lawless proceedings of his army *. With the country against him, Newcastle could not long maintain his power, since, though the people might for a season be kept down by force, they would naturally avail themselves of any reverse in their oppressor to rise against him. But, in the mean time, he was terrible in that quarter; and afterwards became still more so. What contributed to the temporary misfortunes of Fairfax was, that Newcastle, who had great influence in Nottinghamshire, succeeded, by garrisoning Newark, in cutting off his supplies from the parliamentary party in Lincolnshire. A detachment of Newcastle's army, under Mr. Cavendish, had even taken Grantham, with three hundred prisoners, and all their arms and ammunition. Scarborough Castle too, was delivered up to the queen, and, though it was recovered in the same week, it was again treacherously surrendered. Such, in the early part of the year, was the posture of affairs in the North t.

The West had at first been entirely under the authority of the parliament; but matters had since begun to take a different turn. The Earl of Bedford, at the head of some parliamentary forces, had

* MSS. Brit. Mus. Ayscough, 4162. Extracts from the Register Book of Letters of Ferd. Lord Fairfax. May. Rush. vol. v. p. 131. et seq. 268, et seq. See there also an account of the queen's haughty reception of Sir William Fairfax, who was sent to her by Lord Fairfax, with the view of inducing her to interpose her influence towards an accommodation.

+ Rush. vol. v. p. 66. 264, 265–268, et seq. 274. Clar. vol. iii. p. 137. et seq. 143-4.

obliged the Marquis of Hertford, who headed the opposite party, to retreat into Wales, and Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir John Berkeley, Ashburnham, and others, to retire into Cornwall. But the ease with which he effected this, produced a contempt of the enemy, which led to memorable consequences. Instead of following up his success, the marquis left the restoration of tranquillity to the commissioners from the parliament, aided by the militia of Devonshire; and as the parliament despised the opposite party in that quarter, as much as the earl did, both the marquis and the rest were thus allowed leisure to recruit their forces and project new measures. The commissioners conceived the plan of proceeding in Cornwall by a legal course against the royalists, for having come armed into that county, and a presentment against them was prepared; but the best quality of that shire, (the same spirit does not appear to have extended to the lower classes,) having been devoted to the crown and high church principles, the bill was thrown out by the grand jury: and matters did not end even there; for a commission from the king to the Marquis of Hertford, as general of that district, and another from that nobleman to Sir R. Falkland having been exhibited, the grand-jury expressed their sense of his majesty's care of them, and their determination to support him. Feeling their strength, they followed the example which had been set them of legal measures, and indicted Sir Alexander Carew, Sir Richard Buller, and the other parliamentary commissioners, for a riot and unlawful assembly at Launceston, and also for riots

and misdemeanors against many of the king's subjects, and the sheriff being a keen royalist, immediately raised the posse commitatus. In this way a militia of 3000 well armed men was drawn out, which drove the few parliamentary forces from the county. Hopton wished to carry this army beyond the shire; but the soldiers refused to follow him, as an act not required of them by the law, unless in the case of foreign invasion. Disappointed thus, Sir Bevil Grenville, whom Clarendon calls the most beloved in that county, Sir Nicholas Stanning, Mr. John Arundel, and Mr. John Trevannion, immediately formed the resolution to raise regiments of volunteers; and, as young gentlemen of the shire flocked to their standard, and gladly accepted of subaltern commands, 1500 men were soon ready for the field. The parliament, now sensible of its error, and of the necessity of suppressing this new army, ordered its forces from Dorset, Somerset, and Devon-which were all under its authority-to march under the Earl of Stamford against the royalists. But mismanagement defeated the object. Ruthven, a Scotsman, commanded one detachment of Stamford's army, which preceded the main body by three days' march, and desirous of signalizing himself by the conquest of the Cornish before the Earl's arrival, passed the Tamar, six miles above Saltash, in order to hazard a general battle with his detachment. His army exceeded in number that of the volunteers, but they having been joined by the trained-bands, became superior; and Hopton, upon whom the command of the Cornish was devolved, had too much discernment not to per

ceive the propriety of striking a blow before Stamford came up. The two armies met on Bradick Down, and the parliamentary troops were totally routed. Ruthven fled to Saltash, from which he was soon driven, and escaped himself with difficulty to Plymouth, with the loss of his ordnance, colours, &c. A vessel, with stores from the parliament, also fell into the enemy's hands. A cessation was then concluded between the parties in that quarter; but it was broken in the spring, when matters took a still more decided turn for the king*.

Lancashire, Chesshire, and Shropshire, were supposed by Charles to be firmly devoted to him; but the parliament party, under Sir William Brereton, whose activity was indefatigable, soon became superior. Chester, indeed, through the interest of the bishop, continued stedfast to the king; but Nantwich was fortified, while Manchester, like all the great manufacturing and trading towns, was devoted to the parliament t. The state of those counties exhibits a striking picture of the feelings of the times. The Earl of Derby, a royalist, was the individual of chief note in the district, and, from the general respect which had been hitherto paid to his rank, he did not anticipate the

* Clar. vol. iii. p. 128, et seq. Rush. vol. v. p. 267.

"The town of Manchester," says Clarendon, " from the beginning (out of that factious huinour which possessed most corporations, and the pride of wrath) opposed the king, and declared magisterially for the parliament !" Vol. iii. p. 146. See p. 233, for an account of Birmecham, or Birmingham. "Manchester," writes Mr. Trevor to Ormonde, in a fury, " is the very London of those parts," &c. Carte's Let. vol. i. p. 16.

slightest opposition. But nothing is more fallacious than the usual outward deference shewn to rank. In the ordinary current of affairs, rank procures what it seems to desire, but in revolutionary times, though it still has influence, it becomes palsied, unless accompanied with talent as well as virtue. Men who never attempted to struggle with the influence of family, but had lived in retirement, and been despised by the aristocracy as beings of no consideration, then start into importance, and wither all the feeble energies of factitious concomitants, unsupported with virtue and abili ties. Such was the case in this instance: new men at once appeared formidable, and Derby's power sank. The papists too, who, when secretly encouraged by the court, had, by their insurrections, alarmed the kingdom, were suppressed by the popular party; and individuals, whose habits seemed foreign to a military life, almost immediately shewed a capacity for war, which the oldest soldiers could not contemn. Their Their very enemies pay a tribute of justice to their sobriety and industry, virtues which they confess did not belong to their own side. But, in the struggle, the popular party had one great advantage: supplied with money and arms, provided to them by the parliament, they had no occasion to oppress the inhabitants, while their adversaries were armed, fed, and clothed, at the expense of the country, "which quickly inclined it," says Clarendon, "to remember the burthen and forget the quarrel." But the following sentence from that author is so characteristic of the times, that we should do injustice to the