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404 receive reinforcements, or till the dissensions which now appeared among the confederates should arise to such a height as to destroy the unanimity of their proceedings. Rupert, however, was not of a disposition to wait for remote contingencies, when he conceived the chances to be already in his favour; he therefore hastened to Marston moor, the position the enemy themselves had chosen, and came upon their rear when they were already on their march for Tadcaster, Cawwood, and Selby, by occupying which, they intended to cut off his supplies, and to hem him in till the arrival of additional forces should render his capture easy, and his escape impossible. The Scottish troops in advance of the army were already within a mile of Tadcaster, when about nine o'clock of the morning of the 22nd of July, 1644, the alarm was given that prince Rupert's horse, to the number of five thousand, were pressing on the rear of the confederates, while the main body of his army occupied the moor which they had just left. The march was instantly countermanded, and preparations for an engagement made with the least possible delay. The prince, however, having full possession of the moor, they were compelled to draw up part of their troops in an adjoining field of rye, their right bearing upon the town of Marston, and their line extending about a mile and a half fronting the moor. By three o'clock in the afternoon, both armies, amounting to 25,000 men each, were formed in order of battle. The royal army was commanded on the right by prince Rupert in person; on the left by Sir Charles Lucas, assisted by colonel Harvey; while the centre was led by generals Goring, Porter, and Tilyard. The marquis of Newcastle was also in the action, but the place he occupied has not been ascertained. The parliamentary army was composed, on the right, of horse, partly Scottish, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax; on the left, likewise horse, by the earl of Manchester, and Cromwell his lieutenant-general, assisted by major-general David Leslie, and in the centre by lord Fairfax and the earl of Leven. The battle commenced with a discharge of great guns, which did little execution on either side. A ditch, separating the combatants, rendered the assault a matter of difficulty and peculiar danger, and both stood for some minutes in breathless expectation waiting the signal for attack. On that signal being made, Manchester's foot and the Scots of the main body in a running march cleared the ditch, and advanced boldly to the charge, accompanied by the horse, who also rushed forward to the attack. The fiery Rupert with his squadrons instantly advanced upon the no less fiery, but far more cautious Cromwell. The conflict was terrible; every individual being under the eye of his leader, exerted himself as if the fate of the day had been intrusted to his single arm. The troops of Cromwell, however, supported by David Leslie and the Scottish horse, charged through the very flower of the cavaliers, putting them completely to flight, while Manchester's foot, keeping pace with them, cut down and dispersed the infantry. The marquis of Newcastle's regiment alone disdained to fly, and their dead bodies, distinguished by their white uniforms, covered the ground they had occupied when alive. On the other extremity of the line Sir Thomas Fairfax and colonel Lambert, with a few troops of horse, charged through the royal army, and met their own victorious left wing. The remainder, however, were completely defeated, and even Fairfax's victorious brigade was thrown into confusion by some new raised regiments wheeling back upon it, and treading down in their flight the Scottish reserve under the earl of Leven, who, driven from the field, fled to Tadcaster, carrying with them the news of a total defeat. Cromwell, Leslie, and Manchester, perceiving the rout of their friends, returned to the field as the victors were about to seize upon the spoil. The fate of the day was now reversed. The royal troops occupied the field of rye, and the parliamentary forces the moor. Each, however, determined, if possible, to preserve the