junction with the
Scottish hero, Montrose, and to accept of Digby as commander-in-chief. The
first achievement of the new general was the complete dispersion of the
parliamentary infantry in the neighbourhood of Doncaster; but in a few
days his own followers were dispersed by Colonel Copley at Sherburne.
They rallied[c] at Skipton, forced their way through Westmoreland and
Cumberland, and penetrated as far as Dumfries, but could nowhere meet with
intelligence of their Scottish friends. Returning to the borders, they
disbanded near Carlisle, the privates retiring to their homes, the officers
transporting themselves to the Isle of Man. Langdale remained at Douglas;
Digby proceeded to the marquess of Ormond in Ireland.

Charles, during his stay at Newark, was made to

[Transcriber's Note: Footnote 1 not found in the text]

[Footnote 1: Clarendon, Hist. ii. 714. Clarendon Papers, ii. 199.
Rushworth, vi. 131.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. Oct. 4.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. Oct. 12.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. Oct. 15.]

feel that with his good fortune he had lost his authority. His two nephews,
the Lord Gerard, and about twenty other officers, entered his chamber, and,
in rude and insulting language, charged him with ingratitude for their
services, and undue partiality for the traitor Digby. The king lost the
command of his temper, and, with more warmth than he was known to have
betrayed on any other occasion, bade them quit his presence for ever. They
retired, and the next morning received passports to go where they pleased.
But it was now[a] time for the king himself to depart. The enemy's forces
multiplied around Newark, and the Scots were advancing to join the
blockade. In the dead of the night[b] he stole, with five hundred men, to
Belvoir Castle; thence, with the aid of experienced guides, he threaded the
numerous posts of the enemy; and on the second day reached, for the last
time,[c] the walls of Oxford. Yet if he were there in safety, it was owing
to the policy of the parliament, who deemed it more prudent to reduce the
counties of Devon and Cornwall, the chief asylum of his adherents. For this
purpose Fairfax, with the grand army, sat down before Exeter: Cromwell
had long ago swept away the royal garrisons between that city and the
metropolis.[1]

The reader will have frequently remarked the king's impatience for the
arrival of military aid from Ireland. It is now time to notice the
intrigue on which he founded his h