CHAPTER I. STATISTICS OF THE TWO SIDES : THE TWO ARMIES AND THEIR OFFICERS-FIRST ACTIONS OF THE WAR: BATTLE OF EDGEHILL AND THE MARCH TO TURNHAM GREEN-SKETCH OF EVENTS TILL MIDSUMMER, 1643. A COMPLETE narration of the events of the great Civil War is not to be looked for in this History. We shall but move on through the war, seeking for whatever, in the midst of it, may be more properly interesting to ourselves, and only taking care to be cognizant all the while of the fury that is raging around. There were, however, certain preliminary studies of a statistical kind, bearing on the war, which the author had to make for himself before he could proceed with any satisfaction, or feel that he understood his element; and he believes that, by presenting here the results of these studies, he will be clearing the route for his readers, and perhaps saving trouble to future writers. STATISTICS OF THE TWO SIDES. From and after the setting-up of the King's standard at Nottingham on the 22nd of August, 1642, England was rent asunder into the two parties of the ROYALISTS and the PARLIAMENTARIANS, otherwise called CAVALIERS and ROUNDHEADS. All England was so divided; for, whatever masses of indifferency there may have been in some parts of the country at first, no sooner had the two armies begun their marchings, and their exactions of supplies, than these masses were effectually drawn into the strife. In the course of the four years of war there were instances, and some very notorious, of shiftings from the one side to the other. With all allowance for these, however, and also for the deaths on both sides which remove some from the lists almost as soon as they are formed, a tabular census of the two parties, calculated as exactly as possible for the actual commencement of the war, will be more welcome here to the real student than pages of flowing description. We begin with the Peerage. The Bishops being no longer peers, the English Peerage in August 1642-if we omit the Prince of Wales (atat. 13), the Duke of York (ætat. 9), the Duke of Gloucester (ætat. 2), and their cousin Prince Rupert (ætat. 23, and not an English peer till 1644, when he was created Duke of Cumberland)-consisted of 132 persons; of whom 2 were Dukes, 2 were Marquises, 59 were Earls, 6 were Viscounts, and 63 were Barons. The following is the best classification of these I can make for our present Lord Howard of Charlton (eldest son of Earl of Berkshire, but peer in his own right). Brudenel. Capel. Chandos (went over to the Par liament, June 1644). Cottington. (some time abroad). Coventry. Craven, of Hamstead-Marshall Cromwell (created Earl of Ard glass in Irish Peerage, 1644). D'Arcy and Conyers. Deincourt (created Earl of ,, Digby (abroad at first, but re visited England). Dunsmore (made Earl of Chichester, June 1644). Eure (killed 1645). Fauconberg (made Viscount, Jan. 1612-3). Goring (abroad for a time, but returned, and was created Earl of Norwich, Nov. 1644). Grey of Ruthen (died June 1643). Hastings (son of the Earl of Huntingdon, but peer in his own right; succeeded his father as Earl 1643). Herbert of Cherbury (became Parliamentarian). Lovelace. Lyttleton (Lord Keeper: died July 1645). Mohun (died 1644). Montague of Boughton (an old Paget (apt to change sides). Pierrepoint (son of the Earl of Kingston, but peer in his own right; succeeded his father 1643, and made Marquis of Dorchester, March 1644). Powis, Rich (eldest son of the Parliamentarian Earl of Warwick: called to Peers, January 1641-2). Savile (created Earl of Sussex, May 1644). Seymour (brother of the Marquis of Hertford). Spencer (a very young man; created Earl of Sunderland, June 1643; killed September 1643). Stourton. Strange (succeeded his father as Earl of Derby, Sept. 1642). Wentworth (eldest son of the Earl of Cleveland, but peer in his own right). Willoughby D'Eresby (son of the Earl of Lindsey, but a baron in his own right since 1640; succeeded his father as Earl, Oct. 1642). II. PEERS NEARLY ALL CERTAINLY OR PRESUMABLY ROYALIST, Earl of Bridgewater (the Earl of Comus; invalid. His eldest son, Viscount Brackley, had just married Elizabeth, second daughter of the Earl of Newcastle). Danby (old and infirm; ob. Jan. 1643-4). Derby (old and infirm; ob. Sept. 1642, when succeeded by his son, Lord Strange). Exeter (ob. April 1643, and succeeded by his son John, a minor). Kent (old or invalid; ob. 1643, and succeeded by his son Henry, a Parliamentarian). Manchester (ob. Nov. 1642, when succeeded by his son Ld. Kimbolton, the Parliamentarian). Nottingham (ob. Oct. 1642, succeeded by his half-brother Charles Howard, a Parliamentarian). Oxford (a minor). St. Alban's (Earl Clanrickarde in the Irish peerage, and made Marquis of Clanrickarde 1644; a Roman Catholic and Royalist, but abroad). in feeling; and some, like Arundel and St. Alban's, were very ardent Royalists, though abroad. My authorities in compiling the list are (1) Absence from the King's list of Effectives in 1643-4, (2) List of Peers absent from Parliament for various reasons, but not with the King, May 1642 (Parl. Hist. II. 1297); (3) List of Royalist Peers abroad (Parl. Hist. III. 219). 1 Authorities, besides general Histories and Peerage-books, are-Lists of Peers present in the House, given day after day in the Lords Journals from Sept. 1643 onwards; List of Parliamentarian Peers for Jan. 1643-4, in Clar. Hist. p. 467; and a List in a fly-sheet in the British Museum, of date July 30, 1646, printed for "Fran Earl of Essex (ParliamentarianGeneral). Holland (apt to change sides; went over to the King, autumn 1643, but came back). Lincoln. Middlesex (on the whole on this side; ob. 1645). Mulgrave (old; ob. 1646). Pembroke and Montgomery. Salisbury. Stamford. Suffolk. cis Leach at the Falcon in Shoe Lane," and entitled "The Great Champions of England; being a Perfect List of the Lords and Commons that have stood right to this Parliament." In this last list 29 names of Parliamentarian Peers are given. Lord Brooke, who is in our list, having been killed so early as 1642-3, does not figure among the "Champions" in 1646; nor, as having been shelved meanwhile, does the Earl of Bedford; but among those "Champions" do figure Lord Herbert of Cherbury, who has in the meantime changed sides, and a new Earl of Kent and a new Earl of Nottingham, successors of the "non-effectives" of these names in our preceding list. Thus, in the great body of the English Peerage, there was a very large preponderance of Royalism. The distinctly Parliamentarian peers at the beginning of the war did not number more than 30, if quite so many, while there were over 70 peers on the King's side, and about 28 non-effective peers who would, almost to a man, have been on that side too, but for the causes that made them non-effective. An analysis of the Commons' House according to the same plan of distribution is much more difficult. The basis, of course, must be the complete roll of the House in August 1642. This roll was, of course, not quite the same as the original roll of the House on its first assembling in Nov. 1640, or after the informal returns of that date had been rectified by fresh elections (see antè, pp. 159-173). In so large a body two-and-twenty months had necessarily made changes. One member (Secretary Windebank) had fled at the very outset; about 14 had died; some 9 or 10 had been expelled for being concerned in flagrant commercial monopolies; several had been expelled on grounds of political offence to the House, by breach of privilege or decorum, before the actual rupture with the King; 4 had been expelled in Dec. 1641 for their concern in the first Army-Plot; and 8 had been called to the House of Peers, either by natural succession or by express promotion, since the opening of the Parliament. Thus, by the month of August 1642, there were, in all, about 40 members on the roll of the House that had not been original members, but had been elected from time to time in the places of such. With these, even if we |