provisions, till the war had been over, and have met with no disturbance; and I have often wondered since, how we got into such horrible places, as much as how we got out. That which was worse to us than all the rest was, that we knew not where we were going, nor what part of the country we should come into, when we came out of those desolate crags. At last, after a terrible fatigue, we began to see the western parts of Yorkshire, some few villages, and the country at a distance looked a little like England; for I thought before it looked like old Brennus hill, which the Grisons call the grandfather of the Alps. We got some relief in the villages, which indeed some of us had so much need of, that they were hardly able to sit their horses, and others were forced to help them off, they were so faint. I never felt so much of the power of hunger in my life, for having not eaten in thirty hours, I was as ravenous as a hound; and if I had had a piece of horseflesh, I believe I should not have had patience to have stayed dressing it, but have fallen upon it raw, and have eaten it as greedily as a Tartar.

However, I eat very cautiously, having often seen the danger of men's eating heartily after long fasting. Our next care was to inquire our way. Halifax, they told us, was on our right; there we durst not think of going; Skipton was before us, and there we knew not how it was; for a body of three thousand horse, sent out by the enemy in pursuit of Prince Rupert, had been there but two days before, and the country people could not tell us, whether they were gone or no; and Manchester's horse, which were sent out after our party, were then at Halifax, in quest of us, and afterwards marched into Cheshire. In this distress we would have hired a guide, but none of the country people would go with us; for the roundheads would hang them, they said, when they came there. Upon this I called a fellow to me, Harkye friend, says I, dost thee know the way so as to bring us into Westmoreland, and not keep the great road from York? Ay marry, says he, I ken the ways weel enou. And you would go and guide us, said I, but that you are afraid the roundheads will hang you? Indeed would I, says the fellow. Why then, says I, thou hadst as good be hanged by a roundhead as a cavalier; for, if thou will not go, I'll hang thee just now. Na, and ye serve me soa, says the fellow, I'se ene gang with ye; for I care not for hanging; and ye'll get me a good horse, I'se

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gang and be one of ye, for I'll nere come heame more. This pleased us still better, and we mounted the fellow, for three of our men died that night with the extreme fatigue of the last service.

Next morning, when our new trooper was mounted and clothed, we hardly knew him; and this fellow led us by such ways, such wildernesses, and yet with such prudence, keeping the hills to the left, that we might have the villages to refresh ourselves, that without him, we had certainly either perished in those mountains, or fallen into the enemy's hands. We passed the great road from York so critically as to time, that from one of the hills he showed us a party of the enemy's horse, who were then marching into Westmoreland. We lay still that day, finding we were not discovered by them; and our guide proved the best scout that we could have had; for he would go out ten miles at a time, and bring us in all the news of the country. Here he brought us word, that York was surrendered upon articles, and that Newcastle, which had been surprised by the king's party, was besieged by another army of Scots, advanced to help their brethren.

Along the edges of those vast mountains we past, with the help of our guide, till we came into the forest of Swale; and finding ourselves perfectly concealed here, for no soldier had ever been here all the war, nor perhaps would not, if it had lasted seven years, we thought we wanted a few days rest, at least for our horses, so we resolved to halt, and while we did so, we made some disguises, and sent out some spies into the country; but, as here were no great towns, nor no post road, we got very little intelligence. We rested four days, and then marched again; and, indeed, having no great stock of money about us, and not very free of that we had, four days was enough for those poor places to be able to maintain us.

We thought ourselves pretty secure now; but our chief care was, how to get over those terrible mountains; for, having passed the great road that leads from York to Lancaster, the crags, the farther northward we looked, looked still the worse, and our business was all on the other side. Our guide told us he would bring us out if we would have patience, which we were obliged to, and kept on this slow march till he brought us to Stanhope, in the county of Durham, where some of Goring's horse, and two regiments of foot had their quarters. This was nineteen days from the

battle of Marston-moor. The prince, who was then at Kendal, in Westmoreland, and who had given me over as lost, when he had news of our arrival, sent an express to me to meet him at Appleby. I went thither accordingly, and gave him an account of our journey, and there I heard the short history of the other part of our men, whom we parted from in Lancashire. They made the best of their way north. They had two resolute gentlemen who commanded; and being so closely pursued by the enemy, that they found themselves under the necessity of fighting, they halted, and faced about, expecting the charge. The boldness of the action. made the officer who led the enemy's horse (which it seems were the county horse only), afraid of them; which they perceiving, taking the advantage of his fears, bravely advance, and charge them; and, though they were above two hundred horse, they routed them, killed about thirty or forty, got some horses, and some money, and pushed on their march night and day; but coming near Lancaster, they were so waylaid and pursued, that they agreed to separate, and shift every man for himself; many of them fell into the enemy's hands, some were killed attempting to pass through the river Lune; some went back again, six or seven got to Bolton, and about eighteen got safe to Prince Rupert.

The prince was in a better condition hereabouts than I expected; he and my Lord Goring, with the help of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, and the gentlemen of Cumberland, had gotten a body of four thousand horse, and about six thousand foot; they had retaken Newcastle, Tinmouth, Durham, Stockton, and several towns of consequence from the Scots, and might have cut them out work enough still, if that base people, resolved to engage their whole interest to ruin their sovereign, had not sent a second army of ten thousand men under the Earl of Calendar, to help their first. These came and laid siege to Newcastle, but found more vigorous resistance now than they had done before.

There were in the town Sir John Morley, the Lord Crawford, Lord Rea and Maxwell, Scots, and old soldiers, who were resolved their countrymen should buy the town very dear, if they had it; and had it not been for our disaster at Marston-moor, they had never had it; for Calendar finding he was not able to carry the town, sends to General Leven to come from the siege of York to help him.

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CHAPTER XIV.

STATE OF THE PRINCE'S ARMY-SKIRMISHES-THE KING'S ARMY OBTAINS SOME PARTIAL SUCCESSES IN THE WESTTHE ARMIES JOIN AT OXFORD-FARTHER PROCEEDINGS -BAD CONDUCT OF THE PARLIAMENT SOLDIERS-NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE PARLIAMENT FOR PEACE-PROCEEDINGS OF THE DIVISION TO WHICH I BELONGED IN THE ARMY.

MEAN time the prince forms a very good army, and the Lord Goring, with ten thousand men, shows himself on the borders of Scotland, to try if that might not cause the Scots to recall their forces; and, I am persuaded, had he entered Scotland, the parliament of Scotland had recalled the Earl of Calendar, for they had but five thousand men left in arms to send against him; but they were loath to venture.

However, this effect it had, that it called the Scots northward again, and found them work there for the rest of the summer, to reduce the several towns in the bishopric of Durham.

I found with the prince the poor remains of my regiment, which, when joined with those that had been with me, could not all make up three troops, and but two captains, three lieutenants, and one cornet; the rest were dispersed, killed, or taken prisoners.

However, with those, which we still called a regiment, I joined the prince, and after having done all we could on that side, the Scots being returned from York, the prince returned through Lancashire to Chester.

The enemy often appeared and alarmed us, and once fell on one of our parties, and killed us about a hundred men; but we were too many for them to pretend to fight us, so we came to Bolton, beat the troops of the enemy near Warrington, where I got a cut with a halberd in my face, and arrived at Chester the begining of August.

The parliament, upon their great success in the north, thinking the king's forces quite broken, had sent their general, Essex, into the west, where the king's army was commanded

by Prince Maurice, Prince Rupert's elder brother, but not very strong; and the king being, as they supposed, by the absence of Prince Rupert, weakened so much as that he might be checked by Sir William Waller, who, with four thousand five hundred foot, and fifteen hundred horse, was at that time about Winchester, having lately beaten Sir Ralph Hopton. Upon all these considerations, the Earl of Essex marches westward.

The forces in the west being too weak to oppose him, everything gave way to him, and all people expected he would besiege Exeter, where the queen was newly lying-in, and sent a trumpet to desire he would forbear the city, while she could be removed; which he did, and passed on westward, took Tiverton, Biddeford, Barnstaple, Launceston, relieved Plymouth, drove Sir Richard Grenvil up into Cornwall, and followed him thither, but left Prince Maurice behind him with four thousand men about Barnstaple and Exeter. The king, in the mean time, marches from Oxford into Worcester, with Waller at his heels; at Edgehill his majesty turns upon Waller, and gave him a brush, to put him in mind of the place; the king goes on to Worcester, sends three hundred horse to relieve Durley Castle, besieged by the Earl of Denby, and sending part of his forces to Bristol, returns to Oxford.

His majesty had now firmly resolved to march into the west, not having yet any account of our misfortunes in the north. Waller and Middleton waylay the king at Cropedy bridge. The king assaults Middleton at the bridge; Waller's men were posted with some cannon to guard a pass; Middleton's men put a regiment of the king's foot to the rout, and pursued them. Waller's men, willing to come in for the plunder, a thing their general had often used them to, quit their post at the pass, and their great guns, to have part in the victory. The king coming in seasonably to the relief of his men, routs Middleton, and at the same time sends a party round, who clapt in between Sir William Waller's men and their great guns, and secured the pass and the cannon too.

The king took three colonels, besides other officers, and about three hundred men prisoners, with eight great guns, nineteen carriages of ammunition, and killed about two hundred men.

Waller lost his reputation in this fight, and was exceedingly slighted ever after, even by his own party; but especially