g in
surplices on the one side, no dark-robed divines preaching on horseback
on the other, no king in glittering armor, no Tutor Harvey in peaceful
meditation beneath a hedge, pondering on the circulation of the blood,
with hotter blood flowing so near him; all these were to be seen at
Edgehill, but not here. This smaller skirmish rather turns our thoughts
to Cisatlantic associations; its date suggests Bunker's Hill,--and its
circumstances, Lexington. For this, also, is a marauding party, with a
Percy among its officers, brought to a stand by a half-armed and angry
peasantry.

Rupert sends his infantry forward, to secure the bridge, and a
sufficient body of dragoons to line the mile-and-a-half of road
between,--the remainder of the troops being drawn up at the entrance of
a corn-field, several hundred acres in extent, and lying between the
villages and the hills. The Puritans take a long circuit, endeavoring to
get to windward of their formidable enemy,--a point judged as important,
during the seventeenth century, in a land fight as in a naval
engagement. They have with them some light field-pieces, artillery
being the only point of superiority they yet claim; but these are not
basilisks, nor falconets, nor culverins, (_colubri_, _couleuvres_,) nor
drakes, (_dracones_,) nor warning-pieces,--they are the leathern guns
of Gustavus Adolphus, made of light cast-iron and bound with ropes and
leather. The Roundhead dragoons, dismounted, line a hedge near the
Cavaliers, and plant their "swine-feathers"; under cover of their fire
the horse advance in line, matches burning. As they advance, one or two
dash forward, at risk of their lives, flinging off the orange scarfs
which alone distinguish them, in token that they desert to the royal
cause. Prince Rupert falls back into the lane a little, to lead the
other forces into his ambush of dragoons. These tactics do not come
naturally to him, however; nor does he like the practice of the time,
that two bodies of cavalry should ride up within pistol-shot of each
other, and exchange a volley before they charge. He rather anticipates,
in his style of operations, the famous order of Frederick the Great:
"The King hereby forbids all officers of cavalry, on pain of being broke
with ignominy, ever to allow themselves to be attacked in any action by
the enemy; but the Prussians must always attack them." Accordingly he
restrains himself for a little while, chafing beneath the delay, and
then