is my
commission.' 'Well,' said the King, smiling, as if he were pleased, 'I
never before read such a commission; but it is written in fair and
legible characters. This is a company of as handsome proper gentlemen as
I have seen a long while.' He was asked where he would like to live, and
he said at Newmarket. So, to Newmarket he and Cornet Joice and the four
hundred horsemen rode; the King remarking, in the same smiling way, that
he could ride as far at a spell as Cornet Joice, or any man there.

The King quite believed, I think, that the army were his friends. He
said as much to Fairfax when that general, Oliver Cromwell, and Ireton,
went to persuade him to return to the custody of the Parliament. He
preferred to remain as he was, and resolved to remain as he was. And
when the army moved nearer and nearer London to frighten the Parliament
into yielding to their demands, they took the King with them. It was a
deplorable thing that England should be at the mercy of a great body of
soldiers with arms in their hands; but the King certainly favoured them
at this important time of his life, as compared with the more lawful
power that tried to control him. It must be added, however, that they
treated him, as yet, more respectfully and kindly than the Parliament had
done. They allowed him to be attended by his own servants, to be
splendidly entertained at various houses, and to see his children--at
Cavesham House, near Reading--for two days. Whereas, the Parliament had
been rather hard with him, and had only allowed him to ride out and play
at bowls.

It is much to be believed that if the King could have been trusted, even
at this time, he might have been saved. Even Oliver Cromwell expressly
said that he did believe that no man could enjoy his possessions in
peace, unless the King had his rights. He was not unfriendly towards the
King; he had been present when he received his children, and had been
much affected by the pitiable nature of the scene; he saw the King often;
he frequently walked and talked with him in the long galleries and
pleasant gardens of the Palace at Hampton Court, whither he was now
removed; and in all this risked something of his influence with the army.
But, the King was in secret hopes of help from the Scottish people; and
the moment he was encouraged to join them he began to be cool to his new
friends, the army, and to tell the officers that they could not possibly
do without him. At