he prince of Orange, closely allied to the crown,
encouraged English officers who served in the Low Countries to enlist in
the king's army: the Scottish officers, who had been formed in Germany
and in the late commotions, chiefly took part with the parliament.

The contempt entertained by the parliament for the king's party was
so great, that it was the chief cause of pushing matters to such
extremities against him; and many believed that he never would attempt
resistance, but must soon yield to the pretensions, however enormous,
of the two houses. Even after his standard was erected, men could not be
brought to apprehend the danger of a civil war; nor was it imagined
that he would have the imprudence to enrage his implacable enemies, and
render his own condition more desperate, by opposing a force which was
so much superior. The low condition in which he appeared at Nottingham
confirmed all these hopes. His artillery, though far from numerous,
had been left at York for want of horses to transport it. Besides the
trained bands of the county, raised by Sir John Digby, the sheriff, he
had not gotten together above three hundred infantry. His cavalry, in
which consisted his chief strength, exceeded not eight hundred, and
were very ill provided with arms. The forces of the parliament lay at
Northampton, within a few days' march of him, and consisted of above six
thousand men, well armed and well appointed. Had these troops advanced
upon him, they must soon have dissipated the small force which he had
assembled. By pursuing him in his retreat, they had so discredited his
cause and discouraged his adherents, as to have forever prevented his
collecting an army able to make head against them. But the earl of
Essex, the parliamentary general, had not yet received any orders from
his masters.[*]

* Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 1, 2.

What rendered them so backward, after such precipitate steps as they
had formerly taken, is not easily explained. It is probable, that in the
extreme distress of his party consisted the present safety of the
king. The parliament hoped that the royalists, sensible of their feeble
condition, and convinced of their slender resources, would disperse
of themselves, and leave their adversaries a victory so much the more
complete and secure, as it would be gained without the appearance of
force, and without bloodshed. Perhaps, too, when it became necessary
to make the concluding step, and offer barefaced