The loyalists : $b an historical novel, Vol. 1-3West, Jane
History
The loyalists : $b an historical novel, Vol. 1-3
West, Jane
Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
He proceeded to inform her, that the violent feuds of the predominant
factions had infected the privacies of domestic life. His mother was
warmly attached to Cromwell's party, while his father adhered to that of
the Presbyterian republicans; the differences between whom were now
grown irreconcileable. He knew that the command intrusted to Lord
Bellingham was given him as a snare, and that he was so surrounded by
spies, as to be virtually in the power of any common serjeant, who, in
the two-fold capacity of Agitator and Preacher, could denounce his
general at the drum-head, and under the pretence of his having
sacrificed the Lord's cause, and the rights of the army, to an ungodly
Parliament, could send him prisoner to London. Lord Sedley confessed,
with shame, that his mother, by giving information that his father was
in secret not well disposed to Cromwell, had caused him to be placed in
a situation where the greatest circumspection could not ensure his
safety. The sentiments he had imbibed from Barton led him to prefer the
more moderate counsels, and in the conduct of the contending factions he
had seen so much to condemn, that he wished to abstain from all
interference in public affairs. But his mother misinterpreting his
seclusion into a preference of his father's party, invited Cromwell to
Castle Bellingham, on his march against the Duke of Hamilton, and
requested that he would take her son with him as one of his suite. More
like a captive than a volunteer, Lord Sedley was compelled to acquiesce
in her proposal; but the intimate view which his situation gave him of
Cromwell's character, inspired him with the most revolting disgust. The
domestic situation of his parents dispirited him on the one side, while
something more than indifference to the cause for which he fought
operated on the other, till, hopeless of better times, careless of
safety, and desirous rather of losing life than of gaining glory, he
rushed into the battle; yet, when the conflict began, he felt roused by
a mechanical impulse, and, engaging in a hot pursuit of some of the
northern horse, he received those wounds from one of the troopers, which
nearly terminated his existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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