nder the earl of Argyle
threw every obstacle in his way. They protested in parliament against the
war; the commissioners of the kirk demanded that their objections should be
previously removed; the women cursed the duke as he passed, and pelted
him with stones from their windows; and the ministers from their pulpits
denounced the curse of God on all who should take a share in the unholy
enterprise. Forty thousand men had been voted; but though force was
frequently employed, and blood occasionally shed, the levy proceeded so
slowly, that even in the month of July the grand army hardly exceeded
one-fourth of that number.[1]

By the original plan devised at Hampton Court, it had been arranged
that the entrance of the Scots into England should be the signal for a
simultaneous rising of the royalists in every quarter of the kingdom. But
the former did not keep their time, and the zeal of the latter could not
brook delay.[a] The first who proclaimed the king, was a parliamentary
officer, Colonel Poyer, mayor of the town, and governor of the castle, of
Pembroke. He refused to resign his military appointment at the command of
Fairfax, and, to justify

[Footnote 1: Memoirs of the Hamiltons, 339, 347, 353. Thurloe, i. 94.
Rushworth, vii. 1031, 48, 52, 67, 114, 132. Two circumstantial and
interesting letters from Baillie, ii. 280-297. Whitelock, 305. Turner, 52.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1648. March 3.]

his refusal, unfurled the royal standard. Poyer was joined by Langherne and
Powel, two officers whose forces had lately been disbanded. Several of the
men hastened to the aid of their former leaders; the Cavaliers ran to arms
in both divisions of the principality; a force of eight thousand men was
formed; Chepstow was surprised, Carnarvon besieged, and Colonel Fleming
defeated.[a] By these petty successes the unfortunate men were lured on
to their ruin. Horton checked their progress; Cromwell followed with five
regiments to punish their presumption. The tide immediately changed.
Langherne was defeated; Chepstow was recovered; the besiegers of Carnarvon
were cut to pieces.[b] On the refusal of Poyer to surrender, the
lieutenant-general assembled his corps after sunset, and the fanatical Hugh
Peters foretold that the ramparts of Pembroke, like those of Jericho, would
fall before the army of the living God. From prayer and sermon the men
hastened to the assault; the ditch was passed, the walls were scaled; but
they found the garrison at