CHAPTER XLII.

NASEBY, 1645

In

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the West, and other places, were equal if not superior in number to their adversaries, but were actuated by a very different spirit. That licence which had been introduced by want of pay had risen to a great height among them, and rendered them as formidable to their friends as their enemies. In very contrast to their gloomy opponents, they affected a gallant and picturesque costume-a doublet of brilliantly coloured silk, satin, or velvet, with loose sleeves, slashed and braided; a vandyke collar, and short mantle worn on one shoulder; wide boots; a broad-leaved Flemish beaver, with plume and hat-band. A Spanish rapier hung in a magnificent baldrick, worn scarfwise over the right shoulder. In some instances a buff jerkin without

owing obedience to no synod or assembly. politics they were Republicans; and by an Act called their "Self-denying Ordinance," passed in April, 1645, these sour fanatics forbade all members of Parliament to hold command in the army. So the Earls of Essex and Manchester were removed. Sir Thomas Fairfax, afterwards third Lord Fairfax of Cameron, was appointed commander-in-chief, while Cromwell was soon called, with the rank of lieutenant-general, to lead the cavalry, and became, even prior to 1650, in reality, though not in name, general of the entire English army; and now was organised that strange force by the means of which he achieved all his victories. He recruited it from a superior class, con- sleeves was worn over the doublet. In battle many demning the admission of "tapsters and serving-contented themselves with a cuirass over a buff coat; men," into the ranks; and urged his officers to and some regiments of cavalry, from being thus engage none but "honest and God-fearing men," accoutred, acquired the name of cuirassiers. which probably necessitated a higher than ordinary rate of pay. "I had rather," he wrote, "have a plain, russet-coated captain, who knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call 'a gentleman,' and is nothing else." Elsewhere he wrote, "A few honest men are better than numbers. I have a lovely company-you would respect them did you know them-they are no 'Anabaptists;' they are sober, honest Christians, and expect to be treated like men" (Carlyle's "Letters of Cromwell").

Prince Rupert, fond of splendid apparel and of the soldiery on one hand, despised the people on the other. In their malignant hatred of the Cavaliers, the Puritans actually accused them of cannibalism. When Charles I. appointed Sir Thomas Lunsford Lieutenant of the Tower of London, the celebrated John Lilburn takes to himself the credit of exciting public hatred against him and Lord Digby, as bravoes of the most pitiless description. Of Sir Thomas, in particular, it was reported that his favourite food was the flesh of children, and he was

By a russet coat, he referred to the colour then painted like an ogre, cutting a child into steaks and much worn by the English troops.

There were, no doubt, many savage hypocrites in his ranks; but a spirit of sincere religion pervaded every regiment. In their tents and barracks, officers and men met regularly to pray; they neither gambled, drank, nor swore. On their muster-rolls appeared a most ridiculous adoption of Scriptural names, and they sang hymns as they marched into action.

broiling it. He was killed at the siege of Bristol. Lord Wilmot, a man of loose manners, promoted that spirit of wild and gay disorder which the licentious Gerrard, Sir Richard Granville, and George Goring, surnamed "The Gallant," now carried to a pitch of enormity. In the West, where he commanded, havoc and rapine were the order of the day. Despoiled of their substance, the countrypeople in many places flocked together, armed with In 1644 the weekly pay of a lieutenant-colonel clubs and stones, and slew the soldiers of both of foot was £4 3s. 4d.; of a captain, £2 10s. ; of parties. "Many thousands of these tumultuary a private, 3s. 6d. The weekly pay of a lieutenant-peasants were assembled in different parts of colonel of horse was £6; of a captain, £5; of a England, who destroyed all such straggling soldiers trooper, Ios.; of an artillery gunner, 1 IOS. as they met with, and much infested the armies." ("Archaelogia," Vol. XIV.). But we find in Rushworth that at this period Thornhalgh's Nottinghamshire Horse state that they had served five years, and received barely six shillings a week in all, and that there was £40,000 due to them.

The king's army was also remodelled. Desirous of casting ridicule on the fanaticism of the Parliamentary armies, the Royalists failed to see how much they had to apprehend from its fervour. The forces now assembled by the king at Oxford, in

Such was the state of the two forces when Charles committed his fate once again to the issue of a battle.

In the midsummer of 1645, the new-modelled army of the Parliament, under Fairfax and Cromwell, was posted at Windsor, 20,000 strong; yet Charles, in spite of their stern vigilance, effected the relief of Chester, which had long been blockaded by Sir William Brereton, and in his return southward he took Leicester by storm, after a furious assault, and

there 1,500 prisoners and much plunder were corps of cavalry bearing the royal standard of taken.

Alarmed by this double success, Fairfax, who, in absence of Charles, had received express orders to besiege Oxford, immediately left that place and marched to Leicester, intending to give the Cavaliers battle. In the meantime, Charles was hastening towards Oxford, in order to raise the siege and relieve his loyal and favourite city; so that the two armies were placed within a few miles of each other suddenly.

Charles called a Council of War, in which it was rashly resolved, through the influence of Prince Rupert, and the fiery spirit of the nobles and gentry, to engage Fairfax immediately, though the Royalists had the prospect of being soon reinforced by 3,000 horse and 2,000 foot, under officers of experience.

They accordingly advanced upon the Parliamentary army, which, on the 14th of June, they found drawn up in order of battle, on rising ground, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. It was a peculiarity of the Cavaliers, that whenever the Roundheads, whom they loathed and ridiculed, were near, they would never listen to the most common dictates of prudence.

It is related that "it was like the sudden bursting of a thunder-cloud" to Charles, when information reached him on the 12th that his rebels were in full march towards him, and that they were actually approaching Northampton with a force of cavalry and infantry to him overwhelming, as his strength is computed by Clarendon at only 7,400 men of all arms. At first he had issued orders for a retreat; the retrogression began at midnight, and by daybreak on the following morning his advanced guard entered Market Harborough, on the southern border of Leicestershire.

Closing up, the whole column was compelled to halt, in consequence of repeated attempts made by the enemy's horse to harass their rear, by Ireton, who charged the king's outposts, and cut off some prisoners, from whom, by fierce threats, exact information relative to the numbers and disposition of the Cavaliers was extorted. In consequence, it was resolved upon by Fairfax and Cromwell to bring on a decisive battle on the morrow, and to this end all their energies were directed. An hour before dawn on the morning of the 14th, that day so sorrowfully eventful for the unhappy king, the whole Republican army fell into its ranks, and began its march in profound silence and in the best possible order. No hymn or psalm was sung, and no drum or trumpet was heard.

Britain was observed advancing. This assured them of the vicinity of the king; and, satisfied that he "had doubled back upon his pursuers, and was determined to give and not receive the battle, Cromwell recommended that advantage should be taken of the strong ground on which they then stood, and that the line should be formed at once, so that the troops might be fresh and steady when the critical moment should come."

Sir Thomas Fairfax immediately adopted the suggestions of his lieutenant-general, and formed his army in order along the ridge, with the infantry in the centre, cavalry on the wings, and twenty pieces of cannon judiciously posted, so as to command and sweep every avenue of approach.

The right wing he assigned to Cromwell, the left to Ireton; the centre he reserved for himself, with Major-General Skippon. The reserves were under Colonels Rainsborough, Hammond, and Pride. All having sung a nasal and most discordant psalm, sat composedly down in their ranks, and awaited the approach of the " Moabites," as they named the Cavaliers.

Meanwhile, Charles, who had also selected a favourable position, just in front of Harborough, where he had established his head-quarters, was persuaded by Prince Rupert to quit his ground of vantage under an idea that the enemy were retreating, and "that one fierce attack would utterly rout them."

The king's infantry did not exceed 3,500 men. His cavalry, 3,900 strong, were formed in two corps on each flank, and here the usual discrepancies occur in detail between the accounts of Rushworth and Clarendon ; but Prince Rupert would seem to have led the right wing, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale, of the Holm, the other, together with Sir George Lisle, and Sir Henry Baird, of Staines, afterwards created Viscount Bellamount, who is mentioned in the Marquis of Westminster's Apothegms as a brave commander.

Sir Jacob Astley, lately created Lord Astley of Reading, led the main body of infantry; and Charles in person led a small reserve of horse.

With this feeble array, the luckless monarch was lured to the attack of a far superior force, composed of men now long inured to victory, carefully trained to arms, and wild and dogged in their fierce religious enthusiasm, and sense of civil equality. Nor was the order in which he began the battle more to be commended, says a writer, than the precipitancy with which he cast away the great advantage of fighting on ground of his own choice; They had proceeded as far as Naseby, when a and, it may be added, the facility with which he

permitted himself to fight at all before the succours under Gerrard joined him, as these would have made the encounter more equal.

No way tamed or sobered down by his reverses and fatal experience at Marston Moor and elsewhere, the reckless Prince Rupert, at the head of 2,000 brilliantly-accoutred cavalry, "with slackened reins, and spurs plunged in the horses' flanks," rushed to the charge with headlong fury against the division of Ireton.

As usual, saddles were emptied in scores under pistol-shot and sword-cut; Ireton's troops were overwhelmed by the furious shock, routed, and chased from the field in all directions. Then, as on previous occasions, Prince Rupert permitted his troops, with loud and exulting cheers, to disperse over the fields and meadows in wild and reckless pursuit of the fugitives, till their horses were blown and their vigour was wasted. Six pieces of cannon were captured. Ireton had his horse shot under him; he was run through the thigh by a sword, wounded in the face by a pike, says Whitelock, and taken prisoner, but afterwards found means to escape.

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lines bareheaded. Colonel Charles d'Oyley told him that he exposed himself too much to danger, and offered him his helmet; but Fairfax declined, saying, "It is well enough with me, Charles." Then he ordered the colonel to charge a body of the king's troops which presented an unbroken front, while he should attack in the rear, so that they should meet in the heart of them.

This they achieved. In the charge, says Whitelock, Fairfax slew a young ensign, from whose dead hands one of D'Oyley's troopers wrenched away the standard, and went about "bragging that he killed the ensign, for which D'Oyley chiding him, Fairfax said, 'Let him alone; I have honour enough-let him take that honour to himself.""

Old General Skippon was wounded in the beginning of the action, and advised to quit the field; but he replied that "he would not stir so long as a man would stand!"

Philip Skippon was a rough blunt veteran of the Low Country wars, yet he had shown great tact and skill in disciplining the Trained Bands of London. He had £1,000 per annum settled on him by Parliament out of the Duke of Buckingham's forfeited estate; and it is averred by Walker that in the Low Countries he had acted as wag

Boiling with ardour, Rupert continued the chase of the Republican right wing close to the town of Naseby. In his precipitate fury, he lost a chance for capturing the whole of Cromwell's artillery.oner to Sir Edward Vere. Ultimately, in returning to his position, he did summon it to surrender; but the train being well protected by a strong force of musketeers and a covering guard, he was unable to master it.

Fairfax's charge in front and rear, together with Cromwell's movement on the flank, caused the total rout of the king's infantry, who were cut down like grass the moment their close ranks were broken by the charging horse. Multitudes were slain, "and multitudes more cast away their weapons, calling for quarter," till they were scattered beyond all possibility of rallying; and at the head of the reserve Charles saw with mingled courage and despair the tide of battle turning against him. "The king," says Sanderson, "kept close with his horse, himself in person rallying them, as men use to doe, for their lives' blood;" and Rupert, now

During this scattered movement, a very different issue occured on the other flank, where Sir Marmaduke Langdale, in imitation of Rupert, made a charge, despite the disadvantage of a hill and a heavy fire of cannon. So resolutely was he met by Cromwell and the Ironsides, whose war-cry was "God with us!" that his division recoiled from the double shock. At this momentous crisis, Cromwell, who had kept two squadrons in reserve, wheeled them round by a great half-circular sweep on Lang-sensible of his errors, on leaving his futile attack dale's left flank. Furiously they came on, and taking the Royal horse, who were already overmatched in front, at disadvantage, they totally routed them, and drove them out of the field for a quarter of a mile.

Leaving these two squadrons to watch and oppose Langdale should he return or rally, Cromwell with the rest of the division rode furiously against the king's infantry, which was now warmly engaged with the centre under Fairfax and Skippon, and which had came on with such spirit, with volleys of musketry and charged pikes, that the Republicans were falling into disorder. Fairfax had his helmet beaten off, and rode up and down his

on the artillery, joined him, with all the horse he could collect.

Charles, with his sword drawn, exhorted this body of cavalry not to despair.

"Gentlemen," he said, "one charge more, and we recover the day!"

But they could by no means be persuaded to advance. Their little force of infantry had been destroyed; and Fairfax, Skippon (the latter bleeding with a musket-shot in his side), and Cromwell, instead of pursuing the fugitives, held their men well in hand, dressed their ranks, and prepared alike to receive or to charge the remnant of the king's cavalry.

In his loyal anxiety and energy, he grasped the bridle of the king's horse, and caused the animal to swerve round to the right. On perceiving this, his cavalry conceiving it was the first movement preparatory to flight, broke their ranks, and galloped officers), and 5,000 taken prisoners. Among the

in all directions. "They rode on the spur without latter were eight colonels; eight lieutenant-colonels; looking behind them."