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he embarked in, which I served as heartily against as any man in the army; but I cannot conceal extraordinary merit for its being placed in an enemy.

CHAPTER XVII.

VARIOUS OPINIONS ON THE KING'S THROWING HIMSELF UPON THE FIDELITY OF THE SCOTS-THE SCOTCH PARLIAMENT REFUSE TO RECEIVE HIM INTO SCOTLAND-THE KING IS GIVEN UP-CONSEQUENCES THEREOF-REFLECTIONS THE KING'S DEATH-CONCLUSION.

THIS was the end of our making war; for now we were all under parole never to bear arms against the parliament; and though some of us did not keep our word, yet I think a soldier's parole ought to be the most sacred in such case, that a soldier may be the easier trusted at all times upon his word.

For my part, I went home fully contented, since I could lo my royal master no better service, that I had come off no

worse.

The enemy going now on in a full current of success, and the king reduced to the last extremity, and Fairfax, by long marches, being come back within five miles of Oxford, his majesty, loath to be cooped up in a town which could on no account hold long out, quits the town in a disguise, leaving Sir Thomas Glenham governor, and being only attended with Mr. Ashburnham and one more, rides away to Newark, and there fatally committed himself to the honour and fidelity of the Scots, under general Leven.

There had been some little bickering between the parliament and the Scots' commissioners, concerning the propositions which the Scots were for a treaty with the king upon, and the parliament refused it. The parliament, upon all proposals of peace, had formerly invited the king to come and throw himself upon the honour, fidelity, and affection of his parliament; and now the king from Oxford offering to come up to London, on the protection of the parliament for the safety of his person, they refused him, and the Scots differed from them in it, and were for a personal treaty.

This, in our opinion, was the reason which prompted the

king to throw himself upon the fidelity of the Scots, who really by their infidelity had been the ruin of all his affairs, and now, by their perfidious breach of honour and faith with him, will be virtually and mediately the ruin of his person.

The Scots were, as all the nation besides them was, surprised at the king's coming among them: the parliament began very high with him, and sent an order to general Leven to send the king to Warwick Castle; but he was not so hasty to part with so rich a prize. As soon as the king came to the general, he signs an order to Colonel Bellasis, the governor of Newark, to surrender it, and immediately the Scots decamp homewards, carrying the king in the camp with them; and, marching on, a house was ordered to be provided for the king at Newcastle.

And now the parliament saw their error, in refusing his majesty a personal treaty, which, if they had accepted (their army was not yet taught the way of huffing their masters), the kingdom might have been settled in peace. Upon this the parliament send to General Leven to have his majesty, not to be sent, which was their first language, but be suffered to come to London, to treat with his parliament: before it was, Let the king be sent to Warwick Castle; now it is, to Let his majesty come to London to treat with his people.

But neither one or the other would do with the Scots: but we, who knew the Scots best, knew that there was one thing would do with them, if the other would not, and that was money; and therefore our hearts ached for the king.

The Scots, as I said, had retreated to Newcastle with the king, and there they quartered their whole army at large upon the country; the parliament voted they had no farther occasion for the Scots, and desired them to go home about their business. I do not say it was in these words, but in whatsoever good words their messages might be expressed, this and nothing less was the English of it. The Scots reply, by setting forth their losses, damages, and dues, the substance of which was, Pay us our money, and we will be gone, or else we won't stir. The parliament call for an account of their demands, which the Scots give in, amounting to a million; but, according to their custom, and especially finding that the army under Fairfax inclined gradually that way, fall down to 500,000l. and at last to four; but all the while this is transacting, a separate treaty is carried on at London with

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the commissioners of Scotland, and afterwards at Edinburgh, by which it is given them to understand, that whereas, upon payment of the money, the Scots' army is to march out of England, and to give up all the towns and garrisons which they hold in this kingdom, so they are to take it for granted, that it is the meaning of the treaty, that they shall leave the king in the hands of the English parliament.

To make this go down the better, the Scotch parliament, upon his majesty's desire to go with their army into Scotland, send him for answer, that it cannot be for the safety of his majesty or of the state, to come into Scotland, not having taken the covenant; and this was carried in their parliament but by two voices.

The Scots having refused his coming into Scotland, as was concerted between the two houses, and their army being to march out of England, the delivering up the king became a consequence of the thing unavoidable, and of necessity.

His majesty thus deserted of those into whose hands he had thrown himself, took his leave of the Scots' general at Newcastle, telling him only, in few words, this sad truth, that he was bought and sold. The parliament commissioners received him at Newcastle from the Scots, and brought him to Holmby-house, in Northamptonshire; from whence, upon the quarrels and feuds of parties, he was fetched by a party of horse, commanded by one Cornet Joyce, from the army, upon their mutinous rendezvous at Triplow-heath; and, after this, suffering many violences, and varieties of circumstances among the army, was carried to Hampton-Court, from whence his majesty very readily made his escape; but not having notice enough to provide effectual means for his more effectual deliverance, was obliged to deliver himself to Colonel Hammond in the Isle of Wight. Here, after some very indifferent usage, the parliament pursued a farther treaty with him, and all points were agreed but two: The entire abolishing episcopacy, which the king declared to be against his conscience and his coronation oath, and the sale of the church lands, which he declared, being most of them gifts to God and the church, by persons deceased, his majesty thought could not be alienated without the highest sacrilege, and, if taken from the uses to which they were appointed by the wills of the donors, ought to be restored back to the heirs and families of the persons who bequeathed them.

And these two articles so stuck with his majesty, that he ventured his fortune and royal family, and his own life, for them however, at last, the king condescended so far in these, that the parliament voted his majesty's concessions to be suf ficient to settle and establish the peace of the nation.

This vote discovered the bottom of all the counsels which then prevailed; for the army, who knew, if peace were once settled, they should be undone, took the alarm at this, and, clubbing together in committees and councils, at last brought themselves to a degree of hardness above all that ever this nation saw; for, calling into question the proceedings of their masters who employed them, they immediately fall to work upon the parliament, remove Colonel Hammond, who had the charge of the king, and used him honourably, place a new guard upon him, dismiss the commissioners, and put a stop to the treaty; and, following their blow, march to London, place regiments of foot at the parliament-house door, and as the members came up, seize upon all those whom they had down in a list as promoters of the settlement and treaty, and would not suffer them to sit; but the rest, who being of their own stamp, are permitted to go on, carry on the designs of the army, revive their votes of non-addresses to the king, and then, upon the army's petition, to bring all delinquents to justice, the mask was thrown off; by the word all is declared to be meant the king, as well as every man else they pleased. It is too sad a story, and too much a matter of grief to me, and to all good men, to renew the blackness of those days, when law and justice was under the feet of power; the army ruled the parliament, the private officers their generals, the common soldiers their officers, and confusion was in every part of the government. In this hurry they sacrificed their king, and shed the blood of the English nobility without mercy.

The history of the times will supply the particulars which I omit, being willing to confine myself to my own accounts and observations: I was now no more an actor, but a melancholy observer of the misfortunes of the times. I had given my parole not to take up arms against the parliament, and I saw nothing to invite me to engage on their side; I saw a world of confusion in all their councils, and I always expected that in a chain of distractions, as it generally falls out, the last link would be destruction; and though I pretended

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to no prophecy, yet the progress of affairs have brought it to pass, and I have seen Providence, who suffered, for the correction of this nation, the sword to govern and devour us, has at last brought destruction by the sword, upon the head of most of the party who first drew it.

If, together with the brief account of what concern I had in the active part of the war, I leave behind me some of my own remarks and observations, it may be pertinent enough to my design, and not unuseful to posterity.

1. I observed, by the sequel of things, that it may be some excuse to the first parliament, who began this war, to say that they manifested their designs were not aimed at the monarchy, nor their quarrel at the person of the king; because, when they had him in their power, though against his will, they would have restored both his person and dignity as a king, only loading it with such clogs of the people's power as they at first pretended to, viz., the militia, and power of naming the great officers at court, and the like; which powers, it was never denied, had been stretched too far in the beginning of this king's reign, and several things done illegally, which his majesty had been sensible of, and was willing to rectify; but they having obtained the power by victory, resolved so to secure themselves, as that, whenever they laid down their arms, the king should not be able to do the like again; and thus far they were not to be so much blamed, and we did not, on our own part, blame them, when they had obtained the power, for parting with it on good terms.

But when I have thus far advocated for the enemies, I must be very free to state the crimes of this bloody war, by the events of it. It is manifest there were among them, from the beginning, a party who aimed at the very root of the government, and at the very thing which they brought to pass, viz., the deposing and murdering of their sovereign; and, as the devil is always master where mischief is the work, this party prevailed, turned the other out of doors, and overturned all that little honesty that might be in the first beginning of this unhappy strife.

The consequence of this was, the presbyterians saw their error when it was too late, and then would gladly have joined the royal party, to have suppressed this new leaven, which had infected the lump; and this is very remarkable, that most of the first champions of this war, who bore the brunt of it