as the fortune of the parliament declined in other places, so those who had not principles strong enough to hold them fast to a just, though falling cause, sought early to secure their lives by treasons, which destroyed them. The earl of Newcastle's army was judged to be about eight thousand, horse and foot, my lord Fairfax had not above two thousand one hundred foot, and seven troops of horse. After this there was a great accession of strength to my lord Newcastle, by the coming, first of the lord Goring, with many old commanders; then of general King, with six thousand arms, from beyond the seas; then of the queen herself, who, in February 1642, landed near Sunderland, coming out of Holland, with large provisions of arms, ammunition, and commanders of note, with which she was convoyed, by the earl of Newcastle, to York, and thither came to her the earl of Montrose, out of Scotland, with a hundred and twenty horse; then sir Hugh Cholmly, governor of Scarborough, revolted from the parliament, whereof he was a member, and came to the queen, with three hundred men. Browne Bushell also, who was left in charge with the town, yielded it up. Then had the queen's practices wrought so upon the two Hothams, that their treason was not altogether undiscerned; but my lord Fairfax, having only strong presumptions, and no power to secure them, while they had the strong town of Hull in their hands, it was all he could do to be vigilant and silent, till God should give opportunity to secure that great danger. My lord of Newcastle had given the papists in the north commissions to arm in the king's defence, and now the queen was preparing to march up, with the assistance she had gotten, to the king. Those countries through which she was to pass, could not but be sensible of their danger, especially the gentlemen at Nottingham, who were but a few young men, environed with garrisons of the enemy, and scarcely firm among themselves, and hopeless of relief from above, where the parliament, struggling for life, had not leisure to bind up a cut finger. But God was with them in these difficulties, and gave an unexpected issue.

The earl of Kingston a few months stood neuter, and would not declare himself of either party, and being a man of great wealth and dependencies, many people hung in suspense by his example; whereupon the gentlemen of Nottingham often spoke to his son to persuade his father to declare himself; but he told them he knew his father's affections were firm to the parliament, that he had encouraged him to join with them, and promised him money to carry it on, and such-like things, which he continually assured them, till the colonel's cold behaviour, and some other passages, made them at length, those at least who were firm to the cause, jealous both of the father and the son. Hereupon when the danger grew more imminent, and my lord lay out a brave prey to the enemy, they sent captain Lomax, one of the committee, to understand his affections from himself, and to press him to declare for the parliament, in that so needful season. My lord professing himself to him rather desirous of peace, and fully resolved not to act on either side, made a serious imprecation on himself in these words: "When," said he, "I take arms with the king against the parliament, or with the parliament against the king, let a cannon bullet divide me between them;" which God was pleased to bring to pass a few months after for he, going into Gainsborough, and there taking up arms for the king, was surprised by my lord Willoughby, and, after a handsome defence of himself, yielded, and was put prisoner into a pinnace, and sent down the river to Hull, when my lord Newcastle's army marching along the shore, shot at the pinnace, and being in

* The king pretended never to do this himself: but the earl of Newcastle did it, as most people would in his place, and avowed it as became him. Sir Philip Warwick recites a witticism of his on the occasion of his going to see him at the siege of Hull, where his men being very badly entrenched, he said to sir Philip, who remarked it, "You hear us often called the Popish Army, but you see we trust not in our good works."

danger, the earl of Kingston went up upon the decks to show himself, and to prevail with them to forbear shooting, but as soon as he appeared, a cannon bullet flew from the king's army and divided him in the middle, being then in the parliament's pinnace, who perished, according to his own unhappy imprecation. His declaring himself for the king, as it enforced the royal, so it weakened the other party.

Sir

Sir Richard Biron was come to be governor of Newark. A house of my lord Chaworth's in the vale was fortified, and some horse put into it, and another house of the earl of Chesterfield's, both of them within a few miles of Nottingham.t Ashby-de-la-Zouch, within eight miles of Nottingham, on the other side, was kept by Mr. Hastings. On the forest side of the country, the earl of Newcastle's house had a garrison in it, and another castle of his, within a mile, was garrisoned. Roger Cooper's house at Thurgaton, was also kept; so that Nottingham, thus beleaguered with enemies, seemed very unlikely to be able either to resist the enemy, or support itself. Therefore the gentlemen, upon the news of my lord Newcastle's intended approach that way, sent up Mr. John Hutchinson to acquaint the parliament with their condition, who so negociated their business that he procured an order for col. Cromwell, col. Hubbard, my lord Grey, and sir John Gell, to unite their forces, and rendezvous at Nottingham, to prevent the queen from joining with the king, and to guard those parts against the cavaliers. Accordingly in the Whitsun holidays, 1643, they all came, and the younger Hotham also brought some more rude troops out of Yorkshire, and joined himself to them. The forces now united at Nottingham were about five or six thousand, my lord Grey being their commander-in-chief. Upon the urgency of the gentlemen at Nottingham, he drew them out against Wiverton-house in the vale, but upon a groundless apprehension quitted it, when they might in all probability have taken it, and retreated to Nottingham, where, two or three days after, the enemy's horse faced them, but they would not be prevailed with to go out, though they were not inferior to them. Young Hotham, at that time, carried on a private treaty with the queen, and every day received and sent trumpets, of which he would give no account. Then was Nottingham more sadly distrest by their friends than by their enemies; for Hotham's and Gell's men not only lay upon free quarter, as all the rest did, but made such havoc and plunder of friend and foe, that it was a sad thing for any one that had a generous heart to behold it. When the committee offered Hotham to assign him quarters for his men, because they were better acquainted with the country, he would tell them he was no stranger in any English ground. He had a great deal of wicked wit, and would make sport with the miseries of the poor country, and, having treason in his heart, licensed his soldiers, which were the scum of mankind, to all villanies in the country that might make their party odious. Mr. Hutchinson was much vexed to see the country wasted, and that little part of it which they could only hope to have contribution from, eaten up by a company of men who, instead of relieving them, devoured them; and Hotham's soldiers, having taken away goods from some honest men, he went to him to desire restitution of them, and that he would restrain his soldiers from plunder; whereupon Hotham replied, "he fought for liberty and expected it in all things." Replies followed, and they grew to high language; Hotham bidding him, if he found himself grieved, to complain to the parliament. Mr. Hutchinson was passionately concerned, and this being in the open field, colonel Cromwell, who had likewise had

This is a most singular story, and no doubt peculiarly gratifying to a fatalist to recite; it is however assuredly true, being mentioned by several historians, with only the difference of his being said to be under, instead of on, the deck; the latter of which is far the most probable. Wiverton-house and Shelford manor.

In a letter to the king, the queen writes from Newark that "all the force the parliament bad in those parts was only one thousand men in Nottingham."

great provocations from him, began to show himself affected with the country's injuries, and the idle waste of such a considerable force, through the inexperience of the chief commander, and the disobedience and irregularities of the others; so they, at that time, being equally zealous for the public service, advised together to seek a remedy, and dispatched away a post to London, who had no greater joy in the world than such employments as tended to the displacing of great persons, whether they deserved it or not; him they sent away immediately from the place to inform the parliament of Hotham's carriages, and the strong presumptions they had of his treachery, and the ill management of their forces. This they two did, without the privity of any of the other gentlemen or commanders, some of which were little less suspected themselves, and others, as my lord Grey, through credulous good nature, too great a favourer of Hotham. The messenger was very diligent in his charge, and returned as soon as it was possible with a commitment of Hotham, who accordingly was then made prisoner in Nottingham Castle, and sir John Meldrum was sent down to be commander-in-chief of all those united forces. When they marched away, a troop of my lord Grey's having the charge of guarding Hotham, towards London, suffered him to escape, and thereby put the town of Hull into a great hazard; but that the father and son were there unexpectedly surprised, sent up prisoners to London, and after some time executed. Those who knew the opinion Cromwell afterwards had of Mr. Hutchinson, believed he registered this business in his mind as long as he lived, and made it his care to prevent him from being in any power or capacity to pursue him to the same punishment, when he deserved it; but from that time, growing into more intimate acquaintance with him, he always used to profess the most hearty affections to him, and the greatest delight in his plainness and openheartedness that was imaginable.*

As soon as sir John Meldrum came down to his charge at Nottingham, the queen's forces came and faced the town, whereupon the cannon discharging upon them, the duke of Vendome's son and some few others were slain. The parliament horse drew out of Nottingham to receive the queen's, but they came not on, after this execution of the cannon, for in the mean time the queen was passing by, and although the parliament horse pursued them, yet would not they engage, for it was not their busi ness; so when they saw they had lost their design, the horse returned again to Nottinghim, where the foot had stayed all the while they were out. When the earl of Kingston declared himself for the king, he raised what forces he could and went into Gainsborough, a town in Lincolnshire, situate upon the river of Trent. There,

Those who consider and represent Cromwell as a prodigy not only of treachery, design, ambition and artifice, but likewise of sagacity and foreknowledge, will deem this a proof of his having thus early conceived his scheme of aggrandisement; but to those who are better satisfied with the probable than the marvellous, it will seem to prove no such thing: they must well know that if he had so soon any great views, they must have been very distant and indistinct; they will find here only the first of a long series of instances, wherein will be seen the quick and clear discernment, the strong and well-poised judgment, the promptitude and firmness of decision, which enabled him to seize and convert to his advantage every opportunity that presented itself, and even the actions, thoughts, and inclinations, of other men; and they will see united to these such a command over his own thoughts and passions as permitted exactly so much, and no more of them than was convenient, to appear; these qualities, though less astonishing than the prescience and almost the power of creating events, which is attributed to him, would and did equally well answer the purpose of his progression; which he effected in such a manner as to fill with the greatest propriety all the intermediate situations through which he passed, to take as it were a firm footing at each gradation, and to arrive at the pinnacle of power without having once run any considerable risk of an overthrow in his career. Such rational observers will like

wise see here, what will in the sequel still more strikingly appear, that if he must be called a traitor, he was not of that paltry treachery which sacrifices a man's party to self; he was steadily bent on procuring the triumph of his own party over their opponents, but too covetous of commanding his party himself.-Note to Chambers's Edition.

before he was fortified, my lord Willoughby, of Parham, surprised the town and all his soldiers, who disputed it as long as they could, but being conquered were forced to yield, and the earl himself retreated into the strongest house, which he kept till it was all on flame round him, and then giving himself up only to my lord Willoughby, he was immediately sent prisoner to Hull, and shot according to his own. imprecation. Immediately part of my lord Newcastle's army, with all that Newark could make, besieged my lord Willoughby in Gainsborough, and general Essex sent a command to sir John Meldrum to draw all the horse and foot he could out of Nottingham, to relieve my lord, leaving only a garrison in the castle of Nottingham. Sir John Meldrum called the committee of Nottingham together, to consult what was to be done for the settlement of the place, which upon deliberation he had judged not fit to leave in the hands it was, nor in colonel Pierrepont's, who, with some appearance, lay under suspicion at the time; and therefore conceiving Mr. Hutchinson the most able to manage, and the most responsible for it, both sir John and the whole committee ordered him to take the castle into his charge, which, though there were many causes why he should decline, yet believing that God hereby called him to the defence of his country, and would protect him in all the dangers and difficulties he led him into, he accepted it, and the 29th June, 1643, received an order for that government from sir John Meldrum and the whole committee; whereunto colonel Pierrepont subscribed, though with a secret discontent in his heart, not for any ill-opinion or ill-affection he had to Mr. Hutchinson's person, but for that he resented it as a great affront that himself was passed by. It is true that this discontent produced some envious and malicious practices secretly in him against Mr. Hutchinson, who in the end overcame him with so many good offices in requital of his bad ones, that he lived and died full of love and acknowledgment of kindness to him.

The castle was built upon a rock, and nature had made it capable of very strong fortification, but the buildings were very ruinous and unhabitable, neither affording room to lodge soldiers nor provisions. The castle stands at one end of the town, upon such an eminence as commands the chief streets of the town. There had been enlargements made to this castle after the first building of it. There was a strong tower which they called the old tower, built upon the top of all the rock, and this was that place where queen Isabell, the mother of king Edward the Third, was surprised with her paramour Mortimer, who by secret windings and hollows in the rock came up into her chamber from the meadows lying low under it, through which there ran a little rivulet, called the Line, almost under the castle rock. At the entrance of this rock there was a spring, which was called Mortimer's Well, and the cavern Mortimer's Hole: the ascent to the top is very high, and not without some wonder. At the top of all the rock there is a spring of water; in the midway to the top of this tower there is a little piece of the rock on which a dove-cot had been built, but the governor took down the roof of it, and made it a platform for two or three pieces of ordnance, which commanded some streets and all the meadows better than the higher tower; under that tower, which was the old castle, there was a larger castle where there had been several towers and many noble rooms, but the most of them were down; the yard of that was pretty large, and without the gate there was a very large yard that had been walled, but the walls were all down, only it was situated upon an ascent of the rock, and so stood a pretty height above the streets; and there were the ruins of an old pair of gates, with turrets on each side.

Before the castle the town was on one side of a close, which commanded the fields approaching the town; which close the governor afterwards made a platform; behind it was a place called the park, that belonged to the castle, but then had neither deer nor trees in it, except one, growing under the castle, which was almost

a prodigy, for from the root to the top, there was not one straight twig or branch of it; some said it was planted by king Richard the Third, and resembled him that set it. On the other side the castle, was the little river of Line, and beyond that, large flat meadows, bounded by the river of Trent. In the whole rock there were many large caverns, where a great magazine and many hundred soldiers might have been disposed, if they had been cleansed and prepared for it, and might have been kept secure from any danger of firing the magazines by any mortar-pieces shot against the castle. In one of these places, it is reported, that one David, a Scotch king, was kept in cruel durance, and with his nails had scratched on the wall the story of Christ and his twelve apostles. The castle was not flanked, and there were no works about it, when Mr. Hutchinson undertook it, but only a little breast work, before the outmost gate. It was as ill provided as fortified, there being but ten barrels of powder, eleven hundred and fifty pounds of butter, and as much cheese, eleven quarters of bread-corn, seven beeves, two hundred and fourteen flitches of bacon, five hundred and sixty fishes, and fifteen hogsheads of beer. As soon as the governor received his charge, he made proclamation in the town, that whatsoever honest persons desired to secure themselves or their goods in the castle should have reception there if they would repair their quarters, which divers well-affected men accepting, it was presently made capable of receiving four hundred men commodiously.

CONDUCT OF THE PEOPLE AND THE PARLIAMENT, AND FIRST VICTORY OF PRINCE RUPERT.

CLARENDON.

Wherever they found any person of quality inclined to the king, or but disinclined to them, they immediately seized upon his person, and sent him in great triumph to the parliament; who committed him to prison, with all circumstances of cruelty and inhumanity.

Thus they took prisoner the lord Mountague of Boughton, at his house in Northamptonshire, a person of great reverence, being above fourscore years of age, and of unblemished reputation, for declaring himself unsatisfied with their disobedient and undutiful proceedings against the king, and more expressly against their ordinance for the militia; and notwithstanding that he had a brother of the house of peers, the lord privy seal, and a nephew, the lord Kimbolton, who had as full a power in that council as any man, and a son in the House of Commons very unlike his father; his lordship was committed to the Tower a close prisoner; and though he was afterwards remitted to more air, he continued a prisoner to his death.

Thus they took prisoner in Oxfordshire the earl of Berkshire, and three or four principal gentlemen of that county; and committed them to the Tower, for no other reason but wishing well to the king; for they never appeared in the least action in his service. And thus they took prisoner the earl of Bath in Devonshire, who neither had, or ever meant to do the king the least service; but only out of the morosity of his own nature, had before, in the house, expressed himself not of their mind; and carried him, with many other gentlemen of Devon and Somerset, with a strong guard of horse, to London; where, after they had been exposed to the and reproach of the common people, who called them traitors and rebels to t, and pursued them with such usage as they use to the most infamous y were, without ever being examined, or charged with any particular