reat enthusiasm, and
the whole force there, marching out, fell upon Waller at Cropredy
Bridge, near Banbury, and defeated him. Having scattered the rebels
here, he turned his course west in pursuit of Essex, for his force was
sufficient to cope with either of the armies separately, although he had
been unable to meet them when united.

Harry and his father were not present at the battle of Cropredy Bridge,
having with their troops left Oxford on the approach of the Roundheads,
together with many other bodies of cavalry, as they could do no good in
the case of a siege, and were wanted in the north, where Rupert was on
his way to take the command. Joining his force, amounting in all to
twenty thousand men, they advanced toward York. Leaving the greater
portion of his army at a short distance away, Rupert entered York with
two thousand men. Newcastle was in favor of prudent steps, knowing that
dissensions existed in the Parliamentary army between the Scots and
their English allies. Prince Rupert, however, insisted that he had the
command of the king to fight at once, and so, with all the force he
could collect, advanced against the Scots. Newcastle was much offended
at the domineering manner and headstrong course of the prince and took
no part in the forthcoming battle, in which his military genius and
caution would have been of vast service to the royal cause.

On the 2d of July, having rested two days, the Royalist army marched out
against the Roundheads. The contending parties met on Marston Moor, and
it was late in the evening when the battle began. It was short but
desperate, and when it ended four thousand one hundred and fifty men had
been killed. Here, as in every other fight in which he was engaged, the
impetuosity of Prince Rupert proved the ruin of the Royalists. With his
cavaliers upon the right of the Royalist army, he charged the Scotch
horse, scattered them in every direction and rode after them, chasing
and slaying. The center of each army, composed of infantry, fought
desperately, and without much advantage to either side. But upon the
Royalist left the fate of the day was decided. There a new element was
introduced into the struggle, for the right of the Roundhead force was
commanded by Cromwell, who had raised and disciplined a body of cavalry
called the Ironsides. These men were all fanatics in religion and fought
with a sternness and vigor which carried all before them. In the eastern
counties they ha