6 74 ENGLAND. 
They alfo levied fourteen thoufand men in the eaft, un- man in the kingdom; and as fqr parliaments, though he 
der the earl of Manchefter ; they had an army of ten difliked the conduct of one or two, yet he never deligned 
thoufand men under Eftex, and another of nearly the 
fame number under fir William Waller. Thefe were 
fuperior to any force the king could bring into the field, 
and were well appointed, and amply fupplied with am¬ 
munition, provifions, and pay. 
Hoftilities, which, even during the winter feafon, had 
never been wholly difcontinued, were renewed in the 
fpring of 1644, with redoubled fury, and ferved to defo¬ 
late the kingdom, without deciding the victory. Each 
county joined that fide to which jt was addifted from 
motives of conviction, intereft, or fear, though fome ob- 
ferved a perfeCt neutrality. There were feveral peti¬ 
tions for peace ; ar.d all the wife and good united in the 
cry. What particularly deferves remark, was an attempt 
of the worn n of London, who, to the number of twOi 
or three thoufand, went in a body to the houfe of com¬ 
mons, eameftly demanding a peace. “Give us thofe 
itraitors (faid they) that are againlt a peace; give them, 
that we may tear them in pieces.” The guards found 
fome difficulty in quelling this infurreCtion ; and one or 
• two women loft their lives in the fray. 
The battle of Marflon-moor wore the fir(i feature of 
the king’s difgrace. The Scotch and parliament armies 
had joined, and were befieging York, when prince Rupert, 
joined by the marquis of Newcaftle, determined to raife 
the fiege. Both armies drew up on Marflon-moor, to 
the number of fifty thoufand, and the victory feemed 
long wavering between them. Rupert, who commanded 
the right wing of the royal ills, was oppofed by Oliver 
Cromwell, who now firft came into notice, at the head of 
a body of troops whom he had himfelf taken care to 
Jevy and difcipline. Cromwell was victorious : he 
pufhed his opponents off' the field, followed the van- 
quifhed, returned to a fecond engagement, and a fecond 
victory ; the prince’s whole train of artillery was taken ; 
and the royalifls never after recovered the blow. 
While the king was thus beaten in the field, he was 
not more fuccefsful in negociation. A treaty was begun 
at Uxbridge ; but which, like all others, came to nothing. 
The puritans demanded a total abolition of the epifco- 
pacy, and all church ceremonies ; and this Charles would 
not permit. He had all along adhered to the epifcopal 
jurifdiCfion, not only becaufe it was favourable to mo¬ 
narchy, but becaufe all his adherents were devoted to it. 
He efleemed bifliops as elfential to the Chriftian church ; 
and thought himfelf bound, not only by temporal but 
facred, ties to defend them. The parliament was as ob- 
ifinately bent upon removing this order ; and, to (hew 
their refolution, began with the foremoft of the number. 
William Laud, archbifhop of Canterbury, as we have 
feen, had been imprifoned in the Tower at the fame time 
•with Strafford ; and he had patiently endured this long 
confinement, without being brought to trial. He was 
now, therefore, accufed of high treafon, in endeavouring 
to fubvert the fundamental laws, and of other high 
crimes and mifdemeanors. The groundlefs charge of 
popery, which his life and afterwards his death belied, 
was urged againft him. In his defence, he fpoke feveral 
hours, with that courage which is ever the refult of in¬ 
nocence and integrity. The lords, who were his judges, 
appeared willing to acquit him; but the commons, his 
accufers, finding how his trial was likely to go, puffed an 
ordinance for his execution, and terrified the lords into a 
confent. Seven peers alone voted in this important quef- 
tion; all the reft, either from fhame or fear, fieceded from 
their duty. When brought to the fcaffoid, this vene¬ 
rable prelate, without any terror, but,in the ufual tone of 
liis exhortations from the pulpit, made a long fpeech. 
He told them that he had examined his heart ; and 
thanked God that he found no fins there which deferved 
the death he was going to fuffer. The king, he faid, 
had been traduced by fome, as labouring to introduce 
popery; but he believed him as found a proteftant as any 
to change the laws of his country, or the preteftant re¬ 
ligion. After he had prayed for a Tew minutes, the exe¬ 
cutioner fevered his head at a blow, A. D. 1644. 
The death of Laud was followed by a total alteration 
of the ceremonies of the church. The liturgy was, by 
a public aft, aboliftted the day he died, as if he had 
been the only obftacle to its formal removal. The 
church of England was in all refpeefs brought to a con¬ 
formity with the puritanical eftablifhment; while the 
citizens of London-, and the Scotch army, gave public 
thanks for fo happy an alteration. Yet from the mo¬ 
ment the puritans began to be apparently united, and 
ranked under one common denomination of Prelbyte- 
rians, they began again to divide into frefti fedts, each 
profeffing different views and interefts. One part of the 
houfe was compofed of Prefbyterians, ftridlly fo called ; 
the other, though a minority, of Independents, a new 
•fe£t that had lately been introduced, and rapidly gained 
ground among the vulgar. 
The difference between thefe two fefts would be hardly 
worth mentioning, had not their religious opinions in¬ 
fluenced their political condudt. Thy church of Eng¬ 
land, as we have feen, had appointed bifhops of clerical 
ordination, arid a book of common prayer. The prefby- 
terians exclaimed againft both ; they were for having the 
church governed by clergymen elefted by the people, 
and prayers made without premeditation. The inde¬ 
pendents went farther; they excluded all the clergy; 
they maintained that every man might pray in public, 
exhort his audience, and explain the feriptures. Their 
political fyftem kept pace with their religious. Not 
content with reducing fheking to a firft rnagiftrate, which 
was the aim of the prefbyterians, this feft afpired at the 
abolition not only of all monarchy., but of all fuhordi- 
nation. They maintained, and they perhaps maintained 
right, that all men were born equal; but they alleged 
alfo, that no accidental or artificial inftitutions could de- 
ftroy this equality ; and there they were deceived. Could 
fuch a plan of government as theirs be practicable, it 
would, no doubt, remove all the caufes of envy and jea- 
loufy among men; but this were impofiible : the wife 
and induftrious mull in every country prevail over the 
weak and idle ; and the bad fuccefs of the independent 
fcherne foon fliewed how ill adapted fuch fpeculative 
ideas were to human infirmity. Polfefted, however, with 
a high notion of their own reCtitude both in religion and 
politics, they gave way to a furly pride, which is ever 
the refult of narrow manners and an obftinate difpofition. 
The royalifts endeavoured to throw a ridicule on this 
fanaticifm, without being fenfible how much they had to 
apprehend from its confequences. - The forces of the 
king were united by much feebler ties ; and licence 
among them, which had been introduced by the want of 
^iay, had rifen to a dangerous height, rendering them as 
formidable to their friends as their enemies. To increafe 
this unpopularity, the king, finding the parliament of 
Scotland as well as that of England, declaring againft 
him, he thought proper to make a truce with the papifts 
of Ireland, in order to bring over the Englifit forces who 
ferved in that kingdom. With thefe troops he alfo re¬ 
ceived fome of the native Irifh into his fervice, who dill 
retained their fiercenefs and their barbarity. This gave 
tire parliament a plaufible opportunity of upbraiding 
him with taking papifts into his fervice, and gave a co¬ 
lour to the ancient calumny of his having excited them 
to rebel. Unfortunately, too, they rather increafed the 
hatred of his fubjebts, than added to the ftrength of his 
army. They were routed in the firft battle by Fairfax ; 
and though they threw down their arms, they were 
flaughtered in cool blood without mercy. 
Thefe misfortunes were foon fucceeded by a greater. 
Charles, who had retired to Oxford, began to find him- 
felf at the head of a turbulent army, who, from wanting 
P a y* 
