198 Appendix VII 



Upon the nine-and-twentieth day of November, so soon as the 

 rebels who possessed Chatsworth House (the principal seat of the 

 Earl of Devonshire), then under the command of Captain Stafford, 

 heard of this news, though the place was very strong, and three 

 hundred well provided to defend it, yet not adventuring either an 

 assault or a summons, they quit their hold and are fled away. 



VII 



THE CAMPAIGN OF THE MARQUIS OF NEWCASTLE 

 AGAINST THE SCOTS IN FEBRUARY, MARCH AND 

 APRIL 1644 



The best account of this campaign is that given by Rushworth. 

 Ill, ii, 612-16 ; it is a summary of the different news-letters pub- 

 lished at the time, and seems to be derived entirely from writers 

 favourable to the Parliamentary cause, and based mainly on letters 

 from the Scottish camp. The object of this note is to collect some 

 materials for the history of the campaign from Royalist sources. 

 Some of the letters of the Marquis during the campaign are printed 

 in Warburton's Prince Rupert. The long despatch which follows 

 is from a copy amongst the Conway papers, now in the Record - 

 office, and the extract from Mercurius Aulicns represents another 

 despatch which has now disappeared. 



Newcastle writes to Prince Rupert from York on January 28, 

 1644, telling him that his marching army amounted to only 5000 

 foot, and that his horse was not well armed, whilst the Scots num- 

 bered 14,000 and had advanced as far as Morpeth (Warburton, ii, 

 368). He concludes by regretting that he is to be left to fight the 

 Scots unaided. A day or two later he set out for Newcastle ; the 

 Scots appeared before that town and summoned it on February 3d, 

 and the same day the Marquis arrived within its walls. Of the 

 attack which followed, and the condition of their forces, Newcastle 

 and King sent the following account to Charles. 



A true and perfect representation of the state of your Majesty's army 

 under our command and the condition we are in at this present 



Your Majesty may be pleased to understand that the greatest part of this 

 winter was necessarily spent in suppressing the rebellion in Derbyshire, 

 which otherwise had grown to an irresistible head. And by the time we had 

 reduced that county, and put in it a defensible posture, the disorders in 

 Yorkshire, together with the rumour of the Scots' invasion, called us back 



