he had gone far, however, he learned that the king was at Leicester Abbey, where the prince joined him, and received charge of the royal cavalry consisting of eight hundred horse! The next day, being the 22nd day of August, they proceeded to Nottingham, where the royal standard was then set up.

It was a dismal ceremony. All external appearances contributed to deepen the gloom that pervaded every mind-every mind save young Rupert's, whose daring spirit found in difficulty only fresh sources of excitement. His presence at the little court of Nottingham infused new life and confidence among the drooping followers of the king. Charles himself, harassed by timorous and conflicting counsels, found relief in the prompt, vigorous, and decisive character of his nephew. Young as he was, he alone of the royal counsellors had experience in military affairs; his youth and natural daring made him reckless of the obstacles so formidable to cabinet men. They only knew that the parliament had money at command and all the munitions of war-the king nothing but a doubtful cause. Prince Rupert not only then but throughout the war was more useful to that cause, by inspiring the confidence that he felt, and by a soldier-like simplicity of purpose, more difficult to baffle or to cope with than all the rules of Machiavelli.

Prince Rupert was now nearly twenty-three. His portraits present to us the ideal of a gallant cavalier. His figure, tall, vigorous, and symmetrical, would have been somewhat stately but for its graceful bearing and noble ease. A vehement yet firm character predominates in the countenance, combined with a certain gentleness, apparent only in the thoughtful but not pensive eyes. Large, dark, and wellformed eyebrows overarch a high-bred Norman nose; the upper lip is finely cut but somewhat supercilious in expression; the lower part of the mouth and chin have a very different meaning, and impart a tone of iron resolution to the whole countenance. Long flowing hair (through which doubtless curled the romantic "love lock ") flowed over the wide embroidered collar or the scarlet cloak. He wore neither beard nor moustaches, then almost universal, and his cheek, though bronzed by exposure, was marked by a womanly dimple. On the whole our cavalier must have presented an appearance as attractive in a lady's eye and as unlovely in a Puritan's, as Vandyke ever immortalised.

Such was the aspect of the young Palatine who won for himself a name so renowned in the traditions of our civil wars, yet so uncertain in their history. He is now riding side by side with his royal kinsman to Nottingham on the way to the opening scene of the great tragedy. By the aid of old writings, and still more by the aid of old prints and pictures, we may bring the group of warlike travellers before our eyes and behold the scenes they saw.

A strong wind was sweeping over the wide valley of the Trent, then unenclosed by trenches, and only marked at wide intervals by some low strong farm-houses with innumerable gables. In the distance, boldly relieved against the stormy sky, rose the stern old castle of Nottingham; a flag-staff, as yet innocent of the fatal standard, was visible on its highest tower. Long peace and security had invested the country round with a very different aspect from that which Rupert had lately seen in Germany. A prosperous peasantry were gathering in a plentiful harvest; * there were

no petard was to be found. At length colonel Legge got two apothecaries' mortars, which they adapted to the purpose, and sent off post to the king.

There was a "very bountiful harvest this year" (Clarendon), and, indeed, a succession of them till 1673. The labourer must have lived in comfort, as he received (at least in 1661) a shilling a day with food, or one shilling and eight pence without it, for reaping, and nearly as much for mowing (Eccleston's Antiq.) Evelyn says, the peasants were so saucy that they would eat nothing but the finest wheat-flour. Baillie tells us that in Northumberland and on the borders the covenanters could buy a quarter of lamb for four pence. Wheat was under forty-four shillings a quarter;

no symptoms anywhere of the approaching war until the royal calvacade passed by. The greater part of the prince's cavalry was there, endeavouring to make an imposing appearance, but they were scantily furnished with the bas'net (or steel cap), and the back and breastplate over leathern doublet, that then formed the essential harness of a trooper; for arms they had nothing but their swords. The equipment of their king and their young general was almost as simple. The plumed hat of the time was only laid aside on the day of battle, and not always then by the reckless Rupert. A short cloak (the prince's was of scarlet cloth) and large cavalry boots almost enveloped the remainder of the person; a slender train of heralds and pursuivants and some gentlemen-at-arms complete the cavalcade. Such was the royal progress to the headquarters of the cavaliers.

Never had the king's destiny appeared so dark. On the preceding day Coventry had closed her gates against him and fired upon his flag; Leicester was only held to his cause by Wilmot's cavalry; his appeal to his people had been hitherto made in vain. Some few of the chief cavaliers, indeed, had obeyed his summons, but the peasants, the yeomen, and even the soldiers of fortune, still stood aloof or looked wistfully towards the parliament. Nottingham as yet afforded a rallying point for his few adherents and a shelter to his council, but the very country he was passing through was hostile, and the high sheriff Digby could scarcely assemble sufficient "trayn bands" to furnish the appearance of a royal guard.

Yet the day was come-the eventful day appointed for the raising of the standard -and Charles did not hesitate in his purpose. His character henceforth displayed far more firmness than hitherto; his better nature, although reserved, was dauntless, enduring, and even sanguine. He believed himself to be an injured and outraged king, and that he was about to appeal most righteously to the God of battles.

Meanwhile the little town of Nottingham was filled with thousands of curious spectators from the country round about. The day passed on without tidings of the king or any token of the approaching ceremony, only that from time to time some cavaliers arrived, their armour and gay caparison dimmed and disfigured by the storm. The foremost of these devoted men had already bidden a long farewell to the homes now desolate, yet glorying in their departure.

At length the royal banner was seen advancing across the plain. As the king drew near a profound melancholy was observed upon his countenance; Hyde and his brother counsellors of peace watched it anxiously, but were soon disabused of the hope that such sadness betokened any altered purpose. The council immediately assembled in the dilapidated hall of the old castle, and the king's determination was declared by his own lips in such terms as precluded all remonstrance. The standard was to be raised forthwith, that irrevocable challenge to a powerful people in their wrath! And the challenger was a powerless king, without troops, revenue, or apparent resources. His only hope lay in the national loyalty he had once so severely tried, and in the chivalry of the few faithful cavaliers who then surrounded him.

All matter of debate was now postponed, and the king proceeded to the momentous ceremony of the day. At once the fatal standard was unfurled from a high eminence within the park, its broad folds waving over the warlike group below. The king stood upon a grassy knoll; a herald by his side then read the proclamation with a voice almost inaudible in the storm, but that officer had scarcely begun when the king, with characteristic indecision, took the paper from his hand

in 1685 it was only twenty-seven shillings and seven pence. I find two bulls and three heifers valued at £8.

and made such alterations that the herald blundered inauspiciously through the remainder of his task. The few spectators shouted "God save the king!" and night coming on put an end to the dismal ceremony.*

The next morning no standard was to be seen; it had been blown down during the night. The king ordered it to be removed to a commanding station in the park, observing that," Before, it looked as if imprisoned." But a fatality seemed still to attend upon that standard. The ground was so hard that the heralds had to use their daggers in order to plant it in the unwilling soil, and even then four men were compelled to support it through the ceremony. Again the proclamation was read, and for four successive days the broad standard of England streamed out upon an unceasing storm, with the blood-red battle-flag above. ‡

The signal caught the eye of many a group of gallant men who were then advancing across the valley to join the standard, and to live or die beneath its shadow. Few they were, but they represented tens of thousands who lingered in blessed peace amongst their homes as long as peace was possible, yet started forth in battle armour as soon as the summons of the trumpet reached them. Their hearts might not be all at ease as to the clear justice of their cause, but it seemed, doubtless, the less evil alternative; old and honourable prejudices, ancient associations, chivalrous honour, reckless and desperate loyalty, drew them to their king. How mournful that such devotion should have been so tried-and so rewarded!

To occupy the minds of his followers probably, rather than for any other motive, the king then held a chapter of the order of the garter with such state as was practicable under the circumstances. This was to do honour to his young kinsman, prince Rupert, and was well calculated to impart a chivalric character to the ceremony of the standard. Charles, prince of Wales, at the same time received the honour of the garter. In the midst of the festival consequent on this installation, a messenger arrived in hot haste from Portsmouth bearing a despatch from Goring. Its purport "almost struck the king to the heart." His worthless and unprincipled servant announced that he must surrender his all-important post in "very few days, except it were relieved," and well he knew that relief was impossible. Lord Hertford, who alone could have afforded it, had been driven into Dorsetshire and was himself beseiged in Sherborne Castle. Meanwhile the double traitor continued to wallow in debauchery without making one effort to oppose the enemy. Lord Clarendon asserted that Goring had intended originally to hold out with firmness, "but when the king's power abated, the edge of his zeal was taken off, and he

* The standard was then removed to the highest tower in the castle.

+ The likeness of king Charles I.'s standard: "It is much of the fashion of the city streamers used at the lord mayor's show, having about twenty supporters, and is to be carried after the same way; on the top of it hangs a bloody flag. The king's arms quartered with a bloody hand pointing to the crown, which stands above with this motto, 'Give Cæsar his due.' The names of those knights bannerets who were appointed to bear the standard, viz., the cheefe was sir Thomas Brookes, sir A. Hopton, sir Francis Wortley, and sir Robert Doddington. Likewise there was three troope of horse appointed to wait upon the standard, and to bear the same backwards and forwards, with about six hundred foot soldiers, besides a great number of horse and foot, in all about 2,000, who came more to see the the manner of the thing than anyways to offer assistance to his majesty, as did afterwards too evidently appear."-Setting up of the royal standard, 1642.

At first the expectation of the parliament that the king would never be able to raise an army, seemed likely to be verified. During four days the standard was displayed at Nottingham, and almost in vain. Only thirty of the "trayned bands came forward to offer themselves, and they were ungraciously rejected for their absent comrades' fault. At this time the enemy might, sir Jacob Astley said, have seized the king at any time; but the enemy was far too subtle to do so.

thought Portsmouth was too low a sphere for him to move in, and so he cared not to lose what he did not care to keep."

It was indeed a heavy blow to Charles. He had precipitately raised the standard, lured into that rash measure by his confidence in Goring's strength. Until he had so declared his purpose beyond recall, the parliament could scarcely have begun to act on the offensive, and every day of preparation unmolested was of the utmost importance to his cause. But now the die was cast-" The beginning of strife is as the letting out of waters "--he was well nigh overwhelmed. His council, less sanguine than himself, were less astounded by this blow; perhaps, secretly, scarcely regretted it. At all events, they insisted, and with reason, that the most important object now was to recover the ground they had lost. They proposed, therefore, to open a new negotiation for an amicable arrangement with the parliament, arguing that, under any circumstance, they should gain time; that they should cast the odium of refusing peace upon the parliament; and that, after all, it was not utterly hopeless that the parliament might accept their propositions. The king at length reluctantly consented, and lords Dorset and Southampton, with sir John Colepepper and sir Wm. Uvedale undertook the dangerous office of ambassadors. They left Nottingham on the afternoon of the 25th, and reached London early the next morning.

They were received haughtily by both houses. Lord Southampton was not allowed to take his seat among the peers, but was ordered to deliver his message to the usher and leave London forthwith. Sir John Colepepper met a similar reception from the commons, and the ambassadors returned to Nottingham with such an answer as the king had foreseen. Three days later lord Falkland was sent with another--an explanatory message-in which the king declared that, "being desirous to avoid the effusion of blood, he was willing to decline all memory of former bitterness;" that he never intended to declare the parliament traitors, or to set up his standard against them, much less to put them and the kingdom out of his protection. [What all this meant it is not easy to conceive, yet it was probably suggested by Falkland, as he bore the message.] "And that, if they would recall their declarations against all persons for assisting him [the king], he would with all cheerfulness do the same and take down his standard." The document ended by expressing his desire for a treaty. The parliament echoed the king's demand, insisting that the royal declarations, traitor epithets, and obnoxious standard should be suppressed before they would enter into any terms. With this reply lord Falkland returned to the king.

Prince Rupert and the more warlike cavaliers triumphed in these replies, the purport of which they had prophesied. But those who had advised the negotiation also triumphed in the favour that the royal cause had gained by the exhibition of so anxious a desire on the king's part for peace. Henceforth the levies went on rapidly, and the wavering gentry, seeing that all hope of compromise was at an end, displayed their national, firm (when once formed) resolution. The king, after many years of error and impolicy, had latterly been sorely tried; he had gone through the ordeal with courage and magnanimity, and now his career was, at all events, the least objectionable. From that time forth nineteen-twentieths of the gentlemen of England were cavaliers.

At Nottingham all was now changed-the energy of desperation succeeded to the restless indolence of suspense. The tide had begun to turn for the king; every trooper that now entered the castle brought some better news, on which still better hopes were founded. The artillery arrived from York; preparations were made to advance towards the south; the king appeared in a new character, displaying extraordinary talents for business; promptness, energy, and resolution. Essex meanwhile

had reached Northampton, and now lay in considerable force within reach of his royal enemy. The council at Nottingham were in hourly fear for the king's safety, but their fears were causeless. Nothing can be conceived more awkward than for the parliament at this moment to have made the king a prisoner. He had granted infinitely more than they had presumed to ask for twelve months before; his desire for peace, his offer for a treaty was published to all England; the roundheads dared not have touched him. They knew well that they must wait until the public reason was lost in the public passion, and the strong instinct of allegiance merged in the still stronger instinct of hatred towards an enemy. The king was not yet that enemy; the parliament were determined to make him so-to steep his hands in blood, and then, and not till then, to call him to account.

THE CIVIL WAR.

LUCY HUTCHINSON.

And now were all the countries in England no longer idle spectators, but several stages, whereon the tragedy of the civil war was acted, except the eastern association, where Mr. Oliver Cromwell, by his diligence, prevented the designs of the royal party, which were so successful the first year in all other places, that the parliament's condition appeared so desperate, as many of their members, of both houses, ran away to Oxford to the king, and others sat among them conspiring against them. One plot, conducted by Mr. Waller, and carried on among many disaffected persons, in the city, was near taking effect, to the utter subversion of the parliament and people; but that God, by his providence, brought it timely to light, and the authors were condemned, and some of them executed; but Waller, for being more a knave than the rest, and 'peaching his 'complices, was permitted to buy his life for ten thousand pounds. This summer all the west was reduced by the king, the earl of Stamford yielding up Exeter, and col. Fiennes, Bristol. Sir William Waller had lost all his army, which had been victorious in many encounters. The king was master of all or most part of Wales, and the parliament had no army left in the field, so that had he taken the opportunity to have gone immediately to London, that summer, he had accomplished his design: but being denied the town of Gloucester, and taking it in disdain, that that town, in the heart of the land, should make a resistance when the greater cities were yielded to him, he stopped his course to take in that place, where he stayed to turn the tide of his good fortune, as his general my lord of Newcastle did, at the siege of Hull.* My lord Newcastle was general of the north, and master of all the strong places, to the very borders of Scotland, and formidable to all the neighbouring counties. Only the lord Fairfax, with his son sir Thomas, headed all the religious, honest Englishmen they could raise, in those parts, and with a far inferior force kept him in play, and in several skirmishes came off conquerors. But

The impolicy of this measure is more fully noticed and explained, and the cause of it set down, by sir Philip Warwick, in his Memoirs, p. 260. "One or the like council in both quarters, north and west, blasted the prosperity in each place, for the king pitcht upon that fatal resolution, recommended to him by lord Culpeper, of besieging Glocester, thinking it a good policy not to leave a strong town behind him but the counsel proved fatal, for had the king at that time resolved in himself to have struck at the proud head of London, and had had authority enough at that time to have required the earl of Newcastle to have joined with him; humanly speaking, he had raised such confusion among the two houses and the Londoners, that they had either sent him his own terms, or if they had fought him most probably he had been victorious. But the king fixes on Glocester and the earl of Newcastle on Hull, upon the advice of his lieut.general King, who was suspected."

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