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, Major Crathorne, Captain
Leuson, Master of the Ordnance; Captain Cholmeley, Cap-
tain Marshall, Captain Pudsey, wounded and taken; four
more captains taken; Captain L. Slayton, Lieutenant John
1645.]
255
THE CIVIL WAR.
Turner; divers other officers and reformadoes; Mr. Duke
Punstable, a great papist; Mr. Claverin, Richard Lowther,
gentleman; Colonel Sir Francis Carnaby, slain; Colonel Sir
Richard Hutton, slain; Mr. Slingsby; several wounded;
betwixt 300 or 400 taken prisoners, and about 600 horse,
forty slain, many wounded; the Countess of Nidsdale taken;
Colonel Clausin, Colonel Carnaby, their colours taken and
divers others; the Lord Digby's coach taken, and the King's
surgeon taken in it with rich pillage. We lost not ten men,
but many wounded. The enemy were about 1600 horse, and
intended for Montrose. Ours were about the number of
1250. About 600 of the enemy are gotten towards Skipton.
Handsome Digby, who may be supposed to have had
his beauty a little spoiled in this affair, fled precipitately
northwards, turning this way and that, to avoid the
Parliamentarians, and after crossing fords, hiding in
woods, and fighting for his life, got away at last more
dead than alive to the Isle of Man, from whence he
finally escaped into Ireland. The remainder of his
wandering life was crowded with romantic adventures,
such as were common to soldiers of fortune in the
middle ages. From Ireland he fled to Jersey, and
thence into France; served in the French army in
Italy, attended Charles II. at Bruges, and was found at
the Restoration in the Spanish ranks under the com-
mand of Don John of Austria. His true friend,
Clarendon, had in vain endeavoured to dissuade him
against accepting mercenary service under a foreign
power, telling him frankly at the same time that there
256
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
were certain errors of his life and nature, which he
ought to avail himself of exile and solitude to correct.
"You can no more," said Lord Clarendon in a letter
remarkable for good sense and integrity of purpose,
"be a servant or pensioner to another crown, than you
can marry another wife. Borrow or beg (it is very
honest) so much as will keep you alive and cleanly for
one year; and withdraw into a quiet corner, where
you are not known, and where not above two or three
friends may hear of you.
hear of you. If you can live but one year
without being spoken of at all, without being in a
capacity of having your own or other men's errors
imputed to you, you will find a strange resurrection of
a good fame. In that retirement you will revolve the
rare accidents and misfortunes of your life; in the
consideration whereof, I fear, you have been too neg-
ligent; and, it may be, you may believe you have
encountered new and unusual dangers, because you
have not duly weighed past and unusual deliverances.
You will find as much of the immediate hand of God in
both, as can be observed in the course of a man's life,
much inferior to you in age, and, it may be, in action.
And after you have given your mind this diet, exercise
and repose, you will return with greater vigour upon
the stage; and any shift you shall then be necessitated
to, will be more justifiable to the world and comfortable
to yourself."
The first use he made of his vigour when he did
return to the stage, gartered by the new King, was to
1645.]
257
THE CIVIL WAR.
exhibit articles of high treason against the good friend
who had given him this excellent advice. But in this,
as in everything else, he failed egregiously. His articles
were thrown out by the Peers; and after a few years
of impatient and inefficacious display in Parliament, he
went out of town, and died at Chelsea, where his fine
person was deposited.
Supplies arrive on the 11th, and the jubilant army,
with Goring's troops hanging in clouds upon their track,
move on to Axminster, and thence to Tiverton, which is
at once blocked up, stormed, and taken with miraculous
haste, as usual. Exeter is the next point of attack, and
Fairfax accordingly presses on, and brings his artillery
under the shadow of the walls at St. Mary Autree.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I HAVE some hopes of procuring a place in these
parts for Mr. Chaloner to be burgess of. I will do what I may
in it. I shall forbear here to give your lordship an account
of our present condition in the west, but desire you to receive
it from Rushworth. So soon as two or three places on the east
side of Exeter are fortified, and are now almost finished, we
shall make our head-quarters about Tiverton; the enemy doth
lose men daily, and is very desirous to make conditions for
themselves. I hear the Prince (Rupert) is at Pendennis;
there is a party that would persuade him over sea. I think
VOL. I.
S
258
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
it would be better if it pleased God he could be prevented;
there will be a head where he is, for malignants to draw to,
and a ground for foreign states to take part with, for their
ends, under the pretence of defending innocency. I shall
trouble your lordship no longer, but humbly desiring your
blessing, take leave to rest,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Autre, 14th November, 1645.
My wife presents her duty to your lordship, and stays yet
a week longer, till my Lady Pawlet be ready to travel.
The business at Exeter, however, is not so speedily
finished as he hopes, and instead of making head-
quarters about Tiverton, he is doomed to be buried in
the morasses at Autree for some weeks to come.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I SHALL use the best means I can to get Sir Wil-
liam Selby a burgess's place here; but I see every man's
affections are so engaged to their particular relations, as I
something doubt my own interest here, unless I go a more
open and public way than is fit in this business; yet I shall
omit nothing I can do in it. We lie yet still as we did;
but I hope presently we shall do something by way of
advancing our quarters further west; but this will be ques-
tionable if we send more forces eastward, which at the next
council of war will be determined. There is nothing more
1645.]
259
THE CIVIL WAR.
that is material to acquaint your lordship from these parts.
I have writ to Major-General Points, humbly desiring your
lordship to give conveyance to it upon the first opportunity.
So, humbly desiring your lordship's pardon and blessing,
I remain
Autre, Nov. 29th, 1645.
Your lordship's most obedient soņ,
T. FAIRFAX.
The wet season has set in, and the troops, plunged
into unwholesome quarters, crowded together, and ill-
furnished with provisions and accommodations, are dying
off every day. Worse still, Plymouth is threatened,
and Fairfax, eager to come to its relief, is unable to
liberate himself or his diminishing army. During this
dismal suspension of activity, he negociates with the
Prince of Wales, who answers him, through Lord Capel,
in a letter which reflects with marvellous fidelity the
paternal style of mixed cajolery and obstinacy. This
is the Lord Capel who, in the early days of Parlia-
mentary grievances, was one of the first to cry out
against kingly oppression, and who in about three
years hence will be found "lying shorter by the head"
at Whitehall.
FROM THE LORD ARTHUR CAPEL TO SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
SIR,
In answer to yours of the 8th of this month, his
Highness hath commanded me to let you know that he did
not believe that his overture of engaging himself in the
$ Ը
2
260
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
mediation of a blessed peace for this miserable kingdom,
(which he did, and does still most earnestly desire to labour
in) would have brought him an invitation to quit his piety
and loyalty to his Royal father by dividing his interest from
that of his Majesty's, whereby he should render himself
unworthy and uncapable of the fruits of that peace he
labours for. If his former propositions may be consented
unto, he hopes God will so bless his sincere intentions and
desires, as to make him a blessed instrument, to preserve this
kingdom from desolation, but if that be rejected he shall give
the world no cause to believe that he will forfeit that honour
and integrity which can only preserve him in a capacity
of doing that service; and shall, with patience, attend God's
good pleasure, until his endeavours may be applied with
preservation of his innocency. This is all I have in command
from his Highness,
Exeter, December 1st, 1645.
Your servant,
ARTHUR CAPEL.
The condition of the men at Autree gets worse and
worse, and, even if they are ordered to Plymouth, they
are no longer fit to undertake the service. The sickness
has penetrated to the General's quarters. Rushworth
communicates this disheartening intelligence to Lord
Fairfax who is now up in London, at his son's house in
Queen-street, trying to exorcise money out of Parlia-
ment. He also encloses to his lordship the scented note
from Lord Capel.
1645.]
261
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON,
THESE PRESENT.
Dec. 3rd, 1645.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
YOUR lordship may perceive, by the inclosed, how
little the Prince esteems of that dutiful and respective letter
of the General's to his Highness. He may now thank him-
self if his condition proves worse, having refused so fair an
offer. The army is sickly: many die daily: the disease is
infectious; the quarters bare; and truly, I fear, a great
mortality will ensue for want of accommodation, to the foot
especially. Besides Colonel Pickering, there are divers other
officers dead, and many sick. Three sick in the General's
family of this new fever, whereof Mr. Blackbeard is one.
We had been in no condition to move to Plymouth, if the
Lords had obtained their desires. We have little news.
The enemy is not only much divided but dispersed; yet as
high in their thoughts as they at Oxford are. The General
hath sent his own regiment of horse towards Oxford, to join
with Colonel Whaley and Colonel Ireton. Colonel Rains-
borough's regiment of foot, and Colonel Fleetwood's of horse,
are marching towards Corfe Castle. Having no more to
trouble your lordship withal, I rest
Your lordship's most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORth.
The head quarters is still at Autry.
The General hath received advertisement Youghall is
relieved; and that Sir Charles Scott and Sir Robert Stewart
262
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
have slain a bishop and 1000 rebels. The General formerly
sent all the provisions belonging to this army, and lent
10007. of the soldiers' money to the relief of Youghall, so
sad were their condition without present relief. When any
monies come in upon the new ordinance, it will be requisite
to move for the repayment of their 10007.
At last Fairfax, having concluded his works, and
hearing that the Prince, whose army is wasting away
as fast as his own, has sent out to gather troops from
Dartmouth and Barnstaple and other places, resolves
to break away from the infectious marsh of Autree,
and orders several regiments across the river into better
air at Crediton, where they meditate an attempt on a
royalist garrison at Poldram House. He is assisted
in his councils by Cromwell, fresh from the sieges of
Basing and Langford Houses, and the intrepid Sir
Hardress Waller, who shows evidence of perilous service
in a wounded arm. They are here collecting their
brigades, whose "hum of preparation " may be heard
at the enemy's out-posts; and the watch-fires at night,
casting their broad glare into the waters of the Exc,
give intimation to the curious eyes of sentinels on the
ramparts that the Parliamentarians are once more about
to take the field. Fairfax, redeemed from miserable
Autree, is again restored to his proper element. His
activity is incessant. He has transferred his head-
quarters to Tiverton, scared the enemy out of Kirton,
and still holds Exeter in a state of siege.
1645.1
263
THIE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
SINCE yesterday that I writ to Sir Thomas Wid-
drington, nothing of note hath happened, only intelligence of
the enemy's distraction; besides a message from my Lord
Newport of the intention to send the Prince beyond sea to
Holland, and of the Holland ships there attending. Upon our
advance to Kirton, the enemy is gone from Newton Bushell
in great disorder. I shall suddenly give your lordship a
further account; Mr. Blackbeard lieth speechless, and doubt
he will not recover: more fallen sick.
Your lordship's humble servant,
J. R.
Tiverton, December 10th, 1645.
J. RUSHWORTH, ESQ. TO LORD FAIRFAX.
}
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THIS day the General is gone to Kirton, to see the
making that place a strong quarter, and to give orders about
a design, within these two nights to be put in execution, in
the taking in of a place of strength the enemy is fortifying
upon the river. I hope there shall, within few days, be no
manner of access into the town with permission. My Lord
Goring continues still at Dartmouth. As soon as this place
is taken (Poldram Castle), we shall annoy the enemy in the
South-Hams, and give them little rest; I hope, enforce them
264
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Tiverton, Dec. 12, 1645.
into Cornwall. We have little news else, in these parts,
worth your lordship's knowledge. I remain,
Your lordship's most faithful and humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
The troops are in motion about Crediton, and have
attempted Poldram House, and been fairly beaten back,
when Fairfax writes again to his father.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I SHOULD give you oftener account from these parts
but that I know you have it every week by other relations.
The other day we sent a party over the river Ex, to possess.
Poldram House; but being prepossessed by the enemy, and
the party not sufficient to storm it, our men took a church,
half a mile nearer Exeter, from whence the enemy sallied out
that night with 500 musketeers, and assaulted our men in
the church. They disputed the business for three hours very
hotly; the enemy came up close to the windows with halberts,
and threw in fifteen grenades, but, by the goodness of God,
our men forced them to retreat, leaving two men slain behind
them, many others wounded. We, finding the place more
dangerous than useful, quit it again. The extreme coldness
of the weather, and want of clothes, makes us act slower.
This day a small party of ours from Crediton fell into an out-
quarter of the enemy, and took a captain of horse and about
1645.]
265
THE CIVIL WAR.
Tiverton, Dec. 19, 1645.
ten troopers prisoners. They consume away very fast, and I
hear they have not 100 men in some regiments. There is an
infectious fever in our quarters, but the countrymen rather
than soldiers die of it. This season is so ill for travelling, as
my wife cannot yet conveniently take her journey up to
London; and the rather because my quarters all this time are
so settled as there is no trouble to her or me in her stay.
So, desiring your lordship's blessing, I remain,
Your most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
The banks of the river bristle over with little garri-
sons, and we hear of surprises, and assaults, and deserters
coming in with intelligence, every hour in the day.
Exeter is clearly reduced to extremity for want of pro-
visions, and her last hope lies in the long-expected
reinforcements. The progress of affairs is graphically
sketched in a couple of letters from the indefatigable
Mr. Rushworth.
J. RUSHWORTH, ESQ., TO THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
SINCE the time the enemy was so well beaten off at
the church, they durst not reattempt it, a thing we desired
they would engage in, with two pieces of ordnance they had
drawn out, for then two regiments more being come up to
Whetstone, midway between Crediton and Exeter, to those
three already with Sir Hard. Waller, we had got between
266
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
Tiverton, Dec. 20th, 1645.
them and home, which they perceiving, made a stand two
days together, the weather not admitting us to be long on
duty in expectation thereof; no accommodations thereabouts
for our men. The generals caused the foot in the church to
be drawn off over the water, Thursday at noon; they in the
castle never offered to interrupt their passage. If we had
had any garrison on the other side near the church, or could
with an ordinary party sent from Crediton to relieve them,
we had not quit the church, being useful as to the river
opposite to our garrison at Nutwell, as the two blockhouses
at Gravesend; but having twelve boats, four manned with
ordnance, the river is sufficiently interrupted, few passing by,
or none in boats. Colonel Okey, from Fulford House, fell
on their quarter, and took a captain of horse and twelve
prisoners. A captain of horse (one Captain Bell) is come in,
and thirty horse with him. This being all I have to present
unto your lordship, I take my leave, and rest
Your lordship's most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON, THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THE enemy yesterday morning, about two of the
clock, assaulted our men in Mr. Davy's house at Crediton,
after they had been about six hours in the house; but other
men had so barricaded the ways, and cast up breastworks,
that they beat off the enemy, killed a lieutenant-colonel and
many others, and took many prisoners, which they are now
1645.]
267
THE CIVIL WAR.
bringing to the head-quarter; this service was performed by
one of Colonel Okey's dragoon captains, which he sent from
Fulford House. Sir Hardress Waller no sooner heard of the
engagement, but he sent 1000 foot from Crediton to their
relief, but, blessed be God! they had relieved themselves;
this morning two regiments of horse ordnance, after those
foot, to reside on the other side, to countenance the fortifying
of those two garrisons of Fulford and Teene, and settling
some others in a line, though all at a distance; for if we stop
the Southams for sending provisions, Exeter is quite debarred
of all succour. The general had it late last night in debate
of sending another regiment of foot to Corfe Castle, in lieu of
that which is called away; but in regard the enemy is pre-
paring to relieve Exeter, with droves of cattle and sheep, &c.,
there is like to be need of the greatest part of our army for
their resistance. Inhabitants come forth daily to us, their
store of provisions being spent, and wanting fire; and many
are not able to pay the billet of seven, ten, or twelve soldiers
on a poor family-all sixpence a man. Very suddenly we
shall be round them; but we can do it all once. This being
all I have to present unto your lordship, I rest,
Your lordship's most faithful servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Tiverton, Saturday, Dec. 23d, 1645.
Last night there came four troopers, well mounted, from
the enemy; they came from Totness, and affirm the Ply-
mouth horse beat up the enemy's quarters, some twelve miles
from Plymouth, forced the enemy to fly to their works, and
took several prisoners.
I have not writ to Mr. Speaker or Mr. Prideaux: your
lordship will be pleased to communicate unto them.
268
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
The reinforcements for beleaguered Exeter are at last
on the march. A formidable body of eight or nine thou-
sand horse and foot are gathering about Tavistock and
Oakhampton; but Fairfax has early intelligence, and has
already determined upon his future movements.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON, THESE.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
THERE will be no want in the General effectually to
endeavour that for Sir William Selby. Where engagements
are already made by others for choice of others named, it will
be difficult to put them by. But if your lordship please to
move the House, or get some to do it, that the writs for
Tiverton may be sent down, no place so likely to have a
burgesship obtained for Sir William Selby as here, the
General being present. If your lordship please to move Mr.
Prideaux herein, he can hasten the writs, or take off what is
the remora,* if your lordship please to advise with Sir Thomas
Widdrington herein. The enemy find themselves injured
that Exeter is so blocked up, that without an army they can-
not considerably relieve it; so now they are drawing into a
body, horse and foot, all Oakhampton, and out of Cornwall,
so that we are like suddenly to have some engagement on
that side of Exeter. We keep three houses and Crediton
fortified.
They are well at Plymouth. The enemy endeavoured to
tempt the governor, but fruitlessly. The man was hanged
Difficulty, or impediment.
1645.]
269
THE CIVIL WAR.
on Saturday. This is all I have worth your lordship's
knowledge.
Your lordship's most humble servant,
Tiverton, Saturday, Dec. 27th, 1645.
J. RUSHWORTH.
This brings us to the close of 1645. The weather is
intensely cold, and the ground is covered with snow.
The scene round Exeter presents a dreary spectacle in
these shivering December nights. Fairfax is moving
away his heavy guns over the deep roads by slow and
difficult marches, and his troops, falling in from post to
post, are forming into companies, and departing in
different and rather perplexing directions. The camp
is broken up, and Exeter relieved for the present.
The year has been a most prosperous one for the
Parliament. The King, notwithstanding the multitu-
dinous gatherings of Gorings and Grenvilles about
Oakhampton, the recruiting in Wales, and the shouts of
the Montroses over the Border, is in an extremity out
of which the kingliest optimism can discern no present
means of deliverance. After the battle of Naseby,
escaping as he could into Wales, he collected a new
army, and reappeared in England, not clear as to his
destination, but hoping to get up into the North, (his
only chance), and effect a junction with Montrose. In
this design he was frustrated, and driven back south-
wards. Stumbling upon Huntingdon in his flight, he
miraculously beat a foot-company on a drawbridge, and
270
[1645.
MEMORIALS OF
took possession of the town. Encouraged by this piece
of good fortune, his Majesty turned towards Chester,
met the Parliamentarians at Rowton Heath, and had his
Huntingdon laurels blown into the air. This annihila-
tion of his Welsh legions was, comparatively, a trivial
misfortune to that which had befallen him only eleven
days before in Scotland, where he had garnered up his
last hopes. Montrose's army had been literally exter-
minated at Philiphaugh, more papers were taken reveal-
ing secret plots, and Montrose himself was forced to
take refuge in the Highlands. All was over in the
North. Again his Majesty, but with greater difficulty
than before, fled into Wales, and, raising fresh levies,
returned and took up his quarters at Newark, from
whence he precipitately withdrew to Oxford, hearing
that the Parliamentarians were shattering Shelford
Manor about the ears of Lord Chesterfield.
Q
While the war is yet moving darkly in the West, his
Majesty is wintering in Oxford, and opening negocia-
tions for a treaty of peace with Parliament. Had he
acted in this crisis with faith and sincerity all might yet
have been well. But even in his agony of fear the
Stuart equivocates.
1646.
FAIRFAX'S EXPEDITION INTO CORNWALL.
LORD HOPTON'S ARMY DISBANDED.
SURRENDER OF EXETER.
THE KING MAKES HIS ESCAPE IN DISGUISE.
FAIRFAX TAKES POSSESSION OF OXFORD.
TERMINATION OF HOSTILITIES.
THE SCOTS GIVE UP THE PERSON OF THE KING TO
PARLIAMENT.
1646.
THE inclemency of the season prevented Fairfax from
advancing with his usual speed. His design was to
march upon Dartmouth, the present head-quarters of
the Prince; and, to divert attention from his real pur-
pose, he sent Sir Hardress Waller with a detachment to
Bow, a feint to bewilder the Royalists at Oakhampton.
In the beginning of January we find him still at
Tiverton, occupied, amongst other matters, with the
approaching election. Parliament were issuing writs to
supply the room of members who had been formally
disabled by their adherence to the King's cause. There
was a heavy batch of vacancies occasioned in this way,
and Fairfax was using his influence to secure the return
of Sir William Selby for Tiverton.
G
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORdship,
I WRIT by the last post about the getting writs
issued for Tiverton, (the only place the General can think of),
to befriend Sir W. Selby. I have writ by this post to Sir
VOL. I.
T
274
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
T. Widdrington to that purpose. The Prince is come to
Dartmouth: hath sent to Exeter for his arms. The Cor-
nish at Totness, they come and go, so as we are uncertain of
their strength. The weather will not admit of a march,
especially with horse: when they rendezvous, we shall do
the like, or before, as intelligence is. At Dunster, Colonel
Blake's mines take no effect. The work is like to be long
there.
Your lordship's humble servant,
Tiverton, January 3rd, 1645, [N. S. 1646].
J. RUSHWORTH.
On the 8th of January, Cromwell advanced by night
to Crediton, and surprised Lord Wentworth's brigade at
Bovey Tracy; and on the 10th, Sir Thomas Fairfax
reached Ashburton, being now on the high road to
Dartmouth.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, IN QUEEN STREET.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I WRIT the last week to you of my intention to
place Colonel Thornton in Pontefract, holding myself noways
engaged to any other to favour them in that particular,
though other way I would do Major Rookby what good
office I can. Our business here (God be thanked) goes on
very prosperously. We advanced with the army into the
south side of Devonshire, where the enemy lay so secure, as
Lieutenant-General Cromwell, with some horse and two
regiments of foot marched to a town where the enemy had a
1646.]
275
THE CIVIL WAR.
guard of three regiments of horse; he was in upon them
before he was discovered; it being night, the men got away,
unless a very few; but above 400 horse and seven colours
were taken. The next day we went to their head-quarter at
Ashburton, which was gone a little before our coming thither.
We sent a party after their rear, which brought us in some
prisoners, and hastened their retreat, with much confusion,
towards Cornwall. There is so great a fear, through the
hand of God, upon them, as three of our men did chase a
hundred of them. We shall pursue (God willing) our advan-
tage so soon as this sharp season will permit. Without
prejudicing the army too much, I staid one day behind the
army, to see my wife: a little better before I left her: (whom
I thank God) I left in a good way of recovery. I shall
trouble your lordship with no more; now humbly take leave,
to rest
Your lordship's most obedient son,
Ashburton, January 10th, 1645, [N. S. 1646].
T. FAIRFAX.
The Ashburton retreat had a more important result
than is attached to it in this letter. The Royalists,
apprehending that the whole of Fairfax's army was
upon them, abandoned the siege of Plymouth, and
leaving their posts undemolished, and their ordnance
and ammunition behind, fled in confusion over the
Tamar into Cornwall.
The next letter, three days' later, is dated from
Dartmouth.
T 2
276
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THIS day intelligence is come, that the enemy hath
raised the siege at Plymouth-in haste- left behind him
seven piece of ordnance and four barrels of powder. A great
fear is upon the enemy. We are now before Dartmouth,
and purpose to attempt something this night by storm.
I am your lordship's humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Totness, January 13th, at noon, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
The weather changed, and the storming was put
off; and in the interval Fairfax dispatched orders for
Captain Batten to bring up his squadron to support the
operations from the sea. On the 18th the town was
stormed, and taken with such extraordinary rapidity
that the assailants got possession of the enemy's cannon
after the first discharge.
FOR THE RIGHT NOBLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
THE business of Dartmouth hath required much
consideration: 150 piece of ordnance in it. Captain Batten
is come in with a squadron of ships, who is to act his part
by water, while we do it by land. The sudden thaw hath a
little deferred the business; before this come to your hands,
it will over. This day the General goes to set every man
1646.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
277
his post. I hope in the Lord, we shall carry it. I was
never more assured of a place. Intelligence is come the
enemy hath quit Tavistock, and is gone into Cornwall.
shall (as soon as this business of Dartmouth is over) do more
service westward. We have good news of your Cornish part
of the army that lies to the north; have taken eighty horse,
two colonels, and thirty prisoners, and brought them in yes-
terday to Crediton: have taken, besides those, about 200
horse in several parties. Lieutenant-General Porter is come
in; very speedily your lordship shall hear further from
Your lordship's humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Totness, January 16, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
My Lord Newport is in Dartmouth, and would fain come
out. Yesterday we killed the Governor Lieutenant-Colonel
on a wager between two red coats that took aim.
Since the writing hereof, the intelligence is, the enemy
left 200 arms in Sir Francis Drake's house, and the Cornish
will not permit Goring's horse into their county; that they
intend to break through, and are gone towards Torrington.
The General hath sent horse to watch their motions, and
sent to Colonel Whaley to draw to Reading to be in readiness.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE.
MY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
let
As soon as we were masters of the town, I sent a
to your lordship in the express to your house. The
two forts are since surrendered, and Mr. Peters, this bearer,
can relate all the particulars. It is one of the greatest
278
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MEMORIALS OF
businesses the General hath yet done-to God be the glory.
I take my leave, and remain
Your lordship's most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Dartmouth, January 20th, 1645, [N. S. 646.]
This "Mr. Peters," the bearer, was the famous Hugh
Peters, who attended the army on some of these occa-
sions in a half-military, half-clerical capacity, fighting,
preaching, and carrying dispatches by turns. In some
of the Biographies he is said to have borne a Colonel's
commission, but that is not true: he officiated as chap-
lain to the Train-bands, and sometimes as secretary to
Cromwell, who made effective use of his wild eloquence
and fanatical devotion in stimulating the religious fervour
of the troops. That Peters often threw himself into the
thick of the danger may be seen from the minute eye-
witness narratives he gave to the Commons of the
sacking of Winchester and Basing House-very curious
specimens of the earnest character of the man and the
times. He was not the only priest who mixed personally
in these scenes. The Archbishop of York took an active
part before Conway, and was wounded in the neck.
Peters was more lucky, and escaped without a scratch.
It might have been better otherwise. He survived in a
whole skin till the Restoration, when he was executed
with Jones, Harrison, and the rest. Of his life and
manners we have a deplorable account from the Royalists,
who tell us that he was originally expelled from col-
lege, that he then went upon the stage, where he
1646].
THE CIVIL WAR.
279
acquired that peculiar extravagance of action and
gesticulation alluded to by Burnet who called him an
"enthusiastic buffoon," that he fled to Holland on a
charge of adultery, and was suspected of being of one
of the men in masks who executed the King. Peters
denied the charges, especially the last, which was cer-
tainly false. Whatever eccentricities or vices he
may have been guilty of, he was a conspicuous type of
Puritan frenzy, and appears to have been thoroughly
sincere in all the excesses to which it committed him.
In the following letters to Fairfax, he speaks out of the
fullness of convictions not to be lightly set aside by
modern scepticism.
TO MY TRULY HONOURABLE AND FAITHFUL GENERAL,
SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
SIR,
ONE of the greatest comforts I have had in this
world, next to the grace of God in Christ, to my poor soul,
hath been to be a member of your army, and a spectator of
His presence with you and it. What others do, I know not;
but it is my duty to return to my work, and to meet you
again; which I am bold to do with this simple present. I
know your mind, that must not, will not, be flattered; nor
am I skilful in that mystery. I have seen you upon earth,
and doubt not to meet you triumphing in heaven. I only
must crave leave to speak your own words, That your great
experiences of God's power and mercy, have made strong
obligation upon you to love Him and the saints, which I
have seen you do impartially; you have made it your
280
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MEMORIALS OF
interest, and now find you are not deceived. The God of all
your unparalleled mercy dwell in that thriving soul of yours,
strengthen you throughout to the completing of this great
work, yea,
Serus in cœlum redeas, diuque
Lætus intersis populo Britanno.
For myself (if it be worth your acceptance), I am resolved
to live and die in your and the kingdom's service; and as you
have obliged three kingdoms to you and many thousands of
saints, so none of them more to honour you than,
Sir,
Your ever faithful servant in Christ,
HUGH PETERS.
The writer of the next letter is the General Leslie
who shattered Montrose at Philiphaugh, and who after-
wards stood out so lustily for the Kirk in Scotland.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX,
GENERAL, THESE.
RIGHT HONOurable,
My best affection of love with my humblest respects
remembered. I thought it my incumbent duty to let you
have a copy of the letter sent by me unto the Governor of
Carlisle, together with the answer thereof, both of which you
will receive herein inclosed, whereby I conceive that the
town is able to hold out two months yet, if not more.
I am bold in behalf of this gentleman, the bearer hereof,
to be your humble suitor that your honour would be pleased
to be assistant unto him in taking up and getting in of some
1646.]
281
THE CIVIL WAR.
old debts and monies resting unto him within the county of
Yorkshire; as likewise that my lord would be pleased (as I
desired in my last to his lordship) to grant me a pass for
Colonel Attkins, which I did promise unto him at the sur-
render of Naward Castle. Thus hoping for a good answer
and favourable construction, I remain
Your honour's most humble servant,
DAVID LESLIE.
Daston Hall, the 17th January, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
Having secured Dartmouth, Sir Thomas Fairfax fell
back upon Exeter. Poldram Castle surrenders at last;
but floods and rains delay the larger operations. Lord
Hopton in the meanwhile has been appointed to the
command in Cornwall, superseding Goring, who has
been sent off on secret negociations to France.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
THE General's head-quarter is at Chudley; most
of his forces close before Exeter. Yesterday Poldram
Castle, that commands the river, was surrendered to Colonel
Hammond, when he was ready to storm; another out-garrison
they quit, There are good hopes in a short time to get
Exeter; the enemy in Cornwall stirs not, though Hopton is
General, and Greenvile committed to Pendennis. I have
sent to Mr. Speaker letters intercepted, but most in figures;
yet the scope of the business may be easily discerned. This
being all I have to present unto your lordship, I remain
Your lordship's most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Chudleigh, January 26th, 12 at night.
282
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I MET your letter at Tiverton, being come thither
for two or three days to see my wife, whom I found in a
very good way of recovery, (God be thanked). So soon as
she is fit for a journey, intends for London. We both
acknowledge, with humble thanks, your lordship's great
favour and care of her. I have lately summoned Exeter,
but had a modest denial: the particulars I have sent up to
the Parliament. We intend to block it up closer, and march
with the rest of the army further west. I must acknowledge
the Parliament's liberality; and humbly desire your lordship
to let me know if anything more be expected from me in
expressing it. I have writ to Mr. Whit about horses, desir-
ing two of them may be well matched. We have inter-
cepted letters coming lately out of France, from the Queen
and other, desiring the Prince may be sent thither; but the
King inclines rather to send him into Denmark. They
have little hope of forces from France. I hope in a few
days we shall be in motion again with the army. I have
sent for Major-General Skippon's regiment, from Bristol,
and the regiment from Corfe Castle. Without the addition
of those forces we shall not be able to carry on the business
of the West with that expedition we desire. So humbly
desiring your lordship's blessing, I remain
Your most obedient son,
Tiverton, Jan. 31st, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
T. FAIRFAX.
1646.]
283
THE CIVIL WAR.
1
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
Chudleigh, Feb. 7th, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
THE constant rain hath much hindered our pro-
ceedings about Exeter. Floods are great. This day a
council of war will confirm or alter former resolutions.
Speedily your lordship will hear more. I believe we shall
leave enough to do the work about Exeter, and advance to
break the enemy totally in the field. The horse that intended
East went to Dunster, whilst Colonel Cook was drawn off to
oppose the Oxford horse in Dorsetshire. Colonel Blake's
men took fifty of them, yet some relief, we conceive, they got
in; but that, as yet, is not certain. My lady is well. Very
speedily your lordship shall hear more from your
Most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
As Rushworth anticipated, it was determined to leave
a sufficient force to carry on the siege at Exeter, and to
advance with the main body of the army against Lord
Hopton, who was collecting his forces near Torrington.
Sir Hardress Waller was charged with the command at
Exeter, and Fairfax advanced towards Torrington in
person.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
I RECEIVED yesterday, a letter from Mr. Pym, a
member of the House, but now in Somersetshire, that he hath
284
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
procured my brother Selby a burgesship at Ilchester, in the
foresaid county, being effectually solicited by Mr. Pridieux
to do it; it is come very clear to him; the other burgess is Mr.
Alex. Pym. We have blocked Exeter in straiter than it was,
and with the rest of the army are upon our march towards the
enemy, which lies about Torrington, and the frontiers of
Cornwall; if we go into that county (as probably we shall),
I fear nothing but the soldiers' want of money to pay their
quarters. Good carriage towards them being the best way to
gain them, desire the Parliament would be pleased to con-
sider how to supply the army timely with money, as of great
importance to the carrying on well the affairs there. Some-
thing your lordship will hear shortly of this motion. I hope
good our trust is in God, who is a sure rock of defence in
stormy times. I shall trouble your lordship with nothing
more at this time, but humbly desiring your blessing, remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
>
Crediton, 13th February, 1645, [S. N. 1646.]
I hope my wife will be fit, so soon as the season, for her
journey up to London.
On the 16th, an engagement took place at Torring-
ton, when Lord Hopton was defeated and driven back
into Cornwall, Fairfax following with the whole of
his army.
1646.]
285
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I SHALL not need to give your lordship the parti-
culars of the good success God hath given us at Torrington,
against the Lord Hopton, for the letters to the Parliament
will fully relate it; it was as hot service as any hath been since
our coming forth; the enemy showed more resolution than
ever; I saw them after we were come into the town,-their
magazine, which lay in the church, which was almost eighty
barrels of powder, took fire, and blew up all the church;
timber, stones, and sheets of lead, showering down as hail on
all parts of the town. I believe there were 200 of the enemy
prisoners, and some of our own men blown up, and buried
in the ruins of the church. I must acknowledge God's great
mercy to me, and some others that stood where great webs of
lead fell thickest, yet, praised be God, no man hurt; only a
horse of a gentleman of the Life Guard, that stood by me,
killed. I could not but mention this as one of the strange
accidents that I have seen, and as great a providence in pre-
servation of some. Those horse are all gone into Cornwall,
whither we shall presently follow them. I shall give your
lordship a further account of things here as there is occasion,
so humbly desiring your blessing, remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Torrington, 18th February, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
Since the writing of this, I understand the man that
gave
fire to the powder, did confess that Lord Hopton did promise
him thirty pounds to do it. I sent to examine him further,
but he was senseless with the bruises he got.
286
1646.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE
PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOUrable,
YESTERDAY was the great debate at a full council
of war concerning the armies marching into Cornwall; and
it was concluded in the affirmative, nemine contradicente.
I hope it will be as happy an expedition as ever we made
yet. We leave both Exeter and Barnstable blocked up. All
the enemy's force are on the other side the river in Cornwall:
most of it twenty miles in the county. Our wounded men
recover apace. The General's greatest trouble is, how to
order the army so, as not to be harsh to the Cornish, who
were so harsh to our men formerly. Hopton hath not yet
rallied 300 foot. I humbly take my leave, and rest
Your lordship's most humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Torrington, Feb. 23rd, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
The Prince of Wales, who was sheltering in Cornwall,
now gave up the struggle in despair, and fled to Scilly.
Fresh proofs of the faithlessness of the King fell into
Fairfax's hands at this time in letters which were taken
from an Irish vessel, and which showed that while his
Majesty was urging upon Parliament a treaty, he was
privately intriguing through numerous agents for the
assistance of foreign troops and loans of money. These
frequent discoveries of royal insincerity determined
Fairfax to lose no time in parleying with Hopton. The
passes of the country were in his hands, from the north
to the south sea; his troops were already in the suburbs
1646.]
287
THE CIVIL WAR.
of Truro, where the enemy lay; but he wisely preferred
the dissolution of the Royalist army to a needless
expenditure of blood. Hopton, a gallant and honoura-
ble man, stood out as long as he could, submitting only
at the last extremity to a treaty, under the provisions
of which his 4500 mounted soldiers were disbanded
before his eyes, and 2000 stand of arms placed at the
disposal of the Parliamentary General.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
THIS is the third to your lordship since the treaty
with Hopton; it is now concluded; hostages given. To-
morrow, at eight o'clock, they begin to be disbanded. There
is no fear but conditions will be punctually observed on our
part, and no article violated. 120 musketeers, with their
colours, came in to-day. The Governor of St. Mawe's Castle,
which commands the haven of Falmouth, more than Penden-
nis doth, hath sent to surrender. The General hath sent,
this night, to possess it. God is good to us. I doubt not of
Pendennis, after a few days. I am
Your lordship's humble servant,
↓
Truro, March 13th, 11 at night, [N. S. 1646.]
J. RUSHWOrth.
The commanders on both sides (now that the treaty is
ended) supped this night with the General.
288
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MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THROUGH God's goodness, we have almost put a
period to the Western war, there remaining now no body of
an army in the field against us. Being advanced as far as
Truro, we had the enemy in an isthmus of land, where they
could not escape us. Yet, upon serious consideration, find-
ing dissolving them by treaty would be as effectual as any
other way and less hazardous, we concluded these articles
I have sent the Parliament, which I hope will be very con-
siderable to our affairs, seeing they are so totally reduced
and denuded. I hope the rest of the towns will come in in
good season. The breaking of these forces thus, we esteem
a great mercy, considering they had 4500 horse, and that we
must have been put to many straits and some hazard, if we
had fought with them. I trust God hath directed this for
the best. I have not time to enlarge myself further; so
humbly desiring your lordship's pardon and blessing, I
remain,
Your lordship's most obedient and affectionate son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Truro, March 15th, 1645, [N. S. 1646.]
The Royalists being thus broken up in Cornwall,
Fairfax returned to Exeter, which surrendered on the
9th of April. Barnstaple, to which allusion is made in
these letters, submitted three days afterwards.
1646.]
289
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE PRESENT,
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORdship,
YESTERDAY the General drew his army round
Exeter, faced it within musket shot, sent a summons; an
answer of inclination to a treaty returned. This day the
offer to treat was manifested by sending the names of
committee. Being ten in number, the General hath sent to
reduce them to six. On Friday the treaty begins. By what
I observe, a few days will bring us into Exeter, and Barn-
staple is an incident inseparable to Exeter. It yields with
Exeter; that we had acknowledged of in Cornwall, and
therefore came to Exeter first. This is all I have at present
to acquaint your lordship with. I humbly take my leave,
and remain,
Your lordship's humble servant,
Before Exeter, April 1st, 1646.
U
J. RUSHWORTH.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THIS day a treaty is begun for surrendering of
Exeter, which I hope will be concluded, and we in possession
of before you receive this; which, if it please God to effect,
we shall in a few days march the whole army eastward.
I have already sent Commissary-General Ireton, with three
regiments of horse and one of dragoons, towards Oxford, to
join with the rest there. Pendennis and the Mount will be
so easy work, as the forces we have raised in these parts will,
VOL. I.
290
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
I trust, be sufficient to carry it on.
I hear not yet of any
election to be made for burgess; but I shall leave it as a
request with the western gentlemen, that they will procure
two that shall be named places there. I desire your lord-
ship's pardon that I writ so short and so seldom; indeed my
indisposition of health is often as much the cause of it as
any business; but I desire to be thankful for the mercies
I have received, and hope the Lord will continue them to
me. I shall now trouble you no more, but shall shortly
give your lordship a fuller account, so humbly desire your
blessing.
Your lordship's most obedient son,
Cullum John, April 4th, 1646.
T. FAIRFAX.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, IN
QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THIS day the treaty is concluded, and we are prc-
sently to have the castle and forts delivered up to us, and
the town on Monday next; for performance of it we have
Colonel Coventry and Colonel Philpots, and two more as
hostages. I am going to Barnstable, which, I have good hopes,
will come in on a summons. Then the western war, I trust
in the Lord, is finished. Pendennis and the Mount, though
they yet hold out a while, can do no hurt. The other day, a
mayor, with a captain and thirty soldiers, came out of Pen-
dennis, and first sent to Colonel Hammond, who commands
our forces there, that they would deliver up the works they
were in unto him, if he would send some men to possess it;
but not willing to trust them, they only came away them-
1646.]
291
THE CIVIL WAR.
selves. Colonel Hammond sent a party of horse to Market
Jew, a town near the Mount, who happily surprised sixty
soldiers, being almost all they had in the castle, for they
were not above one hundred.
I have writ to the Parliament, to desire the government of
Exeter may be conferred on Colonel Hammond, who is a very
faithful and valliant gentleman; and that which will most
advantage the Parliament affairs is, that he will be strict in
discipline, and ready to do right to the country. A more
particular account will be sent very speedily to the House of
the surrender of Exeter; and, I hope, Barnstable too. I hope,
before the last of this month, we shall be near Oxford. I
shall now take leave to desire your prayers, and rest
Your most obedient son,
Tiverton, April 9th, 1646.
FOR THE HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
T. FAIRFAX.
Exeter, April 16th, 1646.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
MONDAY, (according to articles), Sir Jo. Berkley
marched out; and the General entered Exeter, Tuesday.
The town and castle of Barnstable were punctually sur-
rendered, according to articles. To-morrow, the General
marches.
Your lordship's humble servant,
J. RUSHWORTH.
Donnington Castle, hallowed in earlier times as the
residence of Spenser, and much talked about in these
latter days as the stumbling-point which brought
U 2
292
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
reluctant Manchester into immediate collision with
Cromwell, had surrendered on the 1st, so that there
being no new castles or towns to sack in this part of
the country, the victorious general directed his steps
to Oxford; from whence we have some letters, in one
of which Sir Thomas Fairfax gives the substance of
the King's last communication to Parliament; and
in another, notwithstanding his experience of royal
duplicity, shows a disposition to think these people
sincere at last!
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
THERE is little news. As yet, we are making
bridges and entrenching. The General is very well, after a
fit of the stone. There is a quarter reserved for your lord-
ship and Sir Thomas Widdrington, at Garsington. I humbly
take my leave, and remain
Your lordship's humble servant,
Leaguer before Oxford, May 5th, 1646.
SIR,
J. RUSHWORTH.
FOR THE LORD FAIRFAX, OR SIR THOMAS WIDDRINGTON.
In answer to the general summons there was returned
from Sir Tho. Glenham:
I have received your letter summoning me to
render this city, which was given me in trust for his Majesty's
1646.]
293
THE CIVIL WAR.
use. But in respect there are many persons of great
eminence, I must desire you to receive for answer a request
that you will be pleased to send a safe conduct for Sir Jo.
Monson and Mr. Philip Warwick to repair unto you, at
such a time and place as you shall appoint, by whom you
shall understand what for the present is desired. By this
answer, and some other circumstances I could tell you, it is
conceived they are determined to treat. This is all at
present.
May 11th, eleven o'clock at night.
I received your letter by Mr. Curtis, since the sealing
hereof.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
AT BATH.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
I HAVE nothing to inform you from hence, we
being but in preparation either for treating or working.
I hear the substance of his Majesty's letter was this :-That
he was sorry so much blood was shed by these wars, which
he imputed to his ill counsel that led him to these ill actions;
that if the Parliament would send the propositions entered
on at Uxbridge, he will sign them; if not, to send such
propositions as are ready, and he will sign them, and the rest
as they shall offer them to him. For Religion, he desires it
may be settled with all convenient speed; and for his person,
that both Houses would dispose of him as may be most for
his honour and for the honour of both Houses; and for
Oxford, he had sent a warrant enclosed to the governor
294
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
thereof, for to surrender upon honourable terms. This is
all I have to present your lordship with; but the humble
duty of,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
May 26th, 1646.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
AT BATH.
T. FAIRFAX.
June 13th, 1646.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
OUR treaty doth still continue. All things are
agreed on concerning the soldiers, and they are satisfied
with it. The article that took up the greatest debate was
about compositions. We have
We have accepted of two years'
revenue; so that is concluded to. We think Monday will
conclude all the rest. I think they do really desire to
conclude with us. I thank your lordship for your care of
me; but I doubt I shall not have time enough, so long as I
am in this employment, to follow such a course as will help
me. I believe Rushforth will give your lordship a further
account of things from London. My wife presents her
humble service and duty to your lordship; she is not quite
resolved for a journey to Bath. I have nothing more to
trouble your lordship with at this time: desiring your
blessing, remain,
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
On the same day, Rushworth writes about the
London news. He has literally nothing to relate,
1646.]
295
THE CIVIL WAR.
except that Hudson is taken in Kent. A dead lull has
set in everywhere; and the War Secretary, "instead
of mounting barbéd steeds," is house-agenting for his
lordship.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX
AT BATH.-[HASTE.]
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
I AM loth to omit any opportunity of giving your
lordship notice of affairs here. The treaty is in a manner
concluded, for all matters of difficulty are over. The point of
sequestration is reconciled; they agree to pay two years
revenue. Hudson, that went away with the king, is taken
in Kent. He confesses freely, of which your lordship will
hear more shortly. The House of Commons is preparing a
letter to the Parliament of Scotland; setting forth our
jealousy of their army, and that to march home speedily, and
deliver our garrisons, will be a means to set them right in
our opinion. There is little news else: all are well here:
though they be divided at London, we are united in the army.
The French ambassador was this day to be heard in the House
of Commons. The general has written again to the House
about the disbanding of Major-General Massey's horse; there
can none pass them; the messengers I send to your lordship
I pay here out of the public stock, so they ought to receive
nothing from your lordship. There is a house at Charing
Cross, next door to my Lady Fairfax's, to be let about a
month hence. It is, as I hear, about forty pounds a-year;
hath a back door into Spring Garden, and a most convenient
296
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
June 13th, 1646.
house; most of the goods in it are to be sold. I desire your
lordship's present answer herein.
J. R.
Ten o'clock at night, your company are newly come in, and
say at next meeting all will be finished. About Thursday or
Friday they will march out of Oxford.
A twelvemonth had elapsed since the new army had
taken the field. A year of miracles! In the interval,
the King's power had crumbled into dust. Fairfax had
swept down his garrisons, and driven some of his
choicest commanders, with the Prince of Wales at their
head, out of the kingdom. The sound of the recruiting
fife was heard no more in Wales; Scotland had expelled
Montrose, and hanged such of his powerful friends as
could be caught; the South and the West were restored
to the whistling plough and the hum of business; a
castle or two, here and there, held out, merely waiting
the summons to surrender; and Oxford, the last refuge,
after some formal coquetry, to keep up appearances
with baffled allies abroad, submitted on the 20th June
-the King having got off, in the disguise of a footman,
upon the first notice of Fairfax's approach. The man-
ner of his flight, with Dr. Hudson and Mr. Ashburnham,
following the latter as a servant, with a cloak-bag,
behind him; his adventure with a barber, who found
much fault with the style of his hair, which had been
villanously cut for the masquerade of his new character ;
1646.]
297
THE CIVIL WAR.
his fright at St. Albans, when a drunken man galloped
violently at him; and his miscalculation in seeking
safety amongst the Scotch at Newark, are historical
incidents familiar to the world.
Upon the surrender of Oxford, the two Princes,
Rupert and Maurice, now ready enough to get away
upon any terms, left the kingdom to join their cousin
in France. Banbury Castle, and the towns of Walling-
ford and Worcester, after some little bluster, capitulated
without firing a shot; and Fairfax, relieved for a season
from his toils, went to Bath to recruit his shattered
health.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER,
THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
It is so long since I writ, as I have need of your
lordship's pardon. By this you will understand that Walling-
ford will be delivered up to us on Wednesday next. The
particulars I have sent to the House. The Lord still follows
us with His mercies. Oh, that we could be truly thankful to
Him for them! Finding myself at some leisure, I thought it
the fittest time for Bath. I did not see my coming to
London could be any way serviceable, nor my stay about
Oxford to much purpose, which made me choose that course,
having such need of help for my health. I shall receive any
advice from your lordship very thankfully, either concerning
the public or myself in particular; and in the meantime I
shall endeavour to keep together, and in good order, the
298
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MEMORIALS OF
army, and shall wait on the Lord, to see what He shall do
for us.
My wife presents her duty to your lordship. She
hath been very ill in her head. I hope we shall both have
some benefit of Bath.
I desire your lordship to excuse me this brevity. I shall
add more as there is occasion. So, desiring your blessing,
remain
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Forest Hill, July 23rd, 1646.
While the General is indulging in a short respite at
Bath, we will make room for a few miscellaneous letters
of a personal and domestic kind which belong to this
period.
The first is from Sir George Wentworth, who had
been member for Pontefract, but was "disabled," for
his adherence to the King. Two months from the 6th
May were allowed for compositions under the treaty of
Newark, and Wentworth, who appears to have been
comprised in the articles, offers one of his estates for
sale to Lord Fairfax, to make up the amount.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX
AT BATH, THESE.
MY LORD,
I AM here at London prosecuting my composition
according to the articles of Newark. I find it likely to fall
extremely heavy on me, and that I might be forced to sell
land to make satisfaction. Ouston, my lord, was yours, and
1646.]
299
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the likeliest to raise money of anything I have, and, therefore,
my lord, if you please to buy it, it shall be yours before any
other, and cheaper; and I hope your lordship will be pleased
to think of it, and to give me an answer hereto when you
return to this town; I am now for Yorkshire, having done
here what I can until the Yorkshire Committee make their
certificate, and so I rest,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
GEORGE WENTWORTH.
Sunday, June 16th, 1646.
Here are a couple of letters which exhibit, under
different aspects, some of the troubles of the time: the
first from a country gentleman who has endeavoured to
keep clear of both sides, and is indebted for his security
to Lord Fairfax; the second from one who remains in
exile for the sake of peace and safety.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY MUCH HONOURED LORD,
THE LORD FAIRFAX, THESE PRESENT.
MY NOBLE LORD,
I was very joyful to hear by Sir John Paulett of
your lordship's health and well-being, especially that you were
pleased to call to memory our ancient acquaintance, with
your noble desire to afford me your comfort in these my
untimely sufferances; whose affections, as you may please
to believe, never swayed me further than became an obedient
servant, only careful of my country's happiness, and yet
fearful to side with either party, as not able to judge of
so transcendent a difference, but sorrowing in the highest
degrec to find such a separation threatening so much the
300
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
power of all; which God, I hope, hath timely prevented,
by guiding his Majesty to the happy advice of his greatest
councils, whose wisdoms (under God) is only able to
re-establish some part of the happiness we once enjoyed,
which God in mercy grant; that I may have the happiness
to attend your lordship, solely to give you account how I
have passed my time in these sad seasons, and to tell that
there is nothing in my power that is not your lordship's to
dispose of, in that I am not only a debtor to your lordship
for your care to be helpful to me, but to your thrice-
honoured son, for his ready acceptation of my submission,
and favourable care I should receive no wrong while he
stayed in these parts; and (as I have heard) his will taking
what hath since been offered me: these are the cords that tie
me to assure your lordship I shall ever be,
My Lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
Ashton, June 1st, 1646.
A
FOR THE LORD BELLASISE, PRESENT THESE.
YOUR letter I have received by Sir Dudley Wyatt,
and I have often writ to you, but I fear you have not
received them. Do not come over to me, for it is to no pur-
pose, and you serve a good master, and you must not be
absent; but follow your resolutions, I like them exceedingly.
Preserve your life: you have bought your experience. I
keep health, but no wealth, for I seldom hear from home
yet I will follow your advice, and remain here till I hear
better times. Farewell, and write often to me, if you can
send safely.
F.
;
From Pickpans, beside Paris, at Dr. Kerton's.
From Mr. Bentley's Collection.
F. GORGES.*
1646.]
301
THE CIVIL WAR.
We have next a batch of letters from Mr. Charles
Fairfax, relating partly to public matters, but chiefly to
some professional business in which he was engaged
for the Ladies Cork and Pembroke; his daughter's
marriage with Mr. Jennings; and various appointments
he received through the favour of his brother. Roger
Dodsworth, whose name occurs in the first letter, was
the antiquary and author of the "Monasticon." To Sir
Thomas Fairfax we are indebted for the preservation
of Dodsworth's MSS. in the Bodleian Library.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, THESE PRESENT.
MY MOST HONOURABLE GOOD LORD,
You were pleased to deliver my letter to my Lady
Pembroke. I am now to present my humble request to you
to do the like to my lord, and to assure them both that it
shall be my constant endeavour to improve my utmost ability
to do them service. It is their pleasure to join Roger Dods-
worth with me in the perusal and sorting their evidences in
the castle, which I hope we shall do to my lady's content-
ment. You know his ability and approved experience in
matters of antiquity, records, and evidences-the prime man
of the kingdom in that course of practice-so that if my
honourable lord and good lady be unprovided of a solicitor
(as your lordship sees occasion) he may be recommended
with credit and thanks: your lordship's continuance of your
care and trouble in my behalf is humbly acknowledged as a
very special favour.
302
[]646.
MEMORIALS OF
If your Parliamentary employment be not inconsistent
with your military, that noble gentleman may have it with-
out any other intimation than that he will not reject the
votes and affections of his country who most earnestly desire
it, if no advantage may be taken upon the Self-denying
Ordinance to oust him of his commands (a thing much feared)
from two base sorts of people that have instigations from
envy and hatred, which though they be clear contrary in
their grounds the one to the other, yet, like Samson's foxes,
they hang by the tails and easily agree in aliquo tercio.
The western gentleman he has been thoroughly sifted,
and not to be suspected, nor need we fear any kind of com-
petitor, nor indeed suspect that any one will appear. We
should think it much happiness to see you in the county;
your presence would much qualify the insufferable extrava-
gances of the unruly soldiery. Very good orders are lately
issued from the several committees, both of the war and
joint Rydings. I have dispersed divers of them amongst
your tenants in the Ainsty, who have deeply smarted, as
likewise to others of them in other parts of the country.
My good lord, I am your honour's
In all duty and affection,
CHARLES FAIRFAX.
York, this 17th of January, 1645, [N. S. 1646].
Your lordship may please to know my Lady Pembroke's
pleasure when Mr. Dodsworth and I shall repair to the
castle, for there is no admittance to the evidences till there
be a meeting of persons authorised by a joint assignation of
both the ladies.
I beseech your lordship spare the imparting of this post-
script, for I am now informed we may have the liberty, and
perhaps this scruple may not be well taken.
1646.]
303
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MY VERY GOOD LORD,
I HAVE now received the grant from your lordship for
the under-stewardship of Pontefract, for which I most humbly
thank you; and the next week, when the sessions are ended,
having already dispatched the leet at Skipton, I shall, God
willing, attend those courts, and whatever be the profits, for
of late years seventeen or eighteen copy-hold manors are
infranchised; one only remaining, Tanshall, the least within
all that honour. This only for your lordship's information,
and not to undervalue the gift, for I prefer it before a place
of more benefit, because I have your lordship my chief.
Having now returned my humble thanks, I am earnestly
to implore your lordship's help to the country. I did formerly
remonstrate the sad condition of the West Riding, the visita-
tion having been for a long time together in fourscore towns
within one, over or under. Wakefield and other places con-
tinue infected, and some parts of Leeds parish broken out
again, besides divers other towns; and this summer, it is
feared, will be exceedingly grievous. The Advice of the
London Physicians, in a printed book, hath been of excellent
use, but there not being any directions at all concerning
cleansing, we are in a little time after in as ill a condition;
for if we had any of skill to be got that will undertake it, as
some there are, but their rates are so high and the country so
poor, they are not able to pay them. Your lordship has the
hearts and prayers of that people, and you have neither
spared purse nor pains to do them good. Think not slightly,
I beseech you, of this serious request. Be pleased my good
lord, that divers of the physicians be consulted with for the
304
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
best and cheapest means for cleansing the houses, furniture,
and stuff. Their results will be useful for the whole kingdom,
and God knows how soon this overflowing scourge may pass
further. Your lordship knows their trading consists much in
wool, and therefore there would be particular directions how
to use it in the fleece, yarn, cloth, &c.; how their utensils of
wood-bedsticks, tables, stools, gists, &c.; how their metals, pots,
pewter, leads, &c.; how their walls, floors, roofs, &c.; beds, linen,
&c. It will be a most acceptable present to the country, and the
sooner the better. Leeds desires a government, such as they
had before these times of distraction, that they be not
enforced to seek help at distance; and for obtaining their
charter, are most humble suitors to your lordship and good
Sir Thomas Widdrington.
For the free school at Ottley it seems by Mr. Fawkes, his
inquiry, that for the forty mark rent reserved to the master
and usher, (it is upon a lease for 1000 years of lands in
Camoth, with clause of re-entry,) there is not above sixty
acres of land, whereof twenty are barren; they lie in the
North Riding, where the Scots have so disabled them that
for two years' arrears not above twenty can be gotten; nor
above that sum for the next year's rent both to the master
and usher, the tenant discharging all lays and assessments.
The school is repairing, and we will hope to have your lord-
ship down before they make choice of a master.
And now, according to your commands, I shall give your
lordship a short account of my service to my Lord and
Lady Pembroke. For seven weeks' time I was never absent
from Skipton, but only one night that I went to take
view of my family. Such was the multiplicity of my troubles
by country people in this want of justices that I had few
hours my own; therefore a very ill servant, not worthy my
1646.]
305
THE CIVIL WAR.
diet, though we had but one meal a day; yet what I could
not do on the day I sometimes perfect out with the night.
I stayed the longer in expectation of the commissioners; and
when they come, if I be required, shall not be wanting with
my best assistance; but I desire to know my work, and see
my warrant. If the way be shown me, I shall like it the
better, but upon such emergent occasions as necessarily
require a present dispatch, I shall carefully observe my first
commission, (their honour and profit). For the business of
Carleton, that your lordship writes of, you may please to
take this information; and it will not be amiss to make a
digression. In the miserable want of a minister at Skipton,
(Lord make us most sensible of our greatest wants), I had
often intreated Mr. Price of Carleton (the best in those parts)
to supply the cure. That lordship was my Lord George's, but
within the award. I writ to my lady for a particular of
such lands of the Lady Cork's as we must not meddle with,
and for a copy of the award; and had this answer, that her
ladyship never consented unto it, nor will be bound by it,
but is now to demand her whole inheritance as rightful heir
to her father, both by the laws of God and the kingdom. I
thought this a sufficient warrant to restrain the workmen
from felling more trees, having made great destruction, yet
allowed them to take such small pieces as were in danger of
stealing. This was justifiable if it had been her own; for
my lord, her husband, being a delinquent, I (as one of the
committee) had reason to do it for the benefit of the public,
for I do not suppose that a composition for one year will
enable a delinquent to destroy all his woods. And for an
entry they do me injury to make me so busy; for without
special order (where a little delay can bring no prejudice) I
am exceeding tender of giving offence. For the other part
VOL. I.
X
306
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
of my charge, the denial of an interview to any of her sub-
stitutes in perusal of the evidences, I confess it to be true
till I have directions from my lady; nor can our sole inter-
medling be just cause of offence when she has had so free a
liberty without any one in the world on my lady's part to
see a fair carriage: our credits and reputations are as dear as
theirs; and I neither have nor will do anything that I will
not justify upon oath to be just and honest to the best of my
knowledge.
Menston, this 8th of April, 1646.
I know not how Mr. Robert Christopher may represent
my carriage; but if his relations to your lordship have the
lenity of his intelligences to my Lady Cork, they will do me
good that they make you merry. In one of his letters (which
Mr. Thompson showed me) he wrote to this effect, that your
lordship was to come down from London to sort evidences at
Skipton Castle with Sir Thomas Strickland. And whereas
he tells you that my Lady Pembroke is contented to stand
to the award, it is clearly otherwise, as appears by her vehe-
ment protestations against it in very many letters to me; yet
as a most noble lady, will she deal honourably with such per-
sons whose estates depend upon it, if they have the good
manners to acknowledge it her bounty. Your lordship must
pardon me many faults, this tedious relation being one of the
least.
Be pleased to remember me to all my good friends.
Your lordship's affectionate brother,
And most humble servant,
P
C. FAIRFAX.
1646.]
307
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, THESE PRESENT.
MY MOST HONOURABLE GOOD LORD,
THREE letters I have received from your lordship,
by the three last posts, and for each of them return thrice
humble thanks. Your lordship's seasonable advice concern-
ing my carriage in this tickle employment is exceeding
weighty. I cannot attain the happiness to be a repairer of
the breach, yet hope it shall never be objected against me
with any coleur of truth, that I make any gap either to let
in charge or debate betwixt any at all, much less between
persons of honour and in so near relation. I have often
begged of my Lady Pembroke to receive her commands
concerning the trunk of Evidences, selected out of both
studies, by the Lady Cork, with prelude of a peculiar inter-
est, though upon the view I persuade myself there are many
in which my lady is at least equally concerned, if not
entirely. A letter, it seems, was sent to that purpose, (as is
intimated unto me by the last from my lady), but it is not
received, so that I want my instructions; yet my lady writes
to the Countess of Cork, (which I am now to deliver), that
she has written to me about it, and makes no doubt but
I shall give her good satisfaction. Thus your lordship sees
what great straits I am put to, and how it cannot be other-
wise conceived than that I am the ill instrument of their
unhappy differences betwixt the ladies. I should have writ
to my Lady Pembroke by this post, but am here enforced to
break off, or lose my opportunity, and with thanks do present
myself
Your lordship's most humble servant,
York, April 18th, 1646.
C. FAIRFAX.
x 2
308
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MEMORIALS OF
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE, QUEEN STREET, WEST-
MINSTER, PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOUrable,
I DID, in a late letter to my sister Constable, acquaint
her with an overture of marriage from Mr. Peter Jennings,
in behalf of his grandchild with my daughter Nell. What
was then mere doubtful in the reality of his intentions, (I
only taking my intelligence from others), is now well and
fully cleared by his own expressions, that the want of portion
must make no breach. He is very shortly for London, to
pay in his compensation, being one of the most innocent
delinquents in all the country, for that little he did for the
enemy's party was extorted from him by threats and impri-
sonment, the best part of his estate laid under the power of
that garrison of Skippon, and himself likewise in near a tie
to the late Earl of Cumberland. I shall humbly beg from
your lordship your fair respects towards him if he come to
attend you, and your acknowledgment of her in so near a
relation. Your lordship's bounty to divers of her brothers
will clear the suspicion of any design upon you, for all that
is expected is that which is left her, secured out of Menston;
for the interest whereof I shall give her security, if it be
required, until the sum be payable, being Michaelmas three
years. The lands engaged are better worth than forty merks
per annum. So I fear no danger of any failure of payment.
The young gentleman has a good report, and a general
testimony to be of a sweet disposition. A Cambridge man of
about nineteen years of age, that never contributed any fuel
to these flaws. I cannot but acknowledge a good providence
in it, that it should seem of their seeking; for being so far
1646.]
309
THE CIVIL WAR.
above my hopes in respect of the state, I should never
have attempted it. The sum is now upon composition: his
only offence was acting as a sub-committee in the Lord
Newcastle's time for regulating of assessments and allowing
of billet for the ease of the country. His father paid 9007.,
and I fear they will have 1007. from him for his wife's land,
being 401. per annum. A good word from your lordship may
very much avail him.
York, July 24th, 1646.
My brother Wentworth is very diligent in his business, to
speed his work, but fears the danger of the last ordinance, that
requires it before August; demands your lordship's help that
he be at no prejudice. For your lordship's many remem-
brances in Mr. Clapham's letters, accept the humhle thanks of
Your lordship's humble servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE LORD
FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, WESTMINSTER,
THESE PRESENT.
MY MOST HONOURED GOOD LORD,
Of all the infirmities your lordship knows by me,
that of unthankfulness is without my charge. Every letter
your lordship either writes to myself or friends in these parts
gives me new occasion to tell your lordship I want words to
express, no heart to resent your favours. You are a father
indeed, and that is nature which will do much in this work,
but it has a transcendancy and elevation above such a
meridian. Mr. Jennings with his grandchild are now shortly
for their journey. If at the report upon return of his moneys
310
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MEMORIALS OF
14th August, 1646.
(being a very great sum for so small a delinquency as can be
objected against him), there may be any return of some part
of his composition, or any ease in his son's, being only a regu-
lator of assessments in my Lord of Newcastle's time, I
should cast this into the deck as a favour to myself, being in
this treaty, the reality whereof I cannot suspect. I humbly
thank your lordship for your last bounty to Tom, which the
next day I received I returned unto him by the help of Mr.
Farrand. I beseech your lordship's excuse the post-haste of
Your most obliged brother and servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX.
MY VERY GOOD LORD,
I HUMBLY thank your lordship for the good advice
and countenance in this great business that concerns my
daughter. Delays are dangerous; I could wish it were
hastened with most conveniency. The grandfather is aged
and very infirm. Of his reality I am most of all confident.
His other friends here are far more dilatory, which occasions
some jealousy. Your lordship has both a great deal of affec-
tion and wisdom to carry on the work; and to God's blessing
and the marriage of such worthy good friends, I humbly
recommend the increase and issue, as He in mercy shall dis-
pose it. I have to beg your lordship's directions to Mr.
Price, minister at Carleton in Craven, how he may steer his
course for reparation of his losses and augmentation of
means. A constant preacher and affectionate to the Parlia-
ment, which occasions his sufferings from the garrison of
1646.]
311
THE CIVIL WAR.
Skipton, of which, if your lordship had time, he could make
a woful relation. My good lord, I am in all relations and
obligations, your lordship's
Most affectionate and most humble servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
York, this 29th August, 1646.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE LORD
FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, PRESENT.
MY MOST HONOURABLE GOOD Lord,
I PRESENT my humble thanks to your lordship for
my children and the addition to my livelihood in the late
stewardships you are pleased to confer upon me, viz. Rippon,
Cawood, and Ottley; some claims there are to both the
former (by the committee's order, which
which was but pro
tempore), to which your lordship's letter will be fully satis-
factory. This inclosed I received from Sir Robert Barwick,
who is much displeased that he should be outed of the
stewardship of St. Mary's. Your lordship had no notice
how he was interested, so that your recommendation of the
other gentleman cannot be ill taken. I shall desire nothing
in his behalf which your lordship shall not think fitting, but
could earnestly wish that some intimation were given him
that your lordship knew not that he did execute the place.
I have not heard from Mr. Jennings since his return into
the country, but hear he will shortly make a journey into
Craven, where I think I shall see him, and observe your
commands. And for all your affectionate endeavours to do
312
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MEMORIALS OF
us good, I shall, as most really engaged, most cheerfully
subscribe myself,
Menston, 10th October, 1646.
My lord,
Your honour's most faithful servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
SIR,
I beseech your lordship that my best services may be pre-
sented to all my good friends.
TO MY ASSURED FRIEND, MR. CHARLES FAIRFAX, AT HIS
HOUSE AT MENSTON IN YORKSHIRE, THIS.
THIS day I received your letter of the 29th of the
last month, wherein you tell me that Mr. Waterton hath at
length finished the drawings of the landscapes of Shipton
Castle and of Bardon Tower; but I have not received either
of those landscapes, in which I pray you earnestly to take
some care in searching diligently what is become of them,
that so I may have them safely delivered to me, which,
when it is done, I will send the gentleman (Mr. Waterton)
whatsoever you shall think fit, and I pray you in your next
letter write me word what you think is fit for me to send
him. I will do my good will to your eldest daughter might
do her any good, or to any of your other children, for I
acknowledge myself much obliged to you; which I will study
to requite; and so I rest,
Your assured true friend,
Bau Castle, November 3rd, 1646.
ANNE PEMEROKE.
1646.]'
313
THE CIVIL WAR.
Mr. Benjamin Kane came hither to me and Isabella,* the
26th day of the last month, but brought no money out of
Carnan to us, as I imagine you know before-hand. When
I had nearly done writing of this letter, so far as this, did
I now receive the survey of Shipton and Bardon Tower, for
which I pray you give Mr. Waterton what you think fit,
and write me word what you have given him, and I will send
it you again.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE LORD
FAIRFAX, IN KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN, PRESENT.
*
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
In this general letter now directed to your lordship
from the joint committee, some (upon pretence that it would
be a trouble to your lordship) pitched upon another, but
being ill taken by others that any should be thought more
concerned in receiving our addresses, (for recommendation
to the Parliament than yourself, in whom the country has a
special interest by their own elections), it was thereupon
voted to sue to your lordship, and we doubt not to hear from
you as effectually as from those that would ingratiate them-
selves with the county for such good offices. I humbly
thank your lordship for the stewardship of the courts at
Ripon, and do wonder that Mr. Armitage should conceive
it a disparagement to be ousted when he was only put in
pro tempore by the committee, there being then no High
Steward, who, every man knows, must appoint his Sub-
stitute. There are three several officers; the first is Senes-
callus Domini, which is your lordship-this, by patent, was
granted by Law, Archbishop of York, unto Richard Duke of
Lady Isabella Sackville, her daughter, by the Earl of Dorset.
.
•
314
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
Gloucester, (together with bow-bearership), for life, anno
1411. The next is Subsenescallus, sive Senesse Curiar., which
I now hold by your lordship's gift; and the last is Clericus
Curie, always a servant to the substeward, but never any
office; and hence ariseth all the benefit, and a great benefit
it was to Mr. Winill that last had it.
I beseech your lordship be pleased as Custos Rotulorum of
the West-riding to regulate the fees both for Clerk of the
Peace and Justices' Clerk, which are shamefully extravagant;
it will be very much for your lordship's honour, and a most
acceptable service to all the country that groan under
oppressions, and a rule must help us. God reward your love
both to me and mine. I am,
My lord,
Your honour's most humble servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
York, November 13th, 1646.
I desire to know of your lordship whether it will not be an
offence if Mr. Jennings (who was an easy delinquent, but
has now compounded,) do sometimes supply my place at
Ripon, if all things go well in the other motion, as I still
hope they will.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD THE
LORD FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN COVENT GARDEN, PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOUrable,
YOUR lordship's suspicion of the young man's
affections, I fear has its ground; for it is supposed he may
have some thoughts towards Sir Thomas Harrison's daughter.
She wants no solicitors to further the motion, if it be so; but
jealousy is an unequal judge, and I hope better: a little time
1646.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
315
will now discover it. I am very confident it is without the
grandfather's privity, for he is unquestionably real and for-
ward for his marriage. I was bold to draw on the father, to
make a promise of the clerkship of the courts at Ripon, (your
lordship's good gift,) and if it take effect, shall beg your con-
firmation of it to the grandchild, reserving to myself the
attendants and service, which, if I had hopes of a longer life
(there being now small cause to expect it in regard of growing
infirmities), I should think happily bestowed upon so good an
occasion. My wife and I present our humble thanks for
your great charge with Tom, and your noble intentions for
Will's preferment signified unto us by your lordship's last
letter. She humbly resigns to your lordship's good pleasure
her dearest darling. I know, my lord, you are not unmindful
of our poor church of Ottley, to procure a certain endowment
to it, as likewise to Denton and Baildon parochial chaptries.
This day died Mr. Procter; and Nicholas Lindley about
a fortnight ago. I wish your lordship would think of the
seigniority of Ottley, lest some (least suspected) prove too
unable in the business. My humble service to your good
lady from your lordship's servant,
Menston, December 16th, 1646.
C. FAIRFAX.
Sir Thomas Fairfax was not permitted to enjoy much
repose at Bath. Ragland Castle, in South Wales, still
held out; and the old Marquis of Worcester, whose
house it was, and who had expended in the Royal cause
the prodigious sum of 20,000l., which he feared he
should never get back again, was reluctant to give up
his "poor cottage," without having some previous com-
316
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
munication with his master, the fugitive King. His
20,000%. troubled him much; and as Colonel Morgan,
who was conducting the siege, found it impossible to
reason with him, and was really unwilling to ruin him,
Sir Thomas Fairfax went down in person to bring the
affair to a conclusion.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
IN QUEEN STREET, LONDON.
MY LORD,
I was sorry I could not more fully understand your
lordship's mind, by the messenger you had committed it to;
for I should be exceeding glad to receive often such light
and help as I might have from your lordship in this trouble-
some condition I am in; but I trust the Lord will make it
some ways comfortable to me, if I have no end to myself in
it; nor do I see yet the army hath any, but principally seeks
to do that which is for the honour of God, and the good of
the kingdom. I am now before Ragland. It is very strong,
well manned, and victualled. I took advantage of their
inclination to treat. I have offered the soldiers honourable
conditions, and that the Earl should remain quiet in his
house till the Parliament be pleased to dispose otherwise
of him. I durst not offer anything more to one that is so
obnoxious to them; but I doubt if there be nothing more
done for him, we shall expect little good from this way; and
the country is very fearful of a long siege; earnestly desiring
the Earl might have leave to go beyond sea, so they might be
freed of this garrison. And if the Parliament would consider
what it is to engage so much of their army here, and how
1646.]
317
THE CIVIL WAR.
disaffected these parts are, so long as this place is untaken,
they would find it not only to be a singular benefit for
Wales, but much good to the affairs of the whole kingdom.
Though they gave something that might encourage my lord
of Worcester to surrender, I could not be satisfied till I had
discharged my thought, though I cannot act in that way
which I think will be a more considerable good for the public
affairs. After I have settled some things here, I intend
(God willing) to return again to Bath, having found already
some good by it. I shall trouble your lordship no more
now, but remain
Your lordship's most obedient son,
Ragland, August 10th, 1646.
T. FAIRFAX.
In a week from the date of this letter, Fairfax
entered the castle, which the poor old Marquis was at
last induced to surrender, dined with the Committee at
Chepstow, and returned to his quiet quarters at Bath.
With the exception of a few places in the North,
which were yet in the possession of the Scotch, the
whole country was now in the hands of Parliament.
Early in September, Fairfax returned to the army, in
the neighbourhood of Oxford.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDship,
I AM returned from Bath, I hope with some
benefit. I thought it would be more fit for me to return to
my quarters near Oxford, than to come yet to London. I
hope we shall now settle the army so as there shall be fewer
318
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
complaints. I hear very little of the foot; the horse hath
been less payed, but no less restrained from injuries; I shall
desire to prevent them all I can. Rushworth will acquaint
your lordship with our condition here, so as I shall not
trouble your lordship further. I have sent Sharp to take an
account of such things as are in the house in Queen Street.
My wife doth intend to be there the next week herself. I
shall desire your lordship to make use still of that house, if
you think fit; so humbly desiring your lordship's blessing, I
remain,
Your lordship most obedient son,
THOMAS FAIRFAX.
Forest Hill, 17th September, 1646.
WESTMINSTER.
}
The following letter from Mr. Charles Fairfax, refers
to a contested election which had just terminated
between Mr. David Copley and Mr. White, for Ponte-
fract. Mr. White was nominated upon the interest of
Sir Thomas Fairfax, who shows himself a practical
reformer in the matter of purity of election.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET,
MY MOST HONOURED GOOD LORD,
In this business of election we found on Mr. Lionel
Copley's part very much of the lion's skin, but more of the
fox's tail; he has not been wanting in a bountiful entertain-
ment, in courting the burgers both with wine and venison
by himself and his agents giving all assurance of a real
;
1646.]
319
THE CIVIL WAR.
accomplishment of what they desired; possessing them all
in his wonted confidence, that no man living was better
acquainted with the mysteries of Parliament than he himself,
that would be their incessant solicitor. We came upon a
disadvantage which wanted no pressing by him and his
coadjutors, which could not be so ill on Mr. White's part as
they did vehemently enforce it, and most of the townsmen,
too apt to believe it, but his letters of excuse and future dili-
gence will repair that error, which some peevishly affected
would have to reflect upon your lordship, who recommended
him. Indeed I am confident they made it much worse to
gain a party; I am very glad this was no cause of offence on
my nephew's part, who carried on the business in a discreet
moderation, without threat or promise, or any entertainment
until the election was past, and then he spared no cost, nor
wanted other expressions to give a real testimony of his
utmost desires to do them service. Colonel Overton has
wanted neither affection nor wisdom, nor given any occasion
whereat they can quarrel. He that so cavilled at my nephew
Fairfax, his letters procured another in his own behalf from
General Poyntz, to the mayor and burgers, which he only
caused to be read, but not delivered, suspecting the effect
and the governor's diligence; he seconds this project, and a
message is sent from the general to Colonel Overton, to come
instantly to York, but he deferred it. I shall not trouble your
lordship with any other particulars in this business, only
must present my most humble thanks to your good lordship
for the variety of your favours to my children, and to
Your lordship's most humble servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
25th of September, 1646.
•
320
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
A "piping time of peace," brief and uneasy, but the
more eagerly embraced, perhaps, for that very reason,
had now set in everywhere; and in this interval,
snatching what contentment he might out of such
circumstances, Lord Fairfax takes a second wife to
manage his house and mend his estate. His lordship
announces the happy event in a letter to his brother,
the retired clergyman, at Bolton Percy; which is fol-
lowed by a letter of congratulation from his brother,
the antiquary.
FOR MR. HENRY FAIRFAX, AT BOLTON.
C
GOOD BROTHER,
I SUPPOSE before this the news of my marriage will
be come into the country, and variously reported, according
to the intelligence of the messenger, or his affection to me.
My solitary condition and want of help in managing house-
hold affairs (which I am forced unto), made me think of a
gentlewoman for assistance and comfort. Her virtue was
the chief thing drew my affections, which was much com-
mended by the parents and friends of her former husband.
She was the widow of Mr. Hussey, in Lincolnshire;
daughter of Mr. Chapman, of Hertfordshire, whose father
was a citizen. She has five children, but provided for in
such manner as I hope will not be burthensome, and her
estate (though not great) may be sufficient, by God's blessing,
in part to supply the defects of my own towards our main-
tenance, for I found small these four years from my tenants
in any place. I heartily wish I could have had the advice of
1646.]
321
THE CIVIL WAR.
October 20th, 1646.
children, brothers, and near friends, but I hope the course I
have taken will not be prejudicial to any, nor cause of
offence. My journey into the country is like to be stayed
till the next spring. I pray you remember my service to my
sister. I rest
Your very affectionate brother,
FER. FAIRFAX.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HIS VERY GOOD LORD, THE
LORD FAIRFAX, AT HIS HOUSE IN QUEEN STREET, PRE-
SENT THESE.
MY GOOD LORD,
I SHOULD be loth to be the last (since it is not with
the least affection) to congratulate your happy choice, and
hope that you may not only build your house (now reduced in
your male line to a narrow compass), but (that I may wish
great things for you) let them equal your other children, the
ornaments not only of their family, but of eminent esteem in
the eye of the kingdom. It is the prayer of God's people,
that that line may long flourish a living monument to future
posterity, polished stones in God's building, as a remem-
brance of those that have done worthily in our Ephratha,—
the repairers of our breaches,-choice instruments in the
work of that Temple whose builder and maker is God. Let
not that coal be quenched, and not only a remainder, (which
you have indeed, to the envy and admiration of other
families), but a name be left unto you upon the earth.
Having given your lordship a view of my heart in your
business, I now come to my own. Mr. Jennings, by a visit
yesterday, prevented my journey to Skipton on Monday,
VOL. I.
Y
322
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
designed for a meeting. The man is real, and most cordial
in the prosecution, but a sudden conclusion was not to be
expected, before a thorough acquaintance; and some here in
the country were to be satisfied upon the grandfather's view
and report, before the young gentleman should too far engage
his affections. He has now directions to renew his suit. I
beseech your lordship he may have all encouragements, and
that his peremptory expressions (when pressed on a sudden
to a positive answer) may give no disgust.
I desire that mine and my wife's most humble services
may be presented to your honourable lady. If your lordship
please that some of your servants may acquaint Mr. Armitage
(being now in town) that it is your honour's pleasure to con-
fer the Stewardship of Ripon upon me, upon his discharge
(being only in pro tempore upon the committee's order), I shall
then attend it and the like for Mr. Hewley, who by a like
order is placed at Cawood. Indeed I find by my attendance
at Ottley, that there have been insufferable inconveniences by
the former stewards that have taken presentments of omnia
bene, and they now expect the like usage, which Justices of
the Peace, having the engagement of an oath, cannot allow
them. I beseech your lordship that Thomas Barker, who
has from your honour the grant of under-stewardship, may
be required to put in a sufficient substitute, that since he
has all the benefit, he may ease me of a good part of the
trouble.
.
My lord,
I am ever your lordship's faithful servant,
C. FAIRFAX.
October 27th, 1646.
A letter from Alderman Atkins, who represented
Norwich in Parliament, and who, as he plainly tells his
1646.]
323
THE CIVIL WAR.
constituents, was thereby incapacitated from accepting any
place of emolument, shows what sort of relations, in some
instances, subsisted between electors and their repre-
sentatives. The ordinance for the sale of Bishops' lands,
referred to by Mr. Atkins, passed on 16th November.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL HENRY WATTS, ESQ., MAYOR
OF NORWICH.
RIGHT WORShipful,
My due respect remembered unto you, and all your
brethren. This is to certify you, that now the ordinance
is passed for the sale of the Bishops' lands, which I send
hereinclosed; those that will secure their money, lent for-
merly upon the propositions, began to pay in their money
last Friday morn, and before Saturday night above 40,0007.
was paid in. So that if yourself or any else will do the same,
it will be time to do it; for the House was moved, last Friday,
to order, that if any other men that had paid in no money
upon the propositions did bring in any sum, it should be
received, which the treasurers had no power to do before;
for one brought in 10007. more than his money was, to
equal his former lent money, and it would not be received;
but now it is consented unto, and money is paid in accord-
ingly. I paid in mine last Friday, being 6587. 8s. 2d.; and
I have a note for so much more, to have the use at five
months, and use and principal in course out of Excise Office,
if it be not paid me before, out of money received upon sale
of Bishops' lands. I write you this much in regard you
may now secure that which, three months since, was thought
desperate. I thought it my duty to let you know what is
r 2
326
[1646.
MEMORIALS OF
He was met some miles outside the city by the militia,
who escorted him to his house, where he was waited
upon by deputations from both Houses of Parliament,
and received at their hands the thanks and congratula-
tions of the nation.
The sale of the Bishops' lands proceeded rapidly, and
the sum of 200,000l. having been realised towards the
close of November, it was forwarded under convoy to
York, to be paid over to the Scots, who were thereupon
to evacuate the garrisons they held in the North. The
war was now ended-if appearances and promises were
to be trusted; and Sir Thomas Fairfax, having a little
leisure to look into his private affairs, found himself in
the situation of a man, who, in devoting himself to the
business of the public, has wholly neglected his own.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER,
THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I THOUGHT it fit to discharge this duty of writing to
your lordship, though I have little from hence to advertise
you of. By this time the convoy is at York. I sent with it
three regiments of horse, three regiments of foot, and 500
dragoons. This number, I hope, will prevent jealousies, and
yet be sufficient to secure their charge. 12,000l. is sent
down with these, that they might discharge their quarters.
I have not now much business here; yet I conceive it fit to be
with the army till the Scots be marched out of the kingdom,
or on their march. I hear my wife intends to come to
1646.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
327
Northampton. I know not whether I should advise her to
stay, or not; but if she come, her own trouble will be more
than any inconvenience by the journey. Though now it hath
pleased God, in some good measure, to settle the general
affairs of the kingdom, I should be glad to settle mine own
in some more certainty, till I see how it may please God
further to dispose of me; but I must confess that neither
myself nor any with me can advise me what is the best
course to take in this thing, the public business having
wholly taken up my thoughts, making me a stranger to my
own business, and that, I most fear, to my nearest and
dearest friends. I hope the Lord will direct me what to do,
or willingly to obey whatsoever your lordship shall advise or
command me, who am
Your lordship's most obedient son,
Northampton, Dec. 30th, 1646.
I humbly present my service to my lady.
T. FAIRFAX.
By the close of the year, the negociations concerning
the disposal of his Majesty's person were brought to a
conclusion. The King was obstinate to the last about
the Covenant, and the Scots, having received their
200,000l., resolved to give him up to the Parliament.
1647.
THE KING CONDUCTED UNDER ESCORT TO HOLMBY.
GRIEVANCES OF THE ARMY.
THE KING IS CARRIED OFF BY CORNET JOYCE.
TREATY BETWEEN THE ARMY AND THE PARLIAMENT.
RIOT OF THE APPRENTICES AND FLIGHT OF THE
SPEAKERS.
FAIRFAX RE-ESTABLISHES THE PARLIAMENT IN WEST-
MINSTER.
THE KING ESCAPES FROM HAMPTON COURT.
THE ROYAL FUGITIVE A PRISONER AT CARISBROOK
CASTLE.
1647.
THE Commissioners appointed by Parliament to con-
duct his Majesty to his destination at Holmby arrived in
Newcastle on the 23rd January, and the escort set out
on the 3rd February. Fairfax had left London about the
middle of December, to join the army at Nottingham ;
and Skippon, who, on Fairfax's recommendation, had
been appointed Governor of Newcastle, was already in
the North, taking possession as the Scots retired. On
the 11th February, the royal cortège approached Not-
tingham, and Fairfax went out to meet the King. It
was the first time they had looked into each other's face
since the meeting at Heyworth Moor, when "fiery
Tom" forced the petition of the people upon the
pommel of his Majesty's saddle. Had his Majesty
hearkened to that petition, this strange scene had been
spared to both. A strange scene it was, after all that
had passed between them in the interval: the lives that
had been sacrificed, the deadly hostility and disorganisa-
tion into which the whole kingdom had been plunged.
And here they met on the high road, his Majesty gra-
ciously reining up his horse, and Fairfax kissing hands,
and riding by his Majesty's side into Nottingham!
A week afterwards he wrote to his father.
•
332
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MY HONOURED FATHER,
THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
HERE is now but little business in thèse parts to
write of, nor much for me to do here yet: my being in the
army hath been some ways necessary for the ordering of it,
and keeping the officers here together; which else would have
been more, from their charge, and which will yet occasion my
longer stay in London till I can settle things, so as there
may be constantly general officers enough in the head
quarter, to order the affairs of the army. We hear it is not
like to be of long continuance. I doubt many hath given
such discouragement to the soldiers as they will be more
willing to lay down their arms than engage themselves in
any other service, unless they like their conditions they shall
go upon. Rushworth will give your lordship further account
of things this way. I shall add no more, but my prayers
for your health, and my service to my lady. So take leave
to rest
Your lordship's most obedient son,
Nottingham, Feb. 18th, 1646. (N. S. 1647.)
T. FAIRFAX.
The "discouragement" first showed itself amongst
the citizens of London, who petitioned against being
put to further expenses, and prayed vigorously that the
army might be disbanded. The work was finished, and
the army was to be got rid of at once. London had
mounted to freedom, and was impatient to kick down the
ladder! The question grew wider and took a graver
1647.]
333
THE CIVIL WAR.
shape afterwards, drawing in men of all shades of
opinion, and dividing the kingdom at last into Two
great Parties. Parliament yielded a little at first, and
ordered that the army should not take up quarters
within twenty-five miles of London. The civil power
affected a great fear of the military, to whom arrears
of pay were still due, and even went so far as to accuse
them of "designs." The unsettled state of things gave
a sort of colouring to these charges, for the soldiers
clamoured for their pay, and were not easily restrained
from breaking the twenty-five miles circle. Soldiers
were required for Ireland, and the army made condi-
tions with Parliament that, at all events, their allow-
ances should be secured to them. It was strange, as
Fairfax observes in the next letter, that the army
should make propositions to Parliament; but it was
wiser to prevent mutinies than to suppress them.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP
To pardon my long silence, though I have heard
often from your lordship. That which you desire concerning
Colonel Overton, I shall be very ready to do what I can for
him, and shall be very glad to bring so deserving a man into
the army; but as affairs are at this present, I cannot do
much. What our business hath been with the commissioners
sent from Derby House, Rushworth will give your lordship a
full account. Though it may seem strange the army doth
334
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
make propositions to the Parliament about conditions of
going into Ireland, yet it did seem to us more honest,
modestly to desire such things as might enable them to carry
on that service than hereafter, when they repent of their
forwardness to mutiny, and with more insolency demand the
dues; but by this, I hope, the service more advanced than
hindered. I have my health but ill this spring. I go,
to-morrow, God willing, for a day or two to my Lady Vere's.
The country here doth like very well of the army, and is very
sorry that there should be any petition against them. I
have given order to free Sir Roger North's house, though
there was none quartered there when he complained; but
there is good reason he should be free. I shall here take
leave to refer your lordship to Rushworth, to know how they
stand here. So, desiring your blessing, with my service to
my lady, I remain
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
March 23rd, 1646. (N. S. 1647.)
I had sent the Barbary to Denton before this, but that
some grease is fallen into one of his legs, which, I hope, in a
few days he will be recovered of, and then he shall go.
The Colonel Overton alluded to in this letter, about
whom Lord Fairfax interested himself, was a protégé of
Cromwell's, who prevailed upon Sir Thomas to appoint
him Governor of Hull. He afterwards went with
Cromwell into Scotland, and was steadfast to his patron
till the Protectorate, when Cromwell, finding his repub-
licanism inconvenient, dismissed him from his service,
and committed him to the Tower.
1647.]
335
THE CIVIL WAR.
The army grievance was want of money. It breaks
out every where. Want of confidence was bad enough,
after the hard service they had gone through, but want
of money was worse for the time being. Similar diffi-
culties arose about the composition of tithes, and the
payment of ministers. In short, this money difficulty
furnished the first pretext for the breaking out of dis-
contents that lay deeper, and were fraught with graver
consequences. Goldsmiths' Hall was the centre of the
agitation. The disbanding of the army, the struggle
between the Presbyterians and the Independents, and
the wearisome negociations with the King, occupy a
troublesome interval. All the letters of this period
point to these prominent questions, throwing such
accidental light upon them as the positions of the
writers enabled them to collect.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE IN KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN, THESE
PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I HAVE little to trouble your lordship withal at this
time. The soldiers in divers parts in this county begin to
complain most of want of moneys; those at Skipton Castle
have been in a mutiny, imprisoned two sequestrators, and
threatened to seize upon the goods and furniture of the
Castle; but upon the payment of some money, and a letter
to the governor there from the committee of the West Riding,
336
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
I hope that disorder is appeased. Mr. Hulburne hath showed
me the new dedimus for Ousten, which he will take care to
get executed. Sir George Wentworth and his son were both
here the last week, and had a meeting with Sir William St.
Quinton about the portion. The most he will condescend to
pay is 10007., for the marriage being past, he hath the law and
measure of the portion in his own hands, and the treaty for
it now is not upon even grounds. I am sorry the son's act
should be so prejudicial both to his father and himself. I
purpose, God willing, to begin my journey upon Monday and
Tuesday next, and humbly present my duty to your lordship
and my lady, and remain,
My lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
TH. WIDDRINGTON.
York, the loth of April, 1647.
The want of "preaching ministers," or rather, of the
means of paying them, is strenuously urged upon Lord
Fairfax in the subjoined letter from Sir John Bourchier.
Sequestrations, assessments, and compositions had
absorbed all available funds, and thus the question
of the maintenance of religion came to be mixed up
at Goldsmiths' Hall with the question of "What was
to be done with the Army?" But it is with the army
we are chiefly concerned. The religious element which
was mixed up so largely in the struggle of parties at
this period, hardly enters into the Fairfax Correspond-
ence; Sir Thomas Fairfax having from the first dis-
claimed, in the name of the army, all intention of
interfering with such matters.
1647.]
337
THE CIVIL WAR.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
A MEMBER OF THE HONOURABLE THE HOUSE OF COM-
MONS, THESE PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
You were pleased to procure an order from the
committee of plundered ministers, that 407. per annum might
be paid unto Mr. Taylor, minister, for to officiate at the
church of Usbaldwick, on maintenance of the impropriate
tithes of Sir William Robinson; but now Sir William
Robinson hath compounded at Goldsmiths' Hall, and there-
fore that salary will be taken away, except your lordship shall
make some speedy means to the committee of Goldsmiths'
Hall, that Sir William Robinson may have so much abated,
proportionably as that 407. per annum is worth in his last pay-
ment. My humble suit is that you will seriously take into
consideration your great want of maintenance for preaching
ministers in this your blind country, and that what is already
granted may be continued, that no delinquent may be suffered
to make any composition for fixed tithes; and that also there
may be some other way to raise provision for the cheerful
subsistence of the ministry. It hath pleased God to make
you instrumental to help, quiet, and subdue our enemies and
God's: let me beseech you to stretch out the utmost of your
power, that the gospel may flourish in these parts. There
are many that have private aims in their public employment;
but I must justify you and your ever-honoured son, that I
never observed any of selfishness in you. I am confident
God hath in store many blessings for you both. Oh, both
join together in advancing this good work, in procuring
maintenance for a learned and conscionable ministry. My
Z
VOL. I.
338
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
lord, I am bold to be importunate in this kind for an
ignorant and sottish people; you are our sole knight of the
shire; be active in yours, and you will conclude your latter
days with much honour. I see many strive to advance them-
selves in their own ill days, but few will be seen to procure
honest ministers, to be planted in your country: you have
had your licence to promote this honourable work, I pray
perfect it, which shall be the constant and fervent prayer of,
My lord,
Your humblest servant,
York, this 16th April, 1647.
Jo. BOURCHIER.
The army presented a petition to the House of Com-
mons, asking for their arrears, and praying an indemnity
for such actions as, illegal in time of peace, were una-
voidable in the exigency of war, and for which some of
the soldiers had been prosecuted at the assizes. This
petition was very reasonable, but it gave great offence ;
upon which a second petition, signed by the officers
under Fairfax's command, was sent into the Commons
for the purpose of explaining away all grounds of
misconception, and vindicating themselves from the im-
putation of defection or insubordination. A remark-
able passage in this petition will show with how
clear a sense of their rights, and with what admirable
temper, under great wrongs and sufferings, the army
sustained themselves through this trying crisis.
For our liberty of petitioning, we hope this honourable
House will never deny it unto us; we know not anything
1647.]
339
THE CIVIL WAR.
more essential to freedom, without grievances are remediless,
and our condition most miserable. We have not denied it to
your adversaries; you justified and commended it in your
declaration of the 2nd Nov., 1642, in these words :-"It is the
liberty and privilege of the people to petition unto us for the
ease and redress of their grievances and oppressions, and we
are bound in duty to receive their petitions." And we hope,
by being soldiers we have not lost the capacity of subjects, nor
divested ourselves thereby of our interest in the Common-
wealth; that in purchasing the freedoms of our brethren, we
have not lost our own.
Such was the spirit which the Commons themselves
had generated. It was as ungenerous as it was unjust
to rebuke its manifestation in any quarter, but especially
in that body to whose fidelity, patience, and fortitude,
the assertion and establishment of the liberties of the
country were to be mainly ascribed. The wrong was
rendered doubly galling by the recollection of the frank
reception which had been given to sundry petitions from
Essex and other officers of the old army, who had
the satisfaction of obtaining immediate hearing even
for their personal disputes. The New Model, conscious
of its higher claims on the confidence and protection
of Parliament, was consequently the more irritated
by the jealousy and distrust with which this, its first
petition, was treated. The following letters, from Sir
Thomas Widdrington and Colonel White, indicate the
feelings of the House on this matter, and contain
references, also, to the progress of the war in Ireland :
z 2
340
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
•
*
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT HIS
HOUSE, AT DENTON, THESE PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I RECEIVED yours of the 14th instant; Mr. Anson
was with me at the time when I received it, and assures me
that Sir Edward Hussey hath made a bargain for his land,
and is shortly to receive his money, and he further promised
to let Colonel White or myself know a day or two before the
moneys be paid into Goldsmiths' Hall; to the intent that
Colonel White may be there ready to demand them. I hear
the Castle of Dungarvan is taken by the Lord Inchiquin.
I hear the House of Commons hath voted this afternoon
that the train and ammunition at Oxford, be presently
disposed of for Ireland, and that the general officers which
went down to the army shall all return hither, except Major
Gen. Skippon, who is to stay there: I know nor hear of any
more done this afternoon, being absent. I waited upon the
General this day, who is in a better condition of health than
when you left him; and I hope will continue so if the
matters of the army have not too much influence upon his
spirits. The weather in this place continues as yet extreme
moist. I wish you may enjoy quietness at Denton. I find
not much of it here. There was this day a letter from the
General Officers of the army, and a paper of the complaints
of the army presented to the House; I cannot tell you the
particulars. The aforementioned votes show how they were
resented. I desire by this to present my duty to your lord-
ship and my lady, and take leave to remain,
Gray's Inn, the 13th of May, 1647.
My lord, your lordship's humble servant,
TH. WIDDRINGTON.
1647.]
341
THE CIVIL WAR.
I am troubled with a cold in my head, which operates
upon my tooth and one of my eyes, and renders me unfit for
writing; otherwise, I should have written by this post to
my uncle Charles and my brother Arthington, and I shall
be glad to serve Colonel Thornton, in the thing he desires,
so far as shall fall within my power. The General is ordered
by the House to go down to the army, which I hear is very
quiet.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE.
MY NOBLE LORD,
By your lordship's received the last night, I perceive
that your lordship may receive letters and return answer by
the same post, of which I am very glad.
This day Sir Richard Lucy telleth me that Mr. Spencer
Lucy is come to town, and will some day this week pay his
money. There is no news of Sir John Mounson yet at
Goldsmiths' Hall, and I hear he is town; therefore, I desire
your lordship's further direction, whether I shall not procure
an order for the sequestration to be laid again upon his
estate. In case of nonpayment speedily I do intend to send
one of Goldsmiths' Hall messengers unto him to quicken
him in the meantime. This day, by letters from my Lord
Inchiquin, he informs the House, that he hath taken the
town and Castle of Dungarvan, with two other castles from
the rebels; that he is absolute master of the field in
Munster; that the rebels generally want ammunition and
money, by reason whereof they are not able to take the
field with any considerable force; that they are not any-
where above 1500 men in one body, and that they are so
342
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
divided amongst themselves that they are not likely to do
much hurt.
This day also came a letter from Major General Skippon,
Lieutenant General Cromwell, and the rest sent into the
army, that they had received the resolutions of the army to
the propositions delivered by them from the Parliament,
but thought not fit to send them but by some of themselves,
which might withall declare some material circumstances;
they or some of them are speedily to be here. I hope the
army will prove obedient, as well as successful.
I hear they meddle not with anything but what concerns
them as soldiers.
There are divers gentlemen in the House (whom your
lordship may imagine), who are very desirous to have the
army speedily disbanded, and upon a long debate this day it
was resolved, that it be referred to the committee at Derby
House, to consider of the time and manner of speedy dis-
banding all such forces as are not voted to be continued for
service of this kingdom, or shall not engage for Ireland.
This evening we had read in the House a paper from the
King, in answer to the propositions sent to him at Newcastle,
but gave little satisfaction. It came down in a message
from the Lords, and it being six of the clock, the House
ordered to take the message into consideration upon Thurs-
day next.
For further relation of the proceedings, I shall refer your
lordship to the Diurnal, and humbly presenting my own
and my wife's most humble service to your lordship and your
noble lady, take leave to remain,
My lord, your lordship's most humble servant,
WILL. WHITE.
London, May 16th, 1647.
The 200,000l. will all be ready before Thursday night next.
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
343
On the 18th May, it was resolved by the House that,
with the exception of certain garrisons, all the forces of
the kingdom not subscribing for the service of Ireland
(some of them having explicitly declined to do so until
their arrears were discharged) should be disbanded, and
that the General should forthwith repair to the army.
The situation of Sir Thomas Fairfax, throughout these
harassing discussions, was, in the last degree, painful
and anxious. Even patient Rushworth declares, that
were he General, he would not hold his command an
hour longer.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, YORKSHIRE, THESE PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I MUST crave your pardon for my brevity. I hope
Mr. Bowles will enlarge. Things are mighty uncertain, rather
tending to a confusion than composing of differences. The
General is commanded down to the army: one saying in the
House he had time enough to go to Hyde Park, but not to
attend his duty,-speaking it with much scorn. Truly, my
lord, it is resolved upon the question that nothing but exas-
peration and provocation shall be used to enforce the army
to disorder. And then the Presbyterians say they are neces-
sitated to join with the King; and in order to this design,
the King hath sent up to the Parliament his answer to the
proposition to settle Presbytery for three years, the militia
for ten years, and such like. A committee is appointed to
consider of the King's answer. It is well for your lordship
344
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
May 18th, 1647.
to be absent; for it is in vain to be here. And were it not
for the good of the kingdom, were I as the General, I would
scorn to hold my command an hour longer; but truly his
patience is great; and he wishes he had a fair opportunity to
give over.
London, May 18th, 1647.
JNO. RUSHWORTH.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT
DENTON, IN YORKSHIRE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I SHALL not say much of the business of this day,
because I hope Rushworth hath given your lordship a full
account of it. Nothing will be acceptable that comes from
the army, but all things are hastened for a speedy disband-
ing of it. And I am ordered by the House forthwith to
repair to the army, if my health will permit it. I think in a
few days to go down to it (God willing). I still expect to
have great difficulties put upon me; but I trust the Lord
will bring me out of them. My health, God be thanked, is
something better; but too soon relapses with a little trouble.
I desire your lordship to pardon me for my shortness in
writing, hoping you will have a fuller account otherway.
So, desiring to present my service to my lady, and to have
your prayers, I remain
Your lordship's most obedient son,
T. FAIRFAX.
Persons who had the best opportunities of forming a
judgment as to the probable conduct of the army, when
1647.]
345
THE CIVIL WAR.
the moment of dissolution came, entertained serious
fears for the result, as may be seen in letters from Sir
William Constable, Colonel Overton, and the Rev.
Edward Bowles (already known to the reader), who
was chaplain to the forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
Sir William Constable declares that obedience is not to
be expected from the soldiers, and Colonel Overton
dimly foresees a remoter danger in the consequences
of letting loose a mass of disappointed men, without
provision, on the country. Happily these prognostica-
tions were disappointed by the result. Notwithstanding
their grievances the soldiers were firm in their alle-
giance; and the appearance of the General at head-
quarters restored order and confidence.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, THESE.
MY LORD,
I RECEIVED letters from Mr. Rushworth by this
post, wherein he desires to be excused to your lordship for
not writing, and entreats me to transmit to your lordship
what I received, the substance of which is this, that the pro-
ceedings of the Parliament and City against the army are
very violent. They have voted to send for their train of
artillery to Oxford, to be bestowed for the service of Ireland,
and to send commissioners to disband the army, with eight
weeks' pay; and sent the General down on Thursday last.
(I pray God direct him to avoid the snares are laid for him.)
346
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
York, May 22nd, 1647.
The army have drawn up their grievances, and, for aught I
hear, intend to present them; but are very doubtful what to
do when the commissioners come to disband them. I pray
God direct them for the best, rather than to suffer them to
do ill. The King hath anticipated the propositions with an
answer to the halves. The militia for ten years, and after
that to be disposed as in the days of Queen Elizabeth. The
Presbytery for three years, of which, he says, he thinks they
will be weary in that time: provided he may enjoy his liberty
in his own chapel: that he may send twenty divines to the
Assembly to consider of a Church government: to pass acts
for the Parliament's debts, including his own: confirming
acts of the new Great Seal, so that they confirm the old : an
Act of Oblivion for all delinquencies. I doubt not but your
lordship hath these advertisements from other hands; but I
could not neglect the trust reposed in me, much less my duty
to your lordship, which I shall personally tender as soon as
possibly I may, which I hope will be this day se'nnight.
In the meantime I am, my lord,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
EDW. BOWLES.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, PRESENT THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I HAVE, and still shall continue to scribble unto
you, every post. Having this opportunity of Mr. Jo. Went-
worth, I send the news which passed last day in the House
-a day of as great harmony as I have seen of late. The
General went to Saffron Walden upon Thursday last.
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
347
This gentleman tells me that he hath occasion to wait
upon you at Denton, and desires your favour in a business
between Colonel Bethell and himself, wherein he thinks the
justice of his business will be a sufficient inducement to your
lordship to mediate for, and the Colonel to condescend to his
desires. I have many years known this gentleman, and the
goodness of his disposition, which emboldens me to insert
this much of business in this letter, of which I know you
desire to be free at Denton. I have no more to add, but my
duty to your lordship and my lady, and remain, my lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
THOS. WIDDrington.
Gray's Inn, May 23rd, 1647.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE, DENTON, HUMBLY PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I DIRECTED a letter to your lordship in your jour-
ney, by the post, who, I presumed, would overtake you. If
that came not to your hands, I lost only my own excuse, and
presenting you with such passages as were then fresh. I
missed very narrowly your taking horse, and by that means
received not any particular commands from your lordship,
which shall be very carefully observed on the least intima-
tion from you. Your getting well to Denton was the best
news I could expect from thence; and if I could give a good
account of our getting well off from our disputes here with
the army, it were more desirable news than I am as yet
furnished for. On Friday, our last day of sitting, there was
much joy in the House, at the fair accord that seemed to be
348
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
for some hours, upon the report which Lieutenant General
Cromwell made from the army, divers things being voted,
besides an ordinance, that day passing both Houses, for
indemnity for things done through the necessity of the war;
consideration had for securing the remainder of arrears, and
freeing all such as had served as volunteers from being
pressed for the service of Ireland, with some other fair
things; but one small thing being moved and denied, which
was a declaration that we parted with them as friends, being
satisfied of their good affection to the Parliament, this drew
out some sharp expressions, turned our fair day into a storm,
the House rising in the midst of the heat, and the debate
deferred till Tuesday, our next day of sitting. My lord,
thus far I had gone yesterday. This day the debate about
giving satisfaction to the army by some vindication of them
being laid aside by vote, the time of disbanding all the foot
was voted severally for every regiment, beginning with the
General's regiment, at Chelmsford, this day se'nnight, and
so proceeding with the rest at their several quarters, at
several days, which will end about the 15th of June. I do
not think that it is expected by any that obedience will be
yielded by the soldiers, the provocations being so resented
and grown to such an height; I fear we shall too soon see
the issue, which God prevent.
I will trouble your lordship no further, but desire to have
my uncivil parting with my lady excused, who remain,
Your lordship's most humble servant,
WM. CONSTABLE.
Queen Street, May 24th, 1647.
1647.]
349
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON HOUSE, THESE HUMBLY PRESENT.
MY LORD,
I CONTINUED my present station in this place in
hope of a happy and fair discharge of that trust, which
hitherto I can comfortably account for, your lordship's
honoured conferrings in that and all my other undertakings
under you, and unfeignedly spoke myself as much your
honour's, in your humble close, as the greatest beginnings
under your lordship, and live as thankfully as I have acted
faithfully, in your most noble intrustments. I cannot add to
those constant relations which weekly come to your lordship
from abler pens, only amongst others I offer my mite of
observance. I see, methinks, a contention, in crossing
betwixt the long robe and the short; the one upon the
interests of the States' trust, and the other for the price of
blood, the honour of his arms, and the indemnity of his
person. I trust piety and public respect will, on both parts,
prevent and persuade; I wish the variety of opinions and
capricious parties multiply not old diseases beyond state
remedies; we might hereby become rather a land of promise
than of peace. The City's petition was lately burnt for
some supposed seditious overtures. The soldiers' grievances
are come in, and moneys raised for the cure; yet, if too much
public faith intermix the ingredient, I doubt disbanding may
lose its common Catholic virtue. Reduction to an army is the
most odious part of arithmetic, nor can it be gotten of an
anti-liberal, which is so scant and pinching. Methinks it is
hard to exchange our erst honourable employment into lazy
begging by ineffectual petitioning; but I can add little more
offer to your lordship than what every Diurnal delivers. I shall
350
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
ever, to my utmost, rest ready to discharge what I owe. I
trust your lordship is in my overtures more apt to put forth
a pardon than to impute blame. The good of the garrison in
its condition will, I know, in the promotion of your honour's
interest for its good or my own, not want a favourable influ-
ence, suitable to its necessitous condition in their pay, or my
own employment. I shall not further insist on circumstances,
having sufficiently blotted this paper. To avoid any farther
prolixity or disorder, I shall only add that I am,
Your lordship's devoted servant,
ROBT. OVERTON.
London, 25th May, 1647.
The announcement of what had been done by Parlia-
ment was unsatisfactory to the army. The amount of
pay to be distributed was pitiful—the amnesty was
not sufficiently comprehensive. There was a mutual
disposition apparent nevertheless to adjust these diffi-
culties. The army was fortified by right and reason,
and Parliament could not fail at last to see the justice
of admitting its claims. Sir Thomas Fairfax stood
between them, assuaging the storm at both sides, and
controlling his explosive materials with great prudence
and ability.
While these negociations, in the shape of rendezvous,
petitions, and counter-petitions, were going forward, the
King was filling up his leisure with bowls and secret
correspondence at Holmby, and the nation, engrossed by
the new questions, and believing his Majesty to be
quite safe, almost forgot that such a person existed.
But the army was not so indifferent. It saw clearly
1647.1
351
THE CIVIL WAR.
that the custody of the royal prisoner gave the vantage
ground to Parliament in the pending arbitration; and
a desire to get possession of the King began to spread
amongst the troops. That such was the feeling of the
army cannot be doubted, although it was carried into
operation not by an organised movement, but by an
isolated adventure. One Cornet Joyce, taking upon him-
self to represent the general desire, sallied out of Oxford
at the head of 500 troopers, made direct for Holmby,
and taking possession of his Majesty's person, with his
Majesty's consent, carried him off. Upon intelligence
of this extraordinary action, which threw the whole
kingdom, more especially the Parliament and city, into
consternation, Sir Thomas Fairfax offered to deliver his
Majesty from the custody of Joyce, but his Majesty
declined. He thought he was better where he was;
that new distractions would spring out of this strange
incident; and that he might ultimately profit by the
confusion. And so we leave him for the present at
Newcastle, playing at tennis, and discoursing with
Cornet Joyce and Hugh Peters, the latter endeavouring
in vain to prevail upon his Majesty to let him preach
before him.
The Parliament men, such as Hollis, Stapleton, and
Clotworthy, designated as "incendiaries" in the next
letter by Rushworth, were the prime movers in the votes
and measures which had given umbrage to the soldiers.
They had most of them belonged to the old army under
Essex and Manchester, and regarded the New Model
352
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
with the most rancorous hostility. The Stapleton here
alluded to was Sir Philip Stapleton, member for Borough-
bridge, to be distinguished from another Stapleton who
was member for Aldborough, and from the William
Stapleton who attended Charles II. in exile, and was
created a baronet after the Restoration. There was a third
Stapleton who was a gentleman of the bed-chamber to
Charles I.; and a fourth who was private chaplain to
Cromwell. Sir John Clotworthy was member for Malden.
The proceedings arising out of the abduction, or,
rather, the elopement of the King, may be traced
through the following letters. The army, having pos-
session of the King, moved nearer to London, and
gave a firmer and more distinct expression to their
demands. They openly charged the disaffected mem-
bers with the evil machinations which had wrought this
disastrous difference, and demanded their dismissal,
declaring at the same time their resolution in no
way to meddle with the settlement of religion, and
requiring that the Parliament should carry out its
own principle of free representation through successive
Parliaments, so that "men might not sit perpetual judges
over their fellow-subjects." The dignity and moderation
of the army throughout this dangerous crisis cannot be
too deeply appreciated. By their motions about London
they displayed their power without abusing it, and pre-
vented disturbance by exhibiting the means of suppres-
sion. If on any point, they exceeded their legitimate
province, it was in stipulating for the security of the
C
1647.1
THE CIVIL WAR.
353
King's rights and prerogative and the succession of his
family. Such grave questions did not lie properly at
the disposal of the iron hand of the executive. But the
purpose of the army was the settlement of the kingdom,
and the restoration of peace, and some latitude may be
allowed to the wide discretion with which circumstances
had invested them.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE, POST-HASTE.
MY LORD,
I BEG pardon for my haste: the King is now at
Newmarket, well guarded more than regarded. Businesses
grow high. I hope God will bring much good to the king-
dom by it, and a sudden peace. If they had had the King,
I mean Hollis and Stapleton, &c., the Scots had come in to
have crushed this army. The Lord direct the General and the
army; tomorrow we have a rendezvous near Royston. Sir
Henry Vane, jun, and others come down to-day to satisfy the
army. This enclosed letter from the General to the House
will satisfy your lordship. The army hath honest intentions,
none need fear them but such as Hollis, Stapleton, Clotworthy,
and such incendiaries. No doubt the Scotch will come in
yet, if they think to find no opposition in the north; other
friends there had need bestir themselves.
I think business here will be brought to a sudden push in
one week, you will see a way agreed on to compose all in
love. My humble service to your good lady,
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
Cambridge, June 9th, 1647.
VOL. I.
Ʌ A
354
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
At Denton, THESE.
MY LORD,
CONSIDERING my own duty, and your lordship's
solicitude about the affairs which are in transaction above, I
could not but give you a short account of the news I received.
And first, in general, I have very good hopes that upon the
whole matter, there is little danger; but that if God give them
wisdom to manage their business it may produce very good
effects in the Parliament and kingdom, which were going on
in the high way to a worse confusion. The business is very
strongly laid in the army, and the Parliament and city are
very backward to raise new forces, notwithstanding the
earnest endeavours to that end, especially by the Scots who
are very much moved at the Parliament being no more moved
with the securing the King; and have made an offer of aid
for his rescue; but sure we shall beware the third time. The
army have resigned themselves in all business to the hands
of their superior officers-and the General and Lieutenant-
general appear in the regulating things among them. And
they have given ground to the General to declare that they
intend not at all to interest themselves in matters of religion,
either in opposing Presbytery, or effecting liberty of religions,
but that they will submit in those things, which is very well.
They intend to hold the King only in safe custody, so that
he do no harm, and I think the malignants, notwithstanding
all their hopes, will have a hard bargain of his being there.
The Parliament have sent down commissioners to treat with
them, as Sir Henry Vane, jun., Mr. Scowen, Major General
Skippon, and one Mr. Povey; pray God give them wisdom
on both sides so to order their desires and grants as the
1647.]
355
THE CIVIL WAR.
York, June 12th, 1647.
public good may be most advantaged. We shall very shortly
hear of their propositions. And truly it may be hoped that
this appearance of trouble may more hasten our peace than
the many overtures of peace elsewhere. But things are not
so secure but that it will be very necessary to look up ear-
nestly to God, who fashioneth the hearts of men, to order
things by his infinite wisdom to the public good. To him I
commend your lordship, your family and affairs, and am
Your lordship's humble servant,
EDW. BOWLes.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
AT HIS HOUSE AT DENTON, IN YORKSHIRE.
SATURDAY last, the General and part of his army
came to St. Albans. The Parliament and City were much
affrighted at it. The Parliament upon it revoked the power
of the Committee of Safety, newly made, that they should
act nothing but as the House was acquainted with it. The
Common Council were much offended at the Committee of
the Militia for offering to beat up drums, and to require the
shutting up of the shops for fear of this army, which they
never feared or distrusted, and wrote a civil letter unto the
General, expressing much averseness to raise any forces in
the least measure against this army, and sent four aldermen
and eight common-councilmen to the General, to St. Albans,
who accordingly came thither, upon Monday morning, and
received infinite satisfaction of the reality of the army
towards the City, as intending them no hurt. And for their
fuller satisfaction, yesterday, June 14th, (that day that
Naseby battle was fought), the General and his Council of
A A 2
356
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
War finished the representation of the General and the
army, concerning the bottom of their desires, in relation to
the King, Parliament, and kingdom, which is very long,
but set forth with much reason and arguments to strengthen
the same. It will be put in print to-morrow, but will hardly
come down by the post. I shall only hint briefly, because
my time is short. The particulars are—
1. That those members of Parliament who have incensed
the Parliament against the army, and would have begot a
new war, may not sit any longer as judges over us, and that
if the House will give leave, their names shall be made
known, and particularly charges against members delivered
in; and, accordingly, the persons were named,— Hollis,
Stapleton, Lewis, Clotworthy, [Sir William] Waller, Massey,
and some others.
2. It is desired that the Parliament will consider of a time
when they will put an end to the Parliament, first settling
the peace of the kingdoms and those other things in order to
it; and that there may be Parliaments successively, whereby
men may not sit perpetual judges over their fellow-subjects.
3. It is declared that the army will no ways hinder
the settling of the Presbytery, desiring regard may be
had to tender consciences, according to the Parliament's
declarations.
4. That when the King hath settled the militia and those
other things relating to the peace of the kingdom, that he
and his posterity may have his just rights and prerogative.
And lastly, that the free-born subjects of England may not
be debarred the liberty of petitioning.
There are very few particulars more besides these; and it
is expressed in the Representation that in these we do
acquiesce, though these be not all we might desire, but will
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
357
trust this Parliament and future Parliaments for the better
satisfaction of it. The Parliament would have us forty miles
from London, the City thirty miles; but till we have assur-
ance that no forces shall be raised, either by Parliament or
City, we cannot with safety think of going back. Stapleton
and Hollis court the Reformadoes to lay a foundation of an
army, which is a thing odious to the City, who plainly see
their danger to be greater, even of a massacre by those
intended to be raised by that party, than of any fear if our
army were all in the City.
I am so over-toiled with business, I cannot write much,
but shall, by an express, send more to your lordship.
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
7
St. Albans, June 15th, 1647.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, IN YORKSHIRE, THESE PRESENT.
THE representation of the army in print, I suppose,
is now public in the North; the agitators of horse have
undertaken to disperse them in those parts; it gives great
satisfaction in all these parts of the kingdom. The charge
against the members takes not so well; it is held too slight;
the privilege of Parliament is so tender a thing that they
will not suspend a member on a general charge; for more
than suspension is not desired. The particular charge will
be speedily ready and against some of them to the purpose.
But time will not admit of this dilatory proceeding; and
therefore expedition will be used in a more general way, in
order to a permanent settlement of the peace of the king-
dom, which will be pressed to be done without delay before
foreign forces or Scots come in; and therefore, if in the next
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you hear the army is gone to court ladies in Hyde Park,
think it not strange, neither wonder that on Thursday next
Colonel Whaley attends the King with a strong guard to
Richmond, where I believe more forces will be about that
time. But that suits not with the votes of both Houses, that
only Colonel Rossiter's regiment shall be there for a guard;
for, believe it, I perceive the army will not part with the
King without a peace settled. Great is the fear at London
at the army's approach; but it is chiefly of those who have
so provoked the army, and been unthankful to it, which
(under God) was their deliverance. The Committee of Com-
mon Council are here; the correspondency is very fair
between the city and army.
The army votes nothing, nor sends the Parliament any-
thing, without communicating it to the city; truth is, the
city more fears the Reformers within than the army without.
The Parliament was yesterday again kept in by force by
their blades till they had more money granted them. The
Parliament is not free; nothing will set it free (it was con-
ceived) but the army. An adjournment is threatened; God
guide their counsels; a week is like to produce great change;
let all honest men in all parts of the kingdom be united, and
prevent any that shall endeavour to raise new forces to beget
a new war.
Sir,
Your servant,
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
St. Albans, June 22nd, 1647.
The General is well, and hopes of good upon this business.
1647.]
359
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR HIS EXCELLENCY SIR THOMAS FAIRFAX.
June 25th, 1647.
Out of the respect I owe your Excellency, I thought
it convenient to give you notice that there are several
gentlemen pretending dependence of your army, as also
authority from yourself though not produced to the satisfac-
tion of officers, who have appointed private rendezvous, so
far to the disturbance of the forces as the Parliament has
taken notice of them, and have sent me a note of the House
to apprehend such who shall come hither to disturb their
forces in this Association, the which I have taken course to
publish; all which I have here communicated to your Excel-
lency, desiring a favourable construction to what I do, in
order to their present commands. I shall take a return to
these from your Excellency as an addition to the former
civility, which have obliged me to subscribe myself
SYDENHAM POYNTZ.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
At Denton, THESE PRESENT.
RIGHT HONOURABLE,
I HAVE not omitted one post, but have writ unto
your lordship by the way of Leeds; but doubting they mis-
carry that way, I shall hardly adventure, unless I hear they
come safe to your hands; for affairs here, I hope things will
come to a speedy and happy composure. Upon the armies
coming into Uxbridge, the members withdrew, upon their
own motion; and both Houses have voted and enabled their
committee to treat and debate things with the army, which
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are mentioned in the army's representation and papers. The
City is very fair to us, and have a standing committee in the
army to keep a good correspondence between the City and
the army. They and all good men much confide in the
General, and hope for a good conclusion, but fear the disobe-
dience of the soldiers, which truly, I think, need not. The
General hath had sore conflicts in this business, and indeed
he hath a hard game to play, in managing a matter so much
out of method and rule; and I hope the Lord, in conclusion,
will let all men see that not by ends exceeding him, or most
under him, to be (as it were) in a condition of disobedience
to the Parliament. It is but in relation to the ill party,
whom your lordship knows what malice they have vented
against Him and the army. Parliament must be upheld:
abuses in it fit to be reformed. This is all I shall trouble
your lordship with at present, and remain
Your lordship's most humble servant,
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
Uxbridge, June 27th, 1647, 12 at night.
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
HONOURABLE SIR,
I HAVE Communicated your letter, the ordinances
and votes you sent me to my officers, and they have made
them known to most of their respective troops and companies;
but there is such a distemper in several of their regiments as
that we find no authority or power we have, will recall them
to their former obedience. Their main desire is to associate
their forces with his Excellency's army, resolving to stand or
fall with them: in this their instant request to his purpose,
they have selected two out of every assenting troop or com-
1647.]
361
THE CIVIL WAR.
pany who now reside at Pontefract, advising and acting with
some come from the southern army what they think fit in
pursuance of their aforesaid end. This day, five of their
number, upon my engagement for their safe return, which I
was willing to do both the better to know their intentions;
and because the Council of War did conceive it to be of dan-
gerous consequence to apprehend them; now did present to
the Council of War a declaration which they demanded to
be immediately subscribed by some of the colonels present,
or to receive their negative answer, upon which it was then
resolved by the Council of War, whose advice therein was
requested by the said colonels, they should suspend their
answer till the return of the gents.
I lately sent to his Excellency to inform him of the men
come hither from his Excellency's army, pretending by his
authority; and of the vote directed to me to apprehend such
as come hither to disturb this army. What the issue of these
things will be I know not; I shall humbly desire the directions
of the House herein, and in all things to my utmost power
shall be ready to manifest my fidelity to the Parliament, and
approve myself
Your most humble servant,
SYDENHAM POYNTZ.
July 2nd, 1647.
P.S. Sir,-Our forces here have observed, that they have
ever waited long for whatsoever moneys the House hath
ordered them; and perhaps fear the like now, his Excellency's
army having received theirs. If that 10,0007. lately ordered
could be presently procured, it might be a probable expedient
to satisfy the soldiers in this distraction; therefore, my humble
request is, you would be pleased to contribute your assistance
for that purpose, and it shall add to my former engagements.
362
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE HUMBLY PRESENT.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
I HAVING Some occasion to send a messenger near
Denton, made bold thereby to present my most humble
service to your lordship and my lady; and to give you to
understand how all things pass here, and what we have
heard from his Excellency's army, viz.,-Captain Clayton
returned to York yesterday, about eight of the clock in the
forenoon, with an answer from his Excellency (to this inclosed,
dated June 25th, 1647). To this effect his Excellency writ:
That if any officers or soldiers were come from bis army into
the Northern army, and laboured to inform this army of the
fair carriage of his, and that such demands as were desired
were just, and the reports cast upon himself and his army
in disobeying ordinance of Parliament were untrue; said he
had sent none such: but if any such were come from his
army, and had endeavoured to satisfy any of the truths afore-
said, he and the forces under him would countenance and
protect such good instruments, and those that adhere to
them. So that Poyntz is hereby satisfied, and intends (after
a consultation he had with old Ferns) he and his whole
family to-morrow se'nnight for London, that he may give up
his commission, by reason he cannot have any command in
the North, save of Colonel Ledgard, Captain O'Neale,
Captain Blacker, and some few more inconsiderable persons,
as the Marshall-General and such like fellows.
.
Your lordship will further perceive what doings were at the
Council of War, on Friday last, by this other inclosed, which
was before Clayton came back with an answer. The letter is
1647.]
363
THE CIVIL WAR.
sent to the House. I wish it make no alteration of Poyntz's
journey. If Clayton had done his message faithfully, it had
prevented this letter to the House. He got to his Excellency
on Monday last, by twelve o'clock, and was dispatched on
Tuesday for coming back; but whether he had some message
from Poyntz to some of the members questioned yea or no,
I know not; but for the nearest way for Yorkshire he went
to London, and so got not York before Saturday.
He takes care how to pass clear from the soldiers: they
are much enraged against him, about these two he caused to
be executed, neither calling a council of war upon them, nor
affording them time to prepare for death. All his creatures
have forsaken him, but such as are extraordinary ill-condi-
tioned. I think I know them every one. I sent by the last
post the copy of the letter (to the House) to his Excellency.
Not to trouble your lordship any further at present; but as
occasion offers itself you shall hear further from him who is,
my lord,
York, July 4th, 1647.
Your lordship's most humble servant,
ROBT. HOLBORNE.
It was five of those they call agitators came from Ponte-
fract last Friday, and in the time the Council of War sat at
Poyntz's house, they desired admittance, and after long
debate with him and the officers, were then admitted; and
their message was, first an engagement of so many troops
and companies to the southern army; then they headed an
engagement and declaration for Colonel Bethnell and Colonel
Copley to subscribe and demand their hands thereto, and to
repair to their regiments, or otherwise to take their answer.
Ledgard would gladly had some advantage against them, or
the army in the North, if he could, but they were dismissed;
364
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MEMORIALS OF
and though neither Colonel signed them, I hear the officers
have all subscribed since, or most of them. Sir William
Constable went from York yesterday, about twelve o'clock,
for Bewley, and so to Hull. He will be at York next Friday.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, THESE.
SINCE my last there hath little of note happened;
only on Friday last the treaty began at Wickham, where
things were debated by the Lords, Commons, and the Com-
missioners of the Army, which was rather to prepare the
method of the treaty than to agree of any matter of sub-
stance at that time. On Saturday the head-quarters removed
to Reading, and the King, being then at Windsor, removed
to Cavesham, the Lord Craven's house, within two miles of
Reading. Monday there was but little time spent in the
treaty, by reason the officers were engaged in finishing the
charge against the members; and this day it was presented
to the House by four colonels, a mayor, two lieutenant-
colonels, four captains, and two soldiers in behalf of the
general and the whole army. There being so many persons
impeached, and requiring therefore variety of matter, were
necessitated to the spinning out of so much time till now
for the delivery of it in, when yet a power is reserved for
adding more articles at any time before the trial, and to have
a trial speedily cannot be expected, unless it be upon one or
two of the principles; for then it will protract the great
business of the kingdom, which will admit of no delay, for
expedition is the life of our business, and be assured not an
hour's time will be lost in concluding upon those things
which are for the present settlement of the peace of the
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
365
kingdom. The King's party carry themselves very high and
insolent, as conceiving the army acts their game; whereas
they have little cause to think it; for so far forth as any-
thing is fitting to be desired on their behalf for the more
securing the peace of the kingdom, something will be offered,
but as in relation to set them up in their authority again,
they may have little hopes; for certainly the army will never
desert the interest of the Parliament, and honest people of
England that have adhered to them. Notwithstanding if the
King grant what is desired for the security of the kingdom,
as settling the militia by sea and land in trusty hands, and
those other things that shall be agreed to by the Parliament,
that then the Parliament grant him what may appertain to
his right. There is a continuance for the present of two of the
King's chaplains to be with him. The head-quarters is to
be continued at Reading, till such time as things be settled.
The eleven members were called into the House to hear the
reading of the charge, who, after the reading thereof, set a
good face on the businesses, hoping to clear themselves.
J. RUSHWORth.
London, July 6th, 1647.
The General is well, but much perplexed with business;
the burden of the kingdom lies upon him.
SIR THOMAS WIDDRINGTON TO THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
THE treaty hath had no progress since Wednesday
last, at which time the general and officers made three pro-
posals: first, against reformado officers staying in London;
secondly, against new levying and listing of men in and
366
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MEMORIALS OF
about London; thirdly, for purging the House of delinquent
members; and until they have satisfaction in these things,
they said that they could not safely proceed in the treaty :
since which time the House hath done several things which
I hope may give satisfaction in all these three particulars.
We are now told that the heads of the treaty are in a very
good preparation and forwardness, and hope to see all or
most of them in one bulk or body at the same time, which
sight will be far less discouragement than doing nothing.
Dispatch and expedition herein, as they are the common
desires of most people, so they are things professed by all
parties here to be extremely laboured for, and for my part I
see no instant ground to believe or suspect otherwise. It
must be confessed that the business is weighty, and consists
of many particulars already visible out of their papers, which
must necessarily require much time, as well in the prepara-
tion and proposal, as in the debate and resolution. We hope
to begin again upon the treaty this day or tomorrow, which
hath now had so long a parenthesis of stay. The Prince
Elector dined with the general on Saturday last, and the
French ambassador gave him a visit in the afternoon.
This all for the present: with my duty to your lordship and
my lady,
My lord, your lordship's humble servant,
THO. WIDDRINGTON.
From Reading, July 12th, 1647.
I beseech your lordship's pardon for using my man's hand
in writing some part of this.
1647.]
367
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HON. FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX.
SINCE my last upon this day se'nnight, there hath
not been that expedition in relation to the treaty as was
hoped for in my last, the reason is, because those things
desired by the army in order to our security before we
engage to proceed upon the treaty, are not fully granted; but
since, there is just cause of fears and jealousies, that if we
should engage in the treaty, there would be an obstruction
(our former desires being not granted), as for instance: The
Houses have not yet declared against the calling in of foreign
forces; they have not yet by vote of the House, suspended
those members that have been lately impeached; without
which no proposition can be agreed upon by the Committees
of the Parliament and the Army in order to a peace; but if
those men come in they may protract if not prevail to cause
a denial of what is propounded: besides the ordinance which
they have put forth to purge the city of reformadoes, is not
effectual, for that any fewer of the militia may grant leave
for any one that shall allege they have a necessary occasion
to stay, and so any fewer of those of the militia who granted
a commission to D'Albiere to raise forces against this army,
may with much disposition of mind, grant leave for such
reformadoes to stay as may be serviceable to their ends.
The greatest satisfaction the House hath given this last
week, hath been in declaring the penalty upon such members
who have aided or assisted the King, or sued for, or accepted
pardons from the King. This indeed is like to produce a
good effect, for many of the western gentlemen, as namely,
Sir Samuel R., Sir John B., &c., are conceived to come
within that compass, and near thirty more for accepting of
pardons from the King.
368
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MEMORIALS OF
Sir Charles Egerton and others, are like to withdraw upon
another account. Mr. Ant. Nicholl had a report made con-
cerning his election, and it is voted clear illegal, having sat
six years without just warrant: do not conceive, that the
army protracts the treaty, or delays time for any end, for
whilst they have been thus labouring for satisfaction from
the Parliament in the aforesaid particulars, they have not
omitted to prepare the foundation of a treaty, or rather a
whole map of every particular to be treated upon, which
being now finished, tomorrow will pass a council of war,
then the Committees will have the whole business before
them. The particulars are many (as well they may be), con-
sidering it contains the settlement of all things in order to
the peace of the Kingdom.
The Prince Elector coming to see the King, came on
Saturday last and dined with the general, showing great
respect unto him, and the general answered it with discharg-
ing twenty-two pieces of cannon at his going away. In the
afternoon, the French ambassador who had been with the
King, came to the General and gave him a visit as the General
had done to him in the forenoon. I presume you have a
great noise of a resort of cavaliers to the court at Cavesham.
It is true they came, both Scottish and English; some have
access, others not; but I hope all our friends will not alter
their opinion of this army.
Notwithstanding this their resort, that they will ever
desert the Parliament, or the honest party of England, that
ever adhered to them, there is nothing showed them but
civility; and that is done with as much caution as may be;
except now and then an extravagant person demeans himself
so ill as he deserves to be made incapable of that favour.
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
Reading, July 13th, 1647.
1647.]
369
THE CIVIL WAR.
FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
THESE PRESENT.
THURSDAY, July 15th, the officers met about the
materials of a treaty, and sat all day long about it; made a
great progress therein. Debates were had whether it were
fit to present to the world the substance of the treaty, before
we were secured of the militia of London and kingdom to
be safe and confiding hands.
Friday, July 16th, a general council of war called, consist-
ing of about 100 officers besides agitators. The debate held
till almost twelve at night. There were variety of opinions,
and all concurred in one at conclusion. The agitators were
higher in proposals than the officers, who were more expert
in State affairs. I only mention this, that you may be
assured the inferior, upon good reasons, submitted to the
superior, so that it is not will but reason that guides the pro-
ceedings of the army. The result, in brief, was to desire
that the militia of London might be put in the same hands
it was before the late alteration thereof: this being a prin-
cipal reason, that those that had it formerly were men of
unparalleled fidelity and integrity, and as to the army, more
to be confided in than the new. The second desire was, the
Parliament would declare against the invasion of foreign
forces. Third, that prisoners (except for debt, murder, &c.)
might be set at liberty, if no proof against them, or other-
wise released upon bail, and particularly Messrs Lilburn,
Musgrave, Overton, &c. The fourth was, that the Committee
of Weavers' Hall may be called to account how they have
issued out 200,000l., not above 40,000l. of it having come to
this army. In the inquisition whereof it is supposed the
power of the new Committee of State will appear to have
VOL. I.
B B
370
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MEMORIALS OF
been very diligent for their own advantage, though their
power held out not above ten days.
The names of many of that new committee you may know,
if
you
have heard of the names of the eleven new members.
Whilst the army was thus in debate of the militia of the
City, the House was in debate of the militia of the kingdom,
and voted the General Commander-in-chief of all the land
forces in England; and this day the Lords concurred
therein, which, being effected, the General will thereby be
enabled presently to order all the forces in the field and
gar-
risons, so as it is hoped they will be in such a posture, and
so well ordered as to interrupt any insurrection that shall be
attempted in any part of the kingdom, in case of non-
concurrence in the treaty now in hand, and which we hope
very shortly will be at an end. Our debates were interrupted
by the appearance of Colonel-General Poyntz and his agitators,
who mutually accused each other; but the Colonel-General
seemed the more humble of the two. He is at liberty on his
parole. The charge is brought in against him, yet it is con-
ceived the prejudice will not be great if he go where he list.
Upon the neck of this comes the news that Colonel Birch's
agitators do tread the steps of the Northern, and seized upon
the Colonel and his brother the Major, and (to boot) the
Castle of Hereford and 20007. in it, besides clothes, shoes,
and other provisions; upon this ground, that the Colonel
and Major declared against permitting the soldiery to asso-
ciate with this army. Upon the Colonel's fair language his
soldiers gave him his liberty, upon his word not to engage
against the army. The Major, castle, and money they keep.
Captain D'oyly being long since voted to be governor of
Bristol, (but not agreed to by both Houses), got a commis-
sion dormant, under the hands of Stapleton, Holles, &c.,
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
371
came down to Bristol this last week, and demanded the fort
and castle. Captain Sampson demanded the sight of his
commission. He produced it unto him. When he saw the
names of Holles, Stapleton, Waller, Lewis, Clotworthy,
Massey were at it, he told Captain D'oyly his commission was
signed by those that were impeached by an army that had
persevered in their fidelity to the public, which those mem-
bers had not, and therefore he was resolved to disobey his
commission, and live and die with the army; and so the new
intended Governor was dismissed.
We remove the head-quarters to Bedford.
Reading, July 20th, 1647.
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
HOPING Still Rushworth doth supply my defect in
writing, I make bold to omit that duty sometimes longer
than I should do, though desirous that neither my many
businesses nor personal infirmity should make me forget it.
Our treaty will, I hope, speedily have an end, being now
almost ready to be sent to the House; but it is necessary,
before the grounds of peace be laid down before them, some
principal blocks be removed out of the way; therefore, this
day we desired the Commissioners of Parliament to send a
paper from us to the House, in which we desire they will
declare against the bringing into this kingdom any foreign
force whatsoever; that the militia of London may be put into
their hands that did formerly manage it; with some other
propositions, which, being first granted, may, through God's
BB 2
372
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MEMORIALS OF
blessing, give a more sure and happy conclusion to our pro-
posals of peace. Indeed, in so great a work man can only
propose, but God dispose how it shall be. We have seen
much of his goodness in inclining things that way of late.
Many turbulent spirits are yet in the city and army, but I
hope their fury shall not prevail; and though some men's
proceedings in this army have given some cause of jealousy,
yet I trust, through God's assistance, we shall discern what
is good, and not to be led along with the multitude to do
evil. Colonel Lambart is coming down into the North to
endeavour the settling of those forces, with some direction
for that business; if such commanders be put over them as
do tender the public peace, and not interested otherwise, will
be a good work. In three or four days we shall remove our
quarters from hence the plague hath broken out in three
houses in Reading; but where we shall have our next head-
quarters is not certainly resolved. Oxford is thought on;
but I shall not desire to have the Court so near as it is now;
it brings a great number of cavaliers amongst us, which
brings rather an ill name than danger upon us. I shall leave
your lordship to other relations; so pray your blessing and
my humble service to my lady. I remain
Your lordship's most obedient servant,
T. FAIRFAX.
Reading, July 18th, 1647.
C
My wife and Moll present their humble duty to your lord-
ship, and their service to my lady.
The "agitators" alluded to in the letters of Colonel
Holborne and Rushworth were men deputed by the
common soldiery to represent their opinions, acting in
1467.3
373
THE CIVIL WAR.
* Page 101.
some sort as commissioners between them and their
officers, and appearing even at the bar of the House of
Commons to give an account of the business with which
they were entrusted. The conduct of these men was
distinguished throughout by courage and integrity; and
Rushworth, who would gladly have dispensed with their
assistance at the council, bears testimony to the pro-
priety of their bearing.
It will be seen in these letters that the Prince Elector
dined in high pomp with the Parliamentary General.
The conduct of the Prince (to which allusion has been
already made*) at this memorable period appears to
justify the suspicion that he entertained the hope of
succeeding to that throne from which the pressure of
events was now not unlikely to precipitate his uncle.
Mr. Forster, in his able life of Cromwell, collects the
scanty evidence upon which this suspicion is founded,
and strengthens it by some very curious letters from
the Prince to his mother, the beautiful Queen of
Bohemia, which clearly show that even so far back as
1641 "the Prince was playing a double game between
the Court and the people's party." The whole course
of his proceedings evinced that at least he was ready to
take advantage of circumstances, and attach himself to
the stronger side. After having attended his Majesty
to York, and kept with him so long as it was safe, he
deserted him at the breaking out of hostilities, and took
ship for Holland. He soon afterwards returned to
+ The Statesmen of the Commonwealth, IV., 73.
374
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MEMORIALS OF
England, and while his brothers, faithful at all events to
their cause, were fighting for the King, he paid assi-
duous court to the Parliament, procured a grant for the
restitution of the pension which had formerly been
bestowed upon him by the King, and became more and
more bound up with the popular party as the King's
affairs were drawing nearer to their tragical close. In
one of his letters to his mother, dated in the November
of the present year, he describes an interview he had
just had with the King at Hampton Court, during
which his Majesty reproached him for his subserviency
to the Parliament, making use of these remarkable ex-
pressions, "I should rather have lived upon bread and
water than have complied with the Parliament, which
he (the King) said I did to have only one chicken more
in my dish, and that he would have thought it a design
more worthy his nephew, if he had gone about to have
taken his crown from his head." That the Prince
really contemplated such a turn of fortune, seems by no
means improbable. All circumstances concur in giving
a colour of likelihood to the supposition. But he acted
with too much caution to risk more attainable aims upon
the failure of that ambitious design, and, missing the
crown of England, he succeeded in procuring his restora-
tion to the Palatinate; which, luckily for himself, called
him out of the country in 1648.
*
Dismissing the adventuring Elector to his foreign
government, we return to our domestic affairs.
* The Statesmen of the Commonwealth, IV., 80.
1647.]
375
THE CIVIL WAR.
The explicit declarations of the army had the effect
of inspiring the Parliament with confidence, and of
removing all difficulty in the way of restoring a
perfect harmony between them. It was not for the
Parliament whose energy and wisdom had averted
the ruin of public liberty, and this army, whose alle-
giance had been proved by the severest tests, to separate
at such a moment. There was a common enemy,
in the party felicitously designated the "Malignants,"
yet to be overcome, and their united power was
necessary to its suppression. If the troops of Fairfax
surrounding London, like the magic ring in the fairy
tale, tightened or relaxed their circle according to circum-
stances, making a sudden pressure only when the evil con-
science of the city was at work, there was no design in
such movements to alarm or intimidate the Parliament.
On the contrary, the close neighbourhood of the troops
was the only guarantee by which the free deliberations
of the legislature could have been secured through this
perilous juncture.
In consideration of the time that would necessarily
be co ed in the investigation of the charges against
the eleven "incendiary" members-time which could ill
be spared from the general concerns of the kingdom-
Fairfax, on the part of the army, declared that he
would be content with their absence from the House
while the proceedings for the settlement of the public
affairs were going forward; and the Commons, in
accordance with this desire, passed a resolution on the
C
376
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
20th July, giving "leave" to Holles and the rest to "
go
about their particular business" for the space of six
months, with permission to go beyond the seas, provided
they returned at the end of that time to answer the
accusation brought against them. There was a great
tumult in the lobbies while this resolution was passing,
and a multitude of people thronged on the stairs and
blocked up the doors; but the Parliament stood firm to
their purpose.
The news of this resolution no sooner spread through
the City, than it produced a terrible commotion amongst
the apprentices--the central source of all London riot
and disaffection. On the 26th the fury of the hot-brained
youth of the guilds made itself manifest in the avenues of
both Houses of Parliament. Vast crowds assembled, and
petitions were forced upon the Lords and Commons,
demanding the restoration of the eleven members, and
of the City militia, and demanding that the King should
be brought to London. We have the first glimpse of this
violent proceeding in letters from Sir Thomas Widdring-
ton, and Lady Constable, the sister of Lord Fairfax.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, PRESENT THESE.
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR LORDSHIP,
COLONEL WHYTE, being absent from hence, ac-
quainted me by writing with the contents of your last letter
to him, of the several particulars wherein I shall give you
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
377
this small account. For Mr. Spenser Lucy's moneys, they
are in town in a safe hand, and will so remain till he return
into the country, and then care will be taken of the payment
of what belongs to you. This I had from Sir Richard Lucy,
who promised me also to write to Sir John Mounson con-
cerning his moneys. I have also spoken with Mr. Anson,
who tells me that Sir Edward Hussey and his lady are still
in town. They had agreed for the sale of some lands, but
the purchaser makes some scruples, so the bargain not per-
fected, and no moneys gotten; nor, I doubt, will be this
long time.
For news, we are still troubled with fears. There has of
late appeared a new oath and confederacy, the substance of
which is to bring the King to his Parliament upon such
terms as he offers in his answer made the 12th of May last
to the propositions sent to the King at Newcastle. The
army hath great apprehensions upon this. [The business is
not so well allayed as I imagined; for I hear that divers
apprentices and others are gone to the House this day to
present a petition to this purpose; and there is another peti-
tion from the Common Council against the charging of the
militia. It is hoped that both these will be quietly settled.]*
But the Houses have already in great measure allayed the
business. The last militia of the City of London is changed,
and a declaration made by both Houses against the inviting
in of any foreign forces. I desire by this to present my duty
to your lordship and my lady, and take leave to remain,
My lord,
Your lordship's humble servant,
THOS. WIDDRINGTON.
Gray's Inn, 26th July, 1647.
* This interlineation in the original letter is evidently out of place, and should
follow the succeeding sentence.
378
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
I am going this morning to Bedford, where the head-
quarters and the Commissioners for Parliament are.
My lord, having some occasions to stay longer here this
day than I intended, I met with your two letters, both dated
the 23rd instant; and my Lady Constable sent me her letter
and one enclosed from your lordship to one Mr. Hutchinson
as I remember. Touching that business of Sir Edward
Hussey, I can write no more than what I have above written.
I believe that you will hardly get any moneys from that hand
suddenly. I am sorry to hear of my lady's weakness. I
beseech God strengthen her. For my own journey north-
ward, it is a thing I very much desire; but in regard to my
present employment, cannot think it yet fit to ask leave. I
purpose (God willing) next week to essay it, for the time of
the assizes will then draw near. And it concerns me to
be there some days before, and shall endeavour, if I can
possibly, to wait upon your lordship also.
FOR THE LORD FAIRFAX, AT DENTON.
MY LORD,
THIS storm now looks black. My husband got
late out of the Parliament House, not without danger. I
know you will have it from better hands. He goes to the
army, but by Windsor, or somewhere that way, to get me a
house. I must presently remove. Sir Thomas Widdrington
thinks that I may take Mrs. Platter's word (her husband
is not in town) that they will seal the acquittance; there is
none made yet. My lady's friends here think that her
daughter Rhoda's goods are as well where they are as in any
place here. I will take your keys with me, for my niece
removes too. I am sorry for my lady's weakness. I beseech
1647.]
379
THE CIVIL WAR.
you let me hear from you; if you please, send to Sir Thomas
Widdrington, to Gray's Inn. I sent your letter to Mr.
Hutchinson; I hear no more of it. Sir Thomas Widdring-
ton spake with him.
This take into consideration: the King swears he will not
consent: he is much cried up. This company saith that he
shall do what he will. My lord, I am
Your servant,
D. CONSTABLE.
July 27th, 1647.
G
The extraordinary scene glanced at by Lady Con-
stable is fully detailed in a letter from Rushworth,
which contains the fullest account of the whole transac-
tion hitherto published. In every point of view, this is
a document of great importance, showing more fully
and satisfactorily than, we have elsewhere seen it ex-
pounded, the faithful spirit by which the army was
governed. "We still trust," says Rushworth, who was
with the army and represented its feelings, "to our
interests in the Parliament, in which we shall live and
die." The riot had the immediate effect of drawing out
the zeal and loyalty of the soldiers, and making a com-
mon cause between them and the legislature.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO, LORD FAIRFAX,
AT DENTON, YORKSHIRE.
UPON Thursday last we marched from Reading to
Aylesbury, and staid there all Friday, and came to Bedford
on Saturday last. The cause of our marching this way was
380
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
the confidence we had in the Parliament and City, both the
Houses of Parliament having voted the militia of London
into those hands it was formerly. But upon Friday last, there
being a Common Council, petitions were delivered to several
hands, that the militia might continue in the hands of the
malignant party (as we call them); and there was then set
on foot several petitions, as also a solemn vow and engage-
ment in the nature of the Scots' Covenant Oath, mutually to
assist another that subscribed it, to bring home the King,
&c., as you will see it in print. The Commons declared
against this, and that they should be proceeded against, as
traitors, that proceeded therein. The Lords concurred also.
It was sent to the well-affected militia, who were newly
re-invested with power to proclaim it, but they durst not do
it. The Lord Mayor refused to give his assistance. The
people threatened to tear any that should attempt the pub-
lishing of it. The Common Council then sitting, being
Saturday night, the multitude cried to have them up to the
House that night with a petition for the malignant militia to
continue. The House being up, all businesses were put off
until Monday, July the 26th. The House was no sooner set
that day, but up came the Common Council with a petition,
as aforesaid, for the malignant militia to stand; and there
followed apprentices, seamen, reformadoes, malignants, and
tag-rag, flocking in abundance to the Houses. The Lords
first gave the answer to the Common Council, that they did
adhere to their Ordinance, lately passed, concerning the
militia, and also to their declaration against those who should
proceed in the new Oath and Covenant. The apprentices
and the rest of the rude multitude, understanding this, they
broke into the House of Lords, and told them that they
should either recal both the said ordinances and declaration,
1647.]
381
THE CIVIL WAR.
or they should never come out. And one of the boldest
standing up at the bar, said, "Where is Manchester? we must
call him to an account." The House replied he was gone
down; and so, with fair words, they got them to be quiet,
until they had passed the votes for re-calling both the said ordi-
nance and declaration. Thereupon the multitude departed,
and the Lords adjourned until Friday next; and they thought
themselves well that they got so away. Then down came the
multitude to the Commons, about two of the clock, and
they having given the like answer to the Common Council
which the Lords had done, the multitude told them that they
must pass what the Lords had done. But the Commons
were stout, and put off till 4, 5, 6, 7 of the clock. Messen-
ger after messenger was sent to the militia, to the Lord
Mayor, and Sheriffs, to come down with the posse of the
City, to rescue the House and relieve them. The militia
stirred not, and the Lord Mayor would not. The Sheriffs
came in person with some forty halberdiers, which was all
the militia of the City that appeared for the Parliament.
The guards that were there stood still, and suffered the
House to be thus abused, and let Scoutmaster-General Wat-
son be seized upon by the tumult and afterwards carried to
prison in the city, where he now is in custody; the servants
of some of the army were abused by pulling them by the ears
and noses, and so leading them up and down, saying, "These
are the Independents." The sheriffs coming and making this
show to little purpose, the Commons' hearts began to fail
them for want of relief, and the apprentices grew more bold
and broke into the House of Commons and told them they
must pass what the Lords had passed or should not stir out
of the House. Towards eight of the clock the Commons
passed the votes. to recal the declaration and ordinance for
382
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
the late alteration of the militia. When this was done and
the House adjourned, the Speaker being out of the chair,
many of the multitude went again into the House and thrust
the Speaker back and the rest of the members, and told them
he must to the chair again and pass another vote or else they
would not go away; thereupon the Speaker was glad to take
the chair, and the question was put that they held it fit the
King should presently be brought up to London, and to
which there was an answer given by some of the members,
with the help of the tumult who stood by the table till the
clerk wrote down the order and gave them it under his hand.
This unparalleled action is such as indeed we may dread what
the event is like to be. The House of Commons adjourned
and was no less joyful of their liberty than the Lords were.
But unhappily they adjourned no longer than until this day,
and therefore it is conceived that new business will be put
upon them. In brief I can conceive no other consequence
can follow hereupon but absolute confusion, if not to the
ruin and distraction both of the Parliament and city. If the
Parliament sit they must vote everything that they would
have them, and then this army will be the next vote to
declare them traitors, or else they must dissolve and break
in pieces, and so no Parliament, whereby all things will be
out of order. Our friends did formerly complain that we
retreated from Uxbridge, but modesty, civility, and integrity
towards the Parliament and city, occasioned the retreat. We
shall not buy our advantage perhaps at a dearer rate—we
must not suffer the Parliament to be thus enslaved nor the
kingdom destroyed. We think this business gives us a just
call towards London for the peace of the kingdom, and to
preserve the Parliament if it be not too late. Therefore by
the next, expect to hear of great things. We hope the Lord
1647.]
383
THE CIVIL WAR.
will so order our council as we shall quilt this giddy-headed
multitude, being not yet countenanced openly with persons
of estate, though underhand there is no want of their power
and policy to effect their desires. By this appearance you
may see the womb of this long hatched design, and I think
you will judge it the last game and reserve they had left, and
indeed it is so desperate, that it will require a desperate cure.
The Lord be merciful to those he owns in the city, for it
cannot be otherwise imagined but the city will be destroyed
by the city; they will be obliged to put the sword into mad-
men's hands that will destroy themselves, and plunder them
in the first place. Had this army had any mind to plunder,
or any private or base end when they came so near London
as Uxbridge, they needed not have lost an opportunity to
enrich themselves, and therefore for the clearing of our
hearts and proceedings, we doubt not but God will find out a
way to direct us, and make us happy in our councils for the
deliverance of this kingdom, notwithstanding all the secret
plots and devices of our enemies. The King is at Woburn,
not much troubled at these news, that I hear of. Our pro-
posals for peace are finished, but not so fit (as things now
stand) for public view. We still trust to our interests in the
Parliament, in which we shall live and die, and with that
merciful respect to those that have opposed us, that they
cannot but say, if what we desired on their behalf be granted,
they are dealt with in all tenderness. I believe as soon as
the army is drawn together, the city will be sent unto to
know whether they will own this action or no, of enforcing
the Parliament in such a bold and unheard of manner; if
they do, it will be fit to consider what is further to be done,
that offenders may be brought to punishment, and a stricter
guard kept to prevent the like evil for the future. There are
384
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
✔
no risings in the country nor the least appearance of com-
bination to that purpose, so that I conceive it is sudden, they
being touched to the quick when the head of all their villainy,
the malignant militia, began to be broken. It is said and
believed, that the eleven members under hand set this
business on foot, for many of the tumult gave out words at
the House of Commons' door, that there were none but rogues
left, such as had given their votes to cast out the eleven
members that were honest men, and they should sit no
longer than they acted as they would have them.
JOHN RUSHWORTH.
Bedford, Tuesday, July 27th, 1647.
On the next morning, both Houses met and adjourned
till the following Friday. When Friday came, the
Speakers were not to be found, and new ones, pro tem-
pore, were elected in their place. The Parliament was
acting under terror. The eleven excluded members
had resumed their seats, and votes were passed confirm-
ing the demands of the City. These proceedings were
urged on by tumult without and incendiaries within;
and the Speakers of both Houses, with a hundred
members of the Commons, and several of the Lords,
repaired to the head-quarters of the army, now
advancing towards London. The Parliament, driven
from its seat, established itself in the camp, and
held its deliberations in a council of war. Sir
Thomas Fairfax, disregarding the orders of the
House sitting at Westminster, which he declared was
not the free Parliament of England, issued a manifesto
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
385
announcing his determination to recognise in the
Speakers and members who had taken refuge with the
troops the legitimate authority of Parliament, and to
advance upon London for the purpose of re-establishing
their rights. The attitude of the army brought the
City at once to a sense of its duty; and the demands
of the General were followed by the immediate com-
pliance on all points of the Lord Mayor and Common
Council. On the 6th August, Fairfax marched into
London, accompanied by the Speakers and their train
of members; was met at Hyde Park by the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen, who congratulated him on the
peaceful composure of their differences; was cheered
by the Common Council as he passed Charing Cross;
and, proceeding to Westminster, installed the Parliament
in their respective houses. For these signal services,
Sir Thomas Fairfax was loaded with honours on all sides,
appointed Constable of the Tower, and, with great
ceremony, formally thanked in the Lords and Commons,
as the preserver of the peace and liberties of the nation.
The town wore the aspect of a jubilee; but the
army arrears were still unpaid, and it became necessary
to enforce them. Remonstrances with the authorities
having failed-applications to Parliament having failed
-the presence of the troops in the suburbs having
failed, to induce the citizens of London to discharge
their dues, Fairfax announced to the Lord Mayor the
extremity to which he was put, in the last resort, of
quartering some of the soldiers within the City for
VOL. I.
C C
386
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
the purpose of prosecuting the levy. This reluctant
reference to a topic which lay at the root of all the
discontents was couched in language as moderate and
conciliatory as the occasion would admit.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR, ALDERMEN,
AND COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LONDON.
MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN,
WHAT tenderness has been excercised by myself
and this army towards the City, what care to preserve it
from the least damage or prejudice, (notwithstanding the
just occasions and great provocations which have thence
been given), and with what patience we have waited for the
raising of those arrears which have long since been due,
I need not now use many words to express. Yourselves, the
City, and kingdom, do sufficiently know it. We have lain
here about London so long, as we cannot continue much
longer, without intolerable opposition to these parts, if not
the undoing of some, and in all this time, though the occa-
sion both of our coming and stay hath been from the City,
yet in tenderness to the trade and freedom thereof, no part
of the army hath been quartered in it; but the parts adjacent
have borne the burden, who gave no such occasion. And if,
after so long and obstinate withholding what has been so
long due, in affront to so many ordinances and demands of
Parliament, and in the face of an army, (at a time when so
great a part of the City had made themselves so obnoxious
to both), I should now withdraw the army from the City
before all the arrears of taxes thence due be paid, or if those
who (after so many warnings from the Parliament, with
1647.]
387
THE CIVIL WAR.
penalties imposed upon the non-payment thereof, within the
time limited,) have so obstinately withheld their dues so long
beyond that time, should now escape with the bare payment
of their arrears at last, I can expect no less but that the ill
example thereof would, in other parts of the kingdom, give
great discouragement to friends from paying their shares,
and encouragements to enemies to withhold theirs as long as
they can. Upon these considerations (with the advice of my
Council of War) I have desired the Committee of the Army
that the penalties imposed by the Parliament for non-pay-
ment (as well as the arrears themselves) may be speedily
levied, and that from all those who have not before this time
paid in their proportions of assessments, no less than the full
penalty may henceforth be accepted. And for the speedy
levying both of arrears and penalties, (according to the ordi-
nances of Parliament for that purpose), I have, with the same
advice, appointed Colonel Hewson, with a thousand foot, to
come to-morrow, to quarter in the City, and within the late
lines of communication, in such places as he finds fittest,
until the service be accomplished; and in the prosecution
thereof to observe the directions of the Committee for the
Army, according to the said ordinances. If this course
should be a matter of wonder or offence to any, I make no
doubt but the necessity of the thing (which I have before
represented) will afford sufficient satisfaction to all that wish
well to the Parliament, the army, city, or kingdom, and that
those whose wilfulness (if not malignity, or design to break
the army and incense the kingdom,) have necessitated this,
will bear the blame, both of the thing itself, and of whatever
ill consequence may ensue.
I shall desire the best care of your lordship and all that
wish well to the Parliament and army, or tender the safety of
cc 2
388
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
the City, that in this service (so necessary both for the ends
aforesaid, and for the vindication of the authority of Parlia-
ment) no impediment or affront be given to the officers or
soldiers employed therein, from whence any further ill conse-
quences might be occasioned; as, on the other side, I have
commanded, and am very confident that all care will be
taken by Colonel Hewson and the other officers employed
under him, for the soldiers' orderly and civil demeanour, both
in their quarters and in the service, and that not the least
wrong shall be done by them to any in the City, nor any
damage, save what the persons refusing to pay their arrears
or penalties according to the ordinance of Parliament, shall
wilfully bring upon themselves, and the charge of quartering
the soldiers till the service be done. For which purpose
I have given order to Colonel Hewson that so soon as he
hath (from the Committee of the Army, or collectors,) the
lists of what persons are in arrear, he shall quarter the
soldiers only upon such, as near as he can, with relation to
the conveniency of quartering; and if any disorder or injury
be done by the soldiers or officers, as I doubt not but Colonel
Hewson will be careful to give redress, so in case of his
neglect, I shall be ready upon complaint to do it to the
utmost myself, who am
Your lordship's faithful friend and servant,
T. FAIRFAX.
Kingston, Nov. 19th, 1647.
The happy pacification of affairs effected by the
General was not wholly free from lingering difficulties.
Honours were profusely showered upon him by the City
in common with the Parliament. He was invited to
1647.1
389
THE CIVIL WAR.
a grand banquet at the Guildhall (which he declined);
a basin and ewer of beaten gold, of the value of 10007.
or 1200%., were subscribed for as a present to him from
the City; and even the apprentices hastened to him in
crowds with an address of acknowledgment and con-
gratulation. But in the flower of all these tributes,
there was still a dead halt in the proceedings of
Parliament, notwithstanding the liberal expressions of
gratitude and confidence so ceremoniously addressed to
him by both Houses. The Lords promptly responded
to the energy with which he rescued Parliament from
a position of danger and humiliation, and at once
annulled the proceedings which had taken place between
the 26th of July and the 6th of August-the interval
during which the Houses had acted under coercion, and
in the absence of their Speakers. This vote was, in fact,
necessary to the justification of the army.
It was
accordingly sent down to the other House, when the
question was debated from day to day, and, to the
astonishment of the whole kingdom, negatived by a
majority of three. The effect of this decision was to
ratify in the Commons the whole of those acts which
the Speaker, and no less than 100 members, protected
by the army, had declared to be unconstitutional, con-
strained, and without force. The dilemma arising out
of this proceeding required some consideration; for it
could not be denied that the House, which thus decided
upon the validity of former sittings, was itself a free
and constitutional assembly; and that had its decision
390
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
been in the affirmative, it would have admitted of no
dispute. Yet, on the other hand, the army could not
acquiesce in this decision without compromising the rights
and liberties which they had recently vindicated in the
liberation of Parliament. If the acts which this decision
authenticated were legal and constitutional, the inter-
ference of the army was unjustifiable. But these acts
were clearly illegal and unconstitutional, and it was,
therefore, incumbent upon the army to resume the
ground upon which they had originally taken up the
question, and to require from the Commons a revision
of their proceedings.
Sir Thomas Fairfax called a council of war at
Kingston to deliberate upon this matter, and the result
was a Remonstrance addressed to both Houses, in which
they set forth the necessity of the proceedings they had
taken on behalf of Parliament, and declared that the
votes which had been passed between the 26th of July
and the 6th of August were forced, and not the expres-
sion of a free legislation. The main point aimed at by
this Remonstrance was the purging of Parliament, as
they expressed it, of such members as acted and voted
during the time when the Speaker and the rest were
driven to seek protection from the army. The language
on this point was explicit. It declared that if any of
the members who had sat and voted in the "pretended
Parliament," should hereafter intrude themselves to sit
in Parliament before they should have given satisfaction
concerning the grounds of their so sitting and voting,
1647.]
391
THE CIVIL WAR.
the army would take a speedy and effectual course to
bring them to condign punishment.
This Remonstrance was received and approved of in
the Lords, and read in the Commons, without further
motion. Shortly afterwards, however, an ordinance
passed both Houses, declaring the sittings at West-
minster null and void during the interregnum of the
Speakers. The shape into which this ordinance was
thrown did not exactly correspond with the requisition
of the army; but it fully met the substantial justice
and necessity of the case.
During these proceedings, his Majesty was quietly
housed at Hampton Court. Ominous dreams of
Wolsey may he have had in that gorgeous palace,
whose history, even down to his own day, was crowded
with courtly vicissitudes! He had been moving about
from place to place from Stoke to Oatlands, and from
Oatlands to Hampton-with a show of state and cheer-
fulness which admirably masked not merely the actual
durance in which he lived, but the feelings and designs
he secretly entertained. Sometimes hunting in the
New Park, sometimes dining with his children at Sion
House, or having them dining with him, he was to all
outward appearance so much at his ease that wagers
were laid from day to day that he would be at
St. James's or Whitehall within a week. All sorts of
people had access to him, and the road to Hampton
was so crowded with visitors who came to kiss hands,
or to be cured of the Evil, that Fairfax was obliged to
392
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
remove his quarters from Kingston. Colonel Whalley,
who had charge of his Majesty, says, in a declara-
tion published in his Majesty's vindication at this time,
that "it is confessed no gentleman is debarred the
liberty of kissing the King's hand; yet no stranger
stays long; we have fresh and fresh appearances; the
faces you see in the morning, you seldom see in the
afternoon; at the farthest but the next day." Colonel
Whalley says nothing about the healing power of the royal
touch, so that it might be supposed that all these people
came out of reverence and loyalty to kiss the King's
hand. The subject was rather dangerous, for it was
only in the preceding April that the House of Commons
found it necessary to warn the people against the
superstition of being touched by the King, his Majesty
having largely practised in that way at Holmby, to the
scandal of the nation. In the early part of his reign
his Majesty openly encouraged the belief in his divine
gift by a succession of proclamations, prescribing the
order and periods in which the people were to repair
to him for the cure of the Evil. The historians of
these miraculous cures ascribe extraordinary powers
to him, and one of them assures us that he "excelled
all his predecessors in the divine gift; for it is manifest
beyond all contradiction, that he not only cured by his
sacred touch, both with and without gold, but likewise
perfectly effected the same cure by his prayer and bene-
diction alone."+ We can clearly understand what the
* Whitelocke. + Badger. See Pettigrew on Medical Superstitions.
1647.1
393
THE CIVIL WAR.
attraction was that drew the crowds to Hampton, and
why the morning faces were seldom seen in the afternoon.
But it is not so easy to comprehend the infatuation
which under such grave circumstances resorted to means
like these to propitiate popularity.
While his Majesty was at Hampton Court, the propo-
sitions intended to be made to him for the settlement
of the affairs of the kingdom were fully discussed and
finally decided upon in Parliament. The propositions,
which were much the same as those formerly rejected
by his Majesty at Newcastle, were presented to the
King in September, and again rejected. His Majesty
waived the proposals of the Parliament, and, with a
world of professions about indemnity and liberty of
conscience, desired to enter into a treaty founded upon
the basis of certain proposals which had been drawn up
by the army. The following curious document, found
amongst the Fairfax papers, appears to refer to some
negociation which about this time-while the proposi-
tions were yet under discussion in Parliament-had been
opened, or was in contemplation, between the King and
Sir Thomas Fairfax. So far as it goes, it agrees in
spirit with the elaborate proposals drawn up at a
council of war on the 6th of August; but no evidence
can be traced that any such articles of agreement were
ever submitted to his Majesty. The probability is, that
this paper, in which only a few pressing topics are
touched upon, to the entire omission of all the great
questions embraced in the proposals both of the army
394
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
and the Parliament, was merely a rough draught of the
heads of a preliminary agreement; and that the purpose
or view with which it was drawn up had been set aside
by the fluctuation of circumstances. There were doubt-
less many similar draughts of projected and unfulfilled
designs written out in this way, and destroyed. This
paper may have escaped the same fate by accident.
It will be seen that there is at least one essential
difference between these articles and the propositions
of the Parliament, in the clause providing for the
preservation of the rights of the Bishops, and that
Fairfax distinctly comprehended the restoration of the
Sovereign in his plan for the settlement of the kingdom.
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE KING'S MAJESTY
AND SIR T. FAIRFAX AND THE ARMY, FOR THE SETTLE-
MENT OF PEACE IN THE THREE KINGDOMS, AUGUST, 1647.
Ir is mutually agreed on between our Sovereign Lord King
Charles and His Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax, with
his Council of War, for the speedy restoration of his
Majesty's three kingdoms, and for the settling of them
in a safe and well-grounded peace.
1st, That this present Parliament shall be suddenly
adjourned to Oxford, and shall be then speedily dissolved,
and not exceeding the space of eighty days, his Majesty's
Warrant being already signed for that purpose.
2nd, That the Bishops shall continue in statu quo prius,
and be restored to their indubitable rights, according to the
ancient customs, laws, and statutes of this realm.
1647.]
THE CIVIL WAR.
395
3rd, That all the ancient charters, laws, edicts, and several
pleadings in this kingdom shall be forthwith translated into
the English tongue, for the better understanding of all his
Majesty's subjects therein.
4th, That all causes whatsoever shall be tried each in their
respective county, and judges deputed by his Majesty, to
hear and decide the said causes, that the people may no more
be put to that excessive travelling to Westminster upon all
occasions of suits.
5th, That the Earl of Bristol, the Earl of Newcastle, the
Earl of Worcester, and the Lord Digby, shall expect no
pardon: That Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, Sir Robert
Heath, Sir George Ratcliffe, Sir Richard Greenville, Sir
George Carteret, Sir Charles Dalison, and other notorious
delinquents be banished this kingdom during life, and their
estates to be sequestrated for three years, and after the three
years shall be expired, the said estates to be finally settled
on their posterity.
6th, That all those that have not already compounded be
forthwith fully discharged.
7th, That six thousand foot and two thousand horse be,
with all speed, furnished with all accoutrements for the
service of Ireland.
8th, That the several guards, consisting of his Excellency
Sir Thomas Fairfax's army, be speedily drawn off from the
Tower, from the two Houses of Parliament, and the lines of
communication, and the said places to be again guarded by
the Citizens of London, as formerly.
9th, That liberty of conscience be allowed to all men, and
that none molest or injure one another for their conscience,
but peaceably and quietly bear with one another, so that we
may be all kept in the general bond of peace, and though
396
[1647,
MEMORIALS OF
different members, yet all wrapt up in the natural skin of
one politic body, that so all may lead quiet and peaceable
lives under his Majesty's government.
And that his Majesty is pleased to reside at Hampton
Court, till all this be fully perfected.
These Articles were concluded and agreed upon betwixt
our gracious Sovereign Lord King Charles, and our ever to
be honoured General Sir Thomas Fairfax, August, 1647, to
the great joy of all faithful subjects.
In the month of October, the miracle-pageantry at
Hampton Court was interrupted by a sudden order
from Parliament, for the withdrawal of certain officers
who had latterly flocked to the palace. This proceeding
took even the soldiers by surprise, and the cavalry were
especially incensed at it. But Parliament quietly prose-
cuted its object. A design was on foot somewhere,
the purport of which may be inferred from certain
instructions which were issued to the officers of the
Cinque Ports: "That if there be any attempt to
pass any of our ports, a disguised gentleman, tall, and
black hair, about thirty years old, one that varies garb,
sometimes like a Frenchman, a Dutchman, and some-
times for a Scot, and that can set his tongue accordingly,
examine him well; for such a man hath been observed
to follow the Court lately, and fully suspected to be
employed about desperate designs."
There was clearly something in agitation under the
masquerade of hand-kissing and Evil-curing. About this
time, too, divers ill-disposed persons were said to be
1647.]
397
THE CIVIL WAR.
tampering with prisoners, and anonymous letters were
affirmed to be constantly forwarded to his Majesty,
threatening his sacred life. Under a strong belief in
the truth of these latter reports (which may now be
discredited, or doubted, in full), Cromwell wrote off
hastily to Colonel Whalley to tell him that there were
rumours abroad of some intended attempt on his
Majesty's person. "Therefore," said Cromwell, "have
a care of your guards. If any such thing should be
done, it would be accounted a most horrid act." This
was written in November, the day not being stated; on
the 12th of the same month, at twelve o'clock at night,
Cromwell forwarded a letter to Speaker Lenthall, infor-
ming him that at nine o'clock on the night before, his
Majesty had withdrawn himself from Hampton. He
had, in fact, evaded Whalley's vigilant guards, and made
his escape. The effect of the reading of this letter in
the House of Commons may easily be imagined. It was
a scene which must have transcended, in the profound
sensation it produced, all the remarkable scenes that
had taken place from the beginning of the struggle.
The discovery of his Majesty's escape was made
within half an hour after his departure. The Com-
missioners and Colonel Whalley, who were in charge of
him, wondering that he did not come forth as usual to
supper, entered his room and found it empty. Some
letters, in his own hand-writing, lay upon the table,
amongst them a letter to the Commissioners, to be
communicated to Parliament, opening with this striking
398
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
sentence "Liberty being that which in all times hath
been, but especially now is, the condition, the aim, and
the desire of all men, common reason shows, that Kings,
less than any, should endure captivity." The logic is
not satisfactory, although it is built upon indisputable
premises. Why, this was the thing they were fighting
for all along—this liberty for all men. It was a pity
that his Majesty never found out its value (and then
only in his own case), till he was himself deprived of its
enjoyment. It seems that he got off by the river. His
cloak was discovered in the gallery in the private way.
He had passed out by the back stairs and vault to the
water-side.
Orders were instantly dispatched to the ports, all
suspected persons were arrested, and it was declared
that confiscation of estate and loss of life would be
executed upon any man who should conceal his Majesty.
These peremptory measures had hardly been thrown
into shape, when all trouble and suspense were brought
to an end as surprisingly as they had started up, by
the surrender of the fugitive. His Majesty had fled
to Southampton, accompanied by Sir John Barkley,
Mr. Ashburnham, and Mr. Leg, with some vague notion
about getting a ship there for France, or for any place
out of England; for it appears that his plans were
matured only up to the edge of the water, and that he
depended upon chance for everything beyond that.
Failing in his expectations, he crossed to the Isle of
Wight, and on the 13th of November, the second day
1647.]
399
THE CIVIL WAR.
after he had left Hampton Court, a hasty letter was
received by the House of Commons from Colonel
Hammond, the new Governor of Carisbrook Castle,
containing the astonishing intelligence that his Majesty
was safely lodged under that hospitable roof.
"This
morning," says Colonel Hammond, "as I was on the
way, passing from Carisbrook Castle to Newport, Mr.
Ashburnham and Sir John Barkley overtook me; and,
after a short discourse, told me that the King was near,
and that he would be with me that night; that he was
come from Hampton Court upon information that there
were some intended to destroy his person, and that he
could not with safety continue any longer there; and
that finding his case thus, chose rather to put himself in
my hands, being a member of the army; whom, he
saith, he would not have left, could he have had security
to his person, than to go to any other place. Being
herewith exceedingly surprised, at present I know not
what course to take." But, for all his surprise, he went
straightforward to his duty. The King had not yet left
Southampton, and Hammond at once crossed over to
secure him. "Hereupon," he continues, "I went imme-
diately with them over the water, taking Captain
Basket, the captain of Cowes Castle, with me, and found
the King near the water-side; and finding myself no
way able to secure him there, I chose, he desiring it, to
bring him over into this island, where he now is. My
endeavours, as for my life," he adds, "shall be to preserve
and secure his person." The announcement of this
400
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
piece of intelligence in the House of Commons produced
a "sensation," second only to that which followed the
reading of Cromwell's midnight communication.
Colonel Hammond, in whose custody the King was
thus unexpectedly deposited, had entered upon his office
of Governor of Carisbrook Castle only so recently as
the middle of September. He had scarcely had time to
make himself acquainted with the carte du pays, still less
to acquire personal influence amongst the inhabitants.
The greater reason, therefore, for strict surveillance in
this case. Having made such provisions as the circum-
stances demanded, such as issuing an order that no
person should be allowed to leave the island without a
pass, or to land without being brought before him and
examined, he convened a meeting of the gentry, and
procured their co-operation in his measures for preserving
his Majesty's person, and ensuring obedience to the
authority of Parliament.
Hammond had just been nominated, by a vote of both
Houses, upon the Committee for drawing up a new set
of propositions to be submitted to his Majesty, when the
sudden flight from Hampton arrested all further pro-
ceedings in the way of negociation. He was well
qualified, from his knowledge of the views of Parliament,
and his zeal in their service, to discharge with discre-
tion and firmness the responsible trust which had so
suddenly devolved upon him. He had distinguished
himself through the war, especially in the storming party
at Bristol, where he served with his uncle, Thomas
1647.]
401
THE CIVIL WAR.
Hammond, a Lieutenant-General in the service, and
strenuous on the side of the army:. Some three years
before the present date, he challenged a brother officer
for giving him the "lie," and killed him in a duel; but
was acquitted upon trial in consideration of the great-
ness of the provocation. Hammond was a Chertsey man,
descended from a physician who practised there before
Cowley (who was about the same age as Hammond)
and Dean Sprat conferred their celebrity on the Porch
House. One of Hammond's uncles was as staunch a
loyalist as the poet, and while Robert and his uncle
Thomas, the Lieutenant-General, were engaged in the
ranks of the Parliament, uncle William, the divine,
enjoyed the intimate confidence of his Majesty in the
capacity of one of his private chaplains. Thus it is that
civil war invades the sanctuary of domestic life, and
disperses its closest relations to the winds.
Colonel Hammond acquitted himself so skilfully and
graciously of his disagreeable task, that he was constantly
engrossed in conversation with the King, who expressed
great pleasure in his society. His position was awkward
-although the path of duty in the most embarrassing
positions is always clear. The King had thrown him-
self upon his protection, and his honour was engaged for
his safety. The difficulty on this point was brought to
issue when the Parliament sent down warrants for the
apprehension of the three gentlemen who had accom-
panied the King. Hammond demurred and refused.
The King declared that if these gentlemen were to be
VOL. I.
D D
402
[1647.
MEMORIALS OF
punished for what they had done, he must expect the
same himself. "Further, give me leave to add," said
Hammond, in a letter to the Parliament, "if so unworthy
a servant of your lordships as I am, and that which
concerns my honour, were at all worthy of your consi-
deration, whether it would not much reflect upon me in
case these gentlemen should be thus removed from
hence. The King and themselves have freely thrown
themselves upon me for safety, upon confidence, as they
please to say, of my honour and honesty, and the satis-
faction they expect it would have given the Parliament,
the King being necessitated to remove." Such consi-
derations might be worth thinking of, or not; but having
discharged his honour of this chivalric remonstrance,
Hammond closed by placing his allegiance at the free
disposal of Parliament. "Whatever is commanded by
authority, especially that of the Parliament, though
never so contrary to my sense or honour, shall never be
disobeyed."
The King, feeling himself now secure, wrote a long
statement to Parliament, presenting the basis of a per-
sonal treaty. Parliament declined the treaty in this
shape, and drew up other propositions in the form of
four bills, sending Commissioners down with them to the
Isle of Wight. The result was, as usual, unsatisfactory.
The King would do nothing explicit or decisive, and the
Commissioners went back, much humiliated and discom-
fited by their Fools' Errand. Before they left Caris-
brook, intelligence reached Sir Thomas Fairfax that a
C
K
1647.]
403
THE CIVIL WAR.
design was on foot to carry off the King, and he imme-
diately ordered Hammond to keep a strict guard on
his person, at the same time apprising Parliament of
the information he had received. The design broke
out exactly in the place and at the moment anticipated.
Just as the Commissioners had taken leave, a drum was
beat up at Newport, loud cries "For God and King
Charles!" filled the air, and the streets were crowded
with rioters. The object was to seize the Castle, and
take away the King, But Hammond was prepared,
and dispersing the mob, lodged the ringleaders in safe
custody. All delicacy was now at an end. Ashburn-
ham and the rest of the King's party, including his
Majesty's private chaplains and servants, were dismissed,
and sent out of the Island; the guards were strength-
ened; and the fugitive King found himself on the last
day of the year 1647 a prisoner in Carisbrook.
END OF VOL. I.
LONDON:
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
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