valor.
They agreed to advance without firing till they should reach the top of
the hill, and could be on equal ground with the enemy. The courage of
the officers was so well seconded by the soldiers, that the royalists
began on all sides to gain ground. Major-General Chidley, who commanded
the parliamentary army, (for Stamford kept at a distance,) failed not
in his duty; and when he saw his men recoil, he himself advanced with a
good stand of pikes, and piercing into the thickest of the enemy, was
at last overpowered by numbers, and taken prisoner. His army, upon
this disaster, gave ground apace; insomuch that the four parties of the
royalists, growing nearer and nearer as they ascended, at length met
together upon the plain at the top; where they embraced with great
joy, and signalized their victory with loud shouts and mutual
congratulations.[*]

After this success, the attention both of king and parliament was turned
towards the west, as to a very important scene of action. The king sent
thither the marquis of Hertford and Prince Maurice, with a reenforcement
of cavalry; who, having joined the Cornish army, soon overran the county
of Devon; and advancing into that of Somerset, began to reduce it
to obedience. On the other hand, the parliament, having supplied
Sir William Waller, in whom they much trusted, with a complete army,
despatched him westwards, in order to check the progress of the
royalists. After some skirmishes, the two armies met at Lansdown, near
Bath, and fought a pitched battle, with great loss on both sides, but
without any decisive event.[**] The gallant Granville was there killed;
and Hopton, by the blowing up of some powder, was dangerously hurt.

* Rush, vol. vi. p. 267, 273. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 269,
279.

** Rush, vol. vi. p. 284. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 282.

The royalists next attempted to march eastwards, and to join their
forces to the king's at Oxford: but Waller hung on their rear, and
infested their march till they reached the Devizes. Reenforced by
additional troops, which flocked to him from all quarters, he so much
surpassed the royalists in number, that they durst no longer continue
their march, or expose themselves to the hazard of an action. It was
resolved that Hertford and Prince Maurice should proceed with the
cavalry; and, having procured a reenforcement from the king, should
hasten back to the relief of their friends. Waller was so confident of
taking thi