STRENGTH OF THE PARLIAMENT

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held the capital with all the advantages accruing from such a large centre of population; it probably held about half a million inhabitants. The train-bands had a regular organisation and some exercise in arms, and could do more than defend the city. The country around London was mostly in their favour. The south-eastern counties, the old seat of Lollardism, had already shown their discontent against the enclosures of commons and other agrarian and class oppressions by several risings suppressed with cruelties not yet forgotten.'

From these parts had come the exodus to Holland and New England, and there were so many sympathisers left behind as to give the Puritans decidedly the upper hand. The adherents of the parliament were also strong in the centre of England, especially in the larger towns, and they held most of the principal seaports-Bristol, Hull, Portsmouth, and Plymouth. On their side were some of the best of the old nobility, many of the gentry, and a large proportion of the yeomanry and freeholders. Above

1 The associated counties, which did so much in the Civil Wars, were Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Huntington, Bedford, Essex, Lincoln, and Oxford. The social and political influences which brought about the revolution are well reviewed in Die Vorläufer des neueren Socialismus, Abschnitt: Kommunistische und demokratisch-Socialistische Strömungen während der englishschen Revolution des 17 Jahrhunderts, Von Ed. Barnstein, Stuttgart, 1895. Noteworthy are the author's remarks about the Lollards, and Robert Ket's insurrection (1549.) He quotes William Petty's Essay on Political Arithmetic, 1687, who estimated the population of London, in the middle of the seventeenth century, at half a million. In those days about three-fourths of the population of England lived in the country.

Gregory King, who wrote about 1688, calculated that there lived in London

530,000 inhabitants. 870,000 4,100,000

"

all, they had that incomparable spirit which sprang from the fresh breath of liberty and hopes not yet blighted, the longing to be rid of the hateful idols of the past, the misrule of the king and priests, with the resolve to enforce the right to think for themselves in the great problems which filled their minds of God, eternity, and the future life: aspirations stirring and tumultuous, difficult to keep within bounds. Through all, there was a deep confidence that God, who had begun this good work, would surely finish it, and this made easy the sacrifice of wealth and health and life. In London many of the citizens contributed large sums, and loans were easily raised. So much silver plate was brought that it was difficult to take it in store; even poor women brought their rings and bodkins; some wealthy men raised troops of horse, one a whole regiment. The pulpits in the city rang with militant harangues; sheets, and pamphlets thrown off every day served to keep up the excitement, and to spread it through the country. The Puritan preachers, silenced no longer, Laud being fast in the Tower, returned to their old flocks, and raised their voices high for the cause of reform.

Within these districts where the parliament had the upper hand the English Commonwealth now commenced its troubled existence. As the Celt always takes the losing side, Wales and Cornwall were in favour of the Royalists. The king had many supporters in the northern counties; but even in these quarters the cause of liberty had friends, though over-ruled and outnumbered.

After the king had gathered at York a cohort

ASSEMBLY ON HEYWORTH MOOR

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of the gentry of the northern counties, noisy in their demonstrations of loyalty, he ventured to call on the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire, to meet him on June 3, on Heyworth moor, with his whole muster of army followers. More than 40,000 men of all degrees assembled. The king rode through the crowd. He was received with confused murmuring. The Cavaliers soon perceived that a petition was being circulated, begging the king not to go to war with his parliament. This the courtiers did their best to hinder, riding amongst the groups and snatching the copies of the petition, declaring, with violent invectives, that the king would not receive it. Sir Thomas Fairfax had headed a protest of the Yorkshire gentry favourable to the parliament, refusing their consent to forces being raised by the king. The petition was entrusted to him and his cousin, Sir William Fairfax, who followed the king about the moor, rudely obstructed by some of the courtiers. Sir Thomas at last managed to get near the king, and placed the petition on the pommel of his saddle. The ill-starred Stuart pushed his horse against the young gentleman, little dreaming that the day would come when he should fly before him.

A large number of the nobility and gentry of England answered to the king's urgent calls, some from a blind sentiment of traditional loyalty, others from a misgiving that their own rank and dignity were endangered by the levelling tendencies of the Roundheads, or that their fortunes might be bettered by the royal favour. Dislike of change, with a hazy understanding of what the quarrel was about, and an

indolent acquiescence in the church established, led many of every rank to wish well to the royal cause; docile souls who had never felt the lash, as they had quietly submitted to the yoke, they wondered that others should be so restive, and in their lowly content for their meat and their portion they cast admiring eyes upon the glitter and pomp of the king and the church. To such minds liberty and a pure worship of God were abstractions which they failed to reach. The Catholics, with whom escape from persecution was of more importance than political freedom enjoyed by others, gave their support to the king, from the belief that they had more to expect from his forbearance than from the toleration of the Puritans, who had for years made it a burden of their complaint that too much indulgence had been shown to the papists.

The king had so little money that had it not been for the generosity of a Catholic nobleman, the Marquis of Worcester, he had wanted wherewithal to support the expenses of his table at York. Obliged now to depend upon voluntary contributions, he did not gather in as he had done with his forced loans, ship-money, and the rapacious fines of the Star Chamber. The queen had gone to Holland, ostensibly to be present at the marriage of her daughter to the Prince of Orange, but really to sell the crown jewels to raise money for munitions of war. The University of Oxford, the centre of episcopacy and conservatism, sent its plate. Cambridge was preparing to do the like when Oliver Cromwell, M.P. for the town, promptly seized the silver for the parliament. On the whole, contributions came in slowly and scantily.

ROYAL STANDARD AT NOTTINGHAM

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The recusant members from Westminster, most of them friendly both to the king and to the constitution, themselves uneasy and perplexed, damped the courage of the royalists, while their absence from the parliament gave unity and strength to that assembly. Diffident of success, and obliged to humour even his own partisans by conferences and negotiations with the parliament, now ruling so large a part of England from Westminster, the king was vacillating in his moods and his preparations slow. It was only on August 25 that Charles set up his standard on the hill looking down upon Nottingham, with a proclamation which announced the beginning of the Civil War. "There appeared no conflux of men in obedience to his summons, and a general sadness covered the whole town. The standard was blown down the same night it had been set up by a strong and unruly wind, and could not be fixed again for a day or two" (Clarendon). The Earl of Essex was forming the national army at Northampton, and if he had pushed forward, the king had either been taken or put to flight with his unready levies. The parliament was not anxious to begin the war, and none thought it would last so long and inflict so many miseries on the country.

Neither party could bring forward disciplined soldiers; military training had fallen much into disuse. There were few officers to be got skilled in manœuvres. Men who had served in the Low Countries were much in demand. There were no generals capable of comprehensive strategic plans. There were few fortresses able to resist cannon; but field artillery was of little use. Firearms had not yet attained such