h, at a later period, humbled six Marshals
of France, was not now in its proper place. Feversham told Churchill
little, and gave him no encouragement to offer any suggestion. The
lieutenant, conscious of superior abilities and science, impatient of
the control of a chief whom he despised, and trembling for the fate of
the army, nevertheless preserved his characteristic self-command, and
dissembled his feelings so well that Feversham praised his submissive
alacrity, and promised to report it to the King. [407]

Monmouth, having observed the disposition of the royal forces, and
having been apprised of the state in which they were, conceived that
a night attack might be attended with success. He resolved to run the
hazard; and preparations were instantly made.

It was Sunday; and his followers, who had, for the most part, been
brought up after the Puritan fashion, passed a great part of the day in
religious exercises. The Castle Field, in which the army was encamped,
presented a spectacle such as, since the disbanding of Cromwell's
soldiers, England had never seen. The dissenting preachers who had taken
arms against Popery, and some of whom had probably fought in the great
civil war, prayed and preached in red coats and huge jackboots, with
swords by their sides. Ferguson was one of those who harangued. He took
for his text the awful imprecation by which the Israelites who dwelt
beyond Jordan cleared themselves from the charge ignorantly brought
against them by their brethren on the other side of the river. "The Lord
God of Gods, the Lord God of Gods, he knoweth; and Israel he shall know.
If it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, save us
not this day." [408]

That an attack was to be made under cover of the night was no secret
in Bridgewater. The town was full of women, who had repaired thither
by hundreds from the surrounding region, to see their husbands, sons,
lovers, and brothers once more. There were many sad partings that day;
and many parted never to meet again. [409] The report of the intended
attack came to the ears of a young girl who was zealous for the King.
Though of modest character, she had the courage to resolve that she
would herself bear the intelligence to Feversham. She stole out of
Bridgewater, and made her way to the royal camp. But that camp was not a
place where female innocence could be safe. Even the officers, despising
alike the irregular force to which they were opposed,