In the mean while, Monk, to subdue or disperse the army of Lambert, had raised up a new and formidable enemy in his rear.  Lord Fairfax was become a convert to the cause of monarchy; to him the numerous royalists in Yorkshire looked up as leader; and he, on the solemn assurance of Monk that he would join him within twelve days or perish in the attempt, undertook to call together his friends, and to surprise the city of York.  On the first day of the new year,[a] each performed his promise.  The gates of York were thrown open to Fairfax by the Cavaliers confined within its walls;[2] and Monk, with his army, crossed the Tweed on his march against the advanced posts of the enemy.  Thus the flame of civil war was again kindled in the north; within two days it was extinguished.  The messenger from parliament ordered Lambert’s forces to withdraw to their respective quarters.  Dispirited by the defection of the military in the south, they dared not disobey:  at Northallerton the officers bade adieu with tears to their general; and Lambert retired in privacy to a house which he possessed in the county.  Still, though the weather was

[Footnote 1:  Journals, Dec. 26, Jan. 31.]

[Footnote 2:  That the rising under Fairfax was in reality a rising of royalists, and prompted by the promises of Monk, is plain from the narrative of Monkton, in the Lansdowne MSS.  No. 988, f. 320, 334.  See also Price, 748.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1660.  Jan. 1.]

severe, though the roads were deeply covered with snow, Monk continued[a] his march; and, at York, spent five days in consultation with Fairfax; but to the advice of that nobleman, that he should remain there, assume the command of their united forces, and proclaim the king, he replied that, in the present temper of his officers, it would prove a dangerous, a pernicious, experiment.  On the arrival of what he had long expected, an invitation to Westminster, he resumed his march, and Fairfax, having received the thanks of the parliament, disbanded[b] his insurrectionary force.[1]

At York, the general had caned[c] an officer who charged him with the design of restoring the kingly government; at Nottingham, he prevented with difficulty the officers from signing an engagement to obey the parliament in all things “except the bringing in of Charles Stuart;” and at Leicester, he was compelled to suffer[d] a letter to be written in his name to the petitioners from Devonshire, stating his opinion that the monarchy could not be re-established, representing the danger of recalling the members excluded in 1648, and inculcating the duty of obedience to the parliament as it was then constituted.[2] Here he was met by two of the most active members, Scot and Robinson, who had been commissioned to accompany him during his journey, under the pretence of doing him honour, but, in reality, to sound his disposition, and to act as spies on his conduct.  He received them with respect as the representatives of the sovereign authority; and so flattered were they by his attentions, so duped by his wariness, that they could not see through the veil which he spread over his intentions.