ert. Essex directed his march into Dorsetshire;[b]
Waller took on himself the task of pursuing the fugitive monarch. Charles
again deceived him. He pretended to advance along the right bank of the
Severn from Worcester to Shrewsbury;[c] and when Waller, to prevent him,
hastened from Broomsgrove to take possession of that town, the king turned
at Bewdley, retraced his steps to Oxford,[d] and, recruiting his army, beat
up the enemy's quarters in Buckinghamshire. In two days Waller had returned
to the Charwell, which separated the two armies; but an unsuccessful action
at Copredy Bridge[e] checked his impetuosity, and Charles, improving the
advantage to repass the river, marched to Evesham in pursuit of Essex.
Waller did not follow; his forces, by fatigue, desertion, and his late
loss, had been reduced from eight thousand to four thousand men, and the
committee of the two kingdoms recalled their favourite general from his
tedious and unavailing pursuit.[1]

During these marches and counter-marches, in which the king had no other
object than to escape from his pursuers, in the hope that some fortunate
occurrence might turn the scale in his favour, he received the despatch
already mentioned from the marquess of Newcastle. The ill-fated prince
instantly saw the danger which threatened him. The fall of York would
deprive him of the northern counties, and the subsequent junction of the
besieging army with his opponents in the south would constitute a force

[Footnote 1: Rushworth, v. 670-676. Clarendon, iv. 487-493, 497-502.
Baillie, ii. 38.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. June 3.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. June 6.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. June 15.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1644. June 20.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1644. June 29.]

against which it would be useless to struggle. His only resource was in
the courage and activity of Prince Rupert. He ordered[a] that commander to
collect all the force in his power, to hasten into Yorkshire, to fight
the enemy, and to keep in mind that two things were necessary for the
preservation of the crown,--both the relief of the city, and the defeat of
the combined army.[1]

Rupert, early in the spring, had marched from his quarters at Shrewsbury,
surprised the parliamentary army before Newark,[b] and after a sharp
action, compelled it[c] to capitulate. He was now employed in Cheshire and
Lancashire, where he had taken Stockport, Bolton, and Liverpool, and had
raised[d] the siege of Latham House, after it had