Ohap. VI. 7!Je HIS T 0 R Y if the PuRITANS. 185 lieutenant general Crom~~ell on the one hand, and to the indifcreet fury and K. Charles I. violence of prince Rupert on the other. The armies were pretty equal ~· in number, about twelve or fourteen thoufan4 on a fide, but the parlia- ' ment foldiers were better difciplined, and fought with all the bravery and magnanimity that an enthufiaf1ick zeal could infpire. General Faiifax having his helmet beat off, rode up and down the field bare-headed ; major general Skippon received a wound in the beginning of the engagement, upon which being defired to go off, he anfwered, he 71Jou!d not.flir as long as a man wou!dJtand. ]reton was run through the thigh with a pike, had his horfe killed under him, and was made a prifoner, but found means to efcape upon the turn of the battle. The king fhewed Whit!. I'• bimfelf a couragious commander, but his foldiers were fl:ruck with fuch gs · d a panick, that when they were once difordered they would never rally, v:!~ell. ·I'· whereas if their enemies were beaten from their ground they prefently 658. returned, and kept their ranks till they received frefh iofl:ruc:tions. When prince Rupert had routed Ireton's left wing, he loll: his advantage, firfl:, by following the chafe almo!l: three miles, and then by trying to become maf1er of the train of artillery, before he knew the fuccefs of the main body; whereas when Cromwell had broke the right wing of the enemy, he purfued them only a quarter of a mile, and leaving a fmall party of horfe to prevent their rallying, returned immediately to the battel, and with his viCtorious troops charged the royal infantry in flank. The par- Rapin, p. liament army took above five thoufand prifoners; all the king's train of 310 • artillery, bag and baggage, with his cabinet of letters, forne of wh ich were afterwards publilhed to the world; not above fix or [even hundred of his men being killed, with about one hundred and fifty officers. The king with a party of hor!e, fled into Wales , arid prince Rupert to Bril· to!; but the parliament forces purfued their viCtory with fuch cagernefs, and marched with that rapidity over the whole weft of E ngland, to the very land's end, that in a few months a11 the royal forces were difperfed, and his majeit y's garrifons fur rendered almofl: before they were fummon. ed. The city of Briflol, into which prince Rupert had thrown himfelf, capit~la ted b_cfore the bcfiegers approached the walls, which provoked the kmg to tha t degree, that he commanded him by letter to depart the land, as did alfo the prince of Wales, for the fecurity of his perfon ; fo that by the end of this campaign, the unhappy king was expofed to the mercy of his enemies, and fh ut up all the winter little better than a prifoner in his garri fo n of Oiford. To return to the affairs of the church. When it is recolleCted what Parliammt'l great number or'ciergymen had deferted to the kin"' or were other wife carefir a . diifatisfied with the new terms of conformi ty we ~·ufl: 'conclude it very regular cler– difficult to fnpply the vacant pulpits in the cou~try, with a learned and re- gy. ,VoL. II. B b gular
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