omposition as a delinquent for his estate. This they charged at
L7000, but by the assistance of the same noble person he got off for
L4000. Some members of the committee moved very kindly that my father
should oblige me to quit the king's service, but that, as a thing
which might be out of his power, was not insisted on.

The modelling the Parliament army took them up all this winter, and
we were in great hopes the divisions which appeared amongst them might
have weakened their party; but when they voted Sir Thomas Fairfax to
be general, I confess I was convinced the king's affairs were lost and
desperate. Sir Thomas, abating the zeal of his party, and the mistaken
opinion of his cause, was the fittest man amongst them to undertake
the charge. He was a complete general, strict in his discipline, wary
in conduct, fearless in action, unwearied in the fatigue of the
war, and withal, of a modest, noble, generous disposition. We all
apprehended danger from him, and heartily wished him of our own side;
and the king was so sensible, though he would not discover it, that
when an account was brought him of the choice they had made, he
replied, "he was sorry for it; he had rather it had been anybody than
he."

The first attempts of this new general and new army were at Oxford,
which, by the neighbourhood of a numerous garrison in Abingdon, began
to be very much straitened for provisions; and the new forces under
Cromwell and Skippon, one lieutenant-general, the other major-general
to Fairfax, approaching with a design to block it up, the king left
the place, supposing his absence would draw them away, as it soon did.

The king resolving to leave Oxford, marches from thence with all his
forces, the garrison excepted, with design to have gone to Bristol;
but the plague was in Bristol, which altered the measures, and changed
the course of the king's designs, so he marched for Worcester about
the beginning of June 1645. The foot, with a train of forty pieces of
cannon, marching into Worcester, the horse stayed behind some time in
Gloucestershire.

The first action our army did, was to raise the siege of Chester; Sir
William Brereton had besieged it, or rather blocked it up, and when
his Majesty came to Worcester, he sent Prince Rupert with 4000 horse
and dragoons, with orders to join some foot out of Wales, to raise the
siege; but Sir William thought fit to withdraw, and not stay for them,
and the town was freed without fighting.