hiel he received[e] two letters, one, in which he was solicited by
the king to unite with him in compelling his enemies to consent to a peace,
which while it ascertained the legal rights of the throne, might secure
the religion and liberties of the people; another from eighty-four of the
principal officers in the royal army, who pledged themselves to draw the
sword against the sovereign himself, if he should ever swerve from the
principles which he had avowed in his letter. Both were disappointed. Essex
sent the letters to the two houses, and coldly replied that his business
was to fight, that of the parliament to negotiate.

[Footnote 1: I doubt whether Essex had any claim to that generosity of
character which is attributed to him by historians. The queen had been
delivered of a princess, Henrietta Maria, at Exeter, and sent to him for
a passport to go to Bath or Bristol for the recovery of her health. He
refused, but insultingly offered to attend her himself, if she would go to
London, where she had been already impeached of high treason.--Rushworth,
v. 684. I observe that even before the war, when the king had written to
the queen to intimate his wish to Essex, as lord chamberlain, to prepare
the palace for his reception, she desired Nicholas to do it adding,
"their lordships are to great princes to receave anye direction from
me."--Evelyn's Mem. ii. App. 78.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1644. June 16.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1644. July 14.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1644. July 15.]
[Sidenote d: A.D. 1644. June 26.]
[Sidenote e: A.D. 1644. August 6.]

But he now found himself in a most critical situation, cut off from all
intercourse with London, and enclosed between the sea and the combined
forces of the king, Prince Maurice, and Sir Richard Grenville.[a] His
cavalry, unable to obtain subsistence, burst in the night, though not
without loss, through the lines of the enemy. But each day the royalists
won some of his posts; their artillery commanded the small haven of Foy,
through which, alone he could obtain provisions; and his men, dismayed by
a succession of disasters, refused to stand to their colours. In this
emergency Essex, with two other officers, escaped from the beach in a boat
to Plymouth; and Major-General Skippon offered to capitulate for the rest
of the army.[b] On the surrender of their arms, ammunition, and artillery,
the men were allowed to march to Pool and Wareham, and thence were conveyed
in transports to Portsmouth,