augury indeed. The young noblemen and gentlemen, however, who had
gathered at Northampton, were not of a kind to be daunted by omens and
auguries, and finding that Essex did not advance and hearing news from
all parts of the country that the loyal gentlemen were gathering their
tenants fast, their hopes rose rapidly. There was, indeed, some
discontent when it was known that, by the advice of his immediate
councilors, King Charles had dispatched the Earl of Southampton with
Sir John Collpeper and Sir William Uvedale to London, with orders to
treat with the Commons. The Parliament, however, refused to enter into
any negotiations whatever until the king lowered his standard and
recalled the proclamation which he had issued. This, which would have
been a token of absolute surrender to the Parliament, the king refused
to do. He attempted a further negotiation; but this also failed.

The troops at Nottingham now amounted to eleven hundred men, of which
three hundred were infantry raised by Sir John Digby, the sheriff of the
county. The other eight hundred were horse. Upon the breaking off of
negotiations, and the advance of Essex, the king, sensible that he was
unable to resist the advance of Essex, who had now fifteen thousand men
collected under him, fell back to Derby, and thence to Shrewsbury, being
joined on his way by many nobles and gentlemen with their armed
followers. At Wellington, a town a day's march from Shrewsbury, the king
had his little army formed up, and made a solemn declaration before them
in which he promised to maintain the Protestant religion, to observe the
laws, and to uphold the just privileges and freedom of Parliament.

The Furness band were not present on that occasion, as they had been
dispatched to Worcester with some other soldiers, the whole under the
command of Prince Rupert, in order to watch the movements of Essex, who
was advancing in that direction. While scouring the ground around the