Historic%20Yorkshire

THE BATTLE OF MARSTON MOOR. 117
by the misty light of the moon that all his brave soldiers
of the morning wereeither dead or prisoners, and all his
expedition to the North rendered worse than useless by
his abuse of his advantages. Dejected and despairing,
the last remnants of theRoyalist army weredriven off the
field, and chased almost to the very gatesof York.
In this engagement all the Royalist ordnance and
baggage was captured, with 47 colours and upwards of
10,000 stands of arms. Some 4,000 Royalists wereslain
on the field,and many more in the flight, while the loss
of the Parliamentarian side has been reckoned as not
being as many hundreds, though this is probably below
the correct number. Major Fairfax diedeventuallyof the
wounds he received, Charles Fairfax died in about four
days, while it is said that Sir Thomas Fairfax (also
severelywounded) only escaped at one period by plucking
the white badge from his hat, and confidently riding
through companies of theenemyas oneof their own commanders
— a ruse which happily succeeded. The battle
was a blow to the cause of the King, which he never
recovered. After the fight, the Marquis of Newcastle,
together with others whom the haughty bearingof Prince
Rupert had alienated, left England for the Continent, and
returnedno more until the Restoration.
As the traveller passes over the interesting locality
where this importantconflict took place,he sees little or
nothing to remind him that here Englishmen fought so
desperately for liberty, and won a victory thathelped to
secure it. Nature here appearsnow in her most peaceful
aspect, the ploughshare's victory is more to be observed
than that of the sword, and but for the blood-stained
revelations of history, the momentous day might have
been forgotten,though its happy effects, never.