126 'Of all the strong places, to the very borders of Scotland, and formidable to all the neighbouring counties . On ly the Lord Fairfax, with his sonne Sr. Thomas, headed all the religious, honest Eng lishmen, they could raysc, in those parts, and with a fa r inferior f(nce, kept him in pl ay, and in several! sk irmishes came of ' conquerors. But" as the fortune of the parl iament declin'd in other places, so those who had not principles strong enough to hold them tast to a iust, though falling cause, sough t early to secure their lives by treasons, which des troy'd them. The E arle of Newcastl e's armi e was iudg'd to be about eight thousand, horse anti foote, my Lord Fairfax had not above two thousand one hundred foo lc, and seven troopes of horse . After this there was a grcate access ion of strength to my Lord Newcastle, by the coming, fi rst of the Lord Goring, with many old commanders ; then of General! King, with six thousand arms, from beyond the seas; then of the quecne herselfe, who, in February 1642, landed neere Sunderland, comming out of Holland, with large provisions of arms, ammunition, and commanders a time to have required the Earl of Newcastl e to have j oined wi th him; humanely H speaking, he had rai sed such confusion among the two houses <:'lnd the Londoners, u that they bad e ither sent him his own tenn es , or if they had fo ught him most prow a bably he had been victori ous . But the king fi xes on Gl ocester and the Earl of New- <" castl e on Hull, upon the advice of hi s Lieut. Gene ral King, who was suspected.'1 A few pages furth er he reckons among the king's mi sfortunes the Earl of New~ castl e's too n{uch affecting independency, which may serve to accoun t for some other matters which will occur; but it is here natural to observe, that the kmg having, by separating himRelf from hi s parliamen t, lost hi s acknowl edged and unquestionabl e au· thority, he re tained only a very precarious one over the diffCrent chiefs of hi s party: which, on many occasions, tmm:d to the di sad\'antage of hi s cau se. After all, it is noway certain that hi s march to London would have heen so effectual and so little opposed, ns it is here taken for granted it would have been. x I_n fact, the res istance so long maintained. and frequently with such success, by Lord Fairfax and his son s against so superior a force, has been always thought next to miraculous, and marked out Sir Thomas as the fittest m::.t in the kingdom to command the forces and fix the fortunes of the parliament.
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