solved to remain upon the defensive; and the weakness of the king, and his want of all military stores, had also restrained the activity of the royal army. No action had happened in that part of England, except one skirmish, which of itself was of no great consequence, and was rendered memorable by the death alone of the famous Hambden.

Colonel Urrey, a Scotchman, who served in the parliamentary army, having received some disgust, came to Oxford, and offered his services to the king. In order to prove the sincerity of his conversion, he informed prince Rupert of the loose disposition of the enemy's quarters, and exhorted him to form some attempt upon them. The prince, who was entirely fitted for that kind of service, falling suddenly upon the dispersed bodies of Essex's army, routed two regiments of cavalry and one of infantry, and carried his ravages within two miles of the general's quarters. The alarm being given, every one mounted on horseback, in order to pursue the prince, to recover the prisoners, and to repair the disgrace which the army had sustained. Among the rest, Hambden, who had a regiment of infantry that lay at a distance, joined the horse as a volunteer; and overtaking the royalists on Chalgrave field, entered into the thickest of the battle. By the bravery and activity of Rupert, the king's troops were brought off, and a great booty, together with two hundred prisoners, was conveyed to Oxford. But what most pleased the royalists was, the expectation that some disaster had happened to Hambden, their capital and much dreaded enemy. One of the prisoners taken in the action said, that he was confident Mr. Hambden was hurt: for he saw him, contrary to his usual custom, ride off the field, before the action was finished; his head hanging down, and his hands leaning upon his horse's neck. Next day, the news arrived, that he was shot in the shoulder with a brace of bullets, and the bone broken. Some days after, he died, in exquisite pain, of his wound; nor could his whole party, had their army met with a total overthrow, have been thrown into greater consternation. The

king himself so highly valued him, that, either from generosity or policy, he intended to have sent him his own surgeon to assist at his cure.42

Many were the virtues and talents of this eminent personage; and his valour, during the war, had shone out with a lustre equal to that of the other accomplishments by which he had ever been distinguished. Affability in conversation; temper, art, and eloquence in debate; penetration and discernment in council; industry, vigilance, and enterprise in action; all these praises are unanimously ascribed to him by historians of the most opposite parties. His virtues too, and integrity, in all the duties of private life, are allowed to have been beyond exception : we must only be cautious, notwithstanding his generous zeal for liberty, not hastily to ascribe to him the praises of a good citizen. Through all the horrors of civil war, he sought the abolition of monarchy, and subversion of the constitution; an end which, had it been attainable by peaceful measures, ought carefully to have been avoided by every lover of his country. But whether in the pursuit of this violent enterprise, he was actuated by private ambition, or by honest prejudices, derived from the former exorbitant powers of royalty, it belongs not to an historian of this age, scarcely even to an intimate friend, positively to determine. [See note B, at the end of this Vol.]

BRISTOL TAKEN. July 25.

ESSEX, discouraged by this event, dismayed by the total rout of Waller, was farther informed, that the queen, who landed in Burlington-bay, had arrived at Oxford, and had brought from the north a reinforcement of three thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. Dislodging from Thame and Aylesbury, where he had hitherto lain, he thought proper to retreat nearer to London, and he showed to his friends his broken and disheartened forces, which a few months before he had led into the field in so flourishing a condition. The king, freed from this enemy, sent his army westward under prince Rupert, and, by their

conjunction with the Cornish troops, a formidable force, for numbers as well as reputation and valour, was composed. That an enterprise, correspondent to men's expectations, might be undertaken, the prince resolved to lay siege to Bristol, the second town for riches and greatness in the kingdom. Nathaniel Fiennes, son of lord Say, he himself, as well as his father, a great parliamentary leader, was governor, and commanded a garrison of two thousand five hundred foot, and two regiments, one of horse, another of dragoons. The fortifications not being complete or regular, it was resolved by prince Rupert to storm the city; and next morning, with little other provisions suitable to such a work, besides the courage of the troops, the assault began. The Cornish, in three divisions, attacked the west side, with a resolution which nothing could control: but though the middle division had already mounted the wall, so great was the disadvantage of the ground, and so brave the defence of the garrison, that in the end the assailants were repulsed with a considerable loss both of officers and soldiers. On the prince's side, the assault was conducted with equal courage, and almost with equal loss, but with better success. One party, led by lord Grandison, was indeed beaten off, and the commander himself mortally wounded: another, conducted by colonel Bellasis, met with a like fate: but Washington, with a less party, finding a place in the curtain weaker than the rest, broke in, and quickly made room for the horse to follow. By this irruption, however, nothing but the suburbs was yet gained: the entrance into the town was still more difficult and by the loss already sustained, as well as by the prospect of farther danger, every one was extremely discouraged: when, to the great joy of the army, the city beat a parley. The garrison was allowed to march out with their arms and baggage, leaving their cannon, ammunition, and colours. For this Instance of cowardice, Fiennes was afterwards tried by a court-martial, and condemned to lose his head; but the sentence was remitted by the general.*

:

43

Great complaints were made of violences exercised on VOL. VIII.

D

the garrison, contrary to the capitulation. An apology was made by the royalists, as if these were a retaliation for some violences committed on their friends at the surrender of Reading. And under pretence of like retaliations, but really from the extreme animosity of the parties, were such irregularities continued during the whole course of the war.44

The loss sustained by the royalists, in the assault of Bristol, was considerable. Five hundred excellent soldiers perished. Among those of condition were Grandison, Slanning, Trevannion, and Moyle; Bellasis, Ashley, and sir John Owen, were wounded: yet was the success, upon the whole, so considerable, as mightily raised the courage of the one party, and depressed that of the other. The king, to show that he was not intoxicated with good fortune, nor aspired to a total victory over the parliament, published a manifesto; in which he renewed the protestation, formerly taken, with great solemnity, at the head of his army, and expressed his firm intention of making peace upon the re-establishment of the constitution. Having joined the camp at Bristol, and sent prince Maurice with a detachment into Devonshire, he deliberated how to employ the remaining forces in an enterprise of moment. Some proposed, and seemingly with reason, to march directly to London; where every thing was in confusion, where the army of the parliament was baffled, weakened, and dismayed, and where, it was hoped, either by an insurrection of the citizens, by victory, or by treaty, a speedy end might be put to the civil disorders. But this undertaking, by reason of the great number and force of the London militia, was thought by many to be attended with considerable difficulties. Gloucester, lying within twenty miles, presented an easier, yet a very important conquest. It was the only remaining garrison possessed by the parliament in those parts. Could that city be reduced, the king held the whole course of the Severn under his command; the rich and malcontent counties of the west, having lost all protection from their friends, might be forced to pay high contributions, as an

atonement for their disaffection; an open communication could be preserved between Wales and these new. conquests; and half of the kingdom, being entirely freed from the enemy, and thus united into one firm body, might be employed in re-establishing the king's authority throughout the remainder. These were the reasons for embracing that resolution; fatal as it was ever esteemed, to the royal party.45

SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER.

THE governor of Gloucester was one Massey, a soldier of fortune, who, before he engaged with the parliament, had offered his service to the king; and as he was free from the fumes of enthusiasm, by which most of the officers on that side were intoxicated, he would lend an ear, it was presumed, to proposals for accommodation: but Massey was resolute to preserve an entire fidelity to his masters; and though no enthusiast himself, he well knew how to employ to advantage that enthusiastic spirit so prevalent in his city and garrison. The summons to surrender (10th Aug.) allowed two hours for an answer: but before that time expired, there appeared before the king two citizens, with lean, pale, sharp, and dismal visages: faces, so strange and uncouth, according to lord Clarendon; figures, so habited and accoutred, as at once moved the most severe countenance to mirth, and the most cheerful heart to sadness: it seemed impossible, that such messengers could bring less than a defiance. The men, without any circumstance of duty or good manners, in a pert, shrill, undismayed accent, said, that they brought an answer from the godly city of Gloucester: and extremely ready were they, according to the historian, to give insolent and seditious replies to any question; as if their business were chiefly, by provoking the king, to make him violate his own safe-conduct. The answer from the city was in these words: "We, the inhabitants, magistrates, officers and soldiers, within the garrison of Gloucester, unto his majesty's gracious message return this