garrison were allowed
to march across the Dee to Denbigh. I think that this winter ride from
the fallen fortress is the one described by Vaughan in the poem to Mr.
Ridsley. It is the more probable that Vaughan took part in this campaign
of 1645, in that Charles's force was largely recruited from Wales. After
the battle of Naseby on June 14th, the King had marched through Wales,
collecting such levies as he could. He was in Brecon on August 5th.[15]
It is quite possible that Vaughan, whose kinsman Sir William Vaughan was
in command of a brigade, volunteered on this occasion. From Brecon
Charles marched through Radnorshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire,
Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and so to Oxford. In September
he set out again, and after some delay at Hereford and Raglan, finally
made for Chester.

It is just conceivable that it is to some occasion in this campaign that
Vaughan refers when he calls Dr. Powell his "fellow-prisoner" (vol. ii.,
p. 178). The poet may even have been the Captain Vaughan whose name
appears in the official list of prisoners taken at Rowton Heath.[16]
Powell's name is not there, but then the list does not profess to be
complete. But on the whole I think that Vaughan and Powell were only
fellow-prisoners in the Platonic sense of imprisonment in the flesh, and
even if a literal imprisonment is intended, it may have been due to some
act of persecution which Vaughan had to suffer as a Royalist at a later
date. There is in _The Mount of Olives_ (1652) a _Prayer in Adversity
and Troubles occasioned by our Enemies_ (Grosart, vol. iii., p. 75),
which, if it is to be taken--I think it is not--as autobiographical,
seems to show that, at least for a time, he lost his estate. The prayer
runs: "Thou seest, O God, how furious and implacable mine enemies are:
they have not only robbed me of that portion and provision which Thou
hast graciously given me, but they have also washed their hands in the
blood of my friends, my dearest and nearest relations. I know, O God,
and I am daily taught by that disciple whom Thou didst love, that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Keep me, therefore, O my
God, from the guilt of blood, and suffer me not to stain my soul with
the thoughts of recompense and vengeance, which is a branch of Thy great
prerogative, and belongs wholly unto Thee. Though they persecute me unto
death, and pant after the very dust upon the heads of Thy poor, though
they have taken the