them brought their servants. There were two companies in the king's
guard, one of which consisted of gentlemen, and the other of their
servants. These two companies were always kept together. There was the
greatest zeal and enthusiasm among the upper classes to serve the
king, and equal zeal and enthusiasm among the common people to serve
the Parliament. The war continued for four years. During all this time
the armies marched and countermarched all over the kingdom, carrying
ruin and destruction wherever they went, and plunging the whole
country in misery.

[Illustration: THE KING'S ADHERENTS ENTERING YORK.]

At one of the battles which was fought, the celebrated John Hampden,
the man who would not pay his ship money, was slain. He had been a
very energetic and efficient officer on the Parliamentary side, and
was much dreaded by the forces of the king. At one of the battles
between Prince Rupert, Charles's nephew, and the army of the
Parliament, the prince brought to the king's camp a large number of
prisoners which he had taken. One of the prisoners said he was
confident that Hampden was hurt, for he saw him riding off the field
before the battle was over, with his head hanging down, and his hands
clasping the neck of his horse. They heard the next day that he had
been wounded in the shoulder. Inflammation and fever ensued, and he
died a few days afterward in great agony.

This Prince Rupert was a very famous character in all these wars. He
was young and ardent, and full of courage and enthusiasm. He was
always foremost, and ready to embark in the most daring undertakings.
He was the son of the king's sister Elizabeth, who married the Elector
Palatine, as narrated in a preceding chapter. He was famous not only
for his military skill and attainments, but for his knowledge of
science, and for his ingenuity in many philosophical arts. There is a
mode of engraving called mezzotinto, which is somewhat easier of
execution than the common mode, and produces a peculiar effect. Prince
Rupert is said to have been the inventor of it, though, as is the case
with almost all other inventions, there is a dispute about it. He
discovered a mode of dropping melted glass into water so as to form
little pear-shaped globules, with a long slender tail. These globules
have this remarkable property, that if the tip of the tail is broken
off ever so gently, the whole flies into atoms with an explosion.
These drops of glass are often exhibi