little to attract the eye; every man was dressed at his own cost and according to his own fancy, as far as he could afford to indulge it. His pay was considerable, and now regular; the contributions of the wealthier Cavaliers, the neighbouring gentry, and the universities, enabling the King to be punctual in his payments. As almost all the circulating medium was silver, however, the mint that was now set up could coin but slowly, only 1000l. a-week by the utmost exertions. The troops, however, were well contented, and, as yet, well conducted; provisions were plentiful and cheap, and their cause was favoured by the country round.' as a badge, as we shall see at Chalgrove fight, as they did in the Scotch campaign of 1639 and 1640. The various uniforms that British troops have worn are curious to trace, even since the era of standing armies, but much more in former times : for instance, when the Earl of Leicester, accompanied by Sir Philip Sidney, landed at Flushing to support the Protestant cause; out of six thousand, four thousand Londoners accompanied him in red, the Queen's troops being generally grey. The troops gathered to oppose the Armada carried lances, spears, bills, and bows, but very few muskets. The Queen's infantry was "sadd greene," the cavalry grey with scarlet cloaks." Henry VIII. bad "blew coats guarded with redde clothe:" the right hose was to be red, the left blue, with a strip of red down the side."-Gleig's Military History. The pay of a general commanding was enormous for those times, 107. a-day, as I find from Lord Denbigh's, and others, papers but then these generals were generally men of high rank and great local influence, whom it was necessary to keep in good humour. Lord Denbigh, as general-in-chief for the Parliament and the associated counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, &c., received his salary regularly, equal to about 18,000l. a year now; while his subordinates complain bitterly of want, and some of his cavalry pawned their horses and accoutrements in order to buy food.-Earl of Denbigh's MS. Collect; also May, Par. Hist. Prince Rupert was General of the Royal horse, General Lord Ruthven acted as his LieutenantGeneral from choice, though he was made fieldmarshal before the army left Shrewsbury. Sir Arthur Aston, "of whose soldiery there was a very great esteem,' ," commanded the dragoons, and Sir John Heydon the small park of artillery. Lord Grandison commanded one regiment of horse which he had himself raised; Sir John Byron another, paid for by Lord Worcester. Lord Digby had some two or three troops; and there were others attached to different infantry regiments from Wales, Cheshire, and Lancashire. These last were, probably, brigaded according to circumstances in the field. One remarkable troop I had nearly forgotten, though it fought well; it was composed of the servants of Lord Bernard's aristocratic troop, and was commanded by Sir William Killigrew. The infantry was formed into three brigades, under Sir Nicholas Byron, Colonel Harry Wentworth, and Colonel Fielding; Sir Jacob Astley being Major-General under the Earl of Lindsey, as Commander-in-Chief. Unfortunately, we have no ac 1 Clarendon's Rebellion, iii. 266, who says elsewhere, that "He was the only Papist officer, if he was a Papist ;" and that "there were very few common soldiers of that religion, though the Parliament, while too wise to refuse any stout volunteer themselves, denounced the entire Royal army by their declarations and their pulpits, which they kept tuned to the same key,' as Popish." The subjoined order from the King, proves that there was some armour still remaining in the King's scanty stores: they count less vague than this, which Lord Clarendon, a most unmilitary-minded man, has furnished: but the army increases in interest as it rolls along, and acquires individuality. By the time the King was prepared to march, his forces were almost all armed, more or less, except three or four hundred who still marched without any weapons except cudgels. On the 12th of October the Royal trumpets "sounded to the Standard," and the King began his march towards London. The Roundheads had promised their friends and, perhaps, themselves, that they should only require a demonstration of physical force against the King; that he would never be able to raise an army, or prevail on a single town to declare in his favour. had probably been reserved until the actual wants of each regiment were ascertained; but now no time remained for further arrangement: "CHARLES, R. THE KING TO PRINCE RUPERT. "Whereas there are sundry quantities of horsemen's arms, as backs and pots, remaining in our magazine here at Shrewsbury, which we have appointed for the arming of our regiments of horse, but the same are not sent for by the colonels of the same, which we conceive proceeds from their want of knowing our pleasure therein, we do therefore hereby pray and require you to signify unto our said colonels, our will and pleasure to be, that carts should be impressed, by your warrant, for fetching the said arms, and that such colonels, who first shall send, shall first be furnished; and herein the more diligence is to be used, because of the sudden march of our army.-Given under our sign manual, at our Court at Shrewsbury, this 9th of October, 1642." "To our dear nephew,-Prince Rupert, Captain General of all our Forces of Horse.' |