in the four northern counties,
in Wales, Shropshire, and Worcestershire, the royalists triumphed without
opposition; in the metropolis, and the adjoining counties, on the southern
and eastern coast, the superiority of the parliament was equally decisive.
But in many parts the adherents of both were intermixed in such different
proportions, and their power and exertions were so variously affected by
the occurrences of each succeeding day, that it became difficult to decide
which of the two parties held the preponderance. But there were four
counties, those of York, Chester, Devon, and Cornwall, in which the leaders
had[a] already learned to abhor the evils of civil dissension. They met
on both sides, and entered into engagements to suspend their political
animosities, to aid each other in putting down the disturbers of the public
peace, and to oppose the introduction, of any armed force, without the
joint consent both of the king and the parliament. Had the other counties
followed the example, the war would have been ended almost as soon as it
began. But this was a consummation which the patriots deprecated. They
pronounced such engagements

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1642. Dec. 23.]

derogatory from the authority of parliament; they absolved their partisans
from the obligations into which they had entered; and they commanded them
once more to unsheath the sword in the cause of their[a] God and their
country.[1]

But it soon became evident that this pacific feeling was not confined to
the more distant counties. It spread rapidly through the whole kingdom; it
manifested itself without disguise even in the metropolis. Mea were anxious
to free themselves from the forced contribution of one-twentieth part of
their estates for the support of the parliamentary army[2] and the citizens
could not forget the alarm which had been created by the late approach
of the royal forces. Petitions for peace, though they were ungraciously
received, continued to load the tables of both houses; and, as the king
himself had proposed a cessation of hostilities, prudence taught the
most sanguine advocates for war to accede to the wishes of the people, A
negotiation was opened at Oxford. The demands of[b] the parliament amounted
to fourteen articles; those of Charles were confined to six. But two only,
the[c] first in each class, came into discussion. No argument[d] could
induce the houses to consent that the king should name to the government of
the f