communication by sea with their own country.  The marquess, having assembled his army, offered them battle, and, when they refused to fight, confined them for five weeks within their own quarters.  In proportion as their advance into England had elevated the hopes of their friends in the capital, their subsequent inactivity provoked surprise and complaints.  But Lord Fairfax, having been joined by his victorious son from Cheshire, dispersed the royalists at Leeds,[f] under Colonel Bellasis, the son of Lord Falconberg; and the danger of being enclosed between two armies induced the marquess of Newcastle to retire[g] from Durham

[Footnote 1:  Rush. v. 299, 303.  Fairfax, 434, ed. of Maseres.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1644.  Jan. 16.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1644.  Feb. 2.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1644.  Feb. 28.] [Sidenote d:  A.D. 1644.  March 2.] [Sidenote e:  A.D. 1644.  March 4.] [Sidenote f:  A.D. 1644.  April 11.] [Sidenote g:  A.D. 1644.  April 23.]

to York.  He was quickly followed by the Scots; they were joined by Fairfax, and the combined army sat down before the city.  Newcastle at first despised their attempts; but the arrival[a] of fourteen thousand parliamentarians, under the earl of Manchester, convinced him of his danger, and he earnestly solicited[b] succour from the king.[1]

But, instead of proceeding with the military transactions in the north, it will here be necessary to advert to those which had taken place in other parts of the kingdom.  In the counties on the southern coast several actions had been fought, of which, the success was various, and the result unimportant.  Every eye fixed itself on the two grand armies in the vicinity of Oxford and London.  The parliament had professed a resolution to stake the fortune of the cause on one great and decisive battle; and, with this view, every effort had been made to raise the forces of Essex and Waller to the amount of twenty thousand men.  These generals marched in two separate corps, with the hope of enclosing the king, or of besieging him in Oxford.[2] Aware of his inferiority, Charles, by a skilful manoeuvre,

[Footnote 1:  Rushworth, v. 222.  Baillie, ii. 1, 6, 10, 28, 32.  Journals, 522.]

[Footnote 2:  When Essex left London he requested the assembly of divines to keep a fast for his success.  The reader may learn from Baillie how it was celebrated.  “We spent from nine to five graciously.  After Dr. Twisse had begun with a brief prayer, Mr. Marshall prayed large two hours, most divinely confessing the sins of the members of the assembly in a wonderful, pathetick, and prudent way.  After Mr. Arrowsmith preached an hour, then a psalm; thereafter Mr. Vines prayed near two hours, and Mr. Palmer preached an hour, and Mr. Seaman prayed near two hours, then a psalm; after Mr. Henderson brought them to a sweet conference of the heat confessed in the assembly, and other seen faults to be remedied, and the conveniency to preach against all sects, especially Anabaptists and Antinomians.  Dr. Twisse closed with a short prayer and blessing.  God was so evidently in all this exercise, that we expect certainly a blessing.”—­Baillie, ii. 18, 19.]