have disarmed him of all power and means for the struggle, then to provoke him by insults and unreasonable demands, till he should appeal to the sword. This Charles himself saw.A grand maxim with them was," he says, "always to ask some thing which in reason and honour must be denied, that they' might have some colour to refuse all that was in other things granted; setting peace at as high a rate as the worst effects of war; endeavouring first to make me destroy myself by dishonours able concessions, that so they might have the less to do." The English," says Hobbes, "would never have taken well that the Parliament should make war upon the King upon any provoca tion, unless it were in their own defence, in case the King should first make war upon them; and therefore it behoved them to provoke the King, that he might do something that might look like hostility." "Therefore (he elsewhere adds) they resolved to proceed with him like skilful hunters, first to single him out by men disposed in all parts, to drive him into the open field, and then in case he should but seem to turn head, to call that a making of war against the Parliament."

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Never was poor prince more miserably unprepared for such a contest than Charles, when he had no other alternative than to descend into the pit which his enemies had dug for him, or to raise his standard. When that determination was taken he had not one barrel of gunpowder, nor one musket, nor any other provision necessary for an army; and, which was worse, was not sure of any port, to which they might be securely assigned; nor had he money for the support of his own table for the term of one month." The single ship which reached him with supplies by running ashore, brought about 200 barrels of powder, 2000 or 3000 arms, and seven or eight field-pieces; and with this the took the field, but in so helpless and apparently hopeless a con-: dition, that even after he had set up that standard, which was so ominously blown down by a tempest, Clarendon says, it must solely be imputed to his own resolution, that he did not even then go to London and throw himself on the mercy of the parliament, which would have been surrendering at discretion to an enemy that gave no quarter. But he relied upon the goodness of his cause, and upon the loyalty and love of his subjects. That reliance did not deceive him: the gentlemen of England came

forward with a spirit which enabled him to maintain the contest no inconsiderable time upon equal terms, and which, under the direction of more vigorous counsels, might many times have given him complete success. But it was otherwise appointed. Whoever has attentively perused the history of those, unhappy years must have perceived that this war, more perhaps than any other of which the events have been recorded, was determined rather by accidents, and blunders, than by foreseen and prepared combinations. The man who most contributed to the King's utter overthrow by his actions, and the only man who from the beginning perceived wherein the strength of the King lay, and by what principle it might be opposed with the surest prospect of success, was Cromwell.

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During the proceedings which provoked the war, Cromwell took no conspicuous part, but he was one of that number upon whose votes the leaders of the disaffected party could always rely, He was sincerely a puritan in his religious notions, in that respect more sincere than many of those with whom he then acted for political speculations he probably cared less; but, being a resolute man, and one whose purposes were straight forward, though he frequently proceeded by crooked ways, he, like his cousin Hampden, when he drew the sword, threw away the scabbard. When the war began, he received a captain's commission, and raised a troop of horse in his own country. Then it was that he gave the first proof of that sagacity which made him afterwards the absolute master of three kingdoms: in what manner it was now exercised may best be told in his own curious words.. "I was a person," said he, "that from my first employment was suddenly preferred and lifted up from lesser trusts to greater, from my first being a captain of a troop of horse; and I did labour as well as I could, to discharge my trust: and God blessed me as it pleased him; and I did truly and plainly; and then in a way of foolish simplicity (as it was judged by very great and wise men, and good men too) desired to make my instruments to help me in this work; and I will deal plainly with you; I had a very worthy friend then, and he was a very noble person, and I know his memory is very grateful to all, Mr. John Hamp, den. At my first going out into this engagement, I saw their men were beaten at every hand; I did indeed, and desired him

that he would make some additions to my Lord Essex's army of some new regiments; and I told him I would be serviceable to him in bringing such men in, as I thought had a spirit that would do something in the work. This is very true that I tell you, || God knows I lie not. Your troops, said I, are most of them old decayed serving men, and tapsters, and such kind of fellows; and, said I, their troops are gentlemen's sons, younger sons, and persons of quality: do you think that the spirits of such base and mean fellows will ever be enabled to encounter gentlemen that have honour, and courage, and resolution in them? Truly, I presented him in this manner conscientiously; and truly I did tell him you must get men of a spirit: and take it not ill what I say (I know you will not), of a spirit that is likely to go on as far as gentlemen will go, or else I am sure you will be beaten still; I told him so, I did truly. He was a wise and worthy person, and he did think that I talked a good notion, but an impracticable one. Truly I told him I could do somewhat in it: I did so; and truly I must needs say that to you, I raised such men as had the fear of God before them, and made some conscience of what they did; and from that day forward, I must say to you, they were never beaten, and wherever they engaged against the enemy, they beat continually."

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Acting upon this principle, Cromwell raised a troop of horse among his countrymen, mostly freeholders and freeholders' sons, men thoroughly imbued with his own puritanical opinions, and who engaged in the war upon matter of conscience:" and thus, says Whitelocke, "being 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 knew his men, and on this occasion acting without hypocrisy, tried whether their consciences were proof; for upon raising them he told them fairly that he would not cozen them by perplexed expressions in his commission to fight for King and Parliament: if the King chanced to be in the body of the enemy, he would as soon discharge his pistol upon him, as upon any private man; and if their consciences would not let them do the like, he advised them not to enlist themselves under him.

He tried their courage also, as well as their consciences, by [* Whitelock, ed. 1732, p. 72.]

leading them into a false ambuscade; about twenty turned their backs and fled; upon which Cromwell dismissed them, desiring them however to leave their horses for those who would fight the Lord's battles in their stead. And as the Lord's battle was to be fought with the arm of flesh, he took special care that horse and man in his troop should always be ready for service; and by making every man trust to himself alone, in all needful things, he enabled them all to rely upon each other, and act with confidence, without which courage is of little avail. For this purpose he required them to keep their arms clean, bright, and fit for immediate use; to feed and dress their own horses, and if need were, to sleep upon the ground with them. The officers wishing that this select troop should be formed into what they called a gathered church,' looked about for a fitting pastor, and it is to their credit that they pitched upon a man distinguished for his blameless manner of life, his undoubted piety, and his extraordinary talents. They invited Baxter to take charge of them. That remarkable man was then at Coventry, whither he had gone after the battle at Edgehill with a purpose to stay there, as a safe place, till one side or other had gotten the victory and the war was ended; "for," says he, "so wise in matters of war was I, and all the country besides, that we commonly supposed that a very few days or weeks, by one other battle, would end the wars; and I believe that no small number of the parliament men had no more wit than to think so." Baxter was at that time so zealous in his political feelings, that he thought it a sin for any man to remain neuter. But the invitation to take charge of ba gathered church' did not accord with his opinions concerning ecclesiastical discipline. He therefore sent them a denial, reproving their attempt, and telling them wherein his judgment was against the lawfulness and convenience of their way. “These very men," he says, " that then invited me to be their pastor, were the men that afterwards headed much of the army, and some of them were the forwardest in all our changes; which made me wish that I had gone among them, however it had been interpreted; for then all the fire was in one spark."

Cromwell exerted himself with so much zeal and success in embodying and disciplining these troops, that he appears to have been raised to the rank of colonel for that service alone. The

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first act which he performed was to take possession of Cambridge, which Lord Capel would else have occupied ; and to secure for the Parliament the college plate, which otherwise would have been sent to the King. At this time he paid his uncle and godfather, Sir Oliver, a visit for the purpose of taking away his arms and all his plate but behaving with the greatest personal respect to the head of his family, he asked his blessing, and would not keep on his hat in his presence. From Cambridge he kept down the loyal party, in the adjoining counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, dispersing a confederacy which would soon have become formidable, and taking the whole of the stores which they had provided. This was a service which, in the language of the saints, was said to set the whole country right, by freeing it of the malignants. Stories of his cruelty were told at this time in the Mercurius Aulicus which were abominably false men too easily believe evil of their enemies; and these calumnies obtained the readier credit because he and his men conceived themselves to be doing a work of reformation in injuring Peterborough Cathedral, demolishing the painted windows, breaking the organ, defacing tombs and statues, and destroying the books. But in other places where the ferocious spirit of Puritanism was not called forth, their conduct was more orderly than that of any other troops who were engaged on the same side. One of the journals of the day says of them, "no man swears but he pays his twelvepence; if he be drunk, he is set in stocks, or worse; if one calls the other round-head, he is cashiered; insomuch that the countries where they come leap for joy of them, and come in and join with them. How happy were it if all the forces were thus disciplined!"

:

The relief of Gainsborough [23 July, 1643] was the first conspicuous action in which Cromwell was engaged: "this," Whitelock says, 66 was the beginning of his great fortunes, and now he began to appear to the world."* It was in this action

that Charles Cavendish fell,

the young, the lovely, and the brave! Strew bays and flowers on his honoured grave!

one of the many noble spirits who were cut off in that mournful

[* Whitelock, ed. 1732, p. 72. he served at this time under Lord Willoughby of Parham.]

Whitelock calls him Colonel Cromwell;