Charles lay with his army at Oxford during the winter, and Prince Rupert exercised his marauding talents in the country round. Of the Parliamentary proceedings or preparations we have little account, except that the Parliamentarians were generally discontented with Essex, who was slow, by no means sagacious, and, many believed, not hearty in the cause. Sir William Waller, however, drove Goring out of Portsmouth and took possession of it, so that he was dubbed by the people William the Conqueror, and it was agitated to put him at the head of the army in the place of Essex. But another man was now being heard of. This was Oliver Cromwell, who had quitted his farm and raised a regiment of his own. He was Colonel Cromwell now. He had told Hampden at the battle of Edge Hill, where they both were, that it would never do to trust to a set of poor tapsters and town apprentices for fighting against men of honour. They must have men, too, imbued with a principle still higher, and that must be religion. Hampden said it was a good notion if it could be carried out; and from that time Cromwell kept it in view, and so collected and trained that regiment of serious religious men, known as his invincible Ironsides. Cromwell was active all this winter along the eastern coast, in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Essex, and elsewhere, raising supplies, stopping those of the enemy, and forming Associations of counties for mutual defence. Four or six were formed, but all soon went to pieces except that of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Hertfordshire, of which Lord Grey of Wark was the commander, and Oliver, his lieutenant, the soul. This Association maintained its district during the whole war. In February we find Cromwell at Cambridge, the castle of which, with its magazines, he had taken by storm, and had now collected there great forces from Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.
The queen's arrival in Yorkshire early in February created immense enthusiasm amongst the Cavaliers. Her spirit, her manners, her condescension fascinated all who came near her. She was in every sense now a heroine, and the fact of the Parliament having impeached her of high treason, and her head being forfeited if she fell into their hands, only raised her own resolution and the devotion of all around her. She was conducted to York by a guard of two thousand Cavaliers, headed by the Marquis of Montrose himself, and attended by six pieces of cannon, two mortars, and two hundred and fifty waggons of ammunition. The Lord Fairfax, who was the only Parliamentary general with any force in the north besides the Governor of Hull, was gallant enough to offer to escort her himself with his Roundheads; but she knew she was outlawed, and declined the honour. She rode on horseback on the march, calling herself the "she-majesty-generalissima," ate her meals in the sight of the army, in the open air, and delighted the soldiers by talking familiarly to them. She remained nearly four months at York, doing wonderful service to the king's cause, and, as we shall find, succeeding through the Earl of Newcastle even in corrupting the faith of the Hothams at Hull. Her arrival gave new spirit to the royal cause, but was undoubtedly, at the same time, the most fatal thing which could have happened to it, as it strengthened the king in his obstinate determination to refuse all accommodation with the Parliament.
And although the Parliament, in its resentment at the king's treachery at Brentford, had vowed never to treat with him again, in March, 1643, it made fresh overtures to him. The deputation sent to him consisted of the Earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury, and Holland, Viscounts Wenman and Dungarvan, John Holland and William Litton, knights, and William Pierpoint, Bulstrode Whitelock, Edmund Waller, and Richard Winwood, esquires. They were received by the king in the garden of Christ Church, and permitted to kiss his hands. On Waller performing that ceremony, Charles said graciously, "You are the last, but not the worst, nor the least in my favour." In fact, Waller at that moment was engaged in a plot for the king, whence the significant remark. As the two parties insisted on their particular demands, the interview came to nothing. Courteous as the king was to Waller, he was otherwise by no means so to the deputation. The queen was in the country with abundant supplies of arms and ammunition, and he was elated with the fact. He interrupted the Earl of Northumberland so rudely and so frequently, whilst reading the Parliamentary proposals, that the earl stopped, and demanded proudly whether his majesty would allow him to proceed. To which Charles replied curtly, "Ay! ay!" The negotiations continued for several weeks, but during their abortive proceedings military movement was going on. Essex took Reading after a siege of ten days, and Hampden proposed to invest Oxford and finish the war at once, which Clarendon confesses would have done it, for the town was ill fortified, was so crowded with people that it could not long hold out, and Charles had not then received his ammunition from the queen. The dilatory spirit of Essex, however, and his officers prevailed, and this opportunity was lost. In May the ammunition arrived, and whilst Charles was preparing to act, the Parliament was busy in unravelling different plots against them. One was that in which Waller was engaged. This was a most daring one. Waller had been one of the most determined declaimers in Parliament against the king; but now he had been won over by Lord Falkland, and had entered into a scheme for betraying London to the Royalists, and seizing the leaders of the opposition. Mixed up with this scheme, besides himself, were Tomkins, his brother-in-law, Challoner, Blinkhorne, and others. A commission of array was smuggled into the City through Lady Aubigny, whose husband fell at Edge Hill, by which all inclined to the king's service might receive due authority. But the servant of Tomkins overheard the conspirators, carried the news to Pym, and they were speedily in custody. Tomkins and Challoner were hanged within sight of their own houses; Blinkhorne, White, Hasell, and Waller were, by the intercession of Essex, reprieved, but Waller was fined ten thousand pounds and confined in the Tower for a year.
About the same time a similar plot for betraying Bristol was detected by Colonel Fiennes, the governor, son of Lord Say and Sele. The chief conspirators were Robert and William Yeomans, who were condemned to be executed; but one of them was saved by the king declaring that he would hang as many of his prisoners. The prospect which was opened of terror and barbarity by such retaliation put an end to it, and saved at this time Colonel Lilburne, who had been taken at Brentford. Lilburne was an ultra-republican, and at the same time a declaimer from the Bible on the mischief of kings. He had been whipped in Westminster, but had only been made more outrageous, and was so pugnaciously inclined, that it was said that if he were left alone in the world, John would be against Lilburne, and Lilburne against John. Charles ordered his execution, but the threats of the Parliament of sweeping retaliation saved the democratic orator and soldier.
The Parliament now made a new Great Seal, and passed under it no less than five hundred writs in one day. All other events, however, sank into comparative insignificance before one which now occurred. Prince Rupert had extended his flying excursions of cavalry, and committed great depredations in Gloucestershire, Wilts, Hants, and even as far as Bath; and though the Earl of Essex had his forces lying about Thame and Brickhill, in Buckinghamshire, yet he was so inert that Rupert burst into both Bucks and Berkshire in his very face. Colonel Hurry, who had gone over from Essex to the king, now informed Rupert that two Parliamentary regiments were lying at Wycombe, apart from the rest of the army and easy to be cut off. The fiery prince at once determined to make a night attack upon them. He trotted away from Oxford on the 17th of June with two thousand horsemen, rode past Thame, where Essex was lying, without any opposition, and reached the hamlet of Postcombe at three o'clock in the morning. Here, to their surprise, they found a body of horse posted to stop them. Hampden, in fact, who ought to have been at the head of the army, had been uneasy about the unprotected condition of the two regiments at Wycombe, and had in vain urged Essex to call in the outposts from Wycombe, Postcombe, and Chinnor. Not being able to rouse him to this prudent measure, he continued on the alert, and hearing of the march of Rupert in that direction, despatched a trooper in all haste to Essex, to advise him to move a body of horse and foot instantly to Chiselhampton Bridge, the only place where Rupert could cross the Cherwell. Not satisfied with this, he himself rode with some cavalry in that direction, and found Rupert on the field of Chalgrove, in the midst of the standing corn. On being checked at Postcombe, Rupert had diverged to Chinnor, surprised the outpost there, killed fifty men, and captured sixty others. On descrying Hampden's detachment coming down Beacon Hill, he posted himself in the wide field of Chalgrove, where he was attacked by the troops of Captains Gunter and Sheffield, with whom Hampden had ridden. They boldly charged Rupert, but Gunter was soon slain, and Hampden, who was looking impatiently but in vain for Essex's reinforcements, rode up to lead on Gunter's troopers to the charge, and received a mortal wound. He did not fall, but, feeling his death blow, wheeled round his horse, and rode away towards the house of his father-in-law at Pyrton, whence he married his first wife, whose early death had made such a change in him. The soldiers of Rupert barred the way in that direction, and he made for Thame, and reached the house of Ezekiel Browne. He still continued to live for a week, and spent the time with what strength he had in urging on Parliament a correction of the palpable military errors of the campaign, and especially of the dilatory motions of Essex, which in fact had cost him his life. He expired on the 24th of June, and was buried in his own parish church at Hampden, followed to the grave by his regiment of green-coats with reversed arms and muffled drums.
The news of this national disaster spread dismay through London and over the whole country. The prudence, the zeal, and activity united in Hampden, had made him one of the most efficient men in the House and in the field. The suavity of his manners, the generosity of his disposition, the soundness of his judgment, had won him universal confidence. It was clearly seen that nothing but the deepest and most patriotic concern for the real welfare of the country animated him. Though he was conscientiously convinced of the mischief of political bishops, he was attached to the doctrines of the Church of England; and though he was, like Pym, firmly persuaded that nothing but the strongest obligations, the most imperative necessity, would ever tie down Charles to an observance of the limits of the Constitution, he was far from dreaming of his death, or of sweeping away the monarchy to make way for a republic. A little more time must have placed him at the head of the army, and, with such a right-hand man as Cromwell, must have soon terminated the campaign. His death seemed like a general defeat, and struck the deepest and most lasting sorrow into the public mind. Time has only increased the veneration for the name of John Hampden, which has become the watchword of liberty, and the object of popular appeal in every great crisis of his country's history.
Other discouragements fell on the Parliament at the same period. The Earl of Newcastle had established so strong a power in the North, that he had reduced the resistance of the Fairfaxes to almost nothing. His army abounded with Papists, and was officered by many renegade Scots, amongst them, conspicuous, Sir John Henderson. He had possession of Newark Castle, and even repulsed Cromwell in Lincolnshire. But his greatest triumph was in seducing the Hothams, father and son, and nearly succeeding in obtaining possession of Hull from their treason. Newcastle had defeated the Fairfaxes at Atherton Moor, and if Hull was lost, all was lost in the North. It was therefore proposed to put Hull into the hands of Lord Fairfax and his son Sir Thomas, which probably hastened the defection of the Hothams. The plot, however, was discovered in time; the Hothams were seized, their papers secured, their letters intercepted, the whole treason made open to the daylight, and the delinquents shipped off to London. Great as had been their services in Hull, their apostasy wiped away all past merits, and they were condemned and executed on Tower Hill.
These melancholy events were considerably softened by the growing successes of Cromwell, who seemed to be almost everywhere at once, always fighting, mostly successful. On the 13th of March he dashed into St. Albans and seized the sheriff, who was enrolling soldiers by the king's writ, and sent him off to London. On the 17th he marched from Norwich and took Lowestoft, with a number of prisoners, amongst them Sir Thomas Barker, Sir John Pettus, and Sir John Wentworth, who were glad to compromise with good fines, Wentworth paying one thousand pounds. He next made an attempt to wrest Newark Castle from the Earl of Newcastle, but in vain (it stood out to the end of the war); but he raised the siege of Croyland, made his appearance at Nottingham and Lynn, and in July he defeated Newcastle's troops near Grantham, took Burghleigh House and Stamford, and, before the month closed, fought a stout battle under the walls of Gainsborough to relieve Lord Willoughby, who was sorely pressed in that town by Newcastle's forces, and but for Cromwell's timely march to his aid, would have been cut to pieces. Cromwell attacked the besiegers on some sandhills near the town, dispersed them, and killed General Cavendish, a cousin of Newcastle's. After this exploit, however, Newcastle's main army came down upon them, and they were compelled to retreat to Lincoln, and even beyond it.
