As a statesman he acknowledged the hopelessness of his cause; as
a Christian he professed to believe that God would never allow rebellion
to prosper; but, let whatever happen, he at least would act as honour and
conscience called on him to act; his name should not descend to posterity
as the name of a king who had abandoned the cause of God, injured the
rights of his successors, and sacrificed the interests of his faithful
and devoted adherents. From Leicester he retreated[a] to Hereford; from
Hereford to Ragland Castle, the seat of the loyal marquess of Worcester;
and thence to Cardiff, that he might more readily communicate with Prince
Rupert at Bristol. Each day brought him a repetition of the most melancholy
intelligence. Leicester had surrendered almost at the[b] first summons; the
forces under Goring, the only body of royalists deserving the name of an
army, were defeated by Fairfax at Lamport; Bridgewater, hitherto[c] deemed
an impregnable fortress, capitulated after a[d]
[Transcriber's Note: No footnote 1 in the text]
[Footnote 1: Rushworth vi. 132. Clarendon, ii. 630.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645 July 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645 June 17.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1645 July 10.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1645 July 23.]
short siege; a chain of posts extending from that town to Lime, on the
southern coast, cut off Devonshire and Cornwall, his principal resources,
from all communication with the rest of the kingdom; and, what was still
worse, the dissensions which raged among his officers and partisans in
those counties could not be appeased either by the necessity of providing
for the common safety, or by the presence and authority of the prince of
Wales.
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