The
disorderly bands commanded by Sir William Waller were like their
general, distinguished only by greater insolence to their Prince, and
even by personal attempts on his life; but this army had been dispersed
early in the summer, and the leader had fallen into contempt. "The Earl
of Manchester was of their whole cabal the most unfit for the company he
kept, at first induced to join, what was then called, the patriotic
party by filial piety, and led step by step to countenance those
disorganizing counsels, which ravaged the country he loved with too
unskilful a tenderness:" yet, unwilling to oppress any, he used the
power his ill-acquired authority gave him, to preserve individuals from
the distress which his fatal victories occasioned. This moderation
ruined him in the eyes of his employers; and about this time there
appeared in his army that dark malignant spirit, whose subtile
machinations soon deprived him of all power of restraining the torrent,
which, when he helped to raise the flood-gates of contention, he hoped
he should always be able to direct and control.
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