force, was compelled to adopt a new plan of operations.  Turning his back on London, he hastened towards the Severn, and invested Gloucester, the only place of note in the midland counties which admitted the authority of the parliament.[a] That city was defended by Colonel Massey, a brave and determined officer, with an obstinacy equal to its importance; and Essex, at the head of twelve thousand men, undertook to raise the siege.  The design was believed impracticable; but all the attempts of the royalists to impede his progress were defeated;[b] and on the twenty-sixth day the discharge of four pieces of cannon from Presbury Hills announced his arrival to the inhabitants.[c] The besiegers burnt their huts and retired;[d] and Essex, having spent a few days to recruit his men and provision the place, resumed his march in the direction of London.[e] On his approach to Newbury,

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1643.  August 10.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1643.  August 26.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1643.  Sept. 5.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1643.  Sept. 6.] [Sidenote e:  A.D. 1643.  Sept. 19.]

he found the royal army in possession of the road before him.  I shall not attempt to describe a conflict which has been rendered unintelligible by the confused and discordant narratives of different writers.  The king’s cavalry appears to have been more than a match for that of the enemy; but it could make no impression on the forest of pikes presented by the infantry, the greater part of which consisted of the trained bands from the capital.  The battle raged till late in the evening, and both armies passed the night in the field, but in the morning the king allowed Essex to march through Newbury; and having ordered Prince Rupert to annoy the rear, retired with his infantry to Oxford.  The parliamentarians claimed, and seem to have been justified in claiming, the victory; but their commander, having made his triumphal entry into the capital, solicited permission to resign his command and travel on the continent.  To those who sought to dissuade him, he objected the distrust with which he had been treated, and the insult which had been offered to him by the authority intrusted to Waller.  Several expedients were suggested; but the lord general was aware of his advantage; his jealousy could not be removed by adulation or submission; and Waller, after a long struggle, was compelled to resign the command of the army intrusted with the defence of the capital.[1][a]

As soon as the parliament had recovered from the alarm occasioned by the loss of Bristol, it had found leisure to devote a part of its attention to the civil government of the kingdom.  I. Serious inconveniences

[Footnote 1:  Rushworth, v. 286, 290, 293.  May, 220-228.  Clarendon, iii, 347.  Journals, Sept. 26, 28; Oct. 7, 9.  Lords’, vi. 218, 242, 246, 247, 347, 356.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1643.  Oct. 9.]