ing and impartial men gave unto the French for though they lost the field, their camp, artillery, and baggage, yet they obtained what they fought for, which was the opening of their way to France, and which the confederates did intend to deprive them of. Which resolution in that case may be a ruling case to this the king having not only kept the field-possessed himself of the dead bodies-pillaged the carriages of the enemy-but for ́cibly opened his way towards London, which the enemy endeavoured to hinder-and finally entered triumphantly into Oxford, with no fewer than an hundred and twenty colours taken in the fight. Having assured himself of Oxford, for his winter quarters, he resolved on his advance towards London; but he made so many halts in the way, that Essex was got thither before him, who had disposed of his forces at Kingston, Brentford, Acton, and some other places thereabouts, not only to stop his march, but to fall upon him in the rear, as occasion served. He goes forward, notwithstanding, as far as Brentford, out of which he beats two of their best regiments-takes five hundred prisoners and sinks their ordnance, with an intent to march forwards on the morrow after, being Sunday, the thirteenth of November. But understanding that the earl of Essex had drawn his forces out of Kingston, and joining with the London auxiliaries, lay in the way before him at a place called Turnham Green, near Chiswick, it was thought safer to retreat towards Oxford while the way was open, than to venture his army to the fortune of a second battle, which, if it were lost, it would be utterly impossible for him to raise another. At Oxford, he receives propositions of peace from both houses of parliament, but such as rather did beseem a conquering than a losing side. But being resolved to treat upon them howsoever, he found the commissioners so straitened in time, and so tied to such particular instructions as the houses had given them, that nothing could be yielded which might conduce to the composing of the present distempers. At the opening of the spring, the queen came to him, who had landed at a place in Yorkshire, called Burlington Bay, in the end of February, and brought with her unto Oxford some supplies of men, with a considerable stock of powder, arms, and ammunition. 1643. The next summer makes him master of the north and west, some few places only being excepted. The earl of Newcastle with his northern army had cleared all parts beyond Trent (but the town of Hull) of the enemy's forces. And with his own army, under the command of prince Rupert and prince Maurice (two of the younger sons of his sister Elizabeth, queen of Bohemia), he reduced the cities of Bristol, Exeter, the port town of Weymouth, and all the towns of any importance in the western parts, except Pool, Lime, and Plymouth; so that he was, in a manner, the absolute commander of the counties of Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall. And though the towns of Plymouth, Lime, and Pool still held out against him, yet were they so bridled by his neighbouring garrisons, that they were not able to create him any great disturbance. The noise of these successes was so loud at London, that most of the leading men in both houses of parliament prepared for quitting of the kingdome; and had undoubtedly so done, if the king had followed his good fortunes, and advanced towards London. But, unhappily, diverting upon Gloucester, he lay so long there, without doing any thing to the purpose, that the earl of Essex came time enough to raise the siege and relieve the town, though he made not haste enough to recover London without blows. For besides some skirmishes on the by, which fell out to his losse, the king with the whole body of his army overtook him at Newberry, where, after a sharp fight (with the loss of the earl of Carnarvon, the earl of Sunderland, and the lord viscount Falkland, on his majesty's side), he had the worst of the day, and had much ado to save his cannon, and march off orderly from the place-followed so hotly the next morning, that his own horse, which were in the rear, were fain to make their way over a great part of his foot, to preserve themselves. Being returned to Oxford with success and honour, he summons the lords and commons of parliament to attend there on the twenty-second day of January, then next following, and they came accordingly. For their better welcome, he advances prince Rupert to the titles of earl of Holderness and duke of Cumberland, and creates James, his second son (born the thirteenth day of October, anno 1633), duke of York, by which name he had been appointed to be called at the time of his birth, that they might sit and vote amongst them. But being come they neither would take upon themselves the name of a parliament, nor acted much in order to his majesty's designs; but stood so much upon their terms, and made so many unhandsome motions to him upon all occasions, that he had more reason to call them a mongrel parliament in one of his letters to the queen, than they are willing to allow of. 1644. And now the summer coming on, and the time fit for action, he dismisses them to their several dwellings, and betakes himself unto the field; the frequent traverses whereof the interchangable taking and losing of towns by the chance of war, are too many in number to be compiled in this short abstract. It must suffice if I take notice of those only which are most considerable. His majesty prevailing in the north and west, it was thought fit by the ruling party in the houses of parliament, to crave aid of the Scots, whom they drew in the second time, by the temptations of entering into covenant with them for conforming of this church with that, sharing amongst them all the lands of the bishops, and sacrificing to their malice the archbishop of Canterbury, as formerly they had done the earl of Strafford. But, besides these plausible allurements, the commissioners of that kingdome were to have so great a stroke in the government of this, that the houses could act nothing in order to the present war; no, not so much as to hold a treaty with the king, without their consent. Upon these baits they entered England with a puissant army, consisting of twenty-one thousand men, well armed, and fitted for the service; and having made themselves masters of Berwick, Alnwick, and all other places of importance on the other side of the Tweed, they laid siege to York, where they were seconded by the army of the earl of Manchester, drawn out of the associated counties, and the remaining Yorkshire forces under the command of the lord Fairfax. he encountered with the enemy at a place called Marston-Moor, where the left wing of his horse gave such a fierce charge on the right wing of the enemy, consisting of Fairfax's horse in the van, and the Scot's horse in the rear, that they fell foul on that part of their own foot which was made up of lord Fairfax's regiments, and a reserve of the Scots, which they brake wholly, and trod most of them under their horses feet; but the prince's horse following the execution too far, and none advancing to make good the place which they had left, the enemy had the opportunity to rally again, and got the better of the day, taking some prisoners of good note, and making themselves masters of his cannon. So that not being able to do any thing in order to the regaining of the field, he marched off ingloriously-squandered away the greatest part of his army, and retired to Bristol. The news whereof being brought to Oxford, prince Rupert is dispatched with as much of the king's forces as could well be spared, with a commission to raise more out of the counties of Chester, Salop, Stafford, Derby, Leicester, and Lancaster. So that he came before York with an army of twelve thousand men, relieved the town with all things necessary, and might have gone away unfought with, but that such a counsel was too cold for so hot a stomach. Resolved upon the onset, ber following. (To be continued.) After this blow the affairs of the north growing more and more desperate every day, York yielded upon composition, on the sixteenth of July (being just a fortnight after the fight), the marquis of Newcastle and some principal gentlemen passed over the seas, and the strong town of Newcastle was taken by the Scots, on the nineteenth of Octo KING CHARLES II. King Charles II. is described, in a very curious and scarce pamphlet, entitled "A proper Memorial for the 29th of May, &c." 8vo. London, 1715, printed for A. Bettesworth, as having effected his escape from the rebels, after the battle of Worcester, in moments, occasionally, in treat- I am, sir, THE IGNIS FATUus. A wand'ring fire Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night Condenses, and the cold environs round, Hovering, and blazing with delusive Misleads th' amaz'd night-wanderer from his way Through bogs and mire.” the following garb :-" He had Mr. Editor. As you have given a few scientific articles in your Gleaner, perhaps, the following may not be thought wholly unworthy a place in your next. I intend, should this be received favourably, to employ my leisure MILTON. The meteor vulgarly known by the names of Will-with-aWisp, and Jack-with-a-Lantern, is, among philosophers, called ignis fatuus; it is chiefly seen in dark nights about meadows, marshes, and other moist places, as also in burying-grounds, and near This meteor, like most others, has not failed to attract the attention of philosophical inquiries. Sir Isaac Newton calls it a vapour shining without heat; and supposed it to be of the same nature with the light issuing from putrescent substances. Willoughby and Ray were of opinion that it is occasioned by shining insects : but all the appearances of it observed by Derham, Beccaria, and others, sufficiently evince that it must be an ignited vapour. Inflammable air has been found to be the most common of all the factitious airs in nature; and that it is the usual product of the putrefaction and decomposition of vegetable substances in water. : Signor Volta writes to Dr. Priestley, that he fires inflammable air by the electric spark, even when the electricity is very moderate and he supposes that this experiment explains the inflammation of the ignis fatui, provided they consist of inflammable air, issuing from marshy grounds by help of the electricity of fogs, and by falling stars, which have, probably, an electrical origin. In the plains, in the territory of Bologna, these meteors are very often seen; sometimes they vary in figure and situation in a very uncertain manner; but commonly, they are very large, and give a light equal to a torch. Even in England, they are frequently seen in different numbers, from two or three to upwards of twenty together in one ground, running here and there with great rapidity; sometimes mixed together and crossing each other's paths, as though they were dancing; then, all at once, several of them disappear, which may, perhaps, be occasioned by their striking against each other, or some contiguous object. In many places, one may be almost sure of seeing them every dark night. The celebrated Dr. Shaw has described a remarkable ignis fatuus which he saw in the Holy Land, when the atmosphere had been thick and hazy, insomuch that the dew on the horses bridles was exceedingly clammy and unctuous. This meteor was sometimes globular, then in the form of the flame of a candle; presently afterwards it spread itself so much as to involve the whole company in a pale harmless light, and then it would con tract itself and suddenly disappear. But in less than a minute it would become visible as before, or running along from one place to another, with a swift, progressive motion, would expand itself at certain intervals over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains. In similar weather, the doctor observed those luminous appearances, which skip about the masts and yards of ships at sea, and which the sailors call corpusanse, by a corruption of the Spanish cuerposanto. WOLKMAR AND HIS DOG, (From Drake's Literary Hours.) It was evening, when Wolkmar and his dog, almost spent with fatigue, decended one of the mountains in Switzerland; the sun was dilated in the horizon, and threw a tint of rich crimson over the waters of a neighbouring lake; on each side rocks of varied form, their green heads glowing in the beam, were swarded with shrubs that hung feathering from their summits, and, at intervals, was heard the rushing of a troubled stream. Amid this scenery, our traveller, far from any habitation, wearied, and uncertain of the road, sought for some excavation in the rocks, wherein he might repose himself; and having at length dicovered such a situation, fell fast asleep upon some withered leaves. His dog sat watching at his feet, a small bundle of linen and a staff were placed beside him, and the red rays of the declining sun, having |