Before
midnight he had resolved to fight.--See his letter in Evelyn's Memoirs, ii.
App. 97.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. May 7.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. May 15.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645. May 31.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645. June 6.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1645. June 13.]
[Sidenote f: A.D. 1645. June 14.]
Fairfax refused to move from his strong position near Naseby, and the king,
yielding to the importunity of his officers, gave the word to advance.
Prince Rupert commanded on the right. The enemy fled before him; six pieces
of cannon were taken, and Ireton, the general of the parliamentary horse,
was wounded, and for some time a prisoner in the hands of the victors.[1]
But the lessons of experience had been thrown away upon Rupert. He urged
the pursuit with his characteristic impetuosity, and, as at Marston Moor,
by wandering from the field suffered the victory to be won by the masterly
conduct of Oliver Cromwell.
That commander found himself opposed to a weak body of cavalry under Sir
Marmaduke Langdale. By both the fight was maintained with obstinate valour;
but superiority of numbers enabled the former to press on the flanks of the
royalists, who began to waver, and at last turned their backs and fled.
Cromwell prudently checked the pursuit, and leaving three squadrons to
watch the fugitives, directed the remainder of his force against the rear
of the royal infantry.
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