he garrison upon several sallies,
and pressing the place very close, after a siege of twelve days, or
thereabouts, they enter the town sword in hand. The Earl of Newcastle
got away, and afterwards gathered what forces together he could, but
[was] not strong enough to hinder the Scots from advancing to Durham,
which he quitted to them, nor to hinder the conjunction of the Scots
with the forces of Fairfax, Manchester, and Cromwell. Whereupon the
earl, seeing all things thus going to wreck, he sends his horse
away, and retreats with his foot into York, making all necessary
preparations for a vigorous defence there, in case he should be
attacked, which he was pretty sure of, as indeed afterwards happened.
York was in a very good posture of defence, the fortifications very
regular, and exceeding strong; well furnished with provisions, and
had now a garrison of 12,000 men in it. The governor under the Earl
of Newcastle was Sir Thomas Glemham, a good soldier, and a gentleman
brave enough.

The Scots, as I have said, having taken Durham, Tynemouth Castle,
and Sunderland, and being joined by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had taken
Selby, resolve, with their united strength, to besiege York; but
when they came to view the city, and saw a plan of the works, and had
intelligence of the strength of the garrison, they sent expresses to
Manchester and Cromwell for help, who came on, and joined them with
9000, making together about 30,000 men, rather more than less.

Now had the Earl of Newcastle's repeated messengers convinced the
king that it was absolutely necessary to send some forces to his
assistance, or else all would be lost in the north. Whereupon Prince
Rupert was detached, with orders first to go into Lancashire and
relieve Lathom House, defended by the brave Countess of Derby, and
then, taking all the forces he could collect in Cheshire, Lancashire,
and Yorkshire, to march to relieve York.

The prince marched from Oxford with but three regiments of horse and
one of dragoons, making in all about 2800 men. The colonels of horse
were Colonel Charles Goring, the Lord Byron, and myself; the dragoons
were of Colonel Smith. In our march we were joined by a regiment of
horse from Banbury, one of dragoons from Bristol, and three regiments
of horse from Chester, so that when we came into Lancashire we were
about 5000 horse and dragoons. These horse we received from Chester
were those who, having been at the siege of Nantwich, were oblig