broke their spirit; they threw down their arms
and asked for quarter. Charles, who had witnessed their efforts and their
danger, made every exertion to support them; he collected several

[Footnote 1: Ireton was of an ancient family in Nottinghamshire, and bred
to the law. He raised a troop of horse for the parliament at the beginning
of the war, and accepted a captain's commission in the new-modelled army.
At the request of the officers, Cromwell had been lately appointed
general of the horse, and, at Cromwell's request, Ireton was made
commissary-general under him.--Journals, vii. 421. Rushworth, vi. 42.]

bodies of horse; he put himself at their head; he called on them to follow
him; he assured them that one more effort would secure the victory. But the
appeal was made in vain. Instead of attending to his prayers and commands,
they fled, and forced him to accompany them. The pursuit was continued with
great slaughter almost to the walls of Leicester; and one hundred females,
some of them ladies of distinguished rank, were put to the sword under the
pretence that they were Irish Catholics. In this fatal battle, fought near
the village of Naseby, the king lost more than three thousand men, nine
thousand stand of arms, his park of artillery, the baggage of the army, and
with it his own cabinet, containing private papers of the first importance.
Out of these the parliament made a collection, which was published, with
remarks, to prove to the nation the falsehoods of Charles, and the justice
of the war.[1]

[Footnote 1: For this battle see Clarendon, ii. 655; Rushworth, vi. 42; and
the Journals, vii. 433-436. May asserts that not more than three hundred
men were killed on the part of the king, and only one hundred on that of
the parliament. The prisoners amounted to five thousand.--May, 77. The
publication of the king's papers has been severely censured by his friends,
and as warmly defended by the advocates of the parliament. If their
contents were of a nature to justify the conduct of the latter, I see not
on what ground it could be expected that they should be suppressed. The
only complaint which can reasonably be made, and which seems founded in
fact, is that the selection of the papers for the press was made unfairly.
The contents of the cabinet were several days in possession of the
officers, and then submitted to the examination of a committee of the lower
house; by whose advice certain papers were selected and sen