ey
were better prepared for it.

The forces of the belligerents, at this period, were nearly equal but
the parliamentarians had the ablest leaders. It was the misfortune of
the king to have no man of commanding talents, as his counsellor,
after the arrest of Strafford. Hyde, afterwards lord chancellor, and
Earl of Clarendon, was the ablest of the royalist party. Falkland and
Culpeper were also eminent men; but neither of them was the equal of
Pym or Hampden.

[Sidenote: John Hampden.]

The latter was doubtless the ablest man in England at this time, and
the only one who could have saved it from the evils which afterwards
afflicted it. On him the hopes and affections of the nation centred.
He was great in council and great in debate. He was the acknowledged
leader of the House of Commons. He was eloquent, honest, unwearied,
sagacious, and prudent. "Never had a man inspired a nation with
greater confidence: the more moderate had faith in his wisdom; the
more violent in his devoted patriotism; the more honest in his
uprightness; the more intriguing in his talents." He spared neither
his fortune nor his person, as soon as hostilities were inevitable. He
subscribed two thousand pounds to the public cause, took a colonel's
commission, and raised a regiment of infantry, so well known during
the war for its green uniform, and the celebrated motto of its
intrepid leader,--"_Vestigia nulla retrorsum_." He possessed the
talents of a great statesman and a great general, and all the united
qualities requisite for the crisis in which he appeared--"the valor
and energy of Cromwell, the discernment and eloquence of Vane, the
humanity and moderation of Manchester, the stern integrity of Hale,
the ardent public spirit of Sydney. Others could conquer; he alone
could reconcile. A heart as bold as his brought up the cuirassiers who
turned the tide of battle on Marston Moor. As skilful an eye as his
watched the Scottish army descending from the heights over Dunbar. But
it was when, to the sullen tyranny of Laud and Charles, had succeeded
the fierce conflict of sects and factions, ambitious of ascendency,
and burning for revenge; it was when the vices and ignorance, which
the old tyranny had generated, threatened the new freedom with
destruction, that England missed that sobriety, that self-command,
that perfect soundness of judgment, that perfect rectitude of
intention, to which the history of revolutions furnishes no parallel,
or furni