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1921 THE BATTLE OF EDGE HILL 33 charge '.* There were three brigades, Meldrum's 2 on the right, then Charles Essex's, 3 and Ballard's 4 in the rear, apparently stationed towards the left, since we are told that • before it, towards the outside of it, stood our left wing of horse, advanced a little forward to the top of a hill 5 These twenty-four troops of horse were led by Sir James Ramsay, and were ' lined ' with 400 musketeers from Holles's regiment and 200 from Ballard's. How the artillery was arranged is uncertain, except that there were guns ' lined ' among the horse. 6 The arrangement of the royalist infantry offers a more difficult problem. It is unfortunately impossible to discover how the regiments were brigaded. It is clear that there were three brigades, 7 but who commanded them and where they were stationed are less obvious. The Life of Belasyse says he commanded the right brigade ; the Life of James gives Charles Gerard as its leader. The explanation of this discrepancy may be that Gerard commanded at the beginning of the battle, but that, when he was severely wounded, 8 his place was taken by Belasyse. In the royalist centre was the brigade of Sir Nicholas Byron, comprising the king's guard, Lindsey's own regiment, and probably two others which cannot certainly be named. 9 1 Fiennes, A most true and exact relation. 8 Containing the regiments of Roberts, Constable, Meldrum (or Saye), and Fairfax — the last named being in the rear. That Meldrum commanded Saye's regiment of blue- coats is only asserted by J. B., Special News from the Army, but the statement seems probable, since a regiment of blue-coats was at Oxford during Saye's sojourn there in September 1642 (Anthony Wood, Life and Times, i. 62, 65). 3 The regiments were : his own, Wharton's, Mandeville's, and Cholmley's. 4 The earl of Essex's, Ballard's, Brooke's, and Holles's. 6 Official Parliamentary Account. The height of this hill is given as 300 feet in the ordnance map. • Bulstrode, p. 81 ; letter of Lord Bernard Stuart. 7 Ormonde MSS. ii. Clarendon describes the army at Shrewsbury : ' The foot were divided into three brigades ; the first commanded by Sir Nicholas Byron, the second by Colonel Harry Wentworth, and the third by Colonel Richard Feilding ' (vi. 74). I am unable to find any mention of Wentworth as having taken part in the battle ; he is not in the list of the king's army given by Peacock, nor does his name appear in the True Relation. Although I cannot actually prove an alibi for him, I think it is extremely improbable that he could have been present in command of a brigade and escaped notice altogether. 8 Clarendon, vi. 94. » This brigade is usually placed on the extreme left of the infantry (thus W. G. Ross, ante, ii. 542). Nevertheless, apart from the inherent probability that the best regiments would be in the centre, there is good evidence to support this. The Life of Belasyse distinctly says that Belasyse was on the right and Lindsey next. The Life of James 11, after mentioning that the right wing stood firm, continues : ' had his Majesty's two wings given way, those in the main-battell could have made no long resistance.' I have no doubt that the ' main-battell ' was the brigade of Byron, and not the left wing, which is here separately mentioned as having given ground, and which in the Life of Belasyse is said never to have come to the charge. Thus it is easy to see how the Official Parliamentary Account, describing the middle of the battle, calls the brigade where Lindsey was the left. It had become the left owing to the failure of the original left to advance with the other two brigades. VOL. XXXVI. — NO. CXLI. D