35* HISTORY OF GRF.AT BRITAIN.

chap. But those who judged more soundly, observed,Lvn. that, besides the accession of the whole Scottishnation to the side of the parliament; the veryprinciple, on which the royal successes had been, founded, was every day acquired , more! andmore , by the opposite party. The king’s troops,full of gentry and nobility, had exerted a valorsuperiot to their enemies, and had hitherto beensuccessful in almost every rencounter: But in pro-portion as the whole nation became warlike, bythe continuance of civil discords, this advantage•Was more equally shared; and superior numbers,it was expected, must at length obtain the victory.The king’s troops also, ill paid, and destituteof every necessary, could not possibly be retainedin equal discipline with the parliamentary forces,to whom all supplies Were furnished from un*exhausted stores and treasures T . The severity ofmanners, so much affected by these zealous re-ligionists, assisted their military institutions; andthe rigid inflexibility of character, by which theaustere reformers of church and state were distin-guished , enabled the parliamentary chiefs torestrain their soldiers within stricter rules and metreexact order. And while the king’s officers indulgedthemselves even in greater licences , than ' thoseto which, during times of peace, they had beenaccustomed, they were apt , both to neglect theirmilitary duty, and to set a pernicious exampleof disorder, to the soldiers under their command.

1 Rush. vol. vi. p. ;6o.

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