EIGHT SPEECHES Spoken in GVILDHALL, Upon Thursday night, Octob. 27. 1642. Printed in the same order they were spoken, one after the other, BY The Lo: Wharton, Mr Strode, The Earl of Pembroke, The Earl of Holland, The Lo: Say. Also a Letter from Mr. Secretary Nicholas to the Earl of Cumberland.  
LONDON: Printed for PETER COLE at the sign of the Glove near the Royal Exchange, overagainst the Conduit. 1642.   

The Lord Wharton his Speech.  
MY Lords, and you the Aldermen, and the Commons of this City, in a business of this very great consequence and concernment, it was very well known to my Lo: General, that you could not but be full of great expectations, and my Lord had according to his duty taken care for to give information to the Parl. to those that had sent him, of what had proceeded; in the very next place it was his particular respect to this City, to my Lo: Mayor, the Aldermen, the Common Council, and all the Commons of this City, that they might likewise be acquainted with the success of that business, towards which they themselves had been at so much expenses, and had showed so much love and kindness in all the proceed of this business, for that purpose, because that Letters might be uncertain, and might miscarry, there being great interception of them, the Forces of the Armies being close together, my Lord thought fit to send M. Strode, a Member of the House of Commons, and myself, and certainly whatsoever shall be related by us to you, it will be good news, or else we should not willingly have undertaken the bringing of it, and for the truth of it, though we already hear that there are those that have so much malignity as to oppose it, yet the certainty of it will clear itself, and therefore there shall need no Apologies to be made, but that which shall be said to you, shall be the truth, and nothing but the truth, in a very clear way of relation of what hath past.  
Gentlemen, I shall open to you as near as I can, as it comes within my memory, those things of circumstance which are worthy the taking notice of, and one in the first place shall be, the occasion why so many of the Forces were not then upon the place, which you will find to be upon very good ground and reason, for the preservation of the Countries that were behind, and of this City, which is he particular thing in the care, and now under the diligence of my Lo: General, to preserve. There was left at Hereford which lies upon the confines of Wales, a Regiment of Foot under the command of my Lo: of Stamford, and a Troop or two of Horse, that the power of Wales might not fall in upon Gloucestershire, and upon the river of Severn, and so upon the West. There was likewise left at Worcester (which you all know how it is seated upon the river of Severne, and what advantage it hath to interce Pt all force that shall come from Shrewsbury down into the West) a Regiment of my Lord Saint john's, and Sir john merrick's. There was for the safety of Coventry (for that was a town it was likely the King might have fallen upon) the Regiment of my Lo: Rochfort; but it seems that his Excellence the E. of Essex his Army did so quickly come up to the Kings, that the King thought it no way fit or advantageous for him to spend any time upon those places, for certainly they would have very quickly been relieved, so that the King stipt by Warwick and Coventry, which otherwise we conceive they were towns he had as good an eye upon as any other towns in the whole Kingdom, excepting this. There was likewise occasion upon the suddenness of my Lords march, 2. Regiments of Foot, one under the command of a Gentleman you all know, Col: Hampden, and the other under the command of Col: Grantham, with some 10. or 12. Troops of Horse, & these were but one days march behind, & upon the occasion of bringing up some powder, and ammunition, and Artillery, which my Lord would not stay for purposely upon his diligence & desire that there should not be an hour lost in pursuing after that Army, and that he might make all haste in coming up to this town, and his desire to make haste to keep with that Army was such, that he kept for two or three days together a days march before that Army; and so there being another Regiment lodged in Banbury, occasionally for their own safety, there was with my Lord when this battle was fought upon the Lord's day, 11. Regiments of Foot, and about the number of 35. or 37. or 40. troops of Horse; that which makes me say this to you, is partly for your satisfactions, that you may know the reasons of the things are past, and partly that you may give the more glory to God for his blessing, and for his preservation of that remnant of the Army which was together, being about 11. Regiments of Foot, and a matter of 35. or 40. troops of Horse.  
Upon the Saturday at night, upon a very long march (for they came not in till 9 or 10. a clock at night) the Army came to Konton, & the next morning about 7. a clock (though all that night there was news came that the King was going to Banbury) we had certain information he was coming down a hill, which is called Edge Hill, which hath some advantage by nature for Forts, & breast-works, and such things as those are; and that Hil the King's Army came down at that time (that Army which goes under the pretence of being raised for him, and by his authority, for and against the Parl.) his Army coming down, my Lo: of Essex presently drew out into the Field, and drew his Army into a place of as good advantage as possibly he could, though the other Army had the advantage by the hill, which they were possessed of before, and at the beginning of the day the wind it was against us, and was for the advantage of the other Army. The preparation on both sides was for the making of them ready for fight, and the Kings coming down the hill was so long, that there was nothing done till 4. in the afternoon. And Gentleman I shall tell you the worst as well as the best, that you may know all, and that when you have known the worst, you may find it in your judgements, to give the more praise to God for his mercy, after there was so much probability of having such an ill success.  
After that we had shot 2. or 3. Pieces of Ordnance, they began for to shoot some of theirs, and truly not long after, before there was any near execution, there was 3. or 4. of our Regiments fairly ran away. I shall name you the particulars, and afterwards name you those that did the extraordinary service, whereof you will find those of this City to have been very extraordinary instruments. There were that ran away, Sir Wil: Fairfax his Regiment, Sir Henry Cholmleys, and my Lord Mandevil's, and to say the plain truth my own. These ran away.  
Gentlemen, you see by this time I am like to tell you the truth, I hope of every thing, but yet I must say this, that though they did so, yet I hope there will be very convenient & very good number of them got together again, that may show themselves in better condition, and better way of service then yet they have done, I hope so, and by the blessing of God it may be so, for they are but young soldiers, and we have seen very good experience of some of them, that have this last battle done very extraordinary and gallant service, not long after there was a charge upon the left wing of the horse, and there I conceive there was a matter of 18, or 19 Troops, and truly I cannot say they did so well as they should, though I hope there are not many of them cut off neither, but that they will be brought together again to do very good service hereafter, but so it is, they had the worst of it, and by this you will see that at the beginning of the day we might think it would not prove so well as it pleased God it did afterwards in the close of the day, for four troops were divided, and one part of the horse were not in good order, but it pleased God now to show himself, for after they had past the left wing of our horse, I cannot say it was in any hands but Gods own providence, the horse that had passed through them flolowed them in part, and went to the Town where all our baggage was; the baggage of the officers and the private persons of the Army, not they of the Artillery, but the Colonel's carts and the Captain's carts, and such provision as that, and there they took a bait upon our pillage, and fell a plundering, all that while the rest of the Army was a fight, and indeed my Lord General had some more loss then ordinary by some clothes and money he had there, but we may thank God they were away, for thereby the rest of the Army had the better opportunity to do that service they did.  
My Lord General himself upon this extremity did begin to show himself to be more than an ordinary man, and indeed I think more than I have heard tell of any man, for he charged up at several times, once with his own troop of horse as I remember, but I am sure with his own Regiment of foot which was raised here in Essex, and though so many ill passages happened before, with his own providence and encouragement, and the encouragement of others, his own troop of horse fell upon the Kings own Regiment, (which they had most hopes of) which they called the red Regiment, after a sore and bitter fight (for to give them their due, they fought very well, those of my Lord of Essex his regiment, and those horse I spoke of before) they killed the King's Standard bearer Sir Edward Varney, they took the King's Standard which was raised up against the Parliament, and it was brought my Lo: General, and he delivered it to a servant which was not so careful as he ought to have been, but it was not taken by force but by the carelessness and negligence of some persons, but it was gotten by force and lost thus. They took likewise the King's General prisoner; and carried him away, they took prisoner my Lord General's Son, my Lo: Willoughby, that person you have heard so much of, and been so well acquainted with here, Col. Lunsford which should have had the Tower, he was likewise taken prisoner, and his brother slain, and Sir Edward straddling prisoner, and divers others of quality, My Lo: Awberney, and Col: Vavasour, and Sir Edward Munroy a Scotchman of great quality, while these were upon this service I must give the right to divers other of the Officers of the horse which were upon the right wing, that they did extraordinary service to, that was my Lord of Bedford himself who did very gallantly, and Sir Will. Belfore the late Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir Philip Stapelton, and all the troop which formerly had been under some other kind of report, they did extraordinary service, kept entirely to their charge, and though they were long under the power of the other Canons there were some 17. shot of Canon shot against them, and they stood still, and God be thanked not a man of them hurt, yet there was likewise very extraordinary service performed by my Lo: Grace and Sir Arthur Hazelrig, who indeed was a help for to give a great turn to the day by cutting off a Regiment of the Kings which was called the blue Regiment, and there were many other Gentlemen of great worth, that did very extraordinary service, too, I would not have you understand that others did not do it, because I remember not their names for I speak to you now but on the sudden, but there were divers others did very great service, only these I have named that come to my memory, and you will hear more of the rest upon other occasions; upon the close of the day we know it for certain, that the best Regiment of the Kings was cut off, and the next his best Regiment, which was that was under my Lord of Linsey; there was all the prisoners taken I told you off, there were those persons of quality slain I told you off, and there was as we conceive (this I tell you upon information, as we conceive, and are in formed by the Country men that saw them bury the dead next day, and bring them up into heaps, there was as is informed, and conceived) about 3000 of theirs slain: and we cannot believe, nor we cannot have any information, to give us reason to believe that there was ab●ve 300 of ours slain; And this was to be observed of God's providence in this day's work, that though it began so improbably, yet before the close of the night, which was two hours, (for they began to fight indeed, but about four a clock,) we had got the ground, that they were upon, we had gotten the wind, and we do not know, nor by information conceive, that there was twenty men of ours killed, by all the King's Cannon; when it was night that there could be no more fight, we drew our forces together, and so likewise did the King; they were then but at a reasonable distance, it may be three times, or six times or some such distance of this room; but in the night the forces of the King withdrew up towards the hill from whence they came; and my Lord General amongst others sent myself for to bring on those forces which I told you were a days march behind, (which was Colonel Hamden, and Colonel Grantham, and those troops of horse, and the Artillery,) and sent to bring them up to him; and about one a clock at night, or two a clock, those forces came to my Lord General, and joined with the rest of the Army, and when the King had drawn his forces up the hill, my Lord General drew us a matter of half a mile, or three quarters of a mile further from the hill, that he might be out of the power of the Cannon; there we stood to our arms all the night, and in the morning drew ourselves out again into the fields but we heard no more news of the other army, more than we saw some scattering men, of some three or four troops of horses on the top of the hill, which came to bury the dead, and take away some of their Cannon, and such things as those were, but they came no more down the hill, neither that day, nor on tuesday, though there were divers reports came to us in the Army, and I believe came hither, that there was fight on Monday, and Teusday, yet there was no fight, for the King kept on the top of the hill, and we came away on Teusday at four a clock; so that we can assure you there was no more action, than was on the Lord's day;  
Gentlemen I shall after I have declared this narration to you say no more than this, that certainly my Lord General himself hath deserved as much in this service, for his pains, & for his care, and for the particular success that was upon it, as truly I think ever any Gentleman did; and in the next place, that as God of his own immediate providence did thus declare himself for the owning of his own cause, so you will not forget to apply yourselves to God, to give him the glory, and to entreat his blessing upon the future success.   

Master STRODE his SPEECH.  
GEntlemen all, as this noble Lord hath told you, my Lord General hath sent him up to you, to give you a clear information of what was done: he hath given you so clear a one, that there is little left for me to say to you, only my attestation, and that needs not, had that been all, I should have said nothing but in the Innumeration of those regiments that did run away, and of his own, I must needs say thus much, when they all were away, he stayed with us in the service all that night, this hold it my duty to this honourable person, it was modesty in himself to say nothing;  
I shall crave leave a little further, to make you some observation, that as God did this great work, and we ascribe to him the honour, so you will look upon the persons by whom he did it; In the first place, you have heard when as it was 1000 to one but that we had lost the day by running away of the troop of horse, and the four Regiments, and then the General did draw up his own Regiment, and then did God begin in them to show his own work, and it was not only in them, but by a Regiment raised in Essex and another Regiment raised in this City under the command of master Hollis, and another Regiment of my Lord Brooks, which had the day upon them; these were the men that were ignominiously, reproached by the name of Roundheads, and by these Roundheads did God show himself a most glorious God; And truly (Gentlemen) they that will report to you the Number of our dead, farther than we have reported them to you, must find them many miles from the Army, and then they were men that run away so far, that it was no matter who killed them; for our men that we could find any where about the place, we cannot find in all (nor think) above 300, and you'll say, they were well lost that ru● away; the boldest men of them that stood were few lost, and they that were so lost, were lost with a great deal of honour; and I believe, you will have them in more reputation, than they that live and run away; so that truly I can say no more to you, in such a cause as this is, that you have undertaken with your purses, and with your persons, God hath showed himself with us be you but courageous and we never need doubt it; and so we say all.   

The Earl of PEMBROKE his SPEECH.  
MY Lord Mayor, and you Gentlemen of the City, I am commanded, and the reason that makes me trouble you at this time with saying any thing, is by reason of a Letter I have received from the Committee, which I think is a Letter of some consequence, and fitting for you to see; otherwise I am so ill a Speaker after such a Declaration made to you, I have not the boldness to say any thing to you: but truly though I say little, and have a bad tongue, yet I have ever had so good a heart to this business, that I shall ever live and die in it.  
Gentlemen, you have showed yourselves like brave and noble Citizens; you have done it with that nobleness, with that alacrity, with that love to God, King, and Parliament, that none of your Ancestors before you never shown more love, nor care, nor zeal, nor performed that you have done better: I have only this to say to you, If the times are such (not that I think there is any great peril in the King's Army now, for they have told you nothing but truth) yet when you have seen this Letter, you will find there is very good cause for you to crown this work, which must be by following it, with the same zeal, love, care, and nobleness, and alacrity, which if you do, you may well crown yourselves with the name of a glorious City; and none more.   

The Letter  
For his Excellency the Earl of CUMBERLAND, Lord Ganerall of His Majesty's Forces in the North.  
MY very good Lord, your Lordships of the twentieth of this month I have received by Stockdale, and have read it to his Majesty; who willed me to signify to your Lordship, that he is well pleased with your Lordship's continuing of the Sheriff in his place, albeit he sent a Writ for his discharge: his Majesty takes a special notice of your Lordship's vigilancy and care, in the trust he hath reposed in your Lordship; as he hath by many very gracious expressions declared at several times, openly, upon conference of your business in that County: Your Lordship's care of my Lady Duchess of Buckingham, is (I assure you) very well taken by his Majesty. Sir Ralph Hopton, and other Gentlemen in the West, have raised ten thousand Horse and Foot, with which they have already disarmed all persons in Cornwall that are disaffected to the King: they have taken Lanceston, and are marching into Devonshire, to disarm the disaffected there; and so intent to come to meet the King at London: here are also in Wales about six or seven thousand men levied for the King, which are to be under marquis Hartford, that will be ready upon all occasions, to come to his Majesty; but we hope he will not need their help, having given the Earl of Essex such a blow, as they will make no haste again to adventure themselves in that cause, against Gods Anointed: I shall refer your Lordship to the relation of the Bearer, for the particulars. To morrow his Majesty marcheth towards London, by Oxford. I am so full of business, as I must crave your Lordship's pardon that I writ so briefly; but I am nevertheless.  
Edgescot, Northampton, Octob. 24. 1642. Your Lordship's most humble Servant, Edward Nicholas.   

The Earl of HOLLAND his SPEECH.  
MY Lord Mayor, and you Gentlemen of the City, It is more by obedience then confidence, that I say any thing to you at this time; my Lords and the Committee command me, and therefore I shall obey them: That that I shall say to you, is to observe in the Relation that this noble Lord hath made: In the first part of it, what deliverance God hath sent you, that in a danger, and indeed such as I am confident all that were there believe the Cause of Religion, and Liberty, and all lost; you saw what a present turn it had, such a one, as if it did not give them the victory, it gave them the advantage, that is certain; and truly a very great one, especially when it was taken from so unhappy a condition as they were likely to be in, wherein God hath showed us what a danger might have fallen upon us: And certainly it is, because every man should consider in that danger, what he might have suffered, and what his cause might have suffered, and to give you all by this, warning, That as he hath now begun to deliver you only by his hand, and by his power, he will expect that you will express such a thankfulness to him for it, as now to make his Cause your work, and to do it with your hands, boldly, and with courage: For this Letter that you heard read now, you see what is threatened against you; the least that you must expect, is this great Army of the Kings, that certainly by the dispositions of those that command it, and have great power in it, you must know what to expect, and what to trust to; they intent you no less (and that is to be believed) then the destroying of the City, your persons, and the preying upon your fortunes: This is not all, you see that if this doth not prevail, or be not powerful enough, an Army must come from the west, the preparation of another in the North from all parts of the Kingdom, the sword is drawn against you: and truly having those ill intentions that they certainly have, it is the wisest course they can take; for in your City is the strength of the kingdom indeed; it is not only the life, but the soul of it; if they can destroy you here, the rest of the Kingdom must all submit and yield, and in that yielding must give over the maintenance of all that is most dear to them: Therefore if you will now consider how God hath showed you first, that he hath kept the first blow from you, by delivering of you indeed from such an imminent danger, as it could not be believed it could have been recovered, but by himself, and by the power of his hand; this may give you just encouragement to pursue all things that are for his glory, & for the defence of your Religion, and his cause, I am confident, as you will do it with thankfulness, and duty, and sincerity to him, so in wisdom, and reason you will (seeing with threaten there are unto you, you will defend yourselves, and your families; nature directs you to it, as well as piety; we only recommend this to you, that you may but know it, and take it into your thoughts, and into your hearts, and then we are confident your hearts will be raised with so much piety, with so much courage, and with so much resolution, as you will defend yourselves, and in defending yourselves, defend us, the Parliament, and the Kingdom, you may do it, you have power, and we expect it from your affections. Finis.   

The Lord Say and Seal his speech.  
MY Lords and Gentlemen, that little that I have to say, shall not be to set forth your approaching danger, but I shall rather apply myself to stir up your spirits, to encourage you, and to settle this opinion in you, that if you be not wanting unto yourselves, which cannot be imagined in this cause, you will have no cause to fear danger; it cannot be doubted by that which you have heard, but that these malignant mischievous counsellors, and these men of desperate fortunes that they have gathered to them, and into whose hands they have put our King, that their intentions are, that this rich glorious City should be delivered up as a prey, as a reward to them for their treason against the Kingdom and the Parliament, and that your lives should satisfy their malice, your wives, your daughters, their lust, and religion itself the dearest thing of all others to us, should be made merchandise off, to invite Papists, to invite foreigners. Notwithstanding their intentions let no man's heart be discouraged, you have power enough in your hands, to bring all this wickedness upon their own heads, through God's blessing; if you will use your hands, if you will hold them up to serve your God, to defend the true religion of Almighty God, to defend your lives, to defend this Kingdom and the Parliament, you need not fear any thing that can be done by this broken Army, nor fear those things, that are here written in this letter, nor those things that are falsely buzzed abroad by a malignant party, in your City to amaze you, there is no fear of danger, but in security, in sitting still; and therefore if you will be stirred up (as I cannot doubt, we cannot imagine you will) to do that that every man, both by the law of God, and by the law of Nature in this case will be induced to do, through God's blessing, you shall both honour God, maintain the true Religion, save this Kingdom, save the Parliament, and Crown your good beginnings that God hath pleased to show himself unto us in; this is now not a time for men to think with themselves, that they will be in their shops, to get a little money, this is a time to do that that you do; in common dangers, let every man take his weapons in his hand, let him offer himself willingly to serve his God, and to maintain true Religion; you may remember what God saith by the Prophet, my heart is set upon those people, that are willing to offer themselves willingly upon the high places; let every man therefore shut up his shop, let him take his musket, let him offer himself readily, and willingly, let him not think with himself, who shall pay me, but rather think this, I'll come forth to save the Kingdom, to serve my God, to maintain his true Religion, to save the Parliament, to save this noble city, and when this danger is overcome, I'll trust the State, that they will have a regard unto whatsoever may be fit, either for my reparation in any loss; or for my reward; do as you do in common dangers, when there is a fire, men ask not who shall pay him his day's wages, but every man comes forth of his doors, helps to quench the fire, brings a bucket, if he have one, borrows one of his neighbour if he have not, when the fire is quenched, than the City will regard to repair any man that hath suffered all day, that do you, every one bring forth his Arms, if he have it, if he have it not, let him borrow Arms of his neighbour, or he shall be armed from the State; let every man arm himself, and arm his apprentizes, and come forth with boldness and with courage, and with cheerfulness, and doubt not but God will assist you; for though you be concerned in all you have, yet this is God's cause, that should be your encouragement, for they are Papists, they are Atheists, that come to destroy you; they come indeed in the first and principle aim they have to destroy Religion; Papists are invited, they have Commissions, are these men that should defend the Protestant Religion, when they are Papists, and recusants. Therefore if that you shall come forth, God will go forth with you, he will fight for you, he will save you, but how? he will not save you without yourselves; you may remember what was said, Curse ye Merosh, because they came not out to help the Lord against the mighty; he needs not your help, but he will use your service, that he may bless you, and therefore let every man be encouraged, let him show his readiness, let hiw show his forwardness; remember what the Scripture saith, Hear O Israel, God is with you, so long as you are with him, the Lord will be with you in this cause, for it his cause, but than you must show yourselves ready to be with him, but I need not use these speeches to those that have expressed already, so much affection as you have done, I shall only encourage you to go on; be not daunted, let not malignant parties that go up and down, and would go about to inform you, that there are these fears, and these dangers, let them not make you be wanting to yourselves, fear them not at all; I shall conclude with this, that that good King said, up and be doing, and the Lord will be with you. Finis.   

The Lord Wharton his second speech  
GEntlemen, I shall trouble you but with a word or two the one is upon part of that narrative, which I began withal, wherein truly I take myself to be very beholding to that Gentleman that spoke after me, that he did not forget to inform you of the extraordinary blessing, that God bestowed upon the courage of honest, pious, and religious men; for truly there was very few that did any extraordinary service, but such as had a mark of religion upon them: That which I omitted to tell you, was this, that one great cause of the preservation, and of the success of that day, was the barbarousness, and inhumanity of Prince Robert, and his Troops, who while we were a fight, not only pillaged of the baggage (which was but a poor employment!) but most barbarously killed Countrymen that came in with their teems, and women, and children that were with them; this I think comes not amiss to tell you, because you may see, what is the thing they aim at, which is pillage, and baggage, and plundering, and the way which they would come by it is mundering, and destroying, & therefore it will come in very properly, to encourage you to that work, which these two noble Lords have so well opened to you, which is, the standing upon your defence; and to that I shall only add this, that when you shall have done that in that measure, and in that proportion, (which we do not doubt but you will do, because you have always showed your affections, and your wisdoms, to be so great in the carriage on of this business, I say, when you shall have so behaved yourselves,) there is no doubt but God's blessing will be upon it, and you will be sure to have an extraordinary back, you will be sure to have an extraordinary assistance, for the Lord of Essex with the whole Army, will be sure to be on the one side, when you with your defence will be on the other side, and when that Army shall lie between these two, without question they will come to a very short conclusion, when you may reap the fruit of your labours that you have been at, to your benefit, and your posterities. Finis.   

The Earl of Holland his second speeths  
MY Lord Maior and Gentlemen, it is but a word or two that I shall say to you, for the shutting up of this; the danger hath heene represented to you, we must desire you likewise to consider how near it moves, that you must resolve and act both together; they conceiv this Army will be at Oxford as this night, that is within such a distance, as within three days they may march to London, it is very necessary for you to provide against this, as a danger that may be very suddenly upon you, if they should chance to march before the other Army, and with such an advantage, as to break up bridges, or any such thing, as may hinder the other Army to move presently, and suddenly after them. Consider how open you are to this danger, if you provide not presently for it, therefore as we have given you reasons, and indeed as you may take almost from your own reasons to defend yourselves) that it will be very necessary for you, to look upon this as a danger, that you will not lose an hour for the providing against, and that is all I shall say unto you. Finis.   

The Earl of Pembroke his second speech.  
MY Lord Mayor, and you Gentlemen, I shall only speak one word to you, and that concerns yourselves most nearest, and you know them better than I a great deal, though I have been a long time bred in the City for many years, truly you that are Citizens, must know it better than I, you know you have a great malignant party in the City, you have now time and power to look to them, leave no time to look into it, for if you leave that till a time of distraction, they will be a great deal bolder than now they are, now you may do it in time.  
FINIS.