terwards acknowledged to be a Counsel too fuddainly enter'd upon.

UPON appearance of that Body of Lambert's, the whole Army was drawn up, and appear'd very chearful. The King having obferv'd David Lefley, throughout the whole march, fad and melancholy, and, at that time when the Enemy retir'd, and plainly in a quicker pace than a good Retreat used to be made, flow in giving Orders, and refiding by himself, his Majefty rode up to him, and asked him, with great alacrity, "how he could be fad, when he was in the Head of fo brave "an Army? (which he faid look'd well that day) and demanded of him, "How he liked them? To which David David Lef Lefley anfwer'd him in his Ear, being at fome distance from ley's Saying any other, "that he was melancholy indeed, for he well knew the Scotilh "that Army, how well foever it look'd, would not Fight: Army. which the King imputed to the chagrin of his Humour, and gave it no Credit, nor told it to any Man, till fome years after, upon another occafion which will be remember'd in it's place, he told the Chancellor of the Exchequer of it.

IT was not thought fit to purfue Lambert; who, being known to be a Man of Courage and Conduct, and his Troops to be of the best, was fufpected, by fo diforderly a Retreat, to have only defign'd to have drawn the Army another way, to diforder and difturb their march; which they refolv'd to continue with the fame Expedition they had hitherto ufed, which was incredible; until they fhould come to fuch a Poft as they might fecurely reft themselves. And there was an imagination, that they might have continu'd it even to London; which would have produced wonderful Effects. But they quickly found that to be impoffible, and that both Horse and Foot grew fo weary, that they must have reft: The weather was exceedingly hot; the march having been begun near the beginning of August; fo that if they had not fome rest. before an Enemy approach'd them, how willing foever they might be, they could not be able to Fight.

concerning

ry in vain.

THERE was a fmall Garrison in Shrewsbury Commanded by a Gentleman, who, it was thought, might be prevail'd with to give it up to the King; but his Majefty fending to him, he return'd a rude denial: So that his Majefty's Eye was The Kirg upon Worcester; that was fo little out of his way to London, Summons that the going thither would not much retard the march, if they found the Army able to continue it. Worcester had always been a place very well affected in it felf, and moft of the Gentlemen of that County had been engaged for the King in the former War, and the City was the laft that had Surrender'd to the Parliament, of all thofe which had been Garrifon'd for his Majefty; when all the Works were thrown down, and no Garrifon

Dd 3

Garrison from that time had been kept there; the Sheriff, and Juftices, and Committees, having had power enough to defend it against any malignity of the Town, or County; and at this time, all the principal Gentry of that County had been The King feiz'd upon, and were now Prifoners there. Thither the King marches to came with his Army even affoon as they had heard that he Worcester, was in England: whereupon the Committee, and all those who were imploy'd by the Parliament, fled in all the confufion. imaginable, leaving their Prifoners behind them, left they themselves fhould become Prifoners to them; and the City open'd their Gates, and receiv'd the King, with all the de'monftration of Affection and Duty that could be expressed; and made fuch provifion for the Army, that it wanted nothing it could defire; the Mayor taking care for the present provifion of Shooes and Stockings, the want whereof, in fo long a march, was very apparent and grievous. The principal Perfons of the Country found themselves at liberty; and They, and the Mayor and Aldermen, with all the Solemnity they could prepare, attended the Herald, who prowhere he is claim'd the King, as he had done, in more haft, and with lefs proclaimed. Formality, in all thofe confiderable Towns through which his Majefty had paffed.

THE Army liked their Quarters here fo well, that neither Officer, nor Soldier was in any degree willing to quit them, till they fhould be throughly refreshed: And it could not be deny'd that the fatigue had been even infupportable; never bad fo many hundred Miles been marched in fo few days, and with fo little reft; nor did it in truth appear reasonable to any that they should remove from thence, fince it was not poffible that they should be able to reach London, though it had been better prepar'd for the King's reception than it appear'd to be, before Cromwell would be there: who, having with great haft continu'd his march in a direct Line, was now as near to it as the King's Army was, and stood only at a gaze to be inform'd what his Majefty meant to do. Worcester was a very good Poft, feated almoft in the middle of the Kingdom, and in as fruitful a Country as any part of it; a good City, ferv'd by the noble River of Severn from all the adjacent Counties; Wales behind it, from whence Levies might be made of great Numbers of ftout Men: It was a place where the King's Friends might repair, if they had the Affections they pretended to have; and it was a place where he might defend himself, if the Enemy would attack him, with many advantages, and could not be compell'd to engage his Army in a Battle, tili Cromwell had gotten Men enough to encompass him on all fides: And then the King might choose on which fide to Fight, fince the Enemy must be on

both

both fides the River, and could not come fuddainly to relieve each other, and the ftraitning the King to this degree would require much time; in which there might be an opportunity for feveral Infurrections in the Kingdom, if they were fo weary of the prefent Tyranny, and fo follicitous to be reftor'd to the King's Government, as they were conceiv'd to be: For no Body could ever hope for a more fecure feason to manifeft their Loyalty, than when the King was in the heart of the Kingdom, with a form'd Army of about fifteen thousand Men, Horfe, and Foot (for fo they might be accounted to be) with which he might relieve those who were in danger to be oppreffed by a more powerful Party. Thefe confiderations produced the Refolution to provide, in the best manner, to expect Cromwell there; and a hope that he might be delay'd by other diverfions: And there was like to be time enough to caft up fuch Works upon the Hill before the Town, as might keep the Enemy at a distance, and their own Quarters from being fuddainly streighten'd: All which were recommended to General Lesley to take care of, and to take fuch a perfect view of the Ground, that no advantage might be let when the time requir'd it.

THE firft ill Omen that happen'd, was the News of the defeat of the Earl of Derby, and the total deftruction of those of gallant Perfons who accompanied him. The Earl of Derby, of Le within two or three days after he had left the King, with a Body of near two hundred Horfe, all gallant Men, imploy'd his Servants, and Tenants, to give the Country notice of his ftaying behind the King, to Head and Command thofe Perfons who thould repair to his fervice; which the quick march his Majefty made through the Country would not permit them to do. In expectation of a good appearance of the People, he went to a little Market Town, call'd Wigan in Lancashire, where he ftaid that Night; when in the Morning a Regiment or two of the Militia of the Neighbour Counties, and fome other Troops of the Army, Commanded by a Man of Courage, whom Cromwell had fent to follow in the track of the King's march, to gather up the Straglers, and fuch as were not able to keep pace with the Army, having receiv'd fome Advertisement that a Troop of the King's Horfe were behind the Army in that Town, fell very early into it, before the Perfons in the Town were out of their Beds, having affurance, upon all the enquiry they could make, that there was no Enemy near them. Nor indeed was there any fufpicion of those Forces, which confifted of the feveral Troops of the feveral Counties with others of the Army, and paffed that way by accident. As many as could get to their Horfes, prelently Mounted; they who could not, put themfelves together on

Dd4

Foot,

upon the place.

Foot, and all endeavour'd to keep the Enemy from entring into the Town; and the few who were got on Horfeback, Charg'd them with great Courage. But the Number of the Enemy was too great, and the Town too open, to put a stop to them in any one place, when they could enter at fo many, and encompass those who oppofed them. The Earl of Derby, after his Horfe had been kill'd under him, made a shift to mount again; and fo, with a fmall Party of Horfe, through many difficulties and dangers, efcaped wounded to the King to Worcester.

THE Lord Witbrington, after he had receiv'd many wounds, The Lord and given as many, and merited his death by the vengeance Withring he took upon those who affaulted him, was kill'd upon the ton k'd place; and fo was Sr Thomas Tildesley, and many other gallant Gentlemen, very few escaping to carry News of the defeat. St William Throgmorton, who had been formerly Major General of the Marquis of New Castle's Army, and was left to Command in the fame function, receiv'd fo many wounds, that he was looked upon as dead, and not fit to be carried away with the Prifoners; and fo fell into fuch charitable and generous hands in the Town, that, being believ'd to be dead, he was afterwards fo well recover'd, though with great Maimes and lofs of Blood, that he at laft got himself Transported into Holland; where he was, at first appearance, taken for a Ghoft, all Men believing him to have been buried long before. Moft of those who were taken Prifoners, of any Quality, were afterwards Sacrificed as a fpectacle to the People, and Barbaroufly put to death in feveral places; fome, with the Earl of Derby; and others, near the fame time, in other places.

The Lord

racter.

THE Lord Withrington was one of the moft goodly PerWithring- fons of that Age, being near the head higher than most tall ton's Cha- Men, and a Gentleman of the beft and most ancient Extraction of the County of Northumberland, and of a very fair Fortune, and one of the four which the laft King made choice of to be about the Perfon of his Son the Prince as Gentleman of his Privy Chamber, when he first fettled his Family. His Affection to the King was always remarkable; and ferving in the House of Commons as Knight of the Shire for the County of Northumberland, he quickly got the reputation of being amongst the moft Malignant. Affoon as the War broke out, he was of the firft who raised both Horfe and Foot at his own Charge, and ferv'd eminently with them under the Marquis of New-Castle; with whom he had a very particular and entire Friendship. He was very nearly allied to the Marquis; and by his Teftimony that he had perform'd many fignal Services, he was, about the middle of the War, made a Peer

of

of the Kingdom. He was a Man of great Courage, but of fome Paffion, by which he incurr'd the ill Will of many, who imputed it to an infolence of Nature, which no Man was farther from; no Man of a Nature more civil, and candid towards all, in bufinefs, or converfation. But having fate long in the House of Commons, and obferv'd the difingenuity of the proceedings there, and the grofs cheats, by which they deceiv'd and coufen'd the People, he had contracted fo hearty an indignation against them, and all who were coufen'd by them, and againft all who had not his Zeal to oppofe and deftroy them, that he often faid things to flow and flegmatick Men, which offended them, and, it may be, injured them; which his good Nature often obliged him to acknowledge, and ask Pardon of those who would not question him for it. He Transported himself into the parts beyond the Sea at the fame time with the Marquis of New Castle, to accompany him, and remain'd still with him till the King went into Scotland; and then waited upon his Majefty, and endured the fame Affronts which others did, during the time of his Refi dence there. And, it may be, the obfervation of their behaviour, the knowledge of their Principles, and the disdain of their Treatment, produced that averfion from their Converfation, that prevail'd upon his impatience to part too foon from their Company, in hope that the Earl of Derby, under whom he was very willing to ferve, and he himself, might quickly draw together fuch a Body of the Royal Party, as might give fome check to the unbounded imaginations of that Nation. It was reported by the Enemy, that, in respect of his brave Person and behaviour, they did offer him Quarter; which he refused; and that they were thereby compell'd, in their own defence, to kill him; which is probable enough; for he knew well the Animofity the Parliament had againft him, and it cannot be doubted but that, if he had fallen into their hands, they would not have used him better than they did the Earl of Derby; who had not more Enemies.

Thomas

SIR Thomas Tildesley was a Gentleman of a good Family, And Sir and a good Fortune, who had raised Men at his own Charge Tildesley's. at the beginning of the War, and had ferv'd in the Command of them till the very end of it, with great Courage, and refufing to make any Compofition after the Murther of the King, he found means to Transport himself into Ireland to the Marquis of Ormond; with whom he ftay'd, till he was, with the reft of the English Officers, difmiffed, to fatisfy the barbarous Jealoufy of the Irish; and then got over into Scotland a little before the King marched from thence, and was defir'd by the Earl of Derby to remain with him. The Names of the other Perfons of Quality who were kill'd in that Encounter,and those

who