King and commonwealth

On seeing the king’s tactics, Essex drew up his army upon some open ground in front of Emborne. Two causes compelled him to fight at all hazards. The first, that, for the protection of London, it was necessary he should make his way through the enemy; the second, that, while delay mattered nothing to the king, who could refresh his troops in Newbury, and draw provisions, if necessary, from his garrisons at Wallingford and Oxford, it was fatal to himself, lying in the open fields and in an unfriendly country. The king, on the other hand, failed to reap the advantages of his position; for he could not secure the obedience of his own followers any more than of his Parliament. His own wise resolution was broken by the rashness and insubordination of his officers, some of whom, despising the London militia, and making sure of victory, became so excited at the sight of an enemy drawn up for action that they charged impetuously and, the battle soon becoming general, obliged their friends to advance for their support, leaving much of the artillery behind them on the hill. Many of the officers flung off their doublets in bravado, and led on their men in their shirts, as if armour was a useless encumbrance in dealing with the base-born apprentices, whom they came rather to triumph over than to fight.

DEATH OF FALKLAND.

Hedges prevent horse from deciding the day. Essex’ left and the king’s right were so impeded by the hedges that they could only engage in small parties. The horse, however, on the king’s left found a free passage down a lane by which Essex had intended to advance his right. Essex’ horse, though at first thrown into some disorder, soon rallied, and returned the charge of the impetuous Cavaliers. But in an enclosed country as this was the cavalry could not have much effect in deciding the day. It was the daring and skill of Essex, and the valour of the troops he led—the very train-bands the Royalists despised—that were destined to win the laurels of the field. The general, “being foremost in person, did lead up the city regiments, and when a vast body of the enemy’s horse had given so violent a charge, that they had broken quite through, he quickly rallied his men together, and with undaunted courage did lead them up the hill. In this way he did beat the infantry of the king from hedge to hedge, and after six hours’ long fight planted his ordnance upon the brow of the hill. The train-bands of the City of London endured the chiefest heat of the day, for being now upon the brow of the hill, they lay not only open to the horse but to the cannon of the enemy; yet they stood undaunted and conquerors against all, and like a grove of pines, in a day of wind and tempest, they only moved their heads, but kept their footing sure.”Death of Lord Falkland. It was on this hard-fought day that Lord Falkland met his death. In the morning he seemed to have recovered a little of his old cheerfulness, and dressed himself with unusual care, saying, “he was weary of his country’s misery, and believed he should be out of it before night.” Though his duties as the king’s secretary gave him no position in the field, he fought as a volunteer at the head of Lord Byron’s regiment of horse. This was on the right wing, where the ground was cut up by enclosures. Byron found his approach to a body of the enemy’s infantry impeded by a high quick hedge. A single gap offered a passage through, which was so narrow that only one horse could pass at a time. The enemy stationed on the other side of the hedge were keeping up a hot fire, and as Byron viewed the place his horse was shot under him. While he retired to remount, Lord Falkland, “more gallantly than advisedly,” clapped spurs into his horse, and charged through the gap. In an instant horse and rider fell dead together.[101] His end gives us a painful insight into the misery the more delicate minds endured during such a time. There was no doubt his life had been a burden to him for months. A patriot at heart, he had chosen his side from chivalry rather than from insight; and, though he followed his king, had no sympathy for that policy of ‘thorough’ which lay at the root of the civil war.

SUCCESS OF ESSEX.

Darkness at last caused the two armies to separate. Both spent the night on the hill, the Royalists retiring to the further side of it, towards Greenham, and leaving the ground they had held in the morning in the hands of the Parliament’s infantry. Essex fully expected the battle to be renewed the next day, and determined to force his way through the enemy or die. But the Royalists were dispirited. Though the loss of life was not so great as might have been expected, it had fallen heavily upon men of rank. More than twenty officers, distinguished for birth or merit, were among the dead. Such a catastrophe seemed to the king’s friends in no way compensated by the loss of an equal number of obscure Parliamentary colonels.Royalists withdraw into Newbury. Essex marches to London. With these feelings the Royalists withdrew during the night into Newbury. Essex, finding the way by Greenham open before him, continued his march to Reading and London.[102] Charles, after leaving Newbury, retired to Oxford for the winter.[103]