42 THE BATTLE OF EDGEH1LL January their ordnance and lost not one of our own, took many of their carriages and burnt a great deal of their ammunition, kept the field that night, stayed there next day till afternoon but they never offered to stir, and the king was unwilling to draw down his soldiers having watched all night and wearied with the last day's service, so away we marched for London. They retreated back to Warwick since when we saw them not, but have past hither through Banbury, Oxford, Abingdon & Eeading (where we looked for great opposition) in great safety and quickness. We are now before Windsor Castle (one. of the King's chief houses) which is held from him, but what his Majesty resolves to do I know not yet. The Lord grant we may in his good time rec[eive] some comfortable hopes of our former peace which I desire may be your daily prayers for us, that so we may again return to our former love and holy worship of God and all faction, sedition popery and atheism being routed out we may sincerely worship and serve God in this life and be glorified by him in the world to come. Amen. Windsor Forest. November 9, 1642. The king is stronger both horse and foot a great deal than he was that day in our last battle', at least 3000 foot more and very near 5000 horse. The bearer being commanded by some gentlemen to stay after I had writ thus enclosed, it hath pleased God that we have since the date of it done something that is not to be passed over without both relation and thanksgiving. We marched from Windsor next morning before day two hours, expecting some service that day but missed, no enemy appearing, and for that night lay at Oatlands, the king's own house. That was Thursday. Next day we wheeled about to a little town on the other side of the river of Thames called Ashford, where we stayed that night. Saturday very early we marched on again, and at Hounslow Heath all the king's foot met expecting a battle, but none affords one. Still we went to Hounslow town, thence to Brentford, 1 where unexpectedly we were encountered by 2 or 3 regiments of theirs who had made some small barricades at the end of the first town called New Brentford. The van of our army being about 1000 musketeers answered their shot so bitterly that within an hour or less they forsook their work in that place and fled up to another which they had raised between the two towns, from whence and a brick house by with 2 small ordnance, they gave us a hot and long shower of bullets. My colonel's (Sir Edward Fitton) 2 regiment was the 6th which was brought to assault, after five others had all dis- charged, whose happy honour it was (assisted by God and a good pair of cannon newly come up) to drive them from that work too, where it was an heart-breaking object to hear and see the miserable deaths of many goodly men. We slew a lieutenant colonel, 2 serjeant majors, some captains and others, officers and soldiers there about 30 or 40 of them, took some 400 prisoners. But what was most pitiful was to see how many poor men ended and lost their lives striving to save them, for they 1 ' Brainsf ord ' in manuscript. 2 This name is written in the margin.
