[1]
Three-fourths of the nobility and superior gentry, led by feelings of
honour and gratitude, or by their attachment to the church, or by a
well-grounded suspicion of the designs of the leading patriots, had ranged
themselves under the royal banner. Charles felt assured of victory, when he
contemplated the birth, and wealth, and influence of those by whom he was
surrounded; but he might have discovered much to dissipate the illusion,
had he considered their habits, or been acquainted with their real, but
unavowed sentiments. They were for the most part men of pleasure, fitter to
grace a court than to endure the rigour of military discipline, devoid of
mental energy, and likely, by their indolence and debauchery, to offer
advantages to a prompt and vigilant enemy. Ambition would induce them to
aspire to office, and commands and honours, to form cabals against their
competitors, and to distract the attention of the monarch by their
importunity or their complaints. They contained among them many who
secretly disapproved of the war,
[Footnote 1: Journals, v. 327, 328, 338, 341, 358. Clarendon, ii, 8, 16.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1642. Sept. 6.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1642. Sept. 11.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1642. Sept. 16.]
conceiving that it was undertaken for the sake of episcopacy,--an
institution in the fate of which they felt no interest, and others who
had already in affection enrolled themselves among the followers of the
parliament, though shame deterred them for a time from abandoning the royal
colours.
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