Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/252

 first army plot.’ Goring took part in it, and, not content with the original project of petitioning, urged that the army should be brought up to London and the Tower seized. His aim was to obtain the post of lieutenant-general for himself. ‘If he had not a condition worthy of him,’ he would have nothing to do with the affair. An agent of the queen procured a letter from the officers in the north saying that they would ‘heartily embrace’ Goring as their commander (, Collection of Orders, &c. 1643, pp. 219, 222). Finding, however, that his brother-officers in London rejected his plans, he informed the parliamentary leaders of the plot through the Earl of Newport [see ]. The discovery of this treachery led to a quarrel between him and those he had betrayed. Wilmot charged him with perjury for breaking his oath of secrecy, on which the commons voted that Goring had done nothing contrary to justice and honour; that he deserved very well of the Commonwealth (9 June), and prohibited him from fighting either Wilmot or Ashburnham (8 July) (Old Parliamentary Hist. ix. 334, 437). Goring was twice examined concerning the plot, but his real share in it appears more plainly in the letter of Henry Percy to the Earl of Northumberland than in his own accounts (Perfect Diurnal, p. 150; The Examination and Declaration of Col. Goring;, Collection of Orders, &c. 1643, pp. 215–32).

Though he did not altogether escape suspicion, the parliament now regarded him as irremediably attached to their cause, and sent him back to his command at Portsmouth with complete confidence. Before the end of the year, however, he ‘wrought upon the king and queen to believe that he so much repented that fault that he would redeem it by any service,’ and in January 1642, when the king first meditated a recourse to arms, Portsmouth played a large part in his calculations (, Hist. of England, x. 154). In November 1641 he was accused of corresponding with the queen and other suspicious acts, but cleared himself by a plausible speech in the House of Commons (ib. x. 73;, v. 440). He obtained 3,000l. from the queen to reinforce the garrison, and a supply of money and his arrears of pay from the parliament. It was even intended to appoint him lieutenant-general of the horse under Essex. Finally, on 2 Aug., earlier than he had originally intended, he openly declared for the king (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1644, p. 179;, v. 441). But in spite of the money Goring had received Portsmouth was weakly garrisoned and badly fortified; and it was immediately blockaded both by land and sea. The surrender took place early in September 1642; the reasons are stated in a paper drawn up by Goring and his officers (Lismore Papers, 2nd ser. v. 107;, Rebellion, vi. 2, 32). Goring now went to Holland, where he busied himself in recruiting for the king among the English regiments serving there. He returned to England in December and landed at Newcastle with a number of officers and veteran soldiers (, Collection of Orders, &c., 1643, pp. 797, 813). The Earl of Newcastle made him general of his horse, and he at once distinguished himself by routing Sir Thomas Fairfax at Seacroft Moor, near Leeds, on 30 March 1643 (Mercurius Aulicus, 4 April 1643). On 21 May, however, Wakefield was stormed by Sir Thomas Fairfax, and Goring, who was in command, taken prisoner. When the parliamentarians entered the town, he was in bed ill of a fever, but mounted his horse, headed a charge, and showed both courage and presence of mind (ib. 28 May;, v. 268). Most of the next nine months Goring spent in the Tower, but was finally exchanged for the Earl of Lowthian in April 1644 (, Diary, 2 April 1644). On 10 May he was despatched from Oxford with a regiment of horse, and, joining the cavalry of Lord Newcastle's army, made an unsuccessful attempt to raise the siege of Lincoln. He next made his way into Lancashire and united with Prince Rupert at Preston (, Discourse of the War in Lancashire, p. 54;, v. 620). At the battle of Marston Moor Goring commanded the left wing of the royalists, routed the cavalry opposed to him, and was himself routed by Cromwell as he returned to the field with his victorious troops. ‘If his men had but kept together as did Cromwell's, and not dispersed themselves in pursuit, in all probability it had come to a drawn battle at worst, and no great victory to be boasted on either side’ (, Memorials touching the Battle at York). Goring and his beaten troops fled into Lancashire, where they distinguished themselves by their plunderings (, p. 56). His career up to this time had been unfortunate, but he had shown considerable ability as a leader, and was now called south to take a more important command. On 8 Aug. 1644, at Liskeard, Goring was declared lieutenant-general of the horse in the king's main army in place of his old enemy Wilmot (, Historical Discourses, p. 57). Clarendon seizes the opportunity to contrast the characters of the two, after the manner of Plutarch, and attributes to Goring the sharper wit and the keener courage, but less self-control and a greater love of de-