urging forward a regiment of Welsh mountaineers. They soon cleared an entrance for their comrades. Climbing upon the barricades, they tore them down with their hands, and then Rupert and his horsemen charged victoriously up the street. The enemy was completely driven out of the town, and the Cavaliers, with their devoted Prince, occupied that night the quarters they had so hardly won.

Brentford was not far from London, and the people in the city were rather frightened when they found a battle had taken place so close to them. They made great preparations to keep off the Royalists, and Charles began to think it would not be so easy to get into London as he had at first supposed. He determined, therefore, to retire to Oxford, and establish himself there as strongly as he could.

Essex meantime appeared before Brentford, and succeeded in driving Rupert and his followers out of it, and it thus fell again into the hands of the rebels. As the Cavaliers passed over the bridge leading out of the town, Rupert sat on horseback in the midst of the river, trying to keep his men steady by his brave encouraging words. All the while he himself presented an easy mark for the bullets of his enemies. He escaped, however, without a wound, and in due time, with his faithful followers, joined the King at Oxford.

CHAPTER VIII.

A DREARY WINTER.

RUPERT found constant employment for himself during the following winter, spent by the King and his Court at Oxford. He could not bear to live a life of ease and pleasure while so many dangers surrounded his beloved uncle and sovereign. He rode all about the country, chasing and harassing by every means in his power the rebel regiments he found in the neighbourhood. He was never idle for a day, and one could never tell where he might be heard of next. Indeed, but for these exertions of his nephew, the poor King would not have been able to supply his soldiers or even his horses with the food needful for their support; for the Parliament had very quietly taken for their own use most of the money which had in former days belonged to the King, and Charles was now a poorer man than many of his own subjects. As it was, however, the Cavaliers were provided with all things necessary during those anxious winter months. 10,0007. was contributed by the people in the town of Oxford alone, and besides that, friends in London sent secretly, and at much risk of being discovered,

all that they could spare for the service of their sovereign.

But it must not be supposed that Oxford was the only place in England which remained loyal in those bad times. On the contrary, all the northern part of the kingdom was true and steady to the royal cause; and Lord Newcastle, a nobleman of great influence in that portion of the country, took great pains to keep the district free from rebels. Most of the people in the West of England were also friendly to the King. It was in the east and south that the greatest numbers of rebels were to be found, and the famous Oliver Cromwell made himself very busy in going through these parts and directing the affairs of the Parliament.

Many of the King's friends urged him at once to leave Oxford, where he was surrounded by so many dangers, and set up his Court at some town in the North of England instead. But the King would not listen to such advice. Oxford had been faithful to him, mined that he would not go away poor people there to their enemies. resolved that he would put on a brave front, and stand fast in the midst of his little circle of friends.

The town of and he deterand leave the No, Charles

It was indeed a dreary winter to the Royalists. Messages about making peace passed continually to and fro between the King and the Parliament, but no good ever came of them, for neither party would grant what the other demanded. Rupert received endless complaints. Every one applied to him to settle their quarrels, or to see justice

F

done to them. On the last day of the year 1642 a man named Lewis Dives wrote a letter to the Prince, which is enough to show us the extremely miserable state of the King's troops, and the great difficulties in which the Royalists were then plunged. He says that many of his Majesty's subjects had "neither clothes to cover their nakedness, nor boots to put on their feet, and not money amongst them to pay for the shoeing of their horses.' And then he asks Rupert to speak to the King on the subject, and try if anything could be done to make things better.

It is plain from all this that Rupert had no easy time of it, during the sitting of the Court at Oxford.

The return of Colonel Goring from Holland, just about this period, accompanied by 200 experienced officers ready to serve the King, somewhat cheered the spirits of Charles and his party. Goring brought with him, moreover, a good supply of arms, and he announced that the Queen, Henrietta Maria, would soon be able to return to England. Altogether the Royalists were very glad when he came back. It was not forgotten that he had given up Portsmouth to the rebels, and fled out of the reach of harm himself. People knew that he was a man not to be much trusted, but he was a clever and useful officer, and his assistance was very valuable to the King.

Early in February 1643 the town of Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, was taken from the rebels by Prince Rupert and his brother Maurice, with the assistance of Lord Hertford. It was a most im

portant victory, and there was great rejoicing in Oxford, and a public thanksgiving was offered up to God on account of it. Now that Cirencester was in Royalist hands, the road was pretty clear to Worcester, Hereford, and so on to Wales.

But the Roundheads were of course very angry, and they spread the most dreadful stories about the Prince, and about his cruelties at Cirencester.

They called him the "Robber Prince," and some persons even went so far as to say that he murdered women and ate their little children. Thus his name became a word of terror, and mothers often quieted their children by telling them the terrible robber-prince would come to them if they were not good.

Rupert grew angry too, on his return to Oxford, when he heard and read these wicked stories. He wrote out a long and most interesting declaration of his true opinions and character, which were very different indeed from what the rebel chiefs made them out to be.

He said that he could not expect to escape having lies told about him, when even the King had been attacked, who, he added, "is only guilty of this, that he is too good to be their King." Rupert also boldly denied that he or any of his followers had ever been cruel to women or children, and said he should not consider any man either a soldier or a gentleman who could willingly be so. The rebels had also accused Rupert and the King of being or wishing to be Roman Catholics, and the Prince replied to the charge in this paper: "As for myself, the world knows how deeply I have smarted ard