[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1650.  August 30.]

to the remotest extremity of England.[1] At Dunbar, Cromwell posted his men in the vicinity of Broxmouth House; Leslie with the Scots moving along the heights of Lammermuir, occupied[a] a position on the Doon Hill, about two miles to the south of the invaders; and the advanced posts of the armies were separated only by a ravine of the depth and breadth of about thirty feet.  Cromwell was not ignorant of the danger of his situation; he had even thought of putting the infantry on board the fleet, and of attempting to escape with the cavalry by the only outlet, the high road to Berwick; but the next moment he condemned the thought as “a weakness of the flesh, a distrust in the power of the Almighty;” and ordered the army “to seek the Lord, who would assuredly find a way of deliverance for his faithful servants.”  On the other side the committees of the kirk and estates exulted in the prospect of executing the vengeance of God upon “the sectaries;” and afraid that the enemy should escape, compelled their general to depart from his usual caution, and to make preparation for battle.  Cromwell, with his officers, had spent part of the day in calling upon the Lord; while he prayed, the enthusiast felt an enlargement of the heart, a buoyancy of spirit, which he took for an infallible presage of victory; and, beholding through his glass the motion in the Scottish camp, he exclaimed, “They are coming down; the Lord hath delivered them into our hands."[2] During the

[Footnote 1:  Balfour, iv. 94.]

[Footnote 2:  Sagredo, the Venetian ambassador, in his relation to the senate, says that Cromwell pretended to have been assured of the victory by a supernatural voice.  Prima che venisse alla battaglia, diede cuore ai soldati con assicurargli la vittoria predettagli da Dio, con una voce, che lo aveva a mezza notte riscosso dal sonno.  MS. copy in my possession.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1650.  August 31.]

night, he advanced the army to the edge of the ravine; and at an early hour in the morning[a] the Scots attempted to seize the pass on the road from Dunbar to Berwick.  After a sharp contest, the Scottish lancers, aided by their artillery, charged down the hill, drove the brigade of English cavalry from its position, and broke through the infantry, which had advanced to the support of the horse.  At that moment the sun made its appearance above the horizon; and Cromwell, turning to his own regiment of foot, exclaimed, “Let the Lord arise, and scatter his enemies.”  They instantly moved forward with their pikes levelled; the horse rallied; and the enemy’s lancers hesitated, broke, and fled.  At that moment the mist dispersed, and the first spectacle which struck the eyes of the Scots, was the route of their cavalry.  A sudden panic instantly spread from the right to the left of their line; at the approach of the English they threw down their arms and ran.  Cromwell’s regiment halted to sing the 117th Psalm; but the pursuit was continued for more than eight miles; the dead bodies of three thousand Scots strewed their native soil; and ten thousand prisoners, with the artillery, ammunition, and baggage, became the reward of the conquerors.[1]