repair the mischief which they had contributed to cause. "Men," says an able writer, " may make war when they please, but can only make peace when God pleases." And it pleased God that England should taste the full bitterness of that rebellion which she had so wickedly begun. Meanwhile, amidst the confusion of the times and the contentions of the parties who had first engaged in the war, there was gradually growing up a third party, which was destined eventually to overwhelm, and, for a time at least, to subdue the rest. CHAPTER XIV. Naseby. "The King himself, Of his wings destitute-the army broken- SHAKSPEARE, Cymbeline. DURING the progress of the war, Archbold, now captain of a troop, was continually employed on active service; sometimes with the garrison at Lichfield, but more frequently detached with a portion of the troops on various expeditions in the adjoining county, or brigaded with the King's main army; for when the tide of war approached the midland counties, reinforcements from the different garrisons were often required to swell the force on temporary occasions. The war was carried on with various fortune. In the first year, immediately after the battle of Edgehill, the King had on the whole the advantage over his enemies. In the second campaign, the relative strength of the contending parties was rendered more equal by the drawn battle of Newbury. In the third year, the force of the rebels was increased by the accession of the Scots, who marched with a considerable army into England, led by the fanatic zealots of the covenant; and the disastrous field of Marston Moor saw the first decided overthrow of the royal cause. Still the royalists continued to fight with good hope of success, and advantages gained in other quarters compensated for their disaster in the north. At length, on the 14th day of June, 1645, being the fourth year of the war, the royalists under Prince Rupert, and the rebels under Fairfax and Cromwell, met each other on the field of Naseby; upon which occasion Colonel Bagot, with the regiment from Lichfield, was present, and took part in the engagement, having joined the King's forces at Leicester a few days previously. It has been observed by an able writer on these times, speaking of the fight at Marston Moor,-and the same observation will apply to that of Naseby, which battle, though fought by a smaller body of troops on each side, was more important than the former in its actual results,-that "never were two hosts, speaking the same language, of more dissimilar aspects." The King's troops, especially the cavalry, were of the same brave and gallant spirit as when they had chased the foe on the field of Edgehill. It was true that three years of civil strife had in too many cases hardened and debased their character. The irregular and precarious mode of life which they passed in the camp, and the dreadful scenes which they continually witnessed, had engendered a wildness and ferocity not con genial to the English disposition. But a few years of civil strife will turn almost any nation into a horde of banditti. With this exception, which under the circumstances of protracted warfare could not have failed to arise, the King's troops at Naseby were of that generous, loyal, and devoted spirit, which has long been the characteristic of the English nation. Their appearance and that of their adversaries has been well portrayed by the writer to whom I have before referred. The cavaliers are described as "identifying their quarrel with their honour and their love; their loose locks escaping beneath their plumed helmets, glittering in all the martial pride which makes the battle-field like a pageant or festival, and prancing forth with all the grace of gentle blood, as if they would make a jest of death, while the spirit-rousing strains of trumpets made their blood dance, and their steeds prick up their ears. The roundheads arranged in thick, dark masses, their steel caps, and high-crowned hats drawn close over their brows, looking determination, expressing with furrowed foreheads and hard-closed lips the inly-working rage which was blown to furnace-heat by the extempore effusions of their preachers, and found vent in terrible denunciations of the Hebrew psalms and prophecies. The arms1 of each party were adapted to the nature of their courage; the swords, pikes, and pistols of the royal 1 See Appendix, note H. ists, light and bright, were suited for swift onset and ready use; while the ponderous basket-hilted blades, long halberts, and heavy fire-arms of the parliamentarians were equally suited to resist a sharp attack, and to do execution upon a broken enemy. The royalists regarded their adversaries with that scorn which the gay and high-born always feel or affect for the precise and sour-mannered. The soldiers of the covenant looked on their enemies as the enemies of Israel, and considered themselves as the elect and chosen people of God,— a creed which extinguished fear and remorse together." It was the fierce fanatical spirit which was the strength of the parliamentarians. In the early portion of the war, the enthusiastic honour and high mettle of the cavaliers outdared the dogged resolution of their opponents; but at its conclusion, leaders had arisen who knew how to train and direct to their purpose this most formidable spirit which had infused itself into the nation. A religious spirit it was not, though, no doubt, there was much stern sincerity in many a rebel breast; but, on the other hand, hypocrisy and fanaticism were too generally obvious to allow that we should concede to it the title of religion. The contest between the men who represented these principles on the field of Naseby might not have been so disastrous as it was, and it may be 2 See the Worthies of Yorkshire and Lancashire, by Hartley Coleridge,-Life of Fairfax, p. 199. |