means, some horse and some foot, by a particular day, in order to attack
the troops of Cromwell, who was a great deal too wary and cunning to
suffer such an extraordinary assembly, under any circumstances, and
particularly of such suspicious persons as those who attended the hunt
were known to be, without sending some of his agents to join them, whereby
he might become acquainted with whatever project they might have in
contemplation. They all departed after the hunt was over, having fixed to
be ready and join in the field by a particular day. Cromwell's agents did
their duty, and he was no sooner informed of the plan which was laid, than
he made all due preparation for meeting any force that might be brought
into the field against him by these powerful malcontents. He not only did
this, but he employed his agents to win over some of the most formidable
of his adversaries, by bribes and promises. Having succeeded in this, he
wrote to all the remaining conspirators, and informed them separately,
that he was perfectly aware of all their plots, and of their intention to
bring a force into the field against him on a particular day; he assured
them that he had made all necessary preparations, not only to meet, and to
defeat them with an overwhelming force of well-disciplined troops, but
that he had also made friends of some of those on whom the conspirators
placed their greatest reliance. He concluded by saying, that, as their
project would be sure to end in discomfiture, ruin, and disgrace, he
advised them to abandon their plan altogether; and in that case he
promised each of the parties his pardon, and that it should be taken no
further notice of. This had the desired effect with most of the numerous
partisans of Charles, who had pledged themselves to take the field; for
when they found that all their plans had come to the knowledge of
Cromwell, they anticipated that he would be prepared to meet them with
such a force as it would not be prudent in them to encounter, and, as
prudence is the better part of valour, they at once abandoned their
intended insurrection, and trusted to the clemency of him whom they had