Rupert showed Ethyn a sketch of his position and asked him how he liked it. Ethyn replied that it was very fine on paper, but that it would not be so on the field. Rupert had placed his front rank close to the ditch, which was impassable in many places, and to this Ethyn strongly objected. Rupert replied, “They may be drawn to a farther distance”. Ethyn, probably thinking that any retreat along the whole line would draw on an immediate attack from the enemy, replied, “No, sir. It is too late.”
Rupert was very angry with Ethyn for saying this. They had not been on the best of terms beforehand, for Rupert thought that Ethyn, when General King, had not sufficiently supported him in a certain battle on the Continent. Rupert revenged himself upon Ethyn for finding fault with his order of battle on Marston Moor by twitting him when the engagement was over, for having been of very little use during the action.
In the course of the afternoon, a few shots were fired from the cannon of both armies; but without important results, although a captain was killed on each side; on one a nephew of Cromwell, on the other a son of Sir Gilbert Haughton. Some of the Puritan soldiers sang psalms, deriving considerable consolation from the psalmist’s denunciations of his enemies, which they mentally applied to what they called “the King’s cursed and cursing cormorants”. Rupert, not tolerating defeat even in devotion, ordered his chaplain to preach to his men; on hearing of which the Puritans declared Rupert to be a “jingling Machiavelian,” guilty of a blasphemous mockery.
Several showers had fallen during the day, and towards evening black clouds gathered overhead, a heavy thunderstorm set in, and rain fell in torrents. On arriving at Marston Moor, Newcastle asked Rupert whether he meant to fight that evening—it was then between five and six o’clock. Rupert said that he had no intention of doing so and that he would make his grand attack early in the morning: at the same time he recommended Newcastle to seize the opportunity of taking a rest.
A rest was only too welcome! Newcastle had had a long, anxious, perplexing day, and he was glad to return to his coach, which had been left at some little distance behind the troops. The first thing he did on getting into it was to light his pipe[103] and enjoy a soothing smoke, after which, utterly worn out by worry, he fell asleep upon the cushions of his chariot.
[103] Leadman’s Battles Fought in Yorkshire, p. 135. Clarendon also mentions the pipe incident (Clarendon State Papers, No. 1805), but he gives a rather different account of it. This opportunity may be taken of saying that the accounts of the Battle of Marston Moor are so conflicting, that, for once, the scribe has departed from his usual custom of making his witnesses speak for themselves, and has attempted to give the substance of the story as best as he can, after studying the various, and very varying, authorities on the subject.
CHAPTER XIII.
Many people may have experienced the sensation of being suddenly disturbed soon after going to sleep, when very tired. Sleep at that time is supposed to be at its deepest. On being awakened, although only ten or twenty minutes may have actually passed since sleep came on, it would seem as if it had lasted for hours; not that there is the sense of refreshment usual after long sleep, on the contrary, the feeling left is one of bewilderment combined with extreme languor.