Roundway Down.]

He had been sent into the West to drive Waller thence; and yet after this battle he found the latter still between the king's army and the western counties, whither he, the marquis, could not penetrate without risking another battle, which, without the accession of a new body of cavalry, he was not in a condition to attempt. This made him resolve to march to Devizes, intending to leave there his infantry, under Sir Ralph Hopton; and then, with the remains of his cavalry, to cut a passage sword in hand to Oxford, which was only thirty miles

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distant from that place, to which he hoped to return with a body of horse and dragoons strong enough to enable him to bring off Hopton's force, or still to keep the field.

Meanwhile the remains of the gallant Sir Beville Grenville were sent to Cornwall, and buried in Kilkhampton Church, where his monument is still to be seen. The Grenvilles were long seated at Stowe, a magnificent mansion, above the village of Combe, in Cornwall; but a moated site is all that remains of it now.

GRENVILLE'S comrade, Sir Ralph Hopton, was no doubt a kinsman of that Ensign Hopton-if not the ensign himself-who figures in the history of the unfortunate Elizabeth Stuart, the wife of the cowardly Elector Palatine: he who "trailed a pike in the English band of Sir Horace Vere;" and who carried her on his horse en croupe to Breslau, after the battle of the White Mountain, in 1620; and whose proudest boast it was, "that in her saddest extremity he had served and protected the Scottish Queen of Bohemia" (Memoirs of the Queen of Bohemia and of Sir John Hepburn).

Sir Ralph Hopton, left thus in command of the king's infantry at "The Devizes," as the town was then named, was past danger, after his scorching; he could hear and speak, says Clarendon, but he could neither see nor stir. With him, however, were left the Earl of Marlborough, general of the royal artillery, and the Lord Mohun. The resolution of the Marquis of Hertford was pursued, but so soon as he left his infantry at Devizes, Waller appeared before that place and invested these troops, then in sore straits owing to want of provisions. Aware that they would not remain long in this condition, he proposed to them a capitulation, which Sir Ralph Hopton, in his feeble and miserable state of body might gladly have accepted; and in the uncertainty whether any succour would reach him from Oxford, he commenced a treaty with Waller, which he intended to prolong to the last extremity, resolving not to yield while the shadow of a hope remained: but so confident was Waller that he had them all completely at his mercy, that he sent word to Parliament "that their business was done, and that by the next

post he would send the number and rank of his prisoners."

Meanwhile a body of only 1,500 horse sent by King Charles, at the urgent request of the Marquis of Hertford and Prince Maurice, was advancing from Oxford under the Lord Wilmot; and, fortunately for Sir Ralph, this force appeared within two miles of Devizes before his capitulation with Waller was signed. This was on the morning of the 8th of September, 1643.

Sir William, the instant he learned the advance of these succours, drew out his whole force, without sound of drum or trumpet, on Roundway Down, over which Wilmot's cavalry would have to pass ere they could form a junction with the infantry in the town; and there, notwithstanding the astonishing disparity of the forces in strength, ensued the most signal defeat of the Parliament during the war.

On a good position along the green slope of the down, he drew up four regiments of pikemen and musketeers, six regiments of horse, 500 dragoons, and eight pieces of brass cannon. In Waller's force was still the then famous cuirassier regiment of Sir Arthur Haslerig.

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Clarendon says that "Sir William Waller received from London a fresh regiment of 500 horse, under the command of Sir Arthur Haslerig, which were so completely armed that they were called on the other side the Regiment of Lobsters,' because of the bright iron shells with which they were covered, being perfect cuirassiers, and were the first seen so armed on either side, and the first that made any impression on the king's horse, who being unarmed, were not able to bear the shock of them; besides, that they were

and 900 taken prisoners, together with the cannon, eight cavalry standards, and twenty-four infantry colours.

To add to the joy, however, of this new and most unexpected victory, the queen, who had returned from the Continent on the day it was won, entered Oxford, where the Marquis of Hertford assumed the command of the army; where fresh schemes of conquest were planned, the captures of Bristol, Weymouth, and other places proposed; and where, for his wounds and services at Roundway Down, Sir John Byron, on the 24th of the subsequent October, was raised to the peerage, by the title of Lord Byron, of Rochdale, in the county palatine of Lancaster.

He had commanded in the reserve at the battle of Edgehill. Three of his brothers served the king in this disastrous war, viz.: Robert, who was a colonel of infantry; Sir Philip, who fell at the head of his regiment at the storming of York; and Sir Thomas, who commanded the Prince of Wales's Regiment, under the Earl of Northampton, in the engagement on Hopton Heath, where he was so severely wounded in the thigh that he died soon after.

The surrender of Bristol to Prince Rupert after the result at Roundway Down dispirited the Parliamentarians, and such was the confusion reigning in London that many urged Charles to march on the metropolis at once; but he resolved first to reduce Gloucester, that he might have the whole course of the Severn under the royal authority, more especially as the queen had brought with her 3,000 infantry, 1,500 horse, and much ammunition and artillery.

Hampden had fallen beneath the fire of Rupert's troops at Chalgrove Field; but now a greater soldier and statesman-a captain of horse, named Oliver Cromwell-was becoming prominent as a leader, though he had never encountered regular troops nor foreign armies of long training, but only the raw levies of England, and, latterly, the ploughmen and shepherds of Scotland.

Sprung from an ancient family in the fenny districts of Huntingdonshire, it would appear that in early life he had fallen into a state of prolonged and profound melancholy, and it is plain from the somewhat rhapsodical and disjointed documents that have come down to us that his mental faculties were impaired. To cure him of this malady he was advised to turn his attention to agriculture, and this obscure but soothing occupation he did not quit till five years later, when he migrated to Ely, on the death of an uncle who left him property in that cathedral city. Subsequently came those

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events which led to the Civil War. choly enthusiasm of Cromwell was kindled, and he believed that the time had come when "he was to put himself forth in the cause of the Lord," and that cause he identified in his own mind with the cause of the country party in opposition to that of the Church and king; but though called to Parliament, it was not until 1642 that he began to take his recognised place amid the leaders of the puritanical zealots. Among the members of the Long Parliament he was chiefly remarkable for his slovenly dress, of Puritan cut and sombre colour, and for his strange, rambling, and incoherent speeches. He divined the secret of the king's early success, and resolved that the same clownish soldiery of the Parliament should soon be more than a match for the glittering Cavaliers who adhered to royalty. To the sentiment of pure honour, generous love, and blind devotion which inspired the latter, he resolved to oppose the energy which is born of fervid yet sullen religious enthusiasm. In six months after the appointment of Essex as general, he was appointed colonel of a regiment of horse, his famous "Ironsides," which he was at liberty to recruit for himself; and there can be no doubt that he filled its ranks with brave and resolute, sober, grim, and God-fearing men.

From Whitelock we learn that most of them "were freeholders and freeholders' sons, who upon matter of conscience engaged in the quarrel; and being thus well armed within by the satisfaction of their own consciences, and without by good iron arms, they would, as one man, stand firmly and charge desperately."

Cromwell was careful not to take these men into action until he had tried their mettle; and Heath tells us that at their first muster, which was near one of the king's garrisons, he placed in ambush. twelve formidable-looking fellows, who rushed noisily forth, and at sound of trumpet galloped towards them. On this some twenty of the Ironsides "fled out of fear and dismay." These he did not punish, but simply ordered them to dismount, and deliver up their arms and accoutrements, so that their places might be supplied by better men; and the spring of 1643 saw his corps increased to 2,000 troopers, all of them devoted to him, and ready at his bidding to do and to die.

King Charles had invested Gloucester, the only place of note in the midland counties which admitted the authority of the Parliament; but though the garrison was reduced to its last barrel of powder, the approach of Essex raised the siege. Yet the latter noble dreaded a battle with the army of the king, as it was greatly superior in cavalry,

and he resolved to reach London, if possible, without risking that contingency. For five days he lay at Tewkesbury, which was his first halt after leaving Gloucester, and then he feigned certain preparations for a movement towards Worcester, while by a forced march in the night he reached Cirencester, and thus obtained the double advantage of passing unmolested through an open country, and of surprising a convoy of provisions in that town. Without delay he continued his march towards London; but when he reached Newbury, a market town near the southern border of Berkshire, in a fertile place on the banks of the Kennet, great was his astonishment to find that the brave and energetic king, by marches still more forced and hasty, was already in possession of the place, and ready to dispute his progress farther with the sword.

An action was now unavoidable, and there at Newbury, on the 20th of September, 1643, was fought a battle that was both long and bloody.

The Cavaliers were "gentlemen high-spirited and ardent," says the popular historian of the Roundheads; "accustomed to consider dishonour as more terrible than death; accustomed to fencing, to the use of fire-arms, to bold riding, and to the manly and perilous sports which have been well called the image of war. Such gentlemen, mounted on their favourite horses, and commanding little bands composed of their younger brothers, grooms, gamekeepers, and huntsmen, were, from the very first day they took the field, qualified to play their part with credit in a skirmish "—or, he might well have added, a stubborn pitched battle.

The two armies were now too near each other to avoid an encounter, consequently preparations were made for one on both sides.

The troops of Essex were advantageously posted on lofty ground, called Brigshill; his cannon and cavalry covering his infantry. Among the latter were the Trained Bands of London, who were placed under Major-General Skippon, at their first muster in Finsbury Fields in 1642, when six regiments, comprising 8,000 men, appeared under arms.

The troops of Essex had been under arms all night, and consequently fought at disadvantage.

With those of the king were Robert Dormer, Earl of Carnarvon; Henry Spenser, Earl of Sunderland; and the Viscount Falkland. The latter made himself somewhat remarkable on this day.

He

was then only in his thirty-fourth year, and though Secretary of State, was serving as a volunteer in the cavalry corps of Lord Byron. He was a young man of the brightest parts, of the greatest honour,

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ever

and most consummate virtue. He had assisted the king, his master, with the most salutary advice; and had encountered the greatest difficulties and braved many perils in his service. He had ever used his utmost endeavours to effect a reconciliation between the hostile parties; and when he saw the hope was vain, so much did he love England, that a pensive sorrow stole upon him; he grew regardless of his dress, and when with friends would often sigh deeply, and ejaculate the word, "Peace-Peace!"

On the morning of the battle of Newbury, he appeared to have some presentiment of his approaching fate, and he bestowed extraordinary care upon the decoration of his person, and in selecting his richest Cavalier apparel, saying the while, jocularly, to a friend that his body should not be found by the enemy in a slovenly condition.

"I am weary," he added, "of the times, and foresee much misery to my country; but believe I shall be out of it before night." And inspired by this solemn conviction, he took his place in the ranks.

The Royal infantry was led by Sir Nicholas Byron. The battle began by small advanced parties of musketeers skirmishing from behind walls, hedges, and trees, until the lines were so near that Charles found it necessary to engage in general action towards the afternoon.

Essex, nothing loth, advanced with his own regiment, and the Lord Robert's brigade of horse. Led by the fiery and impetuous Prince Rupert, the Royal cavalry made a furious charge upon that of the Puritans, and compelled that usually solid force to give way. Remembering the error he had committed at Edgehill, he did not pursue them too far, but after he had routed them, sword in hand, he wheeled round his squadrons, now flushed with hope and success, and made a furious rush upon the infantry, in rear of which the routed horse were rallying, blown and breathless. In the first onset fell the fated Falkland. He was mortally wounded in the stomach by a cannon-shot, and fell from his horse to die in about an hour afterwards.

Their bridles loose, their horses gored by the spur, the Cavaliers flung themselves in headlong charge against the infantry, but they could not make the least impression upon that serried yet solid rampart of pikes. "The militia (i.e., the Trained Bands) of London especially, though drawn but a few days before from their ordinary occupations, yet having learned all military exercises, and being animated by unconquerable zeal for the cause in which they were engaged, equalled on this occasion what could be expected from the most veteran forces."