The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of King George the Fi | Page 6

collecting
reinforcements, and receiving voluntary contributions on his march.
Half-way between Stafford and Wellington he halted the army, and
placing himself in the centre, solemnly declared in the presence of
Almighty God that he had no other design, that he felt no other wish,
than to maintain. the Protestant faith, to govern according to law, and to
observe all the statutes enacted in parliament. Should he fail in any one
of these particulars, he renounced all claim to assistance from man, or
protection from God; but as long as he remained faithful to his promise,
he hoped for cheerful aid from his subjects, and was confident of
obtaining the blessing of Heaven. This solemn and affecting
protestation being circulated through the kingdom, gave a new stimulus
to the exertions of his friends; but it was soon opposed by a most
extraordinary declaration on the part of[a] the parliament; that it was
the real intention of the king to satisfy the demands of the papists by

altering the national religion, and the rapacity of the Cavaliers by
giving up to them the plunder of the metropolis; and that, to prevent the
accomplishment of so wicked a design, the two houses had resolved to
enter into a solemn covenant with God, to defend his truth at the hazard
of their lives, to associate with the well-affected in London and the rest
of the kingdom, and to request the aid of their Scottish brethren, whose
liberties and religion were equally at stake.[1]
In the meantime Waller had reduced Portsmouth,[b] while Essex
concentrated his force, amounting to fifteen thousand men, in the
vicinity of Northampton. He received orders from the houses to rescue,
by force[c] if it were necessary, the persons of the king, the prince, and
the duke of York, from the hands of those desperate men by whom they
were surrounded, to offer a free pardon to all who, within ten days,
should return to their duty, and to forward to the king a petition that he
would separate himself from his evil counsellors, and rely once more
on the loyalty of his parliament. From Northampton Essex hastened
to[d] Worcester to oppose the advance of the royal army.
At Nottingham the king could muster no more than six thousand men;
he left Shrewsbury at the head of[e] thrice that number. By a succession
of skilful manoeuvres
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 16. Rushworth, v. 20, 21. Journals, v.
376,418.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1642. Oct. 22.] [Sidenote c: A.D. 1642. Sept. 9.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1642. Sept. 16.] [Sidenote e: A.D. 1642. Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote f: A.D. 1642. Oct. 12.]
he contrived to elude the vigilance of the enemy; and had advanced two
days' march on the road to the metropolis before Essex became aware
of his object. In London the news was received with terror. Little
reliance could be placed on the courage, less on the fidelity of the
trained bands; and peremptory orders were despatched to Essex, to
hasten with his whole force to the protection of the capital and the
parliament. That general had seen his error; he was following the king
with expedition; and his vanguard entered the village of Keynton on the

same evening on which the royalists halted on Edgehill, only a few
miles in advance. At midnight[a] Charles held a council of war, in
which it was resolved to turn upon the pursuers, and to offer them
battle. Early in the morning the royal army was seen in position[b] on
the summit of a range of hills, which gave them a decided superiority in
case of attack; but Essex, whose artillery, with one-fourth of his men,
was several miles in the rear, satisfied with having arrested the march
of the enemy, quietly posted the different corps, as they arrived, on a
rising ground in the Vale of the Red Horse, about half a mile in front of
the village. About noon the Cavaliers grew weary of inaction; their
importunity at last prevailed; and about two the king discharged a
cannon with his own hand as the signal of battle. The royalists
descended in good order to the foot of the hill, where their hopes were
raised by the treachery of Sir Faithful Fortescue, a parliamentary officer,
who, firing his pistol into the ground, ranged himself with two troops of
horse under the royal banner. Soon afterwards Prince Rupert, who
commanded the cavalry on the right, charged twenty-two troops of
parliamentary horse led by Sir James
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1642. Oct. 22.] [Sidenote b: A.D. 1642. Oct. 23.]
Ramsay; broke them at the very onset; urged the pursuit two miles
beyond Keynton, and finding the baggage of the enemy in the village,
indulged his men for the space of an hour in the work of plunder. Had it
not been