Memoirs of a Cavalier | Page 3

fall back on questionable
methods of raising money, especially during the eleven years
(1629--1640) in which he ruled without a parliament. Charles had no
great scheme of tyranny, but avoided parliaments because of their
criticism of his policy. At first the opposition had been purely political,
but the parliament of 1629 had attacked also Charles's religious policy.
He favoured the schemes of Laud (archbishop of Canterbury
1633--1649) and the Arminian school among the clergy, who wished to
revive many of the old Catholic practices and some of the beliefs which
had been swept away by the Reformation. Many people in England
objected not only to these but even to the wearing of the surplice, the
simplest of the old vestments, on the use of which Laud tried to insist.
This party came to be known as Puritans and they formed the chief
strength of the opposition to the King in the Long Parliament which
met in 1640. For their attack on the Church led many who had at first
opposed the King's arbitrary methods to go over to his side. Thus, the
moderate men as well as the loyalists formed a king's party and the
opposition was almost confined to men who hated the Church as much
as the King. The Puritans who loved simplicity of dress and severity of
manners and despised the flowing locks and worldly vanities which the
Cavaliers loved were, by these, nicknamed Roundheads on account of
their short hair. Defoe, in the Memoirs, gives us less of this side of the
history of the times than might have been expected. The war actually
began in August, 1642, and what Defoe gives us is military history,
correct in essentials and full of detail, which is, however, far from
accurate. For instance, in his account of the battle of Marston Moor, he
makes prince Rupert command the left wing, whereas he really

commanded the right wing, the left being led by Lord Goring who,
according to Defoe's account, commanded the main battle. He conveys
to us, however, the true spirit of the war, emphasizing the ability and
the mistakes on both sides, showing how the king's miscalculations or
Rupert's rashness deprived the Royalist party of the advantages of the
superior generalship and fighting power which were theirs in the first
part of the war and how gradually the Roundheads got the better of the
Cavaliers. The detailed narrative comes to an end with the delivery of
the King to the Parliament by the Scots, to whom he had given himself
up in his extremity. A few lines tell of his trial and execution and the
Memoirs end with some pages of "remarks and observations" on the
war and a list of coincidences which had been noted in its course. The
latter, savouring somewhat of superstition, appear natural in what
purports to be a seventeenth century text, but the summing up of
conclusions about the war is rather such as might be made by a more or
less impartial observer at a later date than by one who had taken an
active part in the struggle. In reading the Memoirs this mixture of what
belongs to the seventeenth century with the reflections of Defoe, in
many ways a typical eighteenth century figure, must be borne in mind.
The inaccuracies are pointed out in the notes, but these need not
prevent us from entering with zest into the spirit of the story.
E. O'NEILL.
4 March 1908.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. TEXT:

Part I.

Part II.
NOTES.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

As an evidence that 'tis very probable these Memorials were written
many years ago, the persons now concerned in the publication assure
the reader that they have had them in their possession finished, as they
now appear, above twenty years; that they were so long ago found by
great accident, among other valuable papers, in the closet of an eminent
public minister, of no less figure than one of King William's secretaries
of state.
As it is not proper to trace them any farther, so neither is there any need
to trace them at all, to give reputation to the story related, seeing the
actions here mentioned have a sufficient sanction from all the histories
of the times to which they relate, with this addition, that the admirable
manner of relating them and the wonderful variety of incidents with
which they are beautified in the course of a private gentleman's story,
add such delight in the reading, and give such a lustre, as well to the
accounts themselves as to the person who was the actor, that no story,
we believe, extant in the world ever came abroad with such advantage.
It must naturally give some concern in the reading that the