73

CHAPTER IX.

THE TREATY HYDE.

WINTER was approaching when King Charles entered Oxford, intending to fix his court, for a season, with the Muses; whose charms, had peace and leisure waited on his steps in life, few princes could have better appreciated than himself. The boiling blood of Rupert, however, was impatient of a day's inaction. From his head-quarters at Abingdon, the prince made many successful incursions with his cavaliers into the adjacent counties, each time approaching near to the capital. In one of these expeditions he attempted Reading; where the parliament had placed a garrison, under the command of the fantastic republican Henry Marten. At sight of Prince Rupert and his fiery cuirassiers, governor and garrison precipitately abandoned the town; and such were the accounts of the terror and disaffection in and near the capital, which the prince received from the inhabitants, that he prevailed on Charles, always too ready to give way to the views of those about him, to advance with his army towards London.

The parliament were now seriously alarmed. They ordered Essex to bring up his army to the metropolis; and, by a vote of thanks for the victory at Edge-hill, and a present of £5,000, engaged him to pursue the war with activity and decision. They proposed to invite the Scotch to their assistance; resolved to raise another army, to be placed under the command of the Earl of Warwick; and ordered that all apprentices who would enlist, should have the period for which they served reckoned towards their freedom. For the means of carrying on the war with increased energy, they applied, as usual, to the city, and levied assessments by oppressive and arbitrary methods; declaring it legal, not only to seize the goods of those who refused to contribute one-twentieth part of their estates, but also to imprison their persons, and expel their families from the metropolis and its vicinity. They hastily voted a petition to the king for peace; but while their commissioners were attending at Colnbrook to present it, hostile movements were, on both sides, renewed. The general received orders to draw his army westward from the city; the military were commanded, under the strictest penalties, to repair instantly to their colours; and a committee of both houses was sent to encourage the citizens to renewed resolutions "of defending and maintaining their liberties and religion with their lives and fortunes."

Essex advanced toward Brentford, and occupied that town with Hollis's regiment. There Prince Rupert, with some troops of horse and several pieces of artillery, fell suddenly upon them, intending, it was said, to cut his way through to London; when Hampden's and another regiment coming to the rescue, a more equal contest followed. After repeated charges on both sides, in which great numbers were slain, and many

L

prisoners taken, the parliament's forces were driven from the town, and it was taken possession of by the king. But reinforcements were sent in, from all quarters, to the earl. "Bands and regiments of armed men sprung up in succession, as if out of the earth,” says a patriotic writer. An effectual appeal was made to the trained-bands to march out, and protect their municipal wealth, and household hearths, from the avidity and license of the cavaliers. These substantial troops were led on by the brave but coarse Skippon; who, passing from company to company, cheered his unfleshed battalions with familiar talk; "and the soldiers," observes Whitelocke, "seemed to be more taken with it than with a set, formal oration." Essex's army consisted of full 24,000 "stout, gallant, proper men, as well habited and armed as were ever seen." The general, however, was averse to engage; the "old soldiers of fortune," whose pacific advice coincided with his own inclinations, averred that it was honour and safety enough to stop the march of the king. Hampden, mortified by this coldness, proposed to march a body of men to Hounslow, and cut off Charles's retreat, while the main army assailed him in front. This was agreed to; but they had not proceeded a mile when they were recalled. For one whole day the a my stood drawn up on the side of Turnham Green; while its columns were confronted, on the opposite side, by those of the king. At length a movement appeared in the royalist ranks. On this, two or three hundred lookers-on from the city turned their horses' bridles, and galloped homewards, followed by some of the soldiers. It was the king preparing to quit the field. Either for want of ammunition, or because he dreaded the discredit of interposing farther difficulties to the proposed treaty, Charles had resolved on a retreat. The citizen-soldiers now directed a fierce attack-upon the provisions, the wines, and tobacco, which their wives and daughters had forwarded to them in abundance, from the markets and cellars of the city; and confidence and hilarity once more prevailed in the parliamentarian ranks. The king, in the mean time, marched by Colnbrook, to Reading; where he left a garrison of 3,000 men under the command of Sir Arthur Aston, and presently re-entered his winter-quarters at Oxford.

From many parts, a loud cry was now heard for peace. The city of London, by an order of common-council, presented a petition to that effect to the houses of parliament; in which was enclosed another to the king. The parliament rejected that addressed to themselves, but voted that the petition to the king should be presented. By the advice of the houses, a deputation from the common-council proceeded with it to Oxford. When a passage of this document was read, in which the petitioners earnestly besought his majesty "to return to his parliament, accompanied with his royal, not his martial, attendance," engaging "to preserve his majesty and the two houses from all tumults," Charles smiled: "You seem to me," he said, "gentlemen, to promise more than you are able to perform; for I hear you cannot maintain peace and quiet among yourselves." He promised, however, to give a full answer, which he desired should be read out publicly in the city of London.

The largest confluence of liverymen ever remembered, met on this occasion. A committee of both houses were present. The petition was first read, and was received with such tumultuous applause, that the gentleman by whom the king had sent his answer,