POLITICAL HISTORY 



quarters left Bedford to march upon the City, 29 July. Next day the Earl 

 of Lauderdale arrived at Woburn with Cheisley, who was about to start on a 

 secret mission for Charles to the Scottish government, and had come for final 

 instructions. The Army knew little of Lauderdale's plans, but it regarded his 

 presence with suspicion, and next morning the soldiers broke into his lodging 

 at Woburn and ordered him to get out of bed and quit the place at once, 

 without visiting the abbey. Even a short delay in which to say his prayers 

 was refused ; they hurried him off as soon as he was dressed.'" In a day 

 •or two Charles left Woburn for Stoke Poges, and his last visit to Bedford- 

 shire had come to an end. Never again had he so good a chance of making 

 reasonable terms as that which he had then refused. 



The border of Bedfordshire was the scene of one of the smaller actions 

 of the second Civil War. On 1 3 June 1 648 '" notice was sent to the 

 deputy lieutenants of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire, on the occasion 

 of the rising in Kent and Essex, to put the counties in posture of defence 

 and guard their ' passes,' as ' it is likely that such parties as break away will 

 make for Ely ' (that refuge of broken armies and lost causes) ' and the 

 north.' Next month the Earl of Holland, ' who had floated up and down 

 with the tide of the times,' '" headed a rising for the relief of Colchester, but 

 was totally defeated at Kingston on Thames, 7 July.'" He made his way, 

 at the head of about 100 horse, through Harrow, St. Albans, and Dunstable 

 to Brickhill, whence he crossed Bedfordshire, and gradually recruiting his 

 strength arrived at St. Neots on Sunday evening 9 July, with about 400 

 cavalry, accompanied by the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Peterborough, 

 his brother John Mordaunt, and Colonel Dalbier. The last, who was an 

 excellent soldier, had served under the Earl of Essex,*'* but, piqued by neglect, 

 had changed sides. Early next morning they were surprised by a force under 

 Colonel Scroop, who had hurried up from Hertford through Hitchin. The 

 attack was made from the Bedfordshire side, the Parliamentary 'forlorn' of 100 

 dragoons coming to Eaton Ford just before sunrise ; and the bridge was forced 

 though stoutly defended. The Royalists then drew up in the market-place, 

 and the fighting was ' hot,' but did not last long. Buckingham fled, Dalbier 

 died fighting, and Holland was captured with about a dozen officers and over 

 a hundred men. Peterborough got away, and disguised himself as a plain 

 country gentleman ; he was captured, but rescued in a ' town ' through which 

 he passed with his captors, owing this good fortune probably to the fact that 

 he was a Bedfordshire man.*"" His brother also escaped, and lived to take an 

 active part in the restoration of Charles H, who gave him a peerage.'" 



Among the prisoners taken on the surrender of Colchester, 27 August 

 1648, was Lord Capel, a Hertfordshire man, but at that time the owner or 

 tenant of Warden Abbey. He was imprisoned in the Tower, escaped, and 

 was recaptured. Both he and Holland were condemned to death, though 

 each urged that he had surrendered on condition that his life be spared, 



"' Gardiner, op. cit. iii, 173. "° Cal. S.P. Dom. 1648-9, p. 126. 



'" Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson (ed. Bohn), 319. '** Gardiner, op. cit. iii, 410. 



'*' Mr. C. H. Firth, Diet. Nat. Biog. Suppl. sub Dalbier. Carlyle, Cromwell (1871), i, 216, says that 



Cromwell learned from him 'the mechanical part of soldiering,' a statement based on Heath, Flagellum, 24. 

 Mr. Firth, however, thinks this improbable. 



^ This account is from Gorham, St. Neots ; it is founded on Clarendon and contemporary pamphlets. 



'" Collins, Peerage, ii, 215. 



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