he king's intention[a] that two attacks, one
from the city, the other from the country, should be simultaneously made on
the camp of the besiegers; and with this view he left the greater part of
the royal cavalry at Boutenheath, under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, while he
entered Chester himself with the remainder in the dusk of the evening.
It chanced that Pointz meditated a similar attempt with the aid of the
besiegers, on the force under Langdale; and the singular position of the
armies marked the following day with the most singular vicissitudes of
fortune. Early in the morning[b] the royalists repelled the troops under
Pointz; but a detachment from the camp restored the battle, and forced them
to retire under the walls of the city. Here, with the help of the king's
guards, they recovered the ascendancy, but suffered themselves in the
pursuit to be entangled among lanes and hedges lined with infantry, by whom
they were thrown into irremediable disorder. Six hundred troopers fell
in the action, more than a thousand obtained quarter, and the rest were
scattered in every direction. The next night Charles repaired to Denbigh,
collected the fugitives around him, and, skilfully avoiding Pointz,
hastened[c] to Bridgenorth, where he was met by his nephew Maurice from the
garrison of Worcester.[1]

The only confidential counsellor who attended the king in this expedition
was Lord Digby. That nobleman,

[Footnote 1: Clarendon, ii. 712. Thurloe, i. 3. Rush. vi. 117. Journals,
vi. 608.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Sept. 23.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Sept. 30.]

unfortunately for the interests of his sovereign, had incurred the hatred
of his party: of some, on account of his enmity to prince Rupert; of the
general officers, because he was supposed to sway the royal mind, even in
military matters; and of all who desired peace, because to his advice was
attributed the obstinacy of Charles in continuing the war. It was the
common opinion that the king ought to fix his winter quarters at Worcester;
but Digby, unwilling to be shut up during four months in a city of which
the brother of Rupert was governor, persuaded him to proceed[a] to his
usual asylum at Newark. There, observing that the discontent among the
officers increased, he parted[b] from his sovereign, but on an important
and honourable mission. The northern horse, still amounting to fifteen
hundred men, were persuaded by Langdale to attempt a