Page:Works of Thomas Carlyle - Volume 06.djvu/368

 fit for action. We marched up to Skipton; the Forlorn of the Enemy’s horse,’ Sir Marmaduke’s ‘was come to Gargrave; having made havoc of the country,—it seems, intending never to come there again.’ ‘Stout Henry Cromwell, he gave them a check at Gargrave; —and better still is coming.

Here, however, let us introduce Sir James Turner, a stout pedant and soldier-of-fortune, original Dugald Dalgetty of the Novels, who is now marching with the Scots, and happily has a turn for taking Notes. The reader will then have a certain ubiquity, and approach Preston on both sides. Of the Scotch Officers, we may remark, Middleton and the Earl of Calendar have already fought in England for the Parliament: Baillie, once beaten by Montrose, has been in many wars, foreign and domestic; he is lefthand cousin to the Reverend Mr. Robert, who heard the Apprentices in Palace-yard bellowing ‘Justice on Strafford!’ long since, in a loud and hideous manner. Neither of the Lesleys is here, on this occasion; they abide at home with the oppressed minority. The Duke, it will be seen, marches in extremely loose order; vanguard and rearguard very far apart,—and a Cromwell attending him on flank!

‘At Hornby,’ says the learned Sir James alias Dugald, ‘a day’s march beyond Kendal, it was advised, Whether we should march to Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Western Counties; or if we should go into Yorkshire, and so put ourselves in the straight road to London, with a resolution to fight all who would oppose us? Calendar was indifferent; Middleton was for Yorkshire; Baillie for Lancashire. When my opinion was asked, I was for Yorkshire; and for this reason only, That I understood Lancashire was a close country, full of ditches and hedges; which was a great advantage the English would have over our raw and undisciplined musketeers; the Parliament’s army consisting of disciplined and well-trained