to be favourable to the schemes of opposition then
engaged in, called him to attend the service of the house; and some
disaffected members formed a design to have attacked him, but his
character being unexceptionable, their scheme proved abortive, and he
had leave to retire again into the country. This he willingly did, as
he saw the affairs of state hastening to confusion and his country
ready to be steeped in blood, and sacrificed to the fury of party. But
when the opposition rose high, and it would have been cowardice to
have remained unactive, he embraced the royal cause, accepted a
commission for raising men, to take care of the town of Newcastle, and
the four adjoining counties, in which he was so expeditious and
successful, that his Majesty constituted him general of all the forces
raised North of Trent; and likewise general and commander in chief of
such as might be raised in the counties of Lincoln, Nottingham,
Chester, Leicester, Rutland, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Norfolk, Suffolk,
and Essex, with power to confer the honour of knighthood, coin money,
print, and set forth such declarations as should seem to him
expedient: of all which extensive powers, tho freely conferred, and
without reserve, his lordship made a very sparing use; but with
respect to the more material point of raising men, his lordship
prosecuted it with such diligence, that in three months he had an army
of eight thousand horse, foot, and dragoons, with which he marched
directly into Yorkshire; and his forces having defeated the enemy at
Pierce Bridge, his lordship advanced to York, where Sir Thomas
Glenham, the governor, presented him with the keys, and the earl of
Cumberland and many of the nobility resorted thither to compliment,
and assist his lordship[5].

In the course of this civil war, we find the earl of Newcastle very
successful in his master's service; he more than once defeated Sir
Thomas Fairfax the general of the Parliament, and won several
important forts and battles; for which his Majesty in gratitude for
his services, by letters patent, dated the 27th of Oct. 1643, advanced
him to the dignity of marquiss of Newcastle; and in the preamble of
his patent, all his services (says Dugdale) are mentioned with
suitable encomiums.

In the year 1644, after Prince Rupert had been successful in raising
the siege of York, and flushed with the prosperity of his arms,
against the consent of the marquis, he risked the battle of Marston
Moor,