four in the afternoon
`` Bless thy innocent heart ! '' said my comrade , `` dost n't thee know ? Tis Sir Bevill . '' * * * * * ` Twould be tedious to tell the whole of this long fight , which , beginning soon after sunrise , ended not till four in the afternoon , or thereabouts : and indeed of the whole my recollection is but of continual advance and repulse on that same slope . And herein may be seen the wisdom of our generals , in attacking while the main body of the enemy 's horse was away : for had the Earl of Stamford possessed a sufficient force of dragoons to let slip on us at the first discomfiture , there is little doubt he might have ended the battle there and then . As it was , the horse stood out of the fray , theirs upon the summit of the hill , ours -LRB- under Col. John Digby -RRB- on the other slope , to protect the town and act as reserve . The foot , in four parties , was disposed about the hill on all sides ; to the west -- as we know -- under Sir John Berkeley and Sir Bevill Grenville ; to the south under General Hopton and Lord Mohun ; to the east under the Colonels Tom Basset and William Godolphin ; while the steep side to the north was stormed by Sir Nicholas Slanning and Colonel Godolphin , with their companies .