mortally wounded at Chalgrove Field, in one of the numerous sorties of Rupert; and in the north, the Parliamentary army under Fairfax was defeated and almost driven out of Yorkshire by the gallant Earl of Newcastle. The midland counties, too, were completely in the grasp of the king; while the south-western district was, by victories at Bath, Devizes, and Bristol, wrested out of the hands of the Parliament.

8

Charles might now have marched direct upon London, but he turned aside and laid siege to Gloucester instead. He was compelled by Essex (whose army had been largely increased) to raise the siege; and the hopes of Parliament were revived by an indecisive battle at Newbury. Here the king lost one of his wisest and most moderate advisers-Lord Falkland, who seemed glad to escape by death from the miseries awaiting his country.

Men of Religion against Men of Honour.-Meanwhile, a force of a different kind was being raised in the eastern counties on behalf of the Parliament. The Earl of Manchester was the nominal general there, but the moving spirit and coming 'hero' was a man of a different stamp. Oliver Cromwell,10 a gentleman of Huntingdonshire, detected at once the cause of the Parliament's failure and the precise method of securing success. The troops of Charles, he pointed out, were "gentlemen's sons, younger sons, and persons of quality," while the train-bands of Essex were chiefly "old decayed serving-men and tapsters. To cope with men of

honour they must have men of religion."

Acting on the conviction that " a few honest men are better than numbers," and that if he "chose godly men to be captains of horse, honest men would soon follow them," he set himself to organise a regiment

on these principles. In every skirmish and engagement, Cromwell's 'Ironsides' were invincible; and with honest pride he could say of them, "Truly they were never beaten at all."

1. Charles's daughter Mary was married to William of Orange, the Stadtholder of Holland.

2. Portsmouth. It would have been of great advantage to the king to hold Portsmouth, as he could then easily have communicated with the Continent.

3. The Tower of London was a strong fortress as well as a political prison.

4. See note 4, page 21.

6. Rupert and Maurice were the sons of the Elector Palatine and Elizabeth, the sister of Charles.

7. Chalgrove Field, in Berkshire, 15 miles southeast of Oxford.

8. The victories of Bath and Devizes are sometimes called Lansdown and Roundway Down.

9. Newbury, in Berks, 50 miles west of London. See also page 44.

5. Edgehill lies about 16 miles south of War- 10. Cromwell, the "King of the Fens," was born wick,

in 1599.

THE CIVIL WAR-continued.

'HE Turn of the Tide.-When Cromwell went to join the army in the north the tide of success suddenly retreated from Charles. The Scots, with whom the Parliament had now made a Solemn League and Covenant,1 crossed the border under Lord Leven and joined in the siege of York, which was held by Newcastle with 6000

men.

2

Prince Rupert, with an army of 20,000 men, hurried from Lancashire to his relief, and slipped past the besiegers into the city. With his usual impetuosity, he urged Newcastle at once to give battle; and, at seven o'clock on the evening of July 2nd 1644, was fought the decisive battle of Marston Moor. The right wing of the Parliamentary army was unsuccessful in its attack, and its centre was broken by the Royalist cavalry. the fortunes of the day were rescued and victory won by the Ironsides' of Cromwell. Having routed all the cavalry of Prince Rupert, they charged the royal

But

regiments of foot and put them to utter rout. By this disaster, the whole of the north was lost to the king's

cause.

Meanwhile, the king himself had defeated two Parliamentary armies in succession.* The second was that of Essex, whose slow movements allowed Charles to completely surround his forces. The hesitating Earl escaped by sea, his cavalry cut their way through the enemy, but the infantry were forced to capitulate.

5

Nevertheless, Parliament furnished both of their defeated generals with new armies, and called Manchester with Cromwell from the north. The victorious troops of the king were then encountered at Newbury; the Parliamentary forces had the best of the engagement, but permitted the enemy to march off unmolested " moonlight at ten o'clock."

by

Cromwell, after vainly urging Manchester to allow him to pursue, charged him with "being indisposed and backward in prosecuting the war."

The Re-Modelling of the Army, 1645.—Parliament, at the instance of Cromwell, finally determined to remodel the army. In the first place, to remove those officers who had proved so slow in action,' it was decreed, by what was known as a Self-denying Ordinance, that no member of either House of Parliament should hold any command during the war. Further, it was resolved, that instead of a number of different armies under independent commanders, there should be but one compact, well-ordered force.

Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed commander-inchief; and the army, with the special assistance of Cromwell, was reorganised on the New Model.' The aim was to raise twenty thousand men of character