 satisfied with the general justice of the cause which he
had espoused, than either with the measures or the motives of many of those who
were embarked in it.
 

                              Chapter Twenty-First

 And look how many Grecian tents do stand
 Hollow upon this plain - so many hollow factions.
                                                           Troilus and Cressida.
 
In a hollow of the hill, about a quarter of a mile from the field of battle, was
a shepherd's hut - a miserable cottage, which, as the only enclosed spot within
a moderate distance, the leaders of the Presbyterian army had chosen for their
council-house. Towards this spot Burley guided Morton, who was surprised, as he
approached it, at the multifarious confusion of sounds which issued from its
precincts. The calm and anxious gravity which it might be supposed would have
presided in councils held on such important subjects, and at a period so
critical, seemed to have given place to discord wild, and loud uproar, which
fell on the ear of their new ally as an evil augury of their future measures. As
they approached the door, they found it open indeed, but choked up with the
bodies and heads of countrymen, who, though no members of the council, felt no
scruple in intruding themselves upon deliberations in which they were so deeply
interested. By expostulation, by threats, and even by some degree of violence,
Burley, the sternness of whose character maintained a sort of superiority over
these disorderly forces, compelled the intruders to retire, and, introducing
Morton into the cottage, secured the door behind them against impertinent
curiosity. At a less agitating moment, the young man might have been entertained
with the singular scene of which he now found himself an auditor and a
spectator.
    The precincts of the gloomy and ruinous hut were enlightened partly by some
furze which blazed on the hearth, the smoke whereof, having no legal vent,
eddied around, and formed over the heads of the assembled council a clouded
canopy - as opaque as their metaphysical theology - through which, like stars
through mist, were dimly seen to twinkle a few blinking candles, or rather
rushes dipped in tallow, the property of the poor owner of the cottage, which
were stuck to the walls by patches of wet clay. This broken and dusky light
showed many a countenance elated with spiritual pride, or rendered dark by
fierce enthusiasm; and some whose anxious, wandering, and uncertain looks,
showed they felt themselves rashly embarked in a cause which they had neither
courage nor conduct to bring to a good issue, yet knew not how to abandon, for
very shame. They were, indeed
