n army should be levied under Sir
William Waller, whom, notwithstanding his misfortunes, they loaded with
extraordinary caresses. Having associated in their cause the counties of
Hertford, Essex, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincoln, and Huntingdon,
they gave the earl of Manchester a commission to be general of the
association, and appointed an army to be levied under his command. But,
above all, they were intent that Essex's army, on which their whole
fortune depended, should be put in a condition of marching against
the king. They excited afresh their preachers to furious declamations
against the royal cause. They even employed the expedient of pressing,
though abolished by a late law, for which they had strenuously
contended.[*] And they engaged the city to send four regiments of its
militia to the relief of Gloucester. All shops, meanwhile, were ordered
to be shut; and every man expected, with the utmost anxiety, the event
of that important enterprise.[**]

Essex, carrying with him a well-appointed army of fourteen thousand men,
took the road of Bedford and Leicester: and though inferior in cavalry,
yet, by the mere force of conduct and discipline, he passed over those
open champaign country, and defended himself from the enemy's horse, who
had advanced to meet him, and who infested him during his whole march.
As he approached to Gloucester, the king was obliged to raise the siege,
and open the way for Essex to enter that city. The necessities of the
garrison were extreme. One barrel of powder was their whole stock
of ammunition remaining; and their other provisions were in the
same proportion. Essex had brought with him military stores; and the
neighboring country abundantly supplied him with victuals of every kind.
The inhabitants had carefully concealed all provisions from the king's
army, and, pretending to be quite exhausted, had reserved their stores
for that cause which they so much favored.[***]

The chief difficulty still remained. Essex dreaded a battle with the
king's army, on account of its great superiority in cavalry; and he
resolved to return, if possible, without running that hazard. He
lay five days at Tewkesbury, which was his first stage after leaving
Gloucester; and he feigned, by some preparations, to point towards
Worcester. By a forced march during the night, he reached Cirencester,
and obtained the double advantage of passing unmolested an open country,
and of surprising a convoy of provisio