Not but that the king, by extraordinary application,
recovered the disorder the want of these things had thrown him into,
and supplied himself with all things needful.
But my observation was this, had his Majesty had the magazines, navy,
and forts in his own hand, the gentry, who wanted but the prospect of
something to encourage them, had come in at first, and the Parliament,
being unprovided, would have been presently reduced to reason. But
this was it that balked the gentry of Yorkshire, who went home again,
giving the king good promises, but never appeared for him, till
by raising a good army in Shropshire and Wales, he marched towards
London, and they saw there was a prospect of their being supported.
In this condition the king erected his standard at Nottingham, 22nd
August 1642, and I confess, I had very melancholy apprehensions of
the king's affairs, for the appearance to the royal standard was
but small. The affront the king had met with at Hull, had balked and
dispirited the northern gentry, and the king's affairs looked with
a very dismal aspect. We had expresses from London of the prodigious
success of the Parliament levies, how their men came in faster than
they could entertain them, and that arms were delivered out to whole
companies listed together, and the like.
Pages:
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243