This decisive advantage disconcerted all the plans of the mutineers. Some
partial risings in the

[Footnote 1: Walker, ii. 168. Whitelock, 401.]

[Footnote 2: King's Pamphlets, No. 421, xxii.; 422, i. Whitelock, 402.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. May 14.]

counties of Hants, Devon, and Somerset were quickly suppressed; and
Thompson, who had escaped[a] from Banbury and retired to Wellingborough,
being deserted by his followers, refused quarter, and fell[b] fighting
singly against a host of enemies.[1] To express the national gratitude
for this signal deliverance, a day of thanksgiving was appointed; the
parliament, the council of State, and the council of the army assembled[c]
at Christ-church; and, after the religious service of the day, consisting
of two long sermons and appropriate prayers, proceeded to Grocer's Hall,
where they dined by invitation from the city. The speaker Lenthall, the
organ of the supreme authority, like former kings, received the sword of
state from the mayor, and delivered it to him again. At table, he was
seated at the head, supported on his right hand by the lord general, and on
the left by Bradshaw, the president of the council; thus exhibiting to the
guests the representatives of the three bodies by which the nation was
actually governed. At the conclusion of the dinner, the lord mayor
presented one thousand pounds in gold to Fairfax in a basin and ewer of the
same metal, and five hundred pounds, with a complete service of plate, to
Cromwell.[2]

The suppression of the mutiny afforded leisure to the council to direct its
attention to the proceedings in Scotland and Ireland. In the first of these
kingdoms, after the departure of Cromwell, the supreme authority had been
exercised by Argyle and his party, who were supported, and at the same time
controlled, by the paramount influence of the kirk. The forfeiture

[Footnote 1: Whitelock, 403.]

[Footnote 2: Leicester's Journal, 74. Whitelock (406) places the guests in
a different order.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1649. May 20.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1649. May 31.]
[Sidenote c: A.D. 1649. June 7.]

and excommunication of the "Engagers" left to their opponents the
undisputed superiority in the parliament and all the great offices of the
state. From the part which Argyle had formerly taken in the surrender of
the king, his recent connection with Cromwell, and his hostility to the
engagement, it was generally believed that he had acted in concert with t