then a solitary cannon belched forth its snow-white cloud, and hurled its shot with terrible precision into the crowded files, as they debouched upon the plain.

'But now the trumpets of Sir Marmaduke were heard on the left, and he appeared with all his Yorkshire chivalry; though still the cannon of the cavaliers were at the least a mile behind, encumbered by the fat loam of that hostile district. Still the impetuous Rupert paused not the instant that the cavalry of Langdale came into view upon the left, his bugles sounded for the charge; and with a cheery shout, leading his fiery squadrons, himself the foremost man, he hurled himself against the horse of Ireton, with the velocity and brightness of a thunderbolt.

Forward they rushed-a torrent of plumes, scarfs, and rich embroidery-their brandished rapiers glittering aloft like lightning, and their high-blooded chargers tearing the turf to atoms in their furious speed. Such was the fury of their onset, that neglecting to discharge their carabines they plunged at once into the closest conflict. There was a clang as of ten thousand smiths plying their iron trade!—a shout that was heard, as men say, at Harborough! And brave although they were, stubborn and resolute, the cavalry of Ireton wavered. In vain their high-souled leader strained every nerve, and bled at every pore;-now here, now there; rallying, shouting, charging, in vain he crossed swords with the fiery prince and checked him for one moment -they bent, they broke, they fled!.....

Now, an he wheel upon our flank, the battle is half lost already!' hissed the deep tones of Cromwell in the very ear of Ardenne-' But lo! the Lord hath blinded him-the God of hosts hath robbed him of his understanding! See where he drives along heedless of aught save massacre and havoc !-Ho! by the light of heaven, this day shall crown the whole !'......

Scarce five troops of the whole left wing had held their ground, and these under the valiant Ireton, as fired by the success of their companions, Astley's stout infantry came steadily and firmly onward, charged gallantly upon a stand of pikes-they were hurled backward, as from a castle-wall, and still that deep array of pikes rolled onward. They rallied, and again they charged, driving their horses in upon the serried spears, and firing their pistols in the faces of the sturdy footmen; but the cavaliers received them as the bull receives the mastiff, and hurls him from his unscathed front. Their leader was dismounted, and made prisoner, their bravest were stabbed down and mangled by the goring pikes they scattered and fled in diverse directions.

'But now the musketry awoke, mixed with the louder bellowing of artillery, but save the rolling smoke-wreaths packed above the hosts in the calm hush of the hot noontide, and the red glare that ever and anon surged upward, and now the waving of a standard, and now the flash of wheeling weapons half seen among the volleying clouds, nought could be descried.-Yet still the royal foot pressed on unbroken and invincible; and Fairfax-though his lines fought stubbornly and well, and formed again when shaken by the musket-buts and halberts of the royalists, who hardly fired a shot, still fighting hand to hand, and

poured their volleys in, deliberate yet fast-felt that he still was losing ground, and that the vantage of the hill alone preserved him.

"On the right of the parliament's army the conflict had been long delayed; for Langdale had scarce formed, even when Rupert's charge had pushed the horse of Ireton clear off the field; and Cromwell dared not flank the foot of Astley, lest he should be in turn out-flanked by Langdale. But now with kettle-drums and trumpets, and shot of carabine and pistol, Sir Marmaduke advanced upon the gallop; and Cromwell, tarrying not to receive his charge, swung forth his heavy squadrons with a thundering hymn to meet him.

'An officer rode forward from the Yorkshire men, as both lines halted to reload, and Oliver dashed out in person to encounter him. Their pistols were discharged in vain, for Cromwell's bullet glanced from the corslet of the cavalier, and the other fired at random. Then blade to blade they met, a dozen passes flashed with the speed of light between them -their horses wheeled and bounded obedient to the bit-Oliver missed a parry, and his morion, with the chin-strap severed, fell clanging to the ground; but without hesitation on he went, and hailed so thick a storm of blows upon his foeman, that he beat down his guard, and hurled him headlong.

The whole passed in a few instants-ere a few more had elapsed, the adverse lines were mingled-yet as they closed Born-again-Rumford sprang to earth, caught up the general's morion, and tossed it to his saddle bow. Hastily, as he galloped on, shouting his battle anthem, and still at every shout striking a cavalier down from his saddle, he threw the morion on, but with its peak behind, and so unwittingly fought on through all that deadly strife.

Equal in numbers, and well-matched in spirit, the tug of war was dubious and protracted between the northern horse and the unconquered ironsides; but in the end Cromwell's enthusiastic energy prevailed, and Langdale, fighting to the last, was driven from the field. Then-then was the superior moral of Oliver's men proved past doubt -obedient to the first word, they drew off, careless of plunder or pursuit, although their blood was stirred almost to frenzy by the protracted struggle, and by the heat of their religious zeal.

On, Ardenne, on!' Oliver shouted, as he halted his own five regiments. Pursue, pursue! suffer them not to rally-support him, Rossiter-away! Break them to pieces-scatter them! The Lord of Hosts hath given them a prey into our hands! All glory to the name of our God!'

tans.

'As he spoke, he wheeled at once upon the flank and rear of Astley's infantry, which still maintained the conflict in the centre, slowly but steadily forcing their way against the stubborn valor of the puriOne hope remained for Charles-one only. In the reserve himself, with his life-guard commanded by Lord Lindesay, and his own picked horse-guards-his troupe dorée of nobles under the Earl of Litchfield, and Rupert's best foot-regiments-in all some thirteen hundred men, fresh and unwearied, who had not on that day unsheathed a sword, or pulled a trigger, Charles had a fair occasion to draw out and fall upon the flank of Cromwell, as he swept round to

charge the foot; and so, to do him but free justice, he proposed. Bidding his trumpets sound, and drawing his own rapier-sheathed, as he was, in glittering steel from crest to spur, conspicuous by his broad blue scarf and diamond George-he plunged his rowels into that snowwhite charger, rendered immortal by the deathless pencil of Vandyck -his pale and melancholy features transiently lighted up by the strong excitement- Follow me!' he exclaimed, follow me all who love Charles Stuart !'

Full of ecstatic valor they sprang forth-another instant would have hurled them on the unexpecting and unguarded flank of Oliver, who was already hewing his way, crimson with blood from plume to saddle-bow, through the now reeling infantry. The charge must have been perilous to Cromwell in the extreme-might have destroyed him utterly. And had it so fallen out, the victory would have been the king's; for Rupert's scattered troops were even now beginning to return, and Fairfax could scarce hold his own.

But the charge was not made. Whether from folly, cowardice, or treason, it now can never be discovered, the Earl of Carnewarth, a mere cipher in that band of England's noblest peers, seized on the bridle of the king. Saul o' my body!' he exclaimed, in his broad Scotch accent, will you then go upon your death this instant?' and ere the hapless monarch could comprehend his meaning, or arrest the movement, he dragged his charger toward the rear.

Then, on the instant, a strange panic fell on all around; so that they fled upon the spur, although no enemy was near them; and though at length the king's exertions-who spurred through the ranks beseeching them to stand, and even striking at the fugitives in impotent but noble indignation-brought them to rally, and ride back toward the field, the moment had gone by. It was too late. For Fairfax, when he saw how Cromwell had succeeded on his right, and felt the consequences of his charge upon the royal foot in the disorder of that sturdy mass, moved down at once his own life-guard from the reserve, and brought it into action.

The prince had, indeed, now returned from his insane pursuit, but his men, deeming that their part was played for that day, could not be brought to form again or charge by any effort of their leaders. And now but one battalion held its ground, a solid square of foot presenting an impenetrable front of pikes on every side to the assailing horse, while from its inner ranks it poured a constant shower of balls, that mowed down all before it.

'Cromwell, meantime, was overthrowing every thing, traversing Astley's line from the left endwise toward the centre, when Fairfax, wheeling his life-guards round upon the rear of that undaunted square, charged it himself in front. Two horses were shot under him, but a third time remounting, he brought up his men, though shattered by the constant volleys, to renewed exertions.

In the last deadly rush, his helmet was torn violently off by a pike's point. The colonel of his life-guard proffered his own; but no! bare-headed as he was, he dashed upon the spears-he hewed his way into that serried band-with his own hand he cleft the ensign of the

regiment, who crossed his path, through morion and skull down to the very teeth-he waved the captured banner round his head, and threw it to a private for safe keeping, who afterwards would fain have claimed the honor. That line of pikes once broken in swept the Independents with the rush of a springtide, and, where it fought, that firm battalion, refusing quarter and resisting to the last, was trodden to the earth, annihilated, but unconquered.-Vol. ii. pp. 254–266.

The victory of Naseby terminated the war, and decided the king's fate. He fled instantly to Oxford, whence he withdrew in disguise to the Scotch army, in the forlorn hope of awakening their loyalty and separating them from the cause of the parliament. This is not the place to enter on the questions which are suggested by the king's conduct at this period; it is sufficient for our purpose to note the events which occurred, and these are briefly told. Charles was delivered up to his English subjects, and in the course of the disputes which ensued between the parliament and the army, was seized by the latter as a prize too valuable to be left in the keeping of their opponents. The policy of the king, although a prisoner, was as hostile as ever, though the weapons with which he sought to protract the contest were of a different order from those which he had hitherto employed. Defeated in the field, he yet hoped to triumph by duplicity and craft. The notion had unhappily become fixed in his mind, that the fate of his opponents was in his hands. They were known to be divided, and he secretly negotiated with both parties under the firm persuasion that he was more necessary to their success than their favor was to his safety. This period of his life was consequently filled up with intrigues. He sought to play off the one party against the other, and trusted to the chapter of accidents to extricate him from the dangers of his position. The treatment he received from the army was more considerate and liberal than from the parliament, but the besotted king, instead of availing himself of his brightening fortunes, was only encouraged to foster delusive hopes, and to entangle himself more thoroughly in the meshes of an unprincipled and tortuous policy. Cromwell, and his son-in-law Ireton, were at this time desirous of coming to an amicable arrangement with the king. The political sagacity of the general forewarned him of many difficulties that would attend the establishment of a republic, and as his own heart was yet free -at least to a considerable extent-from the ambition which subsequently led him astray, he looked to the restoration of Charles, under such stipulations as would guarantee the liberties of the nation, as the only practicable method of accomplishing the object of the war, and of restoring peace to the country. He was, therefore, in frequent consultation with the monarch,

and would seem to have entertained sanguine hopes of the accomplishment of his patriotic scheme. His movements were not unobserved by the army, and the fierce agitators took advantage of them to bring his integrity into doubt. A marked change suddenly occurred in the conduct of Cromwell, which the royalist writers have attributed to his deep and subtle policy, but which finds a more satisfactory solution in his detection of the treachery of the king. Carte, in his life of Lord Orrery, relates that the general received advice from one of his spies of a secret letter about to be conveyed from Charles to his queen, and which was alleged to contain matters of great moment to Cromwell's personal safety. He immediately repaired with Ireton to the house of Ardenne, then residing in the Strand, and the following is our author's account of the measures which were adopted to intercept this fatal epistle.

Three days since,' said Cromwell to Ardenne, Charles accepted fully the conditions of the army, as I wrote you on Monday. The adjutators are brought over; the parliament must come to our terms. So far all's well. But with the dawn to-day a letter came to me at Windsor-from one who has conveyed us much intelligence, and never has deceived us—a friend in the king's bedchamber-verbum sat; he writes us that Charles Stuart hath been all yesterday in deep debate with Ashburnham, that firebrand of the queen's-that their resolves are taken—and a letter-of a surety in cipher-but then we hold the key, the Lord be thanked for it-prepared for Henrietta, to be conveyed right cunningly this night to Dover, by an unconscious messenger. What the contents may be, our friend might not discover, though, as he writes, he left no stone unturned; but of this he is certain, that it is all-important, and decisive of the king's intention as to the pending treaty. This letter we must intercept; and, therefore, we rode straight in this disguise to Brentford, and thence took boat, to baffle prying eyes; and so far all goes rightly. Now attend-the bearer of this letter will come at ten o'clock to night, carrying a saddle on his head, to the Blue Boar in Holborn, thence to take horse for Dover. The man will wear a green plush riding-coat, and breeches of the same, the elbows of the doublet, and the seams of the trunk hose guarded with neat-skin leather-a stammel waistcoat, and a red ribbon round his hat, which is of common straw. The saddle will be old and somewhat patched and ragged, and in the off-side flap, between the tree and pommel, the letter is concealed. The man knows not that it is there, deeming he goes to buy a famous hunting-horse from one John Styles, a horse courser. He is to put up at the Red Lion inn in Dover, and there will be one, knowing his description, who shall search the saddle and-find nothing!-for WE must have the packet :-How goes the night, Sir Edgar?'

Past seven, I am sure-nay'-after looking at his watch-but it lacks scant a quarter of an hour to eight. I thought not that it was so late!'