the Lowlands at the mercy of the conqueror.  Glasgow and the neighbouring shires solicited his clemency; the citizens of Edinburgh sent to him the prisoners who had been condemned for their adherence to the royal cause; and many of the nobility, hastening to his standard, accepted commissions to raise forces in the name of the sovereign.  At this news the[c] Scottish cavalry, which, in accordance with the treaty of “brotherly assistance,” had already advanced to Nottingham, marched back to the Tweed to protect their own country; and the king on the third day left Oxford with five thousand men, to drive the infantry

[Footnote 1:  It was probably on account of the heat of the season that Montrose ordered his men to throw aside their plaids—­vestes molestiores—­and fight in their shirts; an order which has given occasion to several fanciful conjectures and exaggerations;—­See Carte, iv. 538.]

[Sidenote a:  A.D. 1645.  July 2.] [Sidenote b:  A.D. 1645.  August 15.] [Sidenote c:  A.D. 1645.  August 26.]

from the siege of Hereford.  They did not wait his arrival, and he entered the city amidst the joyful acclamations of the inhabitants.[1]

But Charles was not long suffered to enjoy his[a] triumph.  Full of confidence, he had marched from Hereford to the relief of Bristol; but at Ragland Castle learned that it was already in possession of the enemy.  This unexpected stroke quite unnerved him.  That a prince of his family, an officer whose reputation for courage and fidelity was unblemished, should surrender in the third week of the siege an important city, which he had promised to maintain for four months, appeared to him incredible.  His mind was agitated with suspicion and jealousy.  He knew not whether to attribute the conduct of his nephew to cowardice, or despondency, or disaffection; but he foresaw and lamented its baneful influence on the small remnant of his followers.  In the anguish of his mind[b] he revoked the commission of the prince, and commanded him to quit the kingdom; he instructed the council to watch his conduct, and on the first sign of disobedience to take him into custody; and he ordered the arrest of his friend Colonel Legge, and appointed Sir Thomas Glenham to succeed Legge, as governor of Oxford.  “Tell my sone,” he says in a letter to Nicholas, “that I shall lesse grieeve to hear that he is knoked in the head, than that he should doe so meane an act as is the rendering of Bristoll castell and fort upon the termes it was."[2]

[Footnote 1:  Rushworth, vi. 230.  May.  Guthrie, 194.  Baillie, ii. 156, 157, 273.  This defeat perplexed the theology of that learned man.  I confess I am amazed, and cannot see to my mind’s satisfaction, the reasons of the Lord’s dealing with that land....  What means the Lord, so far against the expectation of the most clear-sighted, to humble us so low, and by his own immediate hand, I confess I know not.”—­Ibid.]

[Footnote 2:  Clarendon, ii. 693.  Rushworth, vi. 66-82.  Journals, vi. 584.  Ellis, iii. 311.  Evelyn’s Memoirs, ii.  App, 108.  The suspicion of Legge’s fidelity was infused into the royal mind by Digby.  Charles wished him to be secured, but refused to believe him guilty without better proof.—­Ibid, 111.]