tch army, which six days before
had entered England. The Duke of Hamilton, who commanded it, was at once
joined by five thousand English Royalists under Sir Marmaduke Langdale.
General Lambert, who commanded the Parliamentary troops in the north,
fell back to avoid a battle until Cromwell could join him.

The Scotch army could not be called a national force. The Scotch
Parliament, influenced by the Duke of Hamilton and others, had entered
into an agreement with King Charles, and undertook to reinstate him on
the throne. The more violent section, headed by Argyll, were bitterly
hostile to the step. The Duke of Hamilton's army, therefore, consisted
entirely of raw and undisciplined troops. Cromwell marched with great
speed through Wales to Gloucester, and then on through Leicester and
Nottingham, and joined Lambert at Barnet Castle on the 12th of August.
Then he marched against the Scotch army, which, straggling widely and
thinking Cromwell still at a distance, was advancing toward Manchester.
On the 16th the duke with his advanced guard was at Preston, with
Langdale on his left. Cromwell attacked Langdale with his whole force
next morning, and the Royalists after fighting stoutly were entirely
defeated. Then he fell upon the Duke of Hamilton and the force under him
at Preston, and after four hours' sharp fighting in the inclosures round
the place, defeated and drove them out of the town. That night the Scots
determined to retreat, and at once began to scatter. General Baillie,
after some hard fighting around Warrington, surrendered with his
division. The duke with three thousand men went to Nantwich. The country
was hostile, his own troops, wearied and dispirited, mutinied, and
declared they would fight no longer; the Duke of Hamilton thereupon
surrendered, the Scotch invasion of England came to an end.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE EXECUTION OF KING CHARLES.

The news of the failure of the Welsh insurrection and the Scotch
invasion, while the risings in Kent and Essex were crushed out, showed
Harry Furness that, for the time at least, there was no further fighting
to be done. Cromwell, after the defeat of the Scotch, marched with his
army to Edinburgh, where he was received with enthusiasm by Argyll and
the fanatic section, who were now again restored to power, and
recommenced a cruel persecution of all suspected of Royalist opinions.
Now that the Scotch had been beaten, and the Royalist rising everywhere
crushed out,