36 THE BATTLE OF EDGEHILI^ January As the royalist infantry advanced they must have thought the battle already nearly won. They might well have believed that Meldrum's brigade of foot was the only compact body left to fight. 1 Nevertheless, at this moment the tide of victory ebbed. Their left brigade never came to the charge at all, because they were the victims of the charge described by Fiennes : Sir William Balfour's regiment of horse charged a regiment of the enemy's foot, before any foot came up to assist him, and breaking into it, cut most of it off ; and after, by the assistance of some of our foot, he defeated another regiment, and so we got up to the greatest part of the enemy's ordnance, cutting off the gears of the horses that drew them, and killing the gunners under the carriages, but were forced to leave them without any to guard them, by reason we were fain to make good the day against several regiments of foot that still fought with a good deal of resolution, especially that which was of the King's Guard. 2 Owing to this disaster Byron's brigade suddenly became the left with its flank exposed as it moved forwards across the field to attack Meldrum. 3 A charge of Stapleton's horse was successfully repulsed, 4 and then a fierce struggle at push of pike followed, at first only with the regiments of Roberts and Con- stable, and then with Essex's own regiment and Lord Brooke's. 5 The struggle is well described by James II : When the royal army was advanced within musket shot of the enemy, the foot on both sides began to fire, the king's still coming on, and the rebel's continuing only to keep their ground ; so that they came so near to one another that some of the battalions were at push of pike, par- ticularly the regiment of guards commanded by the lord Willoughby and the general's regiment, with some others ; insomuch that the lord Willoughby with his pike killed an officer of the earl of Essex his own regiment, and hurt another. The foot being thus engaged in such warm and close service, it were reasonable to imagine that one side should run and be disordered, but it happened otherwise, for each as if by mutual 1 The Official Parliamentary Account distinctly states that the rear ' marched up the hill, and so made all the haste they could to come to fight '. Thus the four regi- ments in the rear might have been at first invisible to the royalists. a Fiennes was in Balfour's regiment. Cf. Official Parliamentary Account, where there is the additional information that Balfour ' pursued the fliers half a mile upon execution '. The position of these defeated royalist regiments is nowhere stated, but can be assigned to the left by a process of elimination. Also the Life of James mentions regiments on the left wing that had given ground. The Official Royalist Account has the following brief statement : ' the left side of our foot being put into disorder, all the rest gave way ; yet those of the right hand were never put into disorder.' 3 There seems no doubt that Byron was deflected to the left, in order to attack the only enemy in his immediate front for the moment. 4 Ireton, who charged with Stapleton, admits this (Memoirs, i. 47, ed. 1698). 8 Official Parliamentary Account, which only mentions two regiments, the king's guard and Lindsey's. I suppose the other regiments of this brigade fled at an early stage. Several authorities on both sides mention that some of their respective regiments bolted before serious fighting began.
