iSSas 
 

 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PR 3400.F03 
 V 5 
 ' Works.With the author's pref. and an Int 
 
 3 1924 013 173 848 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013173848 
 
THE PLUNDER 
 
 A fine necklace of pearl, and the value of 100 r'loc- 
 dnllars in money VAan 79 
 
THE WORKS OF DANIEL ^EFOE 
 
 VOLUME FIVE 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 A CAVALIER 
 
 OB 
 
 A MILITARY JOURNAL OF THE WARS 
 
 IN GERMANY AND THE WARS 
 
 IN ENGLAND 
 
 WITH THE author's PREFACE, AND AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 G. H. MAYNADIER, Ph.D. 
 
 department of ENGLISH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 UNIVERSITY EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 SULLY & KLEINTEICH 
 
The University Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 Preface to the First Edition xxv 
 
 MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The First Part 1 
 
 The Second Part 156 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 TWENTY-ONE days after Duncan Camp- 
 bell — that is, on the twenty-first of May, 
 1720 — appeared the Memoirs of a Cava- 
 lier. Its title, hke the titles of most of 
 Defoe's books, was too long to be easily remembered, 
 being in full : Memoirs of a Cavalier : or a Military 
 Journal of the Wars in Germany, and the Wars in 
 England. From the Year 1632, to the Year 1648. 
 Written threescore years ago, by an English Gentle- 
 mam, who served first in the Army of Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, the Glorious King of Sweden, till his Death, 
 and after that in the Royal Army of King Charles 
 the First, from the Beginning of the Rebellion to the 
 End of the War. 
 
 From the day the Memoirs appeared, there has 
 been doubt as to their authorship. Defoe himself, 
 in the preface to the first edition, declared it " very 
 probable these Memorials were written many years 
 ago," by a gentleman of quality who had taken part 
 in the wars of which he wrote. The publisher of 
 the second edition, which came out at Leeds twenty 
 years or more after the first,-' evidently regarded De- 
 foe's statement as true, for he declared that the 
 Memoirs could hardly be fiction ; they must be fact. 
 
 , 1 The second edition was published without date. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 " No man," he said in his introduction, " could have 
 given a description of his retreat from Marston 
 Moor to Rochdale, and from thence over the moors 
 to the north, in so apt and proper terms, and in so 
 exact a manner, unless he had really travelled over 
 the very ground he describes." And then the pub- 
 lisher, seeking to discover who the author was, de- 
 cided that the identification would accord with the 
 preface of the first edition, if he made the author 
 out to be "Andrew Newport, Esq., second son to 
 Richard Newport, of High Ercall, Esq., which 
 Richard was created Lord Newport, October 14, 
 1642." So likely did this identification seem that a 
 London edition of the Memoirs in 1792 bore on its 
 titlepage, " Memoirs of the Honorable Col. Andrew 
 Newport, a Shropshire Gentleman. . . ." Even so 
 recent and careful a biographer of Defoe as Mr. 
 WiUiam Lee seems to have believed that Defoe, in 
 the Memoirs of a Cavalier, only edited and en- 
 larged a manuscript from the hand of this Colonel 
 Newport.-' 
 
 There have always been those, however, who have 
 doubted whether any one hnt Defoe wrote so much 
 as a paragraph of the Memoirs. The question of 
 authorship is important. If the book is not a true 
 history, it would appear at first sight to be a 
 stronger proof of Defoe's versatility in fiction than 
 anything else from his pen. In his other narratives 
 
 ^ At least the foot-note on page 330, vol. i., of Mr. Lee's 
 Daniel Defoe, London, 1869, implies his belief in Newport's 
 authorship of the original manuscript 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 he keeps almost always among the lower and the mid- 
 dle classes. In the Cavalier, the hero is the son of a 
 country gentleman of consequence who was raised to 
 the peerage. The hero, moreover, is an, Oxford 
 graduate, who travels with gentlemen abroad, and 
 who is at ease in the presence of kings and queens. 
 It would seem, therefore, that one of two things 
 must be true of the Memoirs. Either the book was 
 merely edited by Defoe, or it proves him to have 
 had greater irtiagination and a wider knowledge of 
 society than he has commonly received credit for. 
 
 I have already said that in Defoe's own preface to 
 the first edition, we find the founda;tion on. which 
 has been reared the whole structure of argument 
 that the book was written by a gentleman who 
 served in the wars of Gustavus Adolphus and 
 Charles I. As evidence for the antiquity of " these 
 Memorials," Defoe announced that the publishers 
 had " had them in their possession . . . above twenty 
 years," and that they had been found in the closet of 
 "one of King William's secretaries of state." "Al- 
 most all the facts," Defoe goes on to say, " especially 
 those of moment, are confirmed for their general 
 part by all the writers of. those times. If they are 
 here embellished with particulars, which are no- 
 where else to be found, . . . that it is that must 
 recommend this work to all the men of sense and 
 judgment that read it." 
 
 The argument of confirmation by " the writers of 
 those times " impressed Mr. Lee, whose Daniel Defoe, 
 published in 1869, is in many respects still the au- 
 [xij 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 thoritative biography of our author. Yet when we 
 look into the argument, we find it hardly convinc- 
 ing. The book is "based upon historical facts," 
 says Mr. Lee, "otherwise history would have con- 
 futed it." 1 So are J Tale of Two Cities and Quentin 
 Durward based upon historical facts. History can- 
 not confute them in the main, for in the main they 
 are true to history. It can confute them in some 
 details, though, and so it can the Memoirs of a Cav- 
 alier. For example, in the introduction to this 
 book in a recent edition of Defoe's Romances and 
 Narratives, Mr. Aitken says, " Numerous errors in 
 the account of the Civil War . . . have been kindly 
 pointed out to me by Mr. Firth. Thus the account of 
 the battle of Marston Moor — in which the Cavalier 
 took an active part — is entirely at variance with all 
 authorities. The description of the distribution of 
 the commands in the Royalist army is wrong in 
 nearly every point. Newcastle had no command ; 
 Prince Rupert commanded the right and not the 
 left wing, and was beaten altogether out of the field 
 at once ; Goring commanded the victorious left wing 
 and not the main battle. The contest is apparently 
 made to begin in the early morning, instead of at 
 five or six o'clock in the afternoon." And so forth 
 and so on. Here surely is not the exact historical 
 knowledge of an eye-witness. 
 
 On the contrary, the knowledge of the campaigns 
 
 in w.hich the Cavalier engaged seems to'me rather the 
 
 knowledge of a student of history. There is also the 
 
 1 Daniel Defoe, i. , p. 332. 
 
 [xii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 kind of knowledge manifest in the Memoirs, which a 
 dose questioner might get from men who had really 
 engaged in the battles mentioned. A quotation from 
 Mr. Whitten's recent Daniel Defoe in The West- 
 minster Biographies throws some light on the way in 
 which Defoe may have got such particular knowledge. 
 Speaking of Defoe's boyish inquisitiveness, which 
 probably went even beyond that of most wide-awake 
 lads, Mr. Whitten says that in Colonel Jacque, 
 " Defoe is doubtless giving us a page of self-por- 
 traiture when he makes the Colonel recall his sharp 
 acquisitiveness as a youth. Says he : — 
 
 ' In this way of Talk I was always upon the Inquiryj 
 asking Questions of things done in Publickj as well as in 
 Private ; particularly, I lov'd 'to talk with . . . Soldiers 
 about . . . the great . . . Battles . . . that any of 
 them had been in, and, as I never forgot anything they 
 told me, I could . . . in a few Years, give almost as 
 good an Account of the Dutch War, . . . the Battles in 
 Flanders, the taking of Maestricht, and the like, as any 
 of those' who had been there ; and this made those old 
 Soldiers . . . love to talk with me too, and to tell me 
 all the Stories they could think of, and that not only of 
 the Wars then going on, but also of the Wars of Olivers 
 time, the death of King Charles I. and the like.' "^ 
 
 This will account for many of the details in Defoe's 
 narrative. That these details would be related with 
 an air of reality is no more than we should expect 
 from the man who imagined all the minutiae of 
 
 1 Wilfred Whitten, Daniel Defoe, London, 1900, p. 6. 
 [ xiii j 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Robinson Crusoe's housekeeping. Indeed, when we 
 put together Defoe's peculiarly circumstantial im- 
 agination and the information that his indefati- 
 gable questioning might have drawn forth from old 
 soldiers, the wonder is that the Memoirs do not 
 give us even more individual details. The publisher 
 of the Leeds edition hit upon the most persuasively 
 real part of the book, when he said that no one could 
 have related the wanderings over the moors and hills 
 of the North, after the battle of Marston Moor, 
 " unless he had really travelled over the very ground 
 he describes." This is exactly what Defoe had done. 
 As a spy of the government he made various trips 
 through England, and into Scotland, all of which 
 impressed themselves upon his mind, as we may see 
 in his Tour through the Whole Island of Great 
 Britain. Whoever will read in that work Defoe's 
 letters from Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Westmore- 
 land, with their occasional references to the Civil 
 War, will see no reason why the adventures after 
 the battle of Marston Moor should not have been 
 entirely Defoe's invention. And this, it should be 
 remembered, which may have been largely coloured 
 by personal experience, is far and away the most 
 vivid part of the Memoirs. All things considered, 
 then, the argument of historical corroboration is not 
 enough to convince us that there was a manuscript 
 basis for the Memairs of a Cavalier. 
 
 Mr. Lee made a scarcely stronger argument for 
 such a basis when he said that in " stile and diction, 
 . . , there are occasionally whole paragraphs that 
 [xiv] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 scarcely afford a trace of Defoe's pen ; although, 
 generally, he appears to have revised, and often re- 
 written and extended the manuscript." ^ In other 
 words, there are traces of Defoe's style almost every- 
 where in the book. If the mark of Defoe is so nearly 
 omnipresent, could we not account for bhe occasional 
 absence of it by the difference between the substance 
 of this book and that of most of Defoe's stories .'' In 
 these, Defoe was engaged chiefly with the shrewd, 
 practical discussion of everyday affairs, it mattered 
 not whether among thieves and harlots in Newgate, 
 or with castaways and explorers in remote parts of 
 the world. When he passes from such matters to 
 the discussion of famous campaigns and European 
 statesmanship, it is only natural that some of his 
 mannerisms of style shouM disappear. 
 
 The strongest argument, perhaps, for a manu- 
 script basis for the Memoirs, is another one ad- 
 vanced by Mr. Lee.^ In corroboration of Defoe's 
 statement in the preface, regarding a manuscript 
 long in his possession, Mr. Lee calls attention to the 
 fact that Defoe had referred to what may have been 
 the same manuscript six years before the appearance 
 of the Memoirs. In 1714, Defoe published a pam- 
 phlet entitled The Scots Nation and Union vindi- 
 cated. One of the points in favor of the " Scots 
 nation " was that many of its gentlemen had served 
 with distinction under the noble king, Gustavus 
 Adolphus. In proof of • this statement Defoe ad- 
 duced a manuscript which had been in his " Hands 
 1 Op. dt., p. 333. 2 Op. cit., p. 334. 
 
 [XV] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 many Years, neither is it to be contradicted, the 
 Histories of those Times making frequent mention 
 of all " the gentlemen's names. It would not be 
 inconsistent with the character of Defoe, had he in- 
 vented this manuscript to strengthen by concrete 
 proof the general testimony of history in favour of 
 the Scots. Nor would it be preposterous to suppose 
 that he invented it for another reason, namely, to 
 pave the way for the Memovrs of a Cavalier, already 
 partially composed. This work must have been 
 written before Duncan Campbell, the publication of 
 which was only three weeks before its own. Indeed, 
 it would seem likely that the Cavalier was complete 
 before Robinson Crusoe, and how much sooner no 
 one can tell. If, however, one thinks these supposi- 
 tions too fanciful ; if one will agree with Mr. Lee, 
 that a manuscript, for years in Defoe's possession, 
 was the basis of the Memoirs ; then, after all, one 
 need take it as the basis of only part of the book. 
 Mr. Lee himself said, Defoe's " mind as well as his 
 hand is much more perceptible in the latter part 
 . . . than in the former ; and, as he was better ac- 
 quainted with the geography and physical character 
 of his own country than that of Germany, this part 
 of the narrative is often very characteristic of his 
 genius." i In short, whether or not a manuscript ac- 
 count of the German Wars supplied some material 
 for the Memoirs of a Cavalier, there seems every 
 reason to believe that the portion of the book which 
 dealt with the English Civil War was taken from 
 
 1 Op. cit., p. 333. 
 [xvi] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 nothing but the records of history, anecdotes current 
 in Defoe's boyhood, and Defoe's own imagination. 
 
 It would be easier to believe Defoe an editor of 
 the Memoirs rather than their author, if their 
 authorship could be fixed on some one else. It never 
 has been. We have seen that the Leeds publisher 
 of the second edition supposed the author to be' 
 Andrew Newport of Shropshire, and that subsequent 
 editors and biographers, including even Mr. Lee, 
 have been more or less inclined to share this opinion. 
 Since Mr. Lee wrote, however, it has been proved 
 conclusively that Colonel Andrew Newport could not 
 have been the author of the Metnoirs. It is un- 
 necessary to point out the omission from them of all 
 reference to such family matters as would naturally 
 creep into a history whose first form was a sort of 
 diary. Sufficient proof that Newport did not write 
 them is found in the fact that he was not born till 
 1623, and did not matriculate at Christ Church, Ox- 
 ford, till 164!0. It would thus have been impossible 
 for him to have those experiences in the Thirty Years' 
 War which Defoe's Cavalier, born in 1608, might 
 have had. Nor is there any indication that Andrew 
 Newport fought in the Civil War, though we have 
 record that his father and elder brother both took 
 part in it, and that his father's house. High Ercall, 
 was a garrison which long held out for the king. We 
 can be pretty sure that had Andrew Newport actively 
 assisted the royalist cause, we should have knowledge 
 of his doing so ; for thei-e is record of his rendering 
 the cause service under the Protectorate, when he 
 [ xvii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 did his best to raise money and to influence public 
 opinion for Charles II. ,And so it is certain that 
 Newport did not write even a first rough draught of 
 the Memoirs. No one else but Defoe has ever been 
 seriously considered as their author. His claim to 
 authorship, therefore, would seem unchallenged if 
 Newport's is eliminated. 
 
 If we ask for further proof that Defoe himself 
 wrote the Memoirs, we can find it in the contradic- 
 tion between dates of the preface and of the con- 
 clusion. Asserting that he has tried his best to find 
 the name of the author, Defoe says in his preface 
 that his only discovery was a memorandum at- 
 tached to the manuscript (and written by its former 
 owner) which read as follows : — 
 
 " Memorandum. 
 
 "I found this manuscript among my father's writings, 
 and I understand that he got them as plunder, at, 
 or after, the fight at Worcester, where he served as 
 
 major of 's regiment of horse on the side of the 
 
 Parliament. I. K." 
 
 If the manuscript was captured " at, or after," the 
 battle of Worcester, it is manifestly impossible that 
 its author should refer, as he does, to the Restora- 
 tion. The simplest explanation of the inconsistency 
 is to assume that Defoe wrote the memorandum as 
 well as the rest of the preface, forgetting for the 
 moment what was in the body of the Memoirs. Of 
 course, once Defoe's authorship of the memorandum 
 [ xviii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 18 admitted, down tumbles the whole fabric of argu- 
 ment based on his claim of manuscript authoritj' 
 for his history. 
 
 It has been said that the Memoirs of a Cavalier 
 is not so religious in tone as most of Defoe's nar- 
 ratives. Though this is true, mention of religion, 
 so far as there is any, is in Defoe's usual manner. 
 The Cavalier, who has not given thought to serious 
 things in his youth, is inclined to give more heed to 
 them as he grows older. Such is the common way 
 with Defoe's characters. Godless at first, they be- 
 come in the end God-fearing. And the Cavalier 
 concludes with a half-religious, half-superstitious 
 enumeration of various coincidences, with reflections 
 upon them, which is just what we should expect 
 from Defoe. 
 
 I have said above that if we take the Memoirs 
 of a Cavalier to be largely fiction, we shall find it 
 apparently different from most of Defoe's stories. 
 The fact that it introduces us to a higher class of 
 society than Defoe usually takes us into, would seem, 
 at first sight, an argument against Defoe's author- 
 ship. If we look at the book closely, however, we 
 shall see that in reality it is not much out of Defoe's 
 usual nianner. Though the hero is born and brought 
 up a gentleman ; though he introduces us to gen- 
 erals, prime ministers, and kings and queens of 
 France, Sweden, and England ; it is notable that 
 he never entertains us at the country-houses of his 
 noble English friends and relatives. In other words, 
 the Cavalier is not too elegant a gentleman for 
 [xix] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Defoe to imagine. To be sure, we catch more 
 glimpses of high life in the Memoirs than in any 
 other of Defoe's works, Roxana not excepted, but 
 they are only such glimpses as Defoe's own experi- 
 ence could give us. He himself was not at home 
 in fashionable drawing-rooms, but like his Cavalier, 
 he did know the audience-chambers of ministers 
 and even of monarchs. 
 
 Then, again, there is no more characterisation in 
 the Memoirs than in Defoe's other stories. The 
 Cavalier is brave ; he shows by his treatment of the 
 Italian courtesan that he is instinctively refined; 
 but on the whole, he is shadowy. So are Gustavus 
 Adolphus and Charles I. and Prince Rupert. Com- 
 pare them with Scott's Louis XI. or Elizabeth, and 
 you wiU see how little power Defoe had to give 
 life to his historical characters. Rupert was im- 
 petuous, we are told again and again, but that does 
 not make him alive ; the two monarchs are said to 
 have the characteristics which history gives them, 
 but they seldom do anything individual except 
 " smile." When the Cavalier told Gustavus Adol- 
 phus that, had he but marched twenty miles into 
 Silesia, half the people would have run out of Vienna 
 in fear, the king replied, "smiling," "I have no de- 
 sign to trouble them, it is the Protestant countries 
 I must be for." And when the Cavalier asked 
 Charles I. if he might go among " his loyal subjects 
 about Shrewsbury .? ' Yes,' says the king, smiling, 
 'I intend you shall, and I design to go with you 
 myself.'" 
 
 [XX] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It is odd that critics have not generally remarked 
 on the frequency of this smile among Defoe's char- 
 acters. It denotes shrewdness, dry humour, and an}' 
 sort of kindly feehng ; and it may appear on the 
 face of a king, or of the naked Englishman whom 
 Captain Singleton found in the interior of Africa, 
 or of William the Quaker whom the same ad- 
 venturer subsequently picked up off the coast of 
 America, or of Godolphin, when he received Defoe 
 after Harley's retirement from office.^ Defoe's per- 
 sonages know scarcely any other change of ex- 
 pression. And so it is another proof of Defoe's 
 authorship of the Memoirs of a Cavalier, that the 
 principal means of making the King of Sweden and 
 the King of England seem alive and individual is 
 to make them smile. 
 
 In general effect Defoe's rapidly moving narra- 
 tives are so much alike, that what you say of one 
 you may say of all, unless, as in this case, there is 
 some particular question of literary or political his- 
 tory. Having dwelt on the matter of authorship, 
 I shall say nothing more, therefore, in regard to the 
 Memoirs of a Cavalier, except to sum up this dis- 
 cussion. When the question of authorship is con- 
 sidered along with the questions of style and ability 
 in the art of fiction, we find that there is no need 
 of assuming any manuscript basis for even a page of 
 the Memoirs. In view, however, of Defoe's saying 
 some six years before their publication that he had 
 long possessed a manuscript which mentioned Scotch 
 ^ See Defoe's Appeal to Honour and Justice. 
 { xxi] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 gentlemen who fought under Gustavus Adolphus, 
 it is possible that there was some slight manuscript 
 basis for the first part of the Memoirs. It is highly 
 probable that the second part, which dealt with the 
 English Civil War, had no source but well-known 
 histories, stories picked up by Defoe in his boyhood 
 from old soldiers and other survivors of the War, and 
 Defoe's circumstantial, matter-of-fact imagination.^ 
 
 G. H. Maynadieu. 
 
 1 When this introduction was ready for the press, I came 
 upon an article in the Athenwwm of May 9th, 1903, which 
 seeks to prove that Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, wrote 
 the Memoirs of a Cavalier as well as the first part of Robirt- 
 son Crusoe. The suggestion that Harley wrote part of Robinson 
 Crusoe has been made before, but the suggestion of his author- 
 ship of the Memoirs of a Cavalier is, so far as I know, new. 
 Late discoveries regarding Mrs. Veal and the Most Swrprising 
 Apparition seen near Launceston show that established opin- 
 ions regarding Defoe's works may suddenly be overthrown. 
 Nevertheless, there is nothing in the article just mentioned to 
 make me change in the least the opinions I have stated above. 
 If style proves anything, then one must say that if Harley wrote 
 the Memoirs, he wrote also Defoe's Appeal to Honour and Jus- 
 tice and Colonel Jacque and A New Voyage Round the World. 
 Indeed, if we admit Harley's authorship of any one of these 
 works, I see no reason why we should not go so far as those 
 who maintain that Bacon wrote Shakspere, and declare boldly 
 that Harley wrote Defoe. 
 
 One of the arguments to prove Harley's authorship, in the 
 article I speak of, is based on statements of Defoe, regarding 
 both books in question, that he was an editor and not their 
 author. A student of Defoe must make up his mind once and 
 for all that no importance is to be attached to such statements ; 
 without external evidence, one can never know whether Defoe 
 was telling the truth about himself or lying. It has been pretty 
 conclusively proved within ten years that he was telling the 
 [ xxii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 truth when he declared that he had not invented the two re- 
 markable stories of apparitions which I have just referred to. 
 On the other hand, the recent publication of some of his 
 secret letters to Harley i shows that in regard to his public 
 life, he was even a more unscrupulous liar than he has been 
 supposed. 
 
 1 T. Bateson, Defoe and Harley, English Historical Seview, iv., p. 238, £E. 
 
 [ xxiii ] 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST 
 EDITION 
 
 j^ S an evidence that 't is very probable these 
 /^k Memorials were written many years ago, 
 
 h — ^^ the persons now concerned in the publi- 
 ^ jL_ cation assure the reader that they have 
 had them in their possession finished, as they now 
 appear, above twenty years ; that they were so long 
 ago found by great accident, among other valuable 
 papers, in the closet of an eminent public minister, 
 of no less figure than one of King William's secreta- 
 ries of state. 
 
 As it is not proper to trace them any farther, so 
 neither is there any need to trace them at all, to 
 give reputation to the story related, seeing the 
 actions here mentioned have a sufficient sanction 
 from all the histories of the times to which they 
 relate, with this addition, that the admirable man- 
 ner of relating them, and the wonderful variety of 
 incidents with which they are beautified in the course 
 of a private gentleman's story, add such delight in 
 the reading, and give such a lustre, as well to the 
 accounts themselves as to the person who was the 
 actor, that no story, we believe, extant in the world 
 ever came abroad with such advantage. 
 
 It must naturally give some concern in the read- 
 ing that the name of a person of so much gallantry 
 
 [ XXV ] 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 and honour, and so many ways valuable to the 
 world, should be lost to the readers. We assure 
 them no small labour has been thrown away upon 
 the inquiry, and all we have been able to arrive to 
 of discovery in this affair is, that a memorandum 
 was found with this manuscript, in these words, but 
 not signed by any name, only the two letters of a 
 name, which gives us no light into the matter, which 
 memoir was as follows : — 
 
 McTnorandum. 
 
 " I found this manuscript among my father's writ- 
 ings, and I understand that he got them as plunder, at, 
 or after, the fight at Worcester, where he served as 
 
 major of 's regiment of horse on the side of the 
 
 Parliament. I. K." 
 
 As this has been of no use but to terminate the 
 inquiry after the person, so, however, it seems most 
 naturally to give an authority to the original of 
 the work, viz., that it was born of a soldier ; and 
 indeed it is through every part related with so 
 soldierly a style, and in the very language of the 
 field, that it seems impossible anything but the very- 
 person who wBis present in every action here related 
 could be the relater of them. 
 
 The accounts of battles, the sieges, and the several 
 actions of which this work is so full, are all recorded 
 in the histories of those times ; such as the great 
 battle of Leipsic, the sacking of Magdeburg, the 
 siege of Nuremberg, the passing the river Lech in 
 Bavaria; such also as the battle of Kineton, or 
 [ xxvi J 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 Edgehill, the battles of Newbury, Marston Moor, 
 and Naseby, and the like : they are all, we say, re- 
 corded in other histories, and written by those who 
 lived in those times, and perhaps had good authority 
 for what they wrote. But do those relations give 
 any of the beautiful ideas of things formed in this 
 account? Have they one half of the circumstances 
 and incidents of the actions themselves that this 
 man's eyes were witness to, and which his memory 
 has thus preserved ? He that has read the best 
 accounts of those battles will be surprised to see the 
 particulars of the story so preserved, so nicely and 
 so agreeably described, and will confess what we 
 allege, that the story is inimitably told ; and even 
 the great actions of the glorious King Gustavus 
 Adolphus receive a lustre from this man's relations 
 which the world was never made sensible of befoi'e, 
 and which the present age has much wanted of late, 
 in order to give their affections a turn in favour of 
 his late glorious successor. 
 
 In the story of our own country's unnatural wars, 
 he carries on the same spirit. How ieffectually does 
 he recoi'd the virtues and glorious actions of King 
 Charles the First, at the same time that he fre- 
 quently enters upon the mistakes of his Majesty's 
 conduct, and of his friends^ which gave his enemies 
 all those'fatal advantages against him, which ended 
 in the overthrow of his armies, the loss of his crown 
 and life, and the ruin of the constitution ! 
 
 In all his accounts he does justice to his enemies, 
 and honours the merit of those whose cause he 
 fought against ; and many accounts recorded in his 
 [ xxvii ] 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 story, are not to be found even in the best histories 
 of those times. 
 
 What applause does he give to the gallantry of 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, to his modesty, to his conduct, 
 under which he himself was subdued, and to the 
 justice he did the king's -troops when they laid down 
 their arms ! 
 
 His description of the Scots troops in the begin- 
 ning of the war, and the behaviour of the party 
 under the Earl of Holland, who went over against 
 them, are admirable ; and his censure of their con- 
 duct, who pushed the king upon the quarrel, and 
 then would not let him fight, is no more than what 
 many of the king's friends (though less knowing as 
 soldiers) have often complained of. 
 
 In a word, this work is a confutation of many 
 errors in all the writers upon the subject of our wars 
 in England, and even in that extraordinary history 
 written by the Earl of Clarendon ; but the editors 
 were so just, that when, near twenty years ago, a 
 person who had written a whole volume in folio, by 
 way of answer to and confutation of Clarendon's 
 " History of the Rebellion," would have borrowed 
 the clauses in this account, which clash with that 
 history, and confront it, — we say the editors were 
 so just as to refuse them. 
 
 There can be nothing objected against the general 
 credit of this work, seeing its truth is established 
 upon universal history; and almost all the facts, 
 especially those of moment, are confirmed for their 
 general part by all the writers of those times. If 
 they are here embeUished with particulars, which 
 [xxviii ] 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 
 
 are nowhere else to be found, that is the beaut}/ we 
 boast of; and that it is that must recommend this 
 work to all the men of sense and judgment that 
 read it. 
 
 The only objection we find possible to make 
 against this work is, that it is not carried on farther, 
 or, as we may say finished, with the finishing the 
 war of the time ; and this we complain of also. But 
 then we complain of it as a misfortune to the world, 
 not as a fault in the author ; for how do we know 
 but that this author might carry it on, and have 
 another part finished which might not fall into the 
 same hands, or may still remain with some of his 
 family, and which they cannot indeed publish, to 
 make it seem anything perfect, for want of the other 
 parts which we have, and which we have now made 
 public .'' Nor is it very improbable but that if any 
 such farther part is in being, the publishing these 
 two parts may occasion the proprietors of the third 
 to let the world see it, and that by such a discovery 
 the name of the person may also come to be known, 
 which would, no doubt, be a great satisfaction to the 
 reader as well as us. 
 
 This, however, must be said, that if the same 
 author should have written another part of this 
 work, and carried it on to the end of those times, 
 yet as the residue of those melancholy days, to the 
 Restoration, were filled with the intrigues of govem- 
 raent, the political management of illegal power, and 
 the dissensions and factions of a people who were 
 then even in themselves but a faction, and that there 
 was very httle action in the field, it is more than 
 [ xxix ] 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIOIV 
 
 probable that our author, who was a man of arms, 
 had little share in those things, and might not care 
 to trouble himself with looking at them. 
 
 But besides all this, it might happen that he 
 might go abroad again at that time, as most of the 
 gentlemen of quality, and who had an abhorrence 
 for the power that then governed here, did. Nor 
 are we certain that he might live to the end of that 
 time, so we can give no account whether he had any 
 share in the subsequent actions of that time. 
 
 'T is enough that we have the authorities above to 
 recommend this part to us that is now published. 
 The relation, we are persuaded, will recommend 
 itself, and nothing more can be needful, because 
 nothing more can invite than the story itself, which, 
 when the reader enters into, he will find it very hard 
 to get out of till he has gone through it. 
 
 [JGEXJ 
 
MEMOIRS ofK CAVALIER 
 
 THE FIRST PART 
 
 IT may suffice the reader, without being very in- 
 quisitive after my name, that I was born in the 
 county of Salop, in the year 1608, under the 
 government of what star I was never astrologer 
 enough to examine ; but the consequences of my life 
 may allow me to suppose some extraordinary influence 
 affected my birth. If there be anything in dreams 
 also, my mother, who was mighty observant that way, 
 took minutes, which I have since seen in the first leaf 
 of her prayer-book, of several strange dreams she had 
 while she was with child of her second son, which was 
 myself. Once she noted that she dreamed she was 
 carried away by a regiment of horse, and delivered 
 in the fields of a son, that as soon as it was born had 
 two wings come out of its back, and in half-an-hour's 
 time flew away from her : and the very evening be- 
 fore I was born, she dreamed she was brought to bed 
 of a son, and that all the while she was in labour a 
 man stood under her window beating on a kettle-drum, 
 which very much discomposed her. 
 
 My father was a gentleman of a very plentiful for- 
 tune, having an estate of above ^£"5000 per annum, 
 of a family nearly allied to several of the principal 
 nobility, and lived about six miles from the town ; 
 
 and my mother being at on some particular 
 
 1 [1] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 occasion, was surprised there at a friend's house, and 
 brought me very safe into the world. 
 
 I was my father's second son, and therefore was not 
 altogether so much slighted as younger sons of good 
 families generally are. But my father saw some- 
 thing in my genius also which particularly pleased 
 him, and so made him take extraordinary care of 
 my education. 
 
 I was taught, therefore, by the best masters that 
 could be had, everything that was needful to accom- 
 plish a young gentleman for the world ; and at seven- 
 teen years old my tutor told my father an academic 
 education was very proper for a person of quality, and 
 he thought me very fit for it : so my father entered 
 
 me of College in Oxford, where I continued 
 
 three years. 
 
 A collegiate life did not suit me at all, though I 
 loved books well enough. It was never designed that 
 I should be either a lawyer, physician, or divine ; and 
 I wrote to my father that I thought I had stayed 
 there long enough for a gentleman, and with his leave 
 I desired to give him a visit; 
 
 During my stay at Oxford, though I passed through 
 the proper exercises of the house, yet my chief read- 
 ing was upon history and geography, as that which 
 pleased my mind best, and supplied me with ideas 
 most suitable to my genius ; by one I understood 
 what great actions had been done in the world, and 
 by the other I understood where they had been done. 
 
 My father readily complied with my desire of 
 
 coming home ; for besides that he thought, as I did, 
 
 that three years' time at the university was enough' 
 
 [2] ^' 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 he also most passionately loved me, and began to 
 think of my settling near him. 
 
 At my arrival I found myself extraordinarily 
 caressed by my father, and he seemed to take a 
 particular delight in my conversation. My mother, 
 who lived in perfect union with him both in desires 
 and affection, received me very passionately. Apart- 
 ments were provided for me by myself, and horses 
 and servants allowed me in particular. 
 
 My father never went a-hunting, an exercise he 
 was exceedingly fond of, but he would have me with 
 him ; and it pleased him when he found me like the 
 sport. I lived thus, in all the pleasures ''t was 
 possible for me to enjoy, for about a year more, when 
 going out one morning with my father to hunt a 
 stag, and having had a very hard chase, and gotten 
 a great way off from home, we had leisure enough to 
 ride gently back ; and as we returned my father 
 took occasion to enter into a serious discourse with 
 me concerning the manner of my settling in the 
 world. 
 
 He told me, with a great deal of passion, that he 
 loved me above all the rest of his children, and that 
 therefore he intended to do very well for me ; and 
 that my eldest brother being already married and 
 settled, he had designed the same for me, and pro- 
 posed a very advantageous match for me, with a 
 young lady of very extraordinary fortune and merit, 
 and offered to make a settlement of cfSOOO per annum 
 on me, which he said he would purchase for me 
 without diminishing his paternal estate. 
 
 There was too much tenderness in this discourse 
 [3] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 not to affect me exceedingly. I told him I would 
 perfectly resign myself unto his disposal. But as my 
 father had, together with his love for me, a very nice 
 judgment in his discourse, he fixed his eyes very 
 attentively on me, and though my answer was with- 
 out the least reserve, yet he thought he saw some 
 uneasiness in me at the proposal, and from thence 
 concluded that my compliance was rather an act of 
 discretion than inclination ; and that, however I 
 seemed so absolutely given up to what he had pro- 
 posed, yet my answer was really an effect of my 
 obedience rather than my choice. 
 
 So he returned very quick upon me : " Look you, 
 son, though I give you my own thoughts in the 
 matter, yet I would have you be very plain with me ; 
 for if your own choice does not agree with mine, I 
 will be your adviser, but will never impose upon you, 
 and therefore let me know your mind freely." " I 
 don't reckon myself capable, sir," said I, with a 
 great deal of respect, " to make so good a choice for 
 myself as you can for me ; and though my opinion 
 differed from yours, its being your opinion would 
 reform mine, and my judgment would as readily 
 comply as my duty." " I gather at least from 
 thence," said my father, "that your designs lay 
 another way before, however they may comply with 
 mine ; and therefore I would know what it was you 
 would have asked of me if I had not offered this to 
 you ; and you must not deny me your obedience in 
 this, if you expect I should believe your readiness 
 in the other." 
 
 "Sir," said I, "'twas impossible I should lay out 
 [4] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for myself just what you have proposed ; but if my 
 indinations were never so contrary, though at your 
 command you shall know them, yet I declare them 
 to be wholly subjected to your order. I confess my 
 thoughts did not tend towards marriage or a settle- 
 ment ; for, though I had no reason to question your 
 care of me, yet I thought a gentleman ought always 
 to see something of the world before he confined 
 himself to any part of it. And if I had been to ask 
 your consent to anything, it should have been to give 
 me leave to travel for a short time, in order to qualify 
 myself to appear at home like a son to so good a 
 father." 
 
 " In what capacity would you travel ? " replied my 
 father. " You must go abroad either as a private 
 gentleman, as a scholar, or as a soldier." " If it 
 were in the latter capacity, sir," said I, returning 
 pretty quick, " I hope I should not misbehave 
 myself; but I am not so determined as not to be 
 ruled by your judgment." "Truly," replied my 
 father, " I see no war abroad at this time worth 
 while for a man to appear in, whether we talk of 
 the cause or the encouragement ; and indeed, son, I 
 am afraid you need not go far for adventures of that 
 nature, for times seem to look as if this part of Europe 
 would find us work enough." My father spake then 
 relating to the quarrel likely to happen between the 
 King of England and the Spaniard,^ for I believe he 
 had no notions of a civil war in his head. 
 
 1 Upon the breach of the match between the King of Eng- 
 land and the Infanta of Spain ; and particularly upon the old 
 quarrel of the King of Bohemia and the Palatinate. 
 
 [5] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 In short, my father, perceiving my inclinations 
 very forward to go abroad, gave me leave to travel, 
 upon condition I would promise to return in two 
 years at farthest, or sooner, if he sent for me. 
 
 While I was at Oxford I happened into the society 
 of a young gentleman, of a good family, but of a low 
 fortune, being a younger brotherj and who had indeed 
 instilled into me the first desires of going abroad, 
 and who, I knew, passionately longed to travel, but 
 had not sufficient allowance to defray his expenses as 
 a gentleman. We had contracted a very close friend- 
 ship, and our humours being very agreeable to one 
 another, we daily enjoyed the conversation of letters. 
 He was of a generous free temper, without the least 
 affectation or deceit, a handsome proper person, a 
 strong body, very good mien, and brave to the last 
 degree. His name was Fielding, and we called him 
 Captain, though it be a very unusual title in a col- 
 lege ; but fate had some hand in the title, for he had 
 certainly the lines of a soldier drawn in his counte- 
 nance. I imparted to him the resolutions I had taken, 
 and how I had my father's consent to go abroad, and 
 would know his mind whether he would go with me. 
 He sent me word he would go with all his heart. 
 
 My father, when he saw him, for I sent for him 
 immediately to come to me, mightily approved my 
 choice ; so we got our equipage ready, and came away 
 for London. 
 
 'T was on the 22nd of April 1630, when we em- 
 barked at Dover, landed in a few hours at Calais, 
 and immediately took post for Paris. I shall not 
 trouble the reader with a journal of my travels, nor 
 [6] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 with the description of places, which every geographer 
 can do better than I ; but these Memoirs being only 
 a relation of what happened either to ourselves, or in 
 our own knowledge, I shall confine myself to that 
 part of it. 
 
 We had indeed some diverting passages in our 
 journey to Paris, as first, the horse my comrade was 
 upon fell so very lame with a slip that he could not 
 go, and hardly stand, and the fellow that rid with us 
 express, pretended to ride away to a town five miles 
 oiF to get a fresh horse, and so left us on the road 
 with one horse between two of us. We followed as 
 well as we could, but being strangers, missed the way, 
 and wandered a great way out the road. Whether 
 the man performed in reasonable time or not we 
 could not be sure, but if it had not been for an old 
 priest, we had never found him. We met this man, 
 by a very good accident, near a little village whereof 
 he was curate. We spoke Latin enough just to make 
 him understand us, and he did not speak it much 
 better himself; but he carried us into the village 
 to his house, gave us wine and bread, and enter- 
 tained us with wonderful courtesy. After this he 
 sent into the village, hired a peasant, and a horse 
 for my captain, and sent him to guide us into the 
 road. At parting he made a great many compli- 
 ments to us in French, which we could just under- 
 stand ; but the sum was, to excuse him for a question 
 he had a mind to ask us. After leave to ask what 
 he pleased, it was if we wanted any money for our 
 journey, and pulled out two pistoles, which he offered 
 either to give or lend us. 
 
 [7] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 I mention this exceeding courtesy of the curate 
 because, though civihty is very much in use in France, 
 and especially to strangers, yet 't is a very unusual 
 thing to have them part with their money. 
 
 We let the priest know, first, that we did not 
 want money, and next that we were very sensible of 
 the obligation he had put upon us ; and I told him 
 in particular, if I lived to see him again, I would 
 acknowledge it. 
 
 This accident of our horse was, as we afterwards 
 found, of some use to us. We had left our two 
 servants behind us at Calais to bring our baggage 
 after us, by reason of some dispute between the 
 captain of the packet and the custom-house officer, 
 which could not be adjusted, and we were willing to 
 be at Paris. The fellows followed as fast as they 
 could, and, as near as we could learn, in the time we 
 lost our way, were robbed, and our portmanteaus 
 opened. They took what they pleased ; but as there 
 was no money there, but linen and necessaries, the 
 loss was not great. 
 
 Our guide carried us to Amiens, where we found 
 the express and our two servants, who the express 
 meeting on the road with a spare horse, had brought 
 back with him thither. 
 
 We took this for a good omen of our successful 
 journey, having escaped a danger which might have 
 been greater to us than it was to our servants ; for 
 the highwaymen in France do not always give a 
 traveller the civility of bidding him stand and deliver 
 his money, but frequently fire upon him first, and 
 then take his money. 
 
 [8] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 We stayed one day at Amiens, to adjust this little 
 disorder, and walked about the town, and into the 
 great church, but saw nothing very remarkable there ; 
 but going across a broad street near the great church, 
 we saw a crowd of people gazing at a mountebank 
 doctor, who made a long harangue to them with a 
 thousand antic postures, and gave out bills this way, 
 and boxes- of physic that way, and had a great trade, 
 when on a sudden the people raised a cry, " Larron, 
 larronr [in Enghsh, "Thief, thief'], on the other 
 side the street, and all the auditors ran away from 
 Mr. Doctor to see what the matter was. Among 
 the rest we went to see, and the case was plain and 
 short enough. Two English gentlemen and a Scotch- 
 man, travellers as we were, were standing gazing at 
 this prating doctor, and one of them catched a fellow 
 picking his pocket. The fellow had got some of 
 his money, for he dropped two or three pieces just 
 by him, and had got hold of his watch, but being 
 surprised let it slip again. But the reason of telling 
 this story is for the management of it. This thief 
 had his seconds so ready, that as soon as the English- 
 man had seized him they fell in, pretended to be 
 mighty zealous for the stranger, takes the fellow by 
 the throat, and makes a great bustle ; the gentle- 
 man not doubting but the man was secured let go 
 his own hold of him, and left him to them. The 
 hubbub was great, and 't was these fellows cried, 
 '■"Larron, larron T but with a dexterity peculiar to 
 themselves had let the right fellow go, and pretended 
 to be all upon one of their own gang. At last they 
 bring the man to the gentleman to ask him what 
 [91 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the fellow had done, who, when he saw the person 
 they seized on, presently told them that was not the 
 man. Then they seemed to be in more consternation 
 than before, and spread themselves all over the 
 street, crying, " Larron, larron ! "" pretending to 
 search for the fellow ; and so one one way, one an- 
 other, they were all gone, the noise went over, the 
 gentlemen stood looking one at another, and the 
 bawling doctor began to have the crowd about him 
 again. This was the first French trick I had the 
 opportunity of seeing, but I was told they have a 
 great many more as dexterous as this. 
 
 We soon got acquaintance with these gentlemen, 
 who were going to Paris as well as we ; so the next 
 day we made up our company with them, and were 
 a pretty troop of five gentlemen and four servants. 
 
 As we had really no design to stay long at Paris, 
 so indeed, excepting the city itself, there was not 
 much to be seen there. Cardinal Richelieu, who 
 was not only a supreme minister in the Church, but 
 Prime Minister in the State, was now made also 
 General of the King's Forces, with a title never 
 known in France before nor since, viz., Lieutenant- 
 General' "au place du Roi," in the king's stead, or, 
 as some have since translated it, representing the 
 person of the king. 
 
 Under this character he pretended to execute all 
 the royal powers in the army without appeal to the 
 king, or without waiting for orders; and having 
 parted from Paris the winter before had now act- 
 ually begun the war against the Duke of Savoy, in 
 the process of which he restored the Duke of Mantua, 
 [10] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and having taken Pignerol from the duke, put it 
 into such a state of defence as the duke could never 
 force it out of his hands, and reduced the duke, 
 rather by manage and conduct than by force, to 
 make peace without it; so as annexing it to the 
 crown of France it has ever since been a thorn in his 
 foot that has always made the peace of Savoy lame 
 and precarious, and France has since made Pignerol 
 one of the strongest fortresses in the world. 
 
 As the cardinal, with all the military part of the 
 court, was in the field, so the king, to be near him, 
 was gone with the queen and all the court, just be- 
 fore I reached Paris, to reside at Lyons. All these 
 considered, there was nothing to do at Paris ; the 
 court looked like a citizen's house when the family 
 was all gone into the country, and I thought the 
 whole city looked very melancholy, compared to all 
 the fine things I had heard of it. 
 
 The queen-mother and her party were chagrined 
 at the cardinal, who, though he owed his grandeur 
 to her immediate favour, was now grown too great 
 any longer to be at the command of her Majesty, or 
 indeed in her interest ; and therefore the queen was 
 under dissatisfaction, and her party looked very much 
 down. 
 
 The Protestants were everywhere disconsolate, for 
 the losses they had received at Rochelle, Nimes, and 
 Montpellier had reduced them to an absolute de- 
 pendence on the king's will, without all possible 
 hopes of ever recovering themselves, or being so much 
 as in a condition to take arms for their religion, and 
 therefore, the wisest of them plainly foresaw their own 
 
 [11] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 entire reduction, as it since came to pass. And I 
 remember very well that a Protestant gentleman 
 told me once, as we were passing from Orleans to 
 Lyons, that the English had ruined them ; and 
 therefore, says he, " I think the next occasion the 
 king takes to use us ill, as I know 't will not be long 
 before he does, we must all fly over to England, 
 where you are bound to maintain us for having 
 helped to turn us out of our own country." I asked 
 him what he meant by saying the English had done 
 it ? He returned short upon me: "I do not niean," 
 says he, " by not relieving RocheUe, but by helping 
 to ruin Rochelle, when you and the Dutch lent ships 
 to beat our fleet, which all the ships in France could 
 not have done without you."" 
 
 I was too young in the world to be very sensible of 
 this before, and therefore was something startled at 
 the charge ; but when I came to discourse with this 
 gentleman, I soon saw the truth of what he said was 
 undeniable, and have since reflected on it with regret, 
 that the naval power of the Protestants, which was 
 then superior to the royal, would certainly have been 
 the recovery of all their fortunes, had it not been 
 unhappily broke by their brethren of England and 
 Holland, the former lending seven men-of-war, and 
 the latter twenty, for the destruction of the Rochel- 
 lers' fleet ; and by these very ships the Rochellers' 
 fleet were actually beaten and destroyed, and they 
 never afterward recovered their force at_sea, and^ by 
 consequence sunk under the siege, vfhich the English 
 afterwards in vain attempted. to prevent. , 
 
 These things made the Protestants look very dull 
 
 ri2] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and expected the ruin of all their party, which had 
 certainly happened had the cardinal lived a few years 
 longer. 
 
 We stayed in Paris about three weeks, as well to 
 see the court and what rarities the place afforded, as 
 by an occasion which had like to have put a short 
 period to our ramble. 
 
 Walking one morning before the gate of the 
 Louvre, with a design to see the Swiss drawn up, 
 which they always did, and exercised just before they 
 relieved the guards, a page came up to me, and speak- 
 ing English to me, " Sir," says he, " the captain must 
 needs have your immediate assistance." I, that had 
 not the knowledge of any person in Paris but my own 
 companion, whom I called captain, had no room to 
 question, but it was he that sent for me ; and crying 
 out hastily to him, " Where ? " followed the fellow as 
 fast as 't was possible. He led me through several 
 passages which I knew not, and at last through a 
 tennis-court and into a large room, where three men, 
 like gentlemen, were engaged very briskly two against 
 one. The room was very dark, so that I could not 
 easily know them asunder, but being fully possessed 
 with an opinion before of my captain's danger, I ran 
 into the room with my sword in my hand. I had not 
 particularly engaged any of them, nor so much as 
 made a pass at any, when I received a very dangerous 
 thrust in my thigh, rather occasioned by my too hasty 
 running in, than a real design of the person ; but en- 
 raged at the hurt, without examining who it was hurt 
 me, I threw myself upon him, and run my sword quite 
 through his body. 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The novelty of the adventure, and the unexpected 
 fall of the man by a stranger come in nobody knew 
 how, had becalmed the other two, that they really 
 stood gazing at me. By this time I had discovered 
 that my captain was not there, and that 't was some 
 strange accident brought me thither. I could speak 
 but little French, and supposed they could speak no 
 English, so I stepped to the door to see for the page 
 that brought me thither, but seeing nobody there and 
 the passage clear, I made off as fast as I could, without 
 speaking a word ; nor did the other two gentlemen 
 offer to stop me. 
 
 But I was in a strange confusion when, coming into 
 those entries and passages which the page led me 
 through, I could by no means find my way out. At 
 last seeing a door open that looked through a house 
 into the street, I went in, and out at the other door ; 
 but then I was at as great a loss to know where I was, 
 and which was the way to my lodgings. The wound 
 in my thigh bled apace, and I could feel the blood 
 in my breeches. In this interval came by a chair ; I 
 called, and went into it, and bid them, as well as 
 I could, go to the Louvre ; for though I knew not 
 the name of the street where I lodged, I knew I 
 could find the way to it when I was at the Bastile. 
 The chairmen went on their own way, and being 
 stopped by a company of the guards as they went, 
 set me down till the soldiers were marched by; 
 when looking out I found I was just at my own 
 lodging, and the captain was standing at the door 
 looking for me. I beckoned him to me, and, whis- 
 pering, told him I was very much hurt, but bid him 
 [14 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 pay the chairmen, and ask no questions, but come 
 to me. 
 
 I made the best of my way upstairs, but had lost so 
 much blood, that I had hardly spirits enough to keep 
 me from swooning till he came in. He was equally 
 concerned with me to see me in such a bloody con- 
 dition, and presently called up our landlord, and he 
 as quickly called in his neighbours, that I had a 
 room full of people about me in a quarter of an hour. 
 But this had like to have been of worse consequence 
 to me than the other, for by this time there was 
 great inquiring after the person who killed a man at 
 the tennis-court. My landlord was then sensible of 
 his mistake, and came to me and told me the danger 
 I was in, and very honestly offered to convey me to a 
 friend's of his, where I should be very secure ; I 
 thanked him, and suffered myself to be carried at 
 midnight whither he pleased. He visited me very 
 often, ,till I was well enough to walk about, which was 
 not in less than ten days, and then we thought fit to 
 be gone, so we took post for Orleans. But when I 
 came upon the road I found myself in a new error, 
 for my wound opened again with riding, and I was 
 in a worse condition than before, being forced to 
 
 take up at a little village on the road, called , 
 
 about miles from Orleans, where there was no 
 
 surgeon to be had, but a sorry country barber, who 
 nevertheless dressed me as well as he could, and in 
 about a week more I was able to walk to Orleans at 
 three times. Here I stayed till I was quite well, 
 and then took coach for Lyons, and so through 
 Savoy into Italy. 
 
 [16] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 I spent near two years' time after this bad begin- 
 ning in travelling through Italy, and to the several 
 courts of Rome, Naples, Venice, and Vienna. 
 
 When I came to Lyons the king was gone from 
 thence to Grenoble to meet the cardinal, but the 
 queens were both at Lyons. 
 
 The French affairs seemed at this time to have but 
 an indifferent aspect. There was no life in anything 
 but where the cardinal was : he pushed on everything 
 with extraordinary conduct, and generally with suc- 
 cess ; he had taken Susa and Pignerol from the Duke 
 of Savoy, and was preparing to push the duke even 
 out of all his dominions. 
 
 But in the meantime everywhere else things looked 
 ill ; the troops were ill-paid, the magazines empty, 
 the people mutinous, and a general disorder seized the 
 minds of the court ; and the cardinal, who was 
 the soul of everything, desired this interview at 
 Grenoble, in order to put things into some better 
 method. 
 
 This politic minister always ordered matters so, 
 that if there was success in anything the glory was 
 his, but if things miscarried it was all laid upon the 
 king. This conduct was so much the more nice, as 
 it is the direct contrary to the custom in like cases, 
 where kings assume the glory of all the success in an 
 action, and when a thing miscarries make themselves 
 easy by sacrificing their ministers and favourites to 
 the complaints and resentments of the people ; but 
 this accurate refined statesman got over this point. 
 
 While we were at Lyons, and as I remember, the 
 third day after our coming thither, we had like to 
 [16] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 have been involved in a state broil, without knowing 
 where we were. It was of a Sunday in the evening, 
 the people of Lyons, who had been sorely oppressed 
 in taxes, and the war in Italy pinching their trade, 
 began to be very tumultuous. We found the day 
 before the mob got together in great crowds, and 
 talked oddly ; the king was everywhere reviled, and 
 spoken disrespectfully of, and the magistrates of the 
 city either winked at," or durst not attempt to meddle, 
 lest they should provoke the people. 
 
 But on Sunday night, about midnight, we was 
 waked by a prodigious noise in the street. I jumped 
 out of bed, and running to the window, I saw the 
 street as full of mob as it could hold, some armed 
 with muskets and halberds, matched in very good 
 order ; others in disorderly crowds, all shouting and 
 crying out, " Du paix le roi," and the like. One that 
 led a great party of this rabble carried a loaf of 
 bread upon the t6p of a pike, and other lesser loaves, 
 signifying the smallness of their bread, occasioned 
 by dearness. 
 
 By morning this crowd was gathered to a great 
 height ; they ran roving over the whole city, shut up 
 all the shops, and forced all the people to join with 
 them from thence. They went up to the castle, and 
 renewing the clamour, a strange consternation seized 
 all the princes. 
 
 They broke open the doors of the officers, collectors 
 of the new taxes, and plundered their houses, and 
 had not the persons themselves fled in time they had 
 been very ill-treated. 
 
 The queen-mother, as she was very much displeased 
 2 [17] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIEK 
 
 to see such consequences of the government, in whose 
 management she had no share, so I suppose she had 
 the less concern upon her. However, she came into 
 the court of the castle and showed herself to the 
 people, gave money amongst them, and spoke gently 
 to them ; and by a way peculiar to herself, and which 
 obliged all she talked with, she pacified the mob 
 gradually, sent them home with promises of redress 
 and the like ; and so appeased this tumult in two 
 days, by her prudence, which the guards in the castle 
 had small mind to meddle with, and if they had, 
 would in all probability have made the better side 
 the worse. 
 
 There had been several seditions of the like nature 
 in sundry other parts of France, and the very army 
 began to murmur, though not to mutiny, for want 
 of provisions. 
 
 This sedition at Lyons was not quite over when 
 we left the place, for, finding the city all in a broil, 
 we considered we had no business there, and what 
 the consequence of a popular tumult might be we 
 did not see, so we prepared to be gone. We had not 
 rid above three miles out of the city but we were 
 brought as prisoners of war, by a party of mutineers, 
 who had been abroad upon the scout, and were 
 charged with being messengers sent to the cardinal 
 for forces to reduce the citizens. With these pre- 
 tences they brought us back in triumph, and the 
 queen-mother, being by this time grown something 
 familiar to them, they carried us before her. 
 
 When they inquired of us who we were, we called 
 ourselves Scots ; for as the English were very much 
 [18] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 out of favour in France at this time, the peace having 
 been made not many months, and not supposed to be 
 very durable, because particularly displeasing to the 
 people of England, so the Scots were on the other 
 extreme with the French. Nothing was so much 
 caressed as the Scots, and a man had no more to do 
 in France, if he would be well received there, than to 
 say he was a Scotchman. 
 
 When we came before the queen-mother, she 
 seemed to receive us with some stiffness at first, and 
 caused her guards to take us into custody ; but as 
 she was a lady of most exquisite politics, she did 
 this to amuse the mob, and we were immediately 
 after dismissed ; and the queen herself made a hand- 
 some excuse to us for the rudeness we had suffered, 
 alleging the troubles- of the times ; and the next 
 morning we had three dragoons of the guards to con- 
 voy us out of the jurisdiction of Lyons. 
 
 I confess this little adventure gave me an aversion 
 to popular tumults all my life after, and if nothing 
 else had been in the cause, would have biassed me 
 to espouse the king's party in England when our 
 popular heats carried all before it at home. 
 
 But I must say, that when I called to mind since, 
 the address, the management, the compliance in 
 show, and in general the whole conduct of the queen- 
 mother with the mutinous people of Lyons, and 
 compared it with the conduct of ray unhappy master 
 the King of England, I could not but see that the 
 queen understood much better than King Charles 
 the management of politics and the clamours of the 
 people. 
 
 [19] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Had this princess been at the helm in England, 
 she would have prevented all the calamities of the 
 Civil War here, and yet not have parted with what 
 that good prince yielded in order to peace neither. 
 She would have yielded gradually, and then gained 
 upon them gradually ; she would have managed 
 them to the point she had designed them, as she did 
 all parties in France ; and none could effectually 
 subject her but the very man she had raised to be 
 her principal support — I mean the cardinal. 
 
 We went from hence to Grenoble, and arrived 
 there the same day that the king and the cardinal 
 with the whole court went out to view a body of 
 6000 Swiss foot, which the cardinal had wheedled 
 the cantons to grant to the king to help to ruin 
 their neighbour the Duke of Savoy. 
 
 The troops were exceeding fine, well-accoutred, 
 brave, clean-limbed, stout-fellows indeed. Here I 
 saw the cardinal ; there was an air of church gravity 
 in his habit, but all the vigour of a general, and the 
 sprightliness of a vast genius in his face. He affected 
 a little stiffness in his behaviour, but managed all 
 his affairs with such clearness, such steadiness, and 
 such application, that it was no wonder he had such 
 success in every undertaking. 
 
 Here I saw the king, whose figure was mean, his 
 countenance hollow, and always seemed dejected, and 
 every way discovering that weakness in his counte- 
 nance that appeared in his actions. 
 
 If he was ever sprightly and vigorous it was when 
 the cardinal was with him, for he depended so much 
 on everything he did, that he was at the utmost 
 [20] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 dilemma when he was absent, always timorous, jeal- 
 ous, and irresolute. 
 
 After the review the cardinal was absent some 
 days, having been to wait on the queen-mother at 
 Lyons, where, as it was discoursed, they were at 
 least seemingly reconciled. 
 
 I observed while the cardinal was gone there was 
 no court, the king was seldom to be seen, very small 
 attendance given, and no bustle at the castle ; but 
 as soon as the cardinal returned, the great councils 
 were assembled, the coaches of the ambassadors went 
 every day to the castle, and a face of business ap- 
 peared upon the whole court. 
 
 Here the measures of the Duke of Savoy's ruin 
 were concerted, and in order to it the king and the 
 cardinal put themselves at the head of the army, 
 with which they immediately reduced all Savoy, took 
 Chamberri and the whole duchy except Montmelian. 
 
 The army that did this was not above 22,000 men, 
 including the Swiss, and but indiiFerent troops 
 neither, especially the French foot, who, compared 
 to the infantry I have since seen in the German and 
 Swedish armies, were not fit to be called soldiers. 
 On the other hand, considering the Savoyards and 
 Italian troops, they were good troops ; but the car- 
 dinal's conduct made amends for all these deficiencies. 
 
 From hence I went to Pignerol, which was then 
 little more than a single fortification on the hill 
 near the town called St. Bride's, but the situation 
 of that was very strong. I mention this because of 
 the prodigious works since added to it, by which it 
 has since obtained the name of " the right hand of 
 [21] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 France." They had begun a new line below the hill, 
 and some works were marked out on the side of 
 the town next the fort ; but the cardinal afterwards 
 drew the plan of the works with his own hand, by 
 which it was made one of the strongest fortresses in 
 Europe. 
 
 While I was at Pignerol, the governor of Milan, 
 for the Spaniards, came with an army and sat down 
 before Casale. The grand quarrel, and for which 
 the war in this part of Italy was begun, was this : 
 The Spaniards and Germans pretended to the duchy 
 of Mantua ; the Duke of Nevers, a Frenchman, had 
 not only a title to it, but had got possession of it ; 
 but being ill-supported by the French, was beaten 
 out by the Imperialists, and after a long siege the 
 Germans took Mantua itself, and drove the poor 
 duke quite out of the country. 
 
 The taking of Mantua elevated the spirits of the 
 Duke of Savoy, and the Germans and Spaniards be- 
 ing now at more leisure, with a complete army came 
 to his assistance, and formed the siege of Montferrat. 
 
 For as the Spaniards pushed the Duke of Mantua, 
 so the French by way of diversion lay hard upon the 
 Duke of Savoy. They had seized Montferrat, and 
 held it for the Duke of Mantua, and had a strong 
 French garrison under Thoiras, a brave and expe- 
 rienced commander ; and thus affairs stood when we 
 came into the French army. 
 
 I had no .business there as a soldier, but having 
 
 passed as a Scotch gentleman with the mob at 
 
 Lyons, and after with her Majesty the queen-mother, 
 
 when we obtained the guard of her dragoons, we 
 
 [22] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 had also her Majesty's pass, with which we came 
 and went wliere we pleased. And the cardinal, who 
 was then not on very good terms with the queen, 
 but willing to keep smooth water there, when two or 
 three times our passes came to be examined, showed 
 a more than ordinary respect to us on that very ac- 
 count, our passes being from the queen. 
 
 Casale being besieged, as I have observed, began 
 to be in danger, for the cardinal, who 't was thought 
 had formed a design to ruin Savoy, was more intent 
 upon that than upon the succour of the Duke of 
 Mantua ; but necessity calling upon him to deliver 
 so great a captain as Thoiras, and not to let such a 
 place as Casale fall into the hands of the enemy, the 
 king, or cardinal rather, ordered the Duke of Mont- 
 morency, and the Marechal D'Effiat, with 10,000 
 foot and 2000 horse, to march and join the Mar- 
 echals De La Force and Schomberg, who lay already 
 with an army on the frontiers of Genoa, but too 
 weak to attempt the raising the siege of Casale. 
 
 As all men thought there would be a battle be- 
 tween the French and the Spaniards, I could not 
 prevail with myself to lose the opportunity, and 
 therefore by the help of the passes above mentioned, 
 I came to the French army under the Duke of Mont- 
 morency. We marched through the enemy's coun- 
 try with great boldness and no small hazard, for the 
 Duke . of Savoy appeared frequently with great 
 bodies of horse on the rear of the army, and fre- 
 quently skirmished with our troops, in one of which 
 I had the folly — I can call it no better, for I had 
 no business there — to go out and see the sport, 
 [23] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CWALIER 
 
 as the French gentlemen called iv I was but a 
 raw soldier, and did not like the s]i'irt at all, for 
 this party was surrounded by the Duke-of Savoy, 
 and almost all killed, for as to quarter they^neither 
 asked nor gave. I ran away very fairly, one of ,^e 
 first, and my companion with me, and by the goods^, 
 ness of our horses got out of the fray, and being not 
 much known in the army, we came into the camp 
 an hour or two after, as if we had been only riding 
 abroad for the air. 
 
 This little rout made the general very cautious, 
 for the Savoyards were stronger in horse by three or 
 four thousand, and the army always marched in a 
 body, and kept their parties in or very near hand. 
 
 I escaped another rub in this French army about 
 five days after, which had like to have made me pay 
 dear for my curiosity. 
 
 The Duke de Montmorency and the Marechal 
 Schomberg joined their army about four or five 
 days after, and immediately, according to the car- 
 dinal's instructions, put themselves on the march for 
 the relief of Casale. 
 
 The army had marched over a great plain, with 
 some marshy grounds on the right and the Po on 
 the left, and as the country was so well discovered 
 that 't was thought impossible any mischief should 
 happen, the generals observed the less caution. At 
 the end of this plain was a long wood and a lane or 
 narrow defile through the middle of it. 
 
 Through this pass the army was to march, and the 
 van began to file through it about four o'clock. By 
 three hours' time all the army was got through or 
 [24] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 into the pass, and the artillery was just entered 
 when the Duke of Savoy, with 4000 horse and 1500 
 dragoons, with every horseman a footman behind 
 him, whether he had swam the Po or passed it above 
 at a bridge, and made a long march afber, was not 
 examined, but he came boldly up the plain and 
 charged our rear with a great deal of fiiry. 
 
 Our artillery was in the lane, and as it was impos- 
 sible to turn them about and make way for the army, 
 so the rear was obliged to support themselves and 
 maintain the fight for above an hour and a half. 
 
 In this time we lost abundance of men, and if it 
 had not been for two accidents all that line had been 
 cut off. One was, that the wood was so near that 
 those regiments which were disordered presently 
 sheltered themselves in the wood ; the other was, 
 that by this time the Marechal Schomberg, with the 
 horse of the van, began to get back through the 
 lane, and to make good the ground from whence 
 the other had been beaten, till at last by this means 
 it came to almost a pitched battle. 
 
 There were two regiments of French dragoons 
 who did excellent service in this action, and main- 
 tained their ground till they were almost all killed. 
 
 Had the Duke of Savoy contented himself with 
 the defeat of five regiments on the right, which he 
 quite brolp and drove into the wood, and with the 
 slaughter and havoc which he had made among the 
 rest, heJiad come off with honour, and might have 
 called it ai victory ; but endeavouring to break the 
 whole party and carry off some cannon, the obstinate 
 resistance otf these few dragoons lost him his advan- 
 1 [25] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 tages, and held him in play till so many fresh troops 
 got through the pass again as made us too strong 
 for him, and had not night parted them he had 
 been entirely defeated. 
 
 At last, finding our troops increase and spread 
 themselves on his flank, he retired and gave over. We 
 had no great stomach to pursue him neither, though 
 some horse were ordered to follow a little way. 
 
 The duke lost above a thousand men, and we 
 almost twice as many, and but for those dragoons 
 had lost the whole rear-guard and half our cannon. 
 I was in a very sorry case in this action too. I was 
 with the rear in the regiment of horse of Perigoort, 
 with a captain of which regiment I had contracted 
 some acquaintance. I would have rid off" at first, as 
 the captain desired me, but there was no doing it, 
 for the cannon was in the lane, and the horse and 
 dragoons of the van eagerly pressing back through 
 the lane must have run me down or carried me with 
 them. As for the wood, it was a good shelter to 
 save one's life, but was so thick there was no passing 
 it on horseback. 
 
 Our regiment was one of the first that was broke, 
 and being all in confusion, with the Duke of Savoy's 
 men at our heels, away we ran into the wood. Never 
 was there so much disorder among a parcel of run- 
 aways as when we came to this wood ^t was so 
 exceeding bushy and thick at the bottom there was 
 no entering it, and a volley of small shjt from a 
 regiment of Savoy's dragoons poured in upon us at 
 our breaking into the wood made terrible work 
 among our horses. ■* 
 
 [26] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 For my part I was goL into the wood, but was 
 forced to quit my horse, and by that means, with a 
 great deal of difficulty, got a little farther in, where 
 there was a little open place, and being quite spent 
 with labouring among the bushes I sat down resolving 
 to take my fate there, let it be what it would, for I 
 was not able to go any farther. I had twenty or 
 thirty more in the same condition come to me in less 
 than half-an-hour, and here we waited very securely 
 the success of the battle, which was as before. 
 
 It was no small relief to those with me to hear the 
 Savoyards were beaten, for otherwise they had all 
 been lost ; as for me, I confess, I was glad as it was 
 because of the danger, but otherwise I cared not 
 much which had the better, for I designed no service 
 among them. 
 
 One kindness it did me, that I began to consider 
 what I had to do here, and as I could give but a very 
 slender account of myself for what it was I run all 
 these risks, so I resolved they should fight it among 
 themselves, for I would come among them no more. 
 
 The captain with whom, as I noted above, I had 
 contracted some acquaintance in this regiment, was 
 killed in this action, and the French had really a 
 great blow here, though they took care to conceal 
 it all they could.; and I cannot, without smiling, 
 read some of the histories and memoirs of this action, 
 which they are not ashamed to call a victory. 
 
 We marched on to Saluzzo, and the next day the 
 
 Duke of Savoy presented himself in battalia on the 
 
 other side of a small river, giving us a fair challenge 
 
 to pass and engage him. We always said in our 
 
 [27] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 camp that the orders were-to fight the Duke of Savoy 
 wherever we met him ; but though he braved us in 
 our view we did not care to engage him, but we 
 brought Saluzzo to surrender upon articles, which 
 the duke could not relieve without attacking our 
 camp, which he did not care to do. 
 
 The next morning we had news of the surrender of 
 Mantua to the Imperial army. We heard of it first 
 from the Duke of Savoy's cannon, which he fired by 
 way of rejoicing, and which seemed to make him 
 amends for the loss of Saluzzo. 
 
 As this was a mortification to the French, so it 
 quite damped the success of the campaign, for the 
 Duke de Montmorency imagining that the Imperial 
 general would send immediate assistance to the Mar- 
 quis Spinola, who besieged Casale, they called fre- 
 quent councils of war what course to take, and at 
 last resolved to halt in Piedmont. A few days after 
 their resolutions were changed again by the news of 
 the death of the Duke of Savoy, Charles Emanuel, 
 who died, as some say, agitated with the extremes 
 of joy and grief. 
 
 This put our generals upon considering again 
 whether they should march to the relief of Casale, 
 but the chimera of the Germans put them by, and 
 so they took up quarters in Piedmont. They took 
 several small places from the Duke of Savoy, making 
 advantage of the consternation the duke's subjects 
 were in on the death of their prince, and spread 
 themselves from the seaside to the banks of the Po. 
 But here an enemy did that for them which the 
 Savoyards could not, for the plague got into their 
 [28] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 quarters and destroyed abundance of people, both of 
 the army and of the country. 
 
 I thought then it was time for me to be gone, for 
 I had no manner of courage for that risk; and I 
 think verily I was more afraid of being taken sick in 
 a strange country than ever I was of being killed in 
 battle. Upon this resolution I procured a pass to 
 go for Genoa, and accordingly began my journey, 
 but was arrested at Villa Franca by a slow lingering 
 fever, which held me about five days, and then 
 turned to a burning malignancy, and at last to the 
 plague. My friend, the captain, never left me night 
 nor day ; and though for four days more I knew no- 
 body, nor was capable of so much as thinking of 
 myself, yet it pleased God that the distemper 
 gathered in my neck, swelled and broke. During 
 the swelling I was raging mad with the violence of 
 pain, which being so near my head swelled that also 
 in proportion, that my eyes were swelled up, and for 
 twenty-four hours my tongue and mouth ; then, as 
 my servant told me, all the physicians gave me over, 
 as past all remedy, but by the good providence of 
 God the swelling broke. 
 
 The prodigious collection of matter which this 
 swelling discharged gave me immediate relief, and I 
 became sensible in less than an hour's time ; and in 
 two hours or thereabouts fell into a little slumber 
 which recovered my spirits and sensibly revived me. 
 Here I lay by it till the middle of September. My 
 captain fell sick after me, but recovered quickly. 
 His man had the plague, and died in two days ; my 
 man held it out well. 
 
 [29] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 About the middle of September we heard of a 
 truce concluded between all parties, and being un- 
 willing to winter at Villa Franca, I got passes, and 
 though we were both but weak, we began to travel 
 in litters for Milan. 
 
 And here I experienced the truth of an old English 
 proverb, that standers-by see more than the gamesters. 
 
 The French, Savoyards, and Spaniards made this 
 peace or truce all for separate and several grounds, 
 and every one were mistaken. 
 
 The French yielded to it because they had given 
 over the relief of Casale, and were very much afraid 
 it would fall into the hands of the Marquis Spinola. 
 The Savoyards yielded to it because they were afraid 
 the French would winter in Piedmont ; the Spaniards 
 yielded to it because the Duke of Savoy being dead, 
 and the Count de Colalto, the Imperial general, 
 giving no assistance, and his army weakened by sick- 
 ness and the fatigues of the siege, he foresaw he 
 should never take the town, and wanted but to come 
 off with honour. 
 
 The French were mistaken, because really Spinola 
 was so weak that had they marched on into Mont- 
 ferrat the Spaniards must have raised the siege ; the 
 Duke of Savoy was mistaken, because the plague had 
 so weakened the French that they durst not have 
 stayed to winter in Piedmont ; and Spinola was 
 mistaken, for though he was very slow, if he had 
 stayed before the town one fortnight longer, Thoiras 
 the governor must have surrendered, being brought 
 to the last extremity. 
 
 Of all these mistakes the French had the advantage, 
 L80] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for Casale was relieved, the army had time to be re- 
 cruited, and the French had the best of it by an early 
 campaign. 
 
 I passed through Montferrat in my way to Milan 
 just as the truce was declared, and saw the miserable 
 remains of the Spanish army, who by sickness, fatigue, 
 hard duty, the sallies of the garrison and such like con- 
 sequences, were reduced to less than 2000 men, and of 
 them above 1000 lay wounded and sick in the camp. 
 
 Here were several regiments which I saw drawn out 
 to their arms that could not make up above seventy 
 or eighty men, officers and all, and those half starved 
 with hunger, almost naked, and in a lamentable con- 
 dition. From thence I went into the town, and there 
 things were still in a worse condition, the houses beaten 
 down, the walls and works ruined, the garrison, by 
 continual duty, reduced from 4500 men to less than 
 800, without clothes, money, or provisions, the brave 
 governor weak with continual fatigue, and the whole 
 face of things in a miserable case. 
 
 The French generals had just sent them 30,000 
 crowns for present supply, which heartened them a 
 little, but had not the truce been made as it was, they 
 must have surrendered upon what terms the Spaniards 
 had pleased to make them. 
 
 Never were two armies in such fear of one another 
 with so little cause ; the Spaniards afraid of the French 
 whom the plague had devoured, and the French afraid 
 of the Spaniards whom the siege had almost ruined. 
 
 The grief of this mistake, together with the sense 
 of his master, the Spaniards, leaving him without 
 supplies to complete the siege of Casale, so affected 
 [81] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the Marquis Spinola, that he died for grief, and in 
 him fell the last of that rare breed of Low Country 
 soldiers, who gave the world so great and just a charac- 
 ter of the Spanish infantry, as the best soldiers of the 
 world ; a character which we see them so very much 
 degenerated from since, that they hardly deserve the 
 name of soldiers. 
 
 I tarried at Milan the rest of the winter, both for 
 the recovery of my health, and also for supplies from 
 England. 
 
 Here it was T first heard the name of Gustavus 
 Adolphus, the king of Sweden, who now began his 
 war with the emperor ; and while the king of France 
 was at Lyons, the league with Sweden was made, in 
 which the French contributed 1,200,000 crowns in 
 money, and 600,000 per annum to the attempt of 
 Gustavus Adolphus. About this time he landed 
 in Pomerania, took the towns of Stettin and Stral- 
 sund, and from thence proceeded in that prodigious 
 manner of which I shall have occasion to be very 
 particular in the prosecution of these Memoirs. 
 
 I had indeed no thoughts of seeing that king or his 
 armies. I had been so roughly handled already, that 
 I had given over the thoughts of appearing among 
 the fighting people, and resolved in the spring to 
 pursue my journey to Venice, and so for the rest of 
 Italy. Yet I cannot deny that as every Gazette gave 
 us some accounts of the conquests and victories of 
 this glorious prince, it prepossessed my thoughts with 
 secret wishes of seeing him, but these were so young 
 and unsettled, that I drew no resolutions from them 
 for a long while after. 
 
 [32] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 About the middle of January I left Milan and 
 came to Genoa, from thence by sea to Leghorn, then 
 to Naples, Rome, and Venice, but saw nothing in 
 Italy that gave me any diversion. 
 
 As for what is modern, I saw nothing but lewdness, 
 private murders, stabbing men at the corner of a 
 street, or in the dark, hiring of bravos, and the like ; 
 all the diversions here ended in whoring, gaming, 
 and sodomy. These were to me the modern ex- 
 cellencies of Italy ? and I had no gust to antiquities. 
 
 'T was pleasant indeed when I was at Rome to 
 say here stood the Capitol, there the Colossus of 
 Nero, here was the Amphitheatre of Titus, there the 
 Aqueduct of , here the Forum, there the Cata- 
 combs, here the Temple of Venus, there of Jupiter, 
 here the Pantheon, and the like ; but I never designed 
 to write a book. As much as was useful I kept in 
 my head, and for the rest, I left it to others. 
 
 I observed the people degenei-ated from the ancient 
 glorious inhabitants, who were generous, brave, and 
 the most valiant of all nations, to a vicious baseness 
 of soul, barbarous, treacherous, jealous and revenge- 
 ful, lewd and cowardly, intolerably proud and haughty, 
 bigoted to blind, incoherent devotion, and the gross- 
 est of idolatry. 
 
 Indeed, I think the unsuitableness of the people 
 made the place unpleasant to me, for there is so 
 little in a country to recommend it when the people 
 disgrace it, that no beauties of the creation can 
 make up for the want of those excellencies which 
 suitable society procure the defect of This made 
 Italy a very unpleasant country to me ; the people 
 3 , [ 33 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 were the foil to the place, all manner of hateful 
 vices reigning in their general way of living. 
 
 I confess I was not very religious myself, and being 
 come abroad into the world young enough, might 
 easily have been drawn into evils that had recom- 
 mended themselves with any tolerable agreeableness 
 to nature and common manners ; but when wicked- 
 ness presented itself full-grown in its grossest freedoms 
 and liberties, it quite took away all the gust to vice 
 that the devil had furnished me with, and in this I 
 cannot but relate one scene which passed between 
 nobody but the devil and myself. 
 
 At a certain town in Italy, which shall be name- 
 less, because I won't celebrate the proficiency of one 
 place more than another, when I believe the whole 
 country equally wicked, I was prevailed upon rather 
 than tempted, a la courtezan. 
 
 If I should describe the woman I must give a 
 very mean character of my own virtue to say I was 
 allured by any but a woman of an extraordinary 
 figure ; her face, shape, mien, and dress, I may, 
 without vanity, say, the finest that I ever saw. 
 When I had admittance into her apartments, the 
 riches and magnificence of them astonished me, the 
 cupboard or cabinet of plate, the jewels, the tapestry, 
 and everything in proportion, made me question 
 whether I was not in the chamber of some lady of 
 the best quality ; but when after some conversation 
 I found that it was really nothing but a courtezan 
 — in English, a common street whore, a punk of 
 the trade — I was amazed, and my inclination to 
 her person began to cool. Her conversation ex- 
 [34] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ceeded, if possible, the best of quality, and was, I must 
 own, exceeding agreeable ; she sung to her lute, and 
 danced as fine as ever I saw, and thus diverted me 
 two hours before anything else was discoursed of. 
 But when the vicious part came on the stage, I 
 blush to relate the confusion I was in, and when 
 she made a certain motion, by which I understood 
 she might be made use of, either as a lady, or as 
 
 , I was quite thunderstruck, all the vicious part 
 
 of my thoughts vanished, the place filled me with 
 horror, and I was all over disorder and distraction. 
 
 I began, however, to recollect where I was, and that 
 in this country these were people not to be aflronted ; 
 and though she easily saw the disorder I was in, she 
 turned it off with admirable dexterity, began to talk 
 again a la gallant, received me as a visitant, offered 
 me sweetmeats and some wine. 
 
 Here I began to be in more confusion than before, 
 for I concluded she would neither offer me to eat or 
 to drink now without poison, and I was very shy of 
 tasting her treat ; but she scattered this fear im- 
 mediately by readily and of her own accord not only 
 tasting but eating freely of everything she gave me. 
 Whether she perceived my wariness, or the reason 
 of it, I know not ; I could not help banishing my 
 suspicion, the obliging carriage and strange charm 
 of her conversation had so much power of me that I 
 both ate and drank with her at all hazards. 
 
 When I offered to go, and at parting presented 
 
 her five pistoles, I could not prevail with her to take 
 
 them, when she spoke some Italian proverb which I 
 
 could not readily understand, but by my guess it 
 
 [35] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 seemed to imply that she would not take the pay, 
 having not obliged me otherwise. At last I laid 
 the pieces on her toilet, and would not receive them 
 again, upon which she obliged me to pass my word 
 to visit her again, else she would by no means accept 
 ray present. 
 
 I confess I had a strong inclination to visit her 
 again, and besides thought myself obliged to it in 
 honour to my parole. But after some strife in my 
 thoughts about it, I resolved to break my word with 
 her ; when going at vespers one evening to see their 
 devotions I happened to meet this very lady very 
 devoutly going to her prayers. 
 
 At her coming out of the church I spoke to her, 
 she paid me her respects with a " Seignior Inglese," 
 and some words she said in Spanish, smiling, which 
 I did not understand. I cannot say here, so clearly 
 as I would be glad I might, that I broke my word 
 with her ; but if I saw her any more I saw nothing 
 of what gave me so much offence before. 
 
 The end of my relating this story is answered in 
 describing the manner of their address, without 
 bringing myself to confession. If I did anything I 
 have some reason to be ashamed of, it may be a less 
 crime to conceal it than expose it. 
 
 The particulars related, however, may lead the 
 reader of these sheets to a view of what gave me a 
 particular disgust at this pleasant part of the world, 
 as they pretend to call it, and made me quit the 
 place sooner than travellers use to do that come 
 thither to satisfy their curiosity. 
 
 The prodigious stupid bigotry of the people also 
 [36] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 was irksome to me ; I thought there was something 
 in it very sordid. The entire empire the priests 
 have over both the souls and bodies of the people, 
 gave me a specimen of that meanness of spirit, 
 which is nowhere else to be seen but in Italy, espe- 
 cially in the city of Rome. 
 
 At Venice I perceived it quite different, the civil 
 authority having a visible superiority over the eccle- 
 siastic, and the Church being more subject there to 
 the State than in any other part of Italy. 
 
 For these reasons I took no pleasure in filling my 
 memoirs of Italy with remarks of places or things. 
 All the antiquities and valuable remains of the 
 Roman nation are done better than I can pretend 
 to by such people who made it more their business ; 
 as for me, I went to see, and not to write, and as 
 little thought then of these Memoirs as I ill fur- 
 nished myself to write them. 
 
 I left Italy in April, and taking the tour of Bavai'ia, 
 though very much out of the way,. I passed through 
 Munich, Passau, Lintz, and at last to Vienna. 
 
 I came to Vienna the 10th of April 1631, intend- 
 ing to have gone from thence down the Danube into 
 Hungary, and by means of a pass, which I had 
 obtained from the English ambassador at Constanti- 
 nople, I designed to have seen all the great towns on 
 the Danube, which were then in the hands of the 
 Turks, and which I had read much of in the history 
 of the war between the Turks and the Germans ; but 
 I was diverted from my design by the following 
 occasion. 
 
 There had been a long bloody war in the empire 
 [37] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of Germany for twelve years, between the emperor, 
 the Duke of Bavaria, the King of Spain, and the 
 Popish princes and electors on the one side, and the 
 Protestant princes on the other; and both sides 
 having been exhausted by the war, and even the 
 Catholics themselves beginning to dislike the growing 
 power of the house of Austria, 'twas thought all 
 parties were willing to make peeice. Nay, things 
 were brought to that pass that some of the Popish 
 princes and electors began to talk of making alliances 
 with the King of Sweden. 
 
 Here it is necessary to observe, that the two Dukes 
 of Mecklenburg having been dispossessed of most of 
 their dominions by the tyranny of the Emperor 
 Ferdinand, and being in danger of losing the rest, 
 earnestly solicited the King of Sweden to come to 
 their assistance ; and that prince, as he was related 
 to the house of Mecklenburg, and especially as he 
 was willing to lay hold of any opportunity to break 
 with the emperor, against whom he had laid up an 
 implacable prejudice, was very ready and forward to 
 come to their assistance. 
 
 The reasons of his quarrel with the emperor were 
 grounded upon the Imperialists concerning themselves 
 in the war of Poland, where the emperor had sent 
 8000 foot and 2000 horse to join the Polish army 
 against the king, and had thereby given some check 
 to his arms in that war. 
 
 In pursuance, therefore, of his resolution to quarrel 
 
 with the emperor, but more particularly at the 
 
 instances of the princes above-named, his Swedish 
 
 Majesty had landed the year before at Stralsund 
 
 [38] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 with about 12,000 men, and having joined with some 
 forces which he had left in Polish Prussia, all which 
 did not make 30,000 men, he began a war with the 
 emperor, the greatest in event, filled with the most 
 famous battles, sieges, and extraordinary actions, 
 including its wonderful success and happy conclusion, 
 of any war ever maintained in the world. 
 
 The King of Sweden had already taken Stettin, 
 Stralsund, Rostock, Wismar, and all the strong places 
 on the Baltic, and began to spread himself in Ger- 
 many. He had made a league with the French, as I 
 observed in my story of Saxony ; he had now made 
 a treaty with the Duke of Brandenburg, and, in 
 short, began to be terrible to the empire. 
 
 In this conjuncture the emperor called the General 
 Diet of the empire to be held at Ratisbon, where, as 
 was pretended, all sides were to treat of peace and to 
 join forces to beat the Swedes out of the empire. 
 Here the emperor, by a most exquisite management, 
 brought the affairs of the Diet to a conclusion, ex- 
 ceedingly to his own advantage, and to the farther 
 oppression of the Protestants ; and, in particular, in 
 that the war against the King of Sweden was to be 
 carried on in such manner as that the whole burthen 
 and charge would lie on the Protestants themselves, 
 and they be made the instruments to oppose their best 
 friends. Other matters also ended equally to their 
 disadvantage, as the methods resolved on to recover 
 the Church lands, and to prevent the education of the 
 Protestant clergy ; and what remained was referred 
 to another General Diet to be held at Frankfort-au- 
 Main in August 1631. 
 
 [39] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 I won't pretend to say the other Protestant 
 princes of Germany had never made any overtures 
 to the King of Sweden to come to their assistance, 
 but 't is plain they had entered into no league with 
 him ; that appears from the difficulties which re- 
 tarded the fixing of the treaties afterward, both with 
 the Dukes of Brandenburg and Saxony, which un- 
 happily occasioned the ruin of Magdeburg. 
 
 But 't is plain the Swede was resolved on a war 
 with the emperor. His Swedish Majesty might, and 
 indeed could not but foresee that if he once showed 
 himself with a sufficient force on the frontiers of the 
 empire, all the Protestant princes would be obliged 
 by their interest or by his arms to fall in with him, 
 and this the consequence made appear to be a just 
 conclusion, for the Electors of Brandenburg and 
 Saxony were both forced to join with him. 
 
 First, they were willing to join with him — at 
 least they could not find in their hearts to join with 
 the emperor, of whose power they had such just ap- 
 prehensions. They wished the Swede success, and 
 would have been very glad to have had the work 
 done at another man's charge, but, like true Ger- 
 mans, they were more willing to be saved than to 
 save themselves, and therefore hung back and stood 
 upon terms. 
 
 Secondly, they were at last forced to it. The first 
 was forced to join by the King of Sweden himself, 
 who being come so far was not to be dallied with, 
 and had not the Duke of Brandenburg complied as he 
 did, he had been ruined by the Swede. The Saxon 
 was driven into the arms of the Swede by force^ for 
 [40] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Count Tilly, ravaging his country, made him comply 
 with any terms to be saved from destruction. 
 
 Thus matters stood at the end of the Diet at Rat- 
 isbon. The King of Sweden began to see himself 
 leagued against at the Diet both by Protestant and 
 Papist ; and, as I have often heard his Majesty say 
 since, he had resolved to try to force them off from 
 the emperor, and to treat them as enemies equally 
 with the rest if they did not. 
 
 But the Protestants convinced him soon after, 
 that though they were tricked into the outward ap- 
 pearance of a league against him at Ratisbon, they 
 had no such intentions ; and by their ambassadors to 
 him let him know that they only wanted his powerful 
 assistance to defend their councils, when they would 
 soon convince him that they had a due sense of the 
 emperor's designs, and would do their utmost for 
 their liberty. And these I take to be the first 
 invitations the King of Sweden had to undertake 
 the Protestant cause as such, and which entitled 
 him to say he fought for the liberty and religion of 
 the German nation. 
 
 I h^ve had some particular opportunities to hear 
 these things from the mouths of some of the very 
 princes themselves, and therefore am the forwarder 
 to relate them ; and I place them here because, 
 previous to the part I acted on this bloody scene, 
 't is necessary to let the reader into some part of the 
 story, and to show him in what manner and on what 
 occasions this tenible war began. 
 
 The Protestants, alarmed at the usage they had 
 met with at the former Diet, had secretly proposed 
 [41] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 among themselves to form a general union or confed- 
 eracy, for preventing that ruin which they saw, un- 
 less some speedy remedies were applied, would be 
 inevitable. The Elector of Saxony, the head of the 
 Protestants, a vigorous and politic prince, was the first 
 that moved it ; and the Landgrave of Hesse, a zeal- 
 ous and gallant prince, being consulted with, it 
 rested a great ^hile between those two, no method 
 being found practicable to bring it to pass, the em- 
 peror being so powerful in all parts, that they fore- 
 saw the petty princes would not dare to negotiate 
 an affair of such a nature, being surrounded with the 
 Imperial forces, who by their two generals, Wallen- 
 stein and Tilly, kept them in continual subjection 
 and terror. 
 
 This dilemma had like to have stifled the thoughts 
 of the union as a thing impracticable, when one 
 Seigensius, a Lutheran minister, a person of great 
 abilities, and one whom the Elector of Saxony made 
 great use of in matters of policy as well as religion, 
 contrived for them this excellent expedient. 
 
 I had the honour to be acquainted with this gentle- 
 man while I was at Leipsic. It pleased him exceed- 
 ingly to have been the contriver of so fine a structure 
 as the Conclusions of Leipsic, and he was glad to be 
 entertained on that subject. I had the relation from 
 his own mouth, when, but very modestly, he told trie 
 he thought 't was an inspiration darted on a sudden 
 into his thoughts, when the Duke of Saxony calling 
 him into his closet one morning, with a face full of 
 concern, shaking his head, and looking very earnestly, 
 "What will become of us, doctor.?" said the duke ■ 
 [42] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 "we shall all be undone at Frankfort-au-Main.'" 
 " Why so, please your highness ? " says the doctor. 
 " Why, they will fight with the King of Sweden with 
 our armies and our money," says the duke, " and de- 
 vour our friends and ourselves by the help of our 
 friends and ourselves.'" "But what is become of 
 the confederacy, then," said the doctor, " which your 
 highness had so happily framed in your thoughts, and 
 which the Landgrave of Hesse was so pleased with ? " 
 " Become of it ? " says the duke, " 't is a good thought 
 enough, but 't is impossible to bring it to pass among 
 so many members of the Protestant princes as are to 
 be consulted with, for we neither have time to treat, 
 nor will half of them dare to negotiate the matter, 
 the Imperialists being quartered in their very bowels." 
 " But may not some expedient be found out," says the 
 doctor, " to bring them all together to treat of it in 
 a general meeting ? " " 'T is well proposed," says the 
 duke, " but in what town or city shall they assemble 
 where the very deputies shall not be besieged by Tilly 
 or Wallenstein in fourteen days' time, and sacrificed 
 to the cruelty and fury of the Emperor Ferdinand ? " 
 " Will your highness be the easier in it," replies the 
 doctor, " if a way may be found out to call such an 
 assembly upon other causes, at which the emperor 
 may have no umbrage, and perhaps give his assent ? 
 You know the Diet at Frankfort is at hand; 'tis 
 necessary the Protestants should have an assembly 
 of their own to prepare matters for the General Diet, 
 and it may be no difficult matter to obtain it." The 
 duke, surprised with joy at the motion, embraced the 
 doctor with an extraordinary transport. " Thou hast 
 [43] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 done it, doctor,'" said he, and immediately caused him 
 to draw a foi-m of a letter to the emperor, which he 
 did with the utmost dexterity of style, in which 
 he was a great master, representing to his Imperial 
 Majesty that, in order to put an end to the troubles 
 of Germany, his Majesty would be pleased to permit 
 the Protestant princes of the empire to hold a Diet 
 to themselves, to consider of such matters as they were 
 to treat of at the General Diet, in order to conform 
 themselves to the will and pleasure of his Imperial 
 Majesty, to drive out foreigners, and settle a lasting 
 peace in the empire. He also insinuated something 
 of their resolutions unanimously to give their suffrages 
 in favour of the King of Hungary at the election of 
 a iiing of the Romans, a thing which he knew the 
 emperor had in his thought, and would push at vi^ith 
 all his might at the Diet. This letter was sent, and 
 the bait so neatly concealed, that the Electors o/ 
 Bavaria and Mentz, the King of Hungary, and several 
 of the Popish princes, not foreseeing that the ruin of 
 them all lay in the bottom of it, foolishly advised thei 
 emperor to consent to it. ( 
 
 In consenting to this the emperor signed his own ' 
 destruction, for here began the conjunction of thd 
 German Protestants with the Swede, which was thi 
 fatallest blow to Ferdinand, and which he coul/ 
 never recover. ^ 
 
 Accordingly the Diet was held at Leipsic, Fe,bruaA 
 8, 1630, where the Protestants agreed on sevei/?il 
 heads for their mutual defence, which were t/'\e 
 grounds of the following war. These were /^he 
 famous Conclusions of Leipsic, which so alaif ^ed 
 r 44 1 ; 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the emperor and the whole empire, that to crush it 
 in the beginning, the emperor commanded Count 
 Tilly immediately to fall upon the Landgrave of 
 Hesse and the Duke of Saxony as the principal 
 heads of the union ; but it was too late. 
 
 The Conclusions were digested into ten heads : — 
 
 1. That since their sins had brought God's judg- 
 ments upon the whole Protestant Church, they 
 should command public prayers to be made to 
 Almighty God for the diverting the calamities that 
 attended them. 
 
 2. That a treaty of peace might be set on" foot, 
 in order to come to a right understanding with the 
 Catholic princes. 
 
 3. That a time for such a treaty being obtained, 
 they should appoint an assembly of delegates to meet 
 preparatory to the treaty. 
 
 4. That all their complaints should be humbly 
 represented to his Imperial Majesty and the Catholic 
 Electors, in order to a peaceable accommodation. 
 
 5. That they claim the protection of the emperor, 
 according to the laws of the empire, and the present 
 emperor's solemn oath and promise. 
 
 6. That they would appoint deputies who should 
 meet at certain times to consult of their common 
 interests, and who should be always empowered to 
 conclude of what should be thought needful for their 
 safety. 
 
 7. That they will raise a competent force to main- 
 tain and defend their liberties, rights, and religion. 
 
 8. That it is agreeable to the Constitution of the 
 empire, concluded in the Diet at Augsburg, to do so. 
 
 [45] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 9. That the arming for their necessary defence 
 shall by no means hinder their obedience to his 
 Imperial Majesty, but that they will still continue 
 their loyalty to him. 
 
 10. They agree to. proportion their forces, which 
 in all amounted to 70,000 men. 
 
 The emperor, exceedingly startled at the Con- 
 clusions, issued out a severe proclamation or ban 
 against them, which imported much the same thing 
 as a declaration of war, and commanded Tilly to 
 begin, and immediately to fall on the Duke of 
 Saxony with all the fury imaginable, as I have al- 
 ready observed. 
 
 Here began the flame to break out ; for upon the 
 emperor's ban, the Protestants send away to the 
 King of Sweden for succour. 
 
 His Swedish Majesty had already conquered Meck- 
 lenburg, and part of Poraerania, and was advancing 
 with his victorious troops, increased by the addition 
 of some regiments raised in those parts, in order to 
 carry on the war against the emperor, having designed 
 to follow up the Oder into Silesia, and so to push 
 the war home to the emperor's hereditary countries 
 of Austria and Bohemia, when the first messengers 
 came to him in this case ; but this changed his 
 measures, and brought him to the frontiers of Brand- 
 enburg resolved to answer the desires of the Prot- 
 estants. But here the Duke of Brandenburg began 
 to halt, making some difficulties and demanding 
 terms, which drove the king to use some extremities 
 with him, and stopped the Swedes for a while, who 
 had otherwise been on the banks of the Elbe- as 
 [46] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 soon as Till}', the Imperial general, had entered 
 Saxony, which if they had done, the miserable destruc- 
 tion of Magdeburg had been prevented, as I observed 
 before. 
 
 The king had been invited into the union, and 
 when he first came back from the banks of the Oder 
 he had accepted it, and was preparing to back it 
 with all his power. 
 
 The Duke of Saxony had already a good army, 
 which he had with infinite diligence recruited, and 
 mustered them under the cannon of Leipsic. The 
 King of Sweden having, by his ambassador at Leipsic, 
 entered into the union of the Protestants, was ad- 
 vancing victoriously to their aid, just as Count Tilly 
 had entered the Duke of Saxony's dominions. The 
 fame of the Swedish conquests, and of the hero who 
 commanded them, shook my resolution of travelling 
 into Turkey, being resolved to see the conjunction 
 of the Protestant armies, and before the fire was 
 broke out too far to take the advantage of seeing 
 both sides. 
 
 While I remained at Vienna, uncertain which way 
 I should proceed, I remember I observed they talked 
 of the King of Sweden as a prince of no consideration, 
 one that they might let go on and tire himself in 
 Mecklenburg and thereabout, till they could find 
 leisure to deal with him, and then might be crushed 
 as they pleased ; but 't is never safe to despise an 
 enemy, so this was not an enemy to be despised, as 
 they afterwards found. 
 
 As to the Conclusions of Leipsic, indeed, at first 
 they gave the Imperial court some uneasiness, but 
 [47] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 when they found the Imperial armies began to fright 
 the members out of the union, and that the several 
 branches had no considerable forces on foot, it was 
 the general discourse at Vienna that the union at 
 Leipsic only gave the emperor an opportunity to 
 crush absolutely the Dukes of Saxony, Brandenburg, 
 and the Landgrave of Hesse, and they looked upon 
 it as a thing certain. 
 
 I never saw any real concern in their faces at 
 Vienna till news came to court that the King of 
 Sweden had entered into the union ; but as this made 
 them very uneasy, they began to move the power- 
 fullest methods possible to divert this storm ; and 
 upon this news Tilly was hastened to fall into Saxony 
 before this union could proceed to a conjunction of 
 forces. This was certainly a very good resolution, and 
 no measure could have been more exactly concerted, 
 had not the diligence of the Saxons prevented it. 
 
 The gathering of this storm, which from a cloud 
 began to spread over the empire, and from the little 
 duchy of Mecklenburg began to threaten all Ger- 
 many, absolutely determined me, as I noted before, 
 as to travelling, and laying aside the thoughts of 
 Hungary, I resolved, if possible, to see the King 
 of Sweden's army. 
 
 I parted from Vienna the middle of May, and took 
 post for Great Glogau in Silesia, as if I had purposed 
 to pass into Poland, but designing indeed to go down 
 the Oder to Custrim in the marquisate of Branden- 
 burg, and so to Berlin. But when I came to the 
 frontiers of Silesia, though I had passes, I could go 
 no farther, the guards on all the frontiers were so 
 [48] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 strict, so I was obliged to come back into Bohemia, 
 and went to Prague. From hence I found I could 
 easily pass through the Imperial provinces to the 
 lower Saxony, and accordingly took passes for Ham- 
 burg, designing, however, to use them no farther 
 than I found occasion. 
 
 By virtue of these passes I got into the Imperial 
 army, under Count Tilly, then at the siege of Mag- 
 deburg, May the 2nd. 
 
 I confess I did not foresee the fate of this city, 
 neither, I believe, did Count Tilly himself expect to 
 glut his fury with so entire a desolation, much less 
 did the people expect it. I did believe they must 
 capitulate, and I perceived by discourse in the army 
 that Tilly would give them but very indifferent condi- 
 tions ; but it fell out otherwise. The treaty of sur- 
 render was, as it were, begun, nay, some say concluded, 
 when some of the out-guards of the Imperialists 
 finding the citizens had abandoned the guards of the 
 works, and looked to themselves with less diligence 
 than usual, they broke in, carried an half-moon, 
 sword in hand, with little resistance ; and though it 
 was a surprise on both sides, the citizens neither 
 fearing, nor the army expecting the occasion, the 
 garrison, with as much lesolution as could be expected 
 under such a fright, flew to the walls, twice beat the 
 Imperialists off, but fresh men coming up, and the ad- 
 ministi'ator of Magdeburg himself being wounded 
 and taken, the enemy broke in, took the city by 
 storm, and entered with such terrible fury, that, 
 without respect to age or condition, they put all the 
 garrison and inhabitants, man, woman, and child, to 
 4 [49] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the sword, plundered the city, and when they had 
 done this set it on fire. 
 
 This calamity sure was the dreadfuUest sight that 
 ever I saw ; the i-age of the Imperial soldiers was 
 most intolerable, and not to be expressed. Of 26,000, 
 some said 30,000 people, there was not a soul to be 
 seen alive, till the flames drove those that were hid 
 in vaults and secret places to seek death in the streets 
 rather than perish in the fire. Of these miserable 
 creatures some were killed too by the furious soldiers, 
 but at last they saved the lives of such as came out 
 of their cellars and holes, and so about two thou- 
 sand poor desperate creatures were left. The exact 
 number of those that perished in this city could 
 never be known, because those the soldiers had first 
 butchered the flames afterwards devoured. 
 
 I was on the other side of the Elbe when this 
 dreadful piece of butchery was done. The city of 
 Magdeburg had a sconce or fort over against 
 it called the toll-house, which joined to the city 
 by a very fine bridge of boats. This fort was taken 
 by the Imperialists a few days before and having 
 a mind to see it, and the rather because from thence 
 I could have a very good view of the city, I was go- 
 ing over Tilly's bridge of boats to view this fort. 
 About ten o'clock in the morning I perceived they 
 were storming by the firing, and immediately all ran 
 to the works ; I little thought of the taking the city, 
 but imagined it might be some outwork attacked, 
 for we all expected the city would surrender that 
 day, or next, and they might have capitulated upon 
 very good terras. 
 
 [50] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Being upon the works of the fort, on a sudden I 
 heard the dreadfuUest cry raised in the city that can 
 be imagined ; 't is not possible to express the manner 
 of it, and I could see the women and children run- 
 ning about the streets in a most lamentable condition. 
 
 The city wall did not run along the side where the 
 river was with so great a height, but we could 
 plainly see the market-place and the several streets 
 which run down to the river. In about an hour's 
 time after this first cry all was in confusion ; there was 
 little shooting, the execution was aU cutting of 
 throats and mere house mm-ders. The resolute gar- 
 rison, with the brave Baron Falkenberg, fought it 
 out to the last, and were cut in pieces, and by this 
 time the Imperial soldiers having broke open the 
 gates and entered on all sides, the slaughter was 
 very dreadful. We could see the poor people in 
 crowds driven down the streets, flying from the fury 
 of the soldiers, who followed butchering them as 
 fast as they could, and refused mercy to anybody, 
 till driving them to the river's edge, the desperate 
 wretches would throw themselves into the river, 
 where thousands of them perished, especially women 
 and children. Several men that could swim got 
 over to our side, where the soldiers not heated with 
 fight gave them quarter, and took them up, and I 
 cannot but do this justice to the German offi- 
 cers in the fort : they had five small flat boats, and 
 they gave leave to the soldiers to go off in them, 
 and get what booty they could, but charged them 
 not to kill anybody, but take them all prisoners. 
 
 Nor was their humanity ill rewarded, for the 
 [51] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 soldiers, wisely avoiding those places where their 
 fellows were employed in butchering the miserable 
 people, rowed to other places, where crowds of 
 people stood crying out for help, and expecting to 
 be every minute either drowned or murdered ; of 
 these at sundry times they fetched over near six 
 hundred, but took care to take in none but such as 
 offered them good pay. 
 
 Never was money or jewels of greater service than 
 now, for those that had anything of that sort to offer 
 were soonest helped. 
 
 There was a burgher of the town who, seeing a 
 boat coming near him, but out of his call, by the 
 help of a speaking trumpet, told the soldiers in it 
 he would give them 20,000 dollars to fetch him off. 
 They rowed close to the shore, and got him with his 
 wife and six children into the boat, but such throngs 
 of people got about the boat that had like to have 
 sunk her, so that the soldiers were fain to drive a 
 great many out again by main force, and while they 
 were doing this some of the enemies coming down 
 the street desperately drpve them all into the water. 
 
 The boat, however, brought the burgher and his 
 wife and children safe, and though they had not all 
 that wealth about them, yet in jewels and money he 
 gave them so much as made all the fellows very rich. 
 
 I cannot pretend to describe the cruelty of this 
 day : the town by five in the afternoon was all in a 
 flame ; the wealth consumed was inestimable, and a 
 loss to the very conqueror. I think there was little 
 or nothing left but the great church and about a 
 hundred houses. 
 
 [52] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 This was a sad welcome into the army for me, and 
 gave me a horror and aversion to the eniperor''s peo- 
 ple, as well as to his cause. I quitted the camp the 
 third day after this execution, while the fire was 
 hardly out in the city ; and from thence getting 
 safe-conduct to pass into the Palatinate, I turned 
 out of the road at a small village on the Elbe, called 
 Emerfield, and by ways and towns I can give but 
 small account of, having a boor for our guide, who 
 we could hardly understand, I arrived at Leipsic on 
 the 17th of May. 
 
 We found the elector intense upon the strengthen- 
 ing of his army, but the people in the greatest terror 
 imaginable, every day expecting Tilly with the Ger- 
 man army, who by his cruelty at Magdeburg was 
 become so dreadful to the Protestants that they ex- 
 pected no mercy wherever he came. 
 
 The emperor's power was made so formidable to 
 all the Protestants, particularly since the Diet at 
 Ratisbon left them in a worse case than it found 
 them, that they had not only formed the Conclu- 
 sions of Leipsic, which all men looked on as the 
 effect of desperation rather than any probable means 
 of their deliverance, but had privately implored the 
 protection and assistance of foreign powers, and 
 particularly the King of Sweden, fi'om whom they 
 had promises of a speedy and powerful assistance. 
 And truly if the Swede had not with a very strong 
 hand rescued them, all their Conclusions at Leipsic 
 had served but to hasten their ruin. I remember 
 very well when I was in the Imperial army they 
 discoursed with such contempt of the forces 'of the 
 [53] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Protestants, that not only the Imperialists but the 
 Protestants themselves gave them up as lost. The 
 emperor had not less than 200,000 men in several 
 armies on foot, who most of them were on the back 
 of the Protestants in every comer. If Tilly did but 
 write a threatening letter to any city or prince of 
 the union, they presently submitted, renounced the 
 Conclusions of Leipsic, and received Imperial garri- 
 sons, as the cities of Ulm and Memmingen, the 
 duchy of Wirtemberg, and several others, and almost 
 . all Suaben. 
 
 Only the Duke of Saxony and the Landgrave of 
 Hesse upheld the drooping courage of the Protes- 
 tants, and refused all terms of peace, slighted all the 
 threatenings of the Imperial generals, and the Duke 
 of Brandenburg was brought in afterward almost by 
 force. 
 
 The Duke of Saxony mustered his forces under the 
 walls of Leipsic, and I having returned to. Leipsic, 
 two days before, saw them pass the review. The 
 duke, gallantly mounted, rode through the ranks, 
 attended by his field-marshal, Arnheim, and seemed 
 mighty well pleased with them, and indeed the troops 
 made a very fine appearance ; but I that had seen 
 Tilly's army and his old weather-beaten soldiers, 
 whose discipline and exercises were so exact, and 
 their courage so often tried, could not look on the 
 Saxon army without some concern for them when I 
 considered who they had to deal with. Tilly's men 
 were rugged surly fellows, their faces had an air of 
 hardy courage, mangled with wounds and scars, their 
 armour showed the bruises of musket bullets, and the 
 [54] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 rust of the winter storms. I observed of them their 
 clothes were always dirty, but their arms were clean 
 and bright ; they were used to camp in the open fields, 
 and sleep in the frosts and rain ; their horses were 
 strong and hardy like themselves, and well taught 
 their exercises ; the soldiers knew their business so 
 exactly that general orders were enough ; every pri- 
 vate man was fit to command, and their wheelings, 
 marchings, counter-marchings and exercise were done 
 with such order and readiness, that the distinct words 
 of command were hardly of any use among them ; 
 they were flushed with victory, and hardly knew what 
 it was to fly. 
 
 There had passed some messages between Tilly and 
 the duke, and he gave always such ambiguous answers 
 as he thought might serve to gain time ; but Tilly 
 was not to be put off^ with words, and drawing his 
 army towards Saxony, sends four propositions to 
 him to sign, and demands an immediate reply. The 
 propositions were positive. 
 
 1. To cause his troops to enter into the emperor's 
 service, and to march in person with them against the 
 King of Sweden. 
 
 2. To give the Imperial army quarters in his 
 country, and supply them with necessary provisions. 
 
 3. To relinquish the union of Leipsic, and disown 
 the ten Conclusions. 
 
 4. To make restitution of the goods and lands of 
 the Church. 
 
 The duke being pressed by Tilly's trumpeter for an 
 immediate answer sat all night, and part of the next 
 day, in council with his privy counsellors, debating 
 [55] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 what reply to give him, which at last was concluded, 
 in short, that he would live and die in defence of the 
 Protestant religion, and the Conclusions of Leipsic, 
 and bade Tilly defiance. 
 
 The die being thus cast, he immediately decamped 
 with his whole army for Torgau, fearing that Tilly 
 should get there before him, and so prevent his con- 
 junction with the Swede. The duke had not yet 
 concluded any positive treaty with the King of 
 Swedeland, and the Duke of Brandenburg having 
 made some difficulty of joining, they both stood on 
 some niceties till they had like to have ruined them- 
 selves all at once. 
 
 Brandenburg had given up the town of Spandau 
 to the king by a former treaty to secure a retreat 
 for his army, and the king was advanced as far as 
 Frankfort-upon-the-Oder, when on a sudden some 
 small difficulties arising, Brandenburg seems cold in 
 the matter, and with a sort of indifference demands 
 to have his town of Spandau restored to him again. 
 Gustavus Adolphus, who began presently to imagine 
 the duke had made his peace with the emperor, and 
 so would either be his enemy or pretend a neutrality, 
 generously delivered him his town of Spandau, but 
 immediately turns about, and with his whole army 
 besieges him in his capital city of Berlin. This 
 brought the duke to know his error, and by the 
 interpositions of the ladies, the Queen of Sweden 
 being the duke's sister, the matter was accommodated, 
 and the duke joined his forces with the king. 
 
 But the Duke of Saxony had like to have been 
 undone by this delay, for the Imperialists, under 
 [56] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Count de Furstenberg, were entered his country, and 
 had possessed themselves of Halle, and Tilly was on 
 his march to join him, as he afterwards did, and 
 ravaging the whole country laid siege to Leipsic 
 itself. The duke driven to this extremity rather flies 
 to the Swede than treats with him, and on the 2nd 
 of September the duke's army joined with the 
 King of Sweden. 
 
 I had not come to Leipsic but to see the Duke of 
 Saxony's army, and that being marched, as I have 
 said, for Torgau, I had no business there, but if I 
 had, the approach of Tilly and the Imperial army 
 was enough to hasten me away, for I had no occasion 
 to be besieged there ; so on the 27th of August I 
 left the town, as several of the principal inhabitants 
 had done before, and more would have done had not 
 the governor published a proclamation against it, 
 ■and besides they knew not whither to fly, for all 
 places wei-e alike exposed. The poor people were 
 under dreadful apprehensions of a siege, and of the 
 merciless usage of the Imperial soldiers, the example 
 of Magdeburg being fresh before them, the duke and 
 his army gone from them, and the town, though well 
 furnished, but indifferently fortified. 
 
 In this condition I left them, buying up stores of 
 provisions, working hard to scour their moats, set up 
 palisadoes, repair their fortifications, and preparing 
 all things for a siege ; and following the Saxon army 
 to Torgau, I continued in the camp till a few days 
 before they joined the King of Sweden. 
 
 I had much ado to persuade my companion from 
 entering into the service of the Duke of Saxony, one 
 [57] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of whose colonels, with whom we had contracted a 
 particular acquaintance, offering him a commission 
 to be cornet in one of the old regiments of horse ; 
 but the difference I had observed between this new 
 army and Tilly's old troops had made such an im- 
 pression on me, that I confess I had yet no manner 
 of inclination for the service, and therefore persuaded 
 him to wait a while till we had seen a little further 
 into affairs, and particularly till we had seen the 
 Swedish army which we had heard so much of. 
 
 The difficulties which the Elector-Duke of Saxony 
 made of joining with the king were made up by a 
 treaty concluded with the king on the 2nd of 
 September at Coswig, a small town on the Elbe, 
 whither the king's army was arrived the night before ; 
 for General Tilly being now entei-ed into the duke's 
 country, had plundered and ruined all the lower part 
 of it, and was now actually besieging the capital city 
 of Leipsic. These necessities made almost any con- 
 ditions easy to him ; the greatest difficulty was that 
 the King of Sweden demanded the absolute com- 
 mand of the army, which the duke submitted to with 
 less goodwill than he had reason to do, the king's 
 experience and conduct considered. 
 
 I had not patience to attend the conclusions of 
 their particular treaties, but as soon as ever the pas- 
 sage was clear I quitted the Saxon camp and went to 
 see the Swedish army. I fell in with the out-guards 
 of the Swedes at a little town called Beltsig, on the 
 river Wersa, just as they were relieving the guards 
 and going to march, and having a pass from the 
 English ambassador was very well received by the 
 [68] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 officer who changed the guards, and with him I went 
 back into the army. By nine in the morning the 
 army was in full march, the king himself at the head 
 of them on a grey pad, and riding from one brigade 
 to another, ordered the march of every line himself. 
 
 When I saw the Swedish troops, their exact dis- 
 cipline, their order, the modesty and familiarity of 
 their officers, and the regular living of the soldiers, 
 their camp seemed a well-ordered city ; the meanest 
 country woman with her market ware was as safe from 
 violence as in the streets of Vienna. There were no 
 regiments of whores and rags as followed the Impe- 
 rialists ; nor any woman in the camp but such as 
 being known to the provosts to be the wives of the 
 soldiers, who were necessary for washing linen, taking 
 care of the soldiers'' clothes, and dressing their 
 victuals. 
 
 The soldiers were well clad, not gay, fiirnished with 
 excellent arms, and exceedingly careful of them ; and 
 though they did not seem so terrible as I thought 
 Tilly's men did when I first saw them, yet the figure 
 they made, together with what we had heard of them, 
 made them seem to me invincible : the discipline and 
 order of their marchings, camping, and exercise was 
 excellent and singular, and, which was to be seen in 
 no armies but the king's, his own skill, judgment, 
 and vigilance having added much to the general 
 conduct of armies then in use. 
 
 As I met the Swedes on their march I had no 
 
 opportunity to acquaint myself with anybody till 
 
 after the conjunction of the Saxon army, and then 
 
 it being but four days to the great battle of Leipsic, 
 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 our acquaintance was but small, saving what fell out 
 accidentally by conversation. 
 
 I met with several gentlemen in the king's army 
 who spoke English very well ; . besides that there were 
 three regiments of Scots in the army, the colonels 
 whereof I found were extraordinarily esteemed by 
 the king, as the Lord Reay, Colonel Lumsdell, and 
 Sir John Hepburn. The latter of these, after I had 
 by an accident become acquainted with, I found had 
 been for many years acquainted with my father,, and 
 on that account I received a great deal of civility 
 from him, which afterwards grew into a kind of 
 intimate friendship. . He was a complete soldier 
 indeed, and for that reason so well beloved by that 
 gallant king, that he hardly knew how to go about 
 any great action without him. 
 
 It was impossible for me now to restrain my young 
 comrade from entering into the Swedish service, and 
 indeed everything was so inviting that I could not 
 blame him. A captain in Sir John Hepburn's regi- 
 ment had picked acquaintance with him, and he 
 having as much gallantry in his face as real courage 
 in his heart, the captain had persuaded him to take 
 service, and promised to use his interest to get him 
 a company in the Scotch brigade. I had made him 
 promise me not to part from me in my travels with- 
 out my consent, which was the only obstacle to his 
 desires of entering into the Swedish pay ; and being 
 one evening in the captain's tent with him and dis- 
 coursing very freely together, the captain asked him 
 very short but friendly, and looking earnestly at 
 me, « Is this the gentleman, Mr. Fielding, that has 
 [60] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 done so much prejudice to the King of Sweden'^ 
 service ? " I was doubly surprised at the expression, 
 and at the colonel, Sir John Hepburn, coming at 
 that very moment into the tent. The colonel hear- 
 ing something of the question, but knowing nothing 
 of the reason of it, any more than as I seemed a 
 little to concern myself at it, yet after the ceremony 
 due to his character was over, would needs know 
 what I had done to hinder his Majesty's service. 
 " So much truly," says the captain, " that if his 
 Majesty knew it he would think himself very little 
 beholden to him." " I am sorry, sir," said I, " that 
 I should offend in anything, who am but a stranger ; 
 but if you would please to inform me, I would 
 endeavour to alter anything in my behaviour that 
 is prejudicial to any one, much less to his Majesty's 
 service." " I shall take you at your word, sir," says 
 the captain ; " the King of Sweden, sir, has a par- 
 ticular request to you." " I should be glad to know 
 two things, sir," said I ; " first, how that can be 
 possible, since I am not yet known to any man in the 
 army, much less to his Majesty.'' and secondly, what 
 the request can be ? " " Why, sir, his Majesty 
 desires you would not hinder this gentleman from 
 entering into his service, who it seems desires nothing 
 more, if he may have your consent to it." " I have 
 too much honour for his Majesty," returned I, " to 
 deny anything which he pleases to command me ; 
 but methinks 't is some hardship you should make 
 that the king's order, which 't is very probable he 
 knows nothing of." Sir John Hepburn took the case 
 up something gravely, and drinking a glass of Leip- 
 [61] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 sic beer to the captain, said, " Come, captain, don't 
 press these gentlemen ; the king desires no man's 
 service but what is purely volunteer." So we en- 
 tered into other discourse, and the colonel perceiving 
 by my talk that I had seen Tilly's army, was mighty 
 curious in his questions, and seeming very well satis- 
 fied with the account I gave him. 
 
 The next day the army having passed the Elbe at 
 Wittenberg, and joined the Saxon army near Torgau, 
 his Majesty caused both armies to draw up in 
 battalia, giving every brigade the same post in the 
 lines as he purposed to fight in. I must do the 
 memory of that glorious general this honour, that I 
 never saw an army drawn up with so much variety, 
 order, and exact regularity since, though I have 
 seen many armies drawn up by some of the greatest 
 captains of the age. The order by which his men 
 were directed to flank and "relieve one another, the 
 methods of receiving one body of men if disordered 
 into another, and rallying one squadron without dis- 
 ordering another was so admirable.; the horse every- 
 where flanked, lined and defended by the foot, and 
 the foot by the horse, and both by the cannon, was 
 such, that if those orders were but as punctually 
 obeyed, 't were impossible to put an army so modelled 
 into any confusion. 
 
 The view being over, and the troops returned to 
 their camps, the captain with whom we drank the 
 day before meeting me told me I must come and 
 sup with him in his tent, where he would ask my 
 pardon for the affiont he gave me before. I told 
 him he needed not put himself to the trouble, I was 
 [62] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 not affronted at all ; that I would do myself the 
 honour to wait on him, provided he would give me 
 his word not to speak any more of it as an affront. 
 
 We had not been a quarter of an hour in his tent 
 but Sir John Hepburn came in again, and address- 
 ing to me, told me he was glad to find me there ; 
 that he came to the captain's tent to inquire how 
 to send to me ; and bhat I must do him the honour to 
 go with him to wait on the king, who had a mind 
 to hear the account I could give him of the Imperial 
 army from my own mouth. I must confess I was at 
 some loss in my mind how to make my address to 
 his Majesty, but I had heard so much of the convers- 
 able temper of the king, and his particular sweet- 
 ness of humour with the meanest soldier, that I 
 made no more difficulty, but having paid my respects 
 to Colonel Hepburn, thanked him for the honour he 
 had done me, and offered to rise and wait upon 
 him. " Nay," says the colonel, " we will eat first, 
 for I find Gourdon," which was the captain's name, 
 " has got something for supper, and the king's order 
 is at seven o'clock." So we went to supper, and Sir 
 John, becoming very friendly, must know my name ; 
 which, when I had told him, and of what place and 
 family, he rose from his seat, and embracing me, 
 told me he knew my father very well, and had been 
 intimately acquainted with him, and told me several 
 passages wherein my father had particularly obliged 
 him. After this we went to supper, and the king's 
 health being drank round, the colonel moved the 
 sooner because he had a mind to talk with me. 
 
 When we were going to the king he inquired of 
 [63] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 me where I had been, and what occasion brought me 
 to the army. I told him the short history of my 
 travels, and that I came hither from Vienna on 
 purpose to see the King of Sweden and his army. 
 He asked me if there was any service he could do 
 me, by which he meant, whether I desired an em- 
 ployment. I pretended not to take him so, but told 
 him the protection his acquaintance would afford me 
 was more than I could have asked, since I might 
 thereby have opportunity to satisfy my curiosity, 
 which was the chief end of my coming abroad. He 
 perceiving by this that I had no mind to be a 
 soldier, told me very kindly I should command him 
 in anything; that his tent and equipage, horses and 
 servants should always have orders to be at my 
 service ; but that as a piece of friendship, he would 
 advise me to retire to some place distant from the 
 army, for that the army would march to-morrow, 
 and the king was resolved to fight General Tilly, 
 and he would not have me hazard myself; that 
 if I thought fit to take his advice, he would have 
 me take that interval to see the court at Berlin, 
 whither he would send one of his servants to wait 
 on me. 
 
 His discourse was too kind not to extort the 
 tenderest acknowledgment from me that I was capable' 
 of I told him his care of me was so obliging, that 
 I knew not what return to make him, but if he 
 pleased to leave me to my choice I desired no greater 
 favour than to trail a pike under his command in 
 the ensuing battle. " I can never answer it to your 
 father," says he, " to suffer you to expose yourself so 
 [64] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 far." I told him my father would certainly acknowl- 
 edge his friendship in the proposal made me ; but I 
 believed he knew him better than to think he would 
 be well pleased with me if I should accept of it ; 
 that I was sure my father would have rode post five 
 hundred miles to have been at such a battle under 
 such a general, and it should never be told him that 
 his son had rode fiftv miles to be out of it. He 
 seemed to be something concerned at the I'esolution 
 I had taken, and replied very quickly upon me, that 
 he approved very well of my courage ; " but," says 
 he, " no man gets any credit by running upon need- 
 less adventures, nor loses any by shunning hazards 
 which he has no order for. 'T is enough," says he, 
 "for a gentleman to behave well when he is com- 
 manded upon any service ; I have had fighting 
 enough," says he, "upon these points of honour, 
 and I never got anything but reproof for it from the 
 king himself." 
 
 " Well, sir," said I, " however, if a man expects 
 to rise by his valour, he must show it somewhere ; 
 and if I were to have any command in an army, I 
 would first try whether I could deserve it. I have 
 never yet seen any service, and must have my induc- 
 tion some time or other. I shall never have a better 
 schoolmaster than yourself, nor a better school than 
 such an army." " Well," says Sir John^ " but you 
 may have the same school and the same teaching 
 after this battle is over ; for I must tell you before- 
 hand, this will be a bloody touch. Tilly has a great 
 army of old lads that are used to boxing, fellows 
 with iron faces, and 't is a little too much to engage 
 5 [65] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 so hotly the first entrance into the wars. You may 
 see our discipline this winter, and make your cam- 
 paign with us next summer, when you need not 
 fear but we shall have fighting enough, and you will 
 be better acquainted with things. We do never 
 put our common soldiers upon pitched battles the 
 first campaign, but place our new men in gairisons 
 and try them in parties first." " Sir," said I, with a 
 little more freedom, "I believe I shall not make 
 a trade of the war, and therefore need not serve an 
 apprenticeship to it : 't is a hard battle where none 
 escapes. If I come off^, I hope I shall not disgrace 
 you, and if not, 't will be some satisfaction to my 
 father to hear his son died fighting under the 
 command of Sir John Hepburn, in the army of 
 the King of Sweden, and I desire no better epitaph 
 upon my tomb." 
 
 " Well," says Sir John, and by this time we were 
 just come to the king's quarters, and the guards 
 calling to us interrupted his reply ; so we went into 
 the courtyard where the king was lodged, which was 
 in an indifferent house of one of the burghers of 
 Debien, and Sir John stepping up, met the king 
 coming down some steps into a large room which 
 looked over the town wall into a field where part of 
 the artillery was drawn up. Sir John Hepburn sent 
 his man presently to me to come up, which I did ; 
 and Sir John without any ceremony carries me 
 directly up to the king, who was leaning on his 
 elbow in the window. The king turning about, 
 "This is the EngKsh gentleman," says Sir John, 
 " who I told your Majesty had been in the Imperial 
 166] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 army." " How then did he get hither," says the 
 king, " without being taken by the scouts ? " At 
 which question. Sir John saying nothing, " By a pass, 
 and please your Majesty from the English ambas- 
 sador's secretary at Vienna," said I, making a pro- 
 found reverence. " Have you then been at Vienna ? " 
 says the king. " Yes, and please your Majesty," 
 said I ; upon which the king, folding up a letter he 
 had in his hand, seemed much more earnest to talk 
 about Vienna than about Tilly. " And, pray, what 
 news had you at Vienna ? " " Nothing, sir," said I, 
 " but daily accounts one in the neck of another of 
 their own misfortunes, and your Majesty's conquests, 
 which makes a very melancholy court there." " But, 
 pray," said the king, " what is the common opinion 
 there about these affairs ? " " The common people 
 are terrified to the last degree," said I, " and when 
 your Majesty took Frankfort-upon-Oder, if your 
 army had marched but twenty miles into Silesia, 
 half the people would have run out of Vienna, and I 
 left them fortifying the city." "They need not," 
 replied the king, smiling ; " I have no design to 
 trouble them, it is the Protestant countries I must 
 be for." 
 
 Upon this the Duke of Saxony entered the room, 
 and finding the king engaged, offered to retire ; but 
 the king, beckoning with his hand, called to him in 
 French : " Cousin," says the king, " this gentleman 
 has been travelling and comes from Vienna," and so 
 made me repeat what I had said before ; at which the 
 king went on with me, and Sir John Hepburn 
 informing his Majesty that I spoke High Dutch, he 
 [67] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 changed his language, and asked me in Dutch where 
 it was that I saw General Tilly's army. I told his 
 Majesty at the siege of Magdeburg. " At Magde- 
 burg ! " said the king, shaking his head ; " Tilly 
 must answer to me one day for that city, and if not 
 to me, to a greater King than I. Can you guess 
 what army he had with him ? " said the king. " He 
 had two armies with him," said I, " but one I sup- 
 pose will do your Majesty no harm." " Two armies ! " 
 said the king. " Yes, sir, he has one army of about 
 26,000 men," said I, « and another of above 15,000 
 whores and their attendants," at which the king 
 laughed heartily. " Ay, ay," says the king, " those 
 15,000 do us as much harm as the 26,000, for they 
 eat up the country, and devour the poor Protestants 
 more than the men. Well," says the king, " do 
 they talk of fighting us ? " " They talk big enough, 
 ' sir," said I, " but your Majesty has not been so often 
 fought with as beaten in their discourse." " I know 
 not for the men," says the king, " but the old man 
 is as likely to do it as talk of it, and I hope to try 
 them in a day or two." 
 
 The king inquired after that several matters of me 
 about the Low Countries, the Prince of Orange, and 
 of the court and affairs in England ; and Sir John 
 Hepburn informing his Majesty that I was the son 
 of an English gentleman of his acquaintance, the 
 king had the goodness to ask him what care he had 
 taken of me against the day of battle. Upon which 
 Sir John repeated to him the discourse we had to- 
 gether by the way; the king seeming particularly 
 pleased with it, began to take me to task himseE 
 [68] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 " You English gentlemen," says he, " are too forward 
 in the wars, which makes you leave them too soon 
 again." " Your Majesty," replied I, " makes war in 
 so pleasant a manner as makes all the world fond of 
 fighting under your conduct." " Not so pleasant 
 neither," says the king, " here 's a man can tell you 
 that sometimes it is not very pleasant." " I know 
 not much of the warrior, sir," said I, " nor of the 
 world, but if always to conquer be the pleasure of 
 the war, your Majesty's soldiers have all that can be 
 desired." " Well," says the king, " but however, con- 
 sidering all things, I think you would do well to take 
 the advice Sir John Hepburn has given you." " Your 
 Majesty may command me to anything, but where 
 your Majesty and so many gallant gentlemen hazard 
 their lives, mine is not worth mentioning; and I 
 should not dare to tell my father at my return into 
 England that I was in your Majesty's army, and made 
 so mean a figure that your Majesty would not permit 
 me to fight under that royal standard." " Nay," re- 
 plied the king, " I lay no commands upon you, but 
 you are young." " I can never die, sir," said I, " with 
 more honour than in your Majesty's service." I spake 
 this with so much freedom, and his Majesty was so 
 pleased with it, that he asked me how I would choose 
 to serve, on horseback or on foot. I told his Majesty 
 I should be glad to receive any of his Majesty's com- 
 mands, but if I had not that honour I had purposed 
 to trail a pike under Sir John Hepburn, who had 
 done me so much honour as to introduce me into his 
 Majesty's presence. " Do so, then," replied the king, 
 and turning to Sir John Hepburn, said, " and, pray, 
 [69] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 do you take care of him.'" At which, overcome with 
 the goodness of his discourse, I could not answer a 
 word, but made him a profound reverence and retired. 
 
 The next day but one, being the 7th of Septem- 
 ber, before day the army marched from Dieben to a 
 large field about a mile from Leipsic, where we found 
 Tilly's army in full battalia in admirable order, which 
 made a show both glorious and ten-ible. Tilly, like 
 a fair gamester, had taken up but one side of the 
 plain, and left the other free, and aU the avenues 
 open for the king's army ; nor did he stir to the 
 charge till the king's army was completely drawn 
 up and advanced toward him. He had in his army 
 44,000 old soldiers, every way answerable to what I 
 have said of them before ; and I shall only add, a 
 better army, I believe, never was so soundly beaten. 
 
 The king was not much inferior in force, being 
 joined with the Saxons, who were reckoned 22,000 
 men, and who drew up on the left, making a main 
 battle and two wings, as the king did on the right. 
 
 The king placed himself at the right wing of his 
 own horse, Gustavus Horn had the main battle of the 
 Swedes, the Duke of Saxony had the main battle of 
 his own troops, and General Arnheim the right wing 
 of his horse. The second line of the Swedes consisted 
 of the two Scotch brigades, and three Swedish, with 
 the Finland horse in the wings. 
 
 In the beginning of the fight, Tilly's right wing 
 charged with such irresistible fury upon the left of 
 the king's army where the Saxons were posted, that 
 nothing could withstand them. The Saxons fled 
 amain, and some of them carried the news over the 
 [70] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 country that, all was lost, and the king's army over- 
 thrown ; and indeed it passed for an oversight with 
 some that the king did not place some of his old 
 troops among the Saxons, who were new-raised men. 
 The Saxons lost here near 2000 men, and hardly ever 
 showed their faces again all the battle, except some 
 few of their horse. 
 
 I was posted with my comrade, the captain, at the 
 head of three Scottish regiments of foot, commanded 
 by Sir John Hepburn, with express directions from 
 the colonel to keep by him. Our post was in the 
 second line, as a reserve to the King of Sweden's 
 main battle, and, which was strange, the main battle, 
 which consisted of four great brigades of foot, were 
 never charged during the whole fight ; and yet we, 
 who had the reserve, were obliged to endure the whole 
 weight of the Imperial army. The occasion was, the 
 right wing of the Imperialists having defeated the 
 Saxons, and being eager in the chase, Tilly, who was 
 an old soldier, and ready to prevent all mistakes, for- 
 bids any pursuit. " Let them go," says he, " but let 
 us beat the Swedes, or we do nothing." Upon this the 
 victorious troops fell in upon the flank of the king's 
 army, which, the Saxons being fled, lay open to them. 
 Gustavus Horn commanded the left wing of the 
 Swedes, and having first defeated some regiments 
 which charged him, falls in upon the rear of the 
 Imperial right wing, and separates them from the 
 van, who were advanced a great way forward in pur- 
 suit of the Saxons, and having routed the said rear 
 or reserve, falls on upon Tilly's main battle, and de- 
 feated part of them ; the other part was gone in chase 
 [71] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of the Saxons, and now also returned, fell in upon the 
 rear of the left wing of the Swedes, charging them 
 in the flank, for they drew up upon the very ground 
 which the Saxons had quitted. This changed the 
 whole front, and made the Swedes face about to the 
 left, and make a great front on their flank to make 
 this good. Our brigades, who were placed as a 
 reserve for the main battle, were, by special order 
 from the king, wheeled about to the left, and placed 
 for the right of this new front to charge the Im- 
 perialists ; they were about 12,000 of their best foot, 
 besides horse, and, flushed with the execution of the 
 Saxons, fell on hke furies. The king by this time 
 had almost defeated the Imperialists' left wing ; their 
 horse, with more haste than good speed, had charged 
 faster than their foot could follow, and having broke 
 into the king's first line, he let them go, where, while 
 the second line bears the shock, and bravely resisted 
 them, the king follows them on the crupper with 
 thirteen troops of horse, and some musketeers, by 
 which being hemmed in, they were all cut down in a 
 moment as it were, and the army never disordered 
 with them. This fatal blow to the left wing gave 
 the king more leisure to defeat the foot which fol- 
 lowed, and to send some assistance to Gustavus Horn 
 in his left wing, who had his hands full with the main 
 battle of the Imperialists. 
 
 But those troops who, as I said, had routed the 
 Saxons, being called off' from the pursuit, had charged 
 our flank, and were now grown very strong, renewed 
 the battle in a terrible manner. Here it was I saw 
 our men go to wreck. Colonel Hall, a brave soldier, 
 [72] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 commanded the rear of the Swedes' left wing ; he 
 fought like a lion, but was slain, and most of his 
 regiment cut off, though not unrevenged, for they 
 entirely ruined Furstenberg's regiment of foot. 
 Colonel Cullembach, with his regiment of horse, was 
 extremely overlaid also, and the colonel and many 
 brave officers killed, and in short all that wing was 
 shattered, and in an ill condition. 
 
 In this juncture came the king, and having seen 
 what havoc the enemy made of Cullembach's troops, 
 he comes riding along the front of our three brigades, 
 and himself led us on to the charge ; the colonel of 
 his guards, the Baron Dyvel, was shot dead just as 
 the king had given him some orders. When the 
 Scots advanced, seconded by some regiments of horse 
 which the king also sent to the charge, the bloodiest 
 fight began that ever men beheld, for the Scottish 
 brigades, giving fire three ranks at a time over>ohe 
 another's heads, poured in their shot so thick, that 
 the enemy were cut down like grass before a scythe ; 
 and following into the thickest of their foot with the 
 clubs of their muskets made a most dreadful slaughter, 
 and yet was there no flying. Tilly's men might be 
 killed and knocked down, but no man turned his 
 back, nor would give an inch of ground, but as they 
 were wheeled, or marched, or retreated by their 
 officers. 
 
 There was a regiment of cuirassiers which stood 
 whole to the last, and fought like lions ; they went 
 ranging over the field when all their army was broken, 
 and nobody cared for charging them ; they were 
 commanded by Baron Kronenburg, and at last went 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 off from the battle whole. These were armed in 
 black armour from head to foot, and they carried off 
 their general. About six o'clock the field was 
 cleared of the enemy, except at one place on the 
 king's side, where some of them rallied, and though 
 they knew all was lost would take no quarter, but 
 fought it out to the last man, being found dead 
 the next day in rank and file as they were drawn up. 
 
 I had the good fortune to receive no hurt in this 
 battle, excepting a small scratch on the side of my 
 neck by the push of a pike ; but my friend received 
 a very dangerous wound when the battle was as good 
 as over. He had engaged with a German colonel, 
 whose name we could never learn, and having killed 
 his man, and pressed very close upon him, so that he 
 had shot his horse, the horse in the fall kept the 
 colonel down, lying on one of his legs ; upon which 
 he'demanded quarter, which Captain Fielding grant- 
 ing, helped him to quit his horse, and having 
 disarmed him, was bringing him into the line, when 
 the regiment of cuirassiers, which I mentioned, com- 
 manded by Baron Kronenburg, came roving over the 
 field, and with a flying charge saluted our front with 
 a salvo of carbine shot, which wounded us a great 
 many men, and among the rest the captain received 
 a shot in his thigh, which laid him on the ground, 
 and being separated from the line, his prisoner got 
 away with them. 
 
 This was the first service I was in, and indeed I 
 never saw any fight since maintained with such gal- 
 lantry, such desperate valour, together with such 
 dexterity of management, both sides being composed 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of soldiers fully tried, bred to the wars, expert in 
 everything, exact in their order, and incapable of 
 fear, which made the battle be much more bloody 
 than usual. Sir John Hepburn, at my request, took 
 particular care of my comrade, and sent his own sur- 
 geon to look after him ; and afterwards, when the 
 city of Leipsic was retaken, provided him lodgings 
 there, and came very often to see him ; and indeed I 
 was in great care for him too, the surgeons being 
 very doubtful of him a great while ; for having lain 
 in the field all night among the dead, his wound, for 
 want of dressing, and with the extremity of cold, 
 was in a very ill condition, and the pain of it had 
 thrown him into a fever. 'T was quite dusk before 
 the fight ended, especially where the last rallied 
 troops fought so long, and therefore we durst not 
 break our order to seek out our friends, so that 
 't was near seven o'clock the next morning before we 
 found the captain, who, though very weak by the 
 loss of blood, had raised himself up, and placed his 
 back against the buttock of a dead horse. I was 
 the first that knew him, and running to him, em- 
 braced him with a great deal of joy ; he was not 
 able to speak, but made signs to let me see he knew 
 me, so we brought him into the camp, and Sir John 
 Hepburn, as I noted before, sent his own surgeons 
 to look after him. 
 
 The darkness of the night prevented any pursuit, 
 and was the only refuge the enemy had left ; for had 
 there been three hours more daylight ten thousand 
 more lives had been lost, for the Swedes (and Saxons 
 especially) enraged by the obstinacy of the enemy, 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 were so thoroughly heated that they would have 
 given quarter but to few. The retreat was not 
 sounded till seven o'clock, when the king drew up 
 the whole army upon the field of battle, and gave 
 strict command that none should stir from their 
 order ; so the army lay under their arms all night, 
 which was another reason why the wounded soldiers 
 suffered vei'y much by the cold ; for the king, who 
 had a bold enemy to deal with, was not ignorant 
 what a small body of desperate men rallied together 
 might have done in the darkness of the night, and 
 therefore he lay in his coach all night at the head 
 of the line, though it froze very hard. 
 
 As soon as bhe day began to peep the trumpets 
 sounded to horse, and all the dragoons and light- 
 horse in the army were commanded to the pursuit. 
 The cuirassiers and some commanded musketeers 
 advanced some miles, if need were, to make good 
 their retreat, and all the foot stood to their arms for 
 a reserve ; but in half-an-hour word was brought to 
 the king that the enemy were quite dispersed, upon 
 which detachments were made out of every regiment 
 to search among the dead for any of our friends 
 that were wounded ; and the king himself gave a 
 strict order, that if any were found wounded and 
 alive among the enemy none should kill them, but 
 take care to bring them into the camp — a piece of 
 humanity which saved the lives of near a thousand 
 of the enemies. 
 
 This piece of service being over, the enemy's camp 
 was seized upon, and the soldiers were permitted to 
 plunder it ; all the cannon, arms, and ammunition 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 was secured for the king's use, the rest was given up 
 to the soldiers, who found so much plunder that 
 they had no reason to quarrel for shares. 
 
 For my share, I was so busy with my wounded 
 captain that I got nothing but a sword, which I 
 found just by him when I first saw him ; but my 
 man brought me a very good horse with a furniture 
 on him, and one pistol of extraordinary workmanship. 
 
 I bade him get upon his back and make the best 
 of the day for himself, which he did, and I saw him 
 no more till three days after, when he found me out 
 at Leipsic, so richly dressed that I hardly knew him ; 
 and after making his excuse for his long absence, 
 gave me a very pleasant account where he had been. 
 He told me that, according to my order, being 
 mounted on the horse he had brought me, he first 
 rid into the field among the dead to get some clothes 
 suitable to the equipage of his horse, and having 
 seized on a laced coat, a helmet, a sword, and an 
 extraordinary good cane, was resolved to see what 
 was become of the enemy ; and following the track 
 of the dragoons, which he could easily do by the 
 bodies- on the road, he fell in with a small party 
 of twenty-five dragoons, under no command but a 
 corporal, making to a village where some of the 
 enemies' horse had been quartered. The dragoons, 
 taking him for an officer by his horse, desired him to 
 command them, told him the enemy was very rich, 
 and they doubted not a good booty. He was a bold, 
 brisk fellow, and told them, with all his heart, but 
 said he had but one pistol, the other being broken 
 with firing ; so they lent him a pair of pistols, and a 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 small piece they had taken, and he led them on. 
 There had been a regiment of horse and some troops 
 of Crabats in the village, but they were fled on the 
 first notice of the pursuit, excepting three troops, 
 and these, on sight of this small party, supposing 
 them to be only the first of a greater number, fled in 
 the greatest confusion imaginable. They took the 
 village, and about fifty horses, with all the plunder 
 of the enemy, and with the heat of the service he 
 had spoiled my horse, he said, for which he had 
 brought me two more ; for he, passing for the com- 
 mander of the party, had all the advantage the 
 custom of war gives an ofiicer in like cases. 
 
 I was very well pleased with the relation the fellow 
 gave me, and, laughing at him, "Well, captain," 
 said I, " and what plunder have ye got ?" " Enough 
 to make me a captain, sir," says he, " if you please, 
 and a troop ready raised too ; for the party of dra- 
 goons are posted in the village by my command, till 
 they have farther orders." In short, he pulled out 
 sixty or seventy pieces of gold, five or six watches, 
 thirteen or fourteen rings, whereof two were diamond 
 rings, one of which was worth fifty dollars, silver as 
 much as his pockets would hold ; besides that he 
 had brought three horses, two of which were laden 
 with baggage, and a boor he had hired to stay with 
 them at Leipsic till he had found me out. " But I 
 am afraid, captain," says I, " you have plundered the 
 village instead of plundering the enemy." " No 
 indeed, not we," says he, " but the Crabats had done 
 it for us, and we light of them just as they were 
 carrying it ofl". " " Well," said I, " but what will 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 you do with your men, for when you come to give 
 them orders they will know you well enough ? " 
 " No, no," says he, " I took care of that, for just 
 now I gave a soldier five dollars to carry them news 
 that the army was marched to Merseburg, and that 
 they should follow thither to the regiment." 
 
 Having secured his money in my lodgings, he 
 asked me if I pleased to see his horses, and to have 
 one for myself ? I told him I would go and see 
 them in the afternoon ; but the fellow being im- 
 patient goes and fetches them. There was three 
 horses, one whereof was a very good one, and by the 
 furniture was an officer's horse of the Crabats, and 
 that my man would have me accept, for the other 
 he had spoiled, as he said. I was but indifferently 
 horsed before, so I accepted of the horse, and went 
 down with him to see the rest of his plunder there. 
 He had got three or four pair of pistols, two or three 
 bundles of officers' linen, and lace, a field-bed, and a 
 tent, and several other things of value ; but at last, 
 coming to a small fardel, " And this," says he, " I 
 took whole from a Crabat running away with it under 
 his arm," so he brought it up into my chamber. 
 He had not looked into it, he said, but he under- 
 stood 'twas some plunder the soldiers had made, 
 and finding it heavy took it by consent. We opened 
 it and found it was a bundle of some linen, thirteen 
 or fourteen pieces of plate, and in a small cup, three 
 rings, a fine necklace of pearl, and the value of 100 
 rix-dollars in money. 
 
 The fellow was amazed at his own good fortune, 
 and hardly knew what to do with himself; I bid him 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 go take care of his other things, and of his horses, 
 and come again. So he went and discharged the 
 boor that waited and packed up all his plunder, and 
 came up to me in his old clothes again. " How 
 now, captain," says I, " what, have you altered your 
 equipage already.?" "I am no more ashamed, sir, 
 of your livery," answered he, " than of your service, 
 and nevertheless your servant for what I have got 
 by it." " Well," says I to him, " but what will you 
 do now with all your money ? " " I wish my poor 
 father had some of it," says he, " and for the rest I 
 got it for you, sir, and desire you would take it." 
 He spoke it with so much honesty and freedom that 
 I could not but take it very kindly ; but, however, I 
 told him I would not take a farthing from him as 
 his master, but I would have him play the good 
 husband with it, now he had such good fortune to 
 get it. He told me he would take my directions in 
 everything. "Why, then," said I, "I'll tell you 
 what I would advise you to do, turn it all into ready 
 money, and convey it by return home into England, 
 and follow yourself the first opportunity, and -with 
 good management you may put yourself in a good 
 posture of living with it." The fellow, with a sort 
 of dejection in his looks, asked me if he had dis- 
 obliged me in anything ? " Why ? " says I. " That 
 I was willing to turn him out of his service." " No, 
 George " (that was his name) says I, " but you may 
 live on this money without being a servant." " I 'd 
 throw it all into the Elbe," says he, " over Torgau 
 bridge, rather than leave your service ; and besides," 
 says he, " can't I save my money without going from 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 you ? I got it in your service, and I '11 never spend 
 it out of your service, unless you put me away. I 
 hope my money won't make me the worse servant ; 
 if I thought itr would, I 'd soon have little enough.'" 
 " Nay, George," says I, " I shall not oblige you to it, 
 for I am not willing to lose you neither : come, then," 
 says I, "let us put it all together, and see what it 
 will come to." So he laid it all together on the 
 table, and by our computation he had gotten as 
 much plunder as was worth about 1400 rix-doUars, 
 besides three horses with their furniture, a tent, a 
 bed, and some wearing linen. Then he takes the 
 necklace of pearl, a very good watch, a diamond 
 ring, and 100 pieces of gold, and lays them by them- 
 selves, and having, according to our best calculation, 
 valued the things, he put up all the I'est, and as I 
 was going to ask him what they were left out for, 
 he takes them up in his hand, and coming round 
 the table, told me, that if I did not think him un- 
 worthy of my service and favour, he begged I would 
 give him leave to make that present to me ; that it 
 was my first thought his going oat, that he had got 
 it all in my service, and he should think I had no 
 kindness for him if I should refuse it. 
 
 I was resolved in my mind not to take it from him, 
 and yet I could find no means to resist his impor- 
 tunity. At last I told him, I would accept of part 
 of his present, and that I esteemed his respect in 
 that as much as the whole, and that I would not 
 have him importune me further ; so I took the ring 
 and watch, with the horse and furniture as before, 
 and made him turn all the rest into money at Leipsic, 
 6 [81] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and not suffering him to wear his livery, made him 
 put himself into a tolerable equipage, and taking a 
 young Leipsicer into my service, he attended me as 
 a gentleman from that time forward. * 
 
 The king's army never entered Leipsic, but pro- 
 ceeded to Merseburg, and from thence to Halle, and 
 so marched on into Franconia, while the Duke of 
 Saxony employed his forces in recovering Leipsic 
 and driving the Imperialists out of his country. I 
 continued at Leipsic twelve days, being not willing 
 to leave my comrade till he was recovered ; but Sir 
 John Hepburn so often importuned me to come into 
 the army, and sent me word that the king had very 
 often inquired for me, that at last I consented to go 
 without him ; so having made our appointment 
 where to meet, and how to correspond by letters, I 
 went to wait on Sir John Hepburn, who then lay 
 with the king's army at the city of Erfurt in Saxony. 
 As I was riding between Leipsic and Halle, I observed 
 my horse went very awkwardly and uneasy, and 
 sweat very much, though the weather was cold, and 
 we had rid but very softly ; I fancied therefore that 
 the saddle might hurt the horse, and calls my new 
 captain up. " George," says I, " I believe this saddle 
 hurts the horse." ' So we alighted, and looking under 
 the saddle found the back of the horse extremely 
 galled ; so I bid him take off the saddle, which he 
 did, and giving the horse to my young Leipsicer to 
 lead, we sat down to see if we could mend it, for 
 there was no town near us. Says George, pointing 
 with his finger, " If you please to cut open the pan- 
 nel there, I'll get something to stuff into it which 
 [82] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 will bear it from the horse's back." So while he 
 looked for something to thrust in, I cut a hole in the 
 pannel of the saddle, and, following it with my 
 finger, I felt something hard, which seemed to move 
 up and down. Again, as I thrust it with my finger, 
 " Here 's something that should not be here," says 
 I, not yet imagining what afterwards fell out, and 
 calling, " Run back," bade him put up his finger. 
 "Whatever 'tis," says he, "'t is this hurts the horse, 
 for it bears just on his back when the saddle is set 
 on." So we strove to take hold on it, but could not 
 reach it ; at last we took the upper part of the saddle 
 quite from the pannel, and there lay a small silk 
 purse wrapped in a piece of leather, and full of gold 
 ducats. " Thou art bom to be rich, George," says I 
 to him, " here 's more money." We opened the 
 purse and found in it four hundred and thirty-eight 
 small pieces of gold. 
 
 There I had a new skirmish with him whose the 
 money should be. I told him 'twas his, he told me 
 no ; I had accepted of the horse and furniture, and 
 all that was about him was mine, and solemnly 
 vowed he would not have a penny of it. I saw no 
 remedy, but put up the money for the present, 
 mended our saddle, and went on. We lay that 
 night at Halle, and having had such k booty in the 
 saddle, I made him search the saddles of the other 
 two horses, in one of which we found three French 
 crowns, but nothing in the other. 
 
 We arrived at Erfurt the 28th of September, but 
 the army was removed, and entered into Franconia, 
 and at the siege of Koningshoven we came up with 
 [83] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 them. The first thing I did was to pay my civili- 
 ties to Sir John Hepburn, who received me very 
 kindly, but told me withal that I had not done well 
 to be so long from him, and the king had particu- 
 larly inquired for me, had commanded him to bring 
 me to him at my return. I told him the reason of 
 my stay at Leipsic, and how I had left that place 
 and my comrade, before he was cured of his wounds, 
 to wait on him according to his letters. He told 
 me the king had spoken some things very obliging 
 about me, and he believed would offer me sOme com- 
 mand in the army, if I thought well to accept of 
 it. I told him I had promised my father not to 
 take service in an army without his leave, and yet 
 if his Majesty should offer it, I neither knew how 
 to resist it, nor had I an inclination to anything 
 more than the service, and such a leader, though I 
 had much rather have served as a volunteer at my 
 own charge (which, as he knew, was the custom of 
 our English gentlemen) than in any command. He 
 replied, " Do as you think fit ; but some gentlemen 
 would give 20,000 crowns to stand so fair for ad- 
 vancement as you do." 
 
 The town of Koningshoven capitulated that day, 
 and Sir John was ordered to treat with the citizens, 
 so I had no further discourse with him then ; and the 
 town being taken, the army immediately advanced 
 down the river Maine, for the king had his eye upon 
 Frankfort and Mentz, two great cities, both which 
 he soon became master of, chiefly by the prodigious 
 expedition of his march ; for within a month after 
 the battle, he was in the lower parts of the empire, 
 [84] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and had passed from the Elbe to the Rhine, an 
 incredible conquest, had taken all the strong cities, 
 the bishoprics of Bamberg, of Wurtzburg, and almost 
 all the circle of Franconia, with part of Schawberland 
 — a conquest large enough to be seven years a-making 
 by the common course of arms. 
 
 Business going on thus, the king had not leisure to 
 think of small matters, and I being not thoroughly 
 resolved in my mind, did not press Sir John to intro- 
 duce me. I had wrote to my father with an account 
 of my reception in the army, the civilities of Sir John 
 Hepburn, the particulars of the battle, and had 
 indeed pressed him to give me leave to serve the 
 King of Sweden, to which particular I waited for an 
 answer, but the following occasion determined me 
 before an answer could possibly reach me. 
 
 The king was before the strong castle of Marien- 
 burg,' which commands the city of Wurtzburg. He 
 had taken the city, bub the garrison and richer part 
 of the burghers were retired into the castle, and 
 trusting to the strength of the place, which was 
 thought impregnable, they bade the Swedes do their 
 worst ; 't was well provided with all things, and a 
 strong garrison in it, so that the army indeed expected 
 't would be a long piece of work. The castle stood 
 on a high rock, and on the steep of the rock was a 
 bastion which defended the only passage up the hill 
 into the castle ; the Scots were chose out to make 
 this attack, and the king was an eye-witness of their 
 gallantry. In the action Sir John was not com- 
 manded out, but Sir James Ramsey led them on ; 
 but I observed that most of the Scotch officers in the 
 [85] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 other regiments prepared to serve as volunteers for 
 the honour of their countrymen, and Sir John Hep- 
 burn led them on. I was resolved to see this piece 
 of service, and therefore joined myself to the volun- 
 teers. We were armed with partisans, and each man 
 two pistols at our belt. It was a piece of service 
 that seemed perfectly desperate, the advantage of the 
 hill, the precipice we were to mount, the height of 
 the bastion, the resolute courage and number of the 
 garrison, who from a complete covert made a terrible 
 fire upon us, all joined to make the action hopeless. 
 But the fury of the Scots musketeers was not to be 
 abated by any difficulties ; they mounted the hill, 
 scaled the works like madmen, running upon the 
 enemies' pikes, and after two hours' desperate fight 
 in the midst of fire and smoke, took it by storm, and 
 put all the garrison to the sword. The volunteers 
 did their part, and had their share of the loss too, for 
 thirteen or fourteen were killed out of thirty-seven, 
 besides the wounded, among whom I received a hurt 
 more troublesome than dangerous by a thrust of a 
 halberd into my arm, which proved a very painful 
 wound, and I was a great while hefore it was 
 thoroughly recovered. 
 
 The king received us as we drew off at the foot of 
 the hill, calling the soldiers his brave Scots, and 
 commending the officers by name. The next morn- 
 ing the castle was also taken by storm, and the 
 greatest booty that ever was found in any one con- 
 quest in the whole war; the soldiers got here so 
 much money that they knew not what to do with it, 
 and the plunder they got here and at the battle 
 [86] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of Leipsic made them so unruly, that had not the 
 king been the best master of discipline in the world, 
 they had never been kept in any reasonable- bounds. 
 The king had taken notice of our small party of 
 volunteers, and though I thought he had not seen 
 me, yet he sent the next morning for Sir John Hep- 
 burn, and asked him if I were not come to the army? 
 " Yes," says Sir John, " he has been here two or 
 three days." And as he was forming an excuse for 
 not having brought me to wait on his Majesty, says 
 the king, interrupting him, " I wonder you would let 
 him thrust himself into such a hot piece of service as 
 storming the Port Graft. Pray let him know I saw 
 him, and have a very good account of his behaviour." 
 Sir John returned with his account to me, and pressed 
 me to pay my duty to his Majesty the next morning ; 
 and accordingly, though I had but an ill night with 
 the pain of my wound, I was with him at the levee 
 in the castle. 
 
 I cannot but give some short account of the glory 
 of the morning ; the castle had been cleared of the 
 dead bodies of the enemies, and what was not pillaged 
 by the soldiers was placed under a guard. There 
 was first a magazine of very good arms for about 
 18,000 or 20,000 foot, and 4000 horse, a very good 
 train of artillery of about eighteen pieces of battery, 
 thirty-two brass field-pieces, and four mortars. The 
 bishop's treasure, and other public monies not plun- 
 dered by the soldiers, was telling out by the officers, 
 and amounted to 400,000 florins in money ; and the 
 burghers of the town in solemn procession, bare- 
 headed, brought the king three tons of gold as a 
 [87] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 composition to exempt the city from plunder. Here 
 was also a stable of gallant horses which the king 
 had the- curiosity to go and see. 
 
 When the ceremony of the burghers was over, the 
 king came down into the castle court, walked on the 
 parade (where the great train of artillery was placed 
 on their carriages) and round the walls, and gave order 
 for repairing the bastion that was stormed by the 
 Scots ; and as at the entrance of the parade Sir John 
 Hepburn and I made our reverence to the king, 
 " Ho, cavalier ! " said the king to me, " I am glad to 
 see you," and so passed forward. I made my bow 
 very low, but his Majesty said no more at that 
 time. 
 
 When the view was over the king went up into the 
 lodgings, and Sir John and I walked in an ante- 
 chamber for about a quarter of an hour, when one of 
 the gentlemen of the bedchamber came out to Sir 
 John, and told him the king asked for him ; he 
 stayed but a little with the king, and come out to 
 me and told me the king had ordered him to bring 
 me to him. 
 
 His Majesty, with a countenance full of honour 
 and goodness, interrupted my compliment, and asked 
 me how I did ; at which answering only with a bow, 
 says the king, " I am sorry to see you are hurt ; I 
 would have laid my commands on you not to have 
 shown yourself in so sharp a piece of service, if I had 
 known you had been in the camp." " Your Majesty 
 does me too much honour," said I, " in your care of 
 a life that has yet done nothing to deserve your 
 favour." His Majesty was pleased to say something 
 [88] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 very kind to me relating to my behaviour in the 
 battle of Leipsic, which I have not vanity enough to 
 write ; at the conclusion whereof, when I replied very 
 humbly that I was not sensible that any service I had 
 done, or could do, could possibly merit so much 
 goodness, he told me he had ordered me a small tes- 
 timony of his esteem, and withal gave me his hand 
 to kiss. I was now conquered, and with a sort of 
 surprise told his Majesty I found myself so much 
 engaged by his goodness, as well as my own inclina- 
 tion, that if his Majesty would please to accept of 
 my devoir, I was resolved to serve in his army, or 
 wherever he pleased to command me. "Serve me," 
 says the king, " why, so you do, but I must not have 
 you be a musketeer ; a poor soldier at a dollar a week 
 will do that." "Pray, Sir John," says the king, 
 " give him what commission he desires." " No com- 
 mission, sir," says I, " would please me better than 
 leave to fight near your Majesty's person, and to 
 serve you at my own charge till I am qualified by 
 more experience to receive your commands." " Why, 
 then, it shall be so," said the king, " and I charge 
 you, Hepburn," says he, " when anything offers that 
 is either fit for him, or he desires, that you tell 
 me of it ; " and giving me his hand again to kiss, I 
 withdrew. 
 
 I was followed before I had passed the castle gate 
 by one of the king's pages, who brought me a war- 
 rant, directed to Sir John Hepburn, to go to the 
 master of the horse for an immediate delivery of 
 things ordered by the king himself for my account, 
 where being come, the equen-y produced me a very 
 [89] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 good coach with four horses, harness, and equipage, 
 and two very fine saddle-horses, out of the stable of 
 the bishop's horses aforementioned ; with these there 
 was a list for three servants, and a warrant to the 
 steward of the king's baggage to defray me, my 
 horses, and servants at the king's charge till farther 
 order. I was very much at a loss how to manage 
 myself in this so strange freedom of so great a prince, 
 and consulting with Sir John Hepburn, I was pro- 
 posing to him whether it was not proper to go im- 
 mediately back to pay my duty to his Majesty, and 
 acknowledge his bounty in the best terms I could, 
 but whik we were resolving to do so, the guards 
 stood to their arms, and we saw the king go out at 
 the gate in his coach to pass into the city, so we 
 were diverted from it for that time. I acknowledge 
 the bounty of the king was very surprising, but I 
 must say it was not so very strange to me when 
 I afterwards saw the course of his management. 
 Bounty in him was his natural talent, but he never 
 distributed his favours but where he thought him- 
 self both loved and faithfully served, and when he 
 was so, even the single actions of his private, soldiers 
 he would take particular notice of himself, and 
 publicly own, acknowledge, and reward them, of 
 which I am obliged to give some instances. 
 
 A private musketeer at the storming the castle of 
 Wurtzburg, when all the detachment was beaten ofF, 
 stood in the face of the enemy and fired his , piece, 
 and though he had a thousand shot made at him, 
 stood unconcerned, and charged his piece again, and 
 let fly at the enemy, continuing to do so three times, 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 at the same time beckoning with his hand to his 
 fellows to come on again, which they did, animated 
 by his example, and carried the place for the king. 
 
 When the town was taken the king ordered the 
 regiment to be drawn out, and calling for that 
 soldier, thanked him before them all for taking the 
 town for him, gave him a thousand dollars in money, 
 and a commission with his own hand for a foot com- 
 pany, or leave to go home, which he would. The 
 soldier took the commission on his knees, kissed it, 
 and put it into his bosom, and told the king, he 
 would never leave his service as long as he lived. 
 
 This bounty of the king's, timed and suited by 
 his judgment, was the reason that he was very well 
 served, entirely beloved, and most punctually obeyed 
 by his soldiers, who were sure to be cherished and 
 encouraged if they did well, having the king generally 
 an eye-witness of their behaviour. 
 
 My indiscretion rather than valour had engaged 
 me so far at the battle of Leipsic, that being in the 
 van of Sir John Hepburn's brigade, almost three 
 whole companies of us were separated from our line, 
 and surrounded by the enemies' pikes. I cannot but 
 say also that we were disengaged rather by a des- 
 perate charge Sir John made with the whole regiment 
 to fetch us off, than by our own valour, though we 
 were not wanting to ourselves neither, but this part 
 of the action being talked of very much to the ad- 
 vantage of the young English volunteer, and possibly 
 more than I deserved, was the occasion of all the 
 distinction the king used me with ever after. 
 
 I had by this time letters from my father, in 
 [91] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 which, though with some reluctance, he left me at 
 liberty to enter into arms if I thought fit, always 
 obliging me to be directed, and, as he said, corfi- 
 manded by Sir John Hepburn. At the same time 
 he wrote to Sir John Hepburn, commending his 
 son's fortunes, as he called it, to his care, which 
 letters Sir John showed the king unknown to me. 
 
 I took care always to acquaint my father of every 
 circumstance, and forgot not to mention his Majesty's 
 extraordinary favour, which so affected my father, 
 .that he obtained a very honourable mention of it in 
 a letter from King Charles to the King of Sweden, 
 written by his own hand. 
 
 I had waited on his Majesty, with Sir John Hep- 
 burn, to give him thanks for his magnificent present, 
 and was received with his usual goodness, and after 
 that I was every day among the gentlemen of his 
 ordinary attendance. And if his Majesty went out 
 on a party, as he would often do, or to view the 
 country, I always attended him among the volunteers, 
 of whom a great many always followed him ; and 
 he would often call me out, talk with me, send me 
 upon messages to towns, to princes, free cities, and 
 the like, upon extraordinary occasions. 
 
 The first piece of service he put me upon had like 
 to have embroiled me with one of his favourite 
 colonels. The king was marching through the Berg- 
 straet, a low country on the edge of the Rhine, and, 
 as all men thought, was going to besiege Heidelberg, 
 but on a sudden orders a party of his guards, with 
 five companies of Scots, to be drawn out ; while they 
 were drawing out this detachment the kiiig calls me 
 [92] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 to him, " Ho, cavalier," says he, that was his usual 
 word, " you shall command this party i" and thereupon 
 gives me orders to march back all night, and in the 
 morning, by break of day, to take post under the 
 walls of the fort of Oppenheim, and immediately to 
 entrench myself as well as I could. Grave Neels, 
 the colonel of his guards, thought himself injured by 
 this command, but the king took the matter upon 
 himself, and Grave Neels told me very familiarly 
 afterwards, " We have such a master," says he, " that 
 no man can be affronted by. I thought myself 
 wronged," says he, " when you commanded my men 
 over my head ; and for my life," says he, " I knew 
 not which way to be angry." 
 
 I executed my commission so punctually that by 
 break of day I was set down within musket-shot of 
 the fort, under covert of a little mount, on which 
 stood a windmill, and had indifferently fortified 
 myself, and at the same time had posted some of 
 my men on two other passes, but at farther dis- 
 tance from the fort, so that the fort was effectually 
 blocked up on the land side. In the afternoon the 
 enemy sallied on my first entrenchment, but being 
 covered from their cannon, and defended by a ditch 
 which I had drawn across the road, they were so 
 well received by ray musketeers that they retired 
 with the loss of six or seven men. 
 
 The next day Sir John Hepburn was sent with two 
 brigades of foot to carry on the work, and so my 
 commission ended. The king expressed himself very 
 well pleased with what I had done, and when he was 
 so was never sparing of telling of it, for he used to 
 L9S] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 say that public commendations were a great en- 
 couragement to valour. 
 
 While Sir John Hepburn lay before the fort and 
 was preparing to storm it, the king's design was to 
 get over the Rhine, but the Spaniards which were in 
 Oppenheim had sunk all the boats they could find. 
 At last the king, being informed where some lay that 
 were sunk, caused them to be weighed with all the 
 expedition possible, and in the night of the 7th of 
 December, in three boats, passed over his regiment 
 of guards, about three miles above the town, and, as 
 the king thought, secure from danger ; but they were 
 no sooner landed, and not drawn into order, but they 
 were charged by a body of Spanish horse, and had 
 not the darkness given them opportunity to draw up 
 in the enclosures in several little parties, they had 
 been in great danger of being disordered ; but by 
 this means they lined the hedges and lanes so with 
 musketeers, that the remainder had time to draw up 
 in battalia, and saluted the horse with their muskets, 
 so that they drew farther off. 
 
 The king was very impatient, hearing his men 
 engaged, having no boats nor possible means to get 
 over to help them. At last, about eleven o'clock at 
 night, the boats came back, and the king thrust 
 another regiment into them, and though his officers 
 dissuaded him, would go over himself with them on 
 foot, and did so. This was three months that very 
 day when the battle of Leipsic was fought, and winter 
 time too, that the progress of his arms had spread 
 from the Elbe, where it parts Saxony and Branden- 
 burg, to the Lower Palatinate and the Rhine. 
 [94] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 I went over in the boat with the king. I never saw 
 him in so much concern in my life, for he was in pain 
 for his men ; but before we got on shore the Spaniards 
 retired. However, the king landed, ordered his men, 
 and prepared to entrench, but he had not time, for by 
 that time the boats were put off again, the Spaniards, 
 not knowing more troops were landed, and being rein- 
 forced from Oppenheim, came on again, and charged 
 with great fury ; but all things were now in order, 
 and they were readily received and beaten back again. 
 They came on again the third time, and with repeated 
 charges attacked us ; but at last finding us too strong 
 for them they gave it over. By this time another 
 regiment of foot was come over, and as soon as day 
 appeared the king with the three regiments marched 
 to the town, which surrendered at the first sum- 
 mons, and the next day the fort yielded to Sir John 
 Hepburn. 
 
 The castle at Oppenheim held out still with a 
 garrison of 800 Spaniards, and the king, leaving 200 
 Scots of Sir James Ramsey's men in the town, drew 
 out to attack the castle. Sir James Ramsey being 
 left wounded at Wurtzburg, the king gave me the 
 command of those 200 men, which were a regiment, 
 that is to say, all that were left of a gallant regiment 
 of 2000 Scots, which the king brought out of Sweden 
 with him, under that brave colonel. There was about 
 thirty officers, who, having no soldiers, were yet in pay, 
 and served as reformadoes with the regiment, and were 
 over and above the 200 men. 
 
 The king designed to storm the castle on the lower 
 side by the way that leads to Mentz, and Sir John 
 [95] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Hepburn landed from the other side and marched 
 up to storm on the Rhine port. 
 
 My reformado Scots, having observed that the 
 town port of the castle was not so well guarded as 
 the rest, all the eyes of the garrison being bent 
 towards the king and Sir John Hepburn, came run- 
 ning to me, and told me they believed they could 
 enter the castle, sword in hand, if I would give them 
 leave. I told them I durst not give them orders, 
 my commission being only to keep and defend the 
 town ; but they being very importunate, I told them 
 they were volunteers, and might do what they pleased, 
 that I would lend them fifty men, and draw up the 
 rest to second them, or bring them off, as I saw oc- 
 casion, so as I might not hazard the town. This 
 was as much as they desired ; they sallied immediately, 
 and in a trice the volunteers scaled the port, cut in 
 pieces the guard, and burst open the gate, at which 
 the fifty entered. Finding the gate won, I advanced 
 immediately with 100 musketeers more, having locked 
 up all the gates of the town but the castle port, and 
 leaving fifty still for a reserve just at that gate ; the 
 townsmen, too, seeing the castle, as it were, taken, 
 run to arms, and followed me with above 200 men. 
 The Spaniards were knocked down by the Scots be- 
 fore they knew what the matter was, and the king 
 and Sir John Hepburn, advancing to storm, were 
 surprised when, instead of resistance, they saw the 
 Spaniards throwing themselves over the walls to 
 avoid the fury of the Scots. Few of the garrison 
 got away, but were either killed or taken, and having 
 cleared the castle, I set open the port on the king's 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 side, and sent his Majesty word the castle was his 
 own. The king came on, and entered on foot. I 
 received him at the head of the Scots reformadoes, 
 who all saluted him with their pikes. The king 
 gave them his hat, and turning about, " Brave Scots, 
 brave Scots," says he smiling, " you were too quick 
 for me ; " then beckoning to me, made me tell him 
 how and in what manner we had managed the storm, 
 which he was exceeding well pleased with, but espe- 
 cially at the caution I had used to bring them off if 
 they had miscarried, and secured the town. 
 
 From hence the army marched to Mentz, which in 
 four days' time capitulated, with the fort and citadel, 
 and the city paid his Majesty 300,000 dollars to be 
 exempted from the fury of the soldiers. Here the 
 king himself drew the plan of those invincible forti- 
 fications which to this day makes it one of the 
 strongest cities in Germany. 
 
 Friburg, Koningstien, Neustadt, Kaiserslautern, 
 and almost all the Lower Palatinate, surrendered at 
 the very terror of the King of Sweden's approach, 
 and never suffered the danger of a siege. 
 
 The king held a most magnificent court at Mentz, 
 attended by the Landgrave of Hesse, with an incred- 
 ible number of princes and lords of the empire, with 
 ambassadors and residents of foreign princes ; and 
 here his Majesty stayed till March, when the queen, 
 with a great retinue of Swedish nobility, came from 
 Erfurt to see him. The king, attended by a gallant 
 train of German nobility, went to Frankfort, and 
 from thence on to Hoest, to meet the queen, where 
 her Majesty arrived February 8. 
 7 [97] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 During the king's stay in these parts, his armies 
 were not idle, his troops, on one side under the 
 Rhinegrave, a brave and ever-fortunate commander, 
 and under the Landgrave of Hesse, on the other, 
 ranged the country from Lorraine to Luxemburg, 
 and past the Moselle on the west, and the Weser on 
 the north. Nothing could stand before them : the 
 Spanish army which came to the relief of the Catho- 
 lic Electors was everywhere defeated and beaten 
 quite out of the country, and the Lorraine army 
 quite ruined. 'T was a most pleasant court sure as 
 ever was seen, where every day expresses arrived of 
 armies defeated, towns surrendered, contributions 
 agreed upon, parties routed, prisoners taken, and 
 princes sending ambassadors to sue for truces and 
 neutralities, to make submissions and compositions, 
 and to pay arrears and contributions. 
 
 Here arrived, February 10, the King of Bohemia 
 from England, and with him my Lord Craven, with 
 a body of Dutch horse, and a very fine train of 
 English volunteers, who immediately, without any 
 stay, marched on to Hoest to wait upon his Majesty 
 of Sweden, who received him with a great deal of 
 civility, and was treated at a noble collation by the 
 king and queen at Frankfort. Never had the un- 
 fortunate king so fair a prospect of being restored 
 to his inheritance of the Palatinate as at that time, 
 and had King James, his father-in-law, had a soul 
 answerable to the occasion, it had been eflFected be- 
 fore, but it was a strange thing to see him equipped 
 from the English court with one lord and about 
 forty or fifty English gentlemen in his attendance, 
 [98] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 whereas had the King of England now, as 't is well 
 known he might have done, furnished him with 
 10,000 or 12,000 English foot, nothing could have 
 hindered him taking a full possession of his country ; 
 and yet even without that help did the King of 
 Sweden clear almost his whole country of Impe- 
 rialists, and after his death reinstal his son in the 
 Electorate : but no thanks to us. 
 
 The Lord Craven did me the honour to inquire 
 for me by name, and his Majesty of Sweden did me 
 yet more by presenting me to the King of Bohemia, 
 and my Lord Craven gave me a letter from my father. 
 And speaking something of my father having served 
 under the Prince of Orange in the famous battle of 
 Nieuport, the king, smiling, returned, "And pray 
 tell him from me his son has served as well in the 
 warm battle of Leipsic." 
 
 My father being very much pleased with the 
 honour I had received from so great a king, had 
 ordered me to acquaint his Majesty that, if he 
 pleased to accept of their service, he would raise 
 him a regiment of English horse at his own charge 
 to be under my command, and to be sent over into 
 Holland ; and my Lord Craven had orders from the 
 King of England to signify his consent to the said 
 levy. I acquainted my old friend Sir John Hepburn 
 with the contents of the letter in order to have 
 his advice, who being pleased with the proposal, 
 would have me go to the king immediately with 
 the letter, but present service put it off for some 
 
 days. 
 
 The taking of Creutznach was the next service of 
 
 [99] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 any moment. The king drew out in person to the 
 siege of this town. The town soon came to parley, 
 but the castle seemed a work of difficulty, for its 
 situation was so strong and so surrounded with 
 works behind and above one another, that most 
 people thought the king would receive a check from 
 it ; but it was not easy to resist the resolution of the 
 King of Sweden. 
 
 He never battered it but with two small pieces, 
 but having viewed the works himself, ordered a mine 
 under the first ravelin, which being sprung with suc- 
 cess, he commands a storm. I think there was not 
 more commanded men than volunteers, both English, 
 Scots, French, and Germans. My old comrade was 
 by this time recovered of his wound at Leipsic, and 
 made one. The first body of volunteers, of about 
 forty, were led on by my Lord Craven, and I led the 
 second, among whom were most of the reformade 
 Scots officers who took the castle of Oppenheim. 
 The first party was not able to make anything of it ; 
 the garrison fought with so much fury that many of 
 the volunteer gentlemen being wounded, and some 
 killed, the rest were beaten off with loss. The king 
 was in some passion at his men, and rated them for 
 running away, as he called it, though they really re- 
 treated in good order, and commanded the assault to 
 be renewed. 'T was our turn to fall on next. Our 
 Scots officers, not being used to be beaten, advanced 
 immediately, and my Lord Craven with his volun- 
 teers, pierced in with us, fighting gallantly in the 
 breach with a pike in his hand ; and, to give him 
 the honour due to his bravery, he was with the first 
 [100] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 on the top of the rampart, and gave his hand to my 
 comrade, and lifted him up after him. We helped 
 one another up, till at last almost all the volunteers 
 had gained the height of the ravelin, and maintained 
 it with a great deal of resolution, expecting when 
 the commanded men had gained the same height to 
 advance upon the enemy ; when one of the enemy's 
 captains called to my Lord Craven, and told him 
 if they might have honourable terms they would 
 capitulate, which my lord telling him he would en- 
 gage for, the garrison fired no more, and the captain, 
 leaping down from the next rampart, came with my 
 Lord Craven into the camp, where the conditions 
 were agreed on, and the castle surrendered. 
 
 After the taking of this town, the king, hearing of 
 Tilly's approach, and how he had beaten Gustavus 
 Horn, the king's field-marshal, out of Bamberg, began 
 to draw his forces together, and leaving the care of 
 his conquests in these parts to his chancellor Oxen- 
 stiern, prepares to advance towards Bavaria. 
 
 I had taken an opportunity to wait upon his 
 Majesty with Sir John Hepburn, and being about to 
 introduce the discourse of my father's letter, the 
 king told me he had received a compliment on my 
 account in a letter from King Charles. I told him 
 his Majesty had by his exceeding generosity bound 
 me and all my friends to pay their acknowledgments 
 to him, and that I supposed my father had obtained 
 such a mention of it from the King of England, as 
 gratitude moved him to ; that his Majesty's favour 
 had been shown in me to a family both willing and 
 ready to serve him, that I had received some com- 
 [101] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 mands from my father, which, if his Majesty pleased 
 to do me the honour to accept of, might put me in a 
 condition to acknowledge his Majesty's goodness in 
 a manner more proportioned to the sense I had of 
 his favour ; and with that I produced my father's 
 letter, and read that clause in it which related to the 
 regiment of horse, which was as follows : — 
 
 " I read with a great deal of satisfaction the account 
 you give of the great and extraordinary conquests of 
 the King of Sweden, and with more his Majesty's sin- 
 gular favour to you ; I hope you will be careful to value 
 and deserve so much honour. I am glad you ' rather 
 chose to serve as a volunteer at your own charge, than 
 to take any command, which, for want of experience, 
 you might misbehave in. 
 
 " I have obtained of the king that he will particularly 
 thank his Majesty of Sweden for the honour he has 
 done you, and if his Majesty gives you so much freedom, 
 I could be glad you should in the humblest manner 
 thank his Majesty in the name of an old broken soldier. 
 
 '' If you- think yourself officer enough to command 
 them, and his Majesty pleased to accept them, I would 
 have you offer to raise his Majesty a regiment of horse, 
 which, I think, I may near complete in our neighbour- 
 hood with some of your old acquaintance, who are very 
 willing to see the-' world. If his Majesty gives you the 
 word, they shall receive his commands in the Maes, the 
 king having promised me to give them arms, and trans- 
 port them for that service into Holland ; and I hope 
 they may do his Majesty such service as may be for your 
 honour and the advantage of his Majesty's interest and 
 glory. 
 
 " Your Loving Father." 
 [102] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 " T is an offer like a gentleman and like a soldier," 
 says the king, " and I '11 accept of it on two condi- 
 tions : first," says the king, " that I will pay your 
 father the advance money for the raising the regi- 
 ment ; and next, that they shall be landed in the 
 Weser or the Elbe ; for which, if the King of Eng- 
 land will not, I-will pay the passage ; for if they land 
 in Holland, it may prove very difficult to get them 
 to us when the army shall be marched out of this 
 part of the country." 
 
 I returned this answer to my father, and sent my 
 man George into England to order that regiment, 
 and made him quartermaster. I sent blank commis- 
 sions for the officers, signed by the king, to be filled 
 up as my father should think fit; and when I had 
 the king's order for the commissions, the secretary 
 told me I must go back to the king with them. 
 Accordingly I went back to the king, who, opening 
 the packet, laid all the commissions but one upon a 
 table before him, and bade me take them, and keep- 
 ing that one still in his hand, " Now," says he, " you 
 are one of my soldiers," and therewith gave me his 
 commission, as colonel of horse in present pay. I 
 took the commission kneeling, and humbly thanked 
 his Majesty. " But," says the king, " there is one 
 article-of-war I expect of you more than of others." 
 " Your Majesty can expect nothing of me which I 
 shall not willingly comply with," said I, " as soon as 
 I have the honour to understand what it is." 
 " Why, it is," says the king, " that you shall never 
 fight but when you have orders, for I shall not be 
 willing to lose my colonel before I have the regiment." 
 [103] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 " I shall be ready at all times, sir," returned I, " to 
 obey your Majesty's orders." 
 
 I sent my man express with the king's answer and 
 the commission to my father, who had the regiment 
 completed in less than two months' time, and six of 
 the officei-s, with a list of the rest, came away to me, 
 whom I presented to his Majesty when he lay before 
 Nuremberg, where they kissed his hand. 
 
 One of the captains offered to bring the whole 
 regiment travelling as private men into the army 
 in six weeks' time, and either to transport their 
 equipage, or buy it in Germany, but 't was thought 
 impracticable. However, I had so many come in 
 that manner that I had a complete troop always 
 about me, and obtained the king's order to muster 
 them as a troop. 
 
 On the 8th of March the king decamped, and, 
 marching up the river Maine, bent his course directly 
 for Bavaria, taking several small places by the way, 
 and expecting to engage with Tilly, who he thought 
 would dispute his entrance into Bavaria, kept his 
 army together ; but Tilly, finding himself too weak 
 to encounter him, turned away, and leaving Bavaria 
 open to the king, marched into the Upper Palatinate. 
 The king finding the country clear of the Imperialists 
 comes to Nuremberg, made his entrance into that 
 city the 21st of March, and being nobly treated by 
 the citizens, he continued his march into Bavaria, 
 and on the 26th sat down before Donauwerth. The 
 town was taken the next day by storm, so swift were 
 the conquests of this invincible captain. Sir John 
 Hepburn, with the Scots and the English volunteers 
 [104] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 at the head of them, entered the town first, and 
 cut all the garrison to pieces, except such as escaped 
 over the bridge. 
 
 I had no share in the business of Donauwerth, 
 being now among the horse, but I was posted on the 
 roads with five troops of horse, where we picked up 
 a great many stragglers of the garrison, who we 
 made prisoners of war. 
 
 'T is observable that this town of Donauwerth is 
 a very strong place and well fortified, and yet such 
 expedition did the king make, and such resolution 
 did he use in his first attacks, that he carried the 
 town without putting himself to the trouble of 
 formal approaches. 'T was generally his way when 
 he came before any town with a design to besiege 
 it ; he never would encamp at a distance and begin 
 his trenches a great way off, but Bring his men im- 
 mediately within half-musket shot of the place ; 
 there getting under the best cover he could, he would 
 immediately begin his batteries and trenches before 
 their faces ; and if there was any place possibly to 
 be attacked, he would fall to storming immediately. 
 By this resolute way of coming on he carried many 
 a town in the first heat of his men, which would 
 have held out many days against a more regular 
 siege. 
 
 This march of the king broke all Tilly's measures, 
 for now he was obliged to face about, and leaving 
 the Upper Palatinate, to come to the assistance of 
 the Duke of Bavaria ; for the king being 20,000 
 strong, besides 10,000 foot and 4000 horse and 
 dragoons which joined him from theDuringer Wald, 
 [105] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 was resolved to ruin the duke, who lay now open to 
 him, and was the most powerful and inveterate 
 enemy of the Protestants in the empire. 
 
 Tilly was now joined with the Duke of Bavaria, 
 and might together make about 22,000 men, and in 
 order to keep the Swedes out of the country of 
 Bavaria, had planted themselves along the banks of 
 the river Lech, which runs on the edge of the duke's 
 territories; and having fortified the other side of 
 the river, and planted his cannon for several miles at 
 all the convenient places on the river, resolved to 
 dispute the king's passage. 
 
 I shall be the longer in relating this account of 
 the Lech, being esteemed in those days as great an 
 action as any battle or siege of that age, and par- 
 ticularly famous for the disaster of the gallant old 
 General Tilly ; anS for that I can be more particular 
 in it than other accounts, having been an eye-witness 
 to every part of it. 
 
 The king being truly informed of the disposition 
 of the Bavarian army, was once of the mind to have 
 left the banks of the Lech, have repassed the Danube, 
 and so setting down before Ingolstadt, the duke's 
 capital city, by the taking that strong town to have 
 made his entrance into Bavaria, and the conquest 
 of such a fortress, one entire action ; but the strength 
 of the place, and the difficulty of maintaining his 
 leaguer in an enemy's country while Tilly was so 
 strong in the field, diverted him from that design- 
 he therefore concluded that Tilly was first to be 
 beaten out of the country, and then the siege of 
 Ingolstadt would be the easier. 
 [106] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Whereupon the king resolved to go and view the 
 situation of the enemy. His Majesty went out the 
 2nd of April with a strong party of horse, which I 
 had the honour to command. We marched as near 
 as we could to the banks of the river, not to be too 
 much exposed to the enemy's cannon, and having 
 gained a little height, where the whole course of 
 the river might be seen, the king halted, and com- 
 manded to draw up. The king alighted, and calling 
 me to him, examined every reach and turning of the 
 river by his glass, but finding the river run a long 
 and almost a straight course he could find no place 
 which he liked ; but at last turning himself north, and 
 looking down the stream, he found the river, stretch- 
 ing a long reach, doubles shoil; upon itself, making a 
 round and very narrow point. " There 's a point 
 will do our business," says the king, "and if the 
 ground be good I'll pass there, let Tilly do his 
 worst." 
 
 He immediately ordered a small party of horse to 
 view the ground, and to bring him word particularly 
 how high the bank was on each side and at the point. 
 " And he shall have fifty dollars," says the king, " that 
 will bring me word how deep the water is." I asked 
 his Majesty leave to let me go, which he would by no 
 means allow of ; but as the party was drawing out, a 
 sergeant of dragoons told the king, if he pleased to 
 let him go disguised as a boor, he would bring him 
 an account of everything he desired. The king liked 
 the motion well enough, and the fellow being very well 
 acquainted with the country, puts on a ploughman's 
 habit, and went away immediately with a long pole 
 [107] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 upon his shoulder. The horse lay all this while in the 
 woods, and the king stood undiscerned by the enemy 
 on the little hiU aforesaid. The dragoon with his 
 long pole comes down boldly to the bank of the river, 
 and calling to the sentinels which Tilly had placed on 
 the other bank, talked with them, asked them if they 
 could not help him over the river, and pretended he 
 wanted to come to them. At last being come to the 
 point where, as I said, the river makes a short turn, 
 he stands parleying with them a great while, and 
 sometimes, pretending to wade over, he puts his long 
 pole into the water, then finding it pretty shallow he 
 pulls off his hose and goes in, still thrusting his pole 
 in before him, till being gotten up to his middle, he 
 could reach beyond him, where it was too deep, and 
 so shaking his head, comes back again. The soldiers 
 on the other side, laughing at him, asked him if he 
 could swim ? He said, " No." " Why, you fool you," 
 says one of the sentinels, " the channel of the river is 
 twenty feet deep." " How do you know that .?" says 
 the dragoon. " Why, our engineer," says he, " meas- 
 ured it yesterday." This was what he wanted, but 
 not yet fully satisfied, " Ay, but," says he, " maybe 
 it may not be very broad, and if one of you would 
 wade in to meet me till I could reach you with my 
 pole, I'd give him half a ducat to pull me over." 
 The innocent way of his discourse so deluded the sol- 
 diers, that one of them immediately strips and goes 
 in up to the shoulders, and our dragoon goes in on 
 this side to meet him ; but the stream took t 'other 
 soldier away, and he being a good swimmer, came 
 swimming over to this side. The dragoon was then 
 [108] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 in a great deal of pain for fear of being discovered, 
 and was once going to kill the fellow, and make off; 
 but at last resolved to carry on the humour, and 
 having entertained the fellow with a tale of a tub, 
 about the Swedes stealing his oats, the fellow being 
 a-cold wanted to be gone, and he as willing to be rid 
 of him, pretended to be very sorry he could not get 
 over the river, and so makes off. 
 
 By this, however, he learned both the depth and 
 breadth of the channel, the bottom and nature of 
 both shores, and everything the king wanted to know. 
 We could see him from the hill by our glasses very 
 plain, and could see the soldier naked with him. 
 Says the king, " he will certainly be discovered and 
 knocked on the head from the other side : he is a 
 fool," says the king, " he does not kill the fellow and 
 run off." But when the dragoon told his tale, the 
 king was extremely well satisfied with him, gave him 
 a hundred dollars, and made him a quartermaster to 
 a troop of cuirassiers. 
 
 The king having farther examined the dragoon, 
 he gave him a very distinct account of the shore and 
 the ground on this side, which he found to be higher 
 than the enemy's by ten or twelve foot, and a hard 
 gravel. 
 
 Hereupon the king resolves to pass there, and in 
 order to it gives, himself, particular directions for 
 such a bridge as I believe never army passed a 
 river on before nor since. 
 
 His bridge was only loose planks laid upon large 
 tressels in the same homely manner as I have seen 
 bricklayers raise a low scaffold to build a brick wall ; 
 [109] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the tressels were made higher than one another to 
 answer to the river as it became deeper or shallower, 
 and was all framed and fitted before any appearance 
 was made of attempting to pass. 
 
 When all was ready the king brings his army down 
 to the bank of the river, and plants his cannon as 
 the enemy had done, some here and some there, to 
 amuse them. 
 
 At night, April 4th, the king commanded about 
 2000 men to march to the point, and to throw up 
 a trench on either side, and quite round it with a 
 battery of six pieces of cannon at each end, besides 
 three small mounts, one at the point and one of each 
 side, which had each of them two pieces upon them. 
 This work was begun so briskly and so well earned 
 on, the king firing all the night from the other 
 parts of the river, that by daylight all the batteries 
 at the new work were mounted, the trench lined 
 with 2000 musketeers, and all the utensils of the 
 bridge lay ready to be put together. 
 
 Now the Imperialists discovered the designi but it 
 was too late to hinder it ; the musketeers ' in the 
 great trench, and the five new batteries, made such 
 continual fire that the other bank, which, as before, 
 lay twelve feet below them, was too hot for the Im- 
 perialists ; whereupon Tilly, to be provided for the 
 king at his coming over, falls to work in a wood 
 right against the point, and raises a great battery 
 for twenty pieces of cannon, with a breastwork or 
 line, as near the river as he could, to cover his men, 
 thinking that when the king had built his bridge he 
 might easily beat it down with his cannon. 
 [110] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 But the king had doubly prevented him, first by 
 laying his bridge so low that none of Tilly's shot 
 could hurt it ; for the bridge lay not above half a 
 foot above the water's edge, by which means the 
 king, who in that showed himself an excellent en- 
 gineer, had secured it from any batteries to be made 
 -within the land, and the angle of the bank secured 
 it from the remoter batteries on the other side, and 
 the continual fire of the cannon and small shot beat 
 the Imperialists from their station just against it, 
 they having no works to cover them. 
 
 And in the second place, to secure his passage he 
 sent over about 200 men, and after that 200 more, 
 who had orders to cast up a large ravelin on the other 
 bank, just where he designed to land his bridge. 
 This was done with such expedition too, that it was 
 finished before night, and in condition to receive 
 all the shot of Tilly's great batteiy, and effectually 
 covered his bridge. While this was doing the king 
 on his side lays over his bridge. Both sides wrought 
 hard all day and all night, as if the spade, not the 
 sword, had been to decide the controversy, and that 
 he had got the victory whose trenches and batteries 
 were first ready. In the meanwhile the cannon and 
 musket bullets flew like hail, and made the service 
 so hot that both sides had enough to do to make 
 their men stand to their work. The king, in the 
 hottest of it, animated his men by his presence, and 
 Tilly, to give him his due, did the same ; for the execu- 
 tion was so great, and so many officers killed, Gen- 
 eral Altringer wounded, and two sergeant-majors 
 killed, that at last Tilly himself was obliged to ex- 
 [111] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 pose himself, and to come up to the very face of our 
 hne to encourage his men, and give his necessary 
 orders. 
 
 And here about one o'clock, much about the time 
 that the king's brigade and works were finished, and 
 just as they said he had ordered to fall on upon our 
 ravelin with 3000 foot, was the brave old Tilly slain 
 with a musket bullet in the thigh. He was carried off 
 to Ingolstadt, and lived some days after, but died of 
 that wound the same day as the king had his horse 
 sbiot under him at the siege of that town. 
 
 We made no question of passing the river here, 
 having brought everything so forward, and with such 
 extraordinary success ; but we should have found it a 
 very hot piece of work if Tilly had lived one day 
 more, and, if I may give my opinion of it, having 
 seen Tilly's battery and breastwork, in the face of 
 which we must have passed the river, I must say that, 
 whenever we had marched, if Tilly had fallen in with 
 his horse and foot, placed in that trench, the whole 
 army would have passed as much danger as in the 
 face of a strong town in the storming a counterscarp. 
 The king himself, when he saw with what judgment 
 Tilly had prepared his works, and what danger he 
 must have run, would often say that day's success 
 was every way equal to the victory of Leipsic. 
 
 Tilly^being hurt and carried off, as if the soul of 
 the army had been lost, they began to draw off. 
 The Duke of Bavaria took horse and rid away as if 
 he had fled out of battle for his life. 
 
 The other generals, with a little more caution, as 
 well as courage, drew off by degrees, sending their 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 cannon and baggage away first, and leaving some to 
 continue firing on tlie bank of the river, to conceal 
 their retreat. The river preventing any intelligence, 
 we knew nothing of the disaster befallen them ; and 
 the king, who looked for blows, having finished his 
 bridge and ravelin, ordered to run a line with pali- 
 sadoes to take in more ground on the bank of the 
 river, to cover the first troops he should send over. 
 This being finished the same night, the king sends 
 over a party of his guards to relieve the men who 
 were in the ravelin, and commanded 600 musketeers 
 to man the new line out of the Scots brigade. 
 
 Early in the morning a small party of Scots, com- 
 manded by one Captain Forbes, of my Lord Reay's 
 regiment, were sent out to learn something of the 
 enemy, the king observing they had not fired all 
 night ; and while this party were abroad, the army 
 stood in battalia ; and my old friend Sir John Hep- 
 burn, whom of all men the king most depended upon 
 for any desperate service, was ordered to pass the 
 bridge with his brigade, and to draw up without the 
 line, with command to advance as he found the horse, 
 who were to second him, come over. 
 
 Sir John being passed without the trench, meets 
 Captain Forbes with some prisoners, and the good 
 news of the enemy's retreat. He sends him directly 
 to the king, who was by this time at the head of his 
 army, in full battalia, ready to follow his vanguard, 
 expecting a hot day's work of it. Sir John sends 
 messenger after messenger to the king, entreating him 
 to give him orders to advance ; but the king would 
 not suffer him, for he was ever upon his guard, and 
 8 [ 113 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 would not venture a surprise ; so the army continued 
 on this side the Lech all day and the next night. 
 In the morning the king sent for me, and ordered 
 me to draw out 300 horse, and a colonel with 600 
 horse, and a colonel with 800 dragoons, and ordered 
 us to enter the wood by three ways, but so as to be 
 able to relieve one another ; and then ordered Sir 
 John Hepburn with his brigade to advance to the 
 edge of the wood to secure our retreat, and at the 
 same time commanded another brigade of foot 
 to pass the bridge, if need were, to second Sir 
 John Hepburn, so warily did this prudent general 
 proceed. 
 
 We advanced with our horse into the Bavarian 
 camp, which we found forsaken. The plunder of it 
 was inconsiderable, for the exceeding caution the 
 king had used gave them time to carry off all their 
 baggage. We followed them three or four miles, and 
 returned to our camp. 
 
 I confess I was most diverted that day with view- 
 ing the works which Tilly had cast up, and must own 
 again that had he not been taken off we had met with 
 as desperate a piece of work as ever was attempted. 
 The next day the rest of the cavalry came up to us, 
 commanded by Gustavus Horn, and the king and 
 the whole army followed. We advanced through 
 the heart of Bavaria, took Rain at the first summons, 
 and several other small towns, and sat down before 
 Augsburg. 
 
 Augsburg, though a Protestant city, had a Popish 
 Bavarian garrison in it of above 5000 men, com- 
 manded by a Fugger, a great family in Bavari^, 
 [114] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The governor had posted several little parties as out- 
 scouts at the distance of two miles and a half or three 
 miles from the town. The king, at his coming up to 
 this town, sends me with my little troop and three 
 companies of dragoons to beat in these out-sqouts. 
 The first party I lighted on was not above sixteen 
 men, who had made a small bairicado cross the road, 
 and stood resolutely upon their guard. I commanded 
 the dragoons to alight and open the barricado, which, 
 while they resolutely performed, the sixteen men gave 
 them two volleys of their muskets, and tlirough the 
 enclosures made their retreat to a turnpike about a 
 quarter of a mile farther. We passed their first 
 traverse, and coming up to the turnpike, I found it 
 defended by 200 musketeers. I prepared to attack 
 them, sending word to the king how strong the enemy 
 was, and desired some foot to be sent me. My dra- 
 goons fell on, and though the enemy made a very hot 
 fire, had beat them from this post before 200 foot, 
 which the king had sent me, had come up. Being 
 joined with the foot, I followed the enemy, who re- 
 treated fighting, till they came under the cannon of 
 a strong redoubt, where they drew up, and I could 
 see another body of foot of about 300 join them out 
 of the works ; upon which I halted, and considering 
 I was in view of the town, and a great way from the 
 army, I faced about and began to march off. As we 
 marched I found the enemy followed, but kept at a 
 distance, as if they only designed' to observe me. I 
 had not marched far, but I heard a volley of small 
 shot, answered by two or three more, which I presently 
 apprehended to be at the turnpike, where I had left 
 [115] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 a small guard of twenty-six men with a lieutenant. 
 Immediately I detached 100 dragoons to relieve my 
 men and secure my retreat, following myself as fast 
 as the foot could march. The lieutenant sent me 
 back word the post was taken by the enemy, and my 
 men cut off. Upon this I doubled my pace, and when 
 I came up I found it as the lieutenant said ; for the 
 post was taken and manned with 300 musketeers and 
 three troops of horse. By this time, also, I found 
 the party in my rear made up towards me, so that I 
 was like to be charged in a narrow place both in 
 front and rear. 
 
 I saw there was no remedy but with all my force to 
 fall upon that party before me,and so to break through 
 before those from the town could come up with me ; 
 wherefore, commanding my dragoons to alight, I or- 
 dered them to fall on upon the foot. Their horse 
 were drawn up in an enclosed field on one side of the 
 road, a great ditch securing the other side, so that 
 they thought if I charged the foot in front they would 
 fall upon my flank, while those behind would charge 
 my rear ; and, indeed, had the other come in time, 
 they had cut me off. My dragoons made three fair 
 charges on their foot, but were received with so much 
 resolution and so brisk a fire, that they were beaten 
 ofl^, and sixteen men killed. Seeing them so rudely 
 handled, and the horse ready to fall in, I relieved 
 them with 100 musketeers, and they renewed the 
 attack ; at the same time, with my troop of horse, 
 flanked on both wings with fifty musketeers, I faced 
 their horse, but did not offer to charge them. The 
 ease grew now desperate, and the enemy behind were 
 [116] 
 
MEMOIRS. OF A CAVALIER 
 
 just at my heels with near 600 men. The captain who 
 commanded the musketeers who flanked my horse 
 came up to me ; says he, " If we do not force this 
 pass all will be lost ; if you will draw out your troop 
 and twenty of my foot, and fall in, I'll engage to 
 keep off" the horse with the rest." "With all my 
 heart,'" says I. 
 
 Immediately I wheeled off my troop, and a small 
 party of the musketeers followed me, and fell in with 
 the dragoons and foot, who, seeing the danger too 
 as well as I, fought like madmen. The foot at the 
 turnpike were not able to hinder our breaking 
 through, so we made our way out, killing about 150 
 of them, and put the rest into confusion. 
 
 But now was I in as great a difficulty as before 
 how to fetch off" my brave captain of foot, for they 
 charged home upon him. He defended himself with 
 extraordinary gallantry, having the benefit of a piece 
 of a hedge to cover him, but he lost half his men, 
 and was just upon the point of being defeated when 
 the king, informed by a soldier that escaped from 
 the turnpike, one of twenty-six, had sent a party of 
 600 dragoons to bring me off; these came upon the 
 spur, and joined with me just as I had bi'oke through 
 the turnpike. The enemy's foot rsCUied behind their 
 horse, and by this time their other party was come 
 in ; but seeing our relief they drew off together. 
 
 I lost above 100 men in these skirmishes, and 
 killed them about 180. We secured the turnpike, 
 and placed a company of foot there with 100 dragoons, 
 and came back well beaten to the army. The king, 
 to prevent such uncertain skirmishes, advanced the 
 [117] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 next day in view of the town, and, according to his 
 custom, sits down with his whole army within cannon- 
 shot of their walls. 
 
 The king won this great city by force of words, 
 for by two or three messages and letters to and 
 from the citizens, the town was gained, the garrison 
 not daring to defend them against their wills. His 
 iMajesty made his public entrance into the city on 
 the 14th of April, and receiving the compliments of 
 the citizens, advanced immediately to Ingolstadt, 
 which is accounted, and really is, the strongest town 
 in all these parts. 
 
 The town had a very strong garrison in it, and 
 the Duke of Bavaria lay entrenched with his army 
 under the walls of it, on the other side of the river. 
 The king, who never loved long sieges, having viewed 
 the town, and brought his army within musket-shot 
 of it, called a council of war, where it was the king's 
 opinion, in short, that the town would lose him more 
 than 't was worth, and therefore he resolved to raise 
 his siege. 
 
 Here the king going to view the town had his 
 horse shot with a cannon-bullet from the works, which 
 tumbled the king and his horse over one another, 
 that everybody thought he had been killed ; but he 
 received no hurt at all. That very minute, as near 
 as could be learnt. General Tilly died in the town 
 of the shot he received on the bank of the Lech, as 
 aforesaid. 
 
 I was not in the camp when the king was hurt, for 
 the king had sent almost all the horse and dragoons, 
 under Gustavus Horn, to face the Duke of Bavaria's 
 [118] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 camp, and after that to plunder the country ; which 
 truly was a work the soldiers were very glad of, for it 
 was very seldom they had that liberty given them, and 
 they made very good use. of it when it was, for the 
 country of Bavaria was rich and plentiful, having 
 seen no enemy before during the whole war. 
 
 The army having left the siege of Ingolstadt, pro- 
 ceeds to take in the rest of Bavaria. Sir John 
 Hepburn, with three brigades of foot, and Gustavus 
 Horn, with 3000 horse and dragoons, went to the 
 Landshut, and took it the same day. The garrison 
 w£is all horse, and gave us several camisadoes at our 
 approach, in one of which I lost two of my troops, 
 but when we had beat them into close quarters they 
 presently capitulated. The general got a great sum 
 of money of the town, besides a great many presents 
 to the officers. And from thence the king went on 
 to Munich, the Duke of Bavaria's court. Some of 
 the general officers would fain have had the plunder- 
 ing of the duke's palace, but the king was too gener- 
 ous. The city paid him 400,000 dollars ; and the 
 duke's magazine was there seized, in which was 140 
 pieces of cannon, and small arms for above 20,000 
 men. The great chamber of the duke's rarities was 
 preserved, by the king's special order, with a great 
 deal of care. I expected to have stayed here some 
 time, and to have taken a very exact account of 
 this curious laboratory ; but being commanded away, 
 I had no time, and the fate of the war never gave 
 me opportunity to see it again. 
 
 The Imperialists, under the command of Com- 
 missary Osta, had besieged Biberach, an Imperial 
 [119] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 city not very well fortified; and the inhabitants 
 being under the Swedes' protection, defended them- 
 selves as well as they could, but were in great danger, 
 and sent several expresses tp the king for help. 
 
 The king immediately detaches a strong body of 
 horse and foot to relieve Biberach, and would be the 
 commander himself. I marched among the horse, 
 but the Imperialists saved us the labour ; for the 
 news of the king's coming frighted away Osta, that 
 he left Biberach, and hardly looked behind him 
 till he got up to the Bodensee, on the confines of 
 Switzerland. 
 
 At our return from this expedition the king had 
 the first news of Wallenstein's approach, who, on the 
 death of Count Tilly, being declared generalissimo 
 of the emperor's forces, had played the tyrant in 
 Bohemia, and was now advancing with 60,000 men, 
 as they reported, to relieve the Duke of Bavaria. 
 
 The king, therefore, in order to be in a posture to 
 receive this great general, resolves to quit Bavaria, 
 and to expect him on the frontiers of Franconia. 
 And because he knew the Nurembergers for their 
 kindness to him would be the first sacrifice, he re- 
 solved to defend that city against him whatever it 
 cost. 
 
 Nevertheless he did not leave Bavaria without a 
 defence ; but, on the one hand, he left Sir John Baner 
 with 10,000 men about Augsburg, and the Duke 
 of Saxe- Weimar with another like army about Ulm 
 and Meningen, with orders so to direct their march 
 as that they might join him upon any occasion in a 
 few days. 
 
 [120] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 We encamped about Nuremberg the middle of 
 June. The army, after so many detachments, was 
 not above 19,000 men. The Imperial army, joined 
 with the Bavarian, were not so numerous as was re- 
 ported, but were really 60,000 men. The king, not 
 strong enough to fight, yet, as he used to say, was 
 strong enough not to be forced to fight, formed his 
 camp so under the cannon of Nuremberg that there 
 was no besieging the town but they must besiege 
 him too ; and he fortified his camp in so formidable 
 a manner that Wallenstein never durst attack him. 
 On the 30th of June Wallenstein's troops appeared, 
 and on the 5th of July encamped close by the king, 
 and posted themselves not on the Bavarian side, but 
 between the king and his own friends of Schwaben 
 and Frankenland, in order to intercept his provisions, 
 and, as they thought, to starve him out of his camp. 
 
 Here they lay to see, as it were, who could subsist 
 longest. The king was strong in horse, for we had 
 full 8000 horse and dragoons in the army, and this 
 gave us great advantage in the several skirmishes we 
 had with the enemy. The enemy had possession of 
 the whole country, and had taken effectual care to 
 furnish their army with provisions ; they placed their 
 guards in such excellent order, to secure their con- 
 voys, that their waggons went from stage to stage as 
 quiet as in a time of peace, and were relieved every 
 five miles by parties constantly posted on the road. 
 And thus the Imperial general sat down by us, not 
 doubting but he should force the king either to fight 
 his way through on very disadvantageous terms, or to 
 rise for want of provisions, and leave the city of 
 [121 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Nuremberg a prey to his army ; for he had vowed 
 the destruction of the city, and to make it a second 
 Magdeburg. 
 
 But the king, who was not to be easily deceived, 
 had countermined all Wallenstein's designs. He had 
 passed his honour to the Nurembergers that he would 
 not leave them, and they had undertaken to victual 
 his army, and secure him from want, which they did 
 so effectually, that he had no occasion to expose his 
 troops to any hazard or fatigues for convoys or forage 
 on any account whatever. 
 
 The city of Nuremberg is a very rich and populous 
 city, and the king being very sensible of their danger, 
 had given his word for their defence. And when 
 they, being terrified at the threats of the Imperialists, 
 sent their deputies to beseech the king to take care 
 of them, he sent them word he would, and be besieged 
 with them. They, on the other hand, laid in such 
 stores of all sorts of provision, both for men and 
 horse, that had Wallenstein lain before it six months 
 longer, there would have been no scarcity. Every 
 private house was a magazine, the camp was plenti- 
 fully supplied with all manner of provisions, and the 
 market always full, and as cheap as in times of peace. 
 The magistrates were so careful, and presei-ved so 
 excellent an order in the disposal of all sorts of pro- 
 vision, that no engrossing of corn could be practised, 
 for the prices were every day directed at the town- 
 house; and if any man offered to demand more 
 money for corn than the stated price, he could not 
 sell, because at the town store-house you might buy 
 cheaper. Here are two instances of good and bad 
 [122 ] ■ 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 conduct : the city of Magdeburg had been entreated 
 by the king to settle funds, and raise money for their 
 provision and security, and to have a sufficient gaiTi- 
 son to defend them, but they made difficulties, either 
 to raise men for themselves, or to admit the king's 
 troops to assist them, for fear of the charge of 
 maintaining them; and this was the cause of the 
 city's ruin. 
 
 The city of Nuremberg opened their arms to 
 receive the assistance proffered by the Swedes, and 
 their purses to defend their town and common cause ; 
 and this was the saving them absolutely from de- 
 struction. The rich burghers and magistrates kept 
 open houses, where the officers of the army were 
 always welcome ; and the council of the city took 
 such care of the poor that there was no complaining 
 nor disorders in the whole city. There is no doubt 
 but it cost the city a great deal of money ; but I 
 never saw a public charge borne with so much cheer- 
 fulness, nor managed with so much prudence and 
 conduct in my life. The city fed above 50,000 
 mouths every day, including their own poor, besides 
 themselves ; and yet when the king had lain thus 
 three months, and finding his armies longer in coming 
 up than he expected, asked the burgrave how their 
 magazines held out, he answered, they desired his 
 Majesty not to hasten things for them, for they 
 could maintain themselves and him twelve months 
 longer if there was occasion. This plenty kept both 
 the army and city in good health, as well as in good 
 heart ; whereas nothing was to be had of us but 
 blows, for we fetched nothing from without our 
 [ 123] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 works, nor had no business without the line but to 
 interrupt the enemy. 
 
 The manner of the king's encampment deserves a 
 particular chapter, He was a complete surveyor 
 and a master in fortification, not to be outdone by 
 anybody. He had posted his army in the suburbs 
 of the town, and drawn lines round the whole cir- 
 cumference, so that he begirt the- whole city with 
 his army. His works were leirge,' the ditch deep, 
 flanked with innumerable bastions, ravelins, horn- 
 works, forts, redoubts, batteries, and palisadoes, the 
 incessant work of 8000 men for about fourteen days ; 
 besides that, the king was adding something or other 
 to it every day, and the very posture of his camp 
 was enough to tell a bigger army than Wallenstein's 
 that he was not to be assaulted in his trenches. 
 
 The king's design appeared chiefly to be the pres- 
 ervation of the city ; but that was not all. He had 
 three armies acting abroad in three several places. 
 Gustavus Horn was on the Moselle, the chancellor 
 Oxenstiern about Mentz, Cologne, and the Rhine, 
 Duke William and Duke Bernhard, together with 
 General Baner, in Bavaria. And though he designed 
 they should all join him, and had wrote to them all 
 to that purpose, yet he did not hasten them, know- 
 ing that while he kept the main array at bay about 
 Nuremberg, they would, without opposition, re- 
 duce those several countries they were acting in 
 to his power. This occasioned his lying longer 
 in the camp at Nuremberg than he would have done, 
 and this occasioned his giving the Imperialists so 
 many alarms by his strong parties of horse, of which 
 [124] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 he was well provided, that they might not be able 
 to make any considerable detachments for the relief 
 of their friends. And here he showed his master- 
 ship in the war, for by this means his conquests went 
 on as effectually as if he had been abroad himself. 
 
 In the meantime it was not to be expected two 
 such armies should lie long so near without some 
 action. The Imperial army, being masters of the 
 field, laid the country for twenty miles round Nu- 
 remberg in a manner desolate. What the inhabitants 
 could carry away had been before secured in such 
 strong towns as had garrisons to protect them, and 
 what was left the hungry Crabats devoured or set on 
 fire ; but sometimes they were met with by our men, 
 who often paid -them home for it. There had passed 
 several small rencounters between our parties and 
 theirs ;' and as it falls out in such cases, sometimes 
 one side, sometimes the other, got the better. But 
 I have observed there never was any party sent out 
 by the king's special appointment but always came 
 home with victory. 
 
 The first considerable attempt, as I remember, 
 was made on a convoy of ammunition. The party 
 sent out was commanded by a Saxon colonel, and 
 consisted of 1000 horse and 500 dragoons, who burnt 
 above 600 waggons loaded with ammunition and 
 stores for the army, besides taking about 2000 
 muskets, which they brought back to the army, t 
 
 The latter end of July the king received advice 
 
 that the Imperialists had formed a magazine for 
 
 provision at a town called Freynstat, twenty miles 
 
 from Nuremberg. Hither all the booty and con- 
 
 [126] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 tributions raised in the Upper Palatinate, and parts 
 adjacent, was brought and laid up as in a place of 
 security, a garrison of 600 men being placed to 
 defend it ; and when a quantity of provisions was 
 got together, convoys were appointed to fetch it ofF. 
 
 The king was resolved, if possible, to take or de- 
 stroy this magazine ; and sending for Colonel Dubalt, 
 a Swede, and a man of extraordinary conduct, he 
 tells him his design, and withal that he must be the 
 man to put it in execution, and ordered him to take 
 what forces he thought convenient. The colonel, 
 who knew the town very well, and the country about 
 it, told his Majesty he would attempt it with all his 
 heart ; but he was afraid 't would require some foot 
 to make the attack. " But we can't- stay for that," 
 says the king ; " you must then take some di-agoons 
 with you ; "and immediately the king called' for me. 
 I was just coming up the stairs as the king's page 
 was come out to inquire for me, so I went imme- 
 diately in to the king. " Here 's a piece of hot work 
 for you," says the king, " Dubalt will tell it you ; 
 go together and contrive it." 
 
 We immediately withdrew, and the colonel told 
 me the design, and what the king and he had dis- 
 coursed ; that, in his opinion, foot would be wanted : 
 but the king had declared there was no time for the 
 foot to march, and had proposed dragoons. I told 
 hiiq, I thought dragoons might do as well ; so we 
 agreed to take 1600 horse and 400 dragoons. The 
 king, impatient in his design, came into the room 
 to us to know what we had resolved on, approved 
 our measures, gave us orders immediately ; and, tum- 
 [ 126] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ing to me, " You shall command the dragoons," says 
 the king, " but Dubalt must be general in this case, 
 for he knows the country." " Your Majesty," said 
 I, " shall be always served by me in any figure you 
 please." The king wished us good speed, and hur- 
 ried us away the same afternoon, in order to come 
 to the place in time. We marched slowly on because 
 of the carriages we had with us, and came to Freyn- 
 stat about one o'clock in the night perfectly undis- 
 covered. The guards were so negligent, that we came 
 to the very port before they had notice of us, and 
 a sergeant with twelve dragoons thrust in upon the 
 out-sentinels, and killed them without noise. 
 
 Immediately ladders were placed to the half- 
 moon which defended the gate, which the dragoons 
 mounted and carried in a trice, about twenty-eight 
 men being cut in pieces within. As soon as the 
 ravelin was taken, they burst open the gate, at which 
 I entered at the head of 200 dragoons, and seized the 
 drawbridge. By this time the town was in alarm, 
 and the drums beat to arms, but it was too late, 
 for by the help of a petard we broke open the gate, 
 and entered the town. The garrison made an ob- 
 stinate fight for about half-an-hour, but our men 
 being all in, and three troops of horse dismounted 
 coming to our assistance with their carabines, the 
 town was entirely mastered by three of the clock, 
 and guards set to prevent anybody running to give 
 notice to the enemy. There were about 200 of the 
 garrison killed, and the rest taken prisoners. The 
 town being thus secured, the gates were opened, 
 and Colonel Dubalt came in with the horse. 
 [127] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The guards being set, we entered the magazine, 
 where we found an incredible quantity of all sorts 
 of provision. There was 150 tons of bread, 8000 
 sacks of meal, 4000 sacks of oats, and of other pro- 
 visions in proportion. We caused as much of it as 
 could be loaded to be brought away in such wag- 
 gons and carriages as we found, and set the rest 
 on fire, town and aU. We stayed by it till we saw 
 it past a possibility of being saved, and then drew 
 off with 800 waggons, which we found in the place, 
 most of which we loaded with bread, meal, and oats. 
 While we were doing this we sent a party of dragoons 
 into the fields, who met us again as we came out, 
 with above 1000 head of black, cattle, besides sheep. 
 
 Our next care was to bring this booty home with- 
 out meeting with the enemy, to secure which, the 
 colonel immediately despatched an express to the 
 king, to let him know of our success, and to desire 
 a detachment might be made to secure our retreat, 
 being charged with so much plunder. 
 
 And it was no more than need ; for though we 
 had used aU the diligence possible to prevent any 
 notice, yet somebody, more forward than ordinary, 
 had escaped away, and carried the news of it to the 
 Imperial army. The general, upon this bad news, 
 detaches Major-General Sparr with a body of 6000 
 men to cut off our retreat. The king, who had 
 notice of this detachment, marches out in person 
 with 3000 men to wait upon General Sparr. All 
 this was the account of one day. The king met 
 General Sparr at the moment when his troops were 
 divided, fell upon them, routed one part of them, 
 [ 128] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and the rest in a few hours after, killed them 1000 
 men, and took the general prisoner. 
 
 In the interval of this action we came safe to the 
 camp with our booty, which was very considerable, 
 and would have supplied our whole army for a 
 month. Thus we feasted at the enemy's cost, and 
 beat them into the bargain. 
 
 The king gave all the live cattle to the Nurem- 
 bergers, who, though they had really no want of pro- 
 visions, yet fresh meat was not so plentiful as such 
 provisions which were stored up in vessels and laid by. 
 
 After this skirmish we had the country more at 
 command than before, and daily fetched in fresh 
 provisions and forage in the fields. 
 
 The two armies had now lain a long time in sight 
 of one another, and daily skirmishes had considerably 
 weakened them ; and the king, beginning to be im- 
 patient, hastened the advancement of his friends to 
 join him, in which also they were not backward ; 
 but having drawn together their forces from several 
 parts, and all joined the chancellor Oxenstiern, news 
 came, the 15th of August, that they were in full 
 march to join us ; and being come to a small town 
 called Brock, the king went out of the camp with 
 about 1000 horse to view them. I went along with 
 the horse, and the 21st of August saw the review of 
 all the armies together, which were 30,000 men, in 
 extraordinary equipage, old soldiers, and commanded 
 by officers of the greatest conduct and experience in 
 the world. There was the rich chancellor of Sweden, 
 who commanded as general ; Gustavus Horn and 
 John Baner, both Swedes and old generals ; Duke 
 9 [ 129 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 William and Duke Bemhard of Weimar ; the Land- 
 grave of Hesse-Cassel, the Palatine of Birkenfelt, and 
 abundance of princes and lords of the empire. 
 
 The armies being joined, the king, who was now 
 a match for Wallenstein, quits his camp and draws 
 up in battalia before the Imperial trenches : but the 
 scene was changed. Wallenstein was no more able 
 to fight now than the king was before ; but, keeping 
 within his trenches, stood upon his guard. The 
 king . coming up close to his works, plants batteries, 
 and cannonaded him in his very camp. The Impe- 
 rialists, finding the king press upon them, retreat 
 into a woody country about three leagues, and, tak- 
 ing possession of an old ruined castle, posted their 
 army behind it. 
 
 This old castle they fortified, and placed a very 
 strong guard there. The king, having viewed the 
 place, though it was a very strong post, resolved to 
 attack it with the whole right wing. The attack was 
 made with a great deal of order and resolution, the 
 king leading the first party on with sword in hand, 
 and the fight was maintained on both sides with the 
 utmost gallantry and obstinacy all the day and the 
 next night too, for the cannon and musket never 
 gave over till the morning; but the Imperialists 
 having the advantage of the hill, of their works and 
 batteries, and being continually relieved, and the 
 Swedes naked, without cannon or works, the post 
 was maintained, and the king, finding it would cost 
 him too much blood, drew off in the morning. 
 
 This was the famous fight at Altenberg, where 
 the Imperialists boasted to have shown the world the 
 [130] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 King of Sweden was not invincible. They call it the 
 victory at Altenberg ; 't is true the king failed in his 
 attempt of carrying their works, but there was so 
 little of a victory in it, that the Imperial general 
 thought fit not to venture a second brush, but to 
 draw off their army as soon as they could to a safer 
 quarter. 
 
 I had no share in this attack, very few of the horse 
 being in the action, but my comrade, who was always 
 among the Scots volunteers, was wounded and taken 
 prisoner by the enemy. They used him very civilly, 
 and the king and Wallenstein straining courtesies 
 with one another, the king released Major-General 
 Sparr without ransom, and the Imperial general sent 
 home Colonel Tortenson, a Swede, and sixteen volun- 
 teer gentlemen, who were taken in the heat of the 
 action, among whom my captain was one. 
 
 The king lay fourteen days facing the Imperial 
 army, and using all the stratagems possible to bring 
 them to a battle, but to no purpose, during which 
 time we had parties continually out, and very often 
 skirmishes with the enemy. 
 
 I had a command of one of these parties in an ad- 
 venture, wherein I got no booty, nor much honour. 
 The king had received advice of a convoy of provisions 
 which was to come to the enemy's camp from the 
 Upper Palatinate, and having a great mind to sur- 
 prise them, he commanded us to waylay them with 
 1200 horse, and 800 dragoons. I had exact directions 
 given me of the way they were to come, and posting 
 my horse in a village a little out of the road, I lay 
 with my dragoons in a wood, by which they were to 
 [131] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 pass by break of day. The enemy appeared with their 
 convoy, and being very wary, their out-scouts dis- 
 covered us in the wood, and fired upon the sentinel 
 I had posted in a tree at the entrance of the wood. 
 Finding myself discovered, I would have retreated 
 to. the village where my horse were posted, but in a 
 moment the wood was skirted with the enemy's horse, 
 and 1000 commanded musketeers advanced to beat 
 me out. In this pickle I sent away three messengers 
 one after another for the horse, who were within two 
 miles of me, to advance to my relief; but all my mes- 
 sengers fell into the enemy's hands. Four hundred 
 of my dragoons on foot, whom I had placed at a little 
 distance before me, stood to their work, and beat off 
 two charges of the enemy's foot with some loss on 
 both sides. Meantime 200 of my men faced about, 
 and rushing out of the wood, broke through a party 
 of the enemy's- horse, who stood to watch our com- 
 ing out. I confess I was exceedingly surprised at it, 
 thinking those fellows had done it to make their escape, 
 or else were gone over to the enemy ; and my men were 
 so discouraged at it, that they began to look about 
 which way to run to save themselves, and were just 
 upon the point of disbanding to shift for themselves, 
 when one of the captains called to me aloud to beat 
 a parley and treat. I made no answer, but, as if I 
 had not heard him, immediately gave the word for 
 all the captains to come together. The consultation 
 was but short, for the musketeers were advancing to 
 a third charge, with numbers which we were not likely 
 to deal with. In short, we resolved to beat a parley, 
 and demand quarter, for that was all we could expect, 
 [132] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 when on a sudden the body of horse I had posted in 
 the village, b(?ing directed by the noise, had advanced 
 to relieve me, if they saw occasion, and had met the 
 200 dragoons, who guided them directly to the spot 
 where they had broke through, and all together fell 
 upon the horse of the enemy, who were posted on 
 that side, and, mastering them before they could be 
 relieved, cut them all to pieces and brought me off. 
 Under the shelter of this party, we made good our 
 retreat to the village, but we lost above 300 men, 
 and were glad to make oiF from the village too, for 
 the enemy were very much too strong for us. 
 
 Returning thence towards the camp, we fell foul 
 with 200 Crabats, who had been upon the plundering 
 account. We made ourselves some amends upon them 
 for our former loss, for we showed them no mercy ; 
 but our misfortunes were nob ended, for we had but 
 just despatched those Crabats when we fell in with 
 3000 Imperial horse, who, on the expectation of the 
 aforesaid convoy were sent out to secure them. 
 
 All I could do could not persuade my men to 
 stand their ground against this party ; so that find- 
 ing they would run away in confusion, I agreed to 
 make off, and facing to the right, we went over a 
 large common a full trot, till at last fear, which 
 always increases in a flight, brought us to a plain 
 flight, the enemy at our heels. I must confess I 
 was never so mortified in my life ; 't was to no 
 purpose to turn head, no man would stand by us ; 
 we run for life, and a great many we left by the 
 way who were either wounded by the enemy's shot, 
 or else could not keep race with us. 
 [133] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 At last, having got over the common, which was 
 near two miles, we came to a lane ; onjg of our cap- 
 tains, a Saxon by country, and a gentleman of a good 
 fortune, alighted at the entrance of the lane, and 
 with a bold heart faced about, shot his own horse, 
 and called his men to stand by him and defend the 
 lane. Some of his men halted, and we rallied about 
 600 men, which we posted as well as we could, to 
 defend the pass ; but the enemy charged us with 
 great fury. The Saxon gentleman, after defending 
 himself with exceeding gallantry, and refusing quar- 
 ter, was killed upon the spot. A German dragoon, 
 as I thought him, gave me a rude blow with the 
 stock of his piece on the side of my head, and was 
 just going to repeat it, when one of my men shot 
 him dead. I was so stunned with the blow, that I 
 knew nothing ; but recovering, I found myself in the 
 hands of two of the enemy's officers, who offered me 
 quarter, which I accepted ; and indeed, to give them 
 their due, they used me very civilly. Thus this 
 whole party was defeated, and not above 500 men 
 got safe to the army ; nor had half the number 
 escaped, had not the Saxon captain made so bold a 
 stand at the head of the lane. 
 
 Several other parties of the king's army revenged 
 our quaiTel, and paid them home for it ; but I had 
 a particular loss in this defeat, that I never saw the 
 king after ; for though his Majesty sent a trumpet 
 to reclaim us as prisoners the very next day, yet I 
 was not delivered, some scruple happening about 
 exchanging, till after the battle of Liitzen, where 
 that gallant prince lost his life. 
 [134] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The Imperial army rose from their camp about 
 eight or ten days after the king had removed, and I 
 was carried prisoner in the army till they sat down 
 to the siege of Coburg Castle, and then was left with 
 other prisoners of war, in the custody of Colonel 
 Spezviter, in a small castle near the camp called 
 Neustadt. Here we continued indifferent well 
 treated, but could learn nothing of what action the 
 armies were upon, till the Duke of Friedland, having 
 been beaten oft' from the castle of Coburg, marched 
 into Saxony, and the prisoners were sent for into the 
 camp, as was said, in order to be exchanged. 
 
 I came into the Imperial leaguer at the siege of 
 Leipsic, and within three days after my coming, the 
 city was surrendered, and I got liberty to lodge at 
 my old quarters in the town upon my parole. 
 
 The King of Sweden was at the heels of the 
 Imperialists, for finding Wallenstein resolved to ruin 
 the Elector of Saxony, the king had re-collected as 
 much of his divided army as he could, and came 
 upon him just as he was going to besiege Torgau. 
 
 As it is not my design to write a history of any 
 more of these wars than I was actually concerned in, 
 so I shall only note that, upon the king's approach, 
 Wallenstein halted, and hkewise called all his troops 
 together, for he apprehended the king would fall on 
 him, and we that were prisoners fancied the Imperial 
 soldiers went unwillingly out, for the very name of 
 the Kino- of Sweden was become terrible to them. 
 In short, they drew all the soldiers of the garrison 
 they could spare out of Leipsic ; sent for Pappenheim 
 again, who was gone but three days before with 6000 
 [135] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 men on a private expedition. On the 16th of Novem- 
 ber, the armies met on the plains of Liitzen ; a long 
 and bloody battle was fought, the Imperialists were 
 entirely routed and beaten, 12,000 slain upon the 
 spot, their cannon, baggage, and 2000 prisoners 
 taken, but the King of Sweden lost his life, being 
 killed at the head of his troops in the beginning of 
 the fight. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the consternation the 
 death of this conquering king struck into all the 
 princes of Germany ; the ' grief for him exceeded 
 all manner of human sorrow. All people looked 
 upon themselves as ruined and swallowed up; the 
 inhabitants of two-thirds of all Germany put them- 
 selves into mourning for him ; when the ministers 
 mentioned him in their sermons or prayers, whole 
 congregations would burst out into tears. The 
 Elector of Saxony was utterly inconsolable, and 
 would for several days walk about his palace like a , 
 distracted man, crying the saviour of Germany was 
 lost, the refuge of abused princes was gone, the soul 
 of the war was dead ; and from that hour was so 
 hopeless of out-living the war, that he sought* to 
 make peace with the emperor. 
 
 Three days after this mournful victory, the Saxons 
 recovered the town of Leipsic by stratagem. The 
 Duke of Saxony's forces lay at Torgau, and perceiv- 
 ing the confusion the Imperialists were in at the 
 news of the overthrow of their army, they resolved 
 to attempt, the recovery of the town. They sent 
 about twenty scattering troopers, who, pretending 
 themselves to be Imperialists fled from the battle, 
 [136] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 were let in one by one, and still as they came in, they 
 stayed at the court of guard in the port, entertaining 
 the soldiers with discourse about the fight, and how 
 they escaped, and the like, till the whole number 
 being got in, at a watchword they fell on the guard, 
 and cut them all in pieces ; and immediately opening 
 the gate to three troops of Saxon horse, the town 
 was taken in a moment. 
 
 It was a welcome surprise to me, for I was at 
 liberty of course ; and the war being now on another 
 foot, as I thought, and the king dead, I resolved to 
 quit the service. 
 
 I had sent my man, as I have already noted, into 
 England, in order to bring over the troops my father 
 had raised for the King of Sweden. He execiited 
 his commission so well, that he landed with five 
 troops at Embden in very good condition ; and 
 orders were sent them by the king, to join the Duke 
 of Lunenberg's army, which they did at the siege of 
 Boxtude, in the Lower Saxony. Here by long and 
 very sharp service they were most of them cut off", 
 and though they were several times recruited, yet I 
 understood there were not three full troops left. 
 
 The Duke of Saxe-Weimar, a gentleman of great 
 courage, had the command of the army after the 
 king's death, and managed it with so much prudence, 
 that all things were in as much order as could be 
 expected, after so great a loss ; for the Imperialists 
 were everywhere beaten, and Wallenstein never made 
 any advantage of the king's death. 
 
 I waited on him at Heilbronn, whither he was gone 
 to meet the great chancellor of Sweden, where I paid 
 f 137 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 him my respects, and desired he would bestow the 
 remainder of my regiment on my comrade the cap- 
 tain, which he did with all the civility and readiness 
 imaginable. So I took my leave of him, and prepared 
 to come for England. 
 
 I shall only note this, that at this Diet, the Prot- 
 estant princes of the empire renewed their league 
 with one another, and with the crown of Sweden, 
 and came to several regulations and conclusions for 
 the carrying on the war, which they afterwards 
 prosecuted," under the direction of the said chancellor 
 of Sweden. But it was not the worii of a small 
 difficulty nor of a -short time. And having been 
 persuaded to continue almost two years afterwards 
 at Frankfort, Heilbronn, and thereabout, by, the 
 particular friendship of that noble wise man, and 
 extraordinary statesman, Axell Oxenstifern, chancellor 
 of Sweden, I had opportunity to be concerned in, 
 and present at, several treaties of extraordinary 
 consequence, sufficient for a history, if that were my 
 design. 
 
 Particularly I had the happiness to be present at, 
 and have some concern in, the treaty for the restoring 
 the posterity of the truly noble Palsgiave, King of 
 Bohemia. King James of England had indeed too 
 much neglected the whole family ; and I may say with 
 authority enough, from my own knowledge of affairs, 
 had nothing been done for them but what was from 
 England, that family had remained desolate and 
 forsaken to this day. 
 
 But that glorious king, whom I can nevei- mention 
 without some remark of his extraordinary merit, had 
 [138] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 left particular instructions with his chancellor to 
 rescue the Palatinate to its rightful lord, as a proof 
 of his design to restore the liberty of Germany, and 
 reinstate the oppressed princes who were subjected to 
 the tyranny of the house of Austria. 
 
 Pursuant to this resolution, th'e chancellor pro- 
 ceeded very much like a man of honour ; and though 
 the King of Bohemia was dead a little before, yet he 
 carefully managed the treaty, answei'ed the objections 
 of several princes, who, in the general ruin of the 
 family, had reaped private advantages, settled the 
 capitulations for the quota of contributions very 
 much for their advantage, and fully reinstalled the 
 Prince Charles in the possession of all his dominions 
 in the Lower Palatinate, which afterwards was con- 
 firmed to him and his posterity by the peace of West- 
 phalia, where all these bloody wars were finished in a 
 peace, which has since been the foundation of the 
 Protestants' liberty, and the best security of the whole 
 empire. 
 
 I spent two years rather in wandering up and 
 down than travelling ; for though I had no mind 
 to serve, yet I could not find in my heart to leave 
 Germany; and I had obtained some so very close 
 intimacies with the general officers that I was often 
 in the army, and sometimes they did me the honour 
 to bring me into their councils of war. 
 
 Particularly, at that eminent council before the 
 battle of Nordlingen, I was invited to tlie council of 
 war, both by Duke Bernhard of Weimar and by Gus- 
 tavus Horn. They were generals of equal worth, 
 and their courage and experience had been so well, 
 [139] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and so often tried, that more than ordinary regard 
 was always given to what they said. Duke Bemhard 
 was indeed the younger man, and Gustavus had 
 served longer under our great schoolmaster the king ; 
 but it was hard to judge which was the better gen- 
 eral, since both had experience enough, and shown 
 undeniable proofs both of their bravery and conduct. 
 
 I am obliged, in the course of my relation, so 
 often to mention the great respect I often received 
 from these great men, that it makes me sometimes jeal- 
 ous, lest the reader may think I affect it as a vanity. 
 The truth is, and I am ready to confess, the honours 
 I received, upon aU occasions, from persons of such 
 worth, and who had such an eminent share in the 
 greatest action of that age, very much pleased me, 
 and particularly, as they gave me occasions to 
 see everything that was doing on the whole stage 
 of the war. For being under no command, but at 
 liberty to rove about, I could come to no Swedish gar- 
 rison or party, but, sending my name to the com- 
 manding officer, I could have the word sent me ; and 
 if I came into the army, I was often treated as I was 
 now at this famous battle of Nordlingen. 
 
 But I cannot but say, that I always looked upon 
 this particular respect to be the effect of more than 
 ordinary regard the great king of Sweden always 
 showed me, rather than any merit of my own ; and 
 the veneration they all had for his memory, made 
 them continue to show me all the marks of a suitable 
 esteem. 
 
 But to return to the council of war, the great 
 and, indeed, the only question before us was, Shall 
 f 140] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 we give battle to the Imperialists, or not? Gus- 
 tavus Horn was against it, and gave, as I thought, 
 the most invincible arguments against a battle that 
 reason could imagine. 
 
 First, they were weaker than the enemy by above 
 5000 men. 
 
 Secondly, the Cardinal-Infant of Spain, who was- 
 in the Imperial army with 8000 men, was but there 
 en passant, being going from Italy to Flanders, to 
 take upon him the government of the Low Coun- 
 tries ; and if he saw no prospect of immediate 
 action, would be gone in a few days. 
 
 Thirdly, they had two reinforcements, one of 
 5000 men, under the command of Colonel Cratz, 
 and one of 7000 men, under the Rhinegrave, who 
 were just at hand — the last within three days' 
 march of them : and. 
 
 Lastly, they had already saved their honour, in 
 that they had put 600 foot into the town of Nord- 
 lingen, in the face of the enemy's army, and con- 
 sequently the town might hold out some days the 
 longer. 
 
 Fate, rather than reason, certainly blinded the 
 rest of the generals against such arguments as these. 
 Duke Bernhard and almost all the generals were for 
 fighting, alleging the affront it would be to the 
 Swedish reputation to see their friends in the town 
 lost before their faces. 
 
 Gustavus Horn stood stiff to his cautious advice, 
 
 and was against it, and I thought the Baron D'Off- 
 
 kirk treated him»», little indecently ; for, being very 
 
 warm in the matter, he told them, that if Gustavus 
 
 [141] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Adolphus had been governed by such cowardly 
 counsel, he had never been conqueror of half Ger- 
 many in two years. " No," replied old General 
 Horn, very smartly, " but he had been now alive to 
 have testified for me, that I was never taken by him 
 for a coward ; and yet," says he, " the king was never 
 ■ for a victory with a hazard, when he could have it 
 without." 
 
 I was asked my opinion, which I would have de- 
 clined, being in no commission ; but they pressed me 
 to speak. I told them I was for staying at least till 
 the Rhinegrave came up, who, at least, might, if ex- 
 presses were sent to hasten him, be up with us in 
 twenty-four hours. But Offkirk could not hold his 
 passion, and had not he been overruled he would have 
 almost quarrelled with Marshal Horn. Upon which 
 the old general, not to foment him, with a great deal 
 of mildness, stood up, and spoke thus — 
 
 " Come, Offkirk," says he, " I '11 submit my opinion 
 to you, and the majority of our fellow-soldiers. 
 We will fight, but, upon my word, we shall have 
 our hands full." 
 
 The resolution thus taken, they attacked the Im- 
 perial army. I must confess the counsels of this day 
 seemed as confused as the resolutions of the night. 
 
 Duke Bernhard was to lead the van of the left 
 wing, and to post himself upon a hill which was on 
 the enemy's right without their entrenchments, so 
 that, having secured that post, they might level their 
 cannon upon the foot, who stood behind the lines, 
 and relieved the town at pleasure^ He marched ac- 
 cordingly by break of day, and falling with great fury 
 [ 142 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 upon eight regiments of foot, which were posted at 
 the foot of the hill, he presently routed them, and 
 made himself master of the post. Flushed with this 
 success, he never regards his own concerted measures 
 of stopping there and possessing what he had got, 
 but pushes on and falls in with the main body of the 
 enemy's army. 
 
 While this was doing, Gustavus Horn attacks an- 
 other post on the hill, where the Spaniards had posted 
 and lodged themselves behind some works they had 
 cast up on the side of the hill. Here they defended 
 themselves with extreme obstinacy for five hours, and 
 at last obliged the Swedes to give it over with loss. 
 This extraordinary gallantry of the Spaniards was the 
 saving of the Imperial army ; for Duke Bernhard 
 having all this while resisted the frequent charges of 
 the Imperialists, and borne the weight of two-thirds 
 of their army, was not able to stand any longer, but 
 sending one messenger on the neck of another to 
 Gustavus Horn for more foot, he, finding he could 
 not carry his point, had given it over, and was in full 
 march to second the duke. But now it was too late, 
 for the King of Hungary seeing the duke's men, as it 
 were, wavering, and having notice of Horn's wheeling 
 about to second him, falls in with all his force upon 
 his flank, and with his Hungarian hussars, made 
 such a furious charge, that the Swedes could stand 
 no longer. 
 
 The rout of the left wing was so much the more 
 
 unhappy, as it happened just upon Gustavus Horn's 
 
 coming up ; for, being pushed on with the enemies at 
 
 their heels, they were driven upon their own friends, 
 
 [143] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 who, having no ground to open and give them way, 
 were trodden down by their own runaway brethren. 
 This brought all into the utmost confusion. The 
 Imperialists cried " Victoria ! " and fell into the mid- 
 dle of the infantry with a terrible slaughter. 
 
 I have always observed, 't is fatal to upbraid an old 
 experienced officer with want of courage. If Gustavus 
 Horn had not been whetted with the reproaches of 
 the Baron D'OfFkirk, and some of the other general 
 officers, I believe it had saved the lives of a thousand 
 men ; for when all was thus lost, several officers ad- 
 vised him to make a retreat with such regiments as 
 he had yet unbroken ; but nothing could persuade 
 him to stir a foot. But turning his flank into a 
 front, he saluted the enemy, as they passed by him 
 in pursuit of the rest, with such terrible volleys of 
 small shot, as cost them the lives of abundance of 
 their men. 
 
 The Imperialists, eager in the pursuit, left him 
 unbroken, till the Spanish brigade came up and 
 charged him. These he bravely repulsed with a great 
 slaughter, and after them a body of dragoons ; till 
 being laid at on every side, and most of his men 
 killed, the brave old general, with aU the rest that 
 were left, were made prisoners. 
 
 The Swedes had a terrible loss here, for almost all 
 their infantry were killed or taken prisoners. Gus- 
 tavus Horn refused quarter several times ; and still 
 those that attacked him were cut down by his men, 
 who fought like furies, and by the example of their 
 general, behaved themselves like lions. But at last, 
 these poor remains of a body of the bravest men in 
 [144] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the world were forced to submit. I have heard him 
 say, he had much rather have died than been taken, 
 but that he yielded in compassion to so many brave 
 men as were about him ; for none of them would 
 take quarter till he gave his consent. 
 
 I had the worst share in this battle that ever I had 
 in any action of my life ; and that was to be posted 
 among as brave a body of horse as any in Germany, 
 and yet not be able to succour our own men ; but 
 our foot were cut in pieces (as it were) before our 
 faces, and the situation of the ground was such as 
 we could hot fall in. All that we were able to do, 
 WEis to carry off about 2000 of the foot, who, run- 
 ning away in the rout of the left wing, rallied among 
 our squadrons, and got away with us. Thus we stood 
 till we saw all was lost, and then made the best 
 retreat we could to save ourselves, several regiments 
 having never charged, nor fired a shot ; for the foot 
 had so embarrassed themselves among the lines and 
 works of the enemy, and in the vineyards and moun- 
 tains, that the horse were rendered absolutely 
 unserviceable. 
 
 The Rhinegrave had made such expedition to join 
 us, that he reached within three miles of the place of 
 action that night, and he was a great safeguard for 
 us in rallying our dispersed men, who else had fallen 
 into the enemy's hands, and in checking the pursuit 
 of the enemy. 
 
 And indeed, had but any considerable body of the 
 foot made an orderly retreat, it had been very prob- 
 able they had given the enemy a brush that would 
 have turned the scale of victory ; for our horse being 
 10 [ 145 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 whole, and in a manner untouched, the enemy found 
 such a check in the pursuit, that 1600 of their 
 forwardest men following too eagerly, fell in with 
 the Rhinegrave's advanced troops the next day, and 
 were cut in pieces without mercy. 
 
 This gave us some satisfaction for the loss, but it 
 was but small compared to the ruin of that day. 
 We lost near 8000 men upon the spot, and above 
 3000 prisoners, all our cannon and baggage, and 120 
 colours. I thought I never made so indifferent a 
 figure in my life, and so we thought all ; to come 
 away, lose our infantry, our general, and our honour, 
 and never fight for it. Duke Bernhard was utterly 
 disconsolate for old Gustavus Horn, for he concluded 
 him killed ; he tore the hair from his head like a 
 madman, and telling the Rhinegrave the story of the 
 council of war, would reproach himself with not 
 taking his advice, often repeating it in his passion. 
 " 'T is I," said he, " have been the death of the bravest 
 general in Germany ; " would call himself fool and 
 boy, and such names, for not listening to the reasons 
 of an old experienced soldier. But when he heard 
 he was alive in the enemy's hands he was the easier, 
 and applied himself to the recruiting his troops, and 
 the like business of the war ; and it was not long 
 before he paid the Imperialists with interest. 
 
 I returned to Frankfort-au-Main after this action, 
 which happened the 17th of August 1634 ; but the 
 progress of the Imperialists was so great that there 
 was no staying at Frankfort. The chancellor Oxen- 
 stiem removed to Magdeburg, Duke Bernhard and 
 the Landgrave marched into Alsatia, and the Impe- 
 [ 146 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 rialists carried all before them for all the rest of the 
 campaign. They took Philipsburg by surprise ; they 
 took Augsburg by famine, Spire and Treves by 
 sieges, taking the Elector prisoner. But this suc- 
 cess did one piece of service to the Swedes, that it 
 brought the French into the war on their side, for 
 the Elector of Treves was their confederate. The 
 French gave the conduct of the war to Duke Bern- 
 hard. This, though the Duke of Saxony fell off, 
 and fought against them, turned the scale so much 
 in their favour, that they recovered their losses, and 
 pi-oved a terror to all Germany. The farther accounts 
 of the war I refer to the histories of those times, which 
 I have since read with a great deal of delight. 
 
 I confess when I saw the progress of the Imperial 
 army, after the battle of Nordlingen, and the Duke 
 of Saxony turning his arms against them, I thought 
 their affairs declining; and, giving them over for 
 lost, I left Frankfort, and came down the Rhine to 
 Cologne, and from thence into Holland. 
 
 I came to the Hague the 8th of March 1635, hav- 
 ing spent three years and a half in Germany, and 
 the greatest part of it in the Swedish army. 
 
 I spent some time in Holland viewing the wonder- 
 ful power of art, which I observed in the fortifica- 
 tions of their towns, where the very bastions stand 
 on bottomless morasses, and yet are as firm as any 
 in the world. There I had the opportunity of 
 seeing the Dutch army, and their famous general, 
 Prince Maurice. 'T is true, the men behaved them- 
 selves well enough in action, when they were put to 
 it, but the prince's way of beating his enemies with- 
 [147] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 out fighting, was so unlike the gallantry of my 
 royal instructor, that it had no manner of relish 
 with me. Our way in Germany w£is always to seek 
 out the enemy and fight him ;' and, give the Im- 
 perialists their due, they were seldom hard to be 
 found, but were as free of their flesh as we were. 
 Whereas Prince Maurice would lie in a camp till he 
 starved half his men, if by lying there he could but 
 starve two-thirds of his enemies ; so that indeed the 
 war in Holland had more of fatigues and hardships 
 in it, and ours had more of fighting and blows. 
 Hasty marches, long and unwholesome encampments, 
 winter parties, counter-marching, dodging and en- 
 trenching, were the exercises of his men, and often- 
 times killed him more men with hunger, cold and 
 diseases, than he could do with fighting. Not that 
 it required less courage, but rather mor'e, for a 
 soldier had at any time rather die in the field a la 
 coup de mousquet, than be starved with hunger, or 
 frozen to death in the trenches. 
 
 Nor do I think I lessen the reputation of that great 
 general ; for 't is most certain he ruined the Spaniard 
 more by spinning the war thus out in length, than 
 he could possibly have done by a swift conquest. 
 For had he, Gustavus-like, with a torrent of victory 
 dislodged the Spaniard of all the twelve provinces in 
 five years, whereas he was forty years a-beating them 
 out of seven, he had left them rich and strong at 
 home, and able to keep them in constant apprehen- 
 sions of a return of his power. Whereas, by the 
 long continuance of the war, he so broke the very 
 heart of the Spanish monarchy, so absolutely and 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 rrecoverably impoverished them, that they have 
 ever since languished of the disease, till they are 
 fallen from the most powerful, to be the most 
 despicable nation in- the world. 
 
 The prodigious charge the King of Spain was at 
 in losing the seven provinces, broke the very spirit of 
 the nation ; and that so much, that all the wealth 
 of their Peruvian mountains have not been able to 
 retrieve it ; King Philip having often declared that 
 war, besides his Armada for invading England, had 
 cost him 370,000,000 of ducats, and 4,000,000 of the 
 best soldiers in Europe ; whereof, by an unreasonable 
 Spanish obstinacy, above 60,000 lost their lives before 
 Ostend, a town not worth a sixth part either of the 
 blood or money it cost in a siege of three years ; and 
 which at last he had never taken, but that Prince 
 Maurice thought it not worth the charge of defend- 
 ing it any longer. 
 
 However, I say, their way of fighting in Holland 
 did not relish with me at all. The prince lay a long 
 time before a little fort called Schenkenschanz, which 
 the Spaniard took by surprise, and I thought he 
 might have taken it much sooner. Perhaps it might 
 be my mistake, but I' fancied my hero, the King of 
 Sweden, would have carried it sword in hand, in 
 half the time. 
 
 However it was, I did not like it ; so in the latter 
 end of the year I came to the Hague, and took 
 shipping for England, where I arrived, to the great 
 satisfaction of my father and all my friends. 
 
 My father was then in London, and carried me 
 to kiss the king's hand. His Majesty was pleased to 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 receive me very well, and to say a great many very 
 obliging things to my father upon my account. 
 
 I spent my time very retired from court, for I was 
 almost wholly in the country ; and it being so much 
 different from my genius, which hankered after a 
 warmer sport than hunting among our Welsh moun- 
 tains, I could not but be peeping in all the foreign 
 accounts from Germany, to see who and who was 
 together. There I could never hear> of a battle, and 
 the Germans being beaten, but I began to wish myself 
 there. But when an account came of the progress of 
 John Baner, the Swedish general in Saxony, and of 
 the constant victories he had there over the Saxons, 
 I could no longer contain myself, but told my father 
 this life was very disagreeable to me ; that I lost 
 my time here, and might to much more advantage 
 go into Germany, where I was sure I might make my 
 fortune upon my own terms ; that, as young as I 
 was, I might have been a general officer by this 
 time, if I had not laid down my commission ; that 
 General Baner, or the Marshal Horn, had either 
 of them so much respect for me, that I was sure I 
 might have anything of them ; and that if he pleased 
 to give me leave, I would go for Germany again. 
 My father was very unwilling to let me go, but see- 
 ing me uneasy, told me that, if I was resolved, 
 he would oblige me to stay no longer in Eng- 
 land than the next spring, and I should have his 
 consent. 
 
 The winter following began to look very unpleasant 
 upon us in England, and my father used often to 
 sigh at it ; and would tell me sometimes he was 
 [150] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 afi-aid we should have no need to send Englishmen 
 to fight in Germany. 
 
 The cloud that seemed to threaten most was from 
 Scotland. My father, who had made himself master 
 of the arguments on both sides^ used to be often say- 
 ing he feared there was some about the king who 
 exasperated him too much against the Scots, and 
 drove things too high. For my part, I confess I did 
 not much trouble my head with the cause ; but all 
 my fear was they would not fall out, and we should 
 have no- fighting. I have often reflected since, that 
 I ought to have known better, that had seen how 
 the most flourishing provinces of Germany were re- 
 duced to the most miserable condition that ever 
 any country in the world was, by the ravagings of 
 soldiers, and the calamities of war. 
 
 How jnuch soever I was to blame, yet so it was, 
 I had a secret joy at the news of the king's raising 
 an army, and nothing could have withheld me from 
 appearing in it ; but my eagerness was anticipated 
 by an express .the king sent to my father, to know if 
 his son was in England ; and my father having 
 ordered me to carry the answer myself, I waited upon 
 his Majesty with the messenger. The king received 
 me with his usual kindness, and asked me if I was 
 willing to serve him against the Scots ? 
 
 I answered, I was ready to serve him against any 
 that his majesty thought fit to account his enemies, 
 and should count it an honour to receive his com- 
 mands. Hereupon his Majesty offered me a com- 
 mission. I told him, I supposed there would not 
 be much time for raising of men ; that if his Majesty 
 [151] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 pleased I would be at the rendezvous with as many 
 gentlemen as I could get together, to serve his 
 Majesty as volunteers. 
 
 The truth is, I found all the regiments of horse 
 the king designed to raise were but two as regiments ; 
 the rest of the horse were such as the nobility raised 
 in their several counties, and commanded them 
 themselves ; and, as 1 had commanded a regiment of 
 horse abroad, it looked a little odd to serve with 
 a single troop at home ; and the king took the thing 
 presently. " Indeed 't will be a volunteer war," said 
 the king, " for the Northern gentry have sent me an 
 account of above 4000 horse they have already." 
 I bowed, and told his Majesty I was glad to hear 
 his subjects were so forward to serve him. So taking 
 his Majesty's orders to be at York by the end of 
 March, I returned to my father. 
 
 My father was very glad I had not taken a com- 
 mission, for I know not from what kind of emula- 
 tion between the western and northern gentry. The 
 gentlemen of our side were not very forward in the 
 service ; their loyalty to the king in the succeeding 
 times made it appear it was not from any disaffection 
 to his Majesty's interest or person, or to the cause ; 
 but this, however, made it difficult for me when I 
 came home to get any gentleman of quality to serve 
 with me, so that I presented myself to his Majesty 
 only as a volunteer, with eight gentlemen and about 
 thirty-six countrymen well mounted and armed. 
 
 And as it proved, these were enough, for this ex- 
 pedition ended in an accommodation with the Scots ; 
 and they not advancing so much as to their own 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 borders, we never came to any action. But the 
 armies lay in the counties of Northumberland and 
 Durham, ate up the country, and spent the king a 
 vast sum of money ; and so this war ended, a pacifi- 
 cation was made, and both sides returned. 
 
 The truth is, I never saw such a despicable appear- 
 ance of men in arms to begin a war in my life ; 
 whether it was that I had seen so many braver 
 armies abroad that prejudiced me against them, or 
 that it really was so ; for to me they seemed little bet- 
 ter than a rabble met together to devour, rather 
 than fight for their^ king and country. There was 
 indeed a great appearance of gentlemen, and those 
 of extraordinary quality ; but their garb, their 
 equipages, and their mien, did not look like war; 
 their troops were filled with footmen and servants, 
 and wretchedly armed, God wot. I believe I might 
 say, without vanity, one regiment of Finland horse 
 would have made sport at beating them all. There 
 were such crowds of parsons (for this was a Church 
 war in particular) that the camp and court was full 
 of them ; and the king was so eternally besieged with 
 clergymen of one sort or another, that it gave offence 
 to the chief of the nobility. 
 
 As was the appearance, so was the service. The 
 army marched to the borders, and the headquarter 
 was at Berwick-upon-Tweed; but the Scots never 
 appeared, no, not so much as their scouts ; where- 
 upon the king called a council of war, and there it 
 was resolved to send the Earl of Holland with a 
 party of horse into Scotland, to learn some news 
 of the enemy. And truly the first news he brought 
 [153] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 us was, that finding their array encamped about 
 Coldingham, fifteen miles from Berwick, as soon as 
 he appeared, the Scots drew out a party to charge 
 him, upon which most of his men halted — I don't 
 say run away, but 't was next door to it — for they 
 could not be persuaded to fire their pistols, and 
 ■wheel off lilce soldiers, but retreated in such a dis- 
 orderly and shameful manner, that had the enemy 
 but had either the courage or conduct to have fol- 
 lowed them, it must have certainly ended in the 
 ruin of the whole party. 
 
 [ lfi4.] 
 
THE SECOND PART 
 
 I CONFESS, when I went into arms at the be- 
 ginning of this war, I never troubled myself 
 to examine sides : I was glad to hear the 
 drums beat for soldiers, as if I had been a 
 mere Swiss, that had not cared which side went up 
 or down, so I had my pay. I went as eagerly and 
 blindly about my business, as the meanest wretch that 
 'listed in the army; nor had I the least compas- 
 sionate thought for the miseries of my native coun- 
 try, till after the figbt at Edgehill. I had known 
 as much, and perhaps more than most in the army, 
 what it was to have an enemy ranging in the bowels 
 of a kingdom ; I had seen the most flourishing 
 provinces of Germany reduced to perfect deserts, 
 and the voracious Crabats, with inhuman barbarity, 
 quenching the fires of the plundered villages with 
 the blood of the inhabitants. Whether this had 
 hardened me against the natural tenderness which I 
 afterwards found return upon me, or not, I cannot 
 tell ; but I reflected upon myself afterwards with a 
 great deal of trouble, for the unconcernedness of 
 my temper at the approaching ruin of my native 
 country. 
 
 I was in the first army at York, as I have already 
 noted, and, I must confess, had the least diversion 
 there that ever I found in an army in my life. For 
 [155] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 when I was in Germany with the King of Sweden, 
 we used to see the king with the general officers 
 every morning on horseback viewing his men, his 
 artillery, his horses, and always something going for- 
 ward. Here we saw nothing but courtiers and 
 clergymen, bishops and parsons, as busy as if the 
 direction of the war had been in them. The king 
 was seldom seen among us, and never without some 
 of them always about him. 
 
 Those few of us that had seen the wars, and would 
 have made a short end of this for him, began to be 
 very uneasy ; and particularly a certain nobleman 
 took the freedom to tell the king that the clergy 
 would certainly ruin the expedition. The case was 
 this: he would have had the king have immediately 
 marched into Scotland, and put the matter to the 
 trial of a battle ; and he urged it every day. And 
 the king finding his reasons very good, would often 
 be of his opinion ; but next morning he would be of 
 another mind. 
 
 This gentleman was a man of conduct enough, and 
 of unquestioned courage, and afterwards lost his life 
 for the king. He saw we had an army of young 
 stout fellows numerous enough ; and though they 
 had not yet seen much service, he was for bringing 
 them to action, that the Scots might not have time 
 to strengthen themselves, nor they have time by 
 idleness and sotting, the bane of soldiers, to make 
 themselves unfit for anything. 
 
 I was one morning in company with this gentle- 
 man ; and as he was a warm man, and eager in his 
 discourse, "A pox of these priests," says he, "'tis 
 [156] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for them the king has raised this array, and put his 
 friends to a vast charge ; and now we are come, they 
 won't let us fight." 
 
 But I was afterwards convinced the clergy saw 
 further into the matter than we did. They saw the 
 Scots had a better army than we had — bold and ready, 
 commanded by brave officers — and they foresaw that 
 if we fought we should be beaten, and if beaten, they 
 were undone. And 't was very true, we had all been 
 ruined if we had engaged. 
 
 It is true when we came to the pacification which 
 followed, I confess I was of the same mind the gen- 
 tleman had been of ; for we had better have fought 
 and been beaten than have made so dishonourable 
 a treaty without striking a stroke. This pacifica- 
 tion seems to me to have laid the scheme of all 
 the blood and confusion which followed in the Civil 
 War. For whatever the king and his friends might 
 pretend to do by talking big, the Scots saw he was 
 to be bullied into anything, and that when it came 
 to the push the courtiers never cared to bring it to 
 blows. 
 
 I have little or nothing to say as to action in this 
 mock expedition. The king was persuaded at last 
 to march to Berwick ; and, as I have said already, a 
 party of horse went out to learn news of the Scots, 
 and as soon as they saw them, ran away from them 
 bravely. 
 
 This made the Scots so insolent that, whereas 
 
 before they lay encamped behind a river, and never 
 
 showed themselves, in a sort of modest deference to 
 
 their king, which was the pretence of not being 
 
 [157] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 aggressors or invaders, only arming in their own 
 defence, now, having been invaded by the English 
 troops entering Scotland, they had what they wanted. 
 And to show it was not fear that retained them 
 before, but policy, now they came up in parties to 
 our very gates, braving and facing us every day. 
 
 I had, with more curiosity than discretion, put 
 myself as a volunteer at the head of one of our 
 parties of horse, under my Lord Holland, when they 
 went out to discover the enemy ; they went, they 
 said, to see what the Scots were a-doing. 
 
 We had not marched far, but our scouts brought 
 word they had discovered some horse, but could not 
 come up to them, because a river parted them. At 
 the heels of these came another party of our men 
 upon the spur to us, and said the enemy was behind, 
 which might be true for aught we knew ; but it was 
 so far behind that nobody could see them, and yet 
 the country was plain and open for above a mile 
 before us. Hereupon we made a halt, and, indeed, 
 I was afraid it would have been an odd sort of a 
 halt, for our men began to look one upon another, 
 as they do in like cases, when they are going to 
 break ; and when the scouts came galloping in the 
 men were in such disorder, that had but one man 
 broke away, I am satisfied they had all run for it. 
 
 I found my Lord Holland did not perceive it ; but 
 after the first surprise was a little over I told my lord 
 what I had observed, and that unless some course was 
 immediately taken they would all run at the first 
 sight of the enemy. I found he was much concerned 
 at it, and began to consult what course to take to 
 [168] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 prevent it. I confess 'tis a hard question how to 
 make men stand and face an enemy, when fear has 
 possessed their minds with an inclination to run away. 
 But I'll give that honour to the memory of that 
 noble gentleman, who, though his experience in mat- 
 ters of war was small, having never been in much 
 service, yet his courage made amends for it ; for I 
 dare say he would not have turned his horse from an 
 army of enemies, nor have saved his life at the price 
 of running away for it. 
 
 My lord soon saw, as well as I, the fright the men 
 were in, after I had given him a hint of it ; and to 
 encourage them, rode through their ranks and spoke 
 cheerfully to them, and used what arguments he 
 thought proper to settle their minds. I remembered 
 a saying which I had heard old Marshal Gustavus 
 Horn speak in Germany, "If you find your men 
 falter, or in doubt, never suffer them to halt, but 
 keep them advancing ; for while they are going for- 
 ward, it keeps up their courage." 
 . As soon as I could get opportunity to speak to 
 him, I gave him this as my opinion. " That 's very 
 well," says my lord, " but I am studying," says he, " to 
 post them so as that they can't run if they would; 
 and if they stand but once to face the enemy, I don't 
 fear them afterwards." 
 
 While we were discoursing thus, word was brought 
 that several parties of the enemies were seen on the 
 farther side of the river, upon which my lord gave 
 the word to march ; and as we were marching on, my 
 lord calls out a Ueutenant who had been an old sol- 
 dier with only five troopers whom he had most con- 
 [ 159 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 fidence in, and having given him his lesson, he sends 
 him away. In a quarter of an hour one of the five 
 troopers comes back galloping and hallooing, and 
 tells us his lieutenant had, with his small party, 
 beaten a party of twenty of the enemy's horse' over 
 the river, and had secured the pass, and desired my 
 lord would march up to him immediately. 
 
 'T is a strange thing that men's spirits should be 
 subjected to such sudden changes, and capable of so 
 much alteration from shadows of things. They were 
 for running before they saw the enemy, now they are 
 in haste to be led on, and but that in raw men we 
 are obliged to bear with anything, the disorder in 
 both was intolerable. 
 
 The story was a premeditated sham, and not a 
 word of truth in it, invented to raise their spirits, 
 and cheat them out of their cowardly phlegmatic ap- 
 prehensions, and my lord had his end in it ; for they 
 were all on fire to fall on. And I am persuaded, 
 had they been led immediately into a battle begun 
 to their hands, they would have laid about them like 
 furies ; for there is nothing like victory to flush a 
 young soldier. Thus, while the humour was high, 
 and the fermentation lasted, away we marched, and, 
 passing one of their great commons, which they call 
 moors, we came to the river, as he called it, where 
 our lieutenant was posted with his four men ; 't was 
 a little brook fordable with ease, and, leaving a 
 guard at the pass, we advanced to the top of a smal 
 ascent, from whence we had a fair view of the Scots 
 army, as they lay behind another river larger than 
 the former. 
 
 [160] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Our men were posted well enough, behind a small 
 enclosure, with a narrow lane in their front. And 
 my lord had caused his dragoons to be placed in 
 the front to line the hedges ; and in this posture he 
 stood viewing the enemy at a distance. The Scots, 
 who had some intelligence of our coming, drew out 
 three small parties, and sent them by different ways 
 to observe our number ; and, forming a fourth 
 party, which I guessed to be about 600 horse, 
 advanced to the top of the plain, and drew up to 
 face us, but never offered to attack us. 
 
 One of the small parties, making about 100 men, 
 one third foot, passes upon our flank in view, but 
 out of reach ; and, as they marched, shouted at us, 
 which our men, better pleased with that work than 
 with, fighting, readily enough answered, and would 
 fain have fired at them for the pleasure of making a 
 noise, for they were too far off to hit them. 
 
 I observed that these parties had always some foot 
 with them ; and yet if the horse galloped, or pushed 
 on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as they, 
 which was an extraordinary advantage. 
 
 Gustavus Adolphus, that king of soldiers, was the 
 first that I have ever observed found the advantage 
 of mixing small bodies of musketeers among his 
 horse ; and, had he had such nimble strong fellows 
 as these, he would have prized them above all the 
 rest of his men. These were those they call High- 
 landers. They would run on foot with their arms 
 and all their accoutrements, and keep very good 
 order too, and yet keep pace with the horse, let 
 them go at what rate they would. When I saw the 
 11 [ 161 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 foot thus interlined among the horse, together with 
 the way of ordering their flying parties, it presently 
 occurred to my mind that here was some of our old 
 Scots come home out of Germany that had the 
 ordering of matters, and if so, I knew we were not 
 a match for them. 
 
 Thus we stood facing the enemy till our scouts 
 brought us word the whole Scots army was in 
 motion, and in full march to attack us ; and, though 
 it was not true, and the fear of our men doubled 
 every object, yet 'twas thought convenient to make 
 our retreat. The whole matter was that the scouts 
 having informed them what they could of our 
 strength, the 600 were ordered to march towards 
 us, and three regiments of foot were drawn out to 
 support the horse. 
 
 I know not whether they would have ventured to 
 attack us, at least before their foot had come up ; 
 but whether they would have put it to the hazard 
 or no, we were resolved not to hazard the trial, so 
 we drew down to the pass. And, as retreating looks 
 something like running away, especially when an 
 enemy is at hand, our men had much ado to make 
 their retreat pass for a march, and not a flight ; and, 
 by their often looking behind them, anybody might 
 know what they would have done if they had been 
 pressed. 
 
 I confess, I was heartily ashamed when the Scots, 
 coming up to the place where we had been posted, 
 stood and shouted at us. I would have persuaded my 
 lord to have charged them, and he would have done 
 it with all his heart, but he saw it was not practica- 
 [162] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ble ; so we stood at gaze with them above two hours, 
 by which time their foot were come up to them, and 
 yet they did not ofFer to attack us. I never was so 
 ashamed of myself in my Hfe ; we were all dispirited. 
 The Scots gentlemen would come out singly, within 
 shot of our post, which in a time of war is always 
 accounted a challenge to any single gentleman, to 
 come out and exchange a pistol with them, and no- 
 body would stir ; at last our old lieutenant rides out 
 to meet a Scotchman that came pickeering on his 
 quarter. This lieutenant was a brave and a strong 
 fellow, had been a soldier in the Low Countries; 
 and though he was not of any quality, only a mere 
 soldier, had his preferment for his conduct. He 
 gallops bravely up to his adversary, and exchanging 
 their pistols, the lieutenant's horse happened to be 
 killed. The Scotchman very generously dismounts, 
 and engages him with his sword, and fairly masters 
 him, and carries him away prisoner ; and I think 
 this horse was all the blood was shed in that war. 
 
 The lieutenant's name thus conquered was English, 
 and as he was a very stout old soldier, the disgrace of 
 it broke his heart. The Scotchman, indeed, used 
 him very generously ; for he treated him in the camp 
 very courteously, gave him another horse, and set 
 him at liberty, gratis. But the man laid it so to 
 heart, that he never would appear in the army, but 
 went home to his own country and died. 
 
 I had enough of party-making, and was quite sick 
 
 with indignation at the cowardice of the men ; and 
 
 my lord was in as great a fret as I, but there was no 
 
 remedy. We durst not go about to retreat, for we 
 
 [163] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 should have been in such confusion that the enemy 
 must have discovered it : so my lord resolved to keep 
 the post, if possible, and send to the king for some 
 foot. Then were our men ready to fight with one 
 another who should be the messenger ; and at last 
 when a lieutenant with twenty dragoons was de- 
 spatched, he told us after wai'ds he found himself an 
 hundred strong before he was gotten a mile from the 
 place. 
 
 In short, as soon as ever the day declined, and the 
 dusk of the evening began to shelter the designs of 
 the men, they dropped away from us one by one ; 
 and at last in such numbers, that if we had stayed 
 tiU the morning, we had not had fifty men left, out 
 of 1200 horse and dragoons. 
 
 When I saw how it was, consulting with some of 
 the officers, we all went to my Lord Holland, and 
 pressed him to retreat, before the enemy should 
 discern the flight of our men ; so he drew us off, 
 and we came to the camp the next morning, in the 
 shamefuUest condition that ever poor men could do. 
 And this was the end of the worst expedition ever 
 I made in my life. 
 
 To fight and be beaten is a casualty common to 
 a soldier, and I have since had enough of it; but 
 to run away at the sight of an enemy, and neither 
 strike or be stricken, this is the very shame of the 
 profession, and no man that has done it ought to 
 show his face again in the field, unless disadvan- 
 tages of place or number make it tolerable, neither 
 of which was our case. 
 
 My Lord Holland made another march a few days 
 [164] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 after, in hopes to retrieve this miscarriage ; but 1 
 had enough of it, so I kept in my quarters. And 
 though his men did not desert him as before, yet 
 upon the appearance of the enemy they did not 
 think fit to fight, and came off with but httle more 
 honour than they did before. 
 
 There was no need to go out to seek the enemy 
 after this, for they came, as I have noted, and pitched 
 in sight of us, and their parties came up every day 
 to the very out-works of Berwick, but nobody cared 
 to meddle with them. And in this posture things 
 stood when the pacification was agreed on by both 
 parties, which, like a short truce, only gave both sides 
 breath to prepare for a new war more ridiculously 
 managed than the former. When the treaty was so 
 near a conclusion as that conversation was admitted 
 on both sides, I went over to the Scotch camp to 
 satisfy my curiosity, as many of our English officers 
 did also. 
 
 I confess the soldiers made a very uncouth figure, 
 especially the Highlanders. The oddness and bar- 
 barity of their garb and arms seemed to have some- 
 thing in it remarkable. 
 
 They were generally tall swinging fellows ; their 
 swords were extravagantly, and, I think, insig- 
 nificantly broad, and they carried great wooden 
 targets, large enough to cover the upper part of 
 their bodies. Their dress was as antique as the 
 rest ; a cap on their heads, called by them a bonnet, 
 long hanging sleeves behind, and their doublet, 
 breeches, and stockings of a stuffs they called plaid, 
 striped across red and yellow, with short cloaks of 
 
 ri65] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the same. These fellows looked, when drawn out, 
 like a regiment of merry andrews, ready for Barthol- 
 omew Fair. They are in companies all of a name, 
 and therefore call one another only by their Chris- 
 tian names, as Jemmy, Jockey, that is, John, and 
 Sawny, that is Alexander, and the like. And they 
 scorn to be commanded but by one of their own 
 clan or family. They are all gentlemen, and proud 
 enough to be kings. The meanest fellow among 
 them is as tenacious of his honour as the best 
 nobleman in the country, and they will fight and cut 
 one another's throats for every trifling affront. 
 
 But to their own clans or lairds, they are the will- 
 ingest and most obedient fellows in nature. Give 
 them their due, were their skill in exercises and dis- 
 cipline proportioned to their courage, they would 
 make the bravest soldiers in the world. They are 
 large bodies, and prodigiously strong ; and two qual- 
 ities they have above other nations, viz., hardy to 
 endure hunger, cold, and hardships, and wonderfully 
 swift of foot. The latter is such an advantage in 
 the field that I know none like it ; for if they con- 
 quer, no enemy can escape them, and if they run, 
 even the horse can hardly overtake them. These 
 were some of them, who, as I observed before, went 
 out in parties with their horse. 
 
 There were three or four thousand of these in the 
 Scots army, armed only with swords and targets; 
 and in their belts some of them had a pistol, but no 
 muskets at that time among them. 
 
 But there were also a gi-eat many regiments of dis- 
 ciplined men, who, by their carrying their arms, 
 [166] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 looked as if they understood their business, and by 
 their faces, that they durst see an enemy. 
 
 I had not been half-an-hour in their camp after 
 the ceremony of giving our names, and passing their 
 out-guards and main-guards was over, but I was 
 saluted by several of my acquaintance ; and in par- 
 ticular, by one who led the Scotch volunteers at 
 the taking the castle of Oppenheim, of which I 
 have given an account. They used me with all the 
 respect they thought due to me, on account of old 
 affairs, gave me the word, and a sergeant waited 
 upon me whenever I pleased to go abroad. 
 
 I continued twelve or fourteen days among them, 
 till the pacification was concluded ; and they were 
 ordered to march home. They spoke very respect- 
 fully of the king, but I found were exasperated to 
 the last degree at Archbishop Laud and the English 
 bishops, for endeavouring to impose the Common 
 Prayer Book upon them ; and they always talked 
 with the utmost contempt of our soldiers and army. 
 I always waived the discourse about the clergy, and 
 the occasion of the war, but I could not but be too 
 sensible what they said of our men was true; and 
 by this I perceived they had an universal intelligence 
 from among us, both of what we were doing, and 
 what sort of people we were that were doing it ; 
 and they were mighty desirous of coming to blows 
 with us. I had an invitation from their general, 
 but I declined it, lest I should give offence. I found 
 they accepted the pacification as a thing not likely 
 to hold, or that they did not design should hold ; 
 and that they were resolved to keep their foi'ces on 
 [167] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 foot, notwithstanding the agreement. Their whole 
 army was full of brave officers, men of as much 
 experience and conduct as any in the world ; and all 
 men who know anything of the war, know good 
 officers presently make a good army. 
 
 Things being thus huddled up, the English came 
 back to York, where the army separated, and the 
 Scots went home to increase theirs ; for I easily fore- 
 saw that peace was the farthest thing from their 
 thoughts. 
 
 The next year the flame broke out again. The 
 king draws his forces down into the north, as before, 
 and expresses were sent to all the gentlemen that 
 had commands to be at the place by the 15th of 
 July. As I had accepted of no command in the 
 army, so I had no inclination at all to go, for I 
 foresaw there would be nothing but disgrace attend 
 it. My father, observing such an alteration in my 
 usual forwardness, asked me one day what was the 
 matter, that I who used to be so forward to go into 
 the army, and so eager to run abroad to fight, now 
 showed no inclination to a_ppear when the service of 
 the king and country called me to it ? I told him I 
 had as much zeal as ever for the king's service, and 
 for the country too : but he knew a soldier could 
 not abide to be beaten ; and being from thence a 
 little more inquisitive, I told him the observations 
 I had made in the Scots army, and the people I had 
 conversed with there. " And, sir," says I, " assure 
 yourself, if the king offers to fight them, he will be 
 beaten ; and I don't love to engage when my judg- 
 ment tells me beforehand I shall be woi'sted." And 
 [168] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 as I had foreseen, it came to pass ; for the Scots re- 
 solving to proceed, never stood upon the ceremony 
 of aggression, as before, but on the 20th of August 
 they entered England with their army. 
 
 However, as my father desired, I went to the 
 king's army, which was then at York, but not gotten 
 all together. The king himself was at London, but 
 upon this news takes post for the army, and advanc- 
 ing a part of his forces, he posted the Lord Conway 
 and Sir Jacob Astley, with a brigade of foot and 
 some horse, at Newbum, upon the river Tyne, to 
 keep the Scots from passing that river. , 
 
 The Scots could have passed the Tyne .without 
 fighting ; but to let us see that they were able to 
 force their passage, they fall upon this body of men, 
 and notwithstanding all the advantages of the place, 
 they beat them from the post, took their baggage 
 and two pieces of cannon, with some prisoners. Sir 
 Jacob Astley made what resistance he could, but 
 the Scots charged with so much fury, and being also 
 overpowered, he was soon put into confusion. Im- 
 mediately the Scots made themselves masters of New- 
 castle, and the next day of Durham, and laid those 
 two counties under intolerable contributions. 
 
 Now was the king absolutely ruined ; for among 
 his own people the discontents before were so plain, 
 that had the clergy had any forecast, they would 
 never have embroiled him with the Scots, till he had 
 fully brought matters to an understanding at home. 
 But the case was thus : the king, by the good hus- 
 bandry of Bishop Juxon, his treasurer, had a million 
 of ready money in his treasury, and upon that 
 [169] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 account, having no need of a Parliament, had not 
 called one in twelve years : and perhaps had never 
 called another, if he had not by this unhappy cir- 
 cumstance been reduced to a necessity of it ; for now 
 this ready money was spent in two foolish expedi- 
 tions, and his army appeared in a condition not fit 
 to engage^ the Scots. The detachment under Sir 
 Jacob Astley, which were of the flower of his men, 
 had been routed at Newburn, and the enemy had 
 possession of two entire counties. 
 
 All men blamed Laud for prompting the king to 
 provoke the Scots, a headstrong nation, and zealous 
 for their own way of worship ; and Laud himself 
 found too late the consequences of it, both to the 
 whole cause and to himself; for the Scots, whose 
 native temper is not easily to forgive an injury, pur- 
 sued him by their party in England, and never gave 
 it over tiU they laid his head on the block. 
 
 The ruined country now clamoured in his Majesty's 
 ears with daily petitions, and the gentry of other 
 neighbouring counties cry out for peace and a Parlia- 
 ment. The king, emban-assed with these difficulties, 
 and quite empty of money, calls a great council of 
 the nobility at York, and demands their advice, which 
 any one could have told him before would be to call 
 a Parliament. 
 
 I cannot, without regret, look back upon the mis- 
 fortune of the king, who, as he was one of the best 
 princes in his personal conduct that ever reigned in 
 England, had yet some of the greatest unhappinesses 
 in his conduct as a king, that ever prince had, and 
 the whole course of his life demonstrated it. 
 [170] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 1. An impolitic honesty. His enemies called it 
 obstinacy ; but as I was perfectly acquainted with 
 his temper, I cannot but think it was his judgment, 
 when he thought he was in the right, to adhere to it 
 as a duty though against his interest. 
 
 2. Too much compliance when he was complying. 
 No man but himself would have denied what at 
 
 some times he denied, and have granted what at other 
 times he granted ; and this uncertainty of counsel 
 proceeded from two things. 
 
 1. The heat of the clergy, to whom he was ex- 
 ceedingly devoted, and for whom, indeed, he ruined 
 himself. 
 
 2. The wisdom of his nobility. 
 
 Thus when the counsel of his priests prevailed, all 
 was fire and fury ; the Scots were rebels, and must 
 be subdued, and the Parliament's demands were to 
 be rejected as exorbitant. But whenever the king's 
 judgment was led by the grave and steady advice of 
 his nobility and counsellors, he was always inclined 
 by them to temperate his measures between the two 
 extremes. And had he gone on in such a temper, he 
 had never met with the misfortunes which afterward 
 attended him, or had so many thousands of his friends 
 lost their lives and fortunes in his service. 
 
 I am sure we that knew what it was to fight for 
 him, and that loved him better than any of the clergy 
 could pretend to, have had many a consultation how 
 to bring over our master from so espousing their in- 
 terest, as to ruin himself for it ; but 't was in vain. 
 
 I took this interval when I sat still and only looked 
 on, to make these remarks, because I remember the 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 best fi-iends the king had were at this time of that 
 opinion, that 't was an unaccountable piece of indis- 
 cretion, to commence a quarrel with the Scots, a poor 
 and obstinate people, for a ceremony and book of 
 Church discipline, at a time when the king stood but 
 upon indifferent terms with his people at home. 
 
 The consequence was, it put arms into the hands 
 of his subjects to rebel against him ; it embroiled him 
 with his Parliament in England, to whom he was fain 
 to stoop in a fatal and unusual manner to get money, 
 aU his own being spent, and so to buy oif the Scots 
 whom he could not beat off. 
 
 I cannot but give one instance of the unaccount- 
 able politics of his ministers. If they overruled this 
 unhappy king to it, with design to exhaust and im- 
 poverish him, they were the worst of traitors ; if not, 
 the grossest of fools. They prompted the king to 
 equip a fleet against the Scots, and to put on board 
 it 5000 land men. Had this been all, the design had 
 been good, that while the king had faced the army 
 upon the borders, these 5000, landing in the Firth 
 of Edinburgh, might have put that whole nation 
 into disorder. But in order to this, they advised 
 the king to lay out his money in fitting out the 
 biggest ships he had, and the " Royal Sovereign," the 
 biggest ship the world had ever seen, which cost him 
 no less than d&lOOjOOO, was now built, and fitted out 
 for this voyage. 
 
 This was the most incongruous and ridiculous ad- 
 vice that could be given, and made us all believe we 
 were betrayed, though \ye knew not by whom. 
 
 To fit out ships of 100 guns to invade Scotland, 
 [172] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 which had not one man-of-war in the world, nor any 
 open confederacy with any prince or state that had 
 any fleet, 't was a most ridiculous thing. An hun- 
 dred sail of Newcastle colliers, to carry the men with 
 their stores and provisions, and ten frigates of 40 
 guns each, had been as good a fleet as reason and the 
 nature of the thing could have made tolerable. 
 
 Thus things were carried on, till the king, beggared 
 by the mismanagement of his counsels, and beaten 
 by the Scots, was driven to the necessity of calling a 
 Parliament in England. 
 
 It is not my design to enter into the feuds and 
 brangles of this Parliament. I have noted, by ob^ 
 servations of their mistakes, who brought the king 
 to this happy necessity of calling them. 
 
 His Majesty had tried Parliament upon several 
 occasions before, but never found himself so much 
 embroiled with them but he could send them home, 
 and there was an end of it ; but as he could not avoid 
 calling these, so they took care to put him out of a 
 condition to dismiss them. 
 
 The Scots' army was now quartered upon the 
 English. The counties, the gentry, and the assembly 
 of lords at York, petitioned for a Parliament. 
 
 The Scots presented their demands to the king, in 
 which it was observed that matters were concerted 
 between them and a party in England ; and I confess 
 when I saw that, I began to think the king in an ill 
 case; for as the Scots pretended grievances, we 
 thought, the king redressing those grievances, they 
 could ask no more; and therefore all men advised 
 the king to grant their full demands. And whereas 
 [173] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the king had not money to supply the Scots in their 
 march home, I know there were several meetings 
 of gentlemen with a design to advance considerable 
 sums of money to the king to set him free, and in 
 order to reinstate his Majesty, as before. Not that 
 we ever advised the king to rule without a Parlia- 
 ment, but we were very desirous of putting him 
 out of the necessity of calling them, at least just 
 then. 
 
 But the eighth article of the Scots' demands 
 expressly required, that an English Parliament might 
 be called to remove all obstructions of commerce, and 
 to settle peace, religion, and liberty ; and in another 
 article they tell the king, the 24th of September 
 being the time his Majesty appointed for the meet- 
 ing of the peers, will make it too long ere the 
 Parliament meet. And in another, that a Parliament 
 was the only way of settling peace, and bring them 
 to his Majesty's obedience. 
 
 When we saw this in the army, 't was time to look 
 about. Everybody perceived that the Scots army 
 would call an English Parliament; and whatever 
 aversion the king had to it, we all saw he would be 
 obliged to comply with it ; and now they all began to 
 see their error, who advised the king to this Scotch 
 war. 
 
 While these things were transacting, the assembly 
 of the peers meet at York, and by their advice a 
 treaty was begun with the Scots. I had the honour 
 to be sent with the first message which was in 
 writing. 
 
 I brought it, attended by a trumpet and a guard 
 [174] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of 500 horse, to the Scots quarters. I was stopped 
 at Darlington, and my errand being known, Gen- 
 eral Leslie sent a Scots major and fifty horse to 
 receive me, but wcflild let neither my trumpet 
 or guard set foot within their quarters. In this 
 manner I was conducted to audience in the chapter- 
 house at Durham, where a committee of Scots lords 
 who attended the army received me very courteously, 
 and gave me their answer in writing also. 
 
 T was in this answer that they showed, at least to 
 me, their design of embroiling the king with bis Eng- 
 lish subjects ; they discoursed very freely with me, and 
 did not order me to withdraw when they debated 
 their private opinions. They drew up several an- 
 swers but did not like them ; at last they gave 
 me one which I did not receive, I thought it was too 
 insolent to be borne with. As near as I can remem- 
 ber it was thus : The commissioners of Scotland at- 
 tending the service in the army, do refuse any treaty 
 in the city of York. 
 
 One of the commissioners who treated me with 
 more distinction than the i-est, and discoursed freely 
 with me, gave me an opportunity to speak more 
 freely of this than I expected. 
 
 I told them if they would return to his Majesty 
 an answer fit for me to carry, or if they would say 
 they would not treat at all, I would deliver such a 
 message. But I entreated them to consider the 
 answer was to their sovereign, and to whom they 
 made a great profession of duty and respect, and at 
 least they ought to give their reasons why they 
 declined a treaty at York, and to name some 
 [175] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 other place, or humbly to desire his Majesty to 
 name some other place ; but to send word they 
 would not treat at York, I could deliver no such 
 message, for when put into English it would signify 
 they would not treat at all. 
 
 I used a great many reasons and arguments with 
 them on this head, and at last with some difficulty 
 obtained of them to give the reason, which was the 
 Earl of Strafford's having the chief command at 
 York, whom they declared their mortal enemy, he 
 having declared them rebels in Ireland. 
 
 With this answer I returned. I could make no 
 observations in the short time I was with them, for 
 as I stayed but one night, so I was guarded as a close 
 prisoner all the while. I saw several of their offi- 
 cers whom I knew, but thfey .durst not speak to me, 
 and if they would have ventured, my guard would 
 not have permitted them. 
 
 In this manner I was conducted out of their quar- 
 ters to my own party again, and having delivered my 
 message to the king and told his Majesty the cir- 
 cumstances, I saw the king receive the account of 
 the haughty behaviour of the Scots with some 
 regret ; however, it was his Majesty's time now to 
 bear, and therefore the Scots were complied with, 
 and the treaty appointed at Ripon ; where, after 
 much debate, several preliminary articles were agreed 
 on, as a cessation of arms, quarters, and bounds to 
 the armies, subsistence to the Scots army, and the 
 residue of the demands was referred to a treaty at 
 London, &c. 
 
 We were all amazed at the ti'eaty, and I cannot 
 [176] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 but remember we used to wish much rather we had 
 been suiFeved to fight ; for though we had been 
 worsted at first, the power and strength of the king's 
 interest, which was not yet tried, must, in fine, have 
 been too strong for the Scots, whereas now we saw 
 the king was for complying with anything, and all 
 his friends would be ruined. 
 
 I confess I had nothing to fear, and so was not 
 much concerned, but our predictions soon came to 
 pass, for no sooner was this Parliament called biit 
 abundance of those who had embroiled their king 
 with his people of both kingdoms, like the disciples 
 when their Master was betrayed to the Jews, forsook 
 him and fled ; and now Parliament tyranny began 
 to succeed Church tyranny, and we soldiers were glad 
 to see it at first. The bishops trembled, the judges 
 went to gaol, the officers of the customs were laid 
 hold on ; and the Parliament began to lay their 
 fingers on the great ones, particularly Archbishop 
 Laud and the Earl of Strafford. We had no great 
 concern for the first, but the last was a man of so 
 much conduct and gallantry, and so beloved by the 
 soldi'ers and principal gentry of England, that every- 
 body was touched with his niisfortune. 
 
 The Parliament now grew mad in their turn, and 
 as the prosperity of any party is the time to show 
 their discretion, the Parliament showed they knew 
 as little where to stop as other people. The king 
 was not in a condition to deny anything, and noth- 
 ing could be demanded but they pushed it. They 
 attainted the Earl of Strafford, and thereby made 
 the king cut off" his right hand to save his left, and 
 12 [177] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 yet not save it neither. They obtained another bill 
 to empower them to sit during their own pleasure, 
 and after them, triennial Parliaments to meet, 
 wliether the king call them or no ; and granting 
 this completed his Majesty's ruin. 
 
 Had the House only regulated the abuses of the 
 court, punished evil counsellors, and restored Parlia- 
 ments to their original and just powers, all had been 
 well, and the king, though he had been more than 
 mortified, had yet reaped the benefit of future peace ; 
 for now the Scots were sent home, after having eaten 
 up two counties, and received a prodigious sum of 
 money to boot. And the king, though too late, 
 goes in person to Edinburgh, and grants them all 
 they could desire, and more than they asked ; but in 
 England, the desires of ours were unbounded, and 
 drove at all extremes. 
 
 They threw out the bishops' from sitting in the 
 House, make a protestation equivalent to the Scotch 
 Covenant, and this done, print their remonstrance. 
 This so provoked the king, that he resolves upon 
 seizing some of the members, and in an ill hour enters 
 the House in person to take them. Thus one impru- 
 dent thing on one hand produced another of the 
 other hand, till the king was obliged to leave them 
 to themselves, for fear of being mobbed into some- 
 thing or other unworthy of himself. 
 
 These proceedings began to alarm the gentry and 
 nobility of England ; for, however willing we were to 
 have evil counsellors i-emoved, and the government 
 return to a settled and legal course, according to the 
 happy constitution of this nation, and might have 
 [178] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 been forward enough to have owned the king had 
 been misled, and imposed upon to do things which 
 he had rather had not been done, yet it did not follow, 
 that all the powers and prerogatives of the crown 
 should devolve upon the Parliament, and the king in 
 a manner be deposed, or else sacrificed to the fury of 
 the rabble. 
 
 The heats of the House running them thus to all 
 extremes, and at last to take from the king the power 
 of the militia, which indeed was all that was left to 
 make him anything of a king, put the king upon 
 opposing force with force; and thus the flame of 
 civil war began. 
 
 However backward I was in engaging in the 
 second year's expedition against the Scots, I was as 
 forward now, for I waited on the king at York, 
 where a gallant company of gentlemen as ever were 
 seen in England, engaged themselves to enter into 
 his service ; and here some of us formed ourselves 
 into troops for the guard of his person. 
 
 The king having been waited upon by the gentry 
 of Yorksliire, and having told them his resolution of 
 erecting his royal standard, and received from them 
 hearty assui'ances of support, dismisses them, and 
 marches to Hull, where lay the train of artillery, and 
 all the arms and ammunition belonging to the 
 northern army which had been disbanded. But 
 ■ here the Parliament had been beforehand with his 
 Majesty, so that when he came to Hull, he found 
 the gates shut, and Sir John Hotham, the governor, 
 upon the walls, though with a great deal of seeming 
 humility and protestations of loyalty to his person, 
 [179] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 yet with a positive denial to admit any of the king's 
 attendants into the town. If his Majesty pleased to 
 enter the town in person with any reasonable number 
 of his household, he would submit, but would not 
 be prevailed on to receive the king as he would be 
 received, with his forces, though those forces were 
 then but very few. 
 
 The king was exceedingly provoked at this repulse, 
 and indeed it was a great surprise to us all, for 
 certainly never prince began a war against the whole 
 strength of his kingdom under the circumstances 
 that he was in. He had not a garrison, or a com- 
 pany of soldiers in his pay, not a stand of arms, or 
 a barrel of powder, a musket, cannon or mortar, not 
 a ship of all the fleet, or money in his treasury to 
 procure them ; whereas the Parliament had all his 
 navy, and ordnance, stores, magazines, arras, am- 
 munition, and revenue in their keeping. And this 
 I take to be another defect of the king's counsel, 
 and a sad instance of the distraction of his affairs, 
 that when he saw how all things were going to 
 wreck, as it was impossible but he should see it, and 
 'tis plain he did see it, that he should not long 
 enough before it came to extremities secure the 
 navy, magazines, and stores of war, in the hands of 
 his trusty servants, that would have been sure to 
 have preserved them for his use, at a time when he 
 wanted them. 
 
 It cannot be supposed but the gentry of England, 
 who generally preserved their loyalty for their royal 
 master, and at last heartily showed it, were exceed- 
 ingly discouraged at first when they saw the Parlia- 
 [180] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ment had all the means of making war in their own 
 hands, and the king was naked and destitute either 
 of arms or ammunition, or money to procure them. 
 Not but that the king, by extraordinary application, 
 recovered the disorder the want of these things had 
 thrown him into, and supplied himself with all 
 things needful. 
 
 But my observation was this, had his Majesty had 
 the magazines, navy, and forts in his own hand, the 
 gentry, who wanted but the prospect of something 
 to encourage them, had come in at first, and the 
 Parliament, being unprovided, would have been pres- 
 ently reduced to reason. But this was it that baulked 
 the gentry of /Yorkshire, who went home again, giving 
 the king godb promises, but never appeared for him, 
 till by raising ^ good army in Shropshire and Wales, 
 he marched ftowards London, and they saw there 
 was a prospict of their being supported. 
 
 In this c^dition the king erected his standard at 
 
 Nottinghawi, 22nd August 1642, and I confess, I 
 
 had very melancholy apprehensions of the king's 
 
 affairs, far the appearance to the royal standard was 
 
 but sm/iW. The affront the king had met with at 
 
 Hull, J^lad baulked and dispirited the northern gentry, 
 
 and ''the king's affairs looked with a very dismal 
 
 asspect. We had expresses from London of the 
 
 , prodigious success of the Parliament's levies, how 
 
 \ their men came in faster than they could entertain 
 
 \them, and that arms were delivered out to whole 
 
 .companies listed together, and the like. And all 
 
 tyds while the king had not got together a thou- 
 
 sfinarfoot, and had no arms for them neither. When 
 
 [ 181 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the king saw this, he immediately despatches five 
 several messengers, whereof one went to the Marquis 
 of Worcester into Wales ; one went to the queen, 
 then at Windsor;, one to the Duke of Newcastle, 
 then Marquis of Newcastle, into the north ; one 
 into Scotland ; and one into France, where the queen 
 soon after arrived to raise money, and buy arms, and 
 to get what assistance she could among her own 
 friends. Nor was her Majesty idle, for she sent over 
 several ships laden with arms and ammunition, with 
 a fine train of artillery, and a great many very good 
 officers ; and though one of 'Tihe first fell into the 
 hands of the Parliament, with three Jjundred barrels 
 of powder and some arms, and one hundred and 
 fifty gentlemen, yet most of the gen Aemen found 
 means, one way or other, to get to us, and most of 
 the ships the queen freighted arrived k and at last 
 her Majesty came herself, and brought Ian extraor- 
 dinary supply both of men, money, armte, &c., with 
 which she joined the king's forces under* the Earl 
 of Newcastle in the north. 
 
 Finding his Majesty thus bestirring hiAiself to 
 muster his friends together, I asked him if he t\bought 
 it might not be for his Majesty's service to let^e go 
 among my friends, and his loyal subjects afeftit 
 Shrewsbury ? " Yte," says the king, smiling, " I iij 
 tend you shall, and I design to go with you myself. ■" 
 I did not understand what the king meant then, and 
 did not think it good manners to inquire, but the 
 next day I found all things disposed for a marchj 
 and the king on horseback by eight of the clock, 
 when calling me to him, he told me I shou|/d gi 
 [ 182 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 before, and let my father and all my friends know 
 he would be at Shrewsbury the Saturday following. 
 I left my equipages, and taking post with only one 
 servant, was at my father's the next tnorning by 
 break of day. My father was not surprised at the 
 news of the king's coming at all, for, it seems, he, 
 together with the loyal gentry of those parts, had 
 sent particularly to give the king an invitation to 
 move that way, which I was not made privy to, with 
 an account what encouragement they had there in 
 the endeavours made for his interest. In short, the 
 whole country was entirely for the king, and such 
 was the universal joy the people showed when the 
 news of his Majesty's coming down was positively 
 known, that all manner of business was laid aside, 
 and the whole body of the people seemed to be 
 resolved upon the war. 
 
 As this gave a new face to the king's aifairs, so I 
 must own it filled me with joy ; for I was astonished 
 before, when I considered what the king and his 
 friends were like to be exposed to. The news of the 
 proceedings of the Parliament, and their powerful 
 preparations, were now no more terrible ; the king 
 came at the time appointed, and having lain at my 
 father's house one night, entered Shrewsbury in the 
 morning. The acclamations of the people, the con- 
 course of the nobility and gentry about his person, 
 and the crowds which now came every day into his 
 standard, were incredible. 
 
 The loyalty of the English gentry was not only 
 worth notice, but the power of the gentry is extraor- 
 dinary visible in this matter. The king, in about 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 six weeks' time, which was the most of his stay at 
 Shrewsbury, was supplied with money, arms, ammuni- 
 tion, and a train of artillery, and listed a body of an 
 army upwards of 20,000 men. 
 
 His Majesty seeing the general alacrity of his 
 people, immediately issued out commissions, and 
 formed regiments of horse and foot ; and having 
 some experienced officers about him, together with 
 about sixteen who came from France, with a ship 
 loaded with arms and some iield-pieces which came 
 very seasonably into the Severn, the men were exer- 
 cised, regularly disciplined, and quartered, and now 
 we began to look like soldiers. My father had raised 
 a regiment of horse at his own charge, and completed 
 them, and the king gave out arms to them from the 
 supplies which I mentioned came from abroad. 
 Another party of horse, all brave stout fellows, and 
 well mounted, came in from Lancashire, and the Earl 
 of Derby at the head of them. The Welshmen came 
 in by droves ; and so great was the concourse of 
 people, that the king began to think of marching, 
 and gave the command, as well as the trust of regu- 
 lating the army, to the brave Earl of Lindsey, as 
 general of the foot. The Parliament general being 
 the Earl of Essex, two braver men, or two better 
 officers, were not in the kingdom ; they had both 
 been old soldiers, and had served together as volun- 
 teers in the Low Country wars, under Prince Maurice. 
 They had been comrades and companions abroad, 
 and now came to face one another as enemies in the 
 field. 
 
 Such was the expedition used by the king and his 
 ri84] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 friends, in the levies of this first army, that notwith- 
 standing the wonderful expedition the Parliament 
 made, the king was in the field before them; and 
 now the gentry in other parts of the nation bestirred 
 themselves, and seized upon, and ganisoned several 
 considerable places for the king. In the north, the 
 Earl of Newcastle not only garrisoned the most con- 
 siderable places, but even the general possession of 
 the north was for the king, excepting Hull, and some 
 few places, which the old Lord Fairfax had taken up 
 for the Parliament. On the other hand, entire Corn- 
 wall and most of the western counties were the king's. 
 The Parliament had their chief interest in the south 
 and eastern part of England, as Kent, Surrey, and 
 Sussex, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, Bedford, 
 Huntington, Hertford, Buckinghamshire, and the 
 other midland counties. These were called, or some 
 of them at least, the associated counties, and felt 
 little of the war, other than the charges ; but the 
 main support of the Parliament was the city of 
 London. 
 
 The king made the seat of his court at Oxford, 
 which he caused to be regularly fortified. The Lord 
 Say had been here, and had possession of the city for 
 the enemy, and was debating about fortifying it, but 
 came to no resolution, which was a very great over- 
 sight in them ; the situation of the place, and the 
 importance of it, on many accounts, to the city of 
 London, considered ; and they would have retrieved 
 this error afterwards, but then 't was too late ; for the 
 king made it the headquarter, and received great 
 supplies and assistance from the wealth of the colleges, 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and the plenty of the neighbouring country. Abing- 
 don, Wallingford, Basing, and Reading, were all 
 garrisoned and fortified as outworks to defend this as 
 the centre. And thus all England became the theatre 
 of blood, and war was spread into every corner of the 
 country, though as yet there was no stroke struck. 
 I had no command in this army. My father led his 
 own regiment, and, old as he was, would not leave his 
 royal master, and my elder brother stayed at home 
 to support the family. As for me, I rode a volunteer 
 in the royal troop of guards, which may very well 
 deserve the title of a royal troop, for it was composed 
 of young gentlemen, sons of the nobility, and some 
 of the prime gentry of the nation, and I think not a 
 person of so mean a birth or fortune as myself. We 
 reckoned in this troop two and thirty lords, or who 
 came afterwards to be such, and eight and thirty of 
 younger sons of the nobility, five French noblemen, 
 and all the rest gentlemen of very good families and 
 estates. 
 
 And that I may give the due to their personal 
 valour, many of this troop lived afterwards to have 
 regiments and troops under their command in the 
 service of the king, many of them lost their lives for 
 him, and most of them their estates. Nor did they 
 behave unworthy of themselves in their first showing 
 their faces to the enemy, as shall be mentioned in its 
 place. 
 
 While the king remained at Shrewsbury, his loyal 
 
 friends bestirred themselves in several parts of the 
 
 kingdom. Goring had secured Portsmouth, but being 
 
 young in matters of war, and not in time relieved, 
 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 though the Marquis of Hertford was marching to 
 reheve him, yet he was obhged to quit the place, and 
 shipped himself for Holland', from whence he returned 
 with relief for the king, and afterwards did very good 
 service upon all occasions, and so effectually cleared 
 himself of the scandal the hasty surrender of Ports- 
 mouth had brought upon his courage. 
 
 The chief power of the king's forces lay in three 
 places, in Cornwall, in Yorkshire, and at Shrewsbury. 
 In Cornwall, Sir Ralph Hopton, afterwards Lord 
 Hopton, Sir Bevil Grenvile, and Sir Nicholas Slan- 
 ning secured all the country, and afterwards spread 
 themselves over Devonshire and Somersetshire, took 
 Exeter from the Parliament, fortified Bridgewater 
 and Barnstaple, and beat Sir William Waller at the 
 battle of Roundway Down, as I shall touch at more 
 particularly when I come to recite the part of my own 
 travels that way. 
 
 In the north, the Marquis of Newcastle secured all 
 the country, garrisoned York, Scarborough, Carlisle, 
 Newcastle, Pomfret, Leeds, and all the considerable 
 places, and took the field with a very good army, 
 though afterwards he proved more unsuccessful than 
 the rest, having the whole power of a kingdom at his 
 back, the Scots coming in with an army to the as- 
 sistance of the Parliament, which, indeed, was the 
 general turn, of the scale of the war ; for had it not 
 been for this Scots army, the king had most certainly 
 reduced the Parliament, at least to good terms of 
 peace, in two years' time. 
 
 The king was the third article. His force at Shrews- 
 bury I have noted already. The alatrity of the gentry 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 filled him with hopes, and all his army with vigour, 
 and the 8th of October 1642, his Majesty gave orders 
 to march. The Earl of Essex had spent above a month 
 after his leaving London (for he went thence the 9th 
 of September) in modelling and drawing together 
 his forces ; his rendezvous was at St. Albans, from 
 whence he marched to Northampton, Coventry, and 
 Warwick, and leaving garrisons in them, he comes 
 on to Worcester. Being thus advanced, he pos- 
 sesses Oxford, as I noted before, Banbury, Bristol, 
 Gloucester, and Worcester, out of all which places, 
 except Gloucester, we drove him back to London in 
 a very little while. 
 
 Sir John Byron had raised a very good party of 
 500 horse, most gentlemen, for the king, and had 
 possessed Oxford ; but on the approach of the Lord 
 Say quitted it, being now but an open town, and 
 retreated to Worcester, from whence, on the ap- 
 proach of Essex's army, he retreated to the king. 
 And now all things grew ripe for action, both parties 
 having secured their posts, and settled their schemes 
 of the war, taken their posts and places as their 
 measures and opportunities directed. The field was 
 next in their eye, and the soldiers began to inquire 
 when they should fight, for as yet there had been 
 little or no blood drawn ; and 't was not long before 
 they had enough of it ; for, I believe, I may challenge 
 all the historians in Europe to tell me of any war in 
 the world where, in the space of four years, there were 
 so many pitched battles, sieges, fights, and skirmishes, 
 as in this war. We never encamped or entrenched, 
 never fortified the avenues to our posts, or lay fenced 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 with rivers and defiles ; here was no leaguers in the 
 field, as at the story of Nuremberg, neither had our 
 soldiers any tents, or what they call heavy baggage. 
 'T was the general maxim of this war, " Where is the 
 enemy ? let us go and fight them," or, on the other 
 hand, if the enemy was coming, "What, was to be 
 done ? " " Why, what should be done ? Draw out 
 into the fields and fight them."" I cannot say 't was 
 the prudence of the parties, and had the king fought 
 less he had gained more. And I shall remark several 
 times when the eagerness of fighting was the worst 
 counsel, and proved our loss. This benefit, however, 
 happened in general to the country, that it made a 
 quick, though a bloody, end of the war, which other- 
 wise had lasted till it might have ruined the whole 
 nation. 
 
 On the 10th of October the king's army was in 
 full march, his Majesty generalissimo, the Earl of 
 Lindsey, general of the foot. Prince Rupert, general 
 of the horse ; and the first action in the field was by 
 Prince Rupert and Sir John Byron. Sir John had 
 brought his body of 500 horse, as I noted already, 
 from Oxford to Worcester; the Lord Say, with a 
 strong party, being in the neighbourhood of Oxford, 
 and expected in the town, Colonel Sandys, a hot 
 man, and who had more courage than judgment, 
 advances with about 1500 horse and dragoons, with 
 design to beat Sir John Byron out of Worcester, 
 and take post there for the Parliament. 
 
 The king had notice that the Earl of Essex 
 designed for Worcester, and Prince Rupert was 
 ordered to advance with a body of horse and 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 dragoons to face the enemy, and bring off Sir John 
 Byron. This his Majesty did to amuse the Earl of 
 Essex, that he might expect him that way ; whereas 
 the king's design was to get between the Earl of 
 Essex's army and the city of London ; and his 
 Majesty's pnd was doubly answered, for he not only 
 drew Essex on to Worcester, where he spent more 
 time than he needed, but he beat the party into the 
 bargain. 
 
 I went volunteer in this party, and rode in my 
 father's regiment ; for though we really expected 
 not to see the enemy, yet I was tired with lying still. 
 We came to Worcester just as notice was brought 
 to Sir John Byron, that a party of the enemy was 
 on their march for Worcester, upon which the prince 
 immediately consulting what was to be done, resolves 
 to march the next morning and fight them. 
 
 The enemy, who lay at Pershore, about eight 
 miles from Worcester, and, as I believe, had no 
 notice of our march, came on very confidently in the 
 morning, and found us fairly drawn up to receive 
 them. I must confess this was the bluntest, down- 
 right way of making war that ever was seen. The 
 enemy, who, in all the little knowledge I had of 
 war, ought to have discovered our numbers, and 
 guessed by our posture what our design was, might 
 easily have informed themselves that we intended to 
 attack them, and so might have secured the advan- 
 tage of a bridge in their front ; but without any 
 regard to these methods of policy, they came on at 
 all hazards. Upon this notice, my father proposed 
 to the prince to halt for them, and suffer ourselves 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 to be attacked, since we found them willing to give 
 us the advantage. The prince approved of the ad- 
 vice, so we halted within -view of a bridge, leaving 
 space enough on our front for about half the num- 
 ber of their forces to pass and draw up ; and at the 
 bridge was posted about fifty dragoons, with orders 
 to retire as soon as the enemy advanced, as if they 
 had been afraid. On the right of the road was a 
 ditch, and a very high bank behind, where he had 
 placed 300 dragoons, with orders to lie flat on their 
 faces till the enemy had passed the bridge, and to let 
 fly among them as soon as our trumpets sounded a 
 charge. Nobody but Colonel Sandys would have 
 been caught in such a snare, for he might easily 
 have seen that when he was over the bridge there 
 was not room enough for him to fight in. But the 
 Lord of hosts was so much in their mouths, for that 
 was the word for that day, that they took little heed 
 how to conduct the host of the Lord to their own 
 advantage. 
 
 As we expected, they appeared, beat our dragoons 
 from the bridge, and passed it. We stood firm in 
 one line with a reserve, and expected a charge, but 
 Colonel Sandys, showing a great deal more judgment 
 than we thought he was master of, extends himself 
 to the left, finding the ground too strait, and began 
 to form his men with a great deal of readiness and 
 skill, for by this time he saw our number was greater 
 than he expected. The prince perceiving it, and 
 foreseeing that the stratagem of the dragoons would 
 be frustrated by this, immediately charges with the 
 horse, and the dragoons at the same time standing 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 upon their feet, poured in their shot upon those that 
 were passing the bridge. This surprise put them 
 into such disorder, that we" had but httle work with 
 them. For though Colonel Sandys with the troops 
 next him sustained the shock very well, and behaved 
 themselves gallantly enough, yet the confusion be- 
 ginning in their rear, those that had not yet passed 
 the bridge were kept back by the fire of the dragoons, 
 and the rest were easily cut in pieces. Colonel Sandys 
 was mortally wounded and taken prisoner, and the 
 crowd was so great to get back, that many pushed 
 into the water, and were rather smothered than 
 drowned. Some of them who never came into the 
 fight, were so frighted, that they never looked behind 
 them till they came to Pershore, and, as we were 
 afterwards informed, the life-guards of the general 
 who had quartered in the town, left it in disorder 
 enough, expecting us at the heels of their men. 
 
 If our business had been to keep the Parliament 
 army from coming to Worcester, we had a very good 
 opportunity to have secured the bridge at Pershore ; 
 but our design lay another way, as I have said, and 
 the king was for drawing Essex on to the Severn, in 
 hopes to get behind him, which fell out accordingly. 
 
 Essex, spurred by this affront in the infancy of 
 their affairs, advances the next day, and came to 
 Pershore time enough to be at the funeral of some of 
 his men ; and from thence he advances to Worcester. 
 
 We marched back to Worcester extremely pleased 
 
 with the good success of our first attack, and our 
 
 men were so flushed with this little victory that it 
 
 put vigour into the whole army. The enemy lost 
 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 about 3000 men, and we carried away near 150 pris- 
 oners, with 500 horses, some standards and arms, 
 and among the prisoners their colonel ; but he died 
 a little after of his wounds. 
 
 Upon the approach of the enemy, Worcester was 
 quitted, and the forces marched back to join the king's . 
 army, which lay then at Bridgnorth, Ludlow, and 
 thereabout. As the king expected, it fell out ; Essex 
 found so much work at Worcester to settle Parlia- 
 ment quarters, and secure Bristol, Gloucester, and 
 Hereford, that it gave the king a full day's march of- 
 him. So the king, having the start of him, moves 
 towards London ; and Essex, nettled to be both 
 beaten in fight and outdone in conduct, decamps, 
 and follows the king. 
 
 The Parliament, and the Londoners too, were in a 
 strange consternation at this mistake of their general ; 
 and had the king, whose great misfortune was always 
 to follow precipitant advices, — had the king, I say, 
 pushed on his first design, which he had formed with 
 very good reason, and for which he had been dodging 
 with Essex eight or ten days, viz., of marching directly 
 to London, where he had a very great interest, and 
 where his friends were not yet oppressed and impov- 
 erished, as they were afterwards, he had turned the 
 scale of his affairs. And every man expected it ; for 
 the members began to shift for themselves, expresses 
 were sent on the heels of one another to the Earl of 
 Essex to hasten after the king, and, if possible, to 
 bring him to a battle. Some of these letters fell into 
 our hands, and we might easily discover that the 
 Parliament were in the last confusion at the thoughts 
 13 [ 193 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of our coming to London. Besides this, the city was 
 in a worse fright than the House, and the great 
 moving men began to go out of town. In short, 
 they expected us, and we expected to come, but 
 Providence for our ruin had otherwise determined it. 
 Essex, upon news of the icing's march, and upon 
 receipt of the Parhament's letters, makes long 
 marches after us, and on the 23rd of October reaches 
 the village of Kineton, in Warwickshire. The king 
 was almost as far as Banbury, and there calls a coun- 
 . cil of war. Some of the old officers that foresaw the 
 advantage the king had, the concern the city was in, 
 and the vast addition, both to the reputation of his 
 forces and the increase of his interest, it would be if 
 the king could gain that point, urged the king to 
 march on io London. Prince Rupert and. the fresh 
 colonels pressed for fighting, told the king it dis- 
 pirited their men to march with the enemy at their 
 heels ; that the Parliament army was inferior to him 
 by 6000 men, and fatigued with hasty marching ; 
 that as their orders were to fight, he had nothing to 
 do but to post himself to advantage, and receive 
 them to their destruction ; that the action near 
 Worcester had let them know how easy it was to 
 deal with a rash enemy ; and that ''t was a dishonour 
 for him, whose forces were so much superior, to be 
 pursued by his subjects in rebellion. These and the 
 like arguments prevailed with the king to alter his 
 wiser measures and resolve to fight. Nor was this 
 all ; when a resolution of fighting was taken, that 
 part of the advice which they who were for fighting 
 gave, as a reason for their opinion, was forgot, and 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 instead of halting and posting ourselves to advantage 
 till the enemy came up, we were ordered to march 
 back and meet them. 
 
 Nay, so eager was the prince for fighting, that 
 when, from the top of Edgehill, the enemy's army 
 was descried in the bottom between them and the 
 village of Kineton, and that the enemy had bid us 
 defiance, by discharging three cannons, we accepted 
 the challenge, and answering with two shots from 
 our army, we must needs forsake the advantages of 
 the hills, which they must have mounted under the 
 command of our cannon, and march down to them 
 into the plain. I confess, I thought here was a great 
 deal more gallantry than discretion ; for it was plainly 
 taking an advantage out of our own hands, and put- 
 ting it into the hands of the enemy. An enemy 
 that must fight, may always be fought with to ad- 
 vantage. My old hero, the glorious Gustavus Adol- 
 phus, was as forward to fight as any man of true 
 valour mixed with any policy need to be, or ought 
 to be ; but he used to say, " An enemy reduced to 
 a necessity of fighting, is half beaten." 
 
 'T is true, we were all but young in the war ; 
 the soldiers hot and forward, and eagerly desired 
 to come to hands with the enemy. But I take 
 the more notice of it here, because the king in 
 this acted against his own measures ; for it was 
 the king himself had laid the design of getting 
 the start of Essex, and marching to London. His 
 friends had invited him thither, <ind expected him, 
 and suffered deeply for the omission ; and yet he 
 gave way to these hasty counsels, and suffered his 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 judgment to be overruled by majority of voices ; 
 an error, I say, the King of Sweden was never guilty 
 of. For if all the officers at a council of war were of 
 a different opinion, yet unless their reasons mastered 
 his judgment, their votes never altered his measures. 
 But this was the error of our good, but unfortunate 
 master, three times in this war, and particularly in 
 two of the greatest battles of the time, viz., this 
 of Edgehill, and that of Naseby. 
 
 The resolution for fighting being published in the 
 army, gave an universal joy to the soldiers, who 
 expressed an extraordinary ardour for fighting. 
 I remember my father talking with me about it, 
 asked me what I thought of the approaching battle. 
 I told him I thought the king had done very well ; 
 for at that time I did not consult the extent of the 
 design, and had a mighty mind, like other rash 
 people, to see it brought to a day, which made me 
 answer my father as I did. " But," said I, " sir, I 
 doubt there will be but indifferent doings on both 
 sides, between two armies both made up of fresh 
 men, that have never seen any service." My father 
 minded little what I spoke of that ; but when I 
 seemed pleased that the king had resolved to fight, 
 he looked angrily at me, and told me he was sorry I 
 could see no farther into things. " I tell you," says 
 he hastily, " if the king should kill and take pris- 
 oners this whole army, general and all, the Parlia- 
 ment will have the victory ; for we have lost more 
 by slipping this opportunity of getting into London, 
 than we shall ever get by ten battles." I saw enough 
 of this afterwards to convince me of the weight of 
 [196] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 what my father said, and so did the king too ; but 
 it was then too late. Advantages slipped in war 
 are never recovered. 
 
 We were now in a full march to fight the Earl of 
 Essex.' It was on Sunday morning the 24!th of Oc- 
 tober 1642, fair weather overhead, but the ground 
 very heavy and dirty. As soon as we came to the 
 top of Edgehill, we discovered their whole army. 
 They were not drawn up, having had two miles 
 to march that morning, but' they were very busy 
 forming their lines, and posting the regiments as 
 they came up. Some of their horse were exceedingly 
 fatigued, having marched forty-eight hours together ; 
 and had they been suflFered to follow us three or 
 four days' march farther, several of their regiments 
 of horse would have been quite ruined, and their 
 foot would have been rendered unserviceable for 
 the present. But we had no patience. 
 
 As soon as our whole army was come to the top 
 of the hill, we were drawn up in order of battle. 
 The king's army made a very fine appearance ; and 
 indeed they were a body of gallant men as ever ap- 
 peared in the field, and as well furnished at all points ; 
 the horse exceeding well accoutred, being most of 
 them gentlemen and volunteers, some whole regi- 
 ments serving without pay ; their horses very good 
 and fit for service as could be desired. The whole 
 army were not above 18,000 men, and the enemy 
 not 1000 over or under, though we had been told 
 they were not above 12,000 ; but they had been re- 
 inforced with 4000 men from Northampton. The 
 king was with the general, the Earl of Lindsey, in 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the main battle ; Prince Rupert commanded the 
 right wing, and the Marquis of Hertford, the Lord 
 Willoughby, and several other very good officers the 
 left. 
 
 The signal of battle being given with two cannon 
 shots, we marched in order of battalia down the hill, 
 being drawn up in two lines with bodies of reserve ; 
 the enemy advanced to meet us much in the same 
 form, with this difference only, that they had placed 
 their cannon on their right, and the king had placed 
 ours in the centre, before, or rather between two 
 great brigades of foot. Their cannon began with 
 us first, and did some mischief among the dragoons 
 of our left wing ; but our officers, perceiving the shot 
 took the men and missed the horses, ordered all to 
 alight, and every man leading his horse, to advance 
 in the same order ; and this saved our men, for most 
 of the enemy's shot flew over their heads. Our 
 cannon made a terrible execution upon their foot 
 for a quarter of an hour, and put them into great 
 confusion, till the general obliged them to halt, and 
 changed the posture of his front, marching round a 
 small rising ground by which he avoided the fury of 
 our artillery. 
 
 By this time the wings were engaged, the king 
 having given the signal of battle, and ordered the 
 right wing to fall on. Prince Rupert, who, as is 
 said, commanded that wing, fell on with such fury, 
 and pushed the left wing of the Parliament army so 
 effectually, that in a moment he filled all with terror 
 and confusion. Commissary-General Ramsey, a 
 Scotsman, a Low Country soldier, and an experienced 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 officer, commanded their left wing, and though he 
 did all that an expert soldier, and a brave com- 
 mander could do, yet 't was to no purpose ; his lines 
 were immediately broken, and all overwhelmed in a 
 trice. Two regiments of foot, whether as part of 
 the left wing, or on the left of the main body, I 
 know not, were disordered by their own horse, and 
 rather trampled to death by the horses, than beaten 
 by our men ; but they were so entirely broken and 
 disordered, that I do not remember that ever they 
 made one volley upon our men ; for their own horse 
 running away, and falling foul on these foot, were so 
 vigorously followed by our men, that the foot never 
 had a moment to rally or look behind them. The 
 point of the left wing of horse were not so soon 
 broken as the rest, and three regiments of them 
 stood firm for some time. The dexterous officers of 
 the other regiments taking the opportunity, rallied 
 a great many of their scattered men behind them, 
 and pieced in some troops with those regiments ; 
 but after two or three charges, which a brigade of 
 our second line, following the prince, made upon 
 them, they also were broken with the rest. 
 
 I remember that at the great battle of Leipsic, the 
 right wing of the Imperialists having fallen in upon 
 the Saxons with like fury to this, bore down all 
 before them, and beat the Saxons quite out of the 
 field ; upon which the soldiers cried, " Victoria, let 
 us follow." " No, no," said the old General Tilly, 
 " let them go, but let us beat the Swedes too, and 
 then all 's our own." Had Prince Rupert taken this 
 method, and instead of following the fugitives, who 
 [199] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 were dispersed so effectually that two regiments 
 would have secured them from rallying, — I say, had 
 he fallen in upon the foot, or wheeled to the left, 
 and fallen in upon the rear of the enemy's right 
 wing of horse, or returned to the assistance of the 
 left wing of our horse, we had gained the most 
 absolute and complete victory that could be ; nor 
 had 1000 men of the enemy's army got off. But 
 this prince, who was full of fire, and pleased to see 
 the rout of the enemy, pursued them quite to the 
 town of Kineton, where indeed he killed abundance 
 of their men, and some time also was lost in plunder- 
 ing the baggage. 
 
 But in the meantime, the glory and advantage of 
 the day was lost to the king, for the right wing of 
 the Parliament horse could not be so broken. Sir 
 William Balfour made a desperate charge upon the 
 point of the king's left, and had it not been for two 
 regiments of dragoons who were planted in the 
 reserve, had routed the whole wing, for he broke 
 through the first line, and staggered the second, 
 who advanced to their assistance, but was so warmly 
 received by those dragoons, who came seasonably 
 in, and gave their first fire on horseback, that 
 his fury was checked, and having lost a great many 
 men, was forced to wheel about to his own men ; 
 and had the king had but three regiments of horse 
 at hand to have charged him, he had been routed. 
 The rest of this wing kept their ground, and received 
 the first fury of the enemy with great firmness ; 
 after which, advancing in their turn, they were once 
 masters of the Earl of Essex's cannon. And here we 
 [200] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 lost another advantage ; for if any foot had been at 
 hand to support these horse, they had carried off the 
 cannon, or turned it upon the main battle of the 
 enemy's foot, but the foot were otherwise engaged. 
 The horse on this side fought with great obstinacy 
 and variety of success a great while. Sir Philip 
 Stapleton, who commanded the guards of the Earl 
 of Essex, being engaged with a party of our Shrews- 
 bury cavaliers, as we called them, was once in a fair 
 way to have been cut oft" by a brigade of our foot, 
 who, being advanced to fall on upon the Parlia- 
 ment's main body, flanked Sir Philip's horse in their 
 way, and facing to the left, so furiously charged 
 him with their pikes, that he was obliged to retire 
 in great disorder, and with the loss of a great many 
 men and horses. 
 
 All this while the foot on both sides were des- 
 perately engaged, and coming close up to the teeth 
 of one another with the clubbed musket and push 
 of pike, fought with great resolution, and a terrible 
 slaughter on both sides, giving no quarter for a great 
 while ; and they continued to do thus, till, as if they 
 were tired, and out of wind, either party seemed 
 willing enough to leave off, and take breath. Those 
 which suffered most were that brigade which had 
 charged Sir William Stapleton's horse, who being 
 bravely engaged in the front with the enemy's foot, 
 were, on the sudden, charged again in front and 
 flank by Sir William Balfour's horse and disordered, 
 after a very desperate defence. Here the king's 
 standard was taken, the standard-bearer, Sir Edward 
 Verney, being killed; but it was rescued again by 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Captain Smith, and brought to the king the same 
 night, for which the king knighted the captain. 
 
 This brigade of foot had fought all the day, and 
 had not been broken at last, if any horse had been 
 at hand to support thein. The field began to be 
 now clear ; both armies stood, as it were, gazing at 
 one another, only the king, having rallied his foot, 
 seemed inclined to renew the charge, and began to 
 cannonade them, which they could not return, most 
 of their cannon being nailed while they were in our 
 possession, and all the camioniers killed or fled ; and 
 our gunners did execution upon Sir William Bal- 
 four's troops for a good while. 
 
 My fathers I'egiment being in the right with the 
 prince, I saw little of the fight but the rout of the 
 enemy's left, and we had as full a victory there as we 
 could desire, but spent too much time in it. We 
 killed about 2000 men in that part of the action, 
 and having totally dispersed them, and plundered 
 their baggage, began to think of our fellows when 
 't was too late to help them. We returned, however, 
 victorious to the king, just as the battle was over. 
 The king asked the prince what news .'' He told 
 him he could give his Majesty a good account of the 
 enemy's horse. " Ay, by G — d," says a gentleman 
 that stood by me, " and of their carts too." That 
 word was spoken with such a sense of the misfortune, 
 and made such an impression in the whole army, 
 that it occasioned some ill blood afterwards among 
 us ; and but that the king took up the business, it 
 had been of ill consequence, for some person who 
 had heard the gentleman speak it, informed the 
 [ 202 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 prince who it w^s, and the prince resenting it, spoke 
 something about it in the hearing of the party when 
 the king was present. The gentleman, not at all 
 surprised, told his Highness openly he had said the 
 words ; and tliough he owned he had no disrespect 
 for his Highness, yet he could not but say, if it had 
 not been so, the enemy's army had been better 
 beaten. The prince replied something very disoblig- 
 ing ; upon which the gentleman came up to the king, 
 and kneeling, humbly besought his Majesty to ac- 
 cept of his commission, and to give him leave to tell 
 the prince, that whenever his Highness pleased, he 
 was ready to give him satisfaction. The prince was 
 exceedingly provoked, and as he was' very passionate, 
 began to talk very oddly, and vvithout all govern- 
 ment of himself The gentleman, as bold as he, but 
 much calmer, preserved his temper, but maintained 
 his quarrel ; and the king was so concerned, that 
 he was very much out of humour with the prince 
 about it. However, his Majesty, upon considera- 
 tion, soon ended the dispute, by laying his com- 
 mands on them both to speak no more of it for that 
 day ; and refusing the commission from the colonel, 
 for he was no less, sent for them both next morning 
 in private, and made them friends again. 
 
 But to return to our story. We came back to the 
 king timely enough to put the Earl of Essex's men 
 out of all humour of renewing the fight, and as I 
 observed before, both parties stood gazing at one 
 another, and our cannon playing upon them obliged 
 Sir William Balfour's horse to wheel off in some dis- 
 order, but they returned us none again, which, as we 
 [2Q3] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 afterwards understood, was, as I said, before, for want 
 of both powder and gunners, for the cannoniers and 
 firemen were killed, or had quitted their train in the 
 fight, when our horse had possession of their artillery ; 
 and as they had spiked up some of the cannon, so they 
 had carried away fifteen carriages of powder. 
 
 Night coming on, ended all discourse of more fight- 
 ing, and the king drew off and marched towards the 
 hills. I know no other token of victory which the 
 enemy had than their lying in the field of battle all 
 night, which they did for no other reason than that, 
 having lost their baggage and provisions, they had 
 nowhere to go, and which we did not, because we had 
 good quarters at hand. 
 
 The number of prisoners and of the slain were not 
 very unequal ; the enemy lost more men, we most of 
 quality. Six thousand men on both sides were killed 
 on the spot, whereof, when our rolls were examined, 
 we missed 2500. We lost our brave general the old 
 Earl of Lindsey, who was wounded and taken. prisoner, 
 and died of his wounds ; Sir Edward Stradling, Col- 
 onel Lundsford, prisoners ; and Sir Edward Verney 
 and a great many gentlemen of quality slain. On 
 the other hand, we carried off Colonel Essex, Colonel 
 Ramsey, and the Lord St. John, who also died of his 
 wounds ; we took five ammunition waggons full of 
 powder, and brought off about 500 horse in the 
 defeat of the left wing, with eighteen standards and 
 colours, and lost seventeen. 
 
 The slaughter of the left wing was so great, and 
 the flight so effectual, that sevei-al of the officers rid 
 clear away, coasting round, and got to London, where 
 f 204] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 they reported that the Parliament army was entirely 
 defeated — all lost, killed, or taken, as if none but 
 them were left alive to carry the news. This filled 
 them with consternation for a while, but when other 
 messengers followed, all was restored to quiet again, 
 and the Parliament cried up their victory and suf- 
 ficiently mocked God and their general with their 
 public thanks for it. Truly, as the fight was a de- 
 liverance to them, they were in the right to give 
 thanks for it ; but as to its being a victory, neither 
 side had much to boast of, and they less a great deal 
 than we had. 
 
 I got no hurt in this fight, and indeed we of the 
 right wing had but little fighting ; I think I had dis- 
 charged my pistols but once, and my carabine twice, 
 for we had more fatigue than fight ; the enemy fled, 
 and we had little to do but to follow and kill those 
 we could overtake. I spoiled a good horse, and got 
 a better from the enemy in his room, and came home 
 weary enough. My father lost his horse, and in the 
 fall was bruised in his thigh by another horse tread- 
 ing on him, which disabled him for some time, and 
 at his request, by his Majesty's consent, I commanded 
 the regiment in his absence. 
 
 The enemy received a recruit of 4000 men the next 
 morning ; if they had not, I believe they had gone 
 back towards Worcester ; but, encouraged by that 
 reinforcement, they called a council of war, and had 
 a long debate whether they could attack us again ; 
 but notwithstanding their great victory, they durst 
 not attempt it, though this addition of strength 
 made them superior to us bj' 3000 men. 
 [205] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The king indeed expected, that when these troops 
 joined them they would advance, and we were pre- 
 paring to receive them at a village called Aynho, 
 where the headquarters continued three or four days ; 
 and had they really esteemed the first day's work a 
 victory, as they called it, they would have done it, 
 but they thought not good to venture, but march 
 away to Warwick, and from thence to Coventry. 
 The king, to urge them to venture upon him, and 
 come to a second battle, sits down before Banbury, 
 and takes both town and castle; and two entire 
 regiments of foot, and one troop of horse, quit the 
 Parliament serviccj and take up their arms for the 
 king. This was done almost before their faces, which 
 was a better proof of a victory on our side, than any 
 they could pretend to. From Banbury we marched 
 to Oxford ; and now all men saw the Parliament had 
 made a great mistake, for they were not always in 
 the right any more -than we, to leave Oxford without 
 a garrison. The king caused new regular works to 
 be drawn round it, and seven royal bastions with 
 ravelins and out-works, a double ditch, counterscarp, 
 and covered way ; all which, added to the advantage 
 of the situation, made it a formidable place, and from 
 this time it became our place of arms, and the centre 
 of affairs on the king's side. 
 
 If the Parliament had the honour of the field, the 
 king reaped the fruits of the victory ; for all this part 
 of the country submitted to him. Essex's army made 
 the best of their way to London, and were but in an 
 ill condition when they came there, especially their 
 horse. 
 
 [206] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The Parliament, sensible of this, and receiving daily 
 accounts of the progress we made, began to cool a 
 little in their temper, abated of their first rage, and 
 voted an address for peace ; and sent to the king to let 
 him know they were desirous to prevent the effusion 
 of more blood, and to bring things to an accommo- 
 dation, or, as they called it, a right understanding. 
 
 I was now, by the king's particular favour, sum- 
 moned to the councils of war, my father continuing 
 absent and ill ; and now I began to think of the real 
 grounds, and which was more, of the fatal issue of 
 this war. I say, I now began it ; for I cannot say- 
 that I ever rightly stated matters in my own mind 
 before, though I had been enough used to blood, 
 and to see the destruction of people, sacking of , 
 towns, and plundering the country ; yet 't was in 
 Germany, and among strangers ; but I found a strange 
 secret and unaccountable sadness upon my spirits, to 
 see this acting in my own native country. It grieved 
 me to the heart, even in the rout of our enemies, to 
 see the slaughter of them ; and even in the fight, 
 to hear a man cry for quarter in English, moved me 
 to a compassion which I had never been used to ; 
 nay, sometimes it looked to me as if some of my own 
 men had been beaten ; and when I heard a soldier 
 cry, " O God, I am shot," I looked behind me to see 
 which of my own troop was fallen. Here I saw 
 myself at the cutting of the throats of my friends ; 
 and indeed some of my near relations. My old com- 
 rades and fellow-soldiers in Germany were some with 
 us, some against us, as their opinions happened to 
 differ in religion. For my part, I confess I had not 
 [207] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 much religion in me, at that time ; but I thought 
 religion rightly practised on both sides would have 
 made us all better friends ; and therefore sometimes 
 I began to think, that both the bishops of our side, 
 and the preachers on theirs, made religion rather the , 
 pretence than the cause of the war. And from those 
 thoughts I vigorously argued it at the council of war 
 against marching to Brentford, while the address for 
 a treaty of peace from the Parliament was in hand ; 
 for I was for taking the Parliament by the handle 
 which they had given us, and entering into a nego- 
 tiation, with the advantage of its being at their 
 own request. 
 
 I thought the king had now in his hands an op- 
 portunity to make an honourable peace ; for this 
 battle of Edgehill, as much as they boasted of 
 the victory to hearten up their friends, had sorely 
 weakened their army, and discouraged their party 
 too, which in eifect was worse as to their army. The 
 horse were particularly in an ill case, and the foot 
 greatly diminished, and the remainder very sickly ; 
 but besides this, the Parliament were greatly alarmed 
 at the progress we made afterward ; and still fearing 
 the king's surprising them, had sent for the Earl of 
 Essex to London, to defend them ; by which the 
 country was, as it were, defeated and abandoned, 
 and left to be plundered ; our parties over-run all 
 places of pleasure. All this while I considered, that 
 whatever the soldiers of fortune meant by the war, 
 our desires were to suppress the exorbitant power of 
 a party, to establish our king in his just and legal 
 rights ; but not with a design to destroy the con- 
 [208] 
 
MEMO Ills OF A CAVALIER 
 
 stitution of government and the being of Parliament. 
 And therefore I thought now was the time for 
 peace, and there were a great many worthy gentle- 
 men in the army of my mind ; and, had our master 
 had ears to hear us, the war might have had an end 
 here. 
 
 This address for peace was received by the king 
 at Maidenhead, whither his army was now advanced, 
 and his Majesty returned answer by Sir Peter Kille- 
 grew, that he desired nothing more, and would not 
 be wanting on his part. Upon this the Parliament 
 name commissioners, and his Majesty excepting 
 against Sir John Evelyn, they left him out, and sent 
 others ; and desired the king to appoint his residence 
 near London, where the commissioners might wait 
 upon him. Accordingly the king appointed Windsor 
 for the place of treaty, and desired the treaty might 
 be hastened. And thus all things looked with a 
 favourable aspect, when one unlucky action knocked 
 it all on the head, and filled both parties with more 
 implacable animosities than they had before, and all 
 hopes of peace vanished. During this progress of 
 the king's armies, we were always abroad with the 
 horse ravaging the country, and plundering the 
 Roundheads. Prince Rupert, a most active vigilant 
 party man, and I must own, fitter for such than for 
 a general, was never lying still, and I seldom stayed 
 behind ; for our regiment being very well mounted, 
 he would always send for us, if he had any extraor- 
 dinary design in hand. 
 
 One time in particiilar he had a design upon 
 Aylesbury, the capital of Buckinghamshire ; indeed 
 1+ ' [ 209 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 our view at first was rather to beat the enemy out of 
 town and demolish their works, and perhaps raise 
 some contributions on the rich country round it, 
 than to garrison the place, and keep it ; for we 
 wanted no more garrisons, being masters of the field. 
 
 The prince had 2500 horse with him in this expe- 
 dition, but no foot ; the town had some foot raised 
 in the country by Mr. Hampden, and two regiments 
 of country militia, whom we made light of, but we 
 found they stood to their tackle better than well 
 enough. We came very early to the town, and 
 thought they had no notice of us ; but some false 
 brother had given them the alarm, and we found them 
 all in arms, the hedges without the town lined with 
 musketeers, on that side in particular where they 
 expected us, and two regiments of foot drawn up in 
 view to support them, with some horse in the rear 
 of all. 
 
 The prince, willing, however, to do something, 
 caused some of his horse to alight, and serve as dra- 
 goons ; and having broken a way into the enclosures, 
 the horse beat the foot from behind the hedges, 
 while the rest who were alighted charged them in the 
 lane which leads to the town. Here they had cast 
 up some works, and fired from their lines very regu- 
 larly, considering them as uiilitia only, the governor 
 encouraging them by his example ; so that finding 
 without some foot there would be no good to be 
 done, we gave it over, and drew off; and so Aylesbury 
 escaped a scouring for that time. 
 
 I cannot deny but these flying parties of horse 
 .committed great spoil among the country people ; 
 [ 210 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and sometimes the prince gave a liberty to some 
 cruelties which were not at all for the king's interest ; 
 because it being still upon our own country, and the 
 king's own subjects, whom in all his declarations he 
 protested to be careful of, it seemed to contradict all 
 those protestations and declarations, and served to 
 aggravate and exasperate the common people ; and 
 the king's enemies made all the advantages of it that 
 was possible, by crying out of twice as many extrava- 
 gancies as were committed. 
 
 'Tis true, the king, who naturally abhorred such 
 things, could not restrain his men, no, nor his 
 generals, so absolutely as he would have done. The 
 war, on his side, was very much a la volunteer ; many 
 gentlemen served him at their own charge, and some 
 paid whole regiments themselves : sometimes also the 
 king's affairs were straiter than ordinary, and his 
 men were not very well paid, and this obliged him to 
 wink at their excursions upon the country, though 
 he did not approve of them. And yet I must own, 
 that in those parts of England where the war was 
 hottest, there never was seen that ruin and depopu- 
 lation, murders, ravishments, and barbarities, which 
 I have seen even among Protestant armies abroad, in 
 Germany and other foreign parts of the world. And 
 if the Parliament people had seen those things abroad, 
 as I had, they would not have complained. 
 
 The most I have seen was plundering the towns 
 for provisions, drinking up their beer, and turning 
 our horses into their fields, or stacks of corn ; and 
 sometimes the soldiers would be a little rude with the 
 wenches ; but alas ! what was this to Count Tilly's 
 [211] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ravages in Saxony ? Or what was our taking of 
 Leicester by storm, where they cried out of our bar- 
 barities, to the saciting of New Brandenburg, or the 
 taking of Magdeburg ? In Leicester, of 7000 or 
 8000 people in the town, 300 were killed ; in Mag- 
 deburg, of 25,000 scarce 2700 were left, and the 
 whole town burnt to ashes. I myself have seen 
 seventeen or eighteen villages on fire in a day, and 
 the people driven away from their dwellings, like 
 herds of cattle ; the men murdered, the women 
 stripped ; and 700 or 800 of them together, after 
 they had suffered all the indignities and abuses of 
 the soldiers, driven stark naked in the winter through 
 the great towns, to seek shelter and relief from the 
 charity of their enemies. I do not instance these 
 greater barbarities to justify lesser actions, which are 
 nevertheless irregular ; but I do say, that circum- 
 stances considered, this war was managed with as 
 much humanity on both sides as could be expected, 
 especially also considering the animosity of parties. 
 
 But to return to the prince : he had not always the 
 same success in these enterprises, for sometimes we 
 came short home. And I cannot omit one pleasant 
 adventure which happened to a party of ours, in one 
 of these excursions into Buckinghamshire. The 
 major of our regiment was soundly beaten by a party, 
 which, as I may say, was led by a woman ; and, if I 
 had not rescued him, I know not but he had been 
 taken prisoner by a woman. It seems our men had 
 besieged some fortified house about Oxfordshire, 
 towards Thame, and the house being defended by 
 the lady in her husband's absence, she had yielded 
 [212] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the house upon a capitulation ; one of the articles of 
 which was, to march out with all her servants, 
 soldiers, and goods, and to be conveyed to Thame. 
 Whether she thought to have gone no farther, or 
 that she reckoned herself safe there, I know not ; but 
 my major, with two troops of horse, meets with this 
 lady and her party, about five miles from Thame, as 
 we were coming back from our defeated attack of 
 Aylesbury. We reckoned oui'selves in an enemy's 
 country, and had lived a little at large, or at discre- 
 tion, as 't is called abroad ; and these two troops, 
 with the major, were returning to our detachment 
 fi'om a little village, where, at the farmer s house, they 
 had met with some liquor, and truly some of his men 
 were so drunk they could but just sit upon their 
 horses. The major himself was not much better, 
 and the whole body were but in a sorry condition to 
 fight. Upon the road they meet this party ; the lady 
 having no design of fighting, and being, as she 
 thought, under the protection of the articles, sounds 
 a parley, and desired to speak with the officer. The 
 major, as drunk as he was, could tell her, that by the 
 articles she was to be assured no farther than Thame, 
 and being now five miles beyond it, she was a fair 
 enemy, and therefore demanded to render themselves 
 prisoners. The lady seemed surprised, but being 
 sensible she was in the wrong, offered to compound 
 for her goods, and would have given him d&SOO, and 
 I think seven or eight horses. The major would 
 certainly have taken it, if he had not been drunk ; 
 but he refused it, and gave threatening words to her, 
 blustering in language which he thought proper to 
 [ 213 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 fright a woman, viz., that he would cut them all to 
 pieces, and give no quarter, and the like. 
 
 The lady, who had been more used to the smell of 
 powder than he imagined, called some of her servants 
 to her, and, consulting with them what to do, they 
 all unanimously encouraged her to let them fight ; 
 told her it was plain that the commander was 
 drunk, and all that were with him were rather worse 
 than he, and hardly able to sit their horses, and 
 that therefore one bold charge would put them all 
 into confusion. In a word, she consented, and, as 
 she was a woman, they desired her to secure herself 
 among the waggons ; but she refused, and told them 
 bravely she would take her fate with them. In 
 short, she boldly bade my major defiance, and that 
 he might do his worst, since she had offered him 
 fair, and he had refused it ; her mind was altered 
 now, and she would give him nothing, and bade his 
 officer that parleyed longer with her be gone ; so 
 the parley ended. After this she gave him fair 
 leave to go back to his men ; but before he could 
 tell his tale to them she was at his heels with all her 
 men, and gave him such a home charge as put his 
 men into disorder, and, being too drunk to rally, 
 they were knocked down before they knew what to 
 do with themselves, and in a few minutes more they 
 took to a plain flight. But what was still worse, 
 the men, being some of them very drunk, when they 
 came to run for their lives fell over one another, and 
 tumbled over their horses, and made such work that 
 a troop of women might have beaten them all. In 
 this pickle, with tlic enemy at his heels, I came in 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 with him, hearing the noise. When I appeared the 
 pursuers retreated, and, seeing what a condition my 
 people were in, and not knowing the strength of the 
 enemy, I contented myself with bringing them off 
 without pursuing the other ; nor could I ever hear 
 positively who this female captain was. We lost 
 seventeen or eighteen of our men, and about thirty 
 horses ; but when the particulars of the story was 
 told us, our major was so laughed at by the whole 
 army, and laughed at ' everywhere, that he was 
 ashamed to show; himself for a week or a fortnight 
 after. 
 
 But to return to the king : his Majesty, as I 
 observed, was at Maidenhead addressed by the Parlia- 
 ment for peace, and Windsor being appointed for 
 the place of treaty, the van of his army lay at Cole- 
 brook. In the meantime, whether it were true or 
 only a pretence, but it was reported the Parliament 
 general had sent a body of his troops, with a train 
 of artillery, to Hammersmith, in order to fall upon 
 some part of our army, or to take some advanced 
 post, which was to the prejudice of our men ; where- 
 upon the king ordered the array to march, and, by 
 the favour of a thick mist, came within half a mile 
 of Brentford before he was discovered. There were 
 two regiments of foot, and about 600 horse into the 
 town, of the enemy's best troops ; these taking the 
 alarm, posted themselves on the bridge at the west 
 end of the town. The king attacked them with a 
 select detachment of his best infantry, and they de- 
 fended themselves with incredible obstinacy. I must 
 own I never saw raw men, for they could not have 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 been in arms above four months, act like them in 
 my life. In short, there was no forcing these men, 
 for, though two whole brigades of our foot, backed 
 by our horse, made five several attacks upon them 
 they could not break them, and we lost a great many 
 brave men in that action. At last, seeing the ob- 
 stinacy of these men, a party of horse was ordered to 
 go round from Osterley ; and, entering the town on 
 the north side, where, though the horse made some 
 resistance, it was not considerable, the town was 
 presently taken. I led my regiment through an 
 enclosure, and came into the town nearer to the 
 bridge than the rest, by which means I got first into 
 the town ; but I had this loss by my expedition, 
 that the foot charged me before the bcidy was come 
 up, and poured in their shot very furiously. My 
 men were but in an ill case, and would not have 
 stood much longer, if the rest of the horse coming 
 up the lane had not found them other employment. 
 When the horse were thus entered, they immediately 
 dispersed the enemy's horse, who fled away towards 
 London, and falling in sword in hand upon the rear 
 of the foot, who were engaged at the bridge, they 
 were all cut in pieces, except about 200, who, scorn- 
 ing to ask quarter, desperately threw themselves into 
 the river of Thames, where they were most of them 
 drowned. 
 
 The Parliament and their party made a great out- ' 
 cry at this attempt — that it was base and treacher- 
 ous while in a treaty of peace ; and that the king, 
 having amused them with hearkening to a treaty, 
 designed to have seized upon their train of artillery 
 [216] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 first, and, after that, to have surprised both the city 
 of London and the Parliament. And I have observed 
 since, that our historians note this action as con- 
 trary to the laws of honour and treaties, though as 
 there was no cessation of arras agreed on, nothing is 
 more contrary to the laws of war than to suggest it. 
 That it was a very unhappy thing to the king and 
 whole nation, as it broke off the hopes of peace, and 
 was the occasion of bringing the Scots army in upon 
 us, I readily acknowledge, but that there was any- 
 thing dishonourable in it, I cannot allow. For though 
 the Parliament had addressed to the king for peace, 
 and such steps were taken in it as before, yet, as I 
 have said, there was no proposals made on either 
 side for a cessation of arms, and all the world must 
 allow, that in such cases the war goes on in the 
 field, while the peace goes on in the cabinet. And 
 if the war goes on, admit the king had designed 
 to surprise the city or Parliament, or all of them, 
 it had been no more than the custom of war allows, 
 and what they would have done by him if they 
 could. The treaty of Westphalia, or peace of Mun- 
 ster, which ended the bloody wars of Germany, 
 was a precedent for this. That treaty was actually 
 negotiating seven years, and yet the war went on 
 with all the vigour and rancour imaginable, even to 
 the last. Nay, the very time after the conclusion 
 of it, but before the news could be brought to the 
 army, did he that was afterwards King of Sweden, 
 Carolus Gustavus, take the city of Prague by surprise, 
 and therein an inestimable booty. Besides, all the 
 wars of Europe are full of examples of this kind, 
 [217] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and therefore I cannot see any reason to blame the 
 king for this action as to the fairness of it. Indeed, 
 as to the policy of it, I can say little ; but the case 
 was this. The king had a gallant army, flushed with 
 success, and things hitherto had gone on very pros- 
 perously, both with his own army and elsewhere ; he 
 had above 35,000 men in his own army, including 
 his garrisons left at Banbury, Shrewsbury, Worcester, 
 Oxford, Wallingford, Abingdon, Reading, and places 
 adjacent. On the other hand, the Parliament army 
 came back to London in but a very sorry condition ; ^ 
 for what with their loss in their victory, as they 
 called it, at Edgehill, their sickness, and a hasty 
 march to London, they were very much diminished, 
 though at London they soon recruited them again. 
 And this prosperity of the king's affairs might en- 
 courage him to strike this blow, thinking to bring 
 the Parliament to the better terms by the appre- 
 hensions of the superior strength of the king's 
 forces. 
 
 But, however it was, the success did not equally 
 answer the king's expectation. The vigorous defence 
 the troops posted at Brentford made as above, gave 
 the Earl of Essex opportunity, with extraordinary 
 application, to draw his forces out to Turnham 
 Green. And the exceeding alacrity of the enemy 
 was such, that their whole army appeared with them, 
 making together an army of 24,000 men, drawn 
 up in view of our forces by eight o'clock the next 
 
 1 General Ludlow, in his Memoirs, p. 52, says their men re- 
 turned from Warwick to London, nothke men who had obtained 
 a victory, but like men that had been beaten. 
 [218] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 morning. The city regiments were placed between 
 the regular troops, and all together offered us battle, 
 but we were not in a condition to accept it. The king 
 indeed was sometimes of the mind to charge them, 
 and once or twice ordered parties to advance to be- 
 gin to skirmish, but upon better advice altered 
 his mind, and indeed it was the wisest counsel to 
 defer the fighting at that time. The Parliament 
 generals were as unfixed in their resolutions, on 
 the other side, as the king; sometimes they sent 
 out parties, and then called them back again. One 
 strong party of near 3000 men marched off towards 
 Acton, with orders to amuse us on that side, but 
 were countermanded. Indeed, I was of the opinion 
 we might have ventured the battle, for though the 
 Parliament's army were more numerous, yet the city 
 trained bands, which made up 4000 of their foot, 
 were not much esteemed, and the king was a great 
 deal stronger in horse than they. But the main 
 reason that hindered the engagement, was want of 
 ammunition, which the king having duly weighed, 
 he caused the carriages and cannon to draw off first, 
 and then the foot, the horse continuing to face the 
 enemy till all was clear gone ; and then we drew off 
 too and marched to Kingston, and the next day 
 to Reading. 
 
 Now the king saw his mistake in not continuing 
 his march for London, instead of facing about to 
 fight the enemy at Edgehill. And all the honour 
 we had gained in so many successful enterprises lay 
 buried in this shameful retreat from an army of 
 citizens' wives ; for truly that appearance at Turn- 
 [ 219 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ham Green was gay, but not great. There was as 
 many lookers-on as actors. Tlie crowds of ladies, 
 apprentices, and mob was so great, that when the 
 parties of our array advanced, and, as they thought, 
 to charge, the coaches, horsemen, and crowd, that 
 cluttered away to be out of harm's way, looked little 
 better than a rout. And I was persuaded a good 
 home charge fi'om our horse would have sent their 
 whole army after them. But so it was, that this 
 crowd of an army was to triumph over us, and they 
 did it, for all the kingdom was carefully informed 
 how their dreadful looks had frightened us away. 
 
 Upon our retreat, the Parliament resent this attack, 
 which they call treacherous, and vote no accommo- 
 dation ; but they considered of it afterwards, and 
 sent six connnissioners to the king with propositions. 
 But the change of the scene of action changed the 
 terms of peace, and now they made terms like con- 
 querors, petition him to desert his army, and return 
 to the Parliament, and the like. Had his Majesty, 
 at the head of his army, with the full reputation 
 they had before, and in the ebb of their aiFairs, 
 rested at Windsor, and commenced a treaty, they 
 had certainly made more reasonable proposals ; but 
 now the scabbard seemed to be thrown away on both 
 sides. 
 
 The rest of the winter was spent in strengthening 
 parties and places, also in fruitless treaties of peace, 
 messages, remonstrances, and paper war on both 
 sides, and no action remarkable happened finywhere 
 that I remember. Yet the king gained ground 
 everywhere, and his forces in the north increased 
 [ 220 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 under the Earl of Newcastle ; also my Lord Goring, 
 then only called Colonel Goring, arrived from Hol- 
 land, bringing three ships laden with arms and 
 ammunition, and notice that the queen was following 
 with more. Goring brought 4000 barrels of gun- 
 powder, and 20,000 small arms ; all which came very 
 seasonably, for the king was in great want of them, 
 especially the powder. ' Upon this recruit the Earl 
 of Newcastle draws down to York, and being above 
 16,000 strong, made Sir Thomas Fairfax give ground, 
 and retreat to Hull. 
 
 Whoever lay still. Prince Rupert was always 
 abroad, and I chose to go out with his Highness as 
 often as I had opportunity, for hitherto he was 
 always successful. About this time the prince being 
 at Oxford, I gave him intelligence of a pai'ty of the 
 enemy who lived a little at large, too much for good 
 soldiers, about Cirencester. The prince, glad of the 
 news, resolved to attack them, and though it was a 
 wet season, and the ways exceeding bad, being in 
 February, yet we marched all night in the dark, 
 which occasioned the loss of some horses and men 
 too, in sloughs and holes, which the darkness of the 
 night had suffered them to fall into. We were a 
 very strong party, being about 3000 horse and dra- 
 goons, and coming to Cirencester very early in the 
 morning, to our great satisfaction the enemy were 
 perfectly surprised, not having the least notice of our 
 march, which answered our end more ways than one. 
 However, the Earl of Stamford's regiment made 
 some resistance ; but the town having no works to 
 defend it, saving a slight breastwork at the entrance 
 [221 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of the road, with a turnpike, our dragoons alighted, 
 and forcing their way over the bellies of Stamford's 
 foot, they beat them from their defence, and fol- 
 lowed them at their heels into the town. Stamford's 
 regiment was entirely cut in pieces, and several 
 others, to the number of about 800 men, and the 
 town entered without any other resistance. We 
 took 1200 prisoners, 3000 arms, and the county 
 magazine, which at that time was considerable ; for 
 there was about 120 barrels of powder, and all things 
 in proportion. 
 
 I received the first hurt I got in this war at this 
 action, for having followed the dragoons and brought 
 my regiment within the barricado which they had 
 gained, a musket bullet struck my horse just in the 
 head, and that so effectually that he fell down as 
 dead as a stone all at once. The fall plunged me 
 into a puddle of water and daubed me ; and my man 
 having brought me another horse and cleaned me a 
 little, I was just getting up, when another bullet 
 struck me on my left hand, which I had just clapped 
 on the horse's mane to lift myself into the saddle. 
 The blow broke one of my fingers, and bruised my 
 hand very much ; and it proved a very painful hurt 
 to me. For the present I did not much concern 
 myself about it, but made my man tie it up close in 
 my handkerchief, and led up my men to the market- 
 place, where we had a very smart brush with some 
 musketeers who were posted in the churchyard ; but 
 our dragoons soon beat them out there, and the 
 whole town was then our own. We made no stay 
 here, but marched back with all our booty to Oxford, 
 r 222 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for we knew the enemy were very strong at Gloucester, 
 and that way. 
 
 Much about the same time, the Earl of Northamp- 
 ton, with a strong party, seb upon Lichfield, and took 
 the town, but could not take the Close ; but they 
 beat a body of 4000 men coming to the relief of the 
 town, under Sir John Gell, of Derbyshire, and Sir 
 William Brereton, of Cheshire, and killing 600 of 
 them, dispersed the rest. 
 
 Our second campaign now began to open ; the 
 king marched from Oxford to relieve Reading, which 
 was besieged by the Parliament forces ; but Colonel 
 Fielding, Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Arthur Ashton 
 being wounded, surrendered to Essex before the king 
 could come up ; for which he was tried by martial 
 law, and condemned to die, but the king forebore to 
 execute the sentence. This was the first town we 
 had lost in the war, for still the success of the king's 
 affairs was vei'y encouraging. This bad news, how- 
 ever, was overbalanced by an account brought the 
 king at the same time, by an express from York, 
 that the queen had landed in the north, and had 
 brought over a great magazine of arms and ammuni- 
 tion, besides some men. Some time after this her 
 Majesty, marching southward to meet the king, 
 joined the army near Edgehill, where the first battle 
 was fought. She brought the king 3000 foot, 1500 
 horse and dragoons, six pieces of cannon, 1500 barrels 
 of powder, 12,000 small arms. 
 
 During this prosperity of the king's affairs his 
 armies increased mightily in the western counties 
 also. Sir William Waller, indeed, commanded for 
 [ '223 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the Parliament in those parts too, and particularly 
 in Dorsetshire, Hamsphire, and Berkshii-e, where he 
 carried on their cause but too fast ; but farther 
 west. Sir Nicholas Slanning, Sir Ralph Hopton, and 
 Sir Bevil Grenvile had extended the king's quarters 
 from Cornwall through Devonshire, and into Somer- 
 setshire, where they took Exeter, Barnstaple, and 
 Bideford ; and the first of these they fortified very 
 well, making it a place of arms for the west, and 
 afterwards it was the residence of the queen. 
 
 At last, the famous Sir William Waller q.nd the 
 king's forces met, and came to a pitched battle, 
 where Sir William lost all his honour again. This 
 was at Roundway Down in Wiltshire. Waller had 
 engaged our Cornish army at Lansdown, and in a 
 very obstinate fight had the better of them, and 
 made them retreat to the Devizes. Sir William 
 Hopton, however, having a good body of foot un- 
 touched, sent expresses and messengers one in the 
 neck of another to the king for some horse, and the 
 king being in great concern for that army, who were 
 composed of the flower of the Cornish men, com- 
 manded me to march with all possible secrecy, as 
 well as expedition, with 1200 horse and dragoons 
 from Oxford, to join them. We set out in the 
 depth of the night, to avoid, if possible, any intelli- 
 gence being given of our route, and soon joined with 
 the Cornish army, when it was as soon resolved to 
 give battle to Waller ; and give him his due, he was 
 as forward to fight as we. As it is easy to meet 
 when both sides are willing to be found, Sir William 
 Waller met us upon Roundway Down, where we had 
 [ 224 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 a fair field on both sides, and room enough to draw 
 up our horse. In a word, there was Uttle ceremony 
 to the work ; the armies joined, and we charged his 
 horse with so much resolution, that they quickly 
 fled, and quitted the field ; for we over-matched him 
 in horse, and this was the entire destruction of their 
 army. For their infantry, which outnumbered ours 
 by 1500, were now at our mercy ; some faint resist- 
 ance they made, just enough to give us occasion 
 to break into their ranks with our horse, where we 
 gave time to our foot to defeat others that stood 
 to their work, upon which they began to disband, 
 and run every way they could ; but our horse 
 having suiTOunded them, we made a fearful havoc 
 of them. 
 
 We lost not above 200 men in this action ; Waller 
 lost above 4000 killed and taken, and as many dis- 
 persed that never returned to their colours. Those 
 of foot that escaped got into Bristol, and Waller, 
 with the poor remains of his routed regiments, got 
 to London ; so that it is plain some ran east, and 
 some ran west, that is to say, they fled every way 
 they could. 
 
 My going with this detachment prevented my 
 being at the siege of Bristol, which Prince Rupert 
 attacked much about the same time, and it surren- 
 dered in three days. The Parliament questioned 
 Colonel Nathaniel Fiennea, the governor, and had 
 him tried as a coward by a court-martial, and con- 
 demned to die, but suspended the execution also, as 
 the king did the' governor of Reading. I have often 
 heard Prince Rupert say, they did Colonel Fiennes 
 15 f 225 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 wrong in that affair ; and that if the colonel would 
 have summoned him, he would have demanded a 
 passport of the Parliament, and have come up and 
 convinced the court that Colonel Fiennes had not 
 misbehaved himself, and that he had not a sufficient 
 garrison to defend a city of that extent ; having not 
 above 1200 men in the town, excepting some of 
 Waller's runaways, most of whom were unfit for ser- 
 vice, and without arms ; and that the citizens in 
 general being disaffected to him, and ready on the 
 first occasion to open the gates to the king's forces, 
 it was impossible for him to have kept the city. 
 "And when I had farther informed them," said 
 the prince, " of the measures I had taken for a 
 general assault the next day, I am confident I should 
 have convinced them that I had taken the city by 
 storm, if he had not surrendered." 
 
 The king's affairs were now in a very good posture, 
 and three armies in the north, west, and in the centre, 
 counted in the musters above 70,000 men, besides 
 small garrisons and parties abroad. Several of the 
 lords, and more of the commons, began to fall off 
 from the Parliament and make their peace with the 
 king ; and the affairs of the Parliament began to look 
 very ill. The city of London was their inexhaustible 
 support and magazine both for men, money, and all 
 things necessary ; and whenever their army was out 
 of order, the clergy of their party in but one Sunday 
 or two, would preach the young citizens out of their 
 shops, the labourers from their masters, into the army, 
 and recruit them on a sudden. And all this was still 
 owing to thfe omission I first observed, of not march- 
 [ 226 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ing to London, when it might have been so easily 
 effected. 
 
 We had now another, or a fairer opportunity, than 
 before, but as ill use was made of it. The king, as I 
 have observed, was in a very good posture ; he had 
 three large armies roving at large over the kingdom. 
 The Cornish army, victorious and numerous, had 
 beaten Waller, secured and fortified Exeter, which 
 the queen had made her residence, and was there de- 
 livered of a daughter, the Princess Henrietta Mai-ia, 
 afterwards Duchess of Orleans, and mother of the 
 Duchess-Dowager of Savoy, commonly known in the 
 French style by the title of Madam Royal. They 
 had secured Salisbury, Sherborne Castle, Weymouth, 
 Winchester, and Basing-house, and commanded the 
 whole country, except Bridgewater and Taunton, 
 Plymouth and Lynn ; all which places they held 
 blocked up. The king was also entirely master of 
 all Wales, Monmouthshire, Cheshii'e, Shropshire, 
 Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, 
 and all the towns from Windsor up the Thames to 
 Cirencester, except Reading and Henley ; and of the 
 whole Severn, except Gloucester. 
 
 The Earl of Newcastle had garrisons in every 
 strong place in the north, from Berwick-upon-Tweed 
 to Boston in Lincolnshire, and Newark-upon-Trent, 
 Hull only excepted, whither the Lord Fairfax and 
 his son Sir Thomas were retreated, their troops being 
 routed and broken. Sir Thomas Fairfax his baggage, 
 with his lady and servants taken prisoners, and him- 
 self hardly escaping. 
 
 And now a great council of war was held in the, 
 [227] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 king's quarters, what enterprise to go upon ; and it 
 happened to be the very same day when the Parlia- 
 ment were in a serious debate what should become 
 of them, and whose help they should seek. And in- 
 deed they had cause for it ; and had our counsels 
 been as ready and well-grounded as theirs, we had 
 put an end to the war in a month's time. 
 
 Ill this council the king proposed the marching 
 to London to put an end to the Parliament and en- 
 courage his friends and loyal subjects in Kent, who 
 were ready to rise for him ; and showed us letters 
 from the Earl of Newcastle, wherein he offered to 
 join his Majesty with a detachment of 4000 horse 
 and 8000 foot, if his Majesty thought fit to march 
 southward, and yet leave forces sufficient to guard 
 the north from any invasion. I confess, when I saw 
 the scheme the king had himself drawn for this at- 
 tempt, I felt an unusual satisfaction in my mind, 
 from the hopes that we might bring this war to some 
 tolerable end ; for I professed myself on all occasions 
 heartily weary with fighting with friends, brothers, 
 neighbours, and acquaintance ; and I made no ques- 
 tion, but this motion of the king's would effectually 
 bring the Parliament to reason. 
 
 All men seemed to like the enterprise but the 
 Earl of Worcester, who, on particular views for 
 securing the country behind, as he called it, pro- 
 posed the taking in the town of Gloucester and 
 Hereford first. He made a long speech of the 
 danger of leaving Massey, an active bold fellow, 
 with a strong party in the heart of all the king's 
 quarters, ready on all occasions to sally out and 
 [228] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 surprise the neighbouring garrisons, as he had done 
 Sudley Castle and others ; and of the ease and 
 freedom to all those western parts to have them 
 fully cleared of the enemy. Interest presently 
 backs this advice, and all those gentlemen whose 
 estates lay that way, or whose friends lived about 
 Worcester, Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth, or the borders, 
 and who, as they said, had heard the frequent 
 wishes of the country to have the city of Gloucester 
 reduced, fell in with this advice, alleging the conse- 
 quence it was for the commerce of the country to 
 have the navigation of the Severn free, which was 
 only interrupted by this one town from the sea up 
 to Shrewsbury, &c. 
 
 I opposed this, and so did several others. Prince 
 Rupert was vehemently against it ; and we both 
 offered, with the troops of the county, to keep 
 Gloucester blocked up during the king's march for 
 London, so that Massey should not be able to stir. 
 
 This proposal made the Earl of Worcester's party 
 more eager for the siege than before, for they had 
 no mind to a blockade which would leave the coun- 
 try to maintain the troops all the summer; and 
 of all men the prince did not please them, for, he 
 having no extraordinary character for discipline, 
 his company was not much desired even by our 
 friends. Thus, in an ill hour, 'twas resolved to 
 sit down before Gloucester. The king had a gallant 
 army of 28,000 men, whereof 11,000 horse, the 
 finest body of gentlemen that ever I saw together 
 in my life ; their horses without comparison, and 
 their equipages the finest and the best in the world, 
 [229] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and their persons Englishmen, which, I think, is 
 enough to say of them. 
 
 According to the resolution taken in the council 
 of war, the army marched westward, and sat down 
 Before Gloucester the beginning of August. There 
 we spent a month to the least purpose that 
 ever army did. Our men received frequent affronts 
 from the desperate sallies of an inconsiderable 
 enemy. I cannot forbear reflecting on the mis- 
 fortunes of this siege. Our men were strangely 
 dispirited in all the assaults they gave upon the 
 place ; there was something looked like disaster 
 and jnismanagement, and our men went on with an • 
 ill will and no resolution. The king despised the 
 place, and the king, to carry it sword in hand, 
 made no regular approaches, and the gamson, 
 being desperate, made therefore the greater slaugh- 
 ter. In this work our horse, who were so numerous 
 and so fine, had no employment. Two thousand 
 horse had been enough for this business, and the 
 enemy had no garrison or party within forty miles 
 of us, so that we had nothing to do but look on 
 with infinite regret upon the losses of our foot. 
 
 The enemy made frequent and desperate sallies, 
 in one of which I had my share. I was posted upon 
 a parade or place of arms, with part of my regi- 
 ment, and part of Colonel Goring's regiment of 
 horse, in order to support a body of foot, who were 
 ordered to storm the point of a breastwork which 
 the enemy had raised to defend one of the avenues 
 to the town. The foot were beat oflF with loss, as 
 they always were ; and Massey, the governor, not 
 [230] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 content to have beaten them from his works, sallies 
 out with near 400 men, and falling in upon the foot 
 as they were rallying under the cover of our horse, 
 we put ourselves in the best posture we could to 
 receive them. As Massey did not expect, I suppose, 
 to engage with any horse, he had no pikes with 
 him, which encouraged us to treat him the more 
 rudely ; but as to desperate men danger is no 
 danger, when he found he must clear his hands of 
 us, before he could despatch the foot, he faces up 
 to us, fires but one volley of his small shot, and fell 
 to battering us with the stocks of their muskets in 
 such a manner that one would have thought they 
 had been madmen. 
 
 We at first despised this way of clubbing us, and 
 charging through them, laid a great many of them 
 upon the ground, and in repeating our charge, 
 trampled more of them under our horses' feet ; and 
 wheeling thus continually, beat them ofi' from our 
 foot, who were just upon the point of disbanding. 
 Upon this they charged us again with their fire, and 
 at one volley killed thirty-three or thirty-four men 
 and horses ; and had they had pikes with them, I 
 know not what we should have done with them. 
 But at last charging through them again, we divided 
 them ; one part of them being hemmed in between 
 us and our own foot, were cut in pieces to a man ; 
 the rest, as I understood afterwards, retreated into 
 the town, having lost 800 of their men. 
 
 In this last charge I received a rude blow from a 
 stout fellow on foot with the butt end of his musket, 
 which perfectly stunned me, and fetched me off from 
 [231] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 my horse ; and had not some near me took care of 
 me, I had been trod to death by our own men. 
 But the fellow being immediately killed, and my 
 friends finding me alive, had taken me up, and carried 
 me off some distance, where I came to myself again 
 after some time, but knew little of what I did or 
 said that night. This was the reason why I say I 
 afterwards understood the enemy retreated; for I 
 saw no more what they did then, nor indeed was 
 I well of this blow for all the rest of the summer, 
 but had frequent pains in my head, dizzinesses and 
 swimming, that gave me some fears the blow had 
 injured the skull; but it wore off again, nor did it 
 at all hinder my attending my charge. 
 
 This action, I think, was the only one that looked 
 like a defeat given the enemy at this siege. We 
 killed them near 800 men, as I have said, and lost 
 about sixty of our troopers. 
 
 All this time, while the king was harassing and 
 weakening the best army he ever saw together dur- 
 ing the whole war, the Parliament generals, or rather 
 preachers, were recruiting theirs ; for the preachers 
 were better than drummers to raise volunteers, zeal- 
 ously exhorting the London dames to part with their 
 husbands, and the city to send some of their trained 
 bands to join the army for the relief of Gloucester ; 
 and now they began to advance towards us. 
 
 The king hearing of the advance of Essex's army, 
 who by this time was come to Aylesbury, had 
 summoned what forces he had within call, to join 
 him ; and accordingly he received 3000 foot from 
 Somersetshire ; and having battered the town for 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 thirty-six hours, and made a fair breach, resolves 
 upon an assault, if possible, to carry the town before 
 the enemy came up. The assault was begun about 
 seven in the evening, and the men boldly mounted 
 the breach ; but after a very obstinate and bloody 
 dispute, were beaten out again by the besieged with 
 great loss. 
 
 Being thus often repulsed, and the Earl of Essex's 
 army approaching, the king calls a council of war, 
 and proposed to fight Essex's army. The officers of 
 the horse were for fighting ; and without doubt we 
 were superior to him both in number and goodness 
 of our horse, but the foot were not in an equal 
 condition ; and the colonels of foot representing to 
 the king the weakness of their regiments, and how 
 their men had been baulked and disheartened at 
 this cursed siege, the graver counsel prevailed, and 
 it was resolved to raise the siege, and retreat towards 
 Bristol, till the army was recruited. Pursuant to 
 this resolution, the 5th of September, the king, 
 having before sent away his heavy cannon and 
 baggage, raised the siege, and marched to Berkeley 
 Castle. The Earl of Essex came the next day to 
 Birdlip Hills ; and understanding by messengers 
 from Colonel Massey, that the siege was raised, 
 sends a recruit of 2500 men into the city, and followed 
 us himself with a great body of horse. 
 
 This body of horse showed themselves to us once 
 in a large field fit to have entertained them in ; and 
 our scouts having assured us they were not above 
 4000, and had no foot with them, the king ordered 
 a detachment of about the same number to' face 
 [233] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 them. I desired his Majesty to let us liave two 
 i-egiments of dragoons with us, which was then 
 800 men in a regiment, lest there might be some 
 dragoons among the enemy ; which the liing granted, 
 and accordingly we marched, and drew up in view 
 of them. They stood their ground, having, as they 
 supposed, some advantage of the manner they were 
 posted in, and expected we would charge them. 
 The king, who did us the honour to command this 
 party, finding they would not stir, calls me to him, 
 and ordered me with the dragoons, and my own 
 regiment, to take a circuit round by a village to a 
 certain lane, where in their retreat they must have 
 passed, and which opened to a small common on 
 the flank ; with orders, if they engaged, to advance 
 and charge them in the flank. I marched imme- 
 diately ; but though the country about there was 
 almost all enclosures, yet their scouts were so vigi- 
 lant, that they discovered me, and gave notice to 
 the body ; upon which their whole party moved 
 to the left, as if they intended to charge me, before 
 the king with his body of horse could come. But 
 the king was too vigilant to be circumvented so ; 
 and therefore his Majesty perceiving this, sends 
 away three regiments of horse to second me, and a 
 messenger before them, to order me to halt, and 
 expect the enemy, for that he would follow with 
 the whole body. 
 
 But before this order reached me, I had halted 
 
 for some time; for, finding myself discovered, and 
 
 not judging it safe to be entirely cut off" from the 
 
 main body, I stopped at the village, and causing 
 
 [234] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 my dragoons to alight, and line a thick hedge on 
 my left, I drew up ray horse just at the entrance 
 into the village opening to a common. The enemy 
 came up on the trot to charge me, but were saluted 
 with a terrible fire from the dragoons out of the 
 hedge, which killed them near 100 men. This 
 being a perfect surprise to them, they halted, and just 
 at that moment they received orders from their main 
 body to retreat ; the king at the same time appear- 
 ing upon some small heights in their rear, which 
 obliged them to think of retreating, or coming to 
 a general battle, which was none of their design. 
 
 I had no occasion to follow them, not being 
 in a condition to attack their whole body ; but the 
 dragoons coming out into the common, gave them 
 another volley at a distance, which reached them 
 effectually, for it killed about twenty of them, and 
 wounded more ; but they drew off, and never fired a 
 shot at us, fearing to be enclosed between two 
 parties, and so marched away to their general's 
 quarters, leaving ten or twelve more of their fellows 
 killed, and about 180 horses. Our men, after the 
 country fashion, gave them a shout at parting, to 
 let them see we knew they were afraid of us. 
 
 However, this relieving of Gloucester raised the 
 spirits as well as the i-eputation of the Parliament 
 forces, and was a great defeat to us ; and from this 
 time things began to look with a melancholy aspect, 
 for the prosperous condition of the king's affairs be- 
 gan to decline. The opportunities he had let slip 
 were never to be recovered, and the Parliament, in 
 their former extremity, having voted an invitation 
 [235] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 to the Scots to march to their assistance, we had 
 now new enemies to encounter ; and, indeed, there 
 began the ruin of his Majesty's affairs, for the Earl 
 of Newcastle, not able to defend himself against the 
 Scots on his rear, the Earl of Manchester in his 
 front, and Sir Thomas Fairfax on his flank, was 
 everywhere routed and defeated, and his forces obliged 
 to quit the field to the enemy. 
 
 About this time it was that we first began to hear of 
 one Oliver Cromwell, who, like a little cloud, rose out 
 of the east, and spread first into the north, till it shed 
 down a flood that overwhelmed the three kingdoms. 
 
 He first was a private captain of horse, but now 
 commanded a regiment whom he armed cap-a-pie a 
 la cuirassier; and, joining with the Earl of Man- 
 chester, the first action we heard of him that made 
 him anything famous was about Grantham, where, 
 with only his own regiment, he defeated twenty-four 
 troops of horse and dragoons of the king's forces ; 
 then, at Gainsborough, with two regiments, his own 
 of horse and one of dragoons, where he defeated 
 near 3000 of the Earl of Newcastle's men, killed 
 Lieutenant-General Cavendish, brother to the Earl 
 of Devonshire, who commanded them, and relieved 
 Gainsborough ; and though the whole army came in 
 to the rescue, he made good his retreat to Lincoln 
 with little loss ; and the next week he defeated 
 Sir John Henderson at Winceby, near Horncastle, 
 with sixteen regiments of horse and dragoons, him- 
 self having not half that number ; killed the Lord 
 Widdrington, Sir Ingram Hopton, and several 
 gentlemen of quality. Thus this firebrand of war 
 [236] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 began to blaze, and he soon grew a terror to the 
 north; for victory attended him like a page of 
 honour, and he was scarce ever known to be beaten 
 during the whole war. 
 
 Now we began to reflect again on the misfortune 
 of our master's counsels. Had we marched to Lon- 
 don, instead of besieging Gloucester, we had finished 
 the war with a stroke. The Parliament's army was 
 in a most despicable condition, and had never been 
 recruited, had we not given them a month's time, 
 which we lingered away at this fatal town of G-louces- 
 ter. But 't was too late to reflect ; we were a dis- 
 heartened army, but we were not beaten yet, nor 
 broken. We had a large country to recruit in, and 
 we lost no time, but raised men apace. In the mean- 
 time his Majesty, after a short stay at Bristol, 
 makes back again towards Oxford with a part of the 
 foot and all the horse. 
 
 At Cirencester we had a brush again with Essex ; 
 that town owed us a shrewd turn for having handled 
 them coarsely enough before, when Prince Rupert 
 seized the county magazine. I happened to be in 
 the town that night with Sir Nicholas Crisp, whose 
 regiment of horse quartered there with Colonel 
 Spencer and some foot ; my own regiment was gone 
 before to Oxford. About ten at night, a party of 
 Essex's men beat up our quarters by surprise, just 
 as we had served them before. They fell in with us, 
 just as people were going to bed, and having beaten 
 the out-guards, were gotten into the middle of the 
 town before our men could get on horseback. Sir 
 Nicholas Crisp, hearing the alarm, gets up, and with 
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MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 some of his clothes on, and some off, comes into my 
 chamber. "We are all undone," says he, " the Round- 
 heads are upon us." We had but little time to con- 
 sult, but being in one of the principal inns in the 
 town, we presently ordered the gates of the inn to 
 be shut, and sent to all the inns where our men 
 were quartered to do the like, with orders, if they 
 had any back-doors, or ways to get out, to come to 
 us. By this means, however, we got so much time 
 as to get on horseback, and so many of our men 
 came to us by back ways, that we had near 300 
 horse in the yards and places behind the house. 
 And now we began to think of breaking out by a 
 lane which led from the back side of the inn, but 
 a new accident determined us another, though a 
 worse way. 
 
 The enemy being entered, and our men cooped up 
 in the yards of the inns, Colonel Spencer, the other 
 colonel, whose regiment of horse lay also in the town, 
 had got on horseback before us, and engaged with 
 the enemy, but being overpowered, retreated fight- 
 ing, and sends to Sir Nicholas Crisp for help. Sir 
 Nicholas, moved to see the distress of his friend, 
 turning to me, says he, " What can we do for him ? " 
 I told him I thought 't was time to help him, if pos- 
 sible ; upon which, opening the inn gates, we sallied 
 out in very good order, about 300 horse. And several 
 of the troops from other parts of the town joining us, 
 we recovered Colonel Spencer, and charging home, 
 beat back the enemy to their main body. But find- 
 ing their foot drawn up in the churchyard, and several 
 detachments moving to charge us, we retreated in as 
 [ 238 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 good order as we could. They did not think fit to 
 pursue us, but they took all the carriages which were 
 under the convoy of this party, and laden with pro- 
 visions and ammunition, and above 500 of our horse, 
 the foot shifted away as well as they could. Thus 
 we made off in a shattered condition towards Far- 
 ringdon, and so to Oxford, and I was very glad my 
 regiment was not there. 
 
 We had small rest at Oxford, or indeed anywhere 
 else ; for the king was marched from thence, and we 
 followed him. I was something uneasy at my absence 
 from my regiment, and did not know how the king 
 might resent ■ it, which caused me to ride after them 
 with all expedition. But the armies were engaged 
 that very day at Newbury, and I came in too late. 
 I had not behaved myself so as to be suspected of a 
 wilful shunning the action ; but a colonel of a regi- 
 ment ought to avoid absence from his regiment in 
 time of fight, be the excuse never so just, as carefully 
 as he would a surprise in his quarters. The truth is, 
 't was an error of my own, and owing to two days' 
 stay I made at the Bath, where I met with some 
 ladies who were my relations. And this is far from 
 being an excuse ; for if the king had been a Gustavus 
 Adolphus, I had certainly received a check for it. 
 
 This fight was very obstinate, and could our horse 
 have come to action as freely as the foot, the Parlia- 
 ment army had suffered much more ; for we had here 
 a much better body of horse than they, and we never 
 failed beating them where the weight of the work lay 
 upon the horse. 
 
 Here the city train-bands, of which there was two 
 [239] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 regiments, and whom we used to despise, fought very 
 well. They lost one of their colonels, and several 
 officers in the action ; and I heard our men say, they 
 behaved themselves as well as any forces the Parlia- 
 ment had. 
 
 The Parliament cried victory here too, as they 
 always did ; and indeed wViere the foot were con- 
 cerned they had some advantage ; but our horse de- 
 .feated them evidently. The king drew up his array 
 in battalia, in person, and faced them all the next 
 day, inviting them to renew the fight ; but the}' had 
 no stomach to come on again. 
 
 It was a kind of a hedge fight, for neither army 
 was drawn out in the field ; if it had, 't would never 
 have held from six in the morning to ten at night. 
 But they fought for advantages ; sometimes one side 
 had the better, sometimes another. They fought 
 twice through the town, in at one end, and out at the 
 other ; and in the hedges and lanes, with exceeding 
 fury. The king lost the most men, his foot having 
 suffered for want of the succour of their horse, who 
 on two several occasions could not come at them. 
 But the Parliament foot suffered also, and two regi- 
 ments were entirely cut in pieces, and the king kept 
 the field. 
 
 Essex, the Parliament general, had the pillage of 
 the dead, and left us to bury them ; for while we 
 stood all day to our arms, having given them a fair 
 field to fight us in, their camp rabble stripped the 
 dead bodies, and they not daring to venture a 
 second engagement with us, marched away towards 
 London. 
 
 [240] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The king lost in this action the Earls of Carnarvon 
 and Sunderland, the Lord Falkland, a French marquis 
 and some very gallant officers, and about 1200 men. 
 The Earl of Carnarvon was brought into an inn in 
 Newbury, where the king came to see him. He had 
 just life enough to speak to his Majesty, and died in 
 his presence. The king was exceedingly concerned 
 for him, and was observed to shed tears at the sight 
 of it. We were indeed all of us troubled for the loss 
 of so brave a gentleman, but the concern our royal 
 master discovered, moved us more than ordinary. 
 Everybody endeavoured to have the king out of the 
 room, but he would not stir from the bedside, till he 
 saw all hopes of life was gone. 
 
 The indefatigable industry of the king, his servants 
 and friends, continually to supply and recruit his 
 forces, and to harass and fatigue the enemy, was 
 such, that we should still have given a good account 
 of the war had the Scots stood neuter. But bad 
 news came every day out of the north ; as for other 
 places, parties were always in action. Sir William 
 Waller and Sir Ralph Hopton beat one another by 
 turns ; and Sir Ralph had extended the king's quar- 
 ters from Launceston in Cornwall, to Farnham in 
 Surrey, where he gave Sir William Waller a rub, 
 and drove him into the castle. But in the north, 
 the storm grew thick, the Scots advanced to the 
 borders, and entered England in confederacy with 
 the Parliament, against their king; for which the 
 Parliament requited them afterwards as they deserved. 
 
 Had it not been for this Scotch army, the Parlia- 
 ment had easily been reduced to terms of peace ; but 
 16 ' [ 241 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 after this they never made any proposals fit for the 
 king to receive. Want of success before had made 
 them differ among themselves. Essex and Waller 
 could never agree ; the Earl of Manchester and the 
 Lord Willoughby differed to the highest degree; 
 and the king's affairs went never the worse for it. 
 But this storm in the north ruined us all ; for the 
 Scots prevailed in Yorkshire, and being joined with 
 Fairfax, Manchester, and Cromwell, carried all before 
 them ; so that the king was obliged to send Prince 
 Rupert, with a body of 4000 horse, to the assistance 
 of the Earl of Newcastle, where that prince finished 
 the destruction of the king's interest, by the rashest 
 and unaccountablest action in the world, of which I 
 shall speak in its place. 
 
 Another action of the king's, though in itself no 
 greater a cause of offence than the calling the Scots 
 into the nation, gave great offence in general, and 
 even the king's own friends disliked it; and was 
 carefully improved by his enemies to the disadvantage 
 of the king, and of his cause. 
 
 The rebels in Ireland had, ever since the bloody 
 massacre of the Protestants, maintained a war 
 against the English, and the Earl of Ormond was 
 general and governor for the king. The king, find- 
 ing his affairs pinch him at home, sends orders to the 
 Earl of Ormond to consent to a cessation of arms 
 with the rebels, and to ship over certain of his regi- 
 ments hither to his Majesty's assistance. Tis true, 
 the Irish had deserved to be very ill treated by 
 the English ; but while the Parliament pressed the 
 king with a cruel and unnatural war at home, and 
 [242] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 called in an army out of Scotland to support their 
 quarrel with their king, I could never be convinced, 
 that it was such a dishonourable action for the king 
 to suspend the correction of his Irish rebels till he 
 was in a capacity to do it with safety to himself; or 
 to delay any farther assistance to preserve himself 
 at home ; and the troops he recalled being his own, 
 it was no breach of his honour to make use of them, 
 since he now wanted them for his own security 
 against those who fought against him at home. 
 
 But the king was persuaded to make one step 
 farther, and that, I confess, was unpleasing to us all ; 
 and some of his best and most faithful servants took 
 the freedom to speak plainly to him of it ; and that 
 was bringing some regiments of the Irish themselves 
 over. This cast, as we thought, an odium upon 
 our whole nation, being some of those very wretches 
 who had dipped their hands in the innocent blood 
 of the Protestants, and, with unheard-of butcheries, 
 had massacred so many thousands of English in cool 
 blood. 
 
 Abundance of gentlemen forsook the king upon 
 this score ; and seeing they could not brook the 
 fighting in conjunction with this wicked generation, 
 came into the declaration of the Parliament, and 
 making composition for their estates, lived retired 
 lives all the rest of the wai', or went abroad. 
 
 But as exigences and necessities oblige us to do 
 things which at other times we would not do, 
 and is, as to man, some excuse for such things ; so 
 I cannot but think the guilt and dishonour of such 
 an action must lie, very much of it, at least, at their 
 [ 243 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 doors, who drove the king to these necessities and 
 distresses, by calling in an army of his own subjects 
 whom he had not injured, but had complied with 
 them in everything, to make war upon him without 
 any provocation. 
 
 As to the quarrel between the king and his Parlia- 
 ment, there may something be said on both sides ; 
 and the king saw cause himself to disown and dislike 
 some things he had done, which the Parliament 
 objected against, such as levying money without con- 
 sent of Parliament, infractions on their privileges, 
 and the like. Here, I say, was some room for an 
 argument at least, and concessions on both sides 
 were needful to come to a peace. But for the Scots, 
 all their demands had been answered, all their griev- 
 ances had been redressed, they had made articles 
 with their sovereign, and he had performed those 
 articles ; their capital enemy Episcopacy was abol- 
 ished ; they had not one thing to demand of the 
 king which he had not granted. And therefore they 
 had no more cause to take up arms against their 
 sovereign than they had against the Grand Seignior. 
 But it must for ever lie against them as a brand of 
 infamy, and as a reproach on their whole nation 
 that, purchased by the Parliament's money, they 
 sold their honesty, and rebelled against their king 
 for hire ; and it was not many years before, as I 
 have said already, they were fully paid the wages of 
 their unrighteousness, and chastised for their treachery 
 by the very same people whom they thus basely 
 assisted. Then they would have retrieved it, if it 
 had not been too late. 
 
 [ 244 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 But I could not but accuse this age of injustice 
 and partiality, who while they reproached the king 
 for his cessation of arms with the Irish rebels, and 
 not prosecuting them with the utmost severity, 
 though he was constrained by the necessities of the 
 war to do it, could yet, at the same time, justify the 
 Scots taking up arms in a quarrel they had no concern 
 in, and against their own king, with whom they 
 had articled and capitulated, and who had so punc- 
 tually complied with all their demands, that they 
 had no claim upon him, no grievances to be redressed, 
 no oppression to ci'y out of, nor could ask anything 
 of him which he had not granted. 
 
 But as no action in the world is so vile, but the 
 actors can cover with some specious pretence, so the 
 Scots now passing into England publish a declaration 
 to j ustify their assisting the Parliament. To which 
 I shall only say, in my opinion, it was no justification 
 at all ; for admit the Parliament's quarrel had been 
 never so just, it could not be just in them to aid 
 them, because 't was against their own king too, to 
 whom they had sworn allegiance, or at least Ijad 
 crowned him, and thereby had recognised his author- 
 ity. For if maladministration be, according to 
 Prynne's doctrine, or according to their own Bu- 
 chanan, a suflBcient reason for subjects to take 
 up arms against their prince, the breach of his 
 coronation oath being supposed to dissolve the oath 
 of allegiance, which however I cannot believe ; yet 
 this can never be extended to make it lawful, that 
 because a king of England may, by maladministra- 
 tion, discharge the subjects of England from their 
 [ 245 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 allegiance, that therefore the subjects of Scotland 
 may take up arms against the King of Scotland, he 
 having not infringed the compact of government as 
 to them, and they having nothing to complain of 
 for themselves. Thus I thought their own argu- 
 ments were against them, and Heaven seemed to 
 concur with it ; for although they did carry the 
 cause for the English rebels, yet the most of them 
 left their bones here in the quarrel. 
 
 But what signifies reason to the drum and the 
 trumpet ! The Parliament had the supreme argu- 
 ment with those men, viz., the money ; and having 
 accordingly advanced a good round sum, upon pay- 
 ment of this (for the Scots would not stir a foot 
 without it) they entered England on the 15th of 
 January 1643[-4!], with an army of 12,000 men, 
 under the command of old Leslie, now Earl of 
 Leven, an old soldier of great experience, having 
 been bred to arms from a youth in the service of the 
 Prince of Orange. 
 
 The Scots were no sooner entered England but 
 tljey weie joined by all the friends to the Parliament 
 party in the north ; and first. Colonel Grey, brother 
 to the Lord Grey, joined them with a regiment of 
 horse, and several out of Westmoreland and Cum- 
 berland, and so they advanced to Newcastle, which 
 they summon to surrender. The Earl of Newcastle, 
 who rather saw than was able to prevent this storm, 
 was in Newcastle, and did his best to defend it ; but 
 the Scots, increased by this time to above 20,000, 
 lay close siege to the place, which was but meanly 
 fortified, and having repulsed the garrison upon 
 [246] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 several sallies, and pressing the place very close, after 
 a siege of twelve days, or thereabouts, they enter the 
 town sword in hand. The Earl of Newcastle got away, 
 and afterwards gathered what forces together he could, 
 but [was] not strong enough to hinder the Scots from 
 advancing to Durham, which he quitted to them, nor 
 to hinder the conjunction of the Scots with the 
 forces of Fairfax, Manchester, and Crom well. Where- 
 upon the earl, seeing all things thus going to wreck, 
 he sends his horse away, and retreats with his foot 
 into York, making all necessary preparations for a 
 vigorous defence there, in case he should be attacked, 
 which he was pretty sure of, as indeed afterwards 
 happened. York was in a very good posture of de- 
 fence, the fortifications very regular, and exceeding 
 strong ; well furnished with provisions, and had now 
 a garrison of 12,000 men in it. The governor under 
 the Earl of Newcastle was Sir Thomas Glemham, a 
 good soldier, and a gentleman brave enough. 
 
 The Scots, as I have said, having taken Durham, 
 Tynemouth Castle, and Sunderland, and being joined 
 by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had taken Selby, re- 
 solve, with their united strength, to besiege York ; 
 but when they came to view the city, and saw a plan 
 of the works, and had intelligence of the strength of 
 the garrison, they sent expresses to Manchester and 
 Cromwell for help, who came on, and joined them 
 with 9000, making together about 30,000 men, rather 
 more than less. 
 
 Now had the Earl of Newcastle's repeated mes- 
 sengers convinced the king that it was absolutely 
 necessary to send some forces to his assistance, or else 
 [247] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 all would be lost in the north. Whereupon Prince 
 Rupert was detached, with orders first to go into 
 Lancashire and relieve Lathom House, defended by 
 the brave Countess of Derby, and then, taking all the 
 forces he could collect in Cheshire, Lancashire, and 
 Yorkshire, to march to relieve York. 
 
 The prince marclied from Oxford with but three 
 regiments of horse and one of dragoons, making in 
 all about 2800 men. The colonels of horse were 
 Colonel Charles Goring, the Lord Byron, and myself ; 
 the dragoons were of Colonel Smith. In our march 
 we were joined by a regiment of horse from Banbury, 
 one of dragoons from Bristol, and three regiments of 
 horse from Chester, so that when we came into Lan- 
 cashire we were about 5000 horse and dragoons. 
 These horse we received from Chester were those who, 
 having been at the siege of Nantwich, were obliged 
 to raise the siege by Sir Thomas Fairfax ; and the 
 foot having yielded, the horse made good their retreat 
 to Chester, being about 2000, of whom three regi- 
 ments now joined us. We received also 2000 foot 
 from West Chester, and 2000 more out of Wales, and 
 with this strength we entered Lancashire. We had 
 not much time to spend, and a great deal of work 
 to do. 
 
 Bolton and Liverpool felt the first fury of our 
 prince ; at Bolton, indeed, he had some provocation, 
 for here we were like to be beaten off. When first 
 the prince came to the town, he -sent a summons to 
 demand the town for the king, but received no answer 
 but from their guns, commanding the messenger to 
 keep off at his peril. They had raised some works 
 [248] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 about the town, and having by their intelligence 
 learnt that we had no artillery, and were only a fly- 
 ing party (so they called us), they contemned the 
 summons, and showed themselves upon their ram- 
 parts, ready for us. The prince was resolved to 
 humble them, if possible, and takes up his quarters 
 close to the town. In the evening he orders me to 
 advance with one regiment of dragoons and my 
 horse, to bring them off, if occasion was, and to post 
 myself as near as possible I could to the lines, yet 
 so as not to be discovered ; and at the same time, 
 having concluded what part of the works to fall 
 upon, he draws up his men on two other sides, as if 
 he would storm them there ; and, on a signal, I 
 was to begin the real assault on my side with my 
 dragoons. 
 
 I had got so near the town with my dragoons, 
 making them creep upon their bellies a great way, 
 that we could hear the soldiers talk on the walls, 
 when the prince, believing one regiment would be too 
 few, sends me word that he had ordered a regiment 
 of foot to help, and that I should not discover my- 
 self till they were come up to me. This broke our 
 measures, for the march of this regiment was dis- 
 covered by the enemy, and they took the alarm. 
 Upon this I sent to the prince, to desire he would 
 put off the storm for that night, and I would answer 
 for it the next day ; but the prince was impatient, 
 and sent orders we should fall on as soon as the foot 
 came up to us. The foot marched out of the way, 
 missed us, and fell in with a road that leads to 
 another part of the town ; and being not able to find 
 [249] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 us, make an attack upon the town themselves ; but 
 the defendants, being ready for them, received them 
 very warmly, and beat them off with great loss. 
 
 I was at a loss now what to do ; for hearing the 
 guns, and by the noise knowing it was an assault 
 upon the town, I was very uneasy to have my share 
 in it ; but as I had learnt under the King of Sweden 
 punctually to adhere to the execution of orders, and 
 my orders being to lie still till the foot came up with 
 me, I would not stir if I had been sure to have done 
 never so much service ; but, however, to satisfy my- 
 self, I sent to the prince to let him know that I con- 
 tinued in the same place expecting the foot, and none 
 being yet come, I desired farther orders. The prince 
 was a little amazed at this, and finding there must 
 be some mistake, came galloping away in the dark 
 to the place and drew off the men, which was no hard 
 matter, for they were willing enough to give it over. 
 
 As for me, the prince ordered me to come off so 
 privately as not to be discovered, if possible, which I 
 effectually did ; and so we were baulked for that night. 
 The next day the prince fell on upon another quarter 
 with three regiments of foot, but was beaten off with 
 loss, and the like a third time. At last the prince 
 i-esolved to carry it, doubled his numbers, and, renew- 
 ing the attack with fresh men, the foot entered the 
 town over their works, killing in the first heat of the 
 action all that came in their way ; some of the foot 
 at the same time letting in the horse, and so the town 
 was entirely won. There was about 600 of the enemy 
 killed, and we lost al^^ove 4<00 in all, which was owing 
 to the foolish mistakes we made. Our men got 
 [250] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 some plunder here, which the Parhament made a 
 great noise about; but it was their due, and they 
 bouglit it dear enough. 
 
 Liverpool did not cost us so much, nor did we get 
 so much by it, the people having sent their women 
 and children and best goods on board the ships in 
 the road ; and as we had no boats to board them 
 with, we could not get at them. Here, as at Bolton, 
 the town and fort was taken by storm, and the garri- 
 son were many of them cut in pieces, which, by the 
 way, was their own faults. 
 
 Our next step was Lathom House, which the 
 Countess of Derby had gallantly defended above 
 eighteen weeks against the Parliament forces ; and 
 this lady not only encouraged her men by her cheer- 
 ful and noble maintenance of them, but by examples 
 of her own undaunted spirit, exposing herself upon 
 the walls in the midst of the enemy's shot, would be 
 with her men in the greatest dangers ; and she well 
 deserved our care of her person, for the enemy were 
 prepared to use her very rudely if she fell into their 
 hands. 
 
 Upon our approach the enemy drew off, and the 
 prince not only effectually relieved this vigorous lady, 
 but left her a good quantity of all sorts of ammu- 
 nition, three great guns, 500 arms, and 200 men, 
 commanded by a major, as her extraordinary guard. 
 
 Here the way being now opened, and our success 
 answering our expectation, several bodies of foot 
 came in to us from Westmoreland and from Cum- 
 berland; and here it was that the prince found 
 means to surprise the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne> 
 [ 251 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 which was recovered for the king by the management 
 of the mayor of the town, and some loyal gentlemen 
 of the county, and a garrison placed there again for 
 the king. 
 
 But our main design being the relief of York, the 
 prince advanced that way apace, his army still in- 
 creasing ; and being joined by the Lord Goring 
 from Richmondshire with 4000 horse, which were 
 the same the Earl of Newcastle had sent away when 
 he threw himself into York with the infantry, we 
 were now 18,000 effective men, whereof 10,000 horse 
 and dragoons ; so the prince, full of hopes, and his 
 men in good heart, boldly marched directly for 
 York. 
 
 The Scots, as much surprised at the taking of 
 Newcastle as at the coming of their enemy, began 
 to inquire which way they should get home, if they 
 should be beaten ; and calling a council of war, they 
 all agreed to raise the siege. The prince, who drew 
 with him a great train of carriages charged with 
 provision and ammunition for the relief of the city, 
 like a wary general, kept at a distance from the 
 enemy, and fetching a great compass about, brings 
 all safe into the city, and enters into York himself 
 with all his army. 
 
 No action of this whole war had gained the prince 
 so much honour, or the king's affairs so much advan- 
 tage, as this, had the prince but had the power to 
 have restrained his courage after this, and checked 
 his fatal eagerness for fighting. Here was a siege 
 raised, the reputation of the enemy justly stirred, a 
 city relieved, and furnished with all things necessary 
 [252] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 in the face of an army superior in number by near 
 10,000 men, and commanded by a triumvirate of 
 Generals Leven, Fairfax, and Manchester. Had the 
 prince but remembered the proceeding of the great 
 Duke of Parma at the relief of Paris, he would have 
 seen the relieving the city was his business ; ''t was 
 the enemy's business to fight if possible, 't was his 
 to avoid it ; for, having delivered the city, and put 
 the disgrace of raising the siege upon the enemy, he 
 had nothing further to do but to have waited till he 
 had seen what course the enemy would take, and 
 taken his further measures from their motion. 
 
 But the prince, a continual friend to precipitant 
 counsels, would hear no advice. I entreated him not 
 to put it to the hazard ; I told him that he ought to 
 consider if he lost the day he lost the kingdom, and 
 took the crown off from the king's head. I put him 
 in mind that it was impossible those three generals 
 should continue long together ; and that if they did, 
 they would not agree long in their counsels, which 
 would be as well for us as their separating. 'T was 
 plain Manchester and Cromwell must return to the 
 associated counties, who would not suffer them to 
 stay, for fear the king should attempt them. That 
 he could subsist well enough, having York city and 
 river at his back ; but the Scots would eat up the 
 country, make themselves odious, and dwindle away- 
 to nothing, if he would but hold them at bay a 
 little. Other general officers were of the same mind ; 
 but all I could say, or they either, to a man deaf to 
 anything but his own courage, signified nothing. 
 He would draw out and fight ; there was no per- 
 [253] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 suading him to the contrary, unless a man would run 
 the risk of being upbraided with being a coward, 
 and afraid of the work. The enemy's army lay on 
 a large common, called Marston Moor, doubtful 
 what to do. Some were for fighting the prince, the 
 Scots were against it, being uneasy at having the 
 garrison of Newcastle at their backs ; but the prince 
 brought their councils of war to a result, for he let 
 them know they must fight him, whether they would 
 or no ; for the prince being, as before, 18,000 men, 
 and the Earl of Newcastle having joined him with 
 8000 foot out of the city, were marched in quest of 
 the enemy, had entered the moor in view of their 
 army, and began to draw up in order of battle ; but 
 the night coming on, the armies only viewed each 
 other at a distance for that time. We lay all night 
 upon our arms, and with the first of the day were in 
 order of battle ; the enemy was getting ready, but 
 part of Manchester's men were not in the field, but 
 lay about three miles off, and made a hasty march to 
 come up. 
 
 The prince his army was exceedingly well man- 
 aged; he himself commanded tlie left wing, the 
 Earl of Newcastle the right wing ; and the Lord 
 Goring, as general of the foot, assisted by Major- 
 General Porter and Sir Charles Lucas, led the main 
 battle. I had prevailed with the prince, according 
 to the method of the King of Sweden, to place 
 some small bodies of musketeers in the intervals 
 of his horse, in the left wing, but could not pre- 
 vail upon the Earl of Newcastle to do it in the 
 right, which he afterwards repented. In this pos- 
 [254] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ture we stood facing the enemy, expecting they 
 would advance to us, which at last they did ; and 
 the prince began the day by saluting them with 
 his artillery, which, being placed very well, galled 
 them terribly for a quarter of an hour. They could 
 not shift their front, so they advanced the hastier 
 to get within our great guns, and consequently out 
 of their danger, which brought the fight the sooner 
 on. 
 
 The enemy's army was thus ordered : Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax had the right wing, in which was the Scots 
 horse, and the horse of his own and his father's 
 army ; Cromwell led the left wing, with his own 
 and the Earl of Manchester's horse, and the three 
 generals, Leslie, old Fairfax, and Manchester, led 
 the main battle. 
 
 The prince, with our left wing, fell on first, and, 
 with his usual fury, broke like a clap of thunder 
 into the right wing of the Scots horse, led by Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax, and, as nothing could stand in his 
 way, he broke through and through them, and 
 entirely routed them, pursuing them quite out 
 of the field. Sir Thomas Fairfax, with a regi- 
 ment of lances, and about 500 of his own horse, 
 made good the ground for some time ; but our 
 musketeers, which, as I said, were placed among 
 our horse, were such an unlooked-for sort -of an 
 article in a fight among the horse, that those 
 lances, which otherwise were brave fellows, were 
 mowed down with their shot, and all was put into 
 confusion. Sir Thomas Fairfax was wounded in the 
 face, his brother killed, and a great slaughter was 
 [255] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 made of the Scots, to whom I confess we showed 
 no favour at all. 
 
 While this was doing on our left, the Lord 
 Goring with the main battle charged the enemy's 
 foot; and particularly one brigade commanded by 
 Major-General Porter, being mostly pikemen, not 
 regarding the fire of the enemy, charged with that 
 fury in a close body of pikes, that they overturned 
 all that came in their way, and breaking into the 
 middle of the enemy's foot, filled all with terror 
 and confusion, insomuch that the three generals, 
 thinking all had been lost, fled, and quitted the 
 field. 
 
 But matters went not so well with that always 
 unfortunate gentleman the Earl of Newcastle and 
 our right wing of horse ; for Cromwell charged the 
 Earl of Newcastle with a powerful body of horse. 
 And though the earl, and those about him, did 
 what men could do, and behaved themselves with 
 all possible gallantry, yet there was no withstanding 
 Cromwell's horse, but, like Prince Rupert, they 
 bore down all before them. And now the victory 
 was wrung out of our hands by our own gross 
 miscarriage ; for the prince, as 't was his custom, 
 too eager in the chase of the enemy, was gone, and 
 could not be heard of. The foot in the centre, the 
 right wing of the horse being routed by Cromwell, 
 was left, and without the guard of his horse : 
 Cromwell having routed the Earl of Newcastle, and 
 beaten him quite out of the field, and Sir Thomas 
 Faiifax rallying his dispersed troops, they fall all 
 together upon the foot. General Lord Goring, 
 [256] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 like himself, fought like a lion, but, forsaken of 
 his horse, was hemmed in on all sides, and over- 
 thrown ; and an hour after this, the prince return- 
 ing, too late to recover his friends, was obliged with 
 the rest to quit the field to conquerors. 
 
 This was a fatal day to the king's affairs, and the 
 risk too much for any man in his wits to run ; we 
 lost 4000 men on the spot, 3000 prisoners, among 
 whom was Sir Charles Lucas, Major-General Porter, 
 Major-General Tilyard, and about 170 gentlemen of 
 quality. We lost all our baggage, twenty-five pieces 
 of cannon, 300 carriages, 150 barrels of powder, and 
 10,000 arms. The prince got into York with the 
 Earl of Newcastle, and' a great many gentlemen ; 
 and 7000 or 8000 of the men, as well horse as foot. 
 
 I had but very coarse treatment in this fight ; for 
 returning with the prince from the pursuit of the 
 right wing, and finding all lost, I halted iwith some 
 other officers, to consider what to do. At first we 
 were for making our retreat in a body, and might 
 have done so well enough, if we had known what 
 had happened, before we saw ourselves in the middle 
 of the enemy ; for Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had got 
 together his scattered troops, and joined by some of 
 the left wing, knowing who we were, charged us 
 with great fury. 'T was not a time to think of any- 
 thing but getting away, or dying upon the spot ; 
 the prince kept on in the front, and Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax by this charge cut off about three regiments 
 of us from our body ; but bending his main strength 
 at the prince, left us, as it were, behind him, in the 
 middle of the field of battle. We took this for the 
 17 [ 257 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 only opportunity we could have to get ofF, and join- 
 ing together, we made across the place of battle in 
 as good order as we could, with our carabines pre- 
 sented. In this posture we passed by several bodies 
 of the enemy''s foot, who stood with their pikes 
 charged to keep us off ; but they had no occasion, for 
 we had no design to meddle with them, but to get 
 from them. 
 
 Thus we made a swift march, and thought our- 
 selves pretty secure ; but our work was not done yet, 
 for on a sudden we saw ourselves under a necessity 
 of fighting our way through a great body of Man- 
 chester's horse, who came galloping upon us over the 
 moor. They had, as we suppose, been pursuing some 
 of our broken troops which were fled before, and 
 seeing us, they gave us a home charge. We re- 
 ceived them as well as we could, but pushed to get 
 through them, which at last we did with a consider- 
 able loss to them. However, we lost so many men, 
 either killed or separated from us (for all could not 
 follow the same way), that of our three regiments 
 we could not be above 400 horse together when we 
 got quite clear, and these were mixed men, some of 
 one troop and regiment, some of another. Not that 
 I believe many of us were killed in the last attack, 
 for we had plainly tiie better of the enemy, but our 
 design being to get 0% some shifted for themselves 
 one way and some another, in the best manner they 
 could, and as their several fortunes guided them. 
 Four hundred more of this body, as I afterwards 
 understood, having broke through the enemy's body 
 another way, kept together, and got into Pontefract 
 [268] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Castle, and 300 more made northward and to Skip- 
 ton, where the prince afterwards fetched them off. 
 
 These few of us that were left together, with whom 
 I was, being now pretty clear of pursuit, halted, and 
 began to inquire who and who we were, and what we 
 should do ; and on a short debate, I proposed we 
 should make to the first garrison of the king's that 
 we could recover, and that we should keep together, 
 lest the country people should insult us upon the 
 roads. With this resolution we pushed on westward 
 for Lancashire, but our misfortunes were not yet at 
 an end. We travelled very hard, and got to a vil- 
 lage upon the river Wharfe, near Wetherby. At 
 Wetherby there was a bridge, but we understood 
 that a party from Leeds had secured the town and 
 the post, in order to stop the flying Cavaliers, and 
 that 't would be very hard to get through there, 
 though, as we understood afterwards, there were no 
 soldiers there but a guard of the townsmen. In this 
 pickle we consulted what course to take. To stay 
 where we were till morning, we all concluded, would 
 not be safe. Some advised to take the stream with 
 our horses, but the river, which is deep, and the cur- 
 rent strong, seemed to bid us have a care what we did 
 of that kind, especially in the night. We resolved 
 therefore to refresh ourselves and our horses, which 
 indeed is more than we did, and go on till we might 
 come to a ford or bridge, where we might get over. 
 Some guides we had, but they either were foolish or 
 false, for after we had rode eight or nine miles, they 
 plunged us into a river at a place they called a ford, 
 but 't was a very ill one, for most of our horses swam, 
 [359] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and seven or eight were lost, but we saved the men. 
 However, we got all over. 
 
 We made bold with our first convenience to tres- 
 pass upon the country for a few hoi'ses, where we 
 could find them, to remount our men whose horses 
 were drowned, and continued our march. But being 
 obliged to refresh ourselves at a small village on 
 the edge of Bramham Moor, we found the country 
 alarmed by our taking some horses, and we were no 
 sooner got on horseback in the morning, and enter- 
 ing on the moor, but we understood we were pursued 
 by some troops of horse. There was no remedy but 
 we must pass this moor ; and though our horses were 
 exceedingly tired, yet we pressed on upon a round 
 trot, and recovered an enclosed country on the other 
 side, where we halted. And here, necessity putting 
 us upon it, we were obliged to look out for more 
 hoi'ses, for several of our men were dismounted, and 
 others' horses disabled by carrying double, those who 
 lost their horses getting up behind them. But we 
 were supplied by our enemies against their will. 
 
 The enemy followed us over the moor, and we 
 having a woody enclosed country about us, where 
 we were, I observed by their moving, they had lost 
 sight of us ; upon which I proposed concealing our- 
 selves till we might judge of their numbers. We did 
 so, and lying close in a wood, they peissed hastily by 
 us, without skirting or searching the wood, which 
 was what on another occasion' they would not have 
 done. I found they were not above 150 horse, and 
 considering, that to let them go before us, would be 
 to alarm the country, and stop our design, I thought, 
 [ 260 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 since we might be able to deal with them, we should 
 not meet with a better place for it, and told the rest 
 of our officers my mind, which all our party presently 
 (for we had not time for a long debate) agreed to. 
 
 Immediately upon this I caused two men to fire 
 their pistols in the wood, at two different places, as 
 far asunder as I could. This I did to give them an 
 alarm, and amuse them ; for being in the lane, they 
 would otherwise have got through before we had 
 been ready, and I resolved to engage them there, as 
 soon as 't was possible. After this alarm, we rushed 
 out of the wood, with about a hundred horse, and 
 charged them on the flank in a broad lane, the wood 
 being on their right. Our passage into the lane being 
 narrow, gave us some difficulty in our getting out ; 
 but the surprise of the charge did our work ; for the 
 enemy, fliinking we had been a mile or two before, 
 had not the least thoughts of this onset, till they 
 heard us in the wood, and then they who were before 
 could not come back. We broke into the lane just 
 in the middle of them, and by that means divided 
 them ; and facing to the left, charged the rear. 
 First our dismounted men, which were near fifty, 
 lined the edge of the wood, and fired with their 
 carabines upon those which were before, so warmly, 
 that they put them into a great disorder. Mean- 
 while fifty more of our horse from the farther part 
 of the wood showed themselves in the lane upon their 
 front. This put them of the foremost party into a 
 great perplexity, and they began to face about, to fall 
 upon us who were engaged in the rear. But their 
 facing about in a lane where there was no room to 
 [261] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 wheel, as one who understands the manner of wheeling 
 a troop of horse must imagine, put them into a great 
 disorder. Our party in the head of the lane taking 
 the advantage of this mistake of the enemy, charged 
 in upon them, and routed them entirely. 
 
 Some found means to break into the enclosures on 
 the other side of the lane, and get away. About 
 , thirty were killed, and about twenty-five made pris- 
 oners, and forty very good horses were taken ; all 
 this while not a man of ours was lost, and not above 
 seven or eight wounded. Those in the rear behaved 
 themselves better, for they stood our charge with a 
 great deal of resolution, and all we could do could 
 not break them ; but at last our men who had fired 
 on foot through the hedges at the other party, com- 
 ing to do the like here, there was no standing it any 
 longer. The rear of them faced about and retreated 
 out of the lane, and drew up in the open field to 
 receive and rally their fellows. We killed about 
 seventeen of them, and followed them to the end of 
 the lane, but had no mind to have any more fighting 
 than needs must, our condition at that time not 
 making it proper, the towns round us being all in 
 the enemy's hands, and the country but indifferently 
 pleased with us ; however, we stood facing them till 
 they thought fit to march away. Thus we were 
 supplied with horses enough to remount our men, 
 and pursued our first design of getting into Lanca- 
 shire. As for our prisoners, we let them off on foot. 
 
 But the country being by this time alarmed, and 
 the rout of our army everywhere known, we foresaw 
 abundance of difficulties before us ; we were not 
 [262] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 strong enough to venture into any great towns,- and 
 we were too many to be concealed in small ones. 
 Upon this we resolved to halt in a great wood about 
 three miles beyond the place, where we had the last 
 skirmish, and sent our scouts to discover the country, 
 and learn what they could, either of the enemy or 
 of our friends. 
 
 Anybody may suppose we had but indifferent 
 quarters here, either for ourselves or for our horses ; 
 but, however, we made shift to lie here two days and 
 one night. In the interim I took upon me, with 
 two more, to go to Leeds to learn some news ; we 
 were disguised like country ploughmen ; the clothes 
 we got at a farmer's house, which for that particular 
 occasion we plundered ; and I cannot say no blood 
 was shed in a manner too rash, and which I could 
 not have done at another time ; but our case was 
 desperate, and the people too surly, and shot at us 
 out of the window, wounded one man and shot 
 a horse, which we counted as great a loss to us as a 
 man, for our safety depended upon our horses. 
 Here we got clothes of all sorts, enough for both 
 sexes, and thus dressing myself up au paysan, with 
 a white cap on my head, and a fork on my shoulder, 
 and one of my comrades in the farmer's wife's russet 
 gown and petticoat, like a woman, the other with an 
 old crutch like a lame man, and all mounted on such 
 horses as we had taken the day before from the coun- 
 try, away we go to Leeds by three several ways, and 
 agreed to meet upon the bridge. My pretended 
 country woman acted her part to the life, though the 
 party was a gentleman of good quality, of the Earl 
 [263] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of Worcester's family ; and the cripple did as well as 
 he ; but I thought myself very awkward in my dress, 
 which made me very shy, especially among the 
 soldiers. We passed their sentinels and guards at 
 Leeds unobserved, and put up our horses at several 
 houses in the town, from whence we went up and 
 down to make our remarks. My cripple was the 
 fittest to go among the soldiers, because there 
 was less danger of being pressed. There he informed 
 himself of the matters of war, particularly that the 
 enemy sat down again to the siege of York ; that 
 flying parties were in pursuit of the Cavaliers ; and 
 there he heard that 500 horse of the Lord Man- 
 chester's men had followed a party of Cavaliers, over 
 Bramham Moor, and that entering a lane, the Cav- 
 aliers, who were 1000 strong, fell upon them, 
 and killed them all but about fifty. This, though 
 it was a lie, was very pleasant to us to hear, knowing 
 it was our party, because of the other part of the 
 story, which was thus : That the Cavaliers had taken 
 possession of such a wood, where they rallied all the 
 troops of their flying army ; that they had plundered 
 the country as they came, taking all the horses they 
 could get ; that they had plundered Goodman 
 Thomson's house, which was the farmer I mentioned, 
 and killed man, woman, and child ; and that they 
 were about 2000 strong. 
 
 My other friend in woman's clothes got among the 
 good wives at an inn, where she set up her horse, and 
 there she heard the same sad and dreadful tidings ; 
 and that this party was so strong, none of the neigh- 
 bouring garrisons durst stir out ; but that they had 
 [264] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 sent expresses to York, for a party of horse to come 
 to their assistance. 
 
 I walked up and down the town, but fancied myself 
 so ill disguised, and so easy to be known, that I cared' 
 not to talk with anybody. We met at the bridge 
 exactly at our time, and compared our intelligence, 
 found it answered our end of coming, and that we 
 had nothing to do but to get back to our men ; but 
 my cripple told me, he would not stir till he bought 
 some victuals ; so away he hops with his crutch, and 
 buys four or five great pieces of bacon, as many of 
 hung beef, and two or three loaves ; and borrowing 
 a sack at the inn (which I suppose he never restored), 
 he loads his horse, and getting a large leather bottle, 
 he filled that of aqua-vitae, instead of small beer ; 
 my woman comrade did the like. I was uneasy in 
 my mind, and took no care but to get out of the 
 town ; however, we all came off well enough ; but 
 't was well for me that I had no provisions with me, 
 as you will hear presently. 
 
 We came, as I said, into the town by several ways, 
 and so we went out ; but about three miles from the 
 town we met again exactly where we had agreed. I 
 being about a quarter of a mile from the rest, I meets 
 three country fellows on horseback ; one had a long 
 pole on his shoulder, another a fork, the third no 
 weapon at all, that I saw. I gave them the road very 
 orderly, being habited like one of their brethren ; but 
 one of them stopping short at me, and looking 
 earnestly, calls out, " Hark thee, friend,'' says he, in 
 a broad north-country tone, " whar hast thou thilk 
 horse ? " I must confess I was in the utmost confu- 
 [265] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 sion at the question, neither being able to answer the 
 question, nor to speak in his tone ; so I made as if I 
 did not hear him, and went on. "Na, but ye's not 
 gang soa," says the boor, and comes up to me, and 
 takes hold of the horse's bridle to stop me ; at which, 
 vexed at heart that I could not tell how to talk to 
 him, I reached him a great knock on the pate with 
 my fork, and fetched him oflF of his horse, and then 
 began to mend my pace^ The other clowns, though 
 it seems they knew not what the fellow wanted, pur- 
 sued me, and finding they had better heels than I, I 
 saw there was no remedy but to make use of my 
 hands, and faced about. 
 
 The first that came up with me was he that had 
 no weapons, so I thought I might parley with him, 
 and speaking as country-like as I could, I asked him 
 what he wanted ? " Thou 'st knaw that soon," says 
 Yorkshire, " and ise but come at thee." " Then keep 
 awa', man," said I, "or ise brain thee." By this 
 time the third man came up and the parley ended ; 
 for he gave me no words, but laid at me with his 
 long pole, and that with such fury, that I began to 
 be doubtful of him. I was loth to shoot the fellow, 
 though I had pistols under my grey frock, as well 
 for that the noise of a pistol might bring more 
 people in, the village being on our rear, and also be- 
 cause I could not imagine what the fellow meant, or 
 would have. But at last, finding he would be too 
 many for me with that long weapon, and a hardy 
 strong fellow, I threw myself off my horse, and run- 
 ning in with him, stabbed my fork into his horse. 
 The horse being wounded, staggered awhile, and then 
 [266] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 fell down, and the booby had not the sense to get 
 down in time, but fell with him. Upon which, giv- 
 ing him a knock or two with my fork, I secured him. 
 The other, by this time, had furnished himself with 
 a great stick out of a hedge, and before I was disen- 
 gaged from the last fellow, gave me two such blows, 
 that if the last had not missed my head and hit me 
 on the shoulder, I had ended the fight and my life 
 together. 'T was time to look about me now, for 
 this was a madman. I defended myself with my 
 fork, but 't would not do. At last, in short, I was 
 forced to pistol him and get on horseback again, and 
 with all the speed I could make, get away to the 
 wood to our men. 
 
 If my two fellow-spies had not been behind, I had 
 never known what was the meaning of this quarrel 
 of the three countrymen, but my cripple had all the 
 particulars. For he being behind us, as I have 
 already observed, when he came up to the first fellow 
 who began the fray, he found him beginning to come 
 to himself. So he gets off, and pretends to help him, 
 and sets him up upon his breech, and being a very 
 merry fellow, talked to him : " Well, and what's the 
 matter now .? " says he to him. "Ah, wae's me," 
 says the fellow, " I is killed." " Not quite, mon," 
 says the cripple. " Oh that 's a fau thief, " says he, 
 and thus they parleyed. My cripple got him on 's 
 feet, and gave him a dram of his aqua-vitae bottle, 
 and made much of him, in order to know what was 
 the occasion of the quarrel. Our disguised woman 
 pitied the fellow too, and together they set him up 
 again upon his horse, and then he told him that that 
 [267] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 fellow was got upon one of his brother's horses, who 
 lived at Wetherby. They said the Cavaliers stole 
 him, but 't was like such rogues. No mischief could 
 be done in the country, but 't was the poor Cavaliers 
 must bear the blame, and the like, and thus they 
 jogged on till they came to the place where the 
 other two lay. The first fellow they assisted as they 
 had done f other, and gave him a dram out of the 
 leather bottle, but the last fellow was past their 
 care, so they came away. For when they understood 
 that 't was my horse they claimed, they began to be 
 afraid that their own horses might be known too, and 
 then they had been betrayed in a worse pickle than 
 I, and must have been forced to have done some 
 mischief or other to have got away. 
 
 I had sent out two troopers to fetch them off, 
 if there was any occasion ; but their stay was not 
 long, and the two troopers saw them at a distance 
 coming towards us, so they retui'ned. 
 
 I had enough of going for a spy, and my com- 
 panions had enough of staying in the wood ; for 
 other intelligences agreed with ours, and all con- 
 curred in this, that it w^as time to be going ; how- 
 ever, this use we made of it, that while the country 
 thought us so strong we were in the less danger of 
 being attacked, though in the more of being ob- 
 served; but all this while we heard nothing of our 
 friends till the next day. We heard Prince Rupert, 
 with about 1000 horse, was at Skipton, and from 
 thence marched away to Westmoreland. 
 
 We concluded now we had two or three days' 
 time good ; for, since messengers were sent to York 
 [268] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for a party to suppress us, we must have at least 
 two days' march of them, and therefore all con- 
 cluded we were to make the best of our way. Early 
 in the morning, therefore, we decamped from those 
 dull quarters ; and as we marched through a village 
 we found the people very civil to us, and the women 
 cried out, " God bless them, 't is pity the Round- 
 heads should make such work with such brave men," 
 and the like. Finding we were among our friends, 
 we resolved to halt a little and refresh ourselves ; 
 and, indeed, the people were very kind to us, gave 
 us victuals and drink, and took care of our horses. 
 It happened to be my lot to stop at a house where 
 the good woman took a great deal of pains to pro- 
 vide for us ; but I observed the good man walked 
 about with a cap upon his head, and very much 
 out of order. I took no great notice of it, being 
 very sleepy, and having asked my landlady to let 
 me have a bed, I lay down and slept heartily. 
 When I waked I found my landlord on another 
 bed groaning very heavily. 
 
 When I came downstairs, I found my cripple 
 talking with my landlady; he was now out of his 
 disguise, but we called him cripple still; and the 
 other, who put on the woman's clothes, we called 
 Goody Thweiippn- As soon as he saw me, he called 
 m^i]!bgf^l)o you iflow," says he, " the man of the 
 "house you are quartered in.?" "No, not I," says 
 I. " No ; so I believe, i.or they you," says he ; " if 
 they did, the good wife w^uld not have made you 
 a posset, and fetched a white 'ijaf for you." " What 
 do you mean ? " says I. " Have'i^pu seen the man .?" 
 [269j '^ 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 says he. " Seen him," says I ; " yes, and heard him 
 too ; the man 's sick, and groans so heavily," says 
 I, "that I could not lie upon the bed any longer 
 for him." " Why, this is the poor man," says he, 
 " that you knocked down with your fork yesterday, 
 and I have had all the story out yonder at the 
 next door." I confess it grieved me to have been 
 forced to treat one so roughly who was one of our 
 friends, but to make some amends, we contrived 
 to give the poor man his brother's horse ; and my 
 cripple told him a formal story, that he believed 
 the horse was taken away from the fellow by some 
 of our men, and if he knew him again, if 't was his 
 friend's horse, he should have him. The man came 
 down upon the news, and I caused six or seven 
 horses, which wei-e taken at the same time, to be 
 shown him ; he immediately chose the right ; so I 
 gave him the horse, and we pretended a great deal 
 of sorrow for the man's hurt, and that we had not 
 knocked the fellow on the head as well as took away 
 the horse. The man was so overjoyed at the 
 revenge he thought was taken on the fellow, that 
 we heard him groan no more. 
 
 We ventured to stay all day at this town and 
 the next night, and got guides to lead us to Black- 
 stone Edge, a ridge of mountainsjs^ej^ pai-t this 
 side of Yorkshire from LancaaKti™ i?T»-.i" the 
 morning we marched, andJjTept our scouts ver7 
 carefully out every way^ho brought us no neZ 
 for th,s day. We kept^n all night, and made our 
 horses do penance for' that little rest they had and 
 the next morning we passed the hills and eot'into 
 [270j ^ 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Lancashire, to a town called Littlebrough, and from 
 thence to Rochdale, a little market town. And 
 now we thought ourselves safe as to the pursuit of 
 enemies from the side of York. Our design was to 
 get to Bolton, but all the county was full of the 
 enemy in flying parties, and how to get to Bolton 
 we knew not. At last we resolved to send a mes- 
 senger to Bolton ; but he came back and told us he 
 had with lurking and hiding tried all the ways that 
 he thought possible, but to no purpose, for he could 
 not get into the town. We sent another, and he 
 never returned, and some time after we understood 
 he was taken by the enemy. At last one got into 
 the town, but brought us word they were tired out 
 with constant alarms, had been strictly blocked up, 
 and every day expected a siege, and therefore 
 advised us either to go northward, where Prince 
 Rupert and the Lord Goring ranged at liberty, or 
 to get over Warrington Bridge, and so secure our 
 retreat to Chester. 
 
 This double direction divided our opinions. I 
 was for getting into Chester, both to recruit myself 
 with horses and with money, both which I wanted, 
 and to get refreshment, which we all wanted ; but 
 the major part of our men were for the north. First 
 they said there was their general, and ''t was their 
 duty to the cause, and the king's interest obliged us 
 to go where we could do best service ; and there was 
 their friends, and every man might hear some news 
 of his own regiment, for we belonged to several 
 regiments. Besides, all the towns to the left of us 
 were possessed by Sir William Brereton, Warrington, 
 [271 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and Northwich, gan-isoned by the enemy, and a 
 strong party at Manchester, so that 't was very likely 
 we should be beaten and dispersed before we could 
 get to Chester. These reasons, and especially the 
 last, determined us for the north, and we had re- 
 solved to march the next morning, when other in- 
 telligence brought us to more speedy resolutions. 
 We kept our scouts continually abroad to bring us 
 intelligence of the enemy, whom we expected on our 
 backs, and also to keep an eye upon the country ; 
 for, as we lived upon them something at large, they 
 wei-e ready enough to do us any ill turn, as it lay in 
 their power. 
 
 The first messenger that came to us was from our 
 friends at Bolton, to inform us that they were pre- 
 paring at Manchester to attack us. One of our 
 parties had been as far as Stockport, on the edge of 
 Cheshire, and was pursued by a party of the enemy, 
 but got off by the help of the night. Thus, all 
 things looking black to the south, we had resolved 
 to march northward in the morning, when one of our 
 scouts from the side of Manchester assured us Sir 
 Thomas Middleton, with some of the Parliament 
 forces and the country troops, making above 1200 
 men, were on their march to attack us, and would 
 certainly beat up our quarters that night. Upon 
 this advice we resolved to be gone ; and, getting all 
 things in readiness, we began to march about two 
 hours before night. And having gotten a trusty 
 fellow for a guide, a fellow that we found was a 
 friend to our side, he put a project into my head 
 which saved us all for that time ; and that was, to 
 [272] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 give out in the village that we were marched back to 
 Yorkshire, resolving to get into Pontefract Castle ; 
 and accordingly he leads us out of the town the 
 same way we came in, and, taking a boy with him, 
 he sends the boy back just at night, and bade him 
 say he saw us go up the hills at Blackstone Edge ; 
 and it happened very well, for this party were so 
 sure of us, that they had placed 400 men on the 
 road to the northward to intercept our retreat that 
 way, and had left no way for us, as they thought, 
 to get away but back again. 
 
 About ten o'clock at night, they assaulted our 
 quarters, but found we were gone ; and being in- 
 formed which way, they followed upon the spur, and 
 travelling all night, being moonlight, they found 
 themselves the next day about fifteen miles east, 
 just out of their way. For we had, by the help of 
 our guide, turned short at the foot of the hills, and 
 through blind, untrodden paths, and with difficulty 
 enough, by noon the next day had reached almost 
 twenty-five miles north, near a town called Clitheroe. 
 Here we halted in the open field, and sent out our 
 people to see how things were in the country. This 
 part of the country, almost unpassable, and walled 
 round with hills, was indiflFerent quiet, and we got 
 some refreshment for ourselves, but very little horse- 
 meat, and so went on. But we had not marched far 
 before we found ourselves discovered, and the 400 
 horse sent to lie in wait for us as befoi-e, having un- 
 derstood which way we went, followed us hard ; and 
 by letters to some of their friends at Preston, we 
 found we were beset again. 
 18 [ 273 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Our guide began now to be out of his knowledge, 
 and our scouts brought us word, the enemy's horse 
 was posteji before us, and we knew they were in our 
 rear. In this exigence, we resolved to divide our 
 small body, and so amusing them, at least one might 
 get off, if the other miscarried. I took about eighty 
 horse with me, among which were all that I had of 
 our own regiment, amounting to above thirty-two, 
 and took the hills towards Yorkshire. Here we met 
 with such unpassable hills, vast moors, rocks, and 
 stony ways, as lamed all our horses, and tired our 
 men ; and sometimes I was ready to think we should 
 never be able to get over them, till our horses fail- 
 ing, and jackboots being but indifferent things to 
 travel in, we might be starved before we should find 
 any road, or towns ; for guide we had none, but a 
 boy who knew but little, and would cry when we 
 asked him any questions. I believe neither men nor 
 horses ever passed in some places where we went, and 
 for twenty hours we saw not a town or a house, ex- 
 cepting sometimes from the top of the mountains, 
 at a vast distance. I am persuaded we might have 
 encamped here, if we had had provisions, till the 
 war had been over, and have met with no disturb- 
 ance ; and I have often wondered since, how we got 
 into such horrible places, as much as how we got out. 
 That which was worse to us than all the rest, was. 
 that we knew not where we were going, nor what 
 part of the country we should come into, when we 
 came out of those desolate crags. At last, after a 
 terrible fatigue, we began to see the western parts 
 of Yorkshire, some few villages, and the country at a 
 [274] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 distance looked a little like England, for I thought 
 before it looked like old Brennus Hill, which the 
 Grisons call the " grandfather of the Alps." We 
 got some relief in the villages, which indeed some of 
 us had so much need of, that they were hardly able 
 to sit their horses, and others were forced to help 
 them off, they were so faint. I never felt so much 
 of the power of hunger in my life, for having not 
 eaten in thirty hours, I was as ravenous as a hound ; 
 and if I had had a piece of horse-flesh, I believe I 
 should not have had patience to have staid dressing 
 it, but have fallen upon it raw, and have eaten it as 
 greedily as a Tartar. However, I ate very cau- 
 tiously, having often seen the danger of men's eating 
 heartily after long fasting. 
 
 Our next care was to inquire our way. Halifax, 
 they told us, was on our right. There we durst not 
 think of going. Skipton was before us, and there 
 we knew not how it was, for a body of 3000 horse, 
 sent out by the enemy in pursuit of Prince Rupert, 
 had been there but two days before, and the country 
 people could not tell us whether they were gone, or no. 
 And Manchester's horse, which were sent out after 
 our party, were then at Halifax, in quest of us, and 
 afterwards marched into Cheshire. In this distress 
 we would have hired a guide, but none of the 
 country people would go with us, for the Round- 
 heads would hang them, they said, when they came 
 there. Upon this I called a fellow to me, " Hark 
 ye, friend," says I, " dost thee know the way so as to 
 bring us into Westmoreland, and not keep the great 
 road from York ? " " Ay, merry," says he, " I ken 
 [275] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the ways weel enou ! " " And you would go and 
 guide us," said I, "but that you are afraid the 
 Roundheads will hang you ?" " Indeed would I," 
 says the fellow. " Why then," says I, " thou hadst 
 as good be hanged by a Cavalier as a Roundhead, 
 for if thou wilt not go, I '11 hang thee just now." 
 " Na, an ye serve me soa," says the fellow, " Ise ene 
 gang with ye, for I care not for hanging ; and ye '11 
 get me a good horse, Ise gang and be one of ye, for 
 I '11 nere come heame more." This pleased us still 
 better, and we mounted the fellow, for three of our 
 men died that night with the extreme fatigue of the 
 last service. 
 
 Next morning, when our new trooper was mounted 
 and clothed we hardly knew him ; and this fellow led 
 us by such ways, such wildernesses, and yet with such 
 prudence, keeping the hills to the left, that we might 
 have the villages to refresh ourselves, that without 
 him, we had certainly either perished in those 
 mountains, or fallen into the enemy's hands. We 
 passed the great road from York so critically as to 
 time, that from one of the hills he showed us a party 
 of the enemy's horse, who were then marching into 
 Westmoreland. We lay still that day, finding we 
 were not discovered by them ; and our guide proved 
 the best scout that we could have had ; for he would 
 go out ten miles at a time, and bring us in all the 
 news of the country. Here he brought us word, that 
 York was surrendered upon articles, and that New- 
 castle, which had been surprised by the king's party, 
 was besieged by another army of Scots advanced to 
 help their brethren. 
 
 [276] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Along the edges of those vast mountains we passed 
 with the help of our guide,' till we came into the 
 forest of Swale ; and finding ourselves perfectly con- 
 cealed here, for no soldier had ever been here all the 
 war, nor perhaps would not, if it had lasted seven 
 years, we thought we wanted a few days' rest, at least 
 for our horses. So we resolved to halt ; and while we 
 did so, we made some disguises, and sent out some 
 spies into the country ; but as here were no great 
 towns, nor no post road, we got very little intelli- 
 gence. We rested four days, and then marched 
 again ; and indeed having no great stock of money 
 about us, and not very free of that we had, four 
 days was enough for those poor places to be able to 
 maintain us. 
 
 We thought ourselves pretty secure now ; but our 
 chief care was how to get over those terrible moun- 
 tains ; for having passed the great road that leads 
 from York to Lancaster, the crags, the farther north- 
 ward we looked, looked still the worse, and our busi- 
 ness was all on the other side. Our guide told us, 
 he would bring us out, if we would have patience, 
 which we were obliged to, and kept on this slow 
 march, till he brought us to Stanhope, in the county 
 of Durham ; where some of Goring's horse, and two 
 regiments of foot, had their quarters. This was nine- 
 teen days from the battle of Marston Moor. The 
 prince, who was then at Kendal in Westmoreland, 
 and who had given me over as lost, when he had news 
 of our ari'ival, sent an expi'ess to me, to meet him at 
 Appleby. I went thither accordingly, and gave him 
 an account of our journey, and there I heard the 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 short history of the other part of our men, whom we 
 parted from in Lancashire. They made the best of 
 their way north ; they had two resolute gentlemen 
 who commanded ; and being so closely pursued by the 
 enemy, that they found themselves under a necessity 
 of fighting, they halted, and faced about, expecting 
 the charge. The boldness of the action made the 
 officer who led the enemy's horse (which it seems 
 were the county horse only) afraid of them ; which 
 they perceiving, talking the advantage of his fears, 
 bravely advance, and charge them ; and, though they 
 were about 200 horse, they routed them, killed about 
 thirty or forty, got some horses, and some money, and 
 pushed on their march night and day ; but coming 
 near Lancaster, they were so waylaid and pursued, 
 that they agreed to separate, and shift every man for 
 himself. Many of them fell into the enemy's hands ; 
 some were killed attempting to pass through the 
 river Lune ; some went back again, six or seven got 
 to Bolton, and about eighteen got safe to Prince 
 Rupert. 
 
 The prince was in a better condition hereabouts 
 than I expected ; he and my Lord Goring, with the 
 help of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, and the gentlemen 
 of Cumberland, had gotten a body of 4000 horse, 
 and about 6000 foot ; they had retaken Newcastle, 
 Tynemouth, Durham, Stockton, and several towns 
 of consequence from the Scots, and might have cut 
 them out work enough still, if that base people, re- 
 solved to engage their whole interest to ruin their 
 sovereign, had not sent a second army of 10,000 
 men, under the Earl of Callander, to help their first 
 [ 278 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 These came and laid siege to Newcastle, but found 
 more vigorous resistance now than they had done 
 before. 
 
 There were in the town Sir John Morley, the Lord 
 Crawford, Lord Reay, and Maxwell, Scots ; and old 
 soldiers, who were resolved their countrymen should 
 buy the town very dear, if they had it ; and had it 
 not been for our disaster at Marston Moor, they had 
 never had it ; for Callander, finding he was not able 
 to carry the town, sends to General Leven to come 
 from the siege of York to help him. 
 
 Meantime the prince forms a very good army, and 
 the Lord Goring, with 10,000 men, shows himself 
 on the borders of Scotland, to try if that might not 
 cause the Scots to recall their forces ; and, I am per- 
 suaded, had he entered Scotland, the Parliament of 
 Scotland had recalled the Earl of Callander, for they 
 had but 5000 men left in arras to send against him ; 
 but they were loth to venture. However, this effect 
 it had, that it called the Scots northward again, and 
 found them work there for the rest of the summer to 
 reduce the several towns in the bishopric of Durham. 
 
 I found with the prince the poor remains of my 
 regiment, which, when joined with those that had 
 been with me, could not all make up three troops, 
 and but two captains, three lieutenants, and one 
 cornet; the rest were dispersed, killed, or taken 
 prisoners. However, with those, which we still called 
 a regiment, I joined the prince, and after having 
 done all we could on that side, the Scots being 
 returned from York, the prince returned through 
 Lancashire to Chester. 
 
 [ 279 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The enemy often appeared and alarmed us, and 
 once fell on one of our parties, and killed us about a 
 hundred men ; but we were too many for them to 
 pretend to fight us, so we came to Bolton, beat the 
 troops of the enemy near Warrington, where I got 
 a cut with a halberd in my face, and aiTived at Ches- 
 ter the beginning of August. 
 
 The Parliament, upon their great success in the 
 north, thinking the king's forces quite broken, had 
 sent their General Essex into the west, where the 
 king's army was commanded by Prince Maurice, 
 Prince Rupert's elder brother, but not very strong ; 
 and the king being, as they supposed, by the absence 
 of Prince Rupert, weakened so much as that he might 
 be checked by Sir William Waller, who, with 4500 
 foot, and 1500 horse, was at that time about Win- 
 chester, having lately beaten Sir Ralph Hopton ; — 
 upon all these considerations, the Earl of Essex 
 marches westward. 
 
 The forces in the west being too weak to oppose 
 him, everything gave way to him, and aU people ex- 
 pected he would besiege Exeter, where the queen 
 was newly lying-in, and sent a trumpet to desire he 
 would forbear the city, while she could be removed, 
 which he did, and passed on westward, took Tiver- 
 ton, Bideford, Barnstaple, Launceston, relieved Ply- 
 mouth, drove Sir Richard Grenvile up into Cornwall, 
 and followed him thither, but left Prince Maurice 
 behind him with 4000 men about Barnstaple and 
 Exeter. The king in the meantime, marches from 
 Oxford into Worcester, with Waller at his heels. At 
 Edgehill his Majesty turns upon Waller, and gave 
 [280] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 him a brush, to put him in mind of the place. The 
 king goes on to Worcester, sends 300 horse to relieve 
 Durley Castle, besieged by the Earl of Denby, and 
 sending part of his forces to Bristol, returns to Oxford. 
 
 His Majesty had now firmly resolved to march 
 into the west, not having yet any account of our 
 misfortunes in the north. Waller and Middleton 
 waylay the king at Cropredy Bridge. The king as- 
 saults Middleton at the bridge. Waller's men were 
 posted with some cannon to guard a pass. Middle- 
 ton's men put a regiment of the king's foot to the 
 rout, and pursued them. Waller's men, willing 
 to come in for the plunder, a thing their general 
 had often used them to, quit their post at the pass, 
 and their great guns, to have part in the victory. 
 The king coming in seasonably to the relief of his 
 men, routs Middleton, and at the same time sends 
 a party round, who clapped in between Sir William 
 Waller's men and their great guns, and secured the 
 pass and the cannon too. The king took three 
 colonels, besides other officers, and about 300 men 
 prisoners, with eight great guns, nineteen . carriages 
 of ammunition, and killed about 200 men. 
 
 Waller lost his reputation in this fight, and was 
 exceedingly slighted ever after, even by his own 
 party ; but especially by such as were of General 
 Essex's party, between whom and Waller there had 
 been jealousies and misunderstandings for some time. 
 
 The king, about 8000 strong, marched on to 
 
 Bristol, where Sir William Hopton joined him, and 
 
 from thence he follows Essex into Cornwall. Essex 
 
 still following Grenvile, the king comes to Exeter, 
 
 [281 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and joining with Prince Maurice, resolves to pursue 
 Essex ; and now the Earl of Essex began to see his 
 mistake, being cooped up between two seas, the 
 king's army in his rear, the country his enemy, 
 and Sir Richard Grenvile in his van. 
 
 The king, who always took the best measures when 
 he was left to his own counsel, wisely refuses to 
 engage, though superior in number, and much 
 stronger in horse. Essex often drew out to fight, 
 but the king fortifies, takes the passes and bridges, 
 plants cannon, and secures the country to keep off 
 provisions, and continually straitens their quarters, 
 but would not fight. 
 
 Now Essex sends away to the Parliament for help, 
 and they write to Waller, and Middleton, and Man- 
 chester to follow, and come up with the king in his 
 rear ; but some were too far off, and could not, as 
 Manchester and Fairfax ; others made no haste, as 
 having no mind to it, as Waller and Middleton, and 
 if they had, it had been too late. 
 
 At last the Earl of Essex, finding nothing to be 
 done, and unwilling to fall into the king's hands, 
 takes shipping, and leaves his army to shift for 
 themselves. The horse, under Sir William Balfour, 
 the best horse officer, and, without comparison, the 
 bravest in all the Parliament army, advanced in 
 small parties, as if to skirmish, but following in with 
 the whole body, being 3500 horse, broke through, 
 and got off. Though this was a loss to the king's 
 victory, yet the foot were now in a condition so 
 much the worse. Brave old Skippon proposed to 
 fight through with the foot and die, as he called it, 
 [282] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 like Englishmen, with sword in hand ; but the rest 
 of the officers shook their heads at it, for, being well 
 paid, they had at present no occasion for dying. 
 
 Seeing it thus, they agreed to treat, and the king 
 grants them conditions, upon laying down their arms, 
 to march off free. This wtis. too much. Had his 
 Majesty but obliged them upon oath not to serve 
 again for a certain time, he had done his business ; 
 but this was not thought of; so they passed free, 
 only disarmed, the soldiers not being allowed so much 
 as their swords. 
 
 The king gained by this treaty forty pieces of can- 
 non, all of brass, 300 barrels of gimpowder, 9000 
 arms, 8000 swords, match and bullet in proportion, 
 aOO waggons, 150 colours and standards, all the bag 
 and baggage of the army, and about 1000 of the men 
 listed in his army. This was a complete victory 
 without bloodshed ; and had the king but secured 
 the men from serving but for six months, it had most 
 effectaally answered the battle of Marston Moor. 
 
 As it was, it infused new life into all his Majesty's 
 forces and friends, and retrieved his affairs very 
 much ; but especially it encouraged us in the north, 
 who were more sensible of the blow received at 
 Marston Moor, and of the destruction the Scots were 
 bringing upon us all. 
 
 While I was at Chester, we had some small skir- 
 mishes with Sir William Brereton. One morning in 
 particular Sir William drew up, and faced us, and 
 one of our colonels of horse observing the enemy to 
 be not, as he thought, above 200, desires leave of 
 Prince Rupert to attack them with the like number, 
 [283] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 and accordingly he sallied out with 200 horse, I 
 stood drawn up without the city with 800 more, 
 ready to bring him off, if he should be put to the 
 worst, which happened accordingly ; for, not having 
 discovered neither the country nor the enemy as he 
 thought, Sir William _ Brereton drew him into an 
 ambuscade; so that before he came up with Sir 
 William's forces, near enough to charge, he finds 
 about 300 horse in his rear. Though he was sur- 
 prised at this, yet, being a man of a ready courage, 
 he boldly faces about with 150 of his men, leaving 
 the other fifty to face Sir William. With this small 
 party, he despei'ately charges the 300 horse in his 
 rear, and putting them into disorder, breaks through 
 them, and, had there been no greater force, he had 
 cut them all in pieces. Flushed with this success, 
 and loth to desert the fifty men he had left behind, 
 he faces about again, and charges through them 
 again, and with these two charges entirely routs them. 
 Sir William Brereton finding himself a little dis- 
 appointed, advances, and falls upon the fifty men 
 just as the colonel came up to them ; they fought 
 him with a great deal of bravery, but the colonel 
 being unfortunately killed in the first charge, the 
 men gave way, and came flying all in confusion, with 
 the enemy at their heels. As soon as I saw this, I 
 advanced, according to my orders, and the enemy, as 
 soon as I appeared, gave over the pursuit. This 
 gentleman, as I remember, was Colonel Marrow ; we 
 fetched off his body, and retreated into Chester. 
 
 The next morning the prince drew out of the city 
 with about 1200 horse and 2000 foot, and attacked 
 [284] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Sir William Brereton in his quarters. The fight 
 was very sharp for the time, and near 700 men, on 
 both sides, were killed ; but Sir William would not 
 put it to a general engagement, so the prince drew 
 off, contenting himself to have insulted him in his 
 quarters. 
 
 We now had received orders from the king to join 
 him ; but I representing to the prince the condition 
 of my regiment, which was now 100 men, and that, 
 being within twenty-five miles of my father's house, I 
 might soon recruit it, my father having got some men 
 together already, I desired leave to lie at Shrewsbury 
 for a month, to make up my men. Accordingly, 
 having obtained his leave, I marched to Wrexham, 
 where in two days' time I got twenty men, and so on 
 to Shrewsbury. I had not been here above ten days, 
 but I received an express to come away with what 
 recruits I had got together, Prince Rupert having 
 positive orders to meet the king by a certain day. 
 I had not mounted 100 men, though I had listed 
 above 200, when these orders came ; but leaving 
 my father to complete them for me, I marched with 
 those I had and came to Oxford. 
 
 The king, after the rout of the Parliament forces 
 in the west, was marched back, took Barnstaple, 
 Plympton, Launceston, Tiverton, and several other 
 places, and left Plymouth besieged by Sir Richard 
 Grenvile, met with" Sir William Waller at Shaftes- 
 bury, and again at Andover, and boxed him at both 
 places, and marched for Newbury. Here the king 
 sent for Prince Rupert to meet him, who with 
 3000 horse made long marches to join him ; but the 
 [285] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Parliament having joined their three armies to- 
 gether, Manchester from the north. Waller and 
 Essex (the men being clothed and armed) from the 
 west, had attacked the king, and obliged him to fight 
 the day before the prince came up. 
 
 The king had so posted himself, as that he could 
 not be obliged to fight but with advantage, the 
 Parliament's forces being superior in number, and 
 therefore, when they attacked him, he galled them 
 with his cannon, and declining to come to a generaJ 
 battle, stood upon the defensive, expecting Prince 
 Rupert with the horse. 
 
 The Parliament's forces had some advantage over 
 our foot, and took the Earl of Cleveland prisoner. 
 But the king, whose foot were not above one to two, 
 drew his men under the cannon of Donnington Castle, 
 and having secured his artillery and baggage, made a 
 retreat with his foot in very good order, having not 
 lost in all the fight above 300 men, and the Parlia- 
 ment as many. We lost five pieces of cannon and 
 took two, having repulsed the Earl of Manchester's 
 men on the north side of the town, with considerable 
 loss. 
 
 The king having lodged his train of artillery and 
 baggage in Donnington Castle, marched the next 
 day for Oxford. There we joined him with 3000 
 horse and 2000 foot. Encouraged with this rein- 
 forcement, the king appears upon the hills on the 
 north-west of Newbury, and faces the Parliament 
 army. The Parliament having too many generals 
 as well as soldiers, they could not agree whether 
 they should fight or no. This was no great token 
 [286] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of the victory they boasted of, for they were now 
 twice our number in the whole, and their foot three 
 for one. The king stood in battalia all day, and find- 
 ing the Parliament forces had no stomach to engage 
 him, he drew away his cannon and baggage out of 
 Donnington Castle in view of their whole army, and 
 marched away to Oxford. 
 
 This was such a false step of the Parliament's 
 generals, that all the people cried shame of them. 
 The Parliament appointed a committee to inquire 
 into it. Cromwell accused Manchester, and he 
 Waller, and so they laid the fault upon one an- 
 other. Waller would have been glad to have 
 charged it upon Essex, but as it happened he was 
 not in the army, having been taken ill some days 
 before. But as it generally is when a mistake is 
 made, the actors fall out among themselves, so it 
 was here. No doubt it was as false a step as that 
 of Cornwall, to let the king fetch away his baggage 
 and cannon in the face of three armies, and never 
 fire a shot at them. 
 
 The king had not above 8000 foot in his army, 
 and they above 25,000. Tis true the king had 
 8000 horsCj a fine body, and much superior to 
 theirs ; but the foot might, with the greatest ease 
 in the world, have prevented the removing the 
 cannon, and in three days' time have taken the 
 castle, with all that was in it. 
 
 Those differences produced their self-denying or- 
 dinance, and the putting by most of their old 
 generals, as Essex, Waller, Manchester, and the 
 like ; and Sir Thomas Fairfax, a terrible man in 
 [287] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the field, though the mildest of men out of it, was 
 voted to have the command of all their forces, 
 and Lambert to take the command of Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax's troops in the north, old Skippon being 
 Major-General. 
 
 This winter was spent on the enemy's side in 
 modelling, as they called it, their army, and on our 
 side in recruiting ours, and some petty excursions. 
 Amongst the many addresses I observed one from 
 Sussex or Surrey, complaining of the rudeness of 
 their soldiers, and particularly of the ravishing of 
 women and the murdering of men, from which I 
 only observed that there were disorders among 
 them as well as among us, only with this difference, 
 that they, for reasons I mentioned before, were 
 under circumstances to prevent it better than the 
 king. But I must do the king's memory that 
 justice, that he used all possible methods, by pun- 
 ishment of soldiers, charging, and sometimes en- 
 treating, the gentlemen not to suffer such disorders 
 and such violences in their men ; but it was to no 
 purpose for his Majesty to attempt it, while his 
 officers, generals, and great men winked at it ; 
 for the licentiousness of the soldier is supposed 
 to be approved by the officer when it is not 
 corrected. 
 
 The rudeness of the Parliament soldiers began 
 from the divisions among their officers ; for in many 
 places the soldiers grew so out of all discipline and 
 so unsufferably rude, that they, in particular, re- 
 fused to march when Sir William Waller went to 
 Weymouth. This had turned to good account 
 [288] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 for us, had these cursed Scots been out of our way, 
 but they were the staff of the party ; and now they 
 were daily solicited to march southward, which was 
 a very great affliction to the king and all his friends. 
 
 One booty the king got at this time, which was a 
 very seasonable assistance to his affairs, viz., a great 
 merchant ship, richly laden at London, and bound 
 to the East Indies, was, by the seamen, brought 
 into Bristol, and delivered up to the king. Some 
 merchants in Bristol offered the king ^£'40,000 for 
 her, which his Majesty ordered should be accepted, 
 reserving only thirty great guns for his own use. 
 
 The treaty at Uxbridge now was begun, and we 
 that had been well beaten in the war heartily wished 
 the king would come to a peace ; but we all foresaw 
 the clergy would ruin it all. The Commons were 
 for Presbytery, and would never agree the bishops 
 should be restored. The king was -willinger to 
 comply with anything than this, and we foresaw 
 it would be so ; from whence we used to say among 
 ourselves, " That the clergy was resolved if there 
 should be no bishop there should be no king." 
 
 This treaty at Uxbridge was a perfect war between 
 the men of the gown, ours was between those of the 
 sword ; and I cannot but take notice how the lawyers, 
 statesmen, and the clergy of every side bestirred them- 
 selves, rather to hinder than promote the peace. 
 
 There had been a treaty at Oxford some time be- 
 fore, where the Parliament insisting that the king 
 should pass a bill to abolish Episcopacy, quit the 
 militia, abandon several of his faithful servants to be 
 exempted from pardon, and making several other 
 19 [ 289 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 most extravagant demands, nothing was done, but 
 the treaty broke off, both parties being rather farther 
 exasperated, than inclined to hearken to conditions. 
 
 However, soon after the success in the west, his 
 Majesty, to let them see that victory had not puffed 
 him up so as to make him reject the peace, sends a 
 message to the Parliament, to put them in mind of 
 messages of like nature which they had slighted ; and 
 to let them know, that notwithstanding he had beaten 
 their forces, he was yet willing to hearken to a resison- 
 able proposal for putting an end to the war. 
 
 The Parliament pretended the king, in his message, 
 did not treat with them as a legal Parliament, and so 
 made hesitations ; but after long debates and delays 
 they agreed to draw up propositions for peace to be 
 sent to the king. As this message was sent to the 
 Houses about August, I think they made it the 
 middle of November before they brought the propo- 
 sitions for peace ; and, when they brought them, they 
 had no power to enter either upon a treaty, or so much 
 as preliminaries for a treaty, only to deliver the letter, 
 and receive an answer. 
 
 However, such were the circumstances of affairs at 
 this time, that the king was uneasy to see himself 
 thus treated, and take no notice of it : the king re- 
 turned an answer to the propositions, and proposed 
 a treaty by commissioners which the Parliament 
 appointed. 
 
 Three months more were spent in naming commis- 
 sioners. There was much time spent in this treaty, 
 but little done ; the commissioners debated chiefly the 
 •article of religion, and of the militia ; in the latter 
 [ 290 1 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 they were very likely to agree, in the former both sides 
 seemed too positive. The king would by no means 
 abandon Episcopacy, nor the Parliament Presbytery ; 
 for both in their opinion were Jure divino. 
 
 The commissioners finding this point hardest to 
 adjust, went from it to that of the militia ; but the 
 time spinning out, the king's commissioners demanded 
 longer time for the treaty ; the other sent up for in- 
 structions, but the House refused to lengthen out 
 the time. 
 
 This was thought an insolence upon the king, and 
 gave all good people a detestation of such haughty 
 behaviour ; and thus the hopes of peace vanished, 
 both sides prepared for war with as much eagerness 
 as before. 
 
 The Parliament was employed at this time in what 
 they called a-modelling their army ; that is to say, 
 that now the Independent party [was] beginning to 
 prevail ; and, as they outdid all the others in their 
 resolution of carrying on the war to all extremities, 
 so they were both the more vigorous and more politic 
 party in carrying it on. 
 
 Indeed, the war was after this 'carried on with 
 greater animosity than ever, and the generals pushed 
 forward with a vigour that, as it had something in it 
 unusual, so it told us plainly from this time, whatever 
 they did before, they now pushed at the ruin even of 
 the monarchy itself. 
 
 All this while also the war went on, and though 
 the Parliament had no settled army, yet their regi- 
 ments and troops were always in action ; and the 
 sword was at work in every part of the kingdom. 
 [291] 
 
MEMOIKS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Among an infinite number of party skirmishings 
 and fights this winter, one happened which nearly 
 concerned me, which was the surprise of the town 
 and castle of Shrewsbury. Colonel Mitton, with 
 about 1200 horse and foot, having intelligence with 
 some people in the town, on a Sunday morning early 
 broke into the town and took it, castle and all. The 
 loss for the quality, more than the number, was very 
 great to the king's affairs. They took there fifteen' 
 pieces of cannon, Prince Maurice's magazine of arms 
 and ammunition, Prince Rupert's baggage, above 
 fifty persons of quality and officers. There was not 
 above eight or ten men killed on both sides, for the 
 town was surprised, not stormed. I had a particular 
 loss in this action ; for all the men and horses my 
 father had got together for the recruiting my regi- 
 ment were here lost and dispersed, and, which was 
 the worse, my father happening to be then in the 
 town, was taken prisoner, and carried to Beeston 
 Castle in Cheshire. 
 
 I was quartered all this winter at Banbury, and 
 went little abroad ; nor had we any action till the 
 latter end of February, when I was ordered to march 
 to Leicester with Sir Marmaduke Langdale, in order, 
 as we thought, to raise a body of men in that county 
 and Staffordshire to join the king. 
 
 We lay at Daventry one night, and continuing 
 our march to pass the river above Northampton, 
 that town being possessed by the enemy, we under- 
 stood a party of Northampton forces were abroad, 
 and intended to attack us. Accordingly, in the 
 afternoon our scouts brought us word the enemy 
 [292] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 were quartered in some villages on the road to 
 Coventry. Our commander, thinking it much better 
 to set upon them in their quarters, than to wait for 
 them in the field, resolves to attack them early in 
 the morning before they were aware of it. We re- 
 freshed ourselves in the field for that day, and, get- 
 ting into a great wood near the enemy, we stayed 
 there all night, till almost break of day, without 
 being discovered. 
 
 In the morning very early we heard the enemy's 
 trumpets sound to horse. This roused us to look 
 abroad, and, sending out a scout, he brought us 
 word a part of the enemy was at hand. We were 
 vexed to be so disappointed, but finding their party 
 small enough to be dealt with. Sir Marmaduke 
 ordered me to charge them with 300 horse and 200 
 dragoons, while he at the same time entered the 
 town. Accordingly I lay still till they came to the 
 very skirt of the wood where I was posted, when I 
 saluted them with a volley from my dragoons out of 
 the wood, and immediately showed myself with my 
 horse on their front ready to charge them. They 
 appeared not to be surprised, and received our charge 
 with great resolution ; and, being above 400 men, 
 they pushed me vigorously in their turn, putting my 
 men into some disorder. In this extremity I sent 
 to order my dragoons to charge them in the flank, 
 which they did with great bravery, and the other 
 still maintained the fight with desperate resolution. 
 There was no want of courage in our men on both 
 sides, but our dragoons had the advantage, and at 
 la^st routed them, and drove them back to the village. 
 [ 293 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Here Sir Marmaduke Langdale had his hands ftill 
 too, for my firing had alarmed the towns adjacent, 
 that when he came into the town he found them all 
 in arms, and, contrary to his expectation, two regi- 
 ments of foot, with about 500 horse more. As Sir 
 Marmaduke had no foot, only horse and dragoons, 
 this was a surprise to him ; but he ca.used his dra- 
 goons to enter the town and charge the foot, while 
 his horse secured the avenues of the town. 
 
 The dragoons bravely attacked the foot, and Sir 
 Marmaduke falling in with his horse, the fight was 
 obstinate and very bloody, when the horse that I had 
 routed came flying into the street of the village, 
 and my men at their heels. Immediately I left the 
 pursuit, and fell in with all my force to the assistance 
 of my friends, and, after an obstinate resistance, we 
 routed the whole party ; we killed about 700 men, 
 took 350, 27 officers, 100 arms, all their baggage, 
 and 200 horses, and continued our march to Har- 
 borough, where we halted to refresh ourselves. 
 
 Between Harborough and Leicester we met with a 
 party of 800 dragoons of the Parliament forces. 
 They found themselves too few to attack us, and 
 therefore to avoid us they had gotten into a small 
 wood; but perceiving themselves discovered, they 
 came boldly out, and placed themselves at the en- 
 trance into a lane, lining both sides of the' hedges 
 with their shot. We immediately attacked them, 
 beat them from their hedges, beat them into the 
 wood, and out of the wood again, and forced them 
 at last to a downright run away, on foot, among the 
 enclosures, where we could not follow them, killed 
 [294.] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 about 100 of them, and took 250 prisoners, with all 
 their horses, and came that night to Leicester. 
 When we came to Leicester, and had taken up our 
 quarters, Sir Marmaduke Langdale sent for me to 
 sup with him, and told me that he had a secret 
 commission in his pocket, which his Majesty had 
 commanded him not to open till he came to Leicester ; 
 that now he had sent for me to open it together, 
 that we might know what it was we were to do, and 
 to consider how to do it ; so pulling out his sealed 
 orders, we found we were to get what force we could 
 together, and a certain number of carriages with 
 ammunition, which the governor of Leicester was to 
 deliver us, and a certain quantity of provision, 
 especially corn and salt, and to relieve Newark. This 
 town had been long besieged. The fortifications of 
 the place, together with its situation, had rendered 
 it the strongest piece in England ; and, as it was the 
 greatest pass in England, so it was of vast consequence 
 to the king's affairs. There was in it a garrison of 
 brave old rugged boys, fellows that, like Count 
 Tilly's Germans, had iron faces, and they had de- 
 fended themselves with extraordinary bravery a great 
 while, but were reduced to an exceeding strait for 
 want of provisions. 
 
 Accordingly we received the ammunition and pro- 
 visions, and away we went for Newark ; about Melton 
 Mowbray, Colonel Rossiter set upon us, with above 
 3000 men ; we were about the same number, having 
 2500 horse, and 800 dragoons. We had some foot, 
 but they were still at Harborough, and were ordered 
 to come after us. 
 
 [ 295] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Rossiter, like a brave officer as he was, charged us 
 with great fury, and rather outdid us in niimber, 
 while we defended ourselves with all the eagerness 
 we could, and withal gave him to understand we were 
 not so soon to be beaten as he expected. While the 
 fight continued doubtful, especially on our side, our 
 people, who had charge of the carriages and provi- 
 sions, began to enclose our flanks with them as if we 
 had been marching, which, though it was done with- 
 out orders, had two very good effects, and which did 
 us extraordinary service. First, it secured us from 
 being charged in the flank, which Rossiter had twice 
 attempted ; and secondly, it secured our carriages 
 from being plundered, which had spoiled our whole 
 expedition. Being thus enclosed, we fought with 
 great security ; and though Rossiter made three 
 desperate charges upon us, he could never break us. 
 Our men received him with so much courage, and 
 kept their order so well, -that the enemy, finding it 
 impossible to force us, gave it over, and left us to 
 pursue our orders. We did not offer to chase them, 
 but contented "enough to have repulsed and beaten 
 them off", and our business being to relieve Newark, 
 we proceeded. 
 
 If we are to reckon by the enemy's usual method, 
 we got the victory, because we kept the field, and had 
 the pillage of their dead ; but otherwise, neither side 
 had any great cause to boast. We lost about 150 
 men, and near as many hurt ; they left 170 on the 
 spot, and carried off some. How many thev had 
 wounded we could not tell ; we got seventy or eighty 
 horses, which helped to remount some of our men 
 [296] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 that had lost theirs in the fight. We had, however, 
 this advantage, that we were to march on imme- 
 diately after this service, the enemy only to retire to 
 their, quarters, which was but hard by. This was 
 an injury to our wounded men, who we were after 
 obliged to leave at Belvoir Castle, and from thence 
 we advanced to Newark. 
 
 Our business at Newark was to relieve the place, 
 and this we resolved to do whatever it cost, though, 
 at the same time, we resolved not to fight unless we 
 were forced to it. The town was rather blocked up 
 than besieged ; the garrison was strong, but ill- 
 provided ; we had sent them word of our coming to 
 them, and our orders to relieve them, and they 
 proposed some measures for our doing it. The chief 
 strength of the enemy lay on the other side of the 
 river ; but they having also some notice of our design, 
 had sent over forces to strengthen their leaguer on 
 this side. The garrison had often surprised them 
 by sallies, and indeed had chiefly subsisted for some 
 time by what they brought in on this manner. 
 
 Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who was our general 
 for the expedition, was for a general attempt to 
 raise the siege, but I had persuaded him ofi" of that ; 
 first, because, if we should be beaten, as might be 
 probable, we then lost the town. Sir Marmaduke 
 briskly replied, " A soldier ought never to suppose 
 he shall be beaten." " But, sir," says I, " you '11 get 
 more honour by relieving the town, than by beating 
 them. One will be a credit to your conduct, as the 
 other will be to your courage ; and if you think you 
 can beat them, you may do it afterward, and then 
 [297] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 • 
 
 if you are mistaken, the town is nevertheless secured, 
 and half your victory gained." 
 
 He was prevailed with to adhere to this advice, 
 and accordingly we appeared before the town about 
 two hours before night. The horse drew up before 
 the enemy's works ; the enemy drew up within their 
 works, and seeing no foot, expected when our 
 dragoons would dismount and attack them. They 
 were in the right to let us attack them, because of 
 the advantage of their batteries and works, if that 
 had been our design ; but, as we intended only to 
 amuse them, this caution of theirs effected our design ; 
 for, while we thus faced them with our horse, two 
 regiments of foot, which came up to us but the night 
 before, and was all the infantry we had, with the 
 waggons of provisions, and 500 dragoons, taking a 
 compass clean round the town, posted themselves on 
 the lower side of the town by the river. Upon a 
 signal the garrison agreed on before, they sallied out 
 at this very juncture with all the men they could 
 spare, and dividing themselves in two parties, while 
 one party moved to the left to meet our relief, the 
 other party fell on upon part of that body which 
 faced us. We kept in motion, and upon this signal 
 advanced to their works, and our dragoons fired 
 upon them, and the horse, wheeling and counter- 
 marching often, kept them continually expecting to 
 be attacked. By this means the enemy were kept 
 employed, and our foot, with the waggons, appear- 
 ing on that quarter where they were least expected, 
 easily defeated the advanced guards and forced that 
 post, where, entering the leaguer, the other part of 
 [ 298 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the garrison, who had sallied that way, came up to 
 them, received the waggons, and the dragoons entered 
 with them into the town. That party which we 
 faced on the other side of the works knew nothing of 
 what was done till all was over; the garrison re- 
 ti'eated in good order, and we drew off, having 
 finished what we came for without fighting. Thus 
 we plentifully stored the town with all things want- 
 ing, and with an addition of 500 dragoons to their 
 garrison ; after which we marched away without 
 fighting a stroke. 
 
 Our next orders were to relieve Pontefract Castle, 
 another garrison of the king's, which had been be- 
 sieged ever since a few days after the battle at 
 Marston Moor, by the Lord Fairfax, Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax, and other generals in their turn. By the 
 way we were joined with 800 horse out of Derby- 
 shire, and some foot, so many as made us about 
 4500 men in all. 
 
 Colonel Forbes, a Scotchman, commanded at the 
 siege, in the absence of the Lord Fairfax. The 
 colonel had sent to my lord for more troops, and his 
 lordship was gathering his forces to come up to him. 
 but he was pleksed to come too late. We came up 
 with the enemy's leaguer about the break of day, 
 and having been discovered by their scouts, they, 
 with more courage than discretion, di-ew out to 
 meet us. We saw no reason to avoid them, being 
 stronger in horse than they ; and though we had 
 but a few foot, we had 1000 dragoons, which helped 
 us out. We had placed our horse and foot through- 
 out in one line, with two reserves of horse, and 
 [ 299 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 between every division of horse a division of foot, 
 only that on the extremes of our wings there were 
 two parties of horse on each point by themselves, 
 and the dragoons in the centre on foot. Their foot 
 charged us home, and stood with push of pike a 
 great while ; but their horse charging our horse 
 and musketeers, and being closed on the flanks, with 
 those two extended troops on our wings, they were 
 presently disordered, and fled out of the field. The 
 foot, thus deserted, were charged on every side and 
 broken. They retreated still fighting, and in good 
 order for a while; but the garrison sallying upon 
 them at the same time, and being followed close by 
 our horse, they were scattered, entirely routed, and 
 most of them killed. The Lord Fairfax was come 
 with his horse as far as Ferrybridge, but the fight 
 was over, and all he could do was to rally those that 
 fled, and save some of' their carriages, which else had 
 fallen into our hands. We drew up our little army 
 in order of battle the next day, expecting the Lord 
 Fairfax would have charged us ; but his lordship was 
 so far from. any such thoughts that he placed a party 
 of dragoons, with orders to fortify the pass at Ferry- 
 bridge, to prevent our falling upon him in his retreat, 
 which he needed not have done ; for, having raised 
 the siege of Pontefract, our business was done, we 
 had nothing to say to him, unless we had been 
 strong enough to stay. 
 
 We lost not above thirty men in this action, and 
 
 the enemy 300, with about 150 prisoners, one piece 
 
 of cannon, all their ammunition, 1000 arms, and 
 
 most of their baggage, and Colonel Lambert was 
 
 [300] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 once taken prisoner, being wounded, but got off 
 again. 
 
 We brought no relief for the garrison, but the 
 opportunity to furnish themselves out of the country, 
 which they did very plentifully. The ammunition 
 taken from the enemy was given to them, which 
 they wanted, and was their due, for they had seized 
 it in the sally they made, before the enemy was 
 quite defeated. 
 
 I cannot omit taking ndtice on all occasions how 
 exceeding serviceable this method was of posting 
 musketeers in the intervals, among the horse, in all 
 this war. I persuaded our generals to it as much as 
 possible, and I never knew a body of horse beaten 
 that did so; yet I had great difficulty to prevail 
 upon our people to believe it, though it was taught 
 me by the greatest general in the world, viz., the 
 King of Sweden. Prince Rupert did it at the battle 
 of Marstpn Moor ; and had the Earl of Newcastle 
 not been obstinate against it in his right wing, as I 
 observed before, the day had not been lost. In dis- 
 coursing this with Sir Marmaduke Langdale, I had 
 related several examples of the serviceableness of 
 these small bodies of firemen, and with great diffi- 
 culty brought him to agree, telling him I would be 
 answerable for the success. But after the fight, he 
 told me plainly he saw the advantage of it, and 
 would never fight otherwise again if he had any foot 
 to place. So having relieved these two places, we 
 hastened by long marches through Derbyshire, to 
 join Prince Rupert on the edge of Shropshire and 
 Cheshire. We found Colonel Rossiter had followed 
 [301 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 us at a distance ever since the business at Melton 
 Mowbray, but never cared to attack us, and we 
 found he did the like still. Our general would fain 
 have been doing with him again, but w6 found him 
 too shy. Once we laid a trap for him at Dovebridge, 
 between Derby and Burton-upon-Trent, the body 
 being marched two days before. Three hundred 
 dragoons were left to guard the bridge, as if we 
 were afraid he should fall upon us. Upon this we 
 marched, as I said, on to Burton, and the next day, 
 fetching a compass round, came to a village near 
 Titbury Castle, whose name I forgot, where we lay 
 still expecting our dragoons would be attacked. 
 
 Accordingly, the colonel, strengthened with some 
 troops of horse from Yorkshire, comes up to the 
 bridge, and finding some dragoons posted, advances 
 to charge them. The dragoons immediately get 
 a-horseback, and nin for it, as they were ordered. 
 But the old lad was not to be caught so, for he 
 halts immediately at the bridge, and would not come 
 over till he had sent three or four flying parties 
 abroad to discover the country. One of these parties 
 fell into our hands, and received but coarse enter- 
 tainment. Finding the plot would not take, we ap- 
 peared and drew up in view of the bridge, but he 
 would not stir. So we continued our march into 
 Cheshire, where we joined Prince Rupert and Prince 
 Maurice, making together a fine body, being above 
 8000 horse and dragoons. 
 
 This was the best and most successful expedition 
 I was in during this war. T was well concerted, and 
 executed with as much expedition and conduct as 
 [302] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 could be desired, and the success was answerable to 
 it. And indeed, considering the season of the year 
 (for we set out from Oxford the latter end of Feb- 
 ruary), the ways bad, and the season wet, it was a 
 terrible march of above 200 miles, in continual 
 action, and continually dodged and observed by a 
 vigilant enemy, and at a time when the north was 
 overrun by their armieg, and the Scots wanting 
 employment for their forces. Yet in less than 
 twenty-three days we marched 200 miles, fought the 
 enemy in open field four times, relieved one garrison 
 besieged, and raised the siege of another, and joined 
 our friends at last in safety. 
 
 The enemy was in great pain for Sir William 
 Brereton and his forces, and expresses rode night and 
 day to the Scots in the north, and to the parties in 
 Lancashire to come to his help. The prince, who 
 used to be rather too forward to fight than other- 
 wise, could not be persuaded to make use of this 
 opportunity, but loitered, if I may be allowed to say 
 so, till the Scots, with a brigade of horse and 2000 
 foot, had joined him ; and then 't was not thought 
 proper to engage them. 
 
 I took this opportunity to go to Shrewsbury to 
 visit my father, who was a prisoner of war there, get- 
 ting a pass from the enemy's governor. They allowed 
 him the liberty of the town, and sometimes to go to 
 his own house upon his parole, so that his confinement 
 was not very much to his personal injury. But this, 
 together with the charges he had been at in raising 
 the regiment, and above ^£"20,000 in money and 
 plate, which at several times he had lent, or given 
 [ 303 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 rather to the king, had reduced our family to verj 
 ill circumstances ; and now they talked of cutting 
 down his woods. 
 
 I had a great deal of discourse with my father on 
 this affair ; and, finding him extremely concerned, I 
 offered to go to the king and desire his leave to 
 go to London and treat about his composition, 
 or to render myself a prisoner in his stead, while he 
 went up himself. In this difficulty I treated with 
 the governor of the town, who very civilly offered 
 me his pass to go for London, which I accepted, 
 and, waiting on Prince Rupert, who was then at 
 Worcester, I acquainted him with my design. The 
 prince was unwilling I should go to London ; but 
 told me he had some prisoners of the Parliament's 
 friends in Cumberland, and he would get an exchange 
 for my father. I told him if he would give me his 
 word for it I knew I might depend upon it, other- 
 wise there was' so many of the king's party in their 
 hands, that his Majesty was tired with solicitations 
 for exchanges, for we never had a prisoner but there 
 was ten offers of exchanges for him. The prince 
 told me I should depend upon him ; and he was as 
 good as his word quickly after. 
 
 While the prince lay at Worcester he had an in- 
 cursion into Herefordshire, and having made some 
 of the gentlemen prisoners, brought them to Wor- 
 cester ; and though it was an action which had not 
 been usual, they being persons not in arms, yet the 
 like being my father's case, who was really not in 
 commission, nor in any military service, having 
 resigned his regiment three years before to me, the 
 [ 304 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 prince insisted on exchanging them for such as the 
 Parhameut had in custody in like circumstances. 
 The gentlemen seeing no remedy, solicited their ov/n 
 case at the Parliament, and got it passed in their 
 behalf; and by this means iny father got his liberty, 
 and by the assistance of the Earl of Denbigh got 
 leave to come to London to make a composition as a 
 delinquent for his estate. This they charged at 
 d&TOOO, but by the assistance of the same noble per- 
 son he got off for dP4000. Some members of the 
 committee moved very kindly that my father should 
 oblige me to quit the king's service, but that, as a 
 thing which might be out of his power, was not 
 insisted on. 
 
 The modelling the Parliament army took them 
 up all this winter, and we were in great hopes the 
 divisions which appeared amongst them might have 
 weakened their party ; but when they voted Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax to be general, I confess I was con- 
 vinced the king's affairs were lost and desperate. 
 Sir Thomas, abating the zeal of his party, and the 
 mistaken opinion of his cause, was the fittest man 
 amongst them to undertake the charge. He was a 
 complete general, strict in his discipline, wary in 
 conduct, fearless in action, unwearied in the fatigue 
 of the war, and withal, of a modest, noble, generous 
 disposition. We all apprehended danger from him, 
 and heartily wished him of our own side ; and the 
 king was so sensible, though he would not discover 
 it, that when an account was brought him of the 
 choice they had made, he replied, " he was sorry for 
 it ; he had rather it had been anybody but he." 
 20 [ 305 ] ' 
 
MEMOIUS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The first attempts of this new general and new 
 army were at Oxford, which, by the neighbourhood 
 of a numerous garrison in Abingdon, began to be 
 very much straitened for provisions ; and the new 
 forces under Cromwell and Skippon, one lieutenant- 
 general, the other major-general to Fairfax, approach- 
 ing with a design to block it up, the king left the 
 place, supposing his absence would draw them away, 
 as it soon did. 
 
 The king resolving to leave Oxford, marches from 
 thence with all his forces, the garrison excepted, with 
 design to have gone to Bristol ; but the plague was 
 in Bristol, which altered the measures, and changed 
 the course of the king's designs, so he marched for 
 Worcester about the beginning of June 1645. The 
 foot, with a train of forty pieces of cannon, marching 
 into Worcester, the horse stayed behind some time 
 in Gloucestershire. 
 
 The first action our army did, was to raise the 
 siege of Chester ; Sir William Brereton had besieged 
 it, or rather blocked it up, and when his Majesty came 
 to Worcester, he sent Prince Rupert with 4000 horse 
 and dragoons, with orders to join some foot out of 
 Wales, to raise the siege ; but Sir William thought 
 fit to withdraw, and not stay for them, and the town 
 was freed without fighting. The governor took care 
 in this interval to furnish himself with all things 
 necessary for another siege ; and, as for ammunition 
 and other necessaries, he was in no want. 
 
 I was sent with a party into Staffordshire, with 
 design to intercept a convoy of stores coming from 
 London, for the use of Sir William Brereton ; but 
 [306] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 they having some notice of the design, stopped, and 
 went out of the road to Burton-upon-Trent, and so 
 I missed them ; but that we might not come back 
 quite empty, we attacked Hawkesley House, and took 
 it, where we got good booty, and brought eighty 
 prisoners back to Worcester. From Worcester the 
 king advanced into Shropshire, and took his head- 
 quarters at Bridgnorth. This was a very happy 
 march of the king's, and had his Majesty proceeded, 
 he had certainly cleared the north once more of his 
 enemies, for the country was generally for him. At 
 his advancing so far as Bridgnorth, Sir William 
 Brereton fled up into Lancashire ; the Scots brigades 
 who were with him retreated into the north, while 
 yet the king was above forty miles from them, and 
 all things lay open for conquest. The new generals, 
 Fairfax and Cromwell, lay about Oxford, preparing 
 as if they would besiege it, and gave the king's army 
 so much leisure, that his Majesty might have been at 
 Newcastle before they could have been half way to 
 him. But Heaven, when the ruin of a person or party 
 is determined, always so infatuates their counsels as 
 to make them instrumental to it themselves. 
 
 The king let slip this great oppoi'tunity, as some 
 thought, intending to break into the associated coun- 
 ties of Northampton, Cambridge, Norfolk, where he 
 had some interests forming. What the design was, we 
 knew not, but the king turns eastward, and marches 
 into Leicestershire, and having treated the country 
 but ver'y indifferently, as having deserved no better 
 of us, laid siege to Leicester. 
 
 This was but a, short siege ; for the king, resolving 
 f 307] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 not to lose time, fell on with his great guns, and hav- 
 ing beaten down their works, our foot entered, after 
 a vigorous resistance, and took the town by storm. 
 There was some blood shed here, the town being 
 carried by assault ; but it was their own faults ; for 
 after the town was taken, the soldiers and townsmen 
 obstinately fought us in the market-place ; insomuch 
 that the horse was called to enter the town to clear 
 the streets. But this was not all ; I was commanded 
 to advance with these horse, being three regiments, 
 and to enter the town ; the foot, who were engaged 
 in the streets, crying out, " Horse, horse." Immedi- 
 ately I advanced to the gate, for we were drawn up 
 about musket-shot from the works, to have supported 
 our foot in case of a sally. Having seized the gate, 
 I placed a guard of horse there, with orders to let 
 nobody pass in or out, and dividing my troops, rode 
 up by two ways towards the market-place. The 
 garrison defending themselves in the market-place 
 and in the churchyard with great obstinacy, killed 
 us a great many men ; but as soon as our horse ap- 
 peared tliey demanded quarter, which our foot refused 
 them in the first heat, as is frequent in all nations, in 
 like cases, till at last they threw down their arms, 
 and yielded at discretion ; and then I can testify to 
 the world, that fair quarter was given them. I am 
 the more particular in this relation, having been 
 an eye-witness of the action, because the king was 
 reproached in all the public libels, with which those 
 times abounded, for having put a great many to 
 death, and hanged the committee of the Parliament, 
 and some Scots, in cold blood, which was a notorious 
 [ 308 1 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 forgery ; and as I am sure there was no such thing 
 done, so I must acknowledge I never saw any inclina- 
 tion in his Majesty to cruelty, or to act anything 
 which was not practised by the general laws of war, 
 and by men of honour in all nations. 
 
 But the matter of fact, in respect to the garrison, 
 was as I have related ; and, if they had thrown 
 down their arms sooner, they had had mercy sooner ; 
 but it was not for a conquering army, entering a 
 town by storm, to offer conditions of quarter in the 
 streets. 
 
 Another circumstance was, that a great many of 
 the inhabitants, both men and women, were killed, 
 which is most true ; and the case was thus : the in- 
 habitants, to show their over-forward zeal to defend 
 the town, fought in the breach ; nay, the very 
 women, to the honour of the Leicester ladies, if they , 
 like it, officiously did their parts; and after the town 
 was taken, and when, if they had had any brains in 
 their zeal, they would have kept their houses, and 
 been quiet, they fired upon our men out of their 
 windows, and from the tops of their houses, and 
 threw tiles upon their heads ; and I had several of 
 my men wounded so, and seven or eight killed. 
 This exasperated us to the last degree ; and, finding 
 one house better manned ihan ordinary, and many 
 shot fired at us out of the windows, I caused my men 
 to attack it, resolved to make them an example for 
 the rest ; which they did, and breaking open the 
 doors, they killed all they found there, without dis- 
 tinction ; and I appeal to the world if they were to 
 blame. If the Parliament committee, or the Scots 
 [309] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 deputies were here, they ought to have been quiet, 
 since the town was taken ; but they began with us, 
 and, I think, brought it upon themselves. This is 
 the whole case, so far as came within my knowledge, 
 for which his Majesty was so much abused. 
 
 We took here Colonel Gray and Captain Hacker, 
 and about 300 prisoners, and about 300 more were 
 killed. This was the last day of May 1645. 
 
 His Majesty having given over Oxford for lost, 
 continued here some days, reviewed the town, ordered 
 the fortifications to be augmented, and prepares to 
 make it the seat of war. But the Parliament, roused 
 at this appearance of the king's army, orders their 
 general to raise the siege of Oxford, where the garri- 
 son had, in a sally, ruined some of their works, and 
 killed them 150 men, taking several prisoners, and 
 carrying them with them into the city ; and orders 
 him to march towards Leicester, to observe the king. 
 
 The king had now a small, but gallant army, all 
 brave tried soldiers, and seemed eager to engage the 
 new-modelled army; and his Majesty, hearing that 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax, having raised the siege of Ox- 
 ford, advanced towards him, fairly saves him the 
 trouble of a long march, and meets him half way. 
 
 The army lay at Daventry, and Fairfax at Tow- 
 cester, about eight miles oflF. Here the king sends 
 away 600 horse, with 3000 head of cattle, to relieve 
 his people in Oxford ; the cattle he might have spared 
 better than the men. The king having thus victualled 
 Oxford, changes his resolution of fighting Fairfax, to 
 whom Cromwell was now joined with 4000 men, or 
 was within a day's march, and marches northward. 
 [810] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 This was unhappy counsel, because late given. Had 
 we marched northward at first, we had done it ; but 
 thus it was. Now we marched with a triumphing 
 enemy at our heels, and at Naseby their advanced 
 parties attacked our rear. The king, upon this, 
 alters his resolution again, and resolves to fight, and 
 at midnight calls us up at Harborough to come to a 
 council of war. Fate and the king's opinion deter- 
 mined the council of war ; and 't was resolved to fight. 
 Accordingly the van, in w^ich was Prince Rupert's 
 brigade of horse, of which my regiment was a part, 
 countermarched early in the morning. 
 
 By five o'clock in the morning, the whole army, in 
 order of battle, began to descry the enemy from the 
 rising grounds, about a mile from Naseby, and moved 
 towards them. They were drawn up on a little 
 ascent in a large common fallow field, in one line 
 extended from one side of the field to the other, the 
 field something more than a mile over, our army in 
 the same order, in one line, with the reserve. 
 
 The king led the main battle of foot, Prince 
 Rupert the right wing of the hoi-se, and Sir Marma- 
 duke Langdale the left. Of the enemy Fairfax and 
 Skippon led the body, Cromwell and Rossiter the 
 right, and Ireton the left, the numbers of both armies 
 so, equal, as not to diflfer 500 men, save that the king 
 had most horse by about 1000, and Fairfax most 
 foot by 'about 500. The number was in each army 
 about 18,000 men. 
 
 The armies coming close up, the wings engaged 
 first. The prince with his right wing charged with 
 his wonted fury, and drove all the Parliament's wing 
 [311] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 of horse, one division excepted, clear out of the field ; 
 Ireton, who commanded this wing, give him his due, 
 rallied often, and fought like a lion ; but our wing 
 bore down all before them, and pursued them with a 
 terrible execution. 
 
 Ireton seeing one division of his horse left, repaired 
 to them, and keeping his ground, fell foul of a bri- 
 gade of our foot, who coming up to the head of the 
 line, he like a madman charges them with his horse. 
 But they with their pikes tore him to pieces ; so that 
 this division was entirely ruined. Ireton himself, 
 thrust through the thigh with a pike, wounded in 
 the face with a halberd, was unhorsed and taken 
 prisoner. 
 
 Cromwell, who commanded the Parliament's right 
 wing, charged Sir Marmaduke Langdale with ex- 
 traordinary fury, but he, an old tried soldier, stood 
 firm, and I'eceived the charge with equal gallantry, 
 exchanging all their shot, carabines and pistols, and 
 then fell on sword in hand. Rossiter and Whalley 
 had the better on the point of the wing, and routed 
 two divisions of horse, pushed them behind the 
 reserves, where they rallied and charged again, but 
 were at last defeated ; the rest of the horse, now 
 charged in the flank, retreated fighting, and were 
 pushed behind the reserves of foot. 
 
 While this was doing the foot engaged with equal 
 fierceness, and for two hours there was a terrible fire. 
 The king's foot, backed with gallant officers, and full 
 of rage at the rout of their horse, bore down the 
 enemy's brigade led by Skippon. The old man, 
 wounded, bleeding, retreats to their reserves. All 
 [312] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the foot, except the general's brigade, were thus 
 driven into the reserves, where their officers raUied 
 them, and bring them on to a fresh charge ; and here 
 the horse, having driven our horse above a quarter of 
 a mile from the foot, face about, and fall in on the 
 rear of the foot. 
 
 Had our right wing done thus, the day had been 
 secured ; but Prince Rupert, according to his custom, 
 following the flying enemy, never concerned himself 
 with the safety of those behind ; and yet he returned 
 sooner than he had done in like cases too. At bur 
 return we found all in confusion, our foot broken, 
 all but one brigade, which, though charged in the 
 front, flank, and rear, could not be broken till Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax himself came up to the charge 
 with fresh men, and then they were rather cut in 
 pieces than beaten, for they stood with their pikes 
 charged every way to the last extremity. 
 
 In this condition, at the distance of a quarter of 
 a mile, we saw the king rallying his horse, and 
 preparing to renew the fight ; and our wi ng of 
 horse coming up to him, gave him opportunity to 
 draw up a large body of horse, so large that all 
 the enemy's horse facing us stood still and looked 
 on, but did not think fit to charge us till their- foot, 
 who had entirely broken our main battle, were put 
 into order again, and brought up to us. 
 
 The officers about the king advised his Majesty 
 rather to draw off; for, since our foot were lost, 
 it would be too much odds to expose the horse to 
 the^fury of their whole army, and would but be 
 sacrificing his best troops without any hopes of 
 [ 313] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 success. The king, though with great regret at 
 the loss of his foot, yet seeing there was no other 
 hope, took this advice, and retreated in good order 
 to Harborough, and from thence to Leicester. 
 
 This was the occasion of the enemy having so 
 great a number of prisoners ; for the horse being 
 thus gone off, the foot had no means to make their 
 retreat, and wereobHged to yield themselves. Com- 
 missary-General Ireton being taken by a captain of 
 foot, makes the captain his prisoner, to save his 
 life, and gives him his liberty for his courtesy 
 before. \ 
 
 Cromwell and Rossiter, with all the enemy's 
 horse, followed us as far as Leicester, and killed all 
 that they could lay hold on straggling from the 
 body, but durst not attempt to charge us in a body. 
 The king, expecting the enemy would come to 
 Leicester, removes to Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where we 
 had some time to re-collect ourselves. 
 
 This was the most fatal action of the whole war, 
 not so much for the loss of our cannon, ammunition, 
 and baggage, of which the enemy boasted so much, 
 but as it was impossible for the king ever to re- 
 trieve it. The foot, the best that ever he was 
 master of, could never be supplied ; his army in the 
 west was exposed to certain ruin, the north over- 
 run with the Scots ; in short, the case gi-ew des- 
 perate, and the king was once upon the point of 
 bidding us all disband, and shift for ourselves. 
 
 We lost in this fight not above 2000 slain, and 
 the Parliament near as many, but the prisoners 
 were a great number ; the whole body of foot being, 
 [314] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 as I have said, dispersed, there were 4500 prisoners, 
 besides 400 officers, 2000 horses, 12 pieces of cannon, 
 40 barrels of powder, all the king's baggage, coaches, 
 most of his servants, and his secretary, with his 
 cabinet of letters, of which the Parliament made 
 great improvement, and basely enough caused his 
 private letters — between his Majesty and the 
 queen, her Majesty's letters to the king, and a 
 great deal of such stuflF — : to be printed. 
 
 After this fatal blow, being retreated, as I "have 
 said, to Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, the 
 king ordered us to divide ; his Majesty, with a body 
 of horse, about 3000, went to Lichfield, and through 
 Cheshire into North Wales, and Sir Marmaduke 
 Langdale, with about 2500, went to Newark. 
 
 The king reniained in Wales for several months ; 
 and though the length of the war had %lmost 
 drained that country of men, yet the king raised a 
 great many men there, recruited his horse regiments, 
 and got together six or seven regiments of foot, 
 which seemed to look like the beginning of a new 
 army. 
 
 I had fi-equent discourses with his Majesty in this 
 low ebb of his affairs, and he would often wish he 
 had not exposed his army at Naseby. I took the 
 freedom once to make a proposition to his Majesty, 
 which, if it had taken effect, I verily believe would 
 have given a new turn to his affairs ; and that was, 
 at once to slight all his garrisons in the kingdom, 
 and give private orders to all the soldiers in every- 
 place, to join in bodies, and meet at two general 
 rendezvous, which I would have appointed to be, 
 [315] 
 
MEMOIKS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 one at Bristol, and one at West Chester. I demon- 
 strated how easily all the forces might reach these 
 two places ; and both being strong and wealthy 
 places, and both seaports, he would have a free com- 
 munication by sea with Ireland, and with his friends 
 abroad ; and having Wales entirely his own, he 
 might yet have an opportunity to make good terms 
 for himself, or else have another fair field with the 
 enemy. 
 
 Upon a fair calculation of his troops in several 
 garrisons and small bodies dispersed about, I con- , 
 vinced the king, by his own accounts, that he might 
 have two complete armies, each of 25,000 foot, 
 8000 horse, and 2000 dragoons; that the Lord 
 Goring and the Lord Hopton might ship all their 
 forces, and come by sea in two tides, and be with 
 him in'-a shorter time thail the enemy could follow. 
 With two such bodies he might face the enemy, and 
 make a day of it ; but now his men were only sacri- 
 ficed, and eaten up by piecemeal in a party-war, and 
 spent their lives and estates to do him no service. 
 That if the Parliament garrisoned the towns and 
 castles he should quit, they would lessen their army, 
 and not dare to see him in the field ; and if they did 
 not, but 'left them open, then 't would be no loss to 
 him, but he might possess them as often as he 
 pleased. 
 
 This advice I pressed with such arguments, that 
 the king was once going to despatch orders for the 
 doing it ; but to be irresolute in counsel is always 
 the companion of a declining fortune ; the king was 
 doubtful, and could not resolve until it was too late. 
 [316] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 And yet, though the king's forces were very low, 
 his Majesty was resolved to make one adventure 
 more, and it was a strange one ; for, with but a 
 handful of men, he made a desperate march, almost 
 250 miles in the middle of the whole kingdom, com- 
 passed about with armies and parties innumerable, 
 traversed the heart of his enemy's country, entered 
 their associated counties, where no army had ^ler 
 yet come, and in spite of all their victorious trd)i^s 
 facing and following him, alarmed even le^iHiiJi 
 itself and returned safe to Oxford. J\ bM Hb 
 
 His Majesty continued in Wales fromfithfcabfettie 
 at Naseby till the 5th or 6th of Auguii^rfurf} tHb-fte 
 had an account from all parts of the p¥0g9"^sfeic>A his 
 enemies, and the posture of his own siffaffeod b ({tiv/ 
 
 Here we found, that the enemy.|oie*i%ib^m^]Ssefei 
 in Somersetshire by the Lord'ijiGnMfiii|w3dn^ Iji^)d 
 Hopton's forces, who had tafe^n(iBifa^g^^3JgRit«iaSd 
 distressed Taunton, which vfftSjjife^aigtiieo'^c^ifaAu^f 
 surrender, they had order^dijBpiietesI «sl(J i&SWifedll, 
 and the whole army, t(?wn;>ftfliSloSvejt[\y(aibl itfletfe^eBe 
 the town ; which th^ytoglidefMiiui: iSdrifiiig''so-!tft)dps 
 were worsted, and h;ifeijS§i€[a^{}MHd^aa)i -iM ggHtoat 
 Langport. r.rf bna tKt-ifiq rl.iuoK adi ctfii amo.) 
 
 The Scots, wlM)k3^;feg§ ^Jvy^s/tJjKjsdMdfl^etfeljigtpQfci 
 the king's afFairss^aJqn^rfjft) rbojsessfoitCJQtjdaiaifcMje 
 north, were,x ,%^fftbftB5fl«lfeji*fe^'!5s(fc«iraii9^4Baffl[red 
 southward, vWlfijtJtflrfelgndiiiSflfi&jrft^-dojpaflfdsiSiehttli 
 Wales, aj^cjjjwfeffes^e^jfjftisio jWtttli* fliagJfeafeJtfeieMd. 
 Here thj^jflsiefj^c^cajtdg ^rlTy s^Hi-rs«tei*]()in|5ntbs 
 in a |5ei|b;sfoMifigS»fMls#chade,(^DP;f-iaaneJiiy^tj}-flMjd 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 months before the town, and done little but eaten 
 up the country round them, upon the repeated 
 accounts of the progress of the Marquis of Montrose 
 in that kingdom, and pressing instances of their 
 countrymen, they resolved to raise their siege, and 
 go home to relieve their friends. 
 
 The king, who was willing to be rid of the Scots, 
 upon good terms, and therefore to hasten them, and 
 lest they should pretend to push on the siege to take' 
 the town first, gives it out, that he was resolved with 
 all his forces to go into Scotland, and join Montrose ; 
 and so having secured Scotland, to renew the war 
 from thence. 
 
 And accordingly his Majesty marches northwards, 
 with a body of 4)000 horse ; and, had the king really 
 done this, and with that body of horse marched away 
 (for he had the start of all his enemies, by above a 
 fortnight's march), he had then had the fairest oppor- 
 tunity for a general turn of all his affairs, that he ever 
 had in all the latter part of this war. For Montrose, 
 a gallant dariiig soldier, who from the least shadow 
 of force in the farthest corner of this country, had, 
 rolling like a snowball, spread all over Scotland, was 
 come into the south parts, and had summoned Edin- 
 burgh, frighted away their statesmen, beaten their 
 soldiers at Dundee and other places ; and letters and 
 messengers in the heels of one another, repeated their 
 cries to their brethren in England, to lay before them 
 the sad condition of the country, and to hasten the 
 army to their relief The Scots lords of the enemy's 
 party fled to Berwick, and the chancellor of Scotland 
 goes himself to General Leslie, to press him for help. 
 [318] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 In this extremity of affairs Scotland lay when we 
 marched out of Wales. The Scots, at the siege of 
 Hereford, hearing the king was gone northward with 
 his horse, conclude he was gone directly for Scotland, 
 and immediately send Leslie with 4<000 horse and foot 
 to follow, but did not yet raise the siege. But the 
 king, still irresolute, turns away to the eastward, 
 and comes to Lichfield, where he showed his resent- 
 ments at Colonel Hastings for his easy surrender of 
 Leicester. 
 
 In this march the enemy took heart. We had 
 troops of horse on every side upon us like hounds 
 started at a fresh stag. Leslie, with the Scots, and 
 a strong body followed in our rear, Major-General 
 Poyntz, Sir John Gell, Colonel Rossiter, and others 
 in our way ; they pretended to be 10,000 horse, and 
 yet never durst face us. The Scots made one attempt 
 upon a troop which stayed a little behind, and took 
 some prisoners ; but when a regiment of our horse 
 faced them they retired. At a village near Lichfield 
 another party of about 1000 horse attacked my regi- 
 ment. We were on the left of the army, and at a 
 little too far a distance. I happened to be with the 
 king at that time, and my lieutenant-colonel with me, 
 so that the major had charge of the regiment. He 
 made a very handsome defence, but sent messengers 
 for speedy relief. We were on a march, and there- 
 fore all ready, and the king orders me a regiment of 
 dragoons and 300 horse, and the body halted to bring 
 us off, not knowing how strong the enemy might be. 
 When I came to the place I found my major hard 
 laid to, but fighting like a lion. The enemy had 
 [ 319] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 broke in upon him in two places, and had routed one 
 troop, cutting them off from the body, and had made 
 them all prisoners. Upon this I fell in with the 
 300 horse, and cleared my major from a party who 
 charged him in the flank ; the dragoons immediately 
 lighting, one party of them comes up on my wing, 
 and saluting the enemy with their muskets, put them 
 to a stand, the other party of dragoons wheeling to the 
 left endeavouring to get behind them. The enemy, 
 perceiving they should be overpowered, retreated in 
 as good order as they could, but left us most of our 
 prisoners, and about thirty of their own. We lost 
 about fifteen of our men, and the enemy about forty, 
 chiefly by the fire of our dragoons in their retreat. 
 
 In this posture we continued our march ; and 
 though the king halted at Lichfield — which was a 
 dangerous article, having so many of the enemy's 
 troops upon his hands, and this time gave them 
 opportunity to get into a body — yet the Scots, with 
 their General Leslie, resolving for the north, the 
 rest of the troops were not able to face us, till, hav- 
 ing ravaged the enemy's country through Stafford- 
 shire, Warwick, Leicester, and Nottinghamshire, we 
 came to the leaguer before Newark. 
 
 The king was once more in the mind to have gone 
 into Scotland, and called a council of war to that 
 purpose ; but then it was resolved by all hands that 
 it would be too late to attempt it, for the Scots and 
 Major-General Poyntz were before us, and several 
 strong bodies of horse in our rear ; and there was no 
 venturing now, unless any advantage presented to 
 rout one of those parties which attended us. 
 [320] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Upon these and like considerations we resolved for 
 Newark ; on our approach the forces which blocked 
 up that town drew off, being too weak to oppose us, 
 for the king was now above 5000 horse and dragoons, 
 besides 300 horse and dragoons he took with him 
 from Newark. 
 
 We halted at Newark to assist the garrison, or 
 /give them time rather to furnish themselves from 
 the country- with what they wanted, which they were 
 very diligent in doing; for in two days' time they 
 filled a large island which lies under the town, be- 
 tween the two branches of the Trent, with sheep, 
 oxen, cows, and horses, an incredible number ; and 
 our affairs being now something desperate, we were 
 not very nice in our usage of the country, for really 
 if it was not with a resolution both to punish 
 the enemy and enrich ourselves, no man can give any 
 rational account why this desperate journey was 
 undertaken. 'Tis certain the Newarkers, in the 
 respite they gained by our coming, got above £50,000 
 from the country round them in corn, cattle, money, 
 and other plunder. 
 
 From hence we broke into Lincolnshire, and the 
 king lay at Belvoir Castle, and from Belvoir Castle to 
 Stamford. The swiftness of our march was a terrible 
 surprise to the enemy ; for our van being at a village 
 on the great road called Stilton, the country people 
 fled into the Isle of Ely, and every way, as if all was 
 lost. Indeed our dragoons treated the country very 
 coarsely, and all our men in general made themselves 
 rich. Between Stilton and Huntingdon we had a 
 small bustle with some of the associated troops of 
 21 [ 321 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 horse, but they were soon routed, and fled to Hunt- 
 ingdon, where they gave such an account of us to 
 their fellows that they did not think fit to stay for 
 us, but left their foot to defend themselves as well 
 as they could. 
 
 While this was doing in the van a party from 
 Burleigh House, near Stamford, the seat of the Earl 
 of Exeter, pursued four troops of our horse, who, 
 straggling towards Peterborough, and committing 
 some disorders there, were surprised before they could 
 get into a posture of fighting ; and encumbered, as 
 I suppose, with their plunder, they were entirely 
 routed, lost most of their horses, and were forced to 
 come away on foot ; but finding themselves in this 
 condition, they got in a body into the enclosures, 
 and in that posture turning dragoons, they lined the 
 hedges, and fired upon the enemy with their carabines. 
 This way of fighting, though not very pleasant to 
 troopers, put the enemy's horee to some stand, and 
 encouraged our men to venture into a village, where 
 the enemy had secured forty of their horse ; and 
 boldly charging the guard, they beat them off, and 
 recovering those horses, the rest made their retreat 
 good to Wansford Bridge; but we lost near 100 
 horses, and about twelve of our men taken prisoners. 
 
 The next day the king took Huntingdon ; the foot 
 which were left in the town, as I observed by their 
 horse, had posted themselves at the foot of the bridge, 
 and fortified the pass, with such things as the haste 
 and shortness of the time would allow ; and in this 
 posture they seemed resolute to defend themselves. 
 I confess, had they in time planted a good force 
 [322] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 here, they might have put a full stop to our little 
 army ; for the river is large and deep, the country on 
 the left marshy, full of drains and ditches, and unfit 
 for horse, and we must have either turned back, or 
 took the right hand into Bedfordshire ; but here not 
 being above 400 foot, and they forsaken of their 
 horse, the resistance they made was to no other 
 purpose than to give us occasion to knock them on 
 the head, and plunder the town. 
 
 However, they defended the bridge, as I have 
 said, and opposed our passage. I was this day in 
 the van, and our forlorn having entered Huntingdon 
 without any great resistance till they came to the 
 bridge, finding it barricaded, they sent me word ; I 
 caused the troops to halt, and rode up to the forlorn, 
 to view the countenance of the enemy, and found by 
 the posture they had put themselves in, that they 
 resolved to sell us the passage as dear as they could. 
 
 I sent to the king for some dragoons, and gave 
 him account of what I observed of the enemy, and 
 that I judged them to be JOOO men ; for I could 
 not particularly see their numbers. Accordingly 
 the king ordered 500 dragoons to attack the bridge, 
 commanded by a major ; the enemy had 200 musket- 
 eers placed on the bridge, their bai-ricade served them 
 for a breastwork on the front, and the low walls on 
 the bridge served to secure their flanks. Two bodies 
 of their foot were placed on the opposite banks of the 
 river, and a reserve stood in the highway on the rear. 
 The number of their men could not have been better 
 ordered, and they wanted not courage answerable 
 to the conduct of the party. They were com- 
 [323] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 manded by one Bennet, a resolute officer, who 
 stood in the front of his men on the bridge with a 
 pike in his hand. 
 
 Before we began to fall on, the king ordered to 
 view the river, to see if it was nowhere passable, or 
 any boat to be had ; but the river being not fordable, 
 and the boats all secured on the other side, the at- 
 tack was resolved on, and the dragoons fell on with 
 extraordinary bravery. The foot defended them- 
 selves obstinately, and beat off our dragoons" twice, 
 and though Bennet was killed upon the spot, and 
 after him his lieutenant, yet their officers relieving 
 them with fresh men, they would certainly have 
 beat us all off, had not a venturous fellow, one of 
 our dragoons, thrown himself into the river, swam 
 over, and, in the midst of a shower of musket-bullets, 
 cut the rope which tied a great flat-bottom boat, and 
 brought her over. With the help of this boat, I got 
 over 100 troopers first, and then their horses, and 
 then 200 more without their horses ; and with this 
 party fell in with one pf the small bodies of foot 
 that were posted on that side, and having routed 
 ■them, and after them the reserve which stood on the 
 road, I made up to the other party. They stood 
 their ground, and having rallied the runaways of 
 both the other parties, charged me with their pikes', 
 and brought me to a retreat ; but by this time the 
 king had sent over 300 men more, and they coming 
 up to me the foot retreated. Those on the bridge 
 finding how 't was, and having no supplies sent them, 
 as before, fainted, and fled ; and the dragoons rush- 
 ing forward most of tl\em were killed ; about 150 of 
 [324] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the enemy were killed, of which all the officers at the 
 bridge, the rest run ^way. 
 
 The town suffered for it, for our men left them 
 little of anything they could carry. Here we halted 
 and raised contributions, took moneys of the country 
 and of the open towns, to exempt them from plunder. 
 Twice we faced the town of Cambridge, and several 
 of our officers advised his Majesty to storm it. But 
 having no foot, and but 1200 dragoons, wiser heads 
 diverted him from it, and leaving Cambridge on the 
 left, we marched to Woburn, in Bedfordshire, and 
 our parties raised money all over the county quite 
 into Hertfordshire, within five miles of St. Alban's. 
 
 The swiftness of our march, and uncertainty which 
 way we intended, prevented all possible preparation 
 to oppose us, and we met with no party able to make 
 head against us. From Woburn the king went 
 through Buckingham to Oxford ; some of our men 
 straggling in the villages for plunder, were often 
 picked up by the enemy. But in all this long march 
 we did not lose 200 men, got an incredible booty, 
 and brought six waggons laden with money, besides 
 2000 horses and 3000 head of cattle, into Oxford. 
 From Oxford his Majesty moves again into Glouces- 
 tershire, having left about 1600 of his horse at 
 Oxford to scour the country, and raise contributions, 
 which they did as far as Reading. 
 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax was returned from taking 
 Bridgewater, and was sat down before Bristol, in 
 which Prince Rupert commanded with a strong gar- 
 rison, 2500 foot and 1000 horse. We had not force 
 enough to attempt anything there. But the Scots, 
 [325] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 who lay still before Hereford, were afraid of us, 
 having before parted with all their horse under 
 Lieutenant-General Leslie, and but ill stored with 
 provisions ; and if we came on their backs, were in a 
 fair way to be starved, or made to buy their 
 provisions at the price of their blood. 
 
 His Majesty was sensible of this, and had we had 
 but ten regiments of foot, would certainly have fought 
 the Scots. But we had no foot, or so few as was not 
 worth while to march them. However, the king 
 marched to Worcester, and the Scots, apprehending 
 they should be blocked up, immediately raised the 
 siege, pretending it was to go help their brethren in 
 Scotland, and away they marched northwards. 
 
 We picked up some of their stragglers, but they 
 were so poor, had been so ill paid, and so harassed 
 at the siege, that they had neither money nor clothes ; 
 and the poor soldiers fed upon apples and roots, and 
 ate the very green corn as it grew in the fields, which 
 reduced them to a very sorry condition of health, for 
 they died like people infected with the plague. 
 
 ' T was now debated whether we should yet march 
 for Scotland, but two things prevented — ( 1.) The 
 plague was broke out there, and multitudes died of 
 it, which made the king backward, and the men more 
 backward. ( 2.) The Marquis of Montrose, having 
 routed a whole brigade of Leslie's best horse, and 
 carried all before him, wrote to his Majesty that he 
 did not now want assistance, but was in hopes in a 
 few days to send a body of foot into England to his 
 Majesty's assistance. This over-confidence of his was 
 his ruin ; for, on the contrary, had he earnestly 
 [326] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 pressed the king to have marched, and fallen in with 
 his horse, the king had done it, and been absolutely 
 master of Scotland in a fortnight's time ; but Mont- 
 rose was too confident, and defied them all, till at 
 last they got their forces together, and Leslie with 
 his horse out of England, and worsted hira in two or 
 three encounters, and then never left him till they 
 drove him out of Scotland. 
 
 While his Majesty stayed at Worcester, several 
 messengers came to him from Cheshire for relief, 
 being exceedingly straitened by the forces of the 
 Parliament ; in order to which the king marched, 
 but Shrewsbury being in the enemy's hands, he 
 was obliged to go round by Ludlow, where he was 
 joined by some foot out of Wales. I took this 
 opportunity to ask his Majesty's leave to go by 
 Shrewsbury to my father's, and, taking only two 
 servants, I left the army two days before they 
 marched. 
 
 This was the most unsoldier-like action that ever 
 I was guilty of, to go out of the army to pay a 
 visit when a time of action was just at hand ; and, 
 though I protest I had not the least intimation, no, 
 not from my own thoughts, that the army would 
 engage, at least before they came to Chester, before 
 which I intended to meet them, yet it looked so 
 ill, so like an excuse or a sham of cowardice, or 
 disaffection to the cause and to my master's interest, 
 or something I know not what, that I could not 
 bear to think of it, nor never had the heart to see 
 the king's face after it. 
 
 From Ludlow the king marched to relieve Ches- 
 [327] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 ter. Poyntz, who commanded the Parliament's 
 forces, follows the king, with design to join with 
 the forces before Chester, under Colonel Jones, be- 
 fore the king could come up. To that end Poyntz 
 passes through Shrewsbury the day that the king 
 marched from Ludlow ; yet the king's forces got 
 the start of him, and forced him to engage. Had 
 the king engaged him but three hours sooner, and 
 consequently further off from Chester, he had ruined 
 him, for Poyntz's men, not able to stand the shock 
 of the king's horse, gave ground, and would in half- 
 an-hour more have been beaten out of the field ; 
 but Colonel Jones, with a strong party from the 
 camp, which was within two miles, comes up in 
 the heat of the action, falls on in the king's rear, 
 and turned the scale of the day. The body was, 
 after an obstinate fight, defeated, and a great many 
 gentlemen of quality killed and taken prisoners. 
 The Earl of Lichfield was of the number of the 
 former, and sixty-seven officers of the latter, with 
 1000 others. The king, with about 500 horse, got 
 into Chester, and from thence into Wales, whither 
 all that could get away made up to him as fast as 
 they could, but in a bad condition. 
 
 This was the last stroke they struck ; the rest of 
 the war was nothing but taking all his garrisons 
 from him one by one, till they finished the war 
 with the captivating his person, and then, for 
 want of other business, fell to fighting with one 
 another. 
 
 I was quite disconsolate at the news of this last 
 action, and the more because I was not there. My 
 [328] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 regiment was wholly dispersed, my lieutenant-col- 
 onel, a gentleman of a good family, and a near 
 relation to my mother, was prisoner, my major and 
 three captains killed, and most of the rest prisoners. 
 
 The king, hopeless of any considerable party in 
 Wales, Bristol being surrendered, sends for Prince 
 Rupert and Prince Maurice, who came to him. 
 With them, and the Lord Digby, Sir Marmaduke 
 Langdale, and a great train of gentlemen, his Ma- 
 jesty marches to Newark again, leaves 1000 horse 
 with Sir William Vaughan to attempt the relief of 
 Chester, in doing whereof he was routed the second 
 time by Jones and his men, and entirely dispersed. 
 
 The chief strength the king had in these parts 
 was at Newark, and the Parliament were very earnest 
 with the Scots to march southward and to lay siege 
 to Newark ; and while the Parliament pressed them 
 to it, and they sat still and delayed it, several heats 
 began, and some ill blood between them, which 
 afterwards broke out into open war. The English 
 reproached the Scots with pretending to help them, 
 and really hindering their affairs. The Scots re- 
 turned that they came to fight for them, and are 
 left to be starved, and can neither get money nor 
 clothes. At last they came to this, the Scots will 
 come to the siege if the Parliament will send them 
 money, but not before. However, as people sooner 
 agree in doing ill than in doing well, they came 
 to terms, and the Scots came with their whole army 
 to the siege of Newark. 
 
 The king, foreseeing the siege, calls his friends 
 about him, tells them he sees his circumstances are 
 [ 389 ] . 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 such that they can help him but little, nor he pro- 
 tect them, and advises them to separate. The Lord 
 Digby, with Sir Marmaduke Langdale, with a strong 
 body of horse, attempt to get into Scotland to join 
 with Montrose, who was still in the Highlands, 
 though reduced to a low ebb, but these gentlemen 
 are fallen upon on every side and routed, and at 
 last, being totally broken and dispersed, they fly to 
 the Earl of Derby's protection in the Isle of Man. 
 
 Prince Rupert, Prince Maurice, Colonel Gerard, 
 and above 400 gentlemen, all officers of horse, lay 
 their commissions down, and seizing upon Wootton 
 House for a retreat, make proposals to the Parlia- 
 ment to leave the kingdom, upon their parole not to 
 return again in arms against the Parliament, which 
 was accepted, though afterwards the prince declined 
 it. I sent my man post to the prince to be included 
 in this treaty, and for leave for all that would accept 
 of like conditions, but they had given in the list of 
 their names, and could not alter it. 
 
 This was a sad time. The poor remains of the 
 king's fortunes went everywhere to wreck. Every 
 garrison of the enemy was full of the Cavalier prison- 
 ers, and every garrison the king had was beset with 
 enemies, either blocked up or besieged. Goring and 
 the Lord Hopton were the only remainders of the 
 king's forces which kept in a body, and Fairfax was 
 pushing them with all imaginable vigour with his 
 whole army about Exeter and other parts of Devon- 
 shire and Cornwall. 
 
 In this condition the king left Newark in the 
 night, and got to Oxford. The king had in Oxford 
 [ 330 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 8000 men, and the towns of Banbury, Farringdon, 
 Donnington Castle, and such places as might have 
 been brought together in twenty-four hours, 15,000 
 or 20,000 men, with which, if he had then resolved 
 to have quitted the place, and collected the forces in 
 Worcester, Hereford, Lichfield, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, 
 and all the small castles and garrisons he had there- 
 abouts, he might have had near 40,000 men, might 
 have beaten the Scots from Newark, Colonel Jones 
 from Chester, and all, before Fairfax, who was in the 
 west, could be able to come to their relief. And this 
 his Majesty's friends in North Wales had concerted ; 
 and, in order to it. Sir Jacob Ashby gathered what 
 forces he could, in our parts, and attempted to join 
 the king at Oxford, and to have proposed it to him ; 
 but Sir Jacob was entirely routed at Stow-on-the- 
 Wold, and taken prisoner, and of 3000 men not 
 above 600 came to Oxford. 
 
 All the king's garrisons dropped one by one ; 
 Hereford, which had stood out against the whole 
 army of the Scots, was surprised by six men and a 
 lieutenant dressed up for country labourers, and a 
 constable pressed to work, who cut the guards in 
 pieces, and let in a party of the enemy. Chester 
 was reduced by famine, all the attempts the king 
 made to relieve it being frustrated. 
 
 Sir Thomas Fairfax routed the Lord Hopton at 
 Torrington, and drove him to such extremities, that 
 he was forced up into the farthest corner of Corn- 
 wall. The Lord Hopton had a gallant body of 
 horse with him of nine brigades, but no foot ; Fair- 
 fax, a great army. 
 
 [ 331 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 Heartless, and tired out with continual ill news, 
 and ill success, I had frequent meetings with some 
 gentlemen who had escaped from the rout of Sir 
 William Vaughan, and we agreed upon a meeting 
 at Worcester, of all the friends we could get, to see if 
 we could raise a body fit to do any service ; or, if not, 
 to consider what was to be done. At this meeting 
 we had almost as many opinions as people ; our 
 strength appeared too weak to make any attempt, 
 the game was too far gone in our parts to be re- 
 trieved ; all we could make up did not amount to 
 above 800 horse. 
 
 'T was unanimously agreed not to go into the 
 Parliament as long as our royal master did not give 
 up the cause ; but in all places, and by all possible 
 methods, to do him all the service we could. Some 
 proposed one thing, some another; at last we pro- 
 posed getting vessels to carry us to the Isle of Man 
 to the Earl of Derby, as Sir Marmaduke Langdale, 
 Lord Digby, and others had done. I did not foresee 
 any service it would be to the king's aftairs, but I 
 started a proposal that, marching to Pembroke in a 
 body, we should there seize upon all the vessels we 
 could, and embarking ourselves, horses, and what 
 foot we could get, cross the Severn Sea, and land in 
 Cornwall to the aSvsistance of Prince Charles, who was 
 in the army of the Lord Hopton, and where only 
 there seemed to be any possibility of a chance for 
 the remaining part of our cause. 
 
 This proposal was not without its difficulties, as 
 how to get to the seaside, and, when there, what 
 assurance of shipping. The enemy, under Major- 
 [ 332 1 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 General Langhorn, had overrun Wales, and 't would 
 be next to impossible to effect it. 
 
 We could never carry our proposal with the whole 
 assembly ; but, however, about 200 of us resolved to 
 attempt it, and [the] meeting being broken up with- 
 out coming to any conclusion, we had a private meet- 
 ing among ourselves to effect it. 
 
 We despatched private messengers to Swansea and 
 Pembroke, and other places ; but they all discouraged 
 us from the attempt that way, and advised us to go 
 higher towards North Wales, where the king's inter- 
 est had more friends, and the Parliament no forces. 
 Upon this we met, and resolved, and having sent 
 several messengers that way, one of my men provided 
 us two small vessels in a little creek near Harlech 
 Castle, in Merionethshire. We marched away with 
 what expedition we could, and embarked in the two 
 vessels accordingly. It was the worst voyage sure 
 that ever man went ; for first we had no manner of 
 accommodation for so many people, hay for our horses 
 we got none, or very little, but good store of oats, 
 which served us for our own bread as well as proven- 
 der for the horses. 
 
 In this condition we put off to sea, and had a fair 
 wind all the first night, but early in the morning a 
 sudden storm drove us within two or three leagues of 
 Ireland. In this 'pickle, sea-sick, our horses rolling 
 about upon one another, and ourselves stifled for want 
 of room, no cabins nor beds, very cold weather, and 
 very indifferent diet, we wished ourselves ashore again 
 a thousand times ; and yet we were not willing to go 
 ashore in Ireland if we could help it ; for the rebels 
 [ 333] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 having possession of every place, that was just having 
 oar throats cut at once. Having rolled about at the 
 mercy of the winds all day, the storm ceasing in the 
 evening, we had fair weather again, but wind enough, 
 which being large, in two days and a night we came 
 upon the coast of Cornwall, and, to our no small com- 
 fort, landed the next day at St. Ives, in the county 
 of Cornwall. 
 
 We rested ourselves here, and sent an express to 
 the Lord Hopton, who was then in Devonshire, 
 of our arrival, and desired him to assign us quarters, 
 and send us his farther orders. His lordship ex- 
 pressed a very great satisfaction at our arrival, and 
 left it to our own conduct to join him as we saw 
 convenient. 
 
 We were marching to join him, when news came 
 that Fairfax had given him an entire defeat at Tor- 
 rington. This was but the old story over again. We 
 had been used to ill news a great while, and 't was 
 the less surprise to us. 
 
 Upon this news we halted at Bodmin, till we should 
 hear farther ; aiid it was not long before we saw a 
 confirmation of the news before our eyes, for the Lord 
 Hopton, with the remainder of the horse, which he 
 had brought off at Torrington in a very shattered 
 condition, retreated to Launceston, the first town in 
 Cornwall, and hearing that Fairfax pursued him, 
 came on to Bodmin. Hither he summoned all the 
 troops which he had left, which, when he had got 
 together, were a fine body indeed of 5000 horse, but 
 few foot but what were at Pendennis, Barnstaple, 
 and other garrisons. These vvere commanded by 
 [334 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the Lord Hopton. The Lord Goring had taken 
 shipping for France to get rehef a few days before. 
 
 Here a grand council of war was called, and several 
 things were proposed, but as it always is in distress, 
 people are most irresolute, so 't was here. Some 
 'were for breaking through by force, our number be- 
 ing superior to the enemy's horse. To fight them 
 with their foot would be desperation and ridiculous ; 
 and to retreat would but be to coop up themselves 
 in a narrow place, where at last they must be forced 
 to fight upon disadvantage, or yield at mercy. 
 Others opposed this as a desperate action, and with- 
 out probability of success, and all were of different 
 opinions. I confess, when I saw how things were, I 
 saw 't was a lost game, and I was for the opinion of 
 breaking through, and doing it now, while the 
 country was open and large, and not being forced to 
 it when it must be with more disadvantage. But 
 nothing was resolved on, and so we retreated before 
 the enemy. Some small skirmishes there happened 
 near Bodmin, but none that were very considerable. 
 
 ' T was the 1st of March when we quitted Bodmin, 
 and quartered at large at Columb, St. Dennis, and 
 Truro, and the enemy took his quarters at Bodmin, 
 posting his horse at the passes from Padstow on the 
 north, to Wadebridge, Lostwithiel, and Fowey, 
 spreading so from sea to sea, that now breaking 
 through was impossible. There was no more room 
 for counsel ; for unless we had ships to carry us off, 
 we had nothing to do but when we were fallen upon, 
 to defend ourselves, and sell victory as dear as we 
 could to the enemies. 
 
 [S35] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 The Prince of Wales seeing the distress we were 
 in, and loth to fall into the enemy's hands, ships 
 himself on board some vessels at Falmouth, with 
 about 400 lords and gentlemen. And as I had no 
 command here to oblige my attendance, I was once 
 going to make one, but my comrades, whom I had ' 
 been the principal occasion of bringing hither, began 
 to take it ill, that I would leave them, and so I 
 resolved we would take our fate together. 
 
 While thus we had nothing before us but a soldier's 
 death, a fair field, and a strong enemy, and people 
 began to look one upon another, the soldiers asked 
 how their officers looked, and the officers asked how 
 their soldiers looked, and every day we expected to 
 be our last, when unexpectedly the enemy's general 
 sent a trumpet to Truro to my Lord Hopton, with a 
 very handsome gentlemanlike offer : — 
 
 That since the general could not be ignorant of his 
 present condition, and that the place he was in could 
 not afford him subsistence or defence ; and especially 
 considering that the state of our affairs were such, 
 that if we should escape from thence we could not 
 remove to our advantage, he had thought good to 
 let us know, that if we would deliver up our horses 
 and arms, he would, for avoiding the effusion of 
 Christian, blood, or the putting any unsoldierly ex- 
 tremities upon us, allow such honourable and safe 
 conditions^ as were rather better than our present 
 circumstances could demand, and such as should dis- 
 charge him to all the world, as a gentleman, as a 
 soldier, and as a Christian. 
 
 After this followed the conditions he would give 
 [336] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 us, which were as follows, viz. : — That all the 
 soldiery, as well English as foreigners, should have 
 libei-ty to go beyond the seas, or to their own dwell- 
 ings, as they pleased ; and to such as shall choose 
 to live at home, protection for their liberty, and 
 from all violence and plundering of soldiers, and to 
 give them bag and baggage, and all their goods, ex- 
 cept horses and arms. 
 
 That for officers in commissions, and gentlemen 
 of quality, he would allow them horses for them- 
 selves and one servant, or more, suitable to their 
 quality, and such arms as are suitable to gentlemen 
 of such quality travelling in times of peace ; and 
 such officers as would go beyond sea, should take 
 with them their full arms and number of horses as 
 are allowed in the army to such officers. 
 
 That all the troopers shall receive on the delivery 
 of their horses, 20s. a man to carry them home ; and 
 the general's pass and recommendation to any gentle- 
 man who desires to go to the Parliament to settle 
 the composition for their estates. 
 
 Lastly, a very honourable mention of the general, 
 and offer of their mediation to the Parliament, to 
 treat him as a man of honour, and one who has 
 been tender of the country, and behaved himself 
 with all the moderation and candour that could be 
 expected from an enemy. 
 
 Upon the unexpected receipt of this message, a 
 council of war was called, and the letter read ; no 
 man offered to speak a word ; the general moved it, 
 but every one was loth to begin. 
 
 At last an old colonel starts up, and asked the ^ 
 23 [ 337 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 general what he thought might occasion the writing 
 this letter ? The general told hira, he could not 
 tell ; but he could tell, he was sure, of one thing, 
 that he knew what was not the occasion of it, viz., 
 that is, not any want of force in their army to 
 oblige us to other terms. Then a doubt was started, 
 whether the king and Parliament were not in any 
 treaty, which this agreement might be prejudicial to. 
 This occasioned a letter to my Lord Fairfax, wherein 
 our general returning the civilities, and neither 
 accepting nor refusing his proposal, put it upon his 
 honour, whether there was not some agreement or 
 concession between his Majesty and the Parliament, 
 in order to a general peace, which this treaty might 
 be prejudicial to, or thereby be prejudicial to us. 
 
 The Lord Fairfax ingenuously declared, he had 
 heard the king had made some concessions, and he 
 heartily wished he would make such as would settle 
 the kingdom in peace, that Englishmen might not 
 wound and destroy one another; but that he de- 
 clared he knew of no treaty commenced, nor any- 
 thing passed which could give us the least shadow 
 of hope for any advantage in not accepting his con- 
 ditions ; at last telling us, that though he did not 
 insult over our circumstances, yet if we ' thought fit, 
 upon any such supposition, to refuse his offers, he was 
 not to seek in his measures. 
 
 And it appeared so, for he immediately advanced 
 his forlorns, and dispossessed us of two advanced 
 quarters, and thereby straitened us yet more. 
 
 We had now nothing to say, but treat, and our 
 general was so sensible of our condition, that he re- 
 [ 338 J 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 turned the trumpet with a safe-conduct for commis- 
 sioners at twelve o'clock that night ; upon which a 
 cessation of arms was agreed on, we quitting Truro 
 to the Lord Fairfax, and he left St. Allen to us to 
 keep our headquarters. 
 
 The conditions were soon agreed on ; we disbanded 
 nine full brigades of horse, and all the conditions 
 were observed with the most honour and care by the 
 enemy that ever I saw in my life. 
 
 Nor can I omit to make very honourable mention 
 of this noble gentleman, though I did not like his 
 cause ; but I never saw a man of a more pleasant, 
 calm, courteous, downright, honest behaviour in my 
 life ; and for his courage and personal bravery in the 
 field, that we had felt enough of. No man in the 
 world had more iire and fury in him while in action, 
 or more temper and softness out of it. In short, and 
 1 cannot do him greater honour, he exceedingly came 
 near the character of my foreign hero, Gustavus 
 Adolphus, and in ray account is, of all the soldiers 
 in Europe, the fittest to be reckoned in the second 
 place of honour to him. 
 
 I had particular occasion to see much of his temper 
 in all this action, being one of the hostages given by 
 our general for the performance of the conditions, in 
 which circumstance the general did me several times 
 the honour to send to me to dine with him ; and was 
 exceedingly pleased to discourse with me about the 
 passages of the wars in Germany, which I had served 
 in, he having been at the same time in the Low 
 Countries in the service of Prince Maurice ; but I 
 observed if at any time my civilities extended to 
 [339] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 commendations of his own actions, and especially to 
 comparing him to Gustavus Adolphus, he would 
 blush like a woman, and be uneasy, declining the 
 discourse, and in this he was still more like him. 
 
 Let no man sciiiple my honourable mention of this 
 noble enemy, since no man can suspect me of favour- 
 ing the cause he embarked in, which I served as 
 heartily against as any man in the army ; but I can- 
 not conceal extraordinary merit for its being placed 
 in an enemy. 
 
 This was the end of our making war, for now we 
 were all under parole never to bear arms against the 
 Parliament ; and though some of us did not keep our 
 word, yet I think a soldier's parole ought to be the 
 most sacred in such case, that a soldier may be the 
 easier trusted at all times upon his word. For my 
 part, I went home fully contented, since I could do 
 my royal master no better service, that I had come* 
 off no worse. 
 
 The enemy going now on in a full current of suc- 
 cess, and the king reduced to the last extremity, and 
 Fairfax, by long marches, being come back within 
 five miles of Oxford, his Majesty, loth to be cooped 
 up in a town which could on no account hold long 
 out, quits the town in a disguise, leaving Sir Thomas 
 Glemham governor, and being only attended with 
 Mr. Ashburnham and one more, rides away to 
 Newark, and there fatally committed himself to the 
 honour and fidelity of the Scots under General 
 Leven. 
 
 There had been some little bickering between the 
 Parliament and the Scots commissioners concerning 
 [340] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the propositions which the Scots were for a treaty with 
 the king upon, and the Parhament refused it. The 
 Parhament, upon all proposals of peace, had formerly 
 invited the king to come and throw himself upon the 
 honour, fidelity, and affection of his Parliament. 
 And now the king from Oxford offering to come up 
 to London on the protection of the Parliament for 
 the safety of his person, they refused him, and the 
 Scots differed from them in it, and were for a per- 
 sonal treaty. 
 
 This, in our opinion, was the reason which 
 prompted the king to throw himself upon the 
 fidelity of the Scots, who really by their infidelity 
 had been the ruin of all his affairs, and now, by their 
 perfidious breach of honour and faith with him, will 
 be virtually and mediately the ruin of his person. 
 
 The Scots were, as all the nation beside them was, 
 surprised at the king's coming among them ; the 
 Parliament began very high with them, and send an 
 order to General Leven to send the king to Warwick 
 Castle ; but he was not so hasty to part with so rich 
 a prize. As soon as the king came to the general, 
 he signs an order to Colonel Bellasis, the governor 
 of Newark, to surrender it, and immediately, the 
 Scots decamp homewards, carrying the king in the 
 camp with them, and marching on, a house was 
 ordered to be provided for the king at Newcastle. 
 
 And now the Parliament saw their error, in refus- 
 ing his Majesty a personal treaty, which, if they had 
 accepted (their army was not yet taught the way of 
 huffing their masters), the kingdom might have been 
 settled in peace. Upon this the Parliament send to 
 [341] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 General Leven to have his Majesty not be sent, which 
 was their first language, but be suffered to come to 
 London to treat with his Parhan)ent ; before it was, 
 " Let the king be sent to Warwick Castle ; " now 
 'tis, "To let his Majesty come to London to treat 
 with his people." 
 
 But neither one or the other would do with the 
 Scots ; but we who knew the Scots best knew that 
 there was one thing would do with them, if the other 
 would not, and that was money ; and therefore our 
 hearts ached for the king. 
 
 The Scots, as I said, had retreated to Newcastle 
 with the king, and there they quartered their whole 
 army at large upon the country ; the Parliament 
 voted they had no farther occasion for the Scots, 
 and desired them to go home about their business. 
 I do not say it was in these words, but in whatsoever 
 good words their messages might be expressed, this 
 and nothing less was the English of it. The Scots 
 reply, by setting forth their losses, damages, and 
 dues, the substance of which was, " Pay us our 
 money and we will be gone, or else we won't stir." 
 The Parliament call for an account of their de- 
 mands, which the Scots give in, amounting to a 
 million ; but, according to their custom, and espe- 
 cially finding that the army under Fairfax inclined 
 gradually that way, fall down to ^£"500,000, and at 
 last to ^£"400,000 ; but all the while this is transact- 
 ing a separate treaty is carried on at London with 
 the commissioners of Scotland, and afterwards at 
 Edinburgh, by which it is given them to understand 
 that, whereas upon payment of the money, the Scots 
 [342] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 army is to march out of England, and to give up all 
 the towns and garrisons which they hold in this 
 kingdom, so they are to take it for granted that 't is 
 the meaning of the treaty that they shall leave the 
 king in the hands of the English Parliament. 
 
 To make this go down the better, the Scotch 
 Parliament, upon his Majesty's desire to go with 
 their army into Scotland, send him for answer, that 
 it cannot be for the safety of his Majesty or of the 
 State to come into Scotland, not having taken the 
 Covenant, and this was carried in their Parliament 
 but by two voices. 
 
 The Scots having refused his coming into Scot- 
 land, as was concerted between the two Houses, and 
 their army being to march out of England, the 
 delivering up the king became a consequence of the 
 thing — unavoidable, and of necessity. 
 
 His Majesty, thus deserted of those into whose 
 hands he had thrown himself, took his leave of the 
 Scots general at Newcastle, telling him only, in few 
 words, this sad truth, that he was bought and sold. 
 The Parliament commissioners received him at New- 
 castle from the Scots, and brought him to Holmby 
 House, in Northamptonshire ; from whence, upon 
 the quarrels and feuds of parties, he was fetched by 
 a party of horse, commanded by one Cornet Joyce, 
 from the army, upon their mutinous rendezvous at 
 Triplow Heath; and, after this, suffering many 
 violences and varieties of circumstances among the 
 army, was carried to Hampton Court, from whence 
 his Majesty very readily made his escape ; but not 
 having notice enough to provide effectual means for 
 [343] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 his more effectual deliverance, was obliged to deliver 
 himself to Colonel Hammond in the Isle of Wight. 
 Here, after some very indifferent usage, the Parlia- 
 ment pursued a farther treaty with him, and all 
 points were agreed but two : the entire abolishing 
 Episcopacy, which the king declared to be against 
 his conscience and his coronation oath; and the sale 
 of the Church lands, which he declared, being most 
 of them gifts to God and the Church, by persons 
 deceased, his Majesty thought could not be alienated 
 without the highest sacrilege, and if taken from the 
 uses to which they were appointed by the wills of 
 the donors, ought to be restored back to the heirs 
 and families of the persons who bequeathed them. 
 
 And these two articles so stuck with his Majesty, 
 that he ventured his fortune, and royal family, and 
 his own life for them. However, at last, the king 
 condescended so far in these, that the Parliament 
 voted his Majesty's concessions to be sufficient to 
 settle and establish the peace of the nation. 
 
 This vote discovered the bottom of all the counsels 
 which then prevailed ; .for the army, who knew if 
 peace were once settled, they should be undone, 
 took the alarm at this, and clubbing together in 
 committees and councils, at last brought themselves 
 to a degree of hardness above all that ever this nation 
 saw ; for, calling into question the proceedings of 
 their masters who employed them, they immediately 
 fall to work upon the Pailiament, remove Colonel 
 Hammond, who had the charge of the king, and 
 used him honourably, place a new guard upon him, 
 dismiss the commissioners, and put a stop to the 
 [344] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 treaty ; and, following their blow, march to London, 
 place regiments of foot at the Parliament-house 
 door, and, as the members came up, seize upon all 
 those whom they had down in a list as promoters of 
 the settlement and treaty, and would not suffer them 
 to sit ; but the rest who, being of their own stamp, 
 are permitted to go on, carry on the designs of the 
 army, revive their votes of non-addresses to the 
 king, and then, upon the army's petition to bring 
 all delinquents to justice, the mask was thrown off, 
 the word all is declared to be meant the king, as 
 well as every man else they pleased. 'T is too sad a 
 story, and too much a matter of grief to me, and to 
 all good men, to renew the blackness of those days, 
 when law and justice was under the feet of power; 
 the army ruled the Parliament, the private officers 
 their generals, the common soldiers their officers, 
 and confusion was in every part of the government. 
 In this hurry they sacrificed their king, and shed the 
 blood of the English nobility without mercy. 
 
 The history of the times will supply the particulars 
 which I omit, being willing to confine myself to my 
 own accounts and observations. I was now no more 
 an actor, but a melancholy observator of the mis- 
 fortunes of the times. I had given my parole not to 
 take up arms against the Parliament, and I saw 
 nothing to invite me to engage on their side. I 
 saw a world of confusion in all their counsels, and I 
 always expected that in a chain of distractions, as it 
 generally falls out, the last link would be destruc- 
 tion ; and though I pretended to no prophecy, yet 
 the progress of affairs have brought it to pass, and I 
 [345] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 have seen Providence, who suffered, for the correc- 
 tion of this nation, the sword to govern and devour 
 us, has at last brought destruction by the sword 
 upon the head of most of the party who first drew it. 
 
 If together with the brief account of what concern 
 I had in the active part of the war, I leave behind 
 me some of my own remarks and observations, it 
 may be pertinent enough to my design, and not un- 
 useful to posterity. 
 
 1. I observed by the sequel of things that it may be 
 some excuse to the first Parliament, who began this 
 war, to say that they manifested their designs were 
 not aimed at the monarchy, nor their quarrel at the 
 person of the king ; because, when they had him in 
 their power, though against his will, they would 
 have restored both his person and dignity as a king, 
 only loading it with such clogs of the people's power 
 as they at first pretended to, viz., the militia, and 
 power of naming the great officers at court, and the 
 like; which powers, it was never denied, had been 
 stretched too far in the beginning of this king's 
 •reign, and several things done illegally, which his 
 Majesty had been sensible of, and was willing to 
 rectify; but they having obtained the power by vic- 
 tory, resolved so to secure themselves, as that, when- 
 ever they laid down their arms, the king should not 
 be able to do the like again. And thus far they 
 were not to be so much blamed, and we did not on 
 our own part blame them, when they had obtained 
 the power, for parting with it on good terms. 
 
 But when I have thus far advocated for the en- 
 [ 346] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 emies, I must be very free to state the crimes of this 
 bloody war by the events of it. 'T is manifest there 
 were among them from the beginning a party who 
 aimed at the very root of the government, and at 
 the very thing which they brought to pass, viz., the 
 deposing and murdering of their sovereign ; and, as 
 the devil is always master where mischief is the 
 work, this party prevailed, turned the other out of 
 doors, and overturned all that little honesty that 
 might be in the first beginning of this unhappy strife. 
 The consequence of this was, the Presbyterians 
 saw their error when it was too late, and then would 
 gladly have joined the royal party to have suppressed 
 this new leaven which had infected the lump ; and 
 this is very remarkable, that most of the first cham- 
 pions of this war who bore the brunt of it, when the 
 king was powerful and prosperous, and when there 
 was nothing to be got by it but blows, first or last, 
 were so ill used by this independent, powerful party, 
 who tripped up the heels of all their honesty, that 
 they were either forced by ill treatment to take up 
 arms on our side, or suppressed and reduced by them. 
 In this the justice of Providence seemed very con- 
 spicuous, that these having pushed all things by 
 violence against the king, and by arms and force 
 brought him to their will, were at once both robbed 
 of the end, their Church government, and punished 
 for drawing their swords against their masters, 
 by their own servants drawing the sword against 
 them ; and God, in His due time, punished the others 
 too. And what was yet farther strange, the punish- 
 ment of this crime of making war against their king, 
 [347] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 singled out those very men, both in the army and in 
 the Parhament, who were the greatest champions of 
 the Presbyterian cause in the council and in the field. 
 Some minutes, too, of circumstances I cannot forbear 
 observing, though they are not very material, as to 
 the fatality and revolutions of days and times. 
 
 A Roman Catholic gentleman of Lancashire, a 
 very religious man in his way, who had kept a cal- 
 culate of times, and had observed mightily the 
 fatality of times, places, and actions, being at my 
 father's house, was discoursing once upon the last 
 judgment of God in dating His providences, so as 
 to signify to us His displeasure at particular cir- 
 cumstances ; and, among an infinite number of col- 
 lections he had made, these were some which I took 
 particular notice of, and from whence I began to 
 observe the like : — 
 
 1. That King Edward VI. died the very same 
 day of the same month in which he caused the 
 altar to be taken down, and the image of the Blessed 
 Virgin in the Cathedral of St. Paul's. 
 
 2. That Cranmer was burnt at Oxford the same 
 day and month that he gave King Henry VIII. 
 advice to divorce his Queen Catherine. 
 
 3. That Queen Elizabeth died the same day and 
 month that she resolved, in her Privy Council, to 
 behead the Queen of Scots. 
 
 4. That King James died the same day that he 
 published his book against Bellarmine. 
 
 5. That King Charles's long Parliament, which 
 ruined him, began the very same day and month 
 
 [348] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 which that Parliament began, that at the request 
 of his predecessor robbed the Roman Church of all 
 her revenues, and suppressed abbeys and monasteries. 
 
 How just his calculations were, or how true the 
 matter of fact, I cannot tell, but it put me upon 
 the same in several actions and successes of this war. 
 And I found a great many circumstances, as to 
 time or action, which befell both his Majesty and 
 his parties first ; 
 
 Then others which befell the Parliament and 
 Presbyterian faction, which raised the war ; 
 
 Then the Independent tyranny which succeeded 
 and supplanted the first party ; 
 
 Then the Scots, who acted on both sides ; 
 
 Lastly, the restoration and re-establishment of 
 the loyalty and religion of our ancestors. 
 
 1. For King Charles I. ; 't is observable, that the 
 charge against the Earl of Strafford, a thing which 
 his Majesty blamed himself for all the days of his 
 life, and at the moment of his last suffering, was 
 first read in the Lords' House on the SOth of Jan- 
 uary, the same day of the month six years that the 
 king himself was brought to the block. 
 
 2. That the king was carried away prisoner from 
 Newark, by the Scots, May 10, the same day six 
 years that, against his conscience and promise, he 
 passed the bill of attainder against the loyal, noble 
 Earl of Strafford. 
 
 3. The same day seven years that the king en- 
 tered the House of Commons for the five members, 
 which all his friends blamed him for, the same day 
 
 [349] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 the Rump voted bringing his Majesty to trial, after 
 they had set by the' Lords for not agreeing to it, 
 which was the 3rd of January 1648. 
 
 4. The 12th of May 1646, being the surrender of 
 Newark, the Parliament held a day of thanksgiving 
 and rejoicing, for the reduction of the king and his 
 party, and finishing the war, which was the same 
 day five years that the Earl of Strafford was 
 beheaded. 
 
 5. The battle at Naseby, which ruined the king's 
 affairs, and where his secretary and his office was 
 taken, was the 14th of June, the same day and month 
 the first commission was given out by his Majesty to 
 raise forces. - 
 
 6. The queen voted a traitor by the Parliament 
 the 3rd of May, the same day and month she carried 
 the jewels into France. 
 
 7. The same day the king defeated Essex in the 
 west, his son, King Charles II., was defeated at 
 Worcester. 
 
 8. Archbishop Laud's house at Lambeth assaulted 
 by the mob, the same day of the same month that 
 he advised the king to make war upon the Scots. 
 
 9. Impeached the 15th of December 1640, the 
 same day twelvemonth that he ordered the Common 
 Prayer-Book of Scotland to be printed, in order to be 
 imposed upon the Scots, from which all our troubles 
 began. 
 
 But many more, and more strange, are the critical 
 junctures of affairs in the case of the enemy, or at 
 least more observed by me : — 
 [350] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 1. Sir John Hotham, who repulsed his Majesty 
 and refused him admittance into Hull before the war, 
 was seized at Hull by the same Parliament for whom 
 he had done it, the same 10th day of August two 
 years that he drew the first blood in that war. 
 
 2. Hampden of Buckinghamshire killed the same 
 day one year that the mob petition from Bucks was 
 presented to the king about him, as one of the five 
 members. 
 
 3. Young Captain Hotham executed the 1st of 
 Januaiy, the same day that he assisted Sir Thomas 
 Fairfax in the first skirmish with the king's forces at 
 Bramham Moor. 
 
 4. The same day and month, being the 6th of 
 August 1641, that the Parliament voted to raise an 
 army against the king, the same day and month, anno 
 1648, the Parliament were assaulted and turned out 
 of doors by that very army, and none left to sit but 
 who the soldiers pleased, which were therefore called 
 the Rump. 
 
 5. The Earl of Holland deserted the king, who 
 had made him general of the horse, and went over 
 to the Parliament, and the 9th of March 1641, carried 
 the Commons' reproaching declaration to the king; 
 and afterwards taking up arms for the king against 
 the Parliament, was beheaded by them the 9th of 
 March 1648, just seven years after. 
 
 6. The Earl of Holland was sent to by the king to 
 come to his assistance and refused, the 11th of July 
 1641, and that very day seven years after was taken 
 by the Parliament at St. Neots. 
 
 7. Colonel Massey defended Gloucester against the 
 
 [351] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 king, and beat him off the 5th of September 1643 •, 
 was taken after by Cromwell's men fighting for the 
 king, on the 5th of September 1651, two or three 
 days after the fight at Worcester. 
 
 8. Richard Ci'omwell resigning, because he could 
 not help it, the Parliament voted a free Common- 
 wealth, without a single person or House of Lords. 
 This was the 25th of May 1658 ; the 25th of May 
 1660, the king landed at Dover, and restored the 
 government of a single person and House of Lords. 
 
 9. Lambert was proclaimed a traitor by the Par- 
 liament April the 20th, being the same day he 
 proposed to Oliver Cromwell to take upon him the 
 title of king. 
 
 10. Monk being taken prisoner at Nantwich by Sir 
 Thomas Fairfax, revolted to the Parliament the same 
 day nineteen years he declared for the king, and 
 thereby restored the royal authority. 
 
 11. The Parliament voted to approve of Sir John 
 Hotham's repulsing the king at Hull, the 28th of 
 April 1642 ; the 28th of April 1660, the Parliament 
 first debated in the House the restoring the king to 
 the crown. 
 
 12. The agitators of the army formed themselves 
 into a cabal, and held their first meeting to seize on 
 the king's person, and take him into their custody 
 from Holmby, the 28th of April 1647 ; the same 
 day, 1660, the Parliament voted the agitators to be 
 taken into custody, and committed as many of them 
 as could be found. 
 
 13. The Parliament voted the queen a traitor for 
 assisting her husband, the king. May the 3rd, 1643 ; 
 
 [352] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 her son, King Charles II., was presented with the 
 votes of Parliament to restore him, and the present 
 of ^50,000, the 3rd of May 1660. 
 
 14. The same day the Parliament passed the Act 
 for recognition of Oliver Cromwell, October 13th, 
 1654, Lambert broke up the Parliament and set up 
 the army, 1659, October the 13th. 
 
 Some other observations I have made, which, as not 
 so pertinent, I forbear to publish, among which I have 
 noted the fatality of some days to parties, as — 
 
 The 2nd of September : The fight at Dunbar ; the 
 fight at Worcester ; the oath against a single person 
 passed ; Oliver's first Parliament called. For the 
 enemy. 
 
 The 2nd of September : Essex defeated in Corn- 
 wall ; Oliver died ; city works demolished. For the 
 king. 
 
 The 29th of May : Prince Charles born ; Leicester 
 taken by storm ; King Charles II. restored. Ditto. 
 
 Fatality of circumstances in this unhappy war, as — 
 
 1. The English Parliament calls in the Scots, to 
 invade their king, and are invaded themselves by the 
 same Scots, in defence of the king whose case, and the 
 design of the Parliament, the Scots had mistaken. 
 
 2. The Scots, who unjustly assisted the Parliament 
 to conquer their lawful sovereign, contrary to their 
 oath of allegiance, and without any pretence on the 
 king's part, are afterwards absolutely conquered and 
 subdued by the same Parliament they assisted. 
 
 3. The Parliament, who raised an army to depose 
 23 [ 353 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 their king, deposed by the very army they had 
 raised. 
 
 4. The army broke three Parhaments, and are at 
 last broke by a free Parliament ; and all they had done 
 by the military power, undone at once by the civil. 
 
 5. Abundance of the chief men, who by their fiery 
 spirits involved the nation in a civil war, and took up 
 arms against their prince, first or last met with ruin 
 or disgrace from their own party. 
 
 (1.) Sir John Hotham and his son, who struck the 
 first stroke, both beheaded or hanged by the Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 (2.) Major-General Massey three times taken 
 prisoner by them, and once wounded at Worcester. 
 
 (3.) Major-General Langhom, (4s.) Colonel Poyer, 
 and (5.) Colonel Powell, changed sides, and at last 
 taken, could obtain no other favour than to draw 
 lots for their lives ; Colonel Poyer drew the dead lot, 
 and was shot to death. 
 
 (6.) Earl of Holland ; who, when the House voted 
 who should be reprieved, Lord Goring, who had been 
 their worst enemy, or the Earl of Holland, who, ex- 
 cepting one offence, had been their constant servant, 
 voted Goring to be spared, the Earl to die. 
 
 (7.) The Earl of Essex, their first general ; 
 
 (8.) Sir WiUiam Waller; 
 
 (9.) Lieutenant-General Ludlow ; 
 
 (10.) The Earl of Manchester ; 
 — all disgusted and voted out of the army, though 
 they had stood the first shock of the war, to make 
 way for the new model of the army, and introduce a 
 party. 
 
 [ 354] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 In all these confusions I have observed two o-reat 
 errors, one of the king, and one of his friends. 
 
 Of the king, that when he was in their custody, 
 and at their mercy, he did not comply with the 
 propositions of peace, before their army, for want of 
 employment, fell into heats and mutinies; that he 
 did not at first grant the Scots their own conditions, 
 which, if he had done, he had gone into Scotland ; 
 and then, if the English would have fought the Scots 
 for him, he had a reserve of his loyal friends, who 
 would have had room to have fallen in with the 
 Scots to his assistance, who were after dispersed and 
 destroyed in small parties attempting to serve him. 
 
 While his Majesty remained at Newcastle, the 
 queen wrote to him, persuading him to make peace 
 upon any terms ; and in politics her Majesty's advice 
 was certainly the best. For, however low he was 
 brought by a peace, it must have been better than 
 the condition he was then in. 
 
 The error I mention of the king's friends was this, 
 that after they saw all was lost, they could not be 
 content to sit still, and reserve themselves for better 
 fortunes, and wait the happy time when the divisions 
 of the enemy would bring them to certain ruin; but 
 must hasten their own miseries by frequent fruitless 
 risings, in the face of a victorious enemy, in small 
 parties ; and I always found these effects from it : — 
 
 1. The enemy, who were always together by the ears, 
 when they were let alone, were united and reconciled 
 when we gave them any interruption ; as particularly, 
 in the case of the first assault the army made upon 
 them, when Colonel Pride, with his regiment, gar- 
 [ 355 ] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 bled the House, as they called it. At that time a 
 fair opportunity offered ; but it was omitted till it 
 was too late. That insult upon the House had 
 been attempted the year before, but was hindered 
 by the little insurrections of the royal party, and 
 the sooner they had fallen out, the better. 
 
 2. These risings being desperate, with vast dis- 
 advantages, and always suppressed, ruined all our 
 friends ; the remnants of the Cavaliers were lessened, 
 the stoutest and most daring were cut off, and the 
 king's interest exceedingly weakened, there not being 
 less than 30,000 of his best friends cut off in the 
 several attempts made at Maidstone, Colchester, 
 Lancashire, Pembroke, Pontefract, Kingston, Preston, 
 Warrington, Worcester, and other places. Had 
 these men all reserved their fortunes to a conjunction 
 with the Scots, at either of the invasions they made 
 into this kingdom, and acted with the conduct and 
 courage they were known masters of, perhaps neither 
 of those Scots armies had been defeated. 
 
 But the impatience of our friends ruined all ; for 
 my part, I had as good a mind to put my hand to 
 the ruin of the enemy as any of them, but I never 
 saw any tolerable appearance of a force able to match 
 the enemy, and I had no mind to be beaten and then 
 hanged. Had we let them alone, they would have 
 fallen into so many parties and factions, and so 
 effectually have torn one another to pieces, that 
 whichsoever party had come to us, we should, with 
 them, have been too hard for all the rest. 
 
 This was plain by the course of things afterwards ; 
 when the Independent army had ruffled the Pres- 
 [356] 
 
MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER 
 
 byterian Parliament, the soldiery of that party made 
 no scruple to join us, and would have restored the 
 king with all their hearts, and many of them did 
 join us at last. 
 
 And the consequence, though late, ended so; for 
 they fell out so many times, army and Parliament, 
 Parliament and army, and alternately pulled one 
 another down so often, till at last the Presbyterians 
 who began the war, ended it, and, to be rid of their 
 enemies, rather than for any love to the monarchy, 
 restored King Charles the Second, and brought him 
 in on the very day that they themselves had formerly 
 resolved the ruin of his father's government, being 
 the 29th of May, the same day twenty years that the 
 private cabal in London concluded their secret league 
 with the Scots, to embroil his father King Charles 
 the First. 
 
 THE END 
 
SINGLETONS COMRADES DESERT THE 
 VESSEL, 
 
 After this, the letter which was left by the men was 
 given to the captain by his boy 
 
THE WORKS OF DANIEL MIFOE 
 
 VOLUME SIX ' • 
 
 THE 
 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES 
 
 OF THE FAMOUS 
 
 CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 WITH THE author's PREFACE, AND AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 G. H. MAYNADIER, Ph.D. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
 
 UNIVERSITY EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 SULLY & KLEINTEICH 
 
3^00 
 
 The University Press, Cambhidgk, Mass., U. S. A. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 IN June, 1720, only a fortnight after the 
 Memoirs of a Cavalier had appeared, there 
 was pubhshed The Life, Adventures, and 
 Piracies of the Fa/mous Captain Singleton : 
 Containing an Account of his being set on Shore in the 
 Island of Madagascar, his Settlement there, with a 
 Description of the Place and Inhabitants : Of his Pas- 
 sage from thence in a Paraguay, to the Main Land of 
 Africa, with an Account of the Customs and Manners 
 of the People : His great Deliverances from the Bar- 
 barous Natives and Wild Beasts : Of his meeting with 
 an Englishman, a citizen of' London, amongst the 
 Indians. The great Riches he Acquired, and his Voy- 
 age Home to England. As also Captain Singleton's 
 Return to Sea, with an Account of his many Adven- 
 tures, and Pyracies with the famous Captain A very, 
 and others. The conclusion of this title shows where 
 Defoe got the idea of Singleton''s adventures. The 
 piratical part of them is virtually an amplification 
 of Defoe's Enterprizes of Captain Avery, which had 
 appeared at the end of the preceding year. Not only 
 is there a general resemblance between the two books, 
 but there are also particular resemblances. Avery, 
 for instance, captured a Quaker skipper, whose action 
 in the story, brief as it is, is enough to make us feel 
 [vii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 that he was the prototype of Singleton's friend, Wil- 
 liam. Avery, moreover, slipped away from his pirati- 
 cal companions, much as Singleton slipped from his ; 
 and, like him, travelled overland from the Persian 
 Gulf to the Mediterranean with one devoted friend. 
 
 But Captain Avery is not the only book from which 
 Defoe borrowed for Captain Singleton ; he borrowed, 
 also, some of his Crusoe material. To be sure, this is 
 less recognisable than his Avery material. It had to be 
 more worked over ; for Robinson Crusoe, which went 
 through four editions in less than four months, was a 
 famous book, and Captain Avery was not. None the 
 less, to Crusoe we are indebted for the circumstantial 
 accounts of the " little city " which Singleton's com- 
 panions built in Madagascar, of their encampment on 
 the Golden River, and of the wrecked Dutch ship, so 
 opportunely discovered, which Robinson himself could 
 not have made more intelligent use of. These re- 
 semblances to both Crusoe and Captain Avery make 
 it probable that Defoe did not compose Captain 
 Singleton till after they were written ; that is, till 
 the end of 1719 or the beginning of 1720. As Dun- 
 can Campbell, which appeared only five weeks before 
 Singleton, was probably composed about the same 
 time, the probability becomes almost a certainty 
 that the Memoirs of a Cavalier, which appeared two 
 weeks before Singleton, was composed before Robin- 
 son Crusoe had shown Defoe the field of literature 
 which was to yield him the richest harvest. 
 
 There is so little variety in Singleton's piratical 
 adventures that at times the account of them be- 
 [ viii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 comes monotonous. The book as a whole, though, 
 has interest. Like most of Defoe's fiction, it is in 
 the main good narrative. It is full of action ; one 
 incident follows another with all the rapidity a 
 reader could ask for. The trouble is not only that 
 the incidents are apt to be too much of a kind ; 
 there are too many of them and they often follow 
 too fast. As a result, the story becomes now and 
 then merely a record of facts which are not elabo- 
 rated enough to seem real. 
 
 Like so many other stories from Defoe's pen. Cap- 
 tain Singkton possesses interest, apart from the nar- 
 rative, as showing Defoe's practical and accurate 
 knowledge of parts of the world which, even to 
 this day, the average Englishman or American is but 
 doubtfully acquainted with. We get some informa- 
 tion, I suppose, as to the way Defoe acquired this 
 knowledge from his account of Robert Knox's adven- 
 tures in Ceylon. This Knox, who was born about 
 164)0 and died in 1720, together with his father, a 
 commander in the service of the East India Com- 
 pany, was captured by natives of Ceylon, as we read 
 in Captain Singleton, in 1659. After being a cap- 
 tive for nineteen years, during which time his father 
 died, he at last made his escape. When free, he 
 entered the service of the East India Company, and 
 in time wrote the first account of Ceylon in English, 
 — a book which Mr. Gordon Goodwin, in the Dic- 
 tionary of National Biography, pronounces "both 
 delightful and trustworthy." Knox's book was in 
 Defoe's library. 
 
 [ix] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It was the continual reading of such books that 
 gave Defoe his intimate knowledge of the world. 
 The wonder is that he was always able to discrimi- 
 nate between books which were " trustworthy " and 
 books which were not. It is another wonder that he 
 had the knowledge which he had acquired so per- 
 fectly at command. He can take his heroes from 
 Newfoundland to the La Plata, up and down both 
 coasts of Africa, to India, Malaysia, Japan, across 
 the Pacific to Mexico, and south and round the Horn 
 till he comes to the La Plata again : his geography 
 is almost always accurate. It is safe to say that 
 when Defoe wrote Captain Smgleton in 1720, he 
 knew more of the geography and products of the 
 Philippines than ninety-nine per cent of the Ameri- 
 can people, on the day when the guns of Corregidor 
 proclaimed to the surprised Spaniards and Filipinos 
 that an American fleet was sailing into Manila Bay. 
 
 The knowledge of remote lands in Captain Single- 
 ton which has excited most comment is that of 
 equatorial Africa. In an article in Macmillan's 
 Magazine for October, 1878, entitled Through the 
 Dark Continent, Professor Minto tells of an Eng- 
 lish man of letters who had just been amazed by a 
 discovery in a London book-stall. He had picked 
 up a book, manifestly of the early eighteenth cen- 
 tury, though it bore neither date^nor author's name, 
 which related a journey across Africa that seemed 
 to anticipate many of the discoveries of Stanley. 
 The book was Captain Singkton ,• and on a first 
 reading of it, one might think that the three great 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 lakes, which the hero came upon, correspond as ac- 
 curately with Tanganyika and the Victoria and 
 Albert Nyanzas as Defoe's course of the Congo has 
 turned out to correspond with its real course. Pro- 
 fessor Minto ha^s shown, however, that if you try to 
 draw a map of Central Africa according to Single- 
 ton"'s account, you will find some of your lakes and 
 rivers a thousand miles away from those with which 
 you would identify them. Even so, it is evident 
 that Defoe knew more about the interior of the Dark 
 Continent than any map-maker in the years just 
 previous to Livingstone's and Stanley's explorations. 
 His knowledge of Africa Defoe got from maps of 
 the sixteenth century. It is probable that Portu- 
 guese explorers even before that time crossed Africa 
 from sea to sea, and that they had fairly pre- 
 cise knowledge of its central regions. In Defoe's 
 day, however, owing to the long cessation of Portu- 
 guese exploring trips, people began to doubt the 
 accuracy of this knowledge, and, in time, Central 
 Africa became only a blank space on the maps. 
 People still possessed accurate information, though, 
 of the country for some distance inland from both 
 coasts ; and Professor Minto points out that Defoe's 
 geography is accurate only when Singleton is in 
 these better-known regions. When he reaches the 
 " vast expanse of the interior," from which the ex- 
 plorers "had brought back only the vaguest infor- 
 mation," Defoe's geography, like the knowledge he 
 was drawing on, becomes vague. Still it is remark- 
 able that even in a hazy way he indicated the great 
 [xi] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 lakes which are now known to exist, and the real 
 course of the Congo. 
 
 The journey across Africa, with the detailed ac- 
 count of its lakes and deserts and rivers, its wild 
 beasts and savages, and its gold and ivory, makes 
 better reading than the balder and longer tale of 
 Singleton's piracies. Yet this, as I have said, pos- 
 sesses considerable interest, not the least of which 
 comes from an attempt at character-drawing, which 
 for Defoe is rather elaborate ; I mean the attempt 
 to draw William the Quaker. He is introduced as 
 a " very meiTy fellow . . ., a Quaker, . . . whom we 
 took out of a sloop bound from Pennsylvania to Bar- 
 bados. He was a surgeon, and they called him doc- 
 tor ; . . . a comic fellow indeed, a man of very good 
 solid sense, and an excellent surgeon ; but, what was 
 worth all, very good-humoured and pleasant in his 
 conversation, and a bold, stout, brave fellow too, as 
 any we had among us." 
 
 Here is chance, certainly, for one of the living 
 characters of our literature ; and no doubt when De- 
 foe had written the last word of Captain Singleton, he 
 complacently thought that he had given to Quaker 
 William the breath of life. He had at least imagined 
 a character who, I suppose, was a real type ; for 
 Quakers not very unlike William have fought Indians, 
 or helped slaves take the " underground railroad " 
 from the South to Canada, in books which have 
 delighted American boys and in * melodramas which 
 have thrilled American audiences. Among all these 
 Quakers, however, is not one who is a real human 
 [xii] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 being, like many an old salt who has figured in our 
 novels from the appearance of Smollett's Tom Bowl- 
 ing to the present day. Singleton's William is quite 
 as lifeless as any of the lot. He shows he is brave, 
 to be sure, by never shrinking from inevitable danger ; 
 but he manifests his " very good solid sense " only by 
 apposing reason to the patent unreason of Single- 
 ton, who, apparently to let William shine the more 
 brightly, loses in his later adventures much of the 
 common-sense which made him the leader of his 
 fellows through Africa ; and he shows his dry face- 
 biousness chiefly by that smile which I have said, in 
 a previous introduction, Defoe thought so eloquent ■ 
 for revealing the natures of his characters. Nor has 
 Defoe succeeded better in his attempt to make us 
 feel that William is a character to be admired ; in 
 reality h^ is a canting hypocrite. The penitential 
 tears come into his eyes, and he piously exhorts 
 Singleton to mend his ways, only when they have 
 both got enough booty to make them rich for the 
 rest of their days. Just at the end of the book, 
 however, in the brotherly affection of the two men, 
 and in the mutual devotion of William and his 
 sister, there are some human touches which excite a 
 reader's sympathy. One of these is Singleton's de- 
 scription of himself, in his newly roused spiritual 
 interest, as " little Bob at Bussleton," going " to 
 school to learn my Testament." William, unfortu- 
 nately, with his sudden opportunist repentance, was 
 hardly the man to teach it. 
 
 When a character remains wooden who seems to 
 [ xiii ] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 have received so much attention from the author as 
 William, it is no wonder that the less elaborated 
 characters are wooden, too. In Captain Singleton, 
 we have conspicuous instances alike of Defoe's power 
 and of his limitations. He had a marvellous know- 
 ledge of strange and distant lands : ieven in equatorial 
 Africa he could crowd incident on incident, and 
 make the reader believe in its reality ; but he could 
 not make his characters into human beings who 
 moved and breathed and spoke and thought. 
 
 G. H. Maynadiee. 
 
 [xiv] 
 
THE LIFE, ADVENTURES 
 AND PIRACIES OF 
 
 CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ^S it is usual for great persons; whose lives 
 /^k have been remarkable, and whose actions 
 
 / — ^ deserve recording to posterity, to insist 
 ^ J^ much upon their originals, give full 
 accounts of their families, and the histories of their 
 ancestors, so, that I may be methodical, I shall do 
 the same, though I can look but a very little way 
 into my pedigree, as you will see presently. 
 
 If I may believe the woman whom I was taught 
 to call mother, I was a little boy, of about two years 
 old, very well dressed, had a nursery- maid to attend 
 me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening 
 into the fields towards Islington, as she pretended, 
 to give the child some air ; a little girl being with 
 her, of twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in 
 the neighbourhood. The maid, whether by ap- 
 pointment or otherwise, meets with a fellow, her 
 sweetheart, as I suppose ; he carries her into a public- 
 house, to give her a pot and a cake ; and while they 
 were toying in the house the girl plays about, with 
 me in her hand, in the garden and at the door, 
 sometimes in sight, sometimes out of sight, thinking 
 no harm. 
 
 [1] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 At this juncture comes by one of those sort of 
 people who, it seems, made it their business to spirit 
 away little children. This was a hellish trade in 
 those days, and chiefly practised where they found 
 little children very well dressed, or for bigger 
 children, to sell them to the plantations. 
 
 The woman, pretending to take me up in her 
 arms and kiss me, and play with me, draws the girl 
 a good way from the house, till at last she makes a 
 fine story to the girl, and bids her go back to the 
 maid, and tell her where she was with the child ; 
 that a gentlewoman had taken a fancy to the child, 
 and was kissing of it, but she should not be frighted, 
 or to that purpose ; for they were but just there; 
 and so, while the girl went, she carries me quite 
 away. 
 
 From this time, it seems, I was disposed of to a 
 beggar woman that wanted a pretty little child to 
 set out her case ; and after that, to a gipsy, under 
 whose government I continued till I was about six 
 years old. And this woman, though 1 was contin- 
 ually dragged about with her from one part of the 
 country to another, yet never let me want for any- 
 thing ; and I called her mother ; though she told me 
 at last she was not my mother, but that she bought 
 me for twelve shillings of another woman, who told 
 her how she came by me, and told her that my name 
 was Bob Singleton, not Robert, but plain Bob; for 
 it seems they never knew by what name I was 
 christened. 
 
 It is in vain to reflect here, what a terrible fright 
 the careless hussy was in that lost me ; what treat- 
 [2] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ment she received from my justly enraged father and 
 mother, and the horror these must be in at the 
 thoughts of their child being thus carried away ; for 
 as I never knew anything of the matter, but just 
 what I have related, nor who my father and mother 
 were, so it would make but a needless digression to 
 talk of it here. 
 
 My good gipsy mother, for some of her worthy 
 actions no doubt, happened in process of time to be 
 hanged ; and as this fell out something too soon for 
 me to be perfected in the strolling trade, the parish 
 where I was left, which for my life I can't remember, 
 took some care of me, to be sure ; for the first thing 
 I can remember of myself afterwards, was, that I went 
 to a parish school, and the minister of the parish 
 used to talk to me to be a good boy; and that, 
 though I was but a poor boy, if I minded my book, 
 and served God, I might make a good man. 
 
 I believe I was frequently removed from one town 
 to another, perhaps as the parishes disputed my sup- 
 posed mother's last settlement. Whether I was so 
 shifted by passes, or otherwise, I know not ; but the 
 town where I last was kept, whatever its name was, 
 must be not far off from the seaside ; for a master of 
 a ship who took a fancy to me, was the first that 
 brought me to a place not far from Southampton, 
 which I afterwards knew to be Bussleton ; and there 
 I attended the carpenters, and such people as were 
 employed in building a ship for him ; and whe.n 
 it was done, though I was not above twelve years 
 old, he carried me to sea with him on a voyage to 
 Newfoundland, 
 
 [31 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I lived well enough, and pleased my master so well 
 that he called me his own boy ; and I would have 
 called him father, but he would not allow it, for he 
 had children of his own. I went three or four 
 voyages with him, and grew a great sturdy boy, 
 when, coming home again from the banks of New- 
 foundland, we were taken by an Algerine rover, or 
 man-of-war ; which, if my account stands right, was 
 about the year 1695, for you may be sure I kept no 
 journal. 
 
 I was not much concerned at the disaster, though 
 I saw my master, after having been wounded by a 
 splinter in the head during the engagement, very 
 barbarously used by the Turks ; I say, I was not 
 much concerned, till, upon some unlucky thing I 
 said, which, as I remember, was about abusing 
 my master, they took me and beat me most unmerci- 
 fully with a flat stick on the soles of my feet, so 
 that I could neither go or stand for several days 
 together. 
 
 But my good fortune was my friend upon this 
 occasion ; for, as they were sailing away with our 
 ship in tow as a prize, steering for the Straits, and in 
 sight of the bay of Cadiz, the Turkish rover was 
 attacked by two great Portuguese men-of-war, and 
 taken and carried into Lisbon. 
 
 As I was not much concerned at my captivity, not 
 indeed understanding the consequences of it, if it had 
 cpntinued, so I was not suitably sensible of my deliv- 
 erance ; nor, indeed, was it so much a deliverance 
 to me as it would otherwise have been, for my master, 
 who was the only friend I bad in the world, died at 
 [4.1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Lisbon of his wounds ; and I being then almost re- 
 duced to my primitive state, viz., of starving, had 
 this addition to it, that it was in a foreign country 
 too, where I knew nobody and could not speak a 
 word of their language. However, I fared better 
 here than I had reason to expect ; for when all the 
 rest of our men had their liberty to go where they 
 would, I, that knew not whither to go, stayed in the 
 ship for several days, till at length one of the 
 lieutenants seeing me, inquired what that young 
 English dog did there, and why they did not turn 
 him on shore. 
 
 I heard him, and partly understood what he meant, 
 though not what he said, and began then to be in a 
 terrible fright ; for I knew not where to get a bit of 
 bread ; when the pilot of the ship, an old seaman, 
 seeing me look very dull, came to me, and speaking 
 broken English to me, told me I must be gone. 
 " Whither must I go ? " said I. " Where you will," 
 said he, " home to your own country, if you will." 
 " How must I go thither ? " said I. " Why, have 
 you no friend ? " said he. " No," said I, " not in the 
 world, but that dog," pointing to the ship's dog (who, • 
 having stolen a piece of meat just before, had brought 
 it close by me, and I had taken it from him, and ate 
 it), " for he has been a good friend, and brought me 
 my dinner." 
 
 " Well, well," says he, " you must have your 
 dinner. Will you go with me ? " " Yes," says I, 
 " with all my heart." In short, the old pilot took 
 me home with him, and used me tolerably well, 
 though I fared hard enough ; and I lived with him 
 
 [5J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 about two years, daring which time he was solicit- 
 ing his business, and at length got to be master or 
 pilot under Don Garcia, de Pimentesia de Carra- 
 vallas, captain of a Portuguese galleon or carrack, 
 which was bound to Goa, in the East Indies ; and 
 immediately having gotten his commission, put me 
 on board to look after his cabin, in which he had 
 stored himself with abundance of h'quors, succades, 
 sugar, spices, and other things, for his accommo- 
 dation in the voyage, and laid in afterwards a con- 
 siderable quantity of European goods, fine lace and 
 linen ; and also baize, woollen cloth, stuffs, &c., 
 under the pretence of his clothes. 
 
 I was too young in the trade to keep any journal 
 of this voyage, though' my master, who was, for a 
 Portuguese, a pretty good artist, prompted me to 
 it ; but my not understanding the language was one 
 hindrance ; at least it served me for an excuse. 
 However, after some time, I began to look into his 
 charts and books ; and, as I could write a tolerable 
 hand, understood some Latin, and began to have 
 a little smattering of the Portuguese tongue, so I 
 ■began to get a superficial knowledge of navigation, 
 but not such as was likely to be sufficient to carry 
 me through a life of adventure, as mine was to be. 
 In short, I learned several material things in this 
 voyage among the Portuguese ; I learned particularly 
 to be an arrant thief and a bad sailor; and I think 
 I may say they are the best masters for teaching 
 both these of any nation in the world. 
 
 We made our way for the East Indies, by the 
 coast of Brazil ; not that it is in the course of sail- 
 [6] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ing the way thither, but our captain, either on his 
 own account, or by the direction of the merchants, 
 went thither first, where at All Saints' Bay, or, as 
 they call it in Portugal, the Rio de Todos los 
 Santos, we delivered near a hundred tons of goods, 
 and took in a considerable quantity of gold, with 
 some chests of sugar, and seventy or eighty gi-eat 
 rolls of tobacco, every roll, weighing at least a 
 hundredweight. 
 
 Here, being lodged on shore by my master's 
 order, I had the charge of the captain's business, 
 he having seen me very diligent for my own master ; 
 and in requital for his mistaken confidence, I found 
 means to secure, that is to say, to steal, about 
 twenty moidores out of the gold that was shipped 
 on board by the merchants, and this was my first 
 adventure. 
 
 We had a tolerable voyage from hence to the 
 Cape de Bona Speranza; and I was reputed as a 
 mighty diligent servant to my master, and very 
 faithful. I was diligent indeed, but I was very far 
 from honest ; however, they thought me honest, 
 which, by the way, was their very great mistake. 
 Upon this very mistake the captain took a partic- 
 ular liking to me, and employed me frequently on 
 his own occasion ; and, on the other hand, in recom- 
 pense for my officious diligence, I received several 
 particular favours from him ; particularly, I was, 
 by the captain's command, made a kind of a steward 
 under the ship's steward, for such provisions as the 
 captain demanded for his own table. He had 
 another steward for his private stores besides, but 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 my office concerned only what the captain called 
 for of the ship's stores for his private use. 
 
 However, by this means I had opportunity particu- 
 larly to take care of my master's man, and to furnish 
 myself with sufficient provisions to make me live 
 much better than the other people in the ship ; for 
 the captain seldom ordered anything out of the 
 ship's stores, as above, but I snipt some of it for my 
 own share. We arrived at Goa, in the East Indies, 
 in about seven months from Lisbon, and remained 
 there eight more ; during which time I had indeed 
 nothing to do, my master being generally on shore, 
 but to learn everything that is wicked among the 
 Portuguese, a nation the most perfidious and the 
 most debauched, the most insolent and cruel, of any 
 that pretend to caU themselves Christians, in the 
 world. 
 
 Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to 
 the most abominable lewdness, was the stated prac- 
 tice of the ship's crew ; adding to it, that, with the 
 most insufferable boasts of their own courage, they 
 were, generally speaking, the most complete cowards 
 that I ever met with ; and the consequence of their 
 cowardice was evident upon many occasions. How- 
 ever, there was here and there one among them that 
 was not so bad as the rest ; and, as my lot fell among 
 them, it made me have the most contemptible 
 thoughts of the rest, as indeed they deserved. 
 
 I was exactly fitted for their society indeed ; for I 
 
 had no sense of virtue or religion upon me. I had 
 
 never heard much of either, except what a good old 
 
 parson had said to me when I was a child of about 
 
 [8] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 eight or nine years old; nay, I was preparing and 
 growing up apace to be as wicked as anybody could 
 be, or perhaps ever was. Fate certainly thus directed 
 my beginning, knowing that I had work which I 
 had to do in the world, which nothing but one 
 hardened against all sense of honesty or religion 
 could go through ; and yet, even in this state of 
 original wickedness, I entertained such a settled 
 abhorrence of the abandoned vileness of the Portu- 
 guese, that I could not but hate them most heartily 
 from the beginning, and all my life afterwards. 
 They were so brutishly wicked, so base and perfidious, 
 not only to strangers but to one another, so meanly 
 submissive when subjected, so insolent, or barbarous 
 and tyrannical, when superior, that I thought there 
 was something in them that shocked my very 
 nature. Add to this that it is natural to an English- 
 man to hate a coward, it all joined together to make 
 the devil and a Portuguese equally my aversion. 
 
 However, according to the English proverb, he 
 that is shipped with the devil must sail with the 
 devil ; I was among them, and I managed myself as 
 well as I could. My master had consented that I 
 should assist the captain in the office, as above ; but, 
 as I understood afterwards that the captain allowed 
 my master half a moidore a month for my service, 
 and that he had my name upon the ship's books 
 also, I expected that when the ship came to be paid 
 four months' wages at the Indies, as they, it seems, 
 always do, my master would let me have something 
 for myself 
 
 But I was wrong in my man, for he was none of 
 [9] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 that kind ; he had taken me up as in distress, and 
 his business was to keep me so, and make his market 
 of me as well as he could, which I began to think 
 of after a different manner than I did at first, for 
 at first I thought he had entertained me in mere 
 charity, upon seeing my distressed circumstances, 
 but did not doubt but when he put me on board 
 the ship, I should have some wages for my service. 
 
 But he thought, it seems, quite otherwise ; and 
 when I procured one to speak to him about it, when 
 the ship was paid at Goa, he flew into the greatest 
 rage imaginable, and called me English dog, young 
 heretic, and threatened to put me into the Inquisi- 
 tion. Indeed, of all the names the four-and-twenty 
 letters could make up, he should not have called me 
 heretic ; for as I knew nothing about religion, 
 neither Protestant from Papist, or either of them 
 from a Mahometan, I could never be a heretic. 
 However, it passed but a little, but, as young as I 
 was, I had been carried into the Inquisition, and 
 there, if they had asked me if I was a Protestant 
 or a Catholic, I should have said yes to that which 
 came first. If it had been the Protestant they hsid 
 asked first, it had certainly made a martyr of me for 
 I did not know what. 
 
 But the very priest they carried with them, or 
 chaplain of the ship, as we called him, saved me ; for 
 seeing me a boy entirely ignorant of religion, and 
 ready to do or say anything they bid me, he asked 
 me some questions about it, which he found I an- 
 swered so very simply, that he took it upon him to 
 tell them he would answer for my being a good 
 [10] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Catholic, and he hoped he should be the means of 
 saving my soul, and he pleased himself that it was to 
 be a work of merit to him ; so he made me as good 
 a Papist as any of them in about a week's time. 
 
 I then told him my case about my master ; how, 
 it is true, he had taken me up in a miserable case on 
 board a man-of-war at Lisbon ; and I was indebted 
 to him for bringing me on board this ship ; that if I 
 had been left at Lisbon, I might have starved, and 
 the like; and therefore I was willing to serve him, 
 but that I hoped he would give me some little con- 
 sideration for my service, or let me know how long 
 he expected I should serve him for nothing. 
 
 It was all one ; neither the priest nor any one else 
 could prevail with him, but that I was not his ser- 
 vant but his slave, that he took me in the Algerine, 
 and that I was a Turk, only pretended to be an 
 English boy to get my liberty, and he would carry 
 me to the Inquisition as a Turk. 
 
 This frighted me out of my wits, for I had no- 
 body to vouch for me what I was, or from whence I 
 came ; but the good Padre Antonio, for that was his 
 name, cleared me of that part by a way I did not 
 understand ; for he came to me one morning with 
 two sailors, and told me they must search me, to 
 bear witness that I was not a Turk. I was amazed 
 at them, and frighted, and did not understand them, 
 nor could I imagine what they intended to do to me. 
 However, stripping me, they were soon satisfied, and 
 Father Antony bade me be easy, for they could all 
 witness that I was no Turk. So I escaped that part 
 of my master's cruelty. 
 
 [11] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 And now I resolved from that time to run away 
 from him if I could, but there was no doing of it 
 there, for there were not ships of any nation in the 
 world in that port, except two or three Persian ves- 
 sels from Ormus, so that if I had offered to go away 
 from him, he would have had me seized on shore, 
 and brought on board by force ; so tliat I had no 
 remedy but patience. And this he brought to an 
 end too as soon as he could, for after this he began 
 to use me ill, and not only to straiten my provisions, 
 but to beat and torture me in a barbarous manner 
 for every trifle, so that, in a word, my life began to 
 be very miserable. 
 
 The violence of this usage of me, and the impos- 
 sibility of my escape from his hands, set my head 
 a-working upon all sorts of mischief, and in particu- 
 lar I resolved, after studying all other ways to deliver 
 myself, and finding all ineffectual, I say, I resolved 
 to murder him. With this hellish resolution in my 
 head, I spent ^hole nights and days contriving how 
 to put it in execution, the devil prompting me very 
 warmly to the fact. I was indeed entirely at a loss 
 for the means, for I had neither gun or sword, nor 
 any weapon to assault him with; poison I had my 
 thoughts much upon, but knew not where to get 
 any ; or, if I might have got it, I did not know 
 the country word for it, or by what name to ask 
 for it. 
 
 In this manner I quitted the fact, intentionally, a 
 
 hundred and a hundred times ; but Providence, either 
 
 for his sake or for mine, always frustrated my designs, 
 
 and I could never bring it to pass ; so I was obliged 
 
 [12] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to continue in his chains till the ship, having taken 
 in her loading, set sail for Portugal. 
 
 I can say nothing here to the manner of our voyage, 
 for, as I said, I kept no journal ; but this I can give 
 an account of, that having been once as high as the 
 Cape of Good Hope, as we call it, or Cabo de Bona 
 Speranza, as they call it, we were driven back again 
 by a violent storm from the W.S.W., which held us 
 six days and nights a great way to the eastward, and 
 after that, standing afore the wind for several days 
 more, we ab last came to an anchor on the coast of 
 Madagascar. 
 
 The storm had been so violent that the ship had 
 received a great deal of damage, and it required some 
 time to repair her ; so, standing in nearer the shore, 
 the pilot, my master, brought the ship into a very 
 good harbour, where we rid in twenty-six fathoms 
 water, about half a mile from the shore. 
 
 While the ship rode here there happened a most 
 desperate mutiny among the men, upon account of 
 some deficiency in their allowance, which came to 
 that height that they threatened the captain to set 
 him on shore, and go back with the ship to Goa. 
 I wished they would with all my heart, for I was full 
 of mischief in my head, and ready enough to do any. 
 So, though I was but a boy, as they called me, yet I 
 prompted the mischief all I could, and embarked in 
 it so openly, that I escaped very little being hanged 
 in the first and most early part of my life ; for the 
 captain had some notice that there was a design laid 
 by some of the company to murder him ; and having, 
 partly by money and promises, and partly by threaten- 
 [IS] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 .ng and torture, brought two fellows to confess the 
 particulars, and the names of the persons concerned, 
 they were presently apprehended, till, one accusing 
 another, no less than sixteen men were seized and 
 put into irons, whereof I was one. 
 
 The captain, who was made desperate by his danger, 
 resolving to clear the ship of his enemies, tried us all, 
 and we were all condemned to die. The manner of 
 his process I was too young to tai<e notice of; but the 
 purser and one of the gunners were hanged immedi- 
 ately, and I expected it with the rest. I do not re- 
 member any great concern I was under about it, only 
 that I cried very much, for I iinew little then of this 
 world, and nothing at all of the next. 
 
 However, the captain contented himself with exe- 
 cuting these two, and some of the rest, upon their 
 humble submission and promise of future good be- 
 haviour, were pardoned ; but five were ordered to be 
 set on shore on the island and left there, of which I 
 was one. My master used all his interest with the 
 captain to have me excused, but could not obtain it ; 
 for somebody having told him that I was one of them 
 who was singled out to have killed him, when my 
 master desired I might not be set on shore, the cap- 
 tain told him I should stay on board if he desired it, 
 but then I should be hanged, so he might choose for 
 me which he thought best. The captain, it seems, 
 was particularly provoiied at my being concerned in 
 the treachery, because of his having been so kind to 
 me, and of his having singled me out to serve him, 
 as I have said above ; and this, perhaps, obliged him 
 to give my master such a rough choice, either to set 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 me on shore or to have tne hanged on board. And 
 had my master, indeed, known what good-will I had 
 for him, he would not have been long in choosing for 
 me ; for I had certainly determined to do him a mis- 
 chief the first opportunity I had for it. This was, 
 therefore, a good providence for me to keep me from 
 dipping my hands in blood, and it made me more 
 tender afterwards in matters of blood than I believe 
 I should otherwise have been. But as to my being 
 one of them that was to kill the captain, that I was 
 wronged in, for I was not the person, but it was really 
 one of them that were pardoned, he having the good 
 luck not to have that part discovered. 
 
 I was now to enter upon a part of independent 
 life, a thing I was indeed very ill prepared to manage, 
 for I was perfectly loose and dissolute in my be- 
 haviour, bold and wicked while I was under govern- 
 ment, and now perfectly unfit to be trusted with 
 liberty, for I was as ripe for any villainy as a young 
 fellow that had no solid thought ever placed in his 
 mind could be supposed to be. Education, as you 
 have heard, I had none ; and all the little scenes of 
 life I had passed through had been full of dangers 
 and desperate circumstances ; but I was either so 
 young or so stupid, that I escaped the grief and 
 anxiety of them, for want of having a sense of their 
 tendency and consequences. 
 
 This thoughtless, unconcerned temper had one 
 felicity indeed in it, that it made me daring and 
 ready for doing any mischief, and kept off the 
 sorrow which otherwise ought to have attended me 
 when I fell into any mischief; that this stupidity was 
 [15] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 instead of a happiness to me, for it left my thoughts 
 free to act upon means of escape and deliverance in 
 my distress, however great it might be ; whereas my 
 companions in the misei-y were so sunk by their fear 
 and grief, that they abandoned themselves to the 
 misery of their condition, and gave over all thought 
 but of their perishing and starving, being devoured 
 by wild beasts, murdered, and perhaps eaten by 
 cannibals, and the like. 
 
 I was but a young fellow, about seventeen or 
 eighteen ; but hearing what was to be my fate, I 
 received it with no appearance of discouragement; 
 but I asked what my master said to it, and being 
 told that he had used his utmost interest to save 
 me, but the captain had answered I should either go 
 on shore or be hanged on board, which he pleased, I 
 then gave over all hope of being received again. I 
 was not very thankful in my thoughts to my master 
 for his soliciting the captain for me, because I knew 
 that what he did was not in kindness to me so much 
 as in kindness to himself ; I mean, to preserve the 
 wages which he got for me, which amounted to above 
 six dollars a month, including what the captain 
 allowed him for my particular service to him. 
 
 When I understood that my master was so appar- 
 ently kind, I asked if I might not be admitted to 
 speak with him, and they told me I might, if my 
 master would come down to me, but I could not be 
 allowed to come up to him ; so then I desired my 
 master might be spoke to to come to me, and he 
 accordingly came to me. I fell on my knees to him, 
 and begged he would forgive me what I had done to 
 [161 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 displease him ; and indeed the resolution I had taten 
 to murder hira lay with some horror upon my mind 
 just at that time, so that I was once just a-going to 
 confess it, and beg him to forgive me, but I kept it 
 in. He told me he had done all he could to obtain 
 my pardon of the captain, but could not ; and he 
 knew no way for me but to have patience, and sub- 
 mit to my fate ; and if they came to speak with any 
 ship of their nation at the Cape, he would endeavour 
 to have them stand in, and fetch us off again, if we 
 might be found. 
 
 Then I begged I might have my clothes on shore 
 with me. He told me he was afraid I should have 
 little need of clothes, for he did not see how we 
 could long subsist on the island, and that he had 
 been told that the inhabitants were cannibals or 
 men-eaters (though he had no reason for that sug- 
 gestion), and we should not be able to live among 
 them. I told him I was not so afraid of that as I 
 was of starving for want of victuals ; and as for the 
 inhabitants being cannibals, I believed we should be 
 more likely to eat them than they us, if we could 
 but get at them. But I was mightily concerned, 
 I said, we should have no weapons with us to de- 
 fend ourselves, and I begged nothing now, but that 
 he would give me a gun and a sword, with a little 
 powder and shot. 
 
 He smiled, and said they would signify nothing to 
 us, for it was impossible for us to pretend to pre- 
 serve our lives among such a populous and desperate 
 nation as the people of this island were. I told 
 him that, however, it would do us this good, for we 
 2 [17] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 should not be devoured or destroyed immediately; 
 so I begged hard for the gun. At last he told me 
 he did not know whether the captain would give him 
 leave to give me a gun, and if not, he durst not do 
 it ; but he promised to use his interest to obtain it 
 for me, which he did, and the next day he sent me 
 a gun, with some ammunition, but told me the cap- 
 tain would not suffer the ammunition to be given us 
 till we were set all on shore, and tiU he was just 
 going to set sail. He also sent me the few clothes 
 I had in the ship, which indeed were not many. 
 
 Two days after this, we were all carried on shore 
 together ; the rest of my fellow-criminals hearing I 
 had a gun, and some powder and shot, solicited for 
 liberty to carry the like with them, which was also 
 granted them ; and thus we were set on shore to shift 
 for ourselves. 
 
 At our first coming into the island we were ten-i- 
 fied exceedingly with the sight of the barbarous 
 people, whose figure was made more tei'rible to us 
 than it really was by the report we had of them 
 from the seamen ; but when we came to converse 
 with them awhile, we found they were not cannibals, 
 as was reported, or such as would fall immediately 
 upon us and eat us up ; but they came and sat down 
 by us, and wondered much at our clothes and arms, 
 and made signs to give us some victuals, such as they 
 had, which was only roots and plants dug out of the 
 ground for the present, but they brought us fowls 
 and flesh afterwards in good plenty. 
 
 This encouraged the other four men that were 
 with me very much, for they were quite dejected 
 [18] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 before ; but now they began to be very familiar with 
 them, and made signs, that if they would use us 
 kindly, we would stay and live with them ; which 
 they seemed glad of, though they knew little of the 
 necessity we were under to do so, or how much we 
 were afraid of them. 
 
 However, upon second thoughts we resolved that 
 we would only stay in that part so long as the ship 
 rid in the bay, and then making them believe we 
 were gone with the ship, we would go and place our- 
 selves, if possible, where there were no inhabitants 
 to be seen, and so live as we could, or perhaps watch 
 for a ship that might be driven upon the coast as we 
 were. 
 
 The ship continued a fortnight in the roads, re- 
 pairing some damage which had been done her in 
 the late storm, and taking in wood and water ; and 
 during this time, the boat coming often on shore, 
 the men brought us several refreshments, and the 
 natives believing we only belonged to the ship, were 
 civil enough. We lived in a kind of a tent on the 
 shore, or rather a hut, which we made with the 
 boughs of trees, and sometimes in the night retired 
 to a wood a little out of their way, to let them think 
 we were gone on board the ship. However, we found 
 them barbarous, treacherous, and villainous enough 
 in their nature, only civil from fear, and therefore 
 concluded we should soon fall into their hands when 
 the ship was gone. 
 
 The sense of this wrought upon my fellow-sufferers 
 even to distraction ; and one of them, being a car- 
 penter, in his mad fit, swam off to the ship in the 
 [19] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 night, though she lay then a league to sea, and made 
 such pitiful moan to be taken in, that the captain 
 was prevailed with at last to take him in, though they 
 let him lie swimming three hours in the water before 
 he consented to it. 
 
 Upon this, and his humble submission, the captain 
 received him, and, in a word, the importunity of this 
 man (who for some time petitioned to be taken in, 
 though they hanged him as soon as they had him) 
 was such as could not be resisted ; for, after he had 
 swam so long about the ship, he was not able to 
 reach the shore again ; and the captain saw evidently 
 that the man must be taken on board or suffered to 
 drown, and the whole ship's company offering to be 
 bound for him for his good behaviour, the captain at 
 last yielded, and he was taken up, but almost dead 
 with his being so long in the water. 
 
 When this man was got in, he never left impor- 
 tuning the captain, and all the rest of the officers, in 
 behalf of us that were behind, but to the very last 
 day the captain was inexorable ; when, at the time 
 their preparations were making to sail, and orders 
 given to hoist the boats into the ship, all the seamen 
 in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck, 
 where the captain was walking with some of his 
 officers, and appointing the boatswain to speak for 
 them, he went up, and falling on his knees to the 
 captain, begged of him, in the humblest manner 
 possible, to receive the four men on board again, 
 offering to answer for their fidelity, or to have them 
 kept in chains till they came to Lisbon, and there to 
 be delivered up to justice, rather than, as they said, 
 [20] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to have them left to be murdered by savages, or 
 devoured by wild beasts. It was a great while ere 
 the captain took any notice of them, but when he 
 did, he ordered the boatswain to be seized, and 
 threatened to bring him to the capstan for speaking 
 for them. 
 
 Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than 
 the rest, but still with all possible respect to the cap- 
 tain, besought his honour, as he called him, that he 
 would give leave to some more of them to go on 
 shore, and die with their companions, or, if possible, 
 to assist tliem to resist the barbarians. The captain, 
 rather provoked than cowed with this, came to the 
 barricado of the quarter-deck, and speaking very 
 prudently to the men (for had he spoken roughly, 
 two-thirds of them would have left the ship, if not 
 all of them), he told them, it was for their safety as 
 well as his own that he had been obliged to that 
 severity ; that mutiny on board a ship was the same 
 thing as treason in a king's palace, and he could not 
 answer it to his owners and employers to trust the 
 ship and goods committed to his charge with men 
 who had entertained thoughts of the worst and 
 blackest nature ; that he wished heartily that it had 
 been anywhere else that they had been set on shore, 
 where they might have been in less hazard from the 
 savages ; that, if he had designed they should be 
 destroyed, he could as well have executed them on 
 board as the other two ; that he wished it had been 
 in some other part of the world, where he might 
 have delivered them up to the civil justice, or might 
 have left them among Christians ; but it was better 
 [21] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 their lives were put in hazard than his life, and the 
 safety of the ship ; and that though he did not know 
 that he had deserved so ill of any of them as that 
 they should leave the ship rather than do their duty, 
 yet if any of them were resolved to do so unless he 
 would consent to take a gang of traitors on board, 
 who, as he had proved before them all, had conspired 
 to murder him, he would not hinder them, nor for 
 the present would he resent their importunity ; but, 
 if there was nobody left in the ship but himself, he 
 would never consent to take them on board. 
 
 This discourse was delivered so well, was in itself 
 so reasonable, was managed with so much temper, yet 
 so boldly concluded with a negative, that the greatest 
 part of the men were satisfied for the present. How- 
 ever, as it put the men into juntos and cabals, they 
 were not composed for some hours ; the wind also 
 slackening towards night, the captain ordered not to 
 weigh till next morning. 
 
 The same night twenty-three of the men, among 
 whom was the gunner's mate, the surgeon's assistant, 
 and two carpenters, applying to the chief mate told 
 him, that as the captain had given them leave to go 
 on shore to their comrades, they begged that he 
 would speak to the captain not to take it ill that 
 they were desirous to go and die with their com- 
 panions ; and that they thought they could do no 
 less in such an extremity than go to them ; because, 
 if there was any way to save their lives, it was by 
 adding to their numbers, and making them strong 
 enough to assist one another in defending themselves 
 against the savages, till perhaps they might one 
 [22] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 time or other find means to make their escape, and 
 get to their own country again. 
 
 The mate told them, in so many words, that he 
 durst not speak to the captain upon any such design, 
 and was very sorry they had no more respect for him 
 than to desire him to go upon such an errand ; but, 
 if they were resolved upon such an enterprise, he 
 would advise them to take the long-boat in the 
 morning betimes, and go off, seeing the captain had 
 given them leave, and leave a civil letter behind them 
 to the captain, and to desire him to send his men on 
 shore for the boat, which should be delivered very 
 honestly, and he promised to keep their counsel so 
 long. 
 
 Accordingly, an hour before day, those twenty- 
 three men, with every man a firelock and a cutlass, 
 with some pistols, three halberds or half-pikes, and 
 good store of powder and ball, without any provision 
 but about half a hundred of bread, but with all their 
 chests and clothes, tools, instruments, books, &c., 
 embarked themselves so silently, that the captain got 
 no notice of it till they were gotten half the way on 
 shore. * 
 
 As soon as the captain heard of it he called for the 
 gunner's mate, the chief gunner being at the time 
 sick in his cabin, and ordered to fire at them ; but, 
 to his great mortification, the gunner's mate was one 
 of the number, and was gone with them ; and indeed 
 it was by this means they got so many arms and so 
 much ammunition. When the captain found how it 
 was, and that there was no help for it, he began to 
 be a little appeased, and made light of' it, and called 
 [ 23] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 up the men, and spoke kindly to them, and told them 
 he was very well satisfied in the fidelity and ability 
 of those that were now left, and that he would give 
 to them, for their encouragement, to be divided 
 among them, the wages which were due to the men 
 that were gone, and that it was a great satisfaction 
 to him that the ship was firee from such a mutinous 
 rabble, who had not the least reason for their 
 discontent. 
 
 The men seemed very well satisfied, and particularly 
 the promise of the wages of those who were gone 
 went a great way with them. After this, the letter 
 which was left by the men was given to the captain 
 by his boy, with whom, it seems, the men had left 
 it. The letter was much to the same purpose of 
 what they had said to the mate, and which he 
 declined to say for them, only that at the end 
 of their letter they told the captain that, as they 
 had no dishonest design, so they had taken nothing 
 away with them which was not their own, except some 
 arms and ammunition, such as were absolutely neces- 
 sary to them, as well for their defence against the 
 savages as to kill fowls or beasts for -their food, 
 that they might not perish ; and as there were con- 
 siderable sums due to them for wages, they hoped 
 he would allow the arms and ammunition upon their 
 accounts. They told him that, as to the ship's 
 long-boat, which they had taken to bring them on 
 shore, they knew it was necessary to him, and they 
 were very willing to restore it to him, and if he 
 pleased to send for it, it should be veiy honestly 
 delivered to his men, and not the least injury offered 
 [M] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOM 
 
 * 
 
 lo any of those who came for it, nor the least per- 
 suasion or invitation made use of to any of them to 
 stay with them ; and, at the bottom of the letter, 
 they very humbly besought him that, for their de- 
 fence, and for the safety of their lives, he would be 
 pleased to send them a barrel of powder and some 
 ammunition, and give them leave to keep the mast 
 and sail of the boat, that if it was possible for them 
 to make themselves a boat of any kind, they might 
 shift off to sea, to save themselves in such part of the 
 world as their fate should direct them to. 
 
 Upon this the captain, who had won much upon 
 the rest of his men by what he had said to them, 
 and was very easy as to the general peace (for it was 
 very true that the most mutinous of the men were 
 gone), came out to the quarter-deck, and, calling the 
 men together, let them know the substance of the 
 letter, and told the men that, however they 
 had not deserved such civility from him, yet he was 
 not willing to expose them more than they were will- 
 ing to expose themselves ; he was inclined to send them 
 some ammunition, and as they had desired but one 
 barrel of powder, he would send them two barrels, 
 and shot, or lead and moulds to make shot, in pro- 
 portion ; and, to let them see that he was civiller to 
 them than they deserved, he ordered a cask of arrack 
 and a great bag of bread to be sent them for sub- 
 sistence till they should be able to furnish themselves. 
 The rest of the men applauded the captain's gen- 
 erosity, and every one of them sent us something or 
 other, and about three in the afternoon the pinnace 
 came on shore, and brought us all these things, 
 [25] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 which we were very glad of, and returned the long- 
 boat accordingly ; and as to the men that came with 
 the pinnace, as the captain had singled out such 
 men as he knew would not come over to us, so they 
 had positive orders not to bring any one of us on 
 board again, upon pain of death ; and indeed both 
 were so true to our points, that we neither asked 
 them to stay, nor they us to go. 
 
 We were now a good troop, being in all twenty- 
 seven men, very well armed, and provided with every- 
 thing but victuals ; we had two carpenters among us, 
 a gunner, and, which was worth all tlie rest, a sur- 
 geon or doctor ; that is to say, he was an assistant 
 to a surgeon at Goa, and was entertained as a super- 
 numerary with us. The carpenters had brought all 
 their tools, the doctor all his instruments and medi- 
 cines, and indeed we had a great deal of baggage, 
 that is to say, on the whole, for some of us had little 
 more than the clothes on our backs, of whom I was 
 one ; but I had one thing which none of them had, 
 viz., I had the twenty-two moidores of gold which 
 I had stole at the Brazils, and two pieces of eight. 
 The two pieces of eight I showed, and one raoidore, 
 and none of them ever suspected that I had any 
 more money in the world, having been known to be 
 only a poor boy taken up in charity, as you have 
 heard, and used like a slave, and in the worst manner 
 of a slave, by my cruel master the pilot. 
 
 It will be easy to imagine we four that were left 
 
 at first were joyful, nay, even surprised with joy at 
 
 the coming of the rest, though at first we were 
 
 frighted, and thought they came to fetch us back to 
 
 [26] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 hang us ; but they took ways quickly to satisfy us 
 that they were in the same condition with us, only 
 with this additional circumstance, theirs was volun- 
 tary, and ours by force. 
 
 The first piece of news they told us after the short 
 history of their coming away was, that our com- 
 panion was on board, but how he got thither we 
 could not imagine, for he had given us the slip, 
 and we never imagined he could swim so well as to 
 venture off to the ship, which lay at so great a dis- 
 tance; nay, we did not so much as know that he 
 could swim at all, and not thinking anything of 
 what really happened, we thought he must have 
 wandered into the woods and was devoured, or was 
 fallen into the hands of the natives, and was mur- 
 dered ; and these thoughts filled us with fears enough, 
 and of several kinds, about its being some time or 
 other our lot to fall into their hands also. But 
 hearing how he had with much difficulty been re- 
 ceived on board the ship again and pardoned, we 
 were much better satisfied than before. 
 
 Being now, as I have said, a considerable number 
 of us, and in condition to defend ourselves, the first 
 thing we did was to give every one his hand that we 
 would not separate from one another upon any 
 occasion whatsoever, but that we would live and die 
 together ; that we would kill no food, but that we 
 would distribute it in public ; and that we would be 
 in all things guided by the majority, and not insist 
 upon our own resolutions in anything if the majority 
 were against it ; that we would appoint a captain 
 among us to be our governor or leader during pleas- 
 [27] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 are ; that while he was in office we would obey him 
 without reserve, on pain of death; and that every 
 one should take turn, -but the captain was not to 
 act in any particular thing without advice of the 
 rest, and by the majority. 
 
 Having established these rules, we resolved to 
 enter into some measures for our food, and for con- 
 versing with the inhabitants or natives of the island 
 for our supply. As for food, they were at first very 
 useful to us, but we soon grew weary of them, being 
 an ignorant, ravenous, brutish sort of people, even 
 worse than the natives of any other country that 
 we had seen ; and we soon found that the principal 
 part of our subsistence was to be had by our guns, 
 shooting of deer and other creatures, and fowls of 
 all other sorts, of which there is abundance. 
 
 We found the natives did not disturb or concern 
 themselves much about us ; nor did they inquire, or 
 perhaps know, whether we stayed among them or 
 not, much less that our ship was gone quite away, 
 and had cast us off, as was our case ; for the next 
 morning, after we had sent back the long-boat, the 
 ship stood away to the south-east, and in four hours' 
 time was out of our sight. 
 
 The next day two of us went out into the country 
 one way, and two another, to see what kind of a land 
 we were in ; and we soon found the country was very 
 pleasant and fruitful, and a convenient place enough 
 to live in ; but, as before, inhabited by a parcel of 
 creatures scarce human, or capable of being made 
 social on any account whatsoever. 
 
 We found the place full of cattle and provisions ; 
 [28] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 but whether we might venture to take them where 
 we could find them or not, we did not know ; and 
 though we were under a necessity to get provisions, 
 yet we were loth to bring down a whole nation of 
 devils upon us at once, and therefore some of our 
 company agreed to try to speak with some of the 
 country, if we could, that we might see what course 
 was to be taken with them. Eleven of our men 
 went on this errand, well armed and furnished for 
 defence. They brought word that they had seen 
 some of the natives, who appeared very civil to 
 them, but very shy and afraid, seeing their guns, 
 for it was easy to perceive that the natives knew 
 what their guns were, and what use they were of. 
 
 They made signs to the natives for some food, 
 and they went and fetched several herbs and roots, 
 and some milk ; but it was evident they did not 
 design to give it away, but to sell it, making signs 
 to know what our men would give them. 
 
 Our men were perplexed at this, for they had 
 nothing to barter ; however, one of the men pulled 
 out a knife and showed them, and they were so 
 fond of it that they were ready to go together by 
 the ears for the knife. The seaman seeing that, 
 was willing to make a good market of his knife, 
 and keeping them chaffering about it a good while, 
 some offered him roots, and others milk ; at last 
 one offered him a goat for it, which he took. Then 
 another of our men showed them another knife, 
 but they had nothing good enough for that, where- 
 upon one of them made signs that he would go 
 and fetch something ; so our men stayed three hours 
 [29] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 for their return, when they' came back and brought 
 him a small-sized, thick, short cow, very fat and 
 good meat, and gave him for his knife. 
 
 This was a good market, but our misfortune was 
 we had no merchandise; for our knives were as 
 needful to us as to them, and but that we were in 
 distress for food, and must of necessity have some, 
 these men would not have parted with their knives. 
 
 However, in a little time more we found that the 
 woods were fall of living creatures, which we might 
 kill for our food, and that without giving offence 
 to them ; so that our men went daily out.a-hunting, 
 and never failed in killing something or other ; for, 
 as to the natives, we had no goods to barter ; and 
 for money, all the stock among us would not have 
 subsisted us long. However, we called a general 
 council to see what money we had, and to bring it 
 all together, that it might go as far as possible ; 
 and when it came to my turn, I pulled out a moidore 
 and the two dollars I spoke of before. 
 
 This moidore I ventured to show, that they might 
 not despise me too much for adding too little to the 
 store, and that they might not pretend to search 
 me; and they were very civil. to me, upon the pre- 
 sumption that I had been so faithful to them as not 
 to conceal anything from them. 
 
 But our money did us little service, for the people 
 neither knew the value or the use of it, nor could 
 they justly rate the gold in proportion with the 
 silver ; so that all our money, which was not much 
 when it was all put together, would go but a little 
 way with us, that is to say, to buy us provisions. 
 [30] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Our next consideration was to get away from this 
 cursed place, and whither to go. When my opinion 
 came to be asiced, I told them I would leave that all 
 to them, and I told them I had rather they would 
 let me go into the woods to get them some provi- 
 sions, than consult with me, for I would agree to 
 whatever they did ; but they would not agree to 
 that, for they would not consent that any of us 
 should go into the woods alone ; for though we had 
 yet seen no lions or tigers in the woods, we were 
 assured there were many in the island, besides other 
 creatures as dangerous, and perhaps worse, as we 
 afterwards found by our own experience. 
 
 We had many adventures in the woods, for our 
 provisions, and often met with wild and terrible 
 beasts, which we could not call by their names ; but 
 as they were, like us, seeking their prey, but were 
 themselves good for nothing, so we disturbed them 
 as little as possible. 
 
 Our consultations concerning our escape from this 
 place, which, as I have said, we were now upon, ended 
 in this only, that as we had two carpenters among us, 
 and that they had tools almost of all sorts with them, 
 we should try to build us a boat to go off to sea with, 
 and that then, perhaps, we might find our way back 
 to Goa, or land on some more proper place to make 
 our escape. The counsels of this assembly were not 
 of great moment, yet as they seem to be introductoiy 
 of many more remarkable adventures which hap- 
 pened under my conduct hereabouts many years after, 
 I think this miniature of my future enterprises may 
 not be unpleasant to relate. 
 
 [31] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 To the building of a boat I made no objection, and 
 away they went to work immediately ; but as they 
 went on, great difficulties occurred, such as the want 
 of saws to cut our plank ; nails, bolts, and spikes, to 
 fasten the timbers ; hemp, pitch, and tar, to caulk 
 and pay her seams, and the like. At length, one of 
 the company proposed that, instead of building a 
 bark or sloop, cr shallop, or whatever they would 
 call it, which they found was so difficult, they would 
 rather make a large periagua, or canoe, whith might 
 be done with great ease. 
 
 It was presently objected, that we could never 
 make a canoe large enough to pass the great ocean, 
 which we were to go over to get to the coast of Mala- 
 bar ; that it not only would not bear the sea, but it 
 would never bear the burden, for we were not only 
 twenty-seven men of us, but had a great deal of lug- 
 gage with us, and must, for our provision, take in a 
 great deal more. 
 
 I never proposed to speak in their general con- 
 sultations before, but finding they were at some loss 
 about what kind of vessel they should make, and 
 how to make it, and what would be fit for our use, 
 and what not, I told them I found they were at a 
 full stop in their counsels of every kind ; that it was 
 true we could never pretend to go over to Goa on the 
 coast of Malabar in a canoe, which .though we could 
 all get into it, and that it would bear the sea well 
 enough, yet would not hold our provisions, and es- 
 pecially we could not put fresh water enough into 
 it for the voyage ; and to make such an adventure 
 would be nothing but mere running into certain 
 [32] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 destruction, and yet that nevertheless I was for 
 making a canoe. 
 
 They answered, that they understood all I had 
 said before well enough, but what I meant by telling 
 them first how dangerous and impossible it was to 
 make our escape in a canoe, and yet then to advise 
 making a canoe, that they could not understand. 
 
 To this I answered, that I conceived our business 
 was not to attempt our escape in a canoe, but that, as 
 there were other vessels at sea besides our ship, and 
 that there were few nations that lived on the sea- 
 shore that were so barbarous, but that they went to 
 sea in some boats or other, our business was to cruise 
 along the coast of the island, which was very long, 
 and to seize upon the first we could get that was 
 better than our own, and so from that to another, 
 till perhaps we might at last get a good ship to carry 
 us wherever we pleased to go. 
 
 " Excellent advice," says one of them. "Admi- 
 rable advice," says another. " Yes, yes," says the 
 third (which was the gunner), " the English dog has 
 given excellent advice ; but it is just the way to 
 bring us all to the gallows. The rogue has given us 
 devilish advice, indeed, to go a-thieving, till from a 
 little vessel we came to a great ship, and so we shall 
 turn downright pirates, the end of which is to be 
 hanged." 
 
 " You may call us pirates," says another, " if you 
 will, and if we fall into bad hands, we may be used 
 like pirates ; but I care not for that, I '11 be a pirate, 
 or anything, nay, I '11 be hanged for a pirate rather 
 than starve here, therefore I think the advice is very 
 3 [33] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON - 
 
 good." And so they cried all, " Let us have a 
 canoe." The gunner, over-ruled by the rest, sub- 
 mitted ; but as we broke up the council, he came to 
 me, takes me by the hand, and, looking into the palm 
 of my hand, and into my face too, very gravely, 
 " My lad," says he, " thou ait born to do a world of 
 mischief; thou hast commenced pirate very young ; 
 but have a care of the gallows, young man ; have a 
 care, I say, for thou wilt be an eminent thief. " 
 
 I laughed at him, and told him I did not know 
 what I. might come to hereafter, but as our case was 
 now, I should make no scruple to take the first ship 
 I came at to get our liberty ; I only wished we could 
 see one, and come at her. Just while we were talk- 
 ing, one of our men that was at the door of our hut, 
 told us that the carpenter, who it seems was upon a 
 hill at a distance, cried out, " A sail ! a sail ! " 
 
 We all turned out immediately ; but, though it 
 was very clear weather, we could see nothing ; but 
 the carpenter continuing to halloo to us, " A sail ! a 
 sail ! " away we run up the hill, and there we saw 
 a ship plainly ; but it was at a very great distance, 
 too far for us to make any signal to her. However, 
 we made a fire upon the hill, with all the wood we 
 could get together, and made as much smoke as 
 possible. The wind was down, and it was almost 
 calm; but as we thought, by a perspective glass 
 which the gunner had in his pocket, her sails were 
 full, and she stood away large with the wind at 
 E.N.E., taking no notice of our signal, but making 
 for the Cape de Bona Speranza ; so we had no comfort 
 from her. 
 
 [34] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We went, therefore, immediately to work about 
 our intended canoe ; and, having singled out a very 
 large tree to our minds, we fell to work with her ; 
 and having three good axes among us, we got it 
 down, but it was four days' time first, though we 
 worked very hard too. I do not remember what 
 wood it was, or exactly what dimensions, but I re- 
 member that it was a very large one, and we were as 
 much encouraged when we launched it, and found it 
 swam upright and steady, as we v/ould have been at 
 another time if we had had a good man-of-war 
 at our command. 
 
 She was so very large, that she carried us all very, 
 very easily, and would have carried two or three tons 
 of baggage with us ; so that we began to consult 
 about going to sea directly to Goa ; but many other 
 considerations checked that thought, especially when 
 we came to look nearer into it ; such as want of pro- 
 visions, and no casks for fresh water ; no compass to 
 steer by ; no shelter from the breach of the high sea, 
 which would certainly founder us ; no defence from 
 the heat of the weather, and the like ; so that they 
 all came readily into my project, to cruise about 
 where we were, and see what might offer. 
 
 Accordingly, to gratify our fancy, we went one day 
 all out to sea in her together, and we were in a very 
 fair way to have had enough of it ; for when she had 
 us all on board, and that we were gotten about half a 
 league to sea, there happening to be a pretty high 
 swell of the sea, though little or no wind, yet she 
 wallowed so in the sea, that we all of us thought she 
 would at last wallow herself bottom up ; so we set 
 [35] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 all to work to get her in nearer the shore, and giv- 
 ing her fresh way in the sea, she swam more steady, 
 and with some hard work we got her under the land 
 again. 
 
 We were now at a great loss ; the natives were 
 civil enough to us, and came often to discourse with 
 us ; one time they brought one whom they showed 
 respect to as a king with them, and they set up a 
 long pole between them and us, with a great tassel 
 of hair hanging, not on the top, but something 
 above the middle of it, adorned with little chains, 
 shells, bits of brass, and the like ; and this, we un- 
 derstood afterwards, was a token • of amity and 
 friendship; and they brought down to us victuals 
 in abundance, cattle, fowls, herbs, and roots ; but 
 we were in the utmost confusion on our side ; for we 
 had nothing to buy with, or exchange for ; and as 
 to giving us things for nothing they had no notion 
 of that again. As to our money, it was mere trash 
 to them, they had no value for it ; so that we were 
 in a fair way to be starved. Had we had but some 
 toys and trinkets, brass chains, baubles, glass beads, 
 or, in a word, the veriest trifles that a shipload of 
 would not have been worth the freight, we might 
 have bought cattle and provisions enough for an 
 army, or to victual a fleet of men-of-war ; but for 
 gold or silver we could get nothing. 
 
 Upon this we were in a strange consternation. I 
 was but a young fellow, but I was for falling upon 
 them with our firearms, and taking all the cattle 
 from them, and send them to the devil to stop their 
 hunger, rather than be starved ourselves ; but I did 
 [36] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 not consider that this might have brought ten thou- 
 sand of them down upon us the next day; and 
 though we might have killed a vast number of them, 
 and perhaps have frighted the rest, yet their own 
 desperation, and our small number, would have 
 animated them so that, one time or other, they 
 would have destroyed us all. 
 
 In the middle of our consultation, one of our men 
 who had been a kind of a cutler, or worker in iron, 
 started up and asked the carpenter if, among all his 
 tools, he could not help him to a file. " Yes," 
 says the carpenter, " I can, but it is a small one." 
 " The smaller the better," says the other. Upon 
 this he goes to work, and first by heating a piece of 
 an old broken chisel in the fire, and then with the 
 help of his file, he made himself several kinds of 
 tools for his work. Then he takes three or four 
 pieces of eight, and beats them out with a hammer 
 upon a stone, till they were very broad and thin ; 
 then he cuts them out into the shape of birds and 
 beasts ; he made little chains of them for bracelets 
 and necklaces, and turned them into so many devices 
 of his own head, that it is hardly to be expressed. 
 
 When he had for about a fortnight exercised his 
 head and hands at this work, we tried the effect of 
 his ingenuity ; and, having another meeting with the 
 natives, were surprised to see the folly of the poor 
 people. For a little bit of silver cut in the shape of 
 a bird, we had two cows, and, which was our loss, if 
 it had been in brass, it had been still of more value. 
 For one of the bracelets made of chain-work, we had 
 as much provision of several sorts, as would fairly 
 [37] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 have been worth, in England, fifteen or sixteen 
 pounds ; and so of all the rest. Thus, that which 
 when it was in coin was not worth sixpence to us, 
 when thus converted into toys and trifles, was worth 
 a hundred times its real value, and purchased for us 
 anything we had occasion for. 
 
 In this condition we lived upwards of a year, but all 
 of us began to be very much tired of it, and, whatever 
 came of it, resolved to attempt an escape. We had 
 furnished ourselves with no less than three very good 
 canoes ; and as the monsoons, or trade-winds, gen- 
 erally affect that country, blowing in most parts of 
 this island one six months of a year one way, and 
 the other six months another way, we concluded we 
 might be able to bear the sea well enough. But 
 always, when we came to look into it, the want of 
 fresh water was the thing that put us off from such 
 an adventure, for it is, a prodigious length, and what 
 no man on earth could be able to perform without 
 water to drink. 
 
 Being thus prevailed upon by our own reason to 
 set the thoughts of that voyage aside, we had then 
 but two things before us ; one was, to put to sea 
 the other way ; viz., west, and go away for the 
 Cape of Good Hope, where, first or last, we should 
 meet with some of our own country ships, or else 
 to put for the mainland of Africa, and either 
 travel by land, or sail along the coast towards the 
 Red Sea, where we should, first or last, find a ship 
 of some nation or other, that would take us up ; 
 or perhaps we might take them up, which, by-the- 
 bye, was the thing that alwavs ran in my head. 
 [38] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 It was our ingenious cutler, whom ever after we 
 called silversmith, that proposed this ; but the 
 gunner told him, that he had been in the Red Sea 
 in a Malabar sloop, and he knew this, that if we 
 went into the Red Sea, we should either be killed 
 by the wild Arabs, or taken and made slaves of by 
 the Turks ; and therefore he was not for going that 
 way. 
 
 Upon this I took occasion to put in my vote 
 again. " Why," said I, " do we talk of being killed 
 by the Arabs, or made slaves of by the Turks ? 
 Are we not able to board almost any vessel we shall 
 meet with in those seas ; and, instead of their taking 
 us, we to take them .'' '" " Well done, pirate," said 
 the gunner (he that had looked in my hand, and 
 told me I should come to the gallows), " 1 11 say 
 that for him," says he, " he always looks the same 
 way. But I think, of my conscience, it is our only 
 way now." " Don't tell me," says I, " of being a 
 pirate ; we must be pirates, or anything, to get 
 fairly out of this cursed place." 
 
 In a word, they concluded all, by my advice, that 
 our business was to cruise for anything we could see. 
 " Why then," said I to them, " our first business is 
 to see if the people upon this island have no navi- 
 gation, and what boats they use ; and, if they have 
 any better or bigger than ours, let us take one of 
 them." First, indeed, all our aim was to get, if 
 possible, a boat with a deck and a sail ; for then we 
 might have saved our provisions, which otherwise we 
 could not. 
 
 We had, to our great good fortune, one sailor 
 [39] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 among us, who had been fissistant to the cook ; he 
 told us, that he would find a way how to preserve 
 our beef without cask or pickle ; and this he did ef- 
 fectually by curing it in the sun, with the help of salt- 
 petre, of which there was great plenty in the island ; 
 so that, before we found any method for our escape, 
 we had dried the flesh of six or seven cows and bul- 
 locks, and ten or twelve goats, and it relished so 
 well, that we never gave ourselves the trouble to 
 boil it when we ate it, but either broiled it or ate 
 it dry. But our main difficulty about fresh water 
 still remained ; for we had no vessel to put any into, 
 much less to keep any for our going to sea. 
 
 But our first voyage being only to coast the 
 island, we resolved to venture, whatever the hazard 
 or consequence of it might be, and in order to pre- 
 serve as much fresh water as we could, our carpenter 
 made a well athwart the middle of one of our 
 canoes, which he separated from the other parts of 
 the canoe, so as to make it tight to hold the water, 
 and covered so as we might step upon it ; and this 
 was so large that it held near a hogshead of water 
 very well. I cannot better describe this well than 
 by the same kind which the small fishing-boats in 
 England have to preserve their fish alive in ; only 
 that this, instead of having holes to let the salt 
 water in, was made sound every way to keep it out ; 
 and it was the first invention, I believe, of its kind 
 for such an use ; but necessity is a spur to ingenuitv 
 and the mother of invention. 
 
 It wanted but a little consultation to resolve now 
 upon our vovage. The first design was onlv to coast 
 [ 40 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it round the island, as well to see if we could seize 
 upon any vessel fit to embark ourselves in, as also to 
 take hold of any opportunity which might present 
 for our passing over to the main ; and therefore our 
 resolution was to go on the inside or west shore of 
 the island, where, at least at one point, the land 
 stretching a great way to the north-west, t*he dis- 
 tance is not extraordinary grestt from the island to 
 the coast of Africa. 
 
 Such a voyage, and with such a desperate crew, I 
 believe was never made, for it is certain we took the 
 worst side of the island to look for any shipping, 
 especially for shipping of other nations, this being 
 quite out of the way ; however, we put to sea, after 
 taking all our provisions and ammunition, bag and 
 baggage, on board ; we had made both mast and 
 sail for our two large periaguas, and the other we 
 paddled along as well as we could ; but when a gale 
 sprung up, we took her in tow. 
 
 We sailed merrily forward for several days, meet- 
 ing with nothing to interrupt us. We saw several 
 of the natives in small canoes catching fish, and 
 sometimes we endeavoured to come near enough to 
 speak with them, but they were always shy and 
 afraid of us, making in for the shore as soon as we 
 attempted it ; till one of our company remembered 
 the signal of friendship which the natives made us 
 from the south part of the island, viz., of setting up 
 a long pole, and put us in mind that perhaps it was 
 the same thing to them as a flag of truce to us. So 
 we resolved to try it ; and accordingly the next time 
 we saw any of their fishing-boats at sea we put up a 
 [41] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 pole in our canoe that had no sail, and rowed towards 
 them. As soon as they saw the pole they stayed for 
 us, and as we came nearer paddled towards us ; when 
 they came to us they showed themselves very much 
 pleased, and gave us some large fish, of which we 
 did not know the names, but they were very good. 
 It was our misfortune still that we had nothing to 
 give them in return ; but our artist, of whom I spoke 
 before, gave them two little thin plates of silver, 
 beaten, as I said before, out of a piece of eight ; they 
 were cut in a diamond square, longer one way than 
 the other, and a hole punched at one of the longest 
 corners. This they were so fond of that they made 
 us stay till they had cast their lines and nets again, 
 and gave us as many fish as we cared to have. 
 
 All this while we had our eyes upon their boats, 
 viewed them very narrowly, and examined whether 
 any of them were fit for our turn, but they were poor, 
 sorry things ; their sail was made of a large mat, only 
 one that was of a piece of cotton stuff fit for little, and 
 their ropes were twisted flags of no sti'ength ; so we 
 concluded we were better as we were, and let them 
 alone. We went forward to the north, keeping the 
 coast close on board for twelve days together, and 
 having the wind at east and E.S.E., we made very 
 fresh way. We saw no towns on the shore, but 
 often saw some huts by the water-side upon the 
 rocks, and always abundance of people about them, 
 who we could perceive run together to stare at us. 
 
 It was as odd a voyage as ever man went ; we were 
 a little fleet of three ships, and an army of between 
 twenty and thirty as dangerous fellows as ever they 
 [42] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 had amongst them ; and had they known what 
 we were, they would have compounded to give us 
 everything we desired to be rid of us. 
 
 On the other hand, we were as miserable as nature 
 could well make us to be, for we were upon a voyage 
 and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and no- 
 where ; for though we knew what we intended to do, 
 we did really not know what we were doing. We 
 went forward and forward by a northerly course, and 
 as we advanced the heat increased, which began to 
 be intolerable to us, who were on the water, without 
 any covering from heat or wet; besides, we were 
 now in the month of October, or thereabouts, in a 
 southern latitude ; and as we went every day nearer 
 the sun, the sun came also every day nearer to us, 
 till at last we found ourselves in the latitude of 20 
 degrees ; and having passed the tropic about five or 
 six days before that, in a few days more the sun 
 would be in the zenith, just over our heads. 
 
 Upon these considerations we resolved to seek for 
 a good place to go on shore again, and pitch our 
 tents, till the heat of the weather abated. We had 
 by this time measured half the length of the island, 
 and were come to that part where the shore tend- 
 ing away to the north-west, promised fair to make 
 our passage over to the mainland of Africa much 
 shorter than we expected. But, notwithstanding 
 that, we had good reason to believe it was about 
 120 leagues. 
 
 So, the heats considered, we resolved to take har- 
 bour ; besides, our provisions were exhausted, and we 
 had not many days' store left. Accordingly, putting 
 [43] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 in for the shore early in the morning, as we usually 
 did once in three or four days for fresh water, we sat 
 down and considered whether we would go on or 
 take up our standing there ; but upon several con- 
 siderations, too long to repeat here, we did not 
 like the place, so we resolved to go on a few days 
 longer. 
 
 After sailing on N.W. by N. with a fresh gale at 
 S.E., about six days, we found, at a great distance, 
 a large promontory or cape of land, pushing out a 
 long way into the sea, and as we were exceeding fond 
 of seeing what was beyond the cape, we resolved to 
 double it before we took into harbour, so we kept 
 on our way, the gale continuing, and yet it was four 
 days more before we reached the cape. But it is not 
 possible to express the discouragement and melancholy 
 that seized us all when we came thither ; for when 
 we made the headland of the cape, we were surprised 
 to see the shore fall away on the other side as much 
 as it had advanced on this side, and a great deal 
 more ; and that, in short, if we would venture over 
 to the shore of Africa, it must be from hence, for 
 that if we went further, the breadth of the sea still 
 increased, and to what breadth it might increase we 
 knew not. 
 
 While we mused upon this discovery, we were sur- 
 prised with very bad weather, and especially violent 
 rains, with thunder and lightning, most unusually 
 terrible to us. In this pickle we run for the shore, 
 and getting under the lee of the cape, run our 
 frigates into a little creek, where we saw the land 
 overgrown with trees, and made all the haste possible 
 [44] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to get on shore, being exceeding wet, and fatigued 
 with the heat, the thunder, hghtning, and rain. 
 
 Here we thought our case was very deplorable in- 
 deed, and therefore our artist, of whom I have spoken 
 so often, set up a great cross of wood on the hill 
 which was within a mile of the headland, with these 
 woi-ds, but in the Portuguese language : 
 
 " Point Desperation. Jesus have mercy." 
 
 We set to work immediately to build us some huts, 
 and to get our clothes dried ; and though I was 
 young and had no skill in such things, yet I shall 
 never forget the little city we built, for it was no 
 less, and we fortified it accordingly ; and the idea 
 is so fresh in my thought, that I cannot but give a 
 short description of it. 
 
 Our camp was on the south side of a little creek 
 on the sea, and under the shelter of a steep hill, 
 which lay, though on the other side of the creek, yet 
 within a quarter of a mile of us, N.W. by N., and 
 very happily intercepted the heat of the sun all the 
 after part of the day. The spot we pitched on had 
 a little fresh water brook, or a stream running into 
 the creek by us ; and we saw cattle feeding in the 
 plains and low ground east and to the south of us a 
 great way. 
 
 Here we set up twelve little huts like soldiers' 
 tents, but made of the boughs of trees stuck in the 
 ground, and bound together on the top with withies, 
 and such other things as we could get ; the creek was 
 our defence on the north, a little brook on the west, 
 and the south and east sides were fortified with a 
 [45] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 bank, which entirely covered our huts ; and being 
 drawn obhque from the north-west to the south-east, 
 made our city a triangle. Behind the bank or line 
 our huts stood, having three other huts behind them 
 at a good distance. In one of these, which was a 
 little one, and stood further off, we put our gun- 
 powder, and nothing else, for fear of danger ; in the 
 other, which was bigger, we dressed our victuals, and 
 put all our necessaries ; and in the third, which 
 was biggest of all, we ate our dinners, called our 
 councils, and sat and diverted ourselves with such 
 conversation as we had one with another, which' was 
 but indifferent truly at that time. 
 
 Our correspondence with the natives was absolutely 
 necessary, and our artist the cutler having made abun- 
 dance of those little diamond-cut squares of silver, 
 with these we made shift to traffic with the black 
 people for what we wanted ; for indeed tliey were 
 pleased wonderfully with them, and thus we got 
 plenty of provisions. At first, and in particular, we 
 got about fifty head' of black cattle and goats, and 
 our cook's mate took care to cure them and dry 
 them, salt and preserve them for our grand supply ; 
 nor was this hard to do, the salt and saltpetre being 
 very good, and the sun excessively hot ; and here we 
 lived about four months. 
 
 The southern solstice was over, and the sun gone 
 back towards the equinoctial, when we considered of 
 our next adventure, which was to go over the sea of 
 Zanguebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to latid, if 
 possible, upon the continent of Africa. 
 
 We talked with many of the natives about it, such 
 [46] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 as we could make ourselves intelligible to, but all 
 that we could learn from them was, that, there was a 
 great land of lions beyond the sea, but that it was 
 a great way off. We knew as well as they that it 
 was a long way, but our people differed mightily 
 about it ; some said it was 150 leagues, others not 
 above 100. One of our men, that had a map of the 
 world, showed us by his scale that it was not above 
 eighty leagues. Some said there vfere islands all the 
 way to touch at, some that there were no islands at 
 all. For my own part, I knew nothing of this matter 
 one way or another, but heard it all without concern, 
 whether it was near or far off; however, this we 
 learned from an old man who was blind and led 
 about by a boy, that if we stayed till the end of 
 August, we should be sure of the wind to be fair and 
 the sea smooth all the voyage. 
 
 This was some encouragement ; but staying again 
 was very unwelcome news to us, because that then 
 the sun would be returning again to the south, 
 which was what our men were very unwilling to. At 
 last we called a council of our whole body ; their de- 
 bates were too tedious to take notice of, only to note, 
 that when it came to Captain Bob (for so they called 
 me ever since I had taken state upon me before one 
 of their great princes), truly I was on no side ; it was 
 not one farthing matter to me, I told them, whether 
 we went or stayed ; I had no home, and all the world 
 was alike to me ; so I left it entirely to them to 
 determine. 
 
 In a word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be 
 done where we were without shipping ; that if our 
 [47] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 business indeed was only to eat and drink, we could 
 not find a . better place in the woi"ld ; but if our 
 business was to get away, and get home into our 
 country, we could not find a worse. 
 
 I confess I liked the country wonderfully, and even 
 then had strange notions of coming again to live 
 there ; and I used to say to them very often that if 
 I had but a ship of twenty guns, and a sloop, and 
 both well manned, I would not desire a better place 
 in the world to make myself as rich as a king. 
 
 But to return to the consultations they were in 
 about going. Upon the whole, it was resolved to 
 venture over for the main ; and venture we did, madly 
 enough, indeed, for it was the wrong time of the year 
 to undei'take such a voyage in that country ; for, as 
 the winds hang easterly all the months from Septem- 
 ber to March, so they generally hang westerly all the 
 rest of the year, and blew right in our teeth ; so that, 
 as soon as we had, with a kind of a land-breeze, 
 stretched over about fifteen or twenty leagues, and, 
 as I may say, just enough to lose ourselves, we found 
 the wind set in a steady fresh gale or breeze from 
 the sea, at west, W.S.W., or S.W. by W., and never 
 further from the west ; so that, in a word, we could 
 make nothing of it. 
 
 On the other hand, the vessel, such as we had, 
 would not lie close upon a wind ; if so, we might 
 have stretched away N.N.W., and have met with a 
 great many islands in our way, as we found after- 
 wards ; but we could make nothing of it, though we 
 tried, and by the trying had almost undone us all ; 
 for, stretching away to the north, as near the wind 
 [48] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 as we could, we had forgotten the shape and position 
 of the island of Madagascar itself; how that we came 
 off at the head of a promontory or point of land, that 
 lies about the middle of the island, and that stretches 
 out west a great way into the sea ; and that now, 
 being run a matter of forty leagues to the north, the 
 shore of the island fell off again above 200 miles to 
 the east, so that we were by this time in the wide 
 ocean, between the island and the main, and almost 
 100 leagues from both. 
 
 Indeed, as the winds blew fresh at west, as before, 
 we had a smooth sea, and we found it pretty good 
 going before it, and so, taking our smallest canoe in 
 tow, we stood in for the shore with all the sail we 
 could make. This was a terrible adventure, for, if 
 the least gust of wind had come, we had been all lost, 
 our canoes being deep and in no condition to make 
 way in a high sea. 
 
 This voyage, however, held us eleven days in all ; 
 and at length, having spent most of our provisions, 
 and every drop of water we had, we spied land, to our 
 great joy, though at the distance of ten or eleven 
 leagues ; and as, under the land, the wind came off 
 like a land-breeze, and blew hard against us, we were 
 two days more* before we reached the shore, having 
 all that while excessive hot weather, and not a drop 
 of water or any other liquor, except some cordial 
 waters, which one of our company had a little of left 
 in a case of bottles. 
 
 This gave us a taste of what we should have done 
 if we had ventured forward with a scant wind and 
 uncertain weather, and gave us a surfeit of our design 
 4 [49] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 for the main, at least until we might have some better 
 vessels under us ; so we went on shore again, and 
 pitched our camp as before, in as convenient manner 
 as we could, fortifying ourselves against any surprise ; 
 but the natives here were exceeding courteous, and 
 much more civil than on the south part of the island ; 
 and though we could not understand what they said, 
 or they us, yet we found means to make them under- 
 stand that we were seafaring men and strangers, and 
 that we were in distress for want of provisions. 
 
 The first proof we had of their kindness was, that 
 as soon as they saw us come on shore and begin to 
 make our habitation, one of their captains or kings, 
 for we knew not what to call them, came down with 
 five or six men and some women, and brought us five 
 goats and two young fat steers, and gave them to 
 us for nothing ; and when we went to offer them any- 
 thing, the captain or the king would not let any of 
 them touch it, or take anything of us. About two 
 hours after came another king, or captain, with forty 
 or fifty men after him. We began to be afraid of 
 him, and laid hands upon our weapons ; but he per- 
 ceiving it, caused two men to go before him, carry- 
 ing two long poles in their hands, which they held 
 upright, as high as they could, which we presently 
 perceived was a signal of peace ; and these two poles 
 they set up afterwards, sticking them up in the 
 ground ; and when the king and his men came to 
 these two poles, they struck all their lances up in 
 the ground, and came on unarmed, leaving their 
 lances, as also their bows and arrows, behind them. 
 
 This was to satisfy us that they were come as 
 [50] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 friends, and we were glad to see it, for we had no 
 mind to quarrel with them if we could help it. The 
 captain of this gang seeing some of our men making 
 up their huts, and that they did it but bunglingly, 
 he beckoned to some of his men to go and help 
 us. Immediately fifteen or sixteen of them came 
 and mingled among us, and went to work for us ; 
 and indeed, they were better workmen than we were, 
 for they run up three or four huts for us in a mo- 
 ment, and much handsomer done than ours. 
 
 After this they sent us milk, plantains, pumpkins, 
 and abundance of roots and greens that were very 
 good, and then took their leave, and would not take 
 anything from us that we had. One of our men 
 offered the king or captain of these men a dram, 
 which he drank and was mightily pleased with it, 
 and held out his hand for another, which we gave 
 him ; and in a word, after this, he hardly failed 
 coming to us two or three times a week, always 
 bringing us something or other ; and one time sent 
 us seven head of black cattle, some of which we 
 cured and dried as before. 
 
 And here I cannot but remember one thing, which 
 afterwards stood us in great stead, viz., that the 
 flesh of their goats, and their beef also, but especially 
 the former, when we had dried and cured it, looked 
 red, and ate hard and firm, as dried beef in Holland ; 
 they were so pleased with it, and it was such a dainty 
 to them, that at any time after they would trade 
 with us for it, not knowing, or so much as imagining 
 what it was ; so that for ten or twelve pounds'' 
 weight of smoke-dried beef, they would give us a 
 [511 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 whole bullock, or cow, or anything else we could 
 desire. 
 
 Here we observed two things that were very ma- 
 terial to us, even essentially so ; first, we found they 
 had a great deal of earthenware here, which they 
 made use of many ways as we did ; particularly 
 they had long, deep earthen pots, which they used 
 to sink into the ground, to keep the water which 
 they drunk cool and pleasant; and the other was, 
 that they had larger canoes than their neighbours 
 had. 
 
 By this we were prompted to inquire if they had 
 no larger vessels than those we saw there, or if any 
 other of the inhabitants had not such. They signified 
 presently that they had no larger boats than that 
 they showed us ; but that on the other side of the 
 island they had larger boats, and that with decks 
 upon them, and large sails ; and this made us resolve 
 to coast round the whole island to see them ; so we 
 prepared and victualled our canoe for the voyage, 
 and, in a word, went to sea for the third time. 
 
 It cost us a month or six weeks' time to perform 
 this voyage, in which time we went on shore several 
 times for water and provisions, and found the natives 
 always very free and courteous ; but we were sur- 
 prised one morning early, being at the extremity of 
 the northernmost part of the island, when one of our 
 men cried out, " A sail ! a sail ! " We presently 
 saw a vessel a great way out at sea ; but after we had 
 looked at it with our perspective glasses, and en- 
 deavoured all we could to make out what it was, we 
 could not tell what to think of it ; for it was neither 
 [52] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ship, ketch, galley, galliot, or like anything that we 
 had ever seen before ; all tljat we could make of it 
 was, that it went from us, standing out to sea. In a 
 word, we soon lost sight of it, for we were in no con- 
 dition to chase anything, and we never saw it again ; 
 but, by all that we could perceive of it, from what 
 we saw of such things afterwards, it was some Arabian 
 vessel, which had been trading to the coast of 
 Mozambique, or Zanzibar, the same place where we 
 afterwards went, as you shall hear. 
 
 I kept no journal of this voyage, nor indeed did I 
 all this while understand anything of navigation, 
 more than the common business of a foremast-man ; 
 so I can say nothing to the latitudes or distances of 
 any places we were at, how long we were going, 
 or how far we sailed in a day ; but this I remember, 
 that being now come round the island, we sailed up 
 the eastern shore due south, as we had done down 
 the western shore due north before. 
 
 Nor do I remember that the natives differed much 
 from one another, either in stature or complexion, or 
 in their manners, their habits, their weapons, or indeed 
 in anything ; and yet we could not perceive that they 
 had any intelligence one with another ; but they were 
 extremely kind and civil to us on this side, as well as 
 on the other. 
 
 We continued our voyage south for many weeks, 
 though with several intervals of going on shore to 
 get provisions and water. At length, coming round 
 a point of land which lay about a league further 
 than ordinary into the sea, we were agreeably sur- 
 prised with a sight which, no doubt, had been as 
 [53] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 disagreeable to those concerned, as it was pleasant to 
 us. This was the wreck_ of an European ship, which 
 had been cast away upon the rocks, which in that 
 place run a great way into the sea. 
 
 We could see plainly, at low water, a great deal of 
 the ship lay dry ; even at high water, she was not 
 entirely covered ; and that at most she did not lie 
 above a league from the shore. It will easily be 
 believed that our curiosity led us, the wind and 
 weather also permitting, to go directly to her, which 
 we did without any difficulty, and presently found 
 that it was a Dutch-built ship, and that she could 
 not have been very long in that condition, a great 
 deal of the upper work of her stern remaining firm, 
 with the mizzen-mast standing. Her stern seemed 
 to be jammed in between two ridges of the rock, and 
 so remained fast, all the fore pairt of the ship having 
 been beaten to pieces. 
 
 We could see nothing to be gotten out of the 
 wreck that was worth our while ; but we resolved to 
 go on shore, and stay some time thereabouts, to see 
 if perhaps we might get any light into the story of 
 her ; and we were not without hopes that we might 
 hear something more particular about her men, and 
 perhaps find some of them on shore thei-e, in the 
 same condition that we were in, and so might increase 
 our company. 
 
 It was a very pleasant sight to us when, coming 
 on shore, we saw all the marks and tokens of a ship- 
 carpenter's yard ; as a launch-block and cradles, scaf- 
 folds and planks, and pieces of planks, the remains of 
 the building a ship or vessel ; and, in a word, a great 
 [54] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 many things that fairly invited us to go about the 
 same work; and we soon came to understand that 
 the men belonging to the ship that was lost had 
 saved themselves on shore, perhaps in their boat, 
 and had built themselves a barque or sloop, and so 
 were gone to sea again ; and, inquiring of the natives 
 which way they went, they pointed to the south 
 and south-west, by which we could easily understand 
 they were gone away to the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Nobody will imagine we could be so dull as not 
 to gather from hence that we might take the same 
 method for our escape ; so we resolved first, in 
 general, that we would try if possible to build us a 
 boat of one kind or other, and go to sea as our fate 
 should direct. 
 
 In order to this our first work was to have the two 
 carpenters search about to see what materials the 
 Dutchmen .had left behind them that might be of 
 use ; and, in particular, they found one that was 
 very useful, and which I was much employed about, 
 and that was a pitch-kettle, and a little pitch in it. 
 
 When we came to set close to this work we found 
 it very laborious and difficult, having but few tools, 
 no ironwork, no cordage, no sails ; so that, in short, 
 whatever we built, we were obliged to be our own 
 smiths, rope-makers, sail-makers, and indeed to prac- 
 tise twenty trades that we knew little or nothing of. 
 However, necessity was the spur to invention, and we 
 did many things which before we thought imprac- 
 ticable, that is to say, in our circumstances. 
 
 After our two carpenters had resolved upon the 
 dimensions of what they would build, they set us all 
 [55] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to work, to go off in our boats and split up the 
 wreck of tlie old ship, and to bring away everything 
 we could ; and particularly that, if possible, we 
 should bring away the mizzen-mast, which was left 
 standing, which with much difficulty we effected, 
 after above twenty days' labour of fourteen of our 
 men. 
 
 At the same time we got out a great deal of iron- 
 work, as bolts, spikes, nails, &c., all of which our 
 artist, of whom I have spoken already, who was now 
 grown a very dexterous smith, made us nails and 
 hinges for our rudder, and spikes such as we wanted. 
 
 But we wanted an anchor, and if we had had an 
 anchor, we could not have made a cable ; so we con- 
 tented ourselves with making some ropes with the 
 help of the natives, of such stuff as they made their 
 mats of, and with these we made such a kind of 
 cable or towline as was sufficient to fasten our vessel 
 to the shore, which we contented ourselves with for 
 that time. 
 
 To be short, we spent four months here, and worked 
 very hard too ; at the end of which time we launched 
 our frigate, which, in a few words, had many defects, 
 but yet, all things considered, it was as well as we 
 could expect it to be. 
 
 In short, it was a kind of sloop, of the burthen of 
 near eighteen or twenty tons ; and had we had masts 
 and sails, standing and running rigging, as is usual 
 in such cases, and othei- conveniences, the vessel 
 might have carried us wherever we could have had a 
 mind to go ; but of all the materials we wanted, this 
 was the worst, viz., that we had no tar or pitch 
 [56 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to pay the seams and secure the bottom ; and though 
 we did what we could, with tallow and oil, to make 
 a mixture to supply that part, yet we could not 
 bring it to answer our end fully ; and when we 
 launched her into the water, she was so leaky, and 
 took in the water so fast, that we thought all our 
 labour had been lost, for we had much ado to make 
 her swim ; and as for pumps, we had none, nor had 
 we any means to make one. 
 
 But at length one of the natives, a black negro- 
 man, showed us a tree;, the wood of which being put 
 into the fire, sends forth a liquid that is as glutinous 
 and almost as strong as tar, and of which, by boil- 
 ing, we made a sort of stuff which served us for pitch, 
 and this answered our end effectually ; for we per- 
 fectly made our vessel sound and tight, so that we 
 wanted no pitch or tar at all. This secret has stood 
 me in stead upon many occasions since that time in 
 the same place. 
 
 Our vessel being thus finished, out of the mizzen- 
 mast of the ship we made a very good mast to her, 
 and fitted our sails to it as well as we could ; then 
 we made a rudder and tiller, and, in a word, every- 
 thing that our present necessity called upon us for ; 
 and having victualled her, and put as much fresh 
 water on board as we thought we wanted, or as we 
 knew how to stow (for we were yet without casks), we 
 put to sea with a fair wind. 
 
 We had spent near another year in these rambles, 
 
 and in this piece of work ; for it was now, as our men 
 
 said, about the beginning of our February, and the 
 
 sun went from us apace, which was much to our 
 
 [57] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 satisfaction, for the heats were exceedingly violent. 
 The wind, as I said, was fair ; for, as I have since 
 learned, the winds generally spring up to the east- 
 ward, as the sun goes from them to the north. 
 
 Our debate now was, which way we should go, 
 and never were men so irresolute ; some were for 
 going to the east, and stretching away directly for 
 the coast of Malabar; but others, who considered 
 more seriously the length of that voyage, shook 
 their heads at the proposal, knowing very well that 
 neither our provisions, especially of water, or our 
 vessel, were equal to such a run as that is, of near 
 2000 miles without any land to touch . at in the 
 way. 
 
 These men, too, had all along had a great mind to 
 a voyage for the mainland of Africa, where they 
 said we should have a fair cast for our lives, and 
 might be sure to make ourselves rich, which way 
 soever we went, if we were but able to make our way 
 through, whether by sea or by land. 
 
 Besides, as the case stood with us, we had not 
 much choice for our way ; for, if we had resolved for 
 the east, we were at the wrong season of the year, 
 and must have stayed till April or May before we 
 had gone to sea. At length, as we had the wind at 
 S.E. and E.S.E., and fine promising weather, we 
 came all into the first proposal, and resolved for the 
 coast of Africa ; nor were we long in disputing as to 
 our coasting the island which we were upon, for we 
 were now upon the wrong side of the island for the 
 voyage we intended ; so we stood away to the north, 
 and, having rounded the cape, we hauled away south- 
 [58] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ward, under the lee of the island, thinking to reach 
 the west point of land, which, as I observed before, 
 runs out so far towards the coast of Africa, as would 
 have shortened our run almost 100 leagues. But 
 when we had sailed about thirty leagues, we found 
 the winds variable under the shore, and right against 
 us, so we concluded to stand over directly, for then 
 we had the wind fair, and our vessel was but very 
 ill fated to lie near the wind, or any way indeed but 
 just before it. 
 
 Having resolved upon it, therefore, we put into 
 the shore to furnish ourselves again with fresh water 
 and other provisions, and about the latter end of 
 March, with more courage than discretion, more res- 
 olution than judgment, we launched for the main 
 coast of Africa. 
 
 As for me, I had no anxieties about it, so that we 
 had but a view of reaching some land or other, I 
 cared not what or where it was to be, having at this 
 time no views of what "was before me, nor much 
 thought of what might or might not befall me ; but 
 with as little consideration as any one can be sup- 
 posed to have at my age, I consented to everything 
 that was proposed, however hazardous the thing 
 itself, however improbable the success. 
 
 The voyage, as it was undertaken with a great 
 deal of ignorance and desperation, so really it was 
 not carried on with much resolution or judgment ; 
 for we knew no more of the course we were to steer 
 than this, that it was anywhere about the west, 
 within two or three points N. or S., and as we had no 
 compass with us but a httle brass pocket compass, 
 [59] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 which one of our men had more by accident than 
 otherwise, so we could not be very exact in our 
 course. 
 
 However, as it pleased God that the wind con- 
 tinued fair at S.E. and by E., we found that N.W. 
 by W., which was right afore it, was as good 
 a course for us as any we could go, and thus we 
 went on. 
 
 The voyage was much longer than we expected ; 
 our vessel also, which had no sail that was propor- 
 tioned to her, made but very little way in the sea, 
 and sailed heavily. We had, indeed, no great 
 adventures happened in this voyage, being out of the 
 way of everything that could offer to divert us ; and 
 as for seeing any vessel, we had not the least occasion 
 to hail anything in all the voyage ; for we saw not 
 one vessel, small or great, the sea we were upon being 
 entirely out of the way of all commerce ; for the 
 people of Madagascar knew no more of the shores of 
 Africa than we did, only that there was a country 
 of lions, as they call it, that way. 
 
 We had been eight or nine days under sail, with a 
 fair wind, when, to our great joy, one of our men 
 cried out " Land ! " We had great reason to be 
 glad of the discovery, for we had not water enough 
 left for above two or three days more, though at a 
 short allowance. However, though it was early in 
 the morning when we discovered it, we made it near 
 night before we reached it, the wind slackening almost 
 to a calm, and our ship being, as I said, a very dull 
 sailer. 
 
 We were sadly baulked upon our coming to the 
 [60] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 land, when we found that, instead of the mainland 
 of Africa, it was only a little island, with no inhab- 
 itants upon it, at least none that we could find ; nor 
 any cattle, except a few goats, of which we killed 
 three only. However, they served us for fresh meat, 
 and we found very good water ; and it was fifteen 
 days more before we reached the main, which, how- 
 ever, at last we arrived at, and which was most 
 essential to us, as we came to it just as all our pro- 
 visions were spent. Indeed, we may say they were 
 spent first, for we had but a pint of water a day to 
 each man for the last two days. But, to our great 
 joy, we saw the land, though at a great distance, 
 the evening before, and by a pleasant gale in the 
 night were by morning within two leagues of the 
 shore. 
 
 We never scrupled going ashore at the first place 
 we came at, though, had we had patience, we might 
 have found a very fine river a little farther north. 
 However, we kept our frigate on float by the help of 
 two great poles, which we fastened into the ground 
 to moor her, like poles ; and the little weak i-opes, 
 which, as I said, we had made of matting, served us 
 well enough to make the vessel fast. 
 
 As soon as we had viewed the country a little, 
 got fresh water, and furnished ourselves with some 
 victuails, which we found very scarce here, we went 
 on board again with our stores. All we got for pro- 
 vision was some fowls that we killed, and a kind of 
 wild buffalo or bull, very small, but good meat : I 
 say, having got these things on board, we resolved 
 to sail along the coast, which lay N.N.E., till we 
 [61] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 found some creek or river, that we might run up 
 into the country, or some town or people ; for we 
 had reason enough to know the place was inhabited, 
 because we several times saw fires in the night, and 
 smoke in the day, every way at a distance from us. 
 
 At length we came to a very large bay, and in it 
 several little creeks or rivers emptying themselves 
 into the sea, and we ran boldly into the first creek 
 we came at ; where, seeing some huts and wild people 
 about t'hem on the shore, we ran our vessel into a 
 little cove on the north side of the creek, and held 
 up a long pole, with a white bit of cloth on it, for a 
 signal of peace to them. We found they understood 
 us presently, for they came flocking to us, men, women, 
 and children, most of them, of both sexes, stark naked. 
 At first they stood wondering and staring at us, as 
 if we had been monsters, and as if they had been 
 frighted ; but we found they inclined to be familiar 
 with us afterwards. The first thing we did to try 
 them, was, we held up our hands to our mouths, as 
 if we were to drink, signifying that we wanted water. 
 This they understood presently, and three of their 
 women and two boys ran away up the land, and came 
 back in about half a quarter of an hour, with several 
 pots, made of earth, pretty enough, and baked, I 
 suppose, in the sun ; these they brought us full of 
 water, and set them down near the sea-shore, and 
 there left them, going back a little, that we might 
 fetch them, which we did. 
 
 Some time after this, they brought us roots and 
 herbs, and some fruits which I cannot remember, and 
 gave us ; but as we had nothing to give them, we 
 [62] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 found them not so free as the people in Madagascar 
 were. However, our cutler went to work, and, as he 
 had saved some iron out of the wreck of the ship, he 
 made abundance of toys, birds, dogs, pins, hooks, and 
 rings ; and we helped to file them, and make them 
 bright for him, and when we gave them some of 
 these, they brought us all sorts of provisions they 
 had, such as goats, hogs, and cows, and we got 
 victuals enough. 
 
 We were now landed upon the continent of Africa, 
 the most desolate, desert, and inhospitable country 
 in the world, even Greenland and Nova Zambia itself 
 not excepted, with this difference only, that even the 
 worst part of it we found inhabited, though, taking 
 the nature and quality of some of the inhabitants, it 
 might have been much better to us if there had been 
 none. 
 
 And, to add to the exclamation I am making on 
 the nature of the place, it was here that we took one 
 of the rashest, and wildest, and most desperate resolu- 
 tions that ever was taken by man, or any number 
 of men, in the world ; this was, to travel overland 
 through the heart of the country, from the coast of 
 Mozambique, on the east ocean, to the coast of An- 
 gola or Guinea, on the western or Atlantic Ocean, a 
 continent of land of at least 1800 miles, in which 
 journey we had excessive heats to support, unpassable 
 deserts to go over, no carriages, camels, or beasts of 
 any kind to carry our baggage, innumerable numbers 
 of wild and ravenous beasts to encounter with, such 
 as lions, leopards, tigers, lizards, and elephants ; we 
 had the equinoctial line to pass under, and, conse- 
 [63] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 quently, were in the very centre of the torrid zone , 
 we had nations of savages to encounter with, barbar- 
 ous and brutish to the last degree ; hunger and thirst 
 to struggle with, and, in one word, terrors enough 
 to have daunted the stoutest hearts that ever were 
 placed in cases of flesh and blood. 
 
 Yet, fearless of all these, we resolved to adven- 
 ture, and accordingly made such preparations for our 
 journey as the place we were in would allow us, and 
 such as our little experience of the country seemed to 
 dictate to us. 
 
 It had been some time already that we had been 
 used to tread barefooted upon the rocks, the gravel, 
 the grass, and the sand on the shore ; but as we found 
 the worst thing for our feet was the waliiing or trav- 
 elling on the dry burning sands, within the country, 
 so we provided ourselves with a sort of shoes, made 
 of the skins of wild beasts, with the hair inwai-d, and 
 being dried in the sun, the outsides were thick and 
 hard, and would last a great while. In short, as I 
 called them, so I think the term very proper still, 
 we made us gloves for our feet, and we found them 
 very convenient and very comfortable. 
 
 We conversed with some of the natives of the 
 country, who w-ere friendly enough. What tongue 
 they spoke I do not yet pretend to know. We talked 
 as far as we could make them understand us, not only 
 about our provisions, but also about our undertaking, 
 and asked them what country lay that way, pointing 
 west with our hands. They told us but little to our 
 purpose, only we thought, by all their discourse, that 
 there were people to be found, of one sort or other, 
 [64] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 everywhere ; that there were many great rivers, many 
 lions and tigers, elephants, and furious wild cats 
 (which in the end we found to be civet cats), and the 
 lii<e. 
 
 When we asked them if any one had ever travelled 
 that way, they told us yes, some had gone to where 
 the sun sleeps, meaning to the west, but they could 
 not tell us who they were. When we asked for some 
 to guide us, they shrunk up their shoulders as French- 
 men do when they are afraid to undertake a thing. 
 When we asked them about the lions and wild crea- 
 tures, they laughed, and let us know that they would 
 do us no hurt, and directed us to a good way indeed 
 to deal with them, and that was to make some fire, 
 A'hich would always fright them away ; and so indeed 
 we found it. 
 
 Upon these encouragements we resolved upon our 
 journey, and many considerations put us upon it, 
 which, had the thing itself been practicable, we were 
 not so much to blame for as it might otherwise be 
 supposed ; I will name some of them, not to make the 
 account too tedious. 
 
 First, we were perfectly destitute of means to work 
 about our own deliverance any other way ; we were 
 on shore in a place perfectly remote from all Euro- 
 pean navigation ; so that we could never think of 
 being relieved, and fetched off by any of our own 
 countrymen in that part of the world. Secondly, if 
 we had adventured to have sailed on along the coast 
 of Mozambique, and the desolate shores of Africa to 
 the north, till we came to the Red Sea, all we could 
 hope for there was to be taken by the Arabs, and be 
 •" [ 65 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 sold for slaves to the Turks, which to all of us was 
 little better than death. We could not build any- 
 thing of a vessel that would carry us over the great 
 Arabian Sea to India, nor could we reach the Cape 
 de Bona Speranza, the winds being too variable, and 
 the sea in that latitude too tempestuous ; but we all 
 knew, if we could cross this continent of land, we 
 might reach some of the great rivers that run into 
 the Atlantic Ocean ; and that, on the banks of any 
 of those rivers, we might there build us canoes which 
 would carry us down, if it were thousands of miles, so 
 that we could want nothing but food, of which we 
 were assured we might kill sufficient with our guns ; 
 and to add to the satisfaction of our deliverance, we 
 concluded we might, every one of us, get a quantity 
 of gold, which, if we came safe, would infinitely re- 
 compense us for our toil. 
 
 I cannot say that in all our consultations I ever 
 began to enter into the weight and merit of any 
 enterprise we went upon till now. My view before 
 was, as I thought, very good, viz., that we should 
 get into the Arabian Gulf, or the mouth of the Red 
 Sea ; and waiting for some vessel passing or repassing 
 there, of which there is plenty, have seized upon the 
 first we came at by force, and not only have enriched 
 ourselves with her cargo, but have carried ourselves 
 to what part of the world we had pleased ; but when 
 they came to talk to nie of a march of 2000 or 3000 
 miles on foot, of wandering in deserts among lions 
 and tigers, I confess my blood ran chill, and I used 
 all the arguments I could to persuade them against it. 
 
 But they were all positive, and I might as well 
 [66] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 have held my tongue ; so I submitted, and told them 
 I would keep to our first law, to be governed by the 
 majority, and we resolved upon our journey. The 
 first thing we did was to take an observation, and 
 see whereabouts in the world we were, which we did, 
 and found we were in the latitude of 12 degrees 35 
 minutes south of the line. The next thing was to 
 look on the charts, and see the coast of the country 
 we aimed at, which we found to be from 8 to 11 
 degrees south latitude, if we went for the coast of 
 Angola, or in 12 to 29 degrees north latitude, 
 if we made for the river Niger, and the coast of 
 Guinea. 
 
 Our aim was for the coast of Angola, which, by the 
 charts we had, lying very near the same latitude we 
 were then in, our course thither was due west ; and 
 as we were assured we should meet with rivers, we 
 doubted not but that by their help we might ease 
 our journey, especially if we could find means to cross 
 the great lake, or inland sea, which the natives call 
 Coalmucoa, out of which it is said the river Nile has 
 its source or beginning ; but we reckoned without 
 our host, as you will see in the sequel of our story. 
 
 The next thing we had to consider was, how to 
 carry our baggage, which we were first of all deter- 
 mined not to travel without ; neither indeed was it 
 possible for us to do so, for even our ammunition, 
 which was absolutely necessary to us, and on which 
 our subsistence, I mean for food, as well as our safety, 
 and particularly our defence against wild beasts and 
 wild men, depended, — I say, even our ammunition 
 was a load too heavy for us to carry in a country 
 [67] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 where the heat was such that we should be load 
 enough for ourselves. 
 
 We inquired in the country, and found there 
 was no beast of burthen known among them, that 
 is to say, neither horses or mules, or asses, camels, 
 or dromedaries ; the only creature they had was a 
 kind of buffalo, or tame bull, such a one as we had 
 killed; and that some of these they had brought 
 so to their hand, that they taught them to go and 
 come with their voices, as they called them to them, 
 or sent them from them ; that they made them carry 
 burthens ; and particularly that they would swim 
 over rivers and lakes upon them, the creatures 
 swimming very high and strong in the water. 
 
 But we understood nothing of the management 
 of guiding such a creature, or how to bind a bur- 
 then upon them ; and this last part of our consulta- 
 tion puzzled us extremely. At last I proposed a 
 method for them, which, after some consideration, 
 they found very convenient ; and this was, to quarrel 
 with some of the negro natives, take ten or twelve 
 of them prisoners, and binding them as slaves, cause 
 them to travel with us, and make them carry our 
 baggage ; which I alleged would be convenient and 
 useful many ways as well to show us the way, as to 
 converse with other natives for us. 
 
 This counsel was not accepted at first, but the 
 natives soon gave them reason to approve it, and also 
 gave them an opportunity to put it in practice ; for, 
 as our little traffic with the natives was hitherto 
 upon the faith of their first kindness, we found some 
 knavery among them at last; for having bought 
 [68] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 some .cattle of them for our toys, which, as I said, 
 our cutler had contrived, one of our men differing 
 with his chapman, truly they huffed him in their 
 manner, and, keeping the things he had offered them 
 for the cattle, made their fellows drive away the 
 cattle before his face, and laugh at him. Our man 
 crying out loud of this violence, and calling to some 
 of us who were not far off, the negro he was dealing 
 with threw a lance at him, which came so true, that, 
 if he had not with great agility jumped aside, and 
 held up his hand also to turn the lance as it came, 
 it had struck through his body ; and, as it was, it 
 wounded him in the arm ; at which the man, en- 
 raged, took up his fuzee, and shot the negro through 
 the heart. 
 
 The others that were near him, and all those that 
 were with us at a distance, were so terribly frighted, 
 first, at the flash of fire ; secondly, at the noise ; and 
 thirdly, at seeing their countryman killed, that they 
 stood like men stupid and amazed, at first, for some 
 time; but after they were a little recovered from 
 their fright, one of them, at a good distance from 
 us, set up a sudden screaming noise, which, it seems, 
 is the noise they make when they go to fight ; and 
 all the rest understanding what he meant, answered' 
 him, and ran together to the place where he was, 
 and we not knowing what it meant, stood still, look- 
 ing upon one another like a parcel of fools. 
 
 But we were presently undeceived ; for, in two or 
 
 three minuttG more, we heard the screaming roaring 
 
 noise go on from one place to another, through all 
 
 their little towns ; nay, even over the creek to the 
 
 [69] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOxN 
 
 other side ; and, on a sudden, we saw a naked multi- 
 tude running from all parts to the place where the 
 first man began it, as to a rendezvous ; and, in less 
 than an hour, I believe there was near 500 of them 
 gotten together, armed some with bows and arrows, 
 but most with lances, which they throw at a good 
 distance, so nicely that they will strike a bird 
 flying. 
 
 We had but a very little time for consultation, 
 for the multitude was increasing every moment ; and 
 I verily believe, if we had stayed long, they would 
 have been 10,000 together in a little time. We had 
 nothing to do, therefore, but to fly to our ship or 
 bark, where indeed we could have defended ourselves 
 very well, or to advance and try what a volley or 
 two of small shot would do for us. 
 
 We resolved immediately upon the latter, depend- 
 ing upon it that the fire and terror of our shot 
 would soon put them to flight ; so we drew up all in 
 a line, and marched boldly up to them. They stood 
 ready to meet us, depending, I suppose, to destroy 
 us all with their lances ; but before we came near 
 enough for them to thi"ow their lances, we halted, 
 and, standing at a good distance from one another, 
 to stretch our line as far as we could, we gave them 
 a salute with our shot, which, besides what we 
 wounded that we knew not of, knocked sixteen of 
 them down upon the spot, and three more were so 
 lamed, that they fell about twenty or thirty yards 
 from them. 
 
 As soon as we had fired, they set up the horridest 
 yeU, or howling, partly raised by those that were 
 [70] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 wounded', and partly by those that pitied and con- 
 doled the bodies they saw lie dead, that I never heard 
 anything like it before or since. 
 
 We stood stock still after we had fired, to load 
 our guns again, and finding they did not stir from 
 the place we fired among them again ; we killed 
 about nine of them at the second fire ; but as they 
 did not stand so thick as before, all our men did 
 not fire, seven of us being oi'dered to reserve our 
 charge, and to advance as soon as the othei- had 
 fired, while the rest loaded again ; of which I shall 
 speak again presently. 
 
 As soon as we had fired the second volley, we 
 shouted as loud as we could, and the seven men ad- 
 vanced upon them, and, coming about twenty yards 
 nearer, fired again, and those that were behind hav- 
 ing loaded again with all expedition, followed ; but 
 when they saw us advance, they ran screaming away 
 as if they were bewitched. 
 
 When we came up to the field of battle, we saw a 
 great number of bodies lying upon the ground, many 
 more than we could suppose were killed or wounded ; 
 nay, more than we had bullets in our pieces when we 
 fired ; and we could not tell what to make of it ; 
 but at length we found how it was, viz., that they 
 were frighted out of all manner of sense ; nay, I 
 do believe several of those that were really dead, 
 were frighted to death, and had no wound about 
 them. 
 
 Of those that were thus frighted, as I have said, 
 several of them, as they recovered themselves, came 
 and worshipped us (taking us for gods or devils, I 
 [71] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 know not which, nor did it much matter to us) : 
 some kneeling, some throwing themselves flat on the 
 ground, made a thousand antic gestures, but all with 
 tokens of the most profound submission. It pres- 
 ently came into my head, that we might now, by the 
 law of arms, take as many prisoners as we would, 
 and make them travel with us, and carry our bag- 
 gage. As soon as I proposed it, our men were all 
 of my mind ; and accordingly we secured about sixty 
 lusty young fellows, and let them know they must go 
 with us; which they seemed very willing to do. But 
 the next question we had among ourselves, was, how 
 we should do to trust them, for we found the people 
 not like those of Madagascar, but fierce, revengeful, 
 and treacherous ; for vi'hich reason we were sure that 
 we should have no service from them but that of 
 mere slaves ; no subjection that would continue any 
 longer than the fear of us was upon them, nor any 
 labour but by violence. 
 
 Before I go any farther, I must hint to the reader, 
 that from this time forward I began to enter a little 
 more seriously into the circumstance I was in, and 
 concerned myself more in the conduct of our affairs ; 
 for though my comrades were all older men, yet I 
 began to find them void of counsel, or, as I now call 
 it, presence of mind, when they came to the execution 
 of a thing. The fii-st occasion I took to observe this, 
 was in their late engagement with the natives, when, 
 though they had taken a good resolution to attack 
 them and fire upon them, yet, when they had fired 
 the first time, and found that the negroes did not 
 run as they expected, their hearts began to fail, and 
 [72] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I am persuaded, if their bark had been near hand, 
 they would every man have run away. 
 
 Upon this occasion I began to take upon me a 
 little to hearten them up, and to call upon them to 
 load again, and give them another volley, telling 
 them that I would engage, if they would be ruled by 
 me, I 'd make the negroes run fast enough. I found 
 this heartened them, and therefore, when they fired 
 a second time, I desired them to reserve some of their 
 shot for an attempt by itself, as I mentioned above. 
 
 Having fired a second time, I was indeed forced to 
 command, as I may call it. " Now, seigniors," said 
 I, " let us give them a cheer." So I opened my 
 throat, and shouted three times, as our English 
 sailors do on like occasions. " And now follow me," 
 said I to the seven that had not fired, "and I'll 
 warrant you we will make work with them," and so 
 it proved indeed ; for, as soon as they saw us com- 
 ing, away they ran, as above. 
 
 From this day forward they would call me nothing 
 but Seignior Capitanio ; but I told them I would not 
 be called seignior. " Well, then," said the gunner, 
 who spoke good English, " you shall be called Captain 
 Bob ; " and so they gave me my title ever after. 
 
 Nothing is more certain of the Portuguese than 
 this, take them nationally or personally, if they are 
 animated and heartened up by anybody to go before, 
 and encourage them by example, they will behave 
 well enough ; but if they have nothing but their 
 own measures to follow, they sink immediately : 
 these men had certainly fled from a parcel of naked 
 savages, though even bv flying they could not have 
 [73j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 saved their lives, if I had not shouted and hallooed, 
 and rather made sport with the thing than a fight, 
 to keep up their courage. 
 
 Nor was there less need of it upon several occasions 
 hereafter ; and I do confess I have often wondered 
 how a number of men, who, when they came to the 
 extremity, were so ill supported by their own spirits, 
 had at first courage to propose and to undertake the 
 most desperate and impracticable attempt that ever 
 men went about in the world. 
 
 There were indeed two or three indefatigable men 
 among them, by whose courage and industry all the 
 rest were upheld; and indeed those two or three 
 were the managers of them from the beginning ; that 
 was the gunner, and that cutler whom I call the 
 artist; and the third, who was pretty well, though 
 not like either of them, was one of the carpenters. 
 These indeed were the life and soul of all the rest, 
 and it was to their courage that all the rest owed 
 the resolution they showed upon any occasion. But 
 when those saw me take a little upon me, as above, 
 they embraced me, and treated me with particular 
 affection ever after. 
 
 This gunner was an excellent mathematician, a 
 good scholar, and a complete sailor ; and it was in 
 conversing intimately with him that I learned after- 
 wards the grounds of what knowledge I have since 
 had in all the sciences useful for navigation, and 
 particularly in the geographical part of knowledge. 
 
 Even in our conversation, finding- me eager to 
 understand and learn, he laid the foundation of a 
 general knowledge of things in my mind, gave rae 
 [74] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 just ideas of the form of the earth and of the sea, 
 the situation of countries, the course of rivers, the 
 doctrine of the spheres, the motion of the stars ; 
 and, in a word, taught me a kind of system of 
 astronomy, which I afterwards improved. 
 
 In an especial manner, he filled my head with 
 aspiring thoughts, and with an earnest desire after 
 learning everything that could be taught me ; con- 
 vincing me, that nothing could qualify me for great 
 undertakings, but a degree of learning superior to 
 what was usual in the race of seamen ; he told me, 
 that to be ignorant was to be certain of a mean 
 station in the world, but that knowledge was the 
 first step to preferment. He was always flattering 
 me with my capacity to learn ; and though that 
 fed my pride, yet, on the other hand, as I had a 
 secret ambition, which just at that time fed itself in 
 my mind, it prompted in me an insatiable thirst 
 after learning in general, and T resolved, if ever I 
 came back to Europe, and had anything left to 
 purchase it, I would make myself master of all the 
 parts of learning needful to the making of me a 
 complete sailor; but I was not so just to myself 
 afterwards as to do it when I had an opportunity. 
 
 But to return to our business ; the gunner, when 
 he saw the service I had done in the fight, and heard 
 my proposal for keeping a number of prisoners for 
 our march, and for carrying our baggage, turns to 
 me before them all. "Captain Bob," says he, "I 
 think you must be our leader, for all the success of 
 this enterprise is owing to you." " No, no," said I, 
 " do not compliment me ; vou shall be our Seignior 
 [75] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Capitanio, you shall be general ; I am too young for 
 it." So, in short, we all agreed he should be our 
 leader ; but he would not accept of it alone, but 
 would have me joined with him ; and all the rest 
 agreeing, I was obliged to comply. 
 
 The first piece of service they put me upon in this 
 new command was as difficult as any they could think 
 of, and that was to manage the prisoners ; which, 
 however, I cheerfully undertook, as you shall hear 
 presently. But the immediate consultation was yet 
 of more consequence ; and that was, first, which way 
 we should go ; and secondly, how to furnish ourselves 
 for the voyage with provisions. 
 
 There was among the prisoners one tall, well- 
 shaped, handsome fellow, to whom the rest seemed 
 to pay great respect, and who, as we understood 
 afterwards, was the son of one of their kings ; his 
 father was, it seems, killed at our first volley, and he 
 wounded with a shot in his arm, and with another 
 just on one of his hips or haunches. The shot in his 
 haunch being in a fleshy part, bled much, and he was 
 half dead with the loss of blood. As to the shot in 
 his arm, it had broke his wrist, and he was by both 
 these wounds quite disabled, so that we were once 
 going to turn him away, and let him die ; and, if we 
 had, he would have died indeed in a few days more : 
 but, as I found the man had some respect showed 
 him, it presently occurred to my thoughts that we 
 might bring him to be useful to us, and perhaps 
 make him a kind of commander over them. So I 
 caused our surgeon to take him in hand, and gave 
 the poor wretch good words, that is to say, I spoke 
 [76] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to him as well as I could by signs, to make him under- 
 stand that we would make him well again. 
 
 This created a new awe in their minds of us, be- 
 lieving that, as we could kill at a distance by some- 
 thing invisible to them (for so our shot was, to be 
 sure), so we could make them well again too. Upon 
 this the young prince (for so we called him after- 
 wards) called six or seven of the savages to him, and 
 said something to them ; what it was we know not, but 
 immediately all the seven came to me, and kneeled 
 down to me, holding up their hands, and making 
 signs of entreaty, pointing to the place where one of 
 those lay whom we had killed. 
 
 It was a long time before I or any of us could un- 
 derstand them ; but one of them ran and lifted up a 
 dead man, pointing to his wound, which was in his 
 eyes, for he was shot into the head at one of his eyes. 
 Then another pointed to the surgeon, and at last we 
 found it out, that the meaning was, that he should 
 heal the prince's father too, who was dead, being 
 shot through the head, as above. 
 
 We presently took the hint, and would not say we 
 could not do it, but let them know, the men that 
 were killed were those that had first fallen upon us, 
 and provoked us, and we would by no means make 
 them alive again ; and that, if any others did so, we 
 would kill them too, and never let them live any 
 more : but that, if he (the prince) would be willing 
 to go with us, and do as we should direct him, we 
 would not let him die, and would make his arm well. 
 Upon this he bid his men go and fetch a long stick 
 or staff, and lay on the ground. When they brought 
 [77] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it, we saw it was an arrow ; he took it with his left 
 hand (for his other was lame with the wound), and, 
 pointing up at the sun, broke the arrow in two, and 
 set the point against his breast, and then gave it to 
 me. This was, as I understood afterwards, wishing 
 the sun, whom they worship, might slioot him into 
 the breast with an aiTow, if ever he failed to be my 
 friend ; and giving the point of the arrow to me was 
 to be a testimony that I was the man he had sworn 
 to : and never was Christian more punctual to an 
 oath than he was to this, for he was a sworn servant 
 to us for many a weary month after that. 
 
 When I brought him to the surgeon, he imme- 
 diately dressed the wound in his haunch or buttock, 
 and found the bullet had only grazed upon the flesh, 
 and passed, as it were, by it, but it was not lodged 
 in the part, so that it was soon healed and well 
 again ; but, as to his arm, he found one of the bones 
 broken, which are in the forepart from the wrist to 
 the elbow ; and this he set, and splintered it up, and 
 bound his arm in a sling, hanging it about his neck, 
 and making signs to him that he should not stir it ; 
 which he was so strict an observer of, that he set 
 him down, and never moved one way or other but 
 as the surgeon gave him leave. 
 
 I took a great deal of pains to acquaint this negro 
 what we intended to do, and what use we intended 
 to make of his men ; and particularly to teach him 
 the meaning of what we said, especially to teach him 
 some words, such as yes and no, and what they meant, 
 and to inure him to our way of talking ; and he was 
 very willing and apt to learn anything I taught him. 
 [78] " 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 It was easy to let him see that we intended to carry 
 our provision with us from the first day ; but he 
 made signs to us to tell us we need not, for we should 
 find provision enough everywhere for forty days. It 
 was very difficult for us to understand how he ex- 
 pressed forty ; for he knew no figures, but some 
 words that they used to one another that they un- 
 derstood it by. At last one of the negroes, by his 
 order, laid forty little stones one by another, to show 
 us how many days we should travel, and find pro- 
 visions sufficient. 
 
 Then I showed him our baggage, which was very 
 heavy, particularly our powder, shot, lead, iron, car- 
 penters' tools, seamen's instruments, cases of bottles, 
 and other lumber. He took some of the things up 
 in his hand to feel the weight, and shook his head 
 at them ; so I told our people they must resolve 
 to divide their things into small parcels, and make 
 them portable ; and accordingly they did so, by 
 which means we were fain to leave all our chests be- 
 hind us, which were eleven in number. 
 
 Then he made signs to us that he would procure 
 some buffaloes, or young bulls, as I called them, to 
 carry things for us, and made signs, too, that if we 
 were weary, we might be carried too ; but that 
 we slighted, only were willing to have the creatures, 
 because, at last, when they could serve us no farther 
 for carriage, we might eat them all up if we had any 
 occasion for them. 
 
 I then carried him to our bark, and showed him 
 what things we had here. He seemed amazed at 
 the sight of our bark, having never seen anything of 
 [79] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 that kind before, for their boats are most wretched 
 things, such as I never saw befoi-e, having no head or 
 stern, and being made only of the skins of goats, sewed 
 together with dried guts of goats and sheep, and 
 done over with a kind of slimy stuff like rosin and 
 oil, but of a most nauseous, odious smell ; and they 
 are poor miserable things for boats, the worst that 
 any part of the world ever saw ; a canoe is an ex- 
 cellent contrivance compared to them. 
 
 But to return to our boat. We earned our new 
 prince into it, and helped him over the side, because 
 of his lameness. We made signs to him that his 
 men must carry our goods for us, and showed him 
 what we had ; he answered, " Si, Seignior," or, " Yes, 
 sir" (for we had taught him that word and the 
 meaning of it), and taking up a bundle, he made 
 signs to us, that when his arm was well he would 
 carry some for us. 
 
 I made signs again to tell him, that if he would 
 make his men carry them, we would not let him carry 
 anything. We had secured all the prisoners in a 
 narrow place, where we had bound them with mat 
 cords, and set up stakes like a palisado round them ; 
 so, when we carried the prince on shore, we went with 
 him to them, and made signs to him to ask them if 
 they were willing to go with us to the country of 
 lions. Accordingly he made a long speech to them, 
 and we could understand by it that he told them, if 
 they were willing, they must say, " Si, Seignior," 
 telling them what it signified. They immediately 
 answered, " Si, Seignior," and clapped their hands, 
 looking up to the sun, which, the prince signified to 
 [80] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 us, was swearing to be faithful. But as soon as they 
 had said so, one of them made a long speech to the 
 prince ; and in it we perceived, by his gestures, 
 which were very antic, that they desired something 
 from us, and that they were in great concern about 
 it. So I asked him, as well £is I could, what it was 
 they desired of us ; he told us by signs that they 
 desired we should clap our hands to the sun (that 
 was, to swear) that we would not kill them, that we 
 would give them chiaruck, that is to say, bread, 
 would not starve them, and would not let the lions 
 eat them. I told him we would promise all that ; 
 then he pointed to the sun, and clapped his hands, 
 signing to me that I should do so too, which I did ; 
 at which all the prisoners fell flat on the ground, and 
 rising up again, made the oddest, wildest cries that 
 ever I heard. 
 
 I think, it was the first time in my life that ever 
 any religious thought affected me ; but I could not 
 refrain some reflections, and almost tears, in con- 
 sidering how happy it was that I was not born among 
 such creatures as these, and was not so stupidly 
 ignorant and barbarous ; but this soon went ofl^ again, 
 and I was not troubled again with any qualms of 
 that sort for a long time after. 
 
 When this ceremony was over, our concern was to 
 get some provisions, as well for the present subsist- 
 ence of our prisoners as ourselves ; and making signs 
 to our prince that we were thinking upon that sub- 
 ject, he made signs to me that, if I would let one of 
 the prisoners go to his town, he should bring provi- 
 sions, and should bring some beasts to carry our 
 6 [81] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 baggage. I seemed loth to trust him, and supposing 
 that he would run away, he made great signs of 
 fidelity, and with his own hands tied a rope about 
 his neck, offering me one end of it, intimating that I 
 should hang him if the man did not come again. 
 So I consented, and he gave him abundance of in- 
 structions, and sent him away, pointing to the light 
 of the sun, which it seems was to tell him at what 
 time he must be back. 
 
 The fellow ran as if he was mad, and held it till 
 he was quite out of sight, by which I supposed he had 
 a great way to go. The next morning, about two 
 hours before the time appointed, the black prince, 
 for so I always called him, beckoning with his hand 
 to me, and hallooing after his manner, desired me to 
 come to him, which I did, when, pointing to a little 
 hill about two miles off, I saw plainly a little drove 
 of cattle, and several people with them j those, he 
 told me by signs, were the man he had sent, and 
 several more with him, and cattle for us. 
 
 Accordingly, by the time appointed, he came quite 
 to our huts, and brought with him a great many 
 cows, young runts, about sixteen goats, and four 
 young bulls, taught to carry burthens. 
 
 This was a supply of provisions sufficient ; as for 
 bread, we were obliged to shift with some roots which 
 we had made use of before. ■ We then began to con- 
 sider of making some large bags like the soldiers' 
 knapsacks, for their men to carry our baggage in, and 
 to make it easy to them ; and the goats being killed, 
 I ordered the skins to be spread in the sun, and they 
 were as dry in two days as could be desired ; so we 
 [82] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 found means to make such little bags as we wanted, 
 and began to divide our baggage into them. When- 
 the black prince found what they were for, and how 
 easy they were of carriage when we put them on, he 
 smiled a little, and sent away the man again to fetch 
 skins, and he brought two natives more with him, all 
 loaded with skins better cured than ours, and of 
 other kinds, such as we could not tell what names to 
 give them. 
 
 These two men brought the black prince two 
 lances, of the sort they use in their fights, but finer 
 than ordinary, being made of black smooth wood, as 
 fine as ebony, and headed at the point with the end 
 of a long tooth of some creature — we could not tell 
 of what creature ; the head was so firm put on, and 
 the tooth so strong, though no bigger than my 
 thumb, and sharp at the end, that I never saw any- 
 thing like it in any place in the world. 
 
 The prince would not take thera till I gave him 
 leave, but made signs that they should give them to 
 me ; however, I gave him leave to take them himself, 
 for I saw evident signs of an honourable just principle 
 in him. 
 
 We now prepared for our march, when the prince 
 coming to me, and pointing towards the several 
 quarters of the world, made signs to know which 
 way we intended to go; and when I showed him, 
 pointing to the west, he presently let me know there 
 was a great river a little further to the north, which 
 was able to carry our bark many leagues into the 
 country due west. I presently took the hint, and 
 inquired for the mouth of the river, which I under- 
 [83] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 stood by him was above a day's march, and, by our 
 estimation, we found it about seven leagues further. 
 I take this to be the great river marked by our chart- 
 makers at the northmost part of the coast of Mozam- 
 bique, and called there Quilloa. 
 
 Consulting thus with ourselves, we resolved to take 
 the prince, and as many of the prisoners as we could 
 stow in our frigate, and go about by the bay into the 
 river; and that eight of us, with our arms, should 
 march by land to meet them on the river side ; for 
 the prince, carrying us to a rising ground, had showed 
 us the river very plain, a great way up the country, 
 and in one place it was not above six miles to it. 
 
 It was my lot to march by land, and be captain of 
 the whole caravan. I had eight of our men with me, 
 and seven-and-thirty of our prisoners, without any 
 baggage, for all our luggage was yet on board. We 
 drove the young bulls with us; nothing was ever so 
 tame, so willing to work, or carry anything. The 
 negroes would ride upon them four at a time, and 
 they would go very willingly. They would eat out 
 of our hand, lick our feet, and were as tractable as a 
 dog. 
 
 We drove with us six or seven cows for food ; but 
 our negroes knew nothing of curing the flesh by salt- 
 ing and drying it till we showed them the way, and 
 then they were mighty willing to do so as long as 
 we had any salt to do it with, and to carry salt a 
 great way too, after we found we should have no 
 more. 
 
 It was an easy march to the river side for us that 
 went by land, and we came thither in a piece of a 
 [84] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 day, being, as abo\ e, no more than six English miles ; 
 whereas it was no less than five days before they 
 came to us by water, the wind in the bay having 
 failed them, and the way, by reason of a great 
 turn or reach in the river, being about fifty miles 
 about. 
 
 We spent this time in a thing which the two 
 strangers, which brought the prince the two lances, 
 put into the head of the prisoners, viz., to make 
 bottles of the goats' skins to carry fresh water in, 
 which it seems they knew we should come to want ; 
 and the men did it so dexterously, having dried skins 
 fetched them by those two men, that before our vessel 
 came up, they had every man a pouch like a bladdei-, 
 to carry fresh water in, hanging over their shoulders 
 by a thong made of other skins, about three inches 
 broad, like the sling of a fuzee. 
 
 Our prince, to assure us of the fidelity of the men in 
 this march, had ordered them to be tied two and two 
 by the wrist, as we handcuff prisoners in England ; 
 and made them so sensible of the reasonableness of 
 it, that he made them do it themselves, appointing 
 four of theni to bind the rest ; but we found them 
 so honest, and particularly so obedient to him, that 
 after we were gotten a little further off of their own 
 country, we set them at liberty, though, when he 
 came to us, he would have them tied again, and they 
 continued so a good while. 
 
 All the country on the bank of the river was a 
 
 high land, no marshy swampy ground in it ; the 
 
 verdure good, and abundance of cattle feeding upon 
 
 it wherever we went, or which way soever we looked ; 
 
 [85] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 there was not much wood indeed, at least not near 
 us ; but further up we saw oak, cedar, and pine-trees, 
 some of which were very large. 
 
 The river was a fair open channel, about as broad 
 as the Thames below Gravesend, and a strong tide 
 of flood, which we found held us about sixty miles ; 
 the channel deep, nor did we find any want of water 
 for a great way. In short, we went merrily up the 
 river with the flood and the wind blowing still fresh 
 at E. and E.N.E. We stemmed the ebb easily 
 also, especially while the river continued broad and 
 deep ; but when we came past the swelling of the 
 tide, and had the natural current of the river to go 
 against, we found it too strong for us, and began to 
 think of quitting our bark ; but the prince would 
 by no means agree to that, for, finding we had on 
 board pretty good store of roping made of mats and 
 flags, which I described before, he ordered all the 
 prisoners which were on shore to come and take hold 
 of those ropes, and tow us along bj"^ the shore side ; 
 and as we hoisted our sail too, to ease them, the men 
 ran along with us at a very great rate. 
 
 In this manner the river carried us up, by our 
 computation, near 200 miles, and then it narrowed 
 apace, and was not above as broad as the Thames is 
 at Windsor, or thereabouts ; and, after another day, 
 we came to a great waterfall or cataract, enough to 
 fright us, for I believe the whole body of water fell 
 at once perpendicularly down a precipice above sixty 
 foot high, which made noise enough to deprive men 
 of their hearing, and we heard it above tea miles 
 before we came to it. 
 
 [86] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Here we were at a full stop, and now our prisoners 
 went first on shore ; they had worked very hard and 
 very cheerfully, relieving one another, those that were 
 weary being taken into the bark. Had we liad canoes 
 or any boats which might have been carried by men's 
 strength we might have gone two hundred miles more 
 up this river in small boats, but our great boat could 
 go no farther. 
 
 All this way the country looked green and pleasant, 
 and was full of cattle, and some people we saw, though 
 not many ; but this we observed now, that the people 
 did no more understand our prisoners here than we 
 could understand them ; being, it seems, of different 
 nations and of different speech. We had yet seen no 
 wild beasts, or, at least, none that came very near us, 
 except two days before w^e came to the waterfall, when 
 we saw three of the most beautiful leopards that ever 
 were seen, standing upon the bank of the river on the 
 north side, our prisoners being all on the other side of 
 the water. Our gunner espied them first, and ran to 
 fetch his gun, putting a ball extraordinary in it ; and 
 coming to me, " Now, Captain Bob," says he, " where 
 is your prince ? " So I called him out. " Now," 
 says he, " tell your men not to be afraid ; tell them 
 they shall see that thing in his hand speak in fire to 
 one of those beasts, and make it kill itself." 
 
 The poor negroes looked as if they had been all 
 going to be killed, notwithstanding what their 
 prince said to them, and stood staring to expect the 
 issue, when on a sudden the gunner fired ; and as he 
 was a very good marksman, he shot the creature 
 with two slugs, just in the head. As soon as the 
 [87] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 leopard felt herself struck, she reared up on her two 
 hind-legs, bolt upright, and throwing her forepaws 
 about in the air, fell backward, growling and strag- 
 gling, and immediately died ; the other two, frighted 
 with the fire and the noise, fled, and were out of 
 sight in an instant. ' 
 
 But the two frighted leopards were not in half the 
 consternation that our prisoners were; four or five 
 of them fell down as if they had been shot ; several 
 others fell on their knees, and lifted up their hands 
 to us ; whether to worship us, or pray us not to kill 
 them, we did not know ; but we made signs to their 
 prince to encourage them, which he did, but it was 
 with much ado that he brought them to their senses. 
 Nay, the prince, notwithstanding all that was said 
 to prepare him for it, yet when the piece went oft", 
 he gave a start as if he would have leaped into the 
 river. 
 
 When we saw the creature killed, I had a great 
 mind to have the skin of her, and made signs to the 
 prince, that he should send some of his men over to 
 take the skin off^. As soon as he spoke but a word, 
 four of them, that offered themselves, were untied, 
 and immediately they jumped into the river, and 
 swam over, and went to work with him. The prince 
 having a knife that we gave him, made four wooden 
 knives so clever, that I never saw anything like them 
 in my life ; and in less than an hour's time they 
 brought me the skin of the leopard, which was a 
 monstrous great one, for it was from the ears to the 
 tail about seven foot, and near five foot broad on 
 the back, and most admirably spotted all over Tte 
 [88] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 skin of this leopard I brought to London many years 
 after. 
 
 We were now all upon a level as to our travelling, 
 being unshipped, for our bark would swim no farther, 
 and she was too heavy to carry on our backs ; but as 
 we found the course of the river went a great way 
 farther, we consulted our carpenters whether we 
 could not pull the bark in pieces, and make us three 
 or four small boats to go on with. They told us 
 we might do so, but it would be very long a-doing ; 
 and that, when we had done, we had neither pitch 
 or tar to make them sound to keep the water out, 
 or nails to fasten the ' plank. But one of them told 
 us that as soon as he could come at any large tree 
 near the river, he would make us a canoe or two in 
 a quarter of the time, and which would serve us as 
 well for all the uses we could have any occasion for 
 as a boat ; and such, that if we came to any water- 
 falls, we might take them up, and carry them for a 
 mile or two by land upon our shoulders. 
 
 Upon this we gave over the thoughts of our frigate, 
 and hauling her into a little cove or inlet, where a 
 small brook came into the main river, we laid her up 
 for those that came next, and marched forward. 
 We spent indeed two days dividing our baggage, 
 and loading our tame buffaloes and our negroes. 
 Our powder and shot, which was the thing we were 
 most careful of, we ordered thus : — First, the pow- 
 der we divided into little leather bags, that is to 
 say, bags of dried skins, with the hair inward, that 
 the powder might not grow damp ; and then we put 
 those bags into other bags, made of bullocks' skins, 
 [89] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 very thick and hard, with the hair outward, that no 
 wet might come in ; and this succeeded so well, that 
 in the greatest rains we had, whereof some were very 
 violent and very long, we always kept our powder 
 dry. Besides these bags, which held our chief maga- 
 zine, we divided to every one a quarter of a pound of 
 powder, and half a pound of shot, to carry always 
 about us ; which, as it was enough for our present 
 use, so we were willing to have no weight to carry 
 more than was absolutely necessary, because of the 
 heat. 
 
 We kept still on the bank of the river, and for 
 that reason had but very little communication with 
 the people of the country ; for, having also our bark 
 stored with plenty of provisions, we had no occasion 
 to look abroad for a supply ; but now, when we 
 came to march on foot, we were obliged often to 
 seek out for food. The first place we came to on 
 the river, that gave us any stop, was a little negro 
 town, containing about fifty huts, and there ap- 
 peared about 400 people, for they all came out to 
 see us, and wonder at us. When our negroes ap- 
 peared the inhabitants began to fly to arms, think- 
 ing there had been enemies coming upon them ; 
 but our negroes, though they could not speak their 
 language, made signs to them that they had no 
 weapons, and were tied two and two together as 
 captives, and that there were people behind who 
 came from the sun, and that could kill them all, 
 and make them alive again, if they pleased ; but 
 that they would do them no hurt, and came with 
 peace. As soon as they understood this they laid 
 [90] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 down their lances, and bows and arrows, and came 
 and stuck twelve large stakes in the ground as a 
 token of peace, bowing themselves to us in token of 
 submission. But as soon as they saw white men 
 with beards, that is to say, with mustachios, they 
 ran screaming away, as in a fright. 
 
 We kept at a distance from them, not to be too 
 familiar ; and when we did appear it was but two or 
 three of us at a time. But our prisoners made them 
 understand that we required some provisions of 
 them ; so they brought us some black cattle, for 
 they have abundance of cows and buffaloes all over 
 that side of the country, as also great numbers of 
 deer. Our cutler, who had now a great stock of 
 things of his handiwork, gave them some little knick- 
 knacks, as plates of silver and of iron, cut diamond 
 fashion, and cut into hearts and into rings, and they 
 were mightily pleased. They also brought several 
 fruits and roots, which we did not understand, but 
 our negroes fed heartily on them, and after we had 
 seen -them eat them, we did so too. 
 
 Having stocked ourselves here with flesh and root 
 as much as we could well carry, we divided the 
 burthens among our negroes, appointing about thirty 
 to forty pounds weight to a man, which we thought 
 indeed was load enough in a hot country ; and the 
 negroes did not at all repine at it, but would some- 
 times help one another when they began to be 
 weary, which did happen now and then, though not 
 often ; besides, as most of their luggage was our 
 provision, it lightened every day, like ^sop's basket 
 of bread, till we came to get a recruit. — Note, when 
 [91] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we loaded them we untied their hands, and tied 
 them two and two together by one foot. 
 
 The third day of our march from this place our 
 chief carpenter desired us to halt, and set up some 
 huts, for he had found out some trees that he liked, 
 and resolved to make us some canoes ; for, as he told 
 me, he knew we should have marching enough on 
 foot after we left the river, and he was resolved to 
 go no farther by land than needs must. 
 
 We had no sooner given orders for our little camp, 
 and given leave to our negroes to lay down their 
 loads, but they fell to work to build our huts ; and 
 though they were tied as above, yet they did it so 
 nimbly as surprised us. Here we set some of the 
 negroes quite at liberty, that is to say, without tying 
 them, having the prince's word passed for their 
 fidelity ; and some of these were ordered to help the 
 carpenters, which they did very handily, with a little 
 direction, and others were sent to see whether they 
 could get any provisions near hand ; but instead of 
 provisions, three of them came in with two bows and 
 arrows, and five lances. They could not easily make 
 us understand how they came by them, only that 
 they had surprised some negro women, who were in 
 some huts, thp men being from home, and they had 
 found the lances and bows in the huts, or houses, the 
 women and children flying away at the sight of them, 
 as from robbers. We seemed very angry at them, 
 and made the prince ask them if they had not killed 
 any of the women or children, making them believe 
 that, if they had killed anybody, we would make 
 them kill themselves too ; but they protested their 
 [ 92 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 innocence, so we excused them. Then they brought 
 us the bows and arrows and lances ; but, at a motion 
 of their black prince, we gave them back the bows 
 and arrows, and gave them leave to go out to see 
 what they could kill for food ; and here we gave 
 them the laws of arms, viz., that if any man appeared 
 to assault them, or shoot at them to offer any 
 violence to them, they mjght kill them ; but that 
 they should not offer to kill or hurt any that offered 
 them peace, or laid down their weapons, nor any 
 women or childi-en, upon any occasion whatsoevei-. 
 These were our articles of war. 
 
 These two fellows had not been gone out above 
 three or four hours, but one of them came running 
 to us without his bow and arrows, hallooing and 
 whooping a great while before he came at us, " Oko- 
 amo, okoamo ! " which, it seems, was " Help, help ! " 
 The rest of the negroes rose up in a hurry, and by 
 twos, as they could, ran forward towards their fellows, 
 to know what the matter was. As for me, I did not 
 understand it, nor any of our people ; the prince 
 looked as if something unlucky had fallen out, and 
 some of our men took up their arms to be ready on 
 occasion. But the negroes soon discovered the thing, 
 for we saw four of them presently after coming along 
 with a great load of meat upon their backs. The 
 CEise was, that the two who went out with their bows 
 and arrows, meeting with a great herd of deer in the 
 plain, had been so nimble as to shoot three of them, 
 and then one of them came running to us for help to 
 fetch them away. This was the first venison we had 
 met with in all our march, and we feasted upon it 
 [93] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 very plentifully ; and this was the first time we began 
 to prevail with our prince to eat his meat dressed our 
 way ; after which his men wei-e prevailed with by his 
 example, but before that, they ate most of the flesh 
 they had quite raw. 
 
 We wished now we had brought some bows and 
 arrows out with us, which we might have done ; and 
 we began to have so much confidence in our negroes, 
 and to be so familiar with them, that we oftentimes 
 let them go, or the greatest part of them, untied, 
 being well assured they would not leave us, and that 
 they did not know what course to take without us ; 
 but one thing we resolved not to ti'ust them with, and 
 that was the charging our guns : but they always 
 believed our guns had some heavenly power in them, 
 that would send forth fire and smoke, and speak with 
 a dreadful noise, and kill at a distance whenever we 
 bid them. 
 
 In about eight days we finished three canoes, and 
 in them we embarked our white men and our baggage, 
 with our prince, and some of the prisonei-s. We also 
 found it needful to keep some of ourselves always on 
 shore, not only to manage the negroes, but to defend 
 them from enemies and wild beasts. Abundance of 
 little incidents happened upon this march, which it 
 is impossible to crowd into this account ; particularly, 
 we saw more wild beasts now than we did before, 
 some elephants, and two or three lions, none of 
 which kinds we had seen any of before ; and we 
 found our negroes were more afraid of them a 
 great deal than we were ; principally, because thev 
 had no bows and arrows, or lances, which were 
 [94] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the particular weapons they were bred up to the 
 exercise of. 
 
 But we cured them of their fears by being always 
 ready with our firearms. However, as we were will- 
 ing to be sparing of our powder, and the killing of 
 any of the creatures now was no advantage to us, 
 seeing their skins were too heavy for us to carry, and 
 their flesh not good to eat, we resolved therefore to 
 keep some of our pieces uncharged and only primed ; 
 and causing them to flash in the pan, the beasts, 
 even the lions themselves, would always start and fly 
 back when they saw it, and immediately march off". 
 
 We passed abundance of inhabitants upon this 
 upper part of the river, and with this observation, 
 that almost every ten miles we came to a separate 
 nation, and every separate nation had a different 
 speech, or else their speech had difiiering dialects, so 
 that they did not understand one another. They all 
 abounded in cattle, especially on the river-side ; and 
 the eighth day of this second navigation we met with 
 a little negro town, where they had growing a sort 
 of corn like rice, which ate very sweet ; and, as we 
 got some of it of the people, we made very good 
 cakes of bread of it, and, making a fire, baked 
 them on the ground, after the fire was swept away, 
 very well ; so that hitherto we had no want of pro- 
 visions of any kind that we could desire. 
 
 Our negroes towing our canoes, we travelled at a 
 considerable rate, and by our own account could not 
 go less than twenty or twenty-five English miles a day, 
 and the river continuing to be much of the same 
 breadth and very deep all the way, till on the tenth 
 [95] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 day we came to another cataract ; for a ridge of high 
 hills crossing the whole channel of the river, the 
 water came tumbling down the rocks from one stage 
 to another in a strange manner, so that it was a con- 
 tinued link of cataracts from one to another, in the 
 manner of a cascade, only that the falls were some- 
 times a quarter of a mile from one another, and the 
 noise confused and frightful. 
 
 We thought our voyaging was at a full stop now ; 
 but three of us, with a couple of our negroes, mount- 
 ing the hills another way, to view the course of the 
 river, we found a fair channel again after about half 
 a mile's march, and that it was like to hold us a 
 good way further. So we set all hands to work, un- 
 loaded our cargo, and hauled our canoes on shore, 
 to see if we could carry them. 
 
 Upon examination we found that they were very 
 heavy ; but our carpenters, spending but one day's 
 work upon them, hewed away so much of the timber 
 from their outsides as reduced them very much, 
 and yet they were as fit to swim as before. When 
 this was done, ten men with poles took up one of 
 the canoes and made nothing to carry it. So we 
 ordered twenty men to each canoe, that one ten 
 might relieve the other ; and thus we carried all our 
 canoes, and launched them into the water again, and 
 then fetched our luggage and loaded it all again into 
 the canoes, and all in an afternoon ; and the next 
 morning early we moved forward again. When we 
 had towed about four days more, our gunner, who 
 was our pilot, began to observe that we did not 
 keep our right course so exactly as we ought, 
 [96] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the river winding away a little towards the north, 
 and gave us notice of it accordingly. However, we 
 were not willing to lose the advantage of water-car- 
 riage, at least not till we were forced to it ; so we 
 jogged on, and the river served us for about three- 
 score miles further ; but then we found it grew very 
 small and shallow, having passed the mouths of sev- 
 eral little brooks or rivulets which came into it ;. and 
 at length it became but a brook itself. 
 
 We towed up as far as ever our .boats would swim, 
 and we went two days the farther — having been 
 about twelve days in this last part of the river — by 
 lightening the boats and taking our luggage out, 
 which we made the negroes carry, being willing to 
 ease ourselves as long as we could ; but at the end 
 of these two days, in short, there was not water 
 enough to swim a London wherry. 
 
 We now set forward wholly by land, and without 
 any expectation of more water-carriage. All our 
 concern for more water was to be sure to have a 
 supply for our drinking ; and therefore upon every 
 hill that we came near we clambered up to the 
 highest part to see the country before us, and to 
 make the best judgment we could which way to go 
 to keep the lowest grounds, and as near some stream 
 of water as we could. 
 
 The country held verdant, well grown with trees, 
 and spread with rivers and brooks, and tolerably 
 well with inhabitants, for about thirty days' march 
 after our leaving the canoes, during which time 
 things went pretty well with us ; we did not tie our- 
 selves down when to march and when to halt, but 
 7 [ 97 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ordered those things as our convenience and the 
 health and ease of our people, as ^ell our servants 
 as ourselves, required. 
 
 About the middle of this march we came into a 
 low and plain country, in which we perceived a 
 greater number of inhabitants than in any other 
 country we had gone through ; but that which was 
 worse for us, we found them a fierce, barbarous, 
 treacherous people, and who at first looked upon 
 us as robbers, and gathered themselves in numbers 
 to. attack us. 
 
 Our men were terrified at them at first, and began 
 to discover an unusual fear, and even our black 
 prince seemed in a great deal of confusion ; but I 
 smiled at him, and showing him some of our guns, 
 I asked him if he thought that which killed the 
 spotted cat (for so they called the leopard in their 
 language) could not make a thousand of those 
 naked creatures die at one blow? Then he laughed, 
 and said, yes, he believed it would. " Well, then," 
 said I, " tell your men not to be afraid of these 
 people, for we shall soon give them a taste of what 
 we can do if they pretend to meddle with us." How- 
 ever, we considered we were in the middle of a vast 
 country, and we knew not what numbers of people 
 and nations we might be surrounded with, and, 
 above all, we knew not how much we might stand in 
 need of the friendship of these that we were now 
 among, so that we ordered the negroes to try all the 
 methods they could to make them friends. 
 
 Accordingly the two men who had gotten bows and 
 arrows, and two more to whom we gave the prince's 
 [98] ■ 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 two fine lances, went foremost, with five more, hav- 
 ing long poles in their hands ; and after them ten of 
 our men advanced toward the negro town that was 
 next to us, and we all stood ready to succour them 
 if there should be occasion. 
 
 When they came pretty near their houses our 
 negroes hallooed in their screaming way, and called 
 to them as loud as they could. Upon their calling, 
 some of the men came out and answered, and im- 
 mediately after the whole town, men, women, and 
 children, appeared; our negroes, with their long 
 poles, went forward a little, and stuck them all in 
 the ground, and left them, which in their country 
 was a signal of peace, but the other did not under- 
 stand the meaning of that. Then the two men with 
 bows laid down their bows and arrows, went forward 
 unarmed, and made signs of peace to them, which at 
 last the other began to understand ; so two of their 
 men laid down their bows and arrows, and came 
 towards them. Our men made all the signs of friend- 
 ship to them that they could think of, putting their 
 hands up to their mouths as a sign that they wanted 
 provisions to eat ; and the other pretended to be 
 pleased and friendly, and went back to their fellows 
 and talked with them a while, and they came for- 
 ward again, and made signs that they would bring 
 some provisions to them before the sun set ; and so 
 our men came back again very well satisfied for that 
 time. 
 
 But an hour before sunset our men went to them 
 again, just in the same posture as before, and they 
 came according to their appointment, and brought 
 [99] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 deer's flesh, roots, and the same kind of corn, like 
 rice, which I mentioned above ; and our negroes, being 
 furnished with such toys as our cutler had contrived, 
 gave them some of them, which they seemed infinitely 
 pleased with, and promised to bring more provisions 
 the next day. 
 
 Accordingly the next day they came again, but 
 our men perceived they were more in number by a 
 great many than before. However, having sent out 
 ten men with firearms to stand ready, and our whole 
 army being in view also, we were not much surprised ; 
 nor was the treachery of the enemy so cunningly 
 ordered as in other cases, for they might have sur- 
 rounded our negroes, which were but nine, under a 
 show of peace ; but when they saw our men advance al- 
 most as far as the place where they were the day before, 
 the rogues snatched up their bows and arrows and came 
 running upon our men like so many furies, at which 
 our ten men called to the negroes to come back to 
 them, which they did with speed enough at the first 
 word, and stood all behind our men. As they fled, 
 the other advanced, and let fly near a hundred of 
 their arrows at them, by which two of our negroes 
 were wounded, and one we thought had been killed. 
 When they came to the five poles that our men had 
 stuck in the ground, they stood still awhile, and 
 gathering about the poles, looked at them, and 
 handled them, as wondering what they meant. We 
 then, who were drawn up behind all, sent one of our 
 number to our ten men to bid them fire among them 
 while they stood so thick, and to put some small 
 shot into their guns besides the ordinary charge, 
 [ 100 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and to tell them that we would be up with them 
 immediately. 
 
 Accordingly they made ready; but by the time, 
 they were ready to fire, the black army had left their 
 wandering about the poles, and began to stir as if 
 they would come on, though seeing more men stand 
 at some distance behind our negroes, they could not 
 tell what to make of us ; but if they did not under- 
 stand us before, they understood us less afterwards, 
 for as soon as ever our men found them to begin to 
 move forward they fired among the thickest of them, 
 being about the distance of 120 yards, as near as we 
 could guess. 
 
 It is impossible to express the fright, the scream- 
 ing and yelling of those wretches upon this first 
 volley. We killed six of them, and wounded eleven 
 or twelve, I mean as we knew of; for, as they stood 
 thick, and the small shot, as we called it, scattered 
 among them, we had reason to believe we wounded 
 more that stood farther off, for our small shot was 
 made of bits of lead and bits of iron, heads of nails, 
 and such things as our diligent artificer, the cutler, 
 helped us to. 
 
 As to those that were killed and wounded, the 
 other frighted creatures were under the greatest 
 amazement in the world, to think what should 
 hurt them, for they could see nothing but holes 
 made in their bodies they knew not how. Then 
 the fire and noise amazed all their women and 
 children, and frighted them out of their wits, so 
 that they ran staring and howling about like mad 
 creatures. 
 
 [101] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 However, all this did not make them fly, which 
 was what we wanted, nor did we find any of them 
 ■die as it were with fear, as at first ; so we resolved 
 upon a second volley, and then to advance as we did 
 before. Whereupon our reserved men advancing, we 
 resolved to fire only three men at a time, and move 
 forward like an army firing in platoon ; so, being all 
 in a line, we fired, first three on the right, then three 
 on the left, and so on ; and every time we killed or 
 wounded some of them, but still they did not fly, 
 and yet they were so frighted that they used none 
 of their bows and arrows, or of their lances ; and we 
 thought their numbers increased upon our hands, 
 particularly we thought so by the noise. So I called 
 to our men to halt, and bid them pour in one whple 
 volley and then shout, as we did in our first fight, 
 and so run in upon them and knock them down with 
 our muskets. 
 
 But they were too wise for that too, for as soon as 
 we had fired a whole volley and shouted, they all 
 ran away, men, women, and children, so fast that in 
 a few moments we could not see one creatiu-e of them 
 except some that were wounded and lame, who lay 
 wallowing and screaming here and there upon the 
 ground as they happened to fall. 
 
 Upon this we came up to the field of battle, where 
 we found we had killed thirty-seven of them, among 
 which were three women, and had wounded about 
 sixty-four, among which were two women ; by 
 wounded I mean such as were so maimed as not to 
 be able to go away, and those our negroes killed 
 afterwards in a cowardly manner in cold blood, for 
 [102] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 which we were very angry, and threatened to make 
 them go to them if they did so again. 
 
 There was no great spoil to be got, for they were 
 all stark naked as they came into the world, men and 
 women together, some of them having feathers stuck 
 in their hair, and others a kind of bracelet about their 
 necks, but nothing else ; but our negroes got a booty 
 here, which we were very glad of, and this was the 
 bows and arrows of the vanquished, of which they 
 found more than they knew what to do with, be- 
 longing to the killed and wounded men ; these we 
 ordered them to pick up, and they were very useful 
 to us afterwards. After the fight, and our negroes 
 had gotten bows and arrows, we sent them out in 
 parties to see what they could get, and they got 
 some provisions ; but, which was better than all the 
 rest, they brought us four more young bulls, or 
 buffaloes, that had been brought up to labour and 
 to carry burthens. They knew them, it seems, by 
 the burthens they had carried having galled their 
 backs, for they have no saddles to cover them with 
 in that country. 
 
 Those creatures not only eased our negroes, but 
 gave us an opportunity to carry more provisions ; 
 and our negroes loaded them very hard at this place 
 with flesh and roots, such as we wanted very much 
 afterwards. 
 
 In this town we found a very little young leopard, 
 about two spans high ; it was exceeding tame, and 
 purred like a cat when we stroked it with our hands, 
 being, as I suppose, bred up among the negroes like 
 a house-dog. It was our black prince, it seems, who, 
 [ 103] 
 
CAPTAIxN SINGLETON 
 
 making his tour among the abandoned houses or huts, 
 found this creature there, and making much of him, 
 and giving a bit or two of flesh to him, the creature 
 followed him like a dog ; of which more hereafter. 
 
 Among the negroes that were killed in this battle 
 there was one who had a little ihin bit or plate of gold, 
 about as big as a sixpence, which hung by a little bit 
 of a twisted gut upon his forehead, by which we sup- 
 posed he was a man of some eminence among them ; 
 but that was not all, for this bit of gold put us upon 
 searching very narrowly if there was not more of it to 
 be had thereabouts, but we found none at all. 
 
 From this part of the country we went on for 
 about fifteen days, and then found ourselves obliged 
 to march up a high ridge of mountains, frightful to 
 behold, and the first of the kind that we met with ; 
 and having no guide but our little pocket-compass, 
 we had no advantage of information as to which was 
 the best or the worst way, but was obliged to choose 
 by what we saw, and shift as well as we could. We 
 met with several nations of wild and naked people in 
 the plain country before we came to those hills, and 
 we found them much more tractable and friendly 
 than those devils we had been forced to fight with ; 
 and though we could learn little from these people, 
 yet we understood by the signs they made that there 
 was a vast desert beyond these hills, and, as our 
 negroes called them, much lion, much spotted cat 
 (so they called the leopard) ; and they signed to us 
 also that we must carry water with us. At the last 
 of these nations we fm-nished ourselves with as much 
 provisions as we could possibly carry, not knowing 
 [ 104.] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 what we had to suffer, or what length we had to go ; 
 and, to make our way as familiar to us as possible, I 
 proposed that of the last inhabitants we could find 
 we should make some prisoners and carry them with 
 us for guides over the desert, and to assist us in carry- 
 ing provision, and, perhaps, in getting it too. The 
 advice was too necessary to be slighted ; so finding, 
 by our dumb signs to the inhabitants, that there were 
 some people that dwelt at the foot of the mountains 
 on the other side before we came to the desert itself, 
 we resolved to furnish ourselves with guides by fair 
 means or foul. 
 
 Here, by a moderate computation, we concluded 
 ourselves 700 miles from the sea-coast where we began. 
 Our black prince was this day set free from the sling 
 his arm hung in, our surgeon having perfectly restored 
 it, and he showed it to his own countrymen quite 
 well, which made them greatly wonder. Also our 
 two negroes began to recover, and their wounds to 
 heal apace, for our surgeon was very skilful in manag- 
 ing their cure. 
 
 Having with infinite labour mounted these hills, 
 and coming to a view of the country beyond them, 
 it was indeed enough to astonish as stout a heart as 
 ever was created. It was a vast howling wilderness — 
 not a tree, a river, or a green thing to be seen ; for, 
 as far as the eye could look, nothing but a scalding 
 sand, which, as the wind blew, drove about in clouds 
 enouffh to overwhelm man and beast. Nor could we 
 see any end of it either before us, which was our way, 
 or to the right hand or left ; so that truly our men 
 began to be discouraged, and talk of going back again, 
 [105] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOxN' 
 
 Nor could we indeed think of venturing over such a 
 horrid place as that before us, in which we saw nothing 
 but present death. 
 
 I was as much affected at the sight as any of them ; 
 but, for all that, I could not bear the thoughts of 
 going back again. I told them we had marched 
 700 miles of our way, and it would be worse than 
 death to think of going back again ; and that, if 
 they thought the desert was not passable, I thought 
 we should rather change our course, and travel south 
 till we came to the Cape of Good Hope, or north to 
 the country that lay along the Nile, where, perhaps, 
 we might find some way or other over to the west 
 sea ; for sure all Africa was not a desert. 
 
 Our gunner, who, as I said before, was our guide 
 as to the situation of places, told us that he could 
 not tell what to say to going for the Cape, for it 
 was a monstrous length, being from the place where 
 we now were not less than 1500 miles ; and, by his 
 account, we were now come a third part of the way 
 to the coast of Angola, where we should meet the 
 western ocean, and find ways enough for our escape 
 home. On the other hand, he assured us, and 
 showed us a map of it, that, if we went northward, 
 the western shore of Africa went out into the sea 
 above 1000 miles west, so that we should have so 
 much and more land to travel afterwards ; which 
 land might, for aught we knew, be as wild, barren, 
 and desert as this. And therefore, upon the whole, 
 he proposed that we should attempt this desert, and 
 perhaps we should not find it so long as we feared ; 
 and however, he proposed that we should see how 
 [106] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 far our provisions would carry us, and, in particular, 
 our water ; and we should venture no further than 
 half so far as our water would last; and if we 
 found no end of the desert, we might come safely 
 back again. 
 
 This advice was so reasonable that we aU ap- 
 proved of it ; and accordingly we calculated that we 
 were able to carry provisions for forty-two days, but 
 that we could not carry water for above twenty days, 
 though we were to suppose it to stink, too, before 
 that time expired. So that we concluded that, if 
 we did not come at some water in ten days' time, we 
 would return ; but if we found a supply of water, 
 we could then travel twenty-one days ; and, if we 
 saw no end of the wilderness in that time, we would 
 return also. 
 
 With this regulation of our measures, we descended 
 the mountains, and it was the second day before we 
 quite reached the plain ; where, however, to make us 
 amends, we found a fine little rivulet of very good 
 water, abundance of deer, a sort of creature like a 
 hare, but not so nimble, but whose flesh we found very 
 agreeable. But we were deceived in our intelligence, 
 for we found no people ; so we got no more prisoners 
 to assist us in carrying our baggage. 
 
 The infinite number of deer and other creatures 
 which we saw here, we found was occasioned by the 
 neighborhood of the waste or desert, from whence 
 they retired hither for food and refreshment. We 
 stored ourselves here with flesh and roots of divers 
 kinds, which our negroes understood better than we, 
 and which served us for bread; and with as much 
 [107] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 water as (by the allowance of a -quart a day to a 
 man for our negroes, and three pints a day a man 
 for ourselves, and three quarts a day each for our 
 buffaloes) would serve us twenty days ; and thus 
 loaded for a long miserable march, we set forwards, 
 being all sound in health and very cheerful, but not 
 alike strong for so great a fatigue ; and, which was 
 our grievance, were without a guide. 
 
 In the veiy first entrance of the waste we were 
 exceedingly discouraged, for we found the sand so 
 deep, and it scalded our feet so much with the heat, 
 that after we had, as I may call it, waded rather 
 than walked through it about seven or eight miles, 
 we were all heartily tired and faint ; even the very 
 negroes laid down and panted like creatures that 
 had been pushed beyond their strength. 
 
 Here we found the difference of lodging greatly 
 inj urious to us ; for, as before, we always made us 
 huts to sleep under, which covered us from the night 
 air, which is particularly unwholesome in those hot 
 countries. But we had here no shelter, no lodging, 
 after so hard a march ; for here were no trees, no, not 
 a shrub near us ; and, which was still more frightful, 
 towards night we began to hear the wolves howl, the 
 lions bellow, and a great many wild asses braying, 
 and other ugly noises which we did not understand. 
 
 Upon this we reflected upon our indiscretion, that 
 we had not, at least, brought poles or stakes in our 
 hands, with which we might have, as it were, palisa- 
 doed ourselves in for the night, and so we might 
 have slept secure, whatever other inconveniences we 
 suffered. However, we found a way at last to re- 
 [108] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 lieve ourselves a little ; for first we set up the lances 
 and bows we had, and endeavoured to bring tlie tops 
 of them as near to one another as we could, and so 
 hung our coats on the top of them, which made us 
 a kind of sorry tent. The leopard's skin, and a few 
 other skins we had put together, made us a tolerable 
 covering, and thus we laid down to sleep, and slept 
 very heartily too, for the first night ; setting, how- 
 ever, a good watch, being two of our own men with 
 their fuzes, whom we relieved in an hour at first, 
 and two hours afterwards. And it was very well we 
 did this, for they found the wilderness swarmed with 
 raging creatures of all kinds, some of which came 
 directly up to the very enclosure of our tent. But 
 our sentinels were ordered not to alarm us with fir- 
 ing in the night, but to flash in the pan at them, 
 which they did, and found it effectual, for the 
 creatures went off always as soon as they saw it, 
 perhaps with some noise or howling, and pursued 
 such other game as they were upon. 
 
 If we were tired with the day's travel, we were all 
 as much tired with the night's lodging. But our 
 black prince told us in the morning he would give us 
 some counsel, and indeed it was very good counsel. 
 He told us we should be all killed if we went on this 
 journey, and tjirough this desert, without some cover- 
 ing for us at night ; so he advised us to march back 
 again to a little river-side where we lay the night 
 before, and stay there till we could make us houses, 
 as he called them, to carry with us to lodge in 
 every night. As he began a little to understand 
 our speech, and we very well to understand his signs, 
 ■[ 109 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we easily knew what he meant, and that we should 
 there make mats (for we remembered that we saw a 
 great deal of matting or bass there, that the natives 
 make mats of) — I say, that we should make large 
 mats there for covering our huts or tents to lodge in 
 at night. 
 
 We all approved this advice, and immediately re- 
 solved to go back that one day's journey, resolving, 
 though we carried less provisions, we would carry 
 mats with us to cover us in the night. Some of the 
 nimblest of us got back to the river with more ease 
 than we had travelled it the day before ; but, as we 
 were not in haste, the rest made a halt, encamped 
 another night, and came to us the next day. 
 
 In our return of this day's journey, our men that 
 made two days of it met with a very surprising 
 thing, that gave them some reason to be careful how 
 they parted company again. The ease was this : — 
 The second day in the morning, before they had 
 gone half a mile, looking behind them they saw a 
 vast cloud of sand or dust rise in the air, as we see 
 sometimes in the roads in summer when it is very 
 dusty and a large drove of cattle are coming, onlv 
 very much greater ; and they could easily perceive 
 that it came after them ; and it came on faster as 
 they went from it. The cloud of sand was so great 
 that they could not see what it was that raised it, 
 and concluded that it was some army of enemies 
 that pursued them ; but then considering that they 
 came from the vast uninhabited wilderness, they knew 
 it was impossible any nation or people that way 
 should have intelligence of them or the way of their 
 [110 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 march ; and therefore, if it was an army, it must be 
 of such as they were, travelHng that way by acci- 
 dent. On the other hand, as they knew that there 
 were no horses in the country, and that they came 
 on so fast, they concluded that it must be some vast 
 collection of wild beasts, perhaps making to the hill 
 country for food or water, and that they should be all 
 devoui'ed or trampled under foot by their multitude. 
 
 Upon this thought, they very prudently observed 
 which way the cloud seemed to point, and they 
 turned a little out of their way to the north, sup- 
 posing it might pass by them. When they were 
 about a quarter of a mile, they halted to see what it 
 might be. One of the negroes, a nimbler fellow 
 than the rest, went back a little, and came in a few 
 minutes running as fast as the heavy sands would 
 allow, and by signs gave them to know that it was 
 a great herd, or drove, or whatever it might be 
 called, of vast monstrous elephants. 
 
 As it was a sight our men had never seen, they 
 were desirous to see it, and yet a little uneasy at the 
 danger too ; for though an elephant is a heavy un- 
 wieldy creature, yet in the deep sand, which is noth- 
 ing at all to them, they marched at a great rate, 
 and would soon have tired our people, if they had 
 had far to go, and had been pursued by them. 
 
 Our gunner was with them, and had a great mind 
 to have gone close up to one of the outermost of 
 them, and to have clapped his piece to his ear, and 
 to have fired into him, because he had been told no 
 shot would penetrate them ; but they all dissuaded 
 him, lest upon the noise they should all turn upon 
 [111] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and pursue us ; so he was reasoned out of it, and let 
 them pass, which, in our people's circumstances, was 
 certainly the right way. 
 
 They were between twenty and thirty in number, 
 but prodigious great ones ; and though they often 
 showed our men that they saw them, yet they did 
 not turn out of their way, or take any other notice 
 of them than, as we might say, just to look at them. 
 We that were before saw the cloud of dust they 
 raised, but we had thought it had been our own 
 caravan, and so took no notice ; but as they bent their 
 course one point of the compass, or thereabouts, to 
 the southward of the east, and we went due east 
 [? west], they passed by us at some little distance ; 
 so that we did not see them, or know anything of 
 them, till evening, when our men came to us and 
 gave us this account of them. However, this was a 
 useful experiment, for our future conduct in passing 
 the desert, as you shall hear in its place. 
 
 We were now upon our work, and our black prince 
 was head surveyor, for he was an excellent mat-maker 
 himself, and all his men understood it, so that they 
 soon made us near a hundred mats ; and as every 
 man, I mean of the negroes, carried one, it was no 
 manner of load, and we did not carry an ounce 
 of provisions the less. The greatest burthen was to 
 carry six long poles, besides some shorter stakes ; but 
 the negroes made an advantage of that, for carrying 
 them between two, they made the luggage of pro- 
 visions which they had to carry so much the lighter, 
 binding it upon two poles, and so made three couple 
 of them. As soon as we saw this, we made a little 
 [ 112 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 advantage of it too ; for having three or four 
 bags, called bottles (I mean skins to carry water), 
 more than the men could carry, we got them filled, 
 and carried them this way, which was a day's water 
 and more, for our journey. 
 
 Having now ended our work, made our mats, and 
 fully recruited our stores of all things necessary, and 
 having made us abundance of small ropes of matting 
 for ordinary use, as we might have occasion, we set 
 forward again, having interrupted our journey eight 
 days in all, upon this affair. To our great comfort, 
 the night before we set out there fell a very violent 
 shower of rain, the effects of which we found in the 
 sand ; though the heat of one day dried the surface 
 as much as before, yet it was harder at bottom, not 
 so heavy, and was cooler to our feet, by which means 
 we marched, as we reckoned, about fourteen miles 
 instead of seven, and with much more ease. 
 
 When we came to encamp, we had all things ready, 
 for we had fitted our tent, and set it up for trial, 
 where we made it ; so that, in less than an hour, we 
 had a large tent raised, with an inner and outer 
 apartment, and two entrances. In one we lay our- 
 selves, in the other our negroes, having light pleasant 
 mats over us, and others at the same time under us. 
 Also we had a little place without all for our buffa- 
 loes, for they deserved our care, being very useful to 
 us, besides can-ying forage and water for themselves. 
 Their forage was a root, which our black prince 
 directed us to find, not much unlike a parsnip, very 
 moist and nourishing, of which there was plenty 
 wherever we came, this horrid desert excepted. 
 8 [ 113 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Wlien we came the next morning to decamp, our 
 negroes took down the tent, and pulled up the stakes ; 
 and all was in motion in as little time as it was set 
 up. In this posture we marched eight days, and yet 
 could see no end, no change of our prospect, but all 
 looking as wild and dismal as at the beginning. If 
 there was any alteration, it was that the sand was 
 nowhere so deep and heavy as it was the first three 
 days. This we thought might be because, for six 
 months of the year the winds blowing west (as for 
 the other six they blow constantly east), the sand 
 was driven violently to the side of the desert where 
 we set out, where the mountains lying very high, the 
 easterly monsoons, when they blew, had not the same 
 power to drive it back again ; and this was confirmed 
 by our finding the like depth of sand on the farthest 
 extent of the desert to the west. 
 
 It was the ninth day of our travel in this wilder- 
 ness, when we came to the view of a great lake of 
 watei' ; and you may be sure this was a particular 
 satisfaction to us, because we had not water left for 
 above two or three days more, at our shortest allow- 
 ance ; I mean allowing water for our return, if we 
 had been driven to the necessity of it. Our water 
 had served us two days longer thaii expected, our 
 buffaloes having found, for two or three days, a kind 
 of herb like a broad flat thistle, though without any 
 prickle, spreading on the ground, and growing in the 
 sand, which they ate freely of, and which supplied 
 them for drink as well as forage. 
 
 The next day, which was the tenth from our set- 
 ting out, we came to the edge of this lake, and, very 
 [ 114 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 nappily for us, we came to it at the south point of 
 it, for to the north we could see no end of it ; so we 
 passed by it and travelled three days by the side 
 of it, which was a great comfort to us, because it 
 lightened our bui-then, there being no need to carry 
 water when we had it in view. And yet, though 
 here was so much water, we found but very little 
 alteration in the desert ; no trees, no grass or her- 
 bage, except that thistle, as I called it, and two or 
 three more plants, which we did not understand, of 
 which the desert began to be pretty full. 
 
 But as we were refreshed with the neighbourhood 
 of this lake of water, so we were now gotten among 
 a prodigious number of ravenous inhabitants, the 
 like whereof, it is most certain, the eye of man never 
 saw ; for as I firmly believe that never man nor body 
 of men passed this desert since the flood, so I believe 
 there is not the like collection of fierce, ravenous, and 
 devouring creatures in the world ; I mean not in any 
 particular place. 
 
 For a day's journey before we came to this lake, 
 and all the three days we were passing by it, and for 
 six or seven days' mai-ch after it, the ground was 
 scattered with elephants' teeth in such a number as 
 is incredible ; and as some of them have lain there 
 for some hundreds of years, so, seeing the substance 
 of them scarce ever decays, they may lie there, for 
 aught I know, to the end of time. The size of some 
 of them is, it seems, to those to whom I have reported 
 it, as incredible as the number ; and I can assure 
 you there were several so heavy as the strongest man 
 among us could not lift. As to number, I question 
 [115] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 not but there are enough to load a thousand sail .of 
 the biggest ships in the world, by which I may be 
 understood to mean that the quantity is not to be 
 conceived of; seeing that as they lasted in view for 
 above eighty miles' travelling, so they might continue 
 as far to the right hand, and to the left as far, and 
 many times as far, for aught we knew ; for it seems 
 the number of elephants hereabouts is prodigiously 
 great. In one place in particular we saw the head 
 of an elephant, with several teeth in it, but one of 
 the biggest that ever I saw ; the flesh was consumed, 
 to be sure, many hundred years before, and all the 
 other bones ; but three of our strongest men could 
 not lift this skull and teeth; the great tooth, I 
 believe, weighed at least three hundredweight ; and 
 this was particularly remarkable to me, that I ob- 
 served the whole skull was as good ivory as the teeth, 
 and, I believe, altogether weighed at least six hun- 
 dredweight ; and though I do not know but, bv the 
 same rule, all the bones of the elephant may be ivory, 
 yet I think there is this just objection against it 
 from the example before me, that then all the other 
 bones of this elephant would have been there as well 
 as the head. 
 
 I proposed to our gunner, that, seeing we had 
 travelled now fourteen days without intermission, 
 and that we had water here for our refreshment, and 
 no want of food yet, nor any fear of it, we should 
 rest our people a little, and see, at the same time, if 
 perhaps we might kill some creatures that were 
 proper for food. The gunner, who had more forecast 
 of that kind than I had, agreed to the proposal, and 
 
 rii6] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 added, why might we not try to catch some fish out 
 of the lake ? The first thing we had before us was 
 to try if we could make any hooks, and this indeed 
 put our artificer to his trumps; however, with some 
 labour and difficulty, he did it, and we catched fresh 
 fish of several kinds. How they came there, none 
 but He that made the lake and all the world knows ; 
 for, to be sure, no human hands ever put any in 
 there, or pulled any out before. 
 
 We not only catched enough for our present 
 refreshment, but we dried several large fishes, of 
 kinds which I cannot describe, in the sun, by which 
 we liengthened out our provision considerably ; for 
 the heat of the sun dried them so effectually without 
 salt that they were perfectly cured, dry, and hard, 
 in one day''s time. 
 
 We rested ourselves here five days ; during which 
 time we had abundance of pleasant adventures with 
 the wild creatures, too many to relate. One of them 
 was very particular, which was a chase between a she- 
 lion, or lioness, and a large deer ; and though the 
 deer is naturally a very nimble creature, and she 
 flew by us like the wind, having, perhaps, about 300 
 yards the start of the lion, yet we found the lion, by 
 her strength, and the goodness of her lungs, got 
 ground of her. They passed by us within about a 
 quarter of a mile, and we had a view of them a 
 great way, when, having given them over, we were 
 surprised, about an hour after, to see them come 
 thundering back again on the other side of us, and 
 then the lion was within thirty or forty yards of 
 her; and both straining to the extremity of their 
 [117] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 speed, when the deer, coming to the lake, plunged 
 into the water, and swam for her life, as she had 
 before run for it. 
 
 The lioness plunged in after her, and swam a little 
 way, but came back again ; and when she was got 
 upon the land she set up the mosthideous roar that 
 ever I heard in my life, as if done in the rage of having 
 lost her prey. 
 
 We walked out morning and evening constantly ; 
 the middle of the day we refreshed oui-selves under 
 our tent. But one morning early we saw another 
 chase, which more nearly concerned us than the other ; 
 for our black prince, walking by the side of the lake, 
 was set upon by a vast, great crocodile, which came 
 out of the lake upon him ; and though he was very 
 light of foot, yet it was as much as he could do to 
 get away. He fled amain to us, and the truth is, we 
 did not know what to do, for we were told no bullet 
 would enter her ; and we found it so at first, for 
 though three of our men fired at her, yet she did not 
 mind them ; but my friend the gunner, a venturous 
 fellow, of a bold heart, and great presence of mind, 
 went up so near as to thrust the muzzle of his piece 
 into her mouth, and fired, but let his piece fall, and 
 ran for it the very moment he had fired it. The 
 creature raged a great while, and spent its fury upon 
 the gun, making marks upon the very iron with its 
 teeth, but after some time fainted and died. 
 
 Our negroes spread the banks of the lake all this 
 
 while for game, and at length killed us three deer, 
 
 one of them very large, the other two very small. 
 
 There was water-fowl also in the lake, but we never 
 
 [118] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 came near enough to them to shoot any ; and as for 
 the desert, we saw no fowls anywhere in it but at 
 the lake. 
 
 We likewise killed two or three civet eats ; but 
 their flesh is the worst of carrion. We saw abun- 
 dance of elephants at a distance, and observed they 
 always go in very good company, that is to say, 
 abundance of them together, and always extended 
 in a fair line of battle ; and this, they say, is the way 
 they defend themselves from their enemies ; for if 
 lions or tigers, wolves or any creatures, attack them, 
 they being drawn in a line, sometimes reaching five 
 or six miles in length, whatever comes in their way 
 is sure to be trod under foot, or beaten in pieces with 
 their trunks, or lifted up in the air with their trunks ; 
 so that if a hundred-lions or tigers were coming along, 
 if they meet a line of elephants, they will always fly 
 back till they see room to pass by the right hand or 
 the left ; and if they did not, it would be impossible 
 for one of them to escape ; for the elephant, though 
 a heavy creature, is yet so dexterous and nimble with 
 his trunk, that he will not fail to lift up the heaviest 
 lion, or any other wild creature, and throw him up 
 in the air quite over his back, and then trample him 
 to death with his feet. We saw several lines of battle 
 thus ; we saw one so long that indeed there was no 
 end of it to be seen, and I believe there might be 
 2000 elephants in row or line. They are not beasts 
 of prey, but live upon the herbage of the field, as an 
 ox does ; and it is said, that though they are so great 
 a creature, yet that a smaller quantity of forage sup- 
 plies one of them than will suffice a horse. 
 [119] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 The numbers of this kind of creature that are in 
 those parts are inconceivable, as may be gathered 
 from the prodigious quantity of teeth which, as I 
 said, we saw in this vast desert ; and indeed we saw 
 a hundred of them to one of any other kind. 
 
 One evening we were very much surprised. We 
 were most of us laid down on our mats to sleep, when 
 our watch came running in among us, being frighted 
 with the sudden roaring of some lions just by them, 
 which, it seems, they had not seen, the night being 
 dark, till they were just upon them. There was, as 
 it proved, an old lion and his whole family, for there 
 was the lioness and three young lions, besides the 
 old king, who was a monstrous great one. One of 
 the young ones — who were good, large, well-grown 
 ones too — leaped up upon one of our negroes, who 
 stood sentinel, before he saw him, at which he was 
 heartily frighted, cried out, and ran into the tent. 
 Our other man, who had a gun, had not presence of 
 mind at first to shoot him, but struck him with the 
 butt-end of his piece, which made him whine a little, 
 and then growl at him fearfully ; but> the fellow re- 
 tired, and, we being all alarmed, three of our men 
 snatched up their guns, ran to the tent door, where 
 they saw the great old lion by the fire of his eyes, 
 and first fired at him, but, we supposed, missed him, 
 or at least did not kill him ; for they went all off, 
 but raised a most hideous roar, which, as if they had 
 called for help, brought down a prodigious number 
 of lions, and other furious creatures, we know not 
 what, about them, for we could not see them ; but 
 there was a noise, and yelling and howling, and all 
 [120] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 sorts of such wilderness music on every side of us, as 
 if all the beasts of the desert were assembled to de- 
 vour us. 
 
 We asked our black prince what we should do 
 with them. " Me go," says he, " and fright them 
 all." So he snatches up two or three of the worst of 
 our mats, and getting one of our men to strike some 
 fire, he hangs the mat up at the end of a pole, and 
 set it on fire, and it blazed abroad a good while ; 
 at which the creatures all moved off, for we heard 
 them roar, and make their bellowing noise at a great 
 distance. "Well," says our gunner, " if that will 
 do, we need not burn our mats, which are our beds 
 to lay under us, and our tilting to cover us. Let me 
 alone," says he. So he comes back into our tent, 
 and falls to making some artificial fireworks and the 
 like ; and he gave our sentinels some to be ready at 
 hand upon occasion, and particularly he placed a 
 great piece of wild-fire upon the same pole that the 
 mat had been tied to, and set it on fire, and that 
 burnt there so long that all the wild creatures left us 
 for that time. 
 
 However, we began to be weary of such company ; 
 and, to be I'id of them, we set forward again two 
 days sooner than we intended. We found now, that 
 though the desert did not end, nor could we see any 
 appearance of it, yet that the earth was pretty full 
 of green stuiF of one sort or another, so that our 
 cattle had no want ; and secondly, that there were 
 several little rivers which ran into the lake, and so 
 long as the country continued low, we found water 
 suflUcient, which eased us very much in our carriage, 
 [1211 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and we went on still sixteen days more without yet 
 coming to any appearance of better soil. After this 
 we found the country rise a little, and by that we 
 perceived that the water would fail us ; so, for 
 fear of the worst, we filled our bladder bottles 
 with water. We found the country rising grad- 
 ually thus for three days continually, when, on the 
 sudden, we perceived that, though we had mounted 
 up insensibly, yet that we were on the top of a very 
 high ridge of hills, though not such as at first. 
 
 When we came to look down on the other side of 
 the hills, we saw, to the great joy of all our hearts, 
 that the desert was at an end ; that the country was 
 clothed with green, abundance of trees, and a large 
 river ; and we made no doubt but that we should 
 find people and cattle also ; and here, by our gunner''s 
 account, who kept our computations, we had marched 
 about 400 miles over this dismal place of horror, 
 having been four-and-thirty days a-doing of it, and 
 consequently were come about 1100 miles of our 
 journey. 
 
 We would willingly have descended the hills that 
 night, but it was too late. The next morning we 
 saw everything more plain, and rested ourselves under 
 the shade of some trees, which were now the most 
 refreshing things imaginable to us, who had been 
 scorched above a month without a tree to cover us. 
 We found the country here very pleasant, especially 
 considering that we came from ; and we killed some 
 deer here also, which we found very frequent under 
 the cover of the woods. Also we killed a creature 
 like a goat, whose flesh was very good to eat, but it 
 [ 122] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 was no goat ; we found also a gi-eat number of fowls 
 like partridge, but something smaller, and were very 
 tame ; so that we lived here very well, but found no 
 people, at least none that would be seen, no, not for 
 several days' journey ; and to allay our joy, we were 
 almost every night disturbed with lions and tigers ; 
 elephants, indeed, we saw none here. 
 
 In three days' march we came to a river, which we 
 saw from the hills, and which we called the Golden 
 River; and we found it ran northward, which was 
 the first stream we had met with that did so. It 
 ran with a very rapid current, and our gunner, pull- 
 ing out his map, assured me that this was either the 
 river Nile, or run into the great lake out of which 
 the river Nile was said to take its beginning ; and 
 he brought out his charts and maps, which, by his 
 instruction, I began to understand very well, and 
 told me he would convince me of it, and indeed he 
 seemed to make it so plain to me that I was of the 
 same opinion. 
 
 But I did not enter into the gunner's reason for 
 this inquiry, not in the least, till he went on with it 
 farther, and stated it thus : — "If this is the river 
 Nile, why should not we build some more canoes, 
 and go down this stream, rather than expose our- 
 selves to any more deserts and scorching sands in 
 quest of the sea, which when we are come to, we 
 shall be as much at a loss how to get home as we 
 were at Madagascar?" 
 
 The argument was good, had there been no objec- 
 tions in the way of a kind which none of us were 
 capable of answering ; but, upon the whole, it was 
 [183] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOxNT 
 
 an undertaking of such a nature that every one of us 
 thought it impracticable, and that upon several 
 accounts ; and our surgeon, who was himself a good 
 scholar and a man of reading, though not acquainted 
 with the business of sailing, opposed it, and some of 
 his reasons, I remember, were such as these : — 
 First, the length of the way, which both he and the 
 gunner allowed, by the course of the water, and 
 turnings of the river, would be at least 4000 miles. 
 Secondly, the innumerable crocodiles in the river, 
 which we should never be able to escape. Thirdly, 
 the dreadful deserts in the way ; and lastly, the 
 approaching rainy season, in which the' streams of 
 the Nile would be so furious, and rise so high — 
 spreading far and wide over all the plain country — 
 that we. should never be able to know when we were 
 in the channel of the river and when not, and should 
 certainly be cast away, overset, or run aground so 
 often that it would be impossible to proceed by a 
 river so excessively dangerous. 
 
 This last reason he made so plain to us that we 
 began to be sensible of it ourselves, so that we agreed 
 to lay that thought aside, and proceed in our first 
 course, westwards towards the sea ; but, as if we had 
 been loth to depart, we continued, by way of re- 
 freshing ourselves, to loiter two days upon this river, 
 in which time our black prince, who delighted much 
 in wandering up and down, came one evening and 
 brought us several little bits of something, he knew 
 not what, but he found it felt heavy and looked well, 
 and showed it to me as what he thought was some 
 rarity. I took not much notice of it to him, but 
 .1 f 124 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 stepping out and calling the gunner to me I showed 
 it to him, and told him what I thought, viz., that it 
 was certainly gold. He agreed with me in that, and 
 also in what followed, that we would take the black 
 prince out with us the next day, and make him show 
 us where he found it ; that if there was any quantity 
 to be found we would tell our company of it, but if 
 there was but little we would keep counsel, and have 
 it to ourselves. 
 
 But we forgot to engage the prince in the sfecret, 
 who innocently told so much to all the rest, as that 
 they guessed what it was, and came to us to see. 
 When we found it was public, we were more con- 
 cerned to prevent their suspecting that we had any 
 design to conceal it, and openly telling our thoughts 
 of it, we called our artificer, who agreed presently 
 that it was gold ; so I proposed that we should 
 all go with the prince to the place where he found 
 it, and if any quantity was to be had, we would 
 lie here some time and see what we could make 
 of it. 
 
 Accordingly we went every man of us, for no man 
 was willing to be left behind in a discovery of such a 
 nature. When we came to the place we found it 
 was on the west side of the river, not in the main 
 river, but in another small river or stream which 
 came from the west, and ran into the other at that 
 place. We fell to raking in the sand, and washing 
 it in our hands ; and we seldom took up a handful of 
 sand but we washed some little round lumps as big 
 as a pin's head, or sometimes as big as a grape stone, 
 into our hands ; and we found, in two or three hours' 
 fl25] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 time, that every one had got some, so we agreed to 
 leave off, and go to dinner. 
 
 While we were eating, it came into my thoughts 
 that while we worked at this rate in a thing of such 
 nicety and consequence, it was ten to one if the gold, 
 which was the make-bait of the world, did not, first 
 or last, set us together by the ears, to break our good 
 articles and our understanding one among another, 
 and perhaps cause us to part companies, or worse ; 
 I therefore told them that I was indeed the youngest 
 man in the company, but as they had always allowed 
 me to give my opinion in things, and had sometimes 
 been pleased to follow my advice, so I had something 
 to propose now, which I thought would be for all 
 our advantages, and I believed they would all like it 
 very well. I told them we were in a country where 
 we all knew there was a great deal of gold, and that 
 all the world sent ships thither to get it ; that we 
 did not indeed know where it was, and so we might 
 get a great deal, or a little, we did not know whether ; 
 but I offered it to them to consider whether it would 
 not be the best way for us, and to preserve the good 
 harmony and friendship that had been always kept 
 among us, and which was so absolutely necessary to 
 our safety, that what we found should be brought to- 
 gether to one common stock, and be equally divided 
 at last, rather than to run the hazard of any differ- 
 ence which might happen among us from any one's 
 having found more or less than another. I told 
 them,, that if we were all upon one bottom we should 
 all apply ourselves heartily to the work ; and, besides 
 that, we might then set our negroes all to work for 
 [126] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 us, and receive equally the fruit of their labour and 
 of our own, and being all exactly alike sharers, there 
 could be no just cause of quarrel or disgust among 
 us. 
 
 They all approved the proposal, and every one 
 jointly swore, and gave their hands to one another, 
 that they would not conceal the least grain of gold 
 from the rest ; and consented that if any one or more 
 should be found to conceal any, all that he had should 
 be taken from him and divided among the rest ; and 
 one thing more was added to it by our gunner, from 
 considerations equally good and just, that if any one 
 of us, by any play, bet, game, or wager, won any 
 money or gold, or the value of any, from another, 
 during our whole voyage, till our return quite to 
 Portugal^ he should be obliged by us all to restore it 
 again on the penalty of being disarmed and turned 
 out of the company, and of having no relief from us 
 on any account whatever. This was to prevent 
 wagering and playing for money, which our rgen 
 were apt to do by several means and at several 
 games, though they had neither cards nor dice. 
 
 Having made this wholesome agreement, we went 
 cheerfully to work, and showed our negroes how to 
 work for us ; and working up the stream on both 
 sides, and in the bottom of the river, we spent about 
 three weeks' time dabbling in the water ; by which 
 time, as it lay all in our way, we had gone about six 
 miles, and not more ; and still the higher we went, 
 the more gold we found ; till at last, having passed 
 by the side of a hill, we perceived on a sudden that 
 the gold stopped, and that there was. not a bit taken 
 [127] 
 
QAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 up beyond that place. It presently occurred to my 
 mind, that it must then be from the side of that 
 little hill that all the gold we found was worked 
 down. 
 
 Upon this, we went back to the hill, and fell to 
 work with that. We found the earth loose, and of 
 a yellowish loamy colour, and in some places a white 
 hard kind of stone, which, in describing since to 
 some of our artists, they tell me was the spar which 
 is found by ore, and surrounds it in the mine. 
 However, if it had been all gold, we had no instru- 
 ment to force it out ; so we passed that. But 
 scratching into the loose earth with our fingers, we 
 came to a surprising place, where the earth, for the 
 quantity of two bushels, I believe, or thereabouts, 
 crumbled down with little more than touching it, 
 and apparently showed us that there was a great 
 deal of gold in it. We took it all carefully up, and 
 washing it in the water, the loamy earth washed 
 away, and left the gold dust free in our hands ; and 
 that which was more remarkable was, that, when 
 this loose earth was all taken away, and we came to 
 the rock or hard stone, there was not one grain of 
 gold more to be found. 
 
 At night we all came together to see what we had 
 got; and it appeared we had found, in that day's 
 heap of earth, about fifty pounds' weight of gold 
 dust, and about thirty-four pounds' weight more in 
 all the rest of our woi'ks in the river. 
 
 It was a happy kind of disappointment to us, that 
 we found a full stop put to our work ; for, had the 
 quantity of gold been ever so small, yet, had any at 
 [ 128 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 all come, I do not know when we should have given 
 over; for, having rummaged this place, and not 
 finding the least grain of gold in any other place, or 
 in any of the earth there, except in that loose parcel, 
 we went quite back down the small river again, 
 working it over and over again, as long as we could 
 find anything, how small soever ; and we did get six 
 or seven pounds more the second time. Then we 
 went into the first river, and tried it up the stream 
 and down the stream, on the one side and on the 
 other. Up the stream we found nothing, no, not a 
 grain ; down the stream we found very little, not 
 above the quantity of half an ounce in two miles' 
 working ; so back we came again to the Golden 
 River, as we justly called it, and worked it up the 
 stream and down the strearfi twice more apiece, and 
 every time we found some gold, and perhaps might 
 have done so if we had stayed there till this time ; 
 but the quantity was at last so small, and the work 
 so much the harder, that we agreed by consent to 
 give it over, lest we should fatigue ourselves and our 
 negroes so as to be quite unfit for our journey. 
 
 When we had brought all our purchase together, 
 we had in the whole three pounds and a half of gold 
 to a man, share and share alike, according to such 
 a weight and scale as our ingenious cutler made for 
 us to weigh it by, which indeed he did by guess, but 
 which, as he said, he was sure was rather more than 
 less, and so it proved at last ; for it was near two . 
 ounces more than weight in a pound. Besides this, 
 there was seven or eight pounds' weight left, which 
 we agreed to leave in his hands, to work it^into such 
 9 [ 129 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 shapes as we thought fit, to give away to such people 
 as we might yet meet with, from whom we might 
 hOjVe occasion to buy provisions, or even to buy 
 friendship, or the like ; and particularly we gave 
 about a pound to our black prince, which he ham- 
 mered and worked by his own indefatigable hand, 
 and some tools our artificer lent him, into little 
 round bits, as round almost as beads, though not 
 exact in shape, and drilling holes through them, put 
 them all upon a string, and wore them about his 
 black neck, and they looked very well there, I assure 
 you ; but he was many months a-doing it. And thus 
 ended our first golden adventure. 
 
 We now began to discover what we had not 
 troubled our heads much about before, and that was, 
 that, let the country be good or bad that we were 
 in, we could not travel much further for a con- 
 siderable time. We had been now five months and 
 upwards in our journey, and the seasons began to 
 change ; and nature told us, that, being in a climate 
 that had a winter as well as a summer, though of a 
 different kind from what our country produced, we 
 were to expect a wet season, and such as we should 
 not be able to travel in, as well by reason of the rain 
 itself, as of the floods which it would occasion 
 wherever we should come ; and though we had been 
 no strangers to those wet seasons in the island of 
 Madagascar, yet we had not thought much of them 
 since we began our travels ; for, setting out when the 
 sun was about the solstice, that is, when it was at 
 the greatest northern distance from us, we had found 
 the benefit of it in our travels. But now it drew 
 [130] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 near us apace, and we found it began to rain ; upon 
 which we called another general council, in which 
 we debated our present circumstances, and, in partic- 
 ular, whether we should go forward, or seek for a 
 proper place upon the bank of our Golden River, 
 which had been so lucky to us, to fix our camp for 
 the winter. 
 
 Upon the whole, it was resolved to abide where we 
 were ; and it was not the least part of our happiness 
 that we did so, as shall appear in its place. 
 
 Having resolved upon this, our first measures were 
 to set our negroes to work, to make huts or houses 
 for our habitation, and this they did very dexter- 
 ously ; only that we changed the ground where we 
 at first intended it, thinking, as indeed it happened, 
 that the river might reach it upon any sudden rain. 
 Our camp was like a little town, in which our huts 
 were in the centre, having one large one in the centre 
 of them also, into which all our particular lodgings 
 opened ; so that none of us went into our apartments 
 but through a public tent, where we all ate and 
 drank together, and kept our councils and society ; 
 and our carpenters made us tables, benches, and 
 stools in abundance, as many as we could make 
 use of. 
 
 We had no need of chimneys, it was hot enough 
 without fire ; but yet we found ourselves at last 
 obliged to keep a fire every night upon a particular 
 occasion. For though we had in all other respects 
 a very pleasant and agreeable situation, yet we were 
 rather worse troubled with the unwelcome visits of 
 wild beasts here than in the wilderness itself; for as 
 [131] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the deer and other gentle creatures came hither for 
 shelter and food, so the lions and tigers and leopards 
 haunted these places continually for prey. 
 
 When first we discovered this we were so uneasy 
 at it that we thought of removing our situation ; but 
 after many debates about it we resolved to fortify our- 
 selves in such a manner as not to be in any danger 
 from it ; and this our carpenters undertook, who first 
 palisaded our camp quite round with long stakes, for 
 we had wood enough, which stakes were not stuck in 
 one by another like pales, but in an irregular manner ; 
 a great multitude of them so placed that they took 
 up near two yards in thickness, some higher, some 
 lower, all sharpened at the top, and about a foot 
 asunder : so that had any creature jumped at them, 
 unless he had gone clean over, which it was very hard 
 to do, he would be hung upon twenty or thirty spikes. 
 
 The entrance into this had larger stakes than the 
 rest, so placed before one another as to make three 
 or four short turnings which no four-footed beast 
 bigger than a dog could possibly come in at ; and 
 that we might not be attacked by any multitude to- 
 gether, and consequently be alarmed in our sleep, as 
 we had been, or be obliged to waste our ammunition, 
 which we were very chary of, we kept a great fire every 
 night without the entrance of our palisade, having a 
 hut for our two sentinels to stand in free from the 
 rain, just within the entrance, and right against 
 the fire. 
 
 To maintain this fire we cut a prodigious deal of 
 wood, and piled it up in a heap to dry, and with the 
 green boughs made a second covering over our huts, 
 [132] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 so high and thick that it might cast the rain from the 
 first, and keep us effectually dry. 
 
 We had scarcely finished all these works but the 
 rain came on so fierce and so continued that we had 
 little time to stir abroad for food, except indeed that 
 our negroes, who wore no clothes, seemed to make 
 nothing of the rain ; though to us Europeans, in 
 those hot climates, nothing is more dangerous. 
 
 We continued in this posture for four months, that 
 is to say, from the middle of June to the middle of 
 October ; for though the rains went off, at least the 
 greatest violence of them, about the equinox, yet, as 
 the sun was then just over our heads, we resolved to 
 stay awhile till it passed a little to the southward. 
 
 During our encampment here we had several ad- 
 ventures with the ravenous creatures of that country; 
 and had not our fire been always kept burning, I 
 question much whether all our fence, though we 
 strengthened it afterwards with twelve or fourteen 
 rows of stakes or more, would have kept us secure. 
 It was always in the night that we had the disturb- 
 ance of them, and sometimes they came in such 
 multitudes that we thouglit all the lions and tigers, 
 and leopards and wolves of Africa were come together 
 to attack us. One night, being clear moonshine, one 
 of our men being upon the watch, told us that he 
 verily believed he saw ten thousand wild creatures 
 of one sort or another pass by our little camp, and 
 ever as they saw the fire they sheered off, but wei-e 
 sure to howl or roar, or whatever it was, when they 
 were past. 
 
 The music of their voices was very far from being 
 [ 133] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 pleasant to us, and sometimes would be so very dis- 
 turbing that we could not sleep for it ; and often our 
 sentinels would call us that were awake to come and 
 look at thera. It was one windy, tempestuous night, 
 after a rainy day, that we were indeed called up ; for 
 such innumerable numbers of devilish creatures came 
 about us that our watch really thought they would 
 attack us. They would not come on the side where 
 the fire was ; and though we thought ourselves secure 
 everywhere else, yet we all got up and took to our 
 arms. The moon was near the full, but the air full 
 of flying clouds, and a strange hurricane of wind to 
 add to the terror of the night ; when, looking on the 
 back part of our camp, I thought I saw a creature 
 within our fortification, and so indeed he was, except 
 his haunches, for he had taken a running leap, I sup- 
 pose, and with all his might had thrown himself clear 
 over our palisades, except one strong pile, which stood 
 higher than the rest, and which had caught hold of 
 him, and by his weight he had hanged himself upon 
 it, the spike of the pile running into his hinder 
 haunch or thigh, on the inside ; and by that he 
 hung, growling and biting the wood for rage. I 
 snatched up a lance from one of the negroes that 
 stood just by me, and running to him, struck it three 
 or four times into him, and despatched him, being 
 unwilling to shoot, because I had a mind to have a 
 volley fired among the rest, whom I could see stand- 
 ing without, as thick as a drove of bullocks going 
 to a fair. I immediately called our people out, and 
 showed them the object of terror which I had seen, 
 and, without any further consultation, fired a full 
 [134] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 volley among them, most of our pieces being loaded 
 with two or three slugs or bullets apiece. It made a 
 horrible clutter among them, and in general they all 
 took to their heels, only that we could observe that 
 some walked off with more gravity and majesty than 
 others, being not so much frighted at the noise and 
 fire ; and we could perceive that some were left upon 
 the ground struggling as for life, but we durst not 
 stir out to see what they were. 
 
 Indeed they stood so thick, and were so near us, 
 that we could not well miss killing or wounding 
 some of them, and we believed they had certainly 
 the smell of us, and our victuals we had been killing ; 
 for we had killed a deer, and three or four of those 
 creatures like goats the day before ; and some of the 
 oiFal had been thrown out behind our camp, and this, 
 we suppose, drew them so much about us ; but we 
 avoided it for the future. 
 
 Though the creatures fled, yet we heard a fright- 
 ful roaring all night at the place where they stood, 
 which we supposed was from some that were wounded, 
 and as soon as day came we went out to see what 
 execution we had done. And indeed it was a strange 
 sight ; there were three tigers and two wolves quite 
 killed, besides the creature I had killed within our 
 palisade, which seemed to be of an ill-gendered kind, 
 between a tiger and a leopard. Besides this there 
 was a noble old lion alive, but with both his fore-legs 
 broke, so that he could not stir away, and he had 
 almost beat himself to death with struggling all 
 night, and we found that this was the wounded 
 soldier that had roared so loud and given us so much 
 [135] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 disturbance. Our surgeon, looking at him, smiled- 
 " Now," says he, " if I could be sure this lion would 
 be as grateful to me as one of his majesty's ancestors 
 was to Androcles, the Roman slave, I would certainly 
 set both his legs again and cure him." I had not 
 heard the story of Androcles, so he told it me at 
 large ; but as to the surgeon, we told him he had no 
 way to know whether the lion would do so or not, 
 but to cure him first and trust to his honour ; but 
 he had no faith, so to despatch him and put him out 
 of his torment, he shot him in the head and killed 
 him, for which we called him the king-killer ever 
 after. 
 
 Our negroes found no less than five of these 
 ravenous creatures wounded and dropped at a dis- 
 tance from our quarters ; whereof, one was a wolf, 
 one a fine spotted young leopard, and the other were 
 creatures that we knew ilot what to call them. 
 
 We had several more of these gentlefolks about 
 after that, but no such general rendezvous of them 
 as that was any more ; but this ill-effect it had to us, 
 that it frighted the deer and other creatures from 
 our neighbourhood, of whose company we were much 
 more desirous, and which were necessary for our sub- 
 sistence. However, our negroes went out every day 
 a-hunting, as they called it, with bow and arrow, 
 and they scarce ever failed of bringing us home 
 something or other; and particularly we found in 
 this part of the country, after the rains had fallen 
 some time, abundance of wild fowl, such as we have 
 in England, duck, teal, widgeon, &c. ; some geese, 
 and some kinds that we had never seen before ; and 
 [136 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we frequently killed them. Also we catched a great 
 deal of fresh fish out of the river, so that we wanted 
 no provision. If we wanted anything, it was salt to 
 eat with our fresh meat ; but we had a little left, and 
 we used it sparingly ; for as to our negroes, they 
 could not taste it, nor did they care to eat any meat 
 that was seasoned with it. 
 
 The weather began now to clear up, the rains were 
 down, and the floods abated, and the sun, which had 
 passed our zenith, was gone to the southward a good 
 way ; so we prepared to go on our way. 
 
 It was the 12th of October, or thereabouts, that 
 we began to set forward ; and having an easy country 
 to travel in, as well as to supply us with provisions, 
 though still without inhabitants, we made more 
 despatch, travelling sometimes, as we calculated it, 
 twenty or twenty-five miles a day ; nor did we halt 
 anywhere in eleven days'' march, one day excepted, 
 which was to make a raft to carry us over a small 
 river, which, having swelled with the rains, was not 
 yet quite down. 
 
 When we were past this river, which, by the way, 
 ran to the northward too, we found a great row of 
 hills in our way. We saw, indeed, the country open 
 to the right at a great distance ; but, as we kept 
 true to our course, due west, we were not willing to 
 go a great way out of our way, only to shun a few 
 hills. So we advanced ; but we were surprised when, 
 being not quite come to the top, one of our com- 
 pany, who, with two negroes, was got up before us, 
 cried out, " The sea ! the sea ! " and fell a-dancing 
 and jumping, as signs of joy. 
 [ 137 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 The gunner and I were most surprised at it, be- 
 cause we had but that morning been calculating 
 that we must have yet above 1000 miles on the sea 
 side, and that we could not expect to reach it till 
 another rainy season would be upon us ; so that 
 when our man cried out, " The sea," the gunner was 
 angry, and said he was mad. 
 
 But we were both in the greatest surprise im- 
 aginable, when, coming to the top of the hill, and 
 though it was very high, we saw nothing but water, 
 either before us or to the right hand or the left, being 
 a vast sea, without any bounds but the horizon. 
 
 We went down the hill full of confusion of thought, 
 not being able to conceive whereabouts we were or 
 what it must be, seeing by all our charts the sea was 
 yet a vast way oiF. 
 
 It was not above thi-ee miles from the hills before 
 we came to the shore, or water-edge of this sea, and 
 there, to our further surprise, we found the water 
 fresh and pleasant to drink ; so that, in short, we knew 
 not what course to take. The sea, as we thought it 
 to be, put a full stop to our journey (I mean west- 
 ward), for it lay just in the way. Our next question 
 was, which hand to turn to, to the right hand or the 
 left, but this was soon resolved ; for, as we knew not 
 the extent of it, we considered that our way, if it 
 had been the sea really, must be on the north, and 
 therefore, if we went to the south now, it must 
 be just so much out of our way at last. So, having 
 spent a good part of the day in our surprise at the 
 thing, and consulting what to do, we set forward to 
 the north. 
 
 [ 138] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We travelled upon the shore of this sea full twenty- 
 three days before we could come to any resolution 
 about what it was ; at the end of which, early one 
 morning, one of our seamen cried out, " Land ! " and 
 it was no false alarm, for we saw plainly the tops of 
 some hills at a very great distance, on the further 
 side of the water, due west ; but though this satisfied 
 us that it was not the ocean, but an inland sea or 
 lake, yet we saw no land to the northward, that is 
 to say, no end of it, but were obliged to travel eight 
 days more, and near 100 miles farther, before we 
 came to the end of it, and then we found this lake 
 or sea ended in a very great river which ran N. 
 or N. by E., as the other river had done which I 
 mentioned before. 
 
 My friend the gunner, upon examining, said that 
 he believed that he was mistaken before, and that this 
 was the river Nile, but was still of the mind that we 
 were of before, that we should not think of a voyage 
 into Egypt that way ; so we resolved upon crossing 
 this river, which, however, was not so easy as before, 
 the river being very rapid and the channel very 
 broad. 
 
 It cost us, therefore, a week here to get materials 
 to waft ourselves and cattle over this river ; for 
 though here were stores of trees, yet there was none 
 of any considerable growth sufficient to make a canoe. 
 
 During our march on the edge of this bank we 
 met with great fatigue, and therefore travelled a 
 fewer miles in a day than before, there being such 
 a prodigious number of little rivers that came down 
 from the hills on the east side, emptying themselves 
 [139] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 into this gulf, all which waters were pretty high, the 
 rains having been but newly over. 
 
 In the last three days of our travel we met with 
 some inhabitants, but we found they lived upon the 
 little hills and not by the water-side ; nor were we a 
 little put to it for food in this march, having killed 
 nothing for four or five days but some fish we caught 
 out of the lake, and that not in such plenty as we 
 found before. 
 
 But, to make us some amends, we had no disturbance 
 upon all the shores of this lake from any wild beasts ; 
 the only inconveniency of that kind was, that we 
 met an ugly, venomous, deformed kind of a snake or 
 serpent in the wet grounds near the lake, that several 
 times pursued us as if it would attack us ; and if we 
 struck or threw anything at it, it would raise itself 
 up and hiss so loud that it might be heard a great 
 way. It had a hellish ugly deformed look and voice, 
 and our men would not be persuaded but it was the 
 devil, only that we did not know what business Satan 
 could have there, where there were no people. 
 
 It was very remarkable that we had now travelled 
 1000 miles without meeting with any people in the 
 heart of the whole continent of Africa, where, to be 
 sure, never man set his foot since the sons of Noah 
 spread themselves over the face of the whole earth. 
 Here also our gunner took an observation with his 
 forestaff, to determine our latitude, and he found 
 now, that having mai'ched about thirty-three days 
 northward, we were in 6 degrees 22 minutes south 
 latitude. 
 
 After having with great difficulty got over this 
 [ 14(0 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 river, we came into a sti'ange wild country that began 
 a little to affright us ; for though the country was not a 
 desert of dry scalding sand as that was we had passed 
 before, yet it was mountainous, barren, and infi- 
 nitely full of most furious wild beasts, more than 
 any place we had passed yet. There was indeed a 
 kind of coarse herbage on the surface, and now and 
 then a few trees, or rather shrubs. But people we 
 could see none, and we began to be in great suspense 
 about victuals, for we had not killed a deer a great 
 while, but had lived chiefly upon fish and fowl, always 
 by the water-side, both which seemed to fail us now ; 
 and we were in the more consternation, because we 
 could not lay in a stock here to proceed upon, as we 
 did before, but were obliged to set out with scarcity, 
 and without any certainty of a supply. 
 
 We had, however, no remedy but patience ; and 
 having killed some fowls and dried some fish, as much 
 as, with short allowance, we reckoned would last us 
 five days, we resolved to venture, and venture we did ; 
 nor was it without cause that we were apprehensive 
 of the danger, for we travelled the five days and met 
 neither with fish nor fowl, nor four-footed beast, 
 whose flesh was fit to eat, and we were in a most 
 dreadful apprehension of being famished to death. 
 On the sixth day we almost fasted, or, as we may 
 say, we ate up all the scraps of what we had left, 
 and at night lay down supperless upon our mats, 
 with heavy hearts, being obliged the eighth day to 
 kill one of our poor faithful servants, the buffaloes 
 that carried our baggage. The flesh of this creature 
 was very good, and so sparingly did we eat of it that 
 [141]" 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it lasted us all three days and a half, and was just 
 spent -, and we were on the point of killing another 
 when we saw before us a country that promised 
 better, having high trees and a large river in the 
 middle of it. 
 
 This encouraged us, and we quickened our march 
 for the river-side, though with empty stomachs, and 
 very faint and weak; but before we came to this 
 river we had the good hap to meet with some young 
 deer, a thing we had long wished for. In a word, 
 having shot three of them, we came to a full stop to 
 fill our bellies, and never gave the flesh time to cool 
 before we ate it ; nay, it was much we could stay to 
 kiU it and had not eaten it alive, for we were, in 
 short, almost famished. 
 
 Through all that inhospitable country we saw 
 continually lions, tigers, leopards, civet cats, and 
 abundance of kinds of creatures that we did not 
 understand ; we saw no elephants, but every now and 
 then we met with an elephant's tooth lying on the 
 ground, and some of them lying, as it were, half 
 buried by the length of time that they had lain there. 
 
 When we came to the shore of this river, we found 
 it ran northerly still, as all the rest had done, but 
 with this difference, that as the course of the other 
 rivers were N. by E. or N.N.E., the course of this 
 lay N.W.N. 
 
 On the farther bank of this river we saw some sign 
 of inhabitants, but met with none for the first day ; 
 but the next day we came intd an inhabited country, 
 the people all negroes, and stark naked, without 
 shame, both men and women. 
 [142] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We made signs of friendship to them, and found 
 them a very frank, civil, and friendly sort of people. 
 They came to our negroes without any suspicion, nor 
 did they give us any reason to suspect them of any 
 villainy, as the others had done ; we made signs to 
 them that we were hungry, and immediately some 
 naked women ran and fetched us great quantities of 
 roots, and of things like pumpkins, which we made 
 no scruple to eat ; and our artificer showed them 
 some of his trinkets that he had made, some of iron, 
 some of silver, but none of gold. They had so much 
 judgment as to choose that of silver before the iron ; 
 but when we showed them some gold, we found they 
 did not value it so much as either of the other. 
 
 For some of these things they brought us more 
 provisions, and three living creatures as big as calves, 
 but not of that kind ; neither did we ever see any of 
 them before ; their flesh was very good ; and after 
 that they brought us twelve more, and some smaller 
 a-eatures like hares ; all which were very welcome 
 to us, who were indeed at a very great loss for 
 provisions. 
 
 We grew very intimate with these people, and 
 indeed they were the civillest and most friendly 
 people that we met with at all, and mightily pleased 
 with lis ; and, which was very particular, they were 
 much easier to be made to understand our meaning 
 than any we had met with before. 
 
 At last we began to inquire our way, pointing to 
 
 the west. They made us understand easily that we 
 
 could not go that way, but they pointed to us that 
 
 we might go north-west, so that we presently under- 
 
 [143] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 stood that there was another lake in our way, which 
 proved to be true ; for in two days more we saw it 
 plain, and it held us till we passed the equinoctial 
 line, lying all the way on our left hand, though at a 
 great distance. 
 
 Travelling thus northward, our gunner seemed 
 very anxious about our proceedings ; for he assured 
 us, and made me sensible of it by the maps which 
 he had been teaching me out of, that when we came 
 into the latitude of six degrees, or thereabouts, north 
 of the line, the land trended away to the west to 
 such a length that we should not come at the sea 
 under a march of above 1500 miles farther westward 
 than the country we desired to go to. I asked him 
 if there were no navigable rivers that we might meet 
 with, which, I'unning into the west ocean, might 
 perhaps carry us down their stream, and then, if it 
 were 1500 miles, or twice 1500 miles, we might do 
 well enough if we could but get provisions. 
 
 Here he showed me the maps again,' and that 
 there appeared no river whose stream was of any 
 such a length as to do any kindness, till we came 
 perhaps within 200 or 300 miles of the shore, except 
 the Rio Grande, as they call it, which lay farther 
 northward from us, at least 700 miles ; and that 
 then he knew not what kind of countiy it might 
 carry us through ; for he said it was his opinion 
 that the heats on the north of the line, even in the 
 same latitude, were violent, and the country more 
 desolate, barren, and barbarous, than those of the 
 south ; and that when we came among the negroes 
 in the north part of Africa, next the sea, especially 
 [144] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 those who had seen and trafficked with the Euro- 
 peans, such as Dutch, Enghsh, Portuguese, Span- 
 iards, &c., they had most of them been so ill-used at 
 some time or other that they would certainly put all 
 the spite they could upon us in mere revenge. 
 
 Upon these considerations he advised us that, as 
 soon as we had passed this lake, we should proceed 
 W.S.W., that is to say, a little inclining to the 
 south, and that in time we should meet with the 
 great river Congo, from whence the coast is called 
 Congo, being a little north of Angola, where we 
 intended at first to go. 
 
 I asked him if ever he had been on the coast of 
 Congo. He said, yes, he had, but was never on 
 shore there. Then I asked him how we should get 
 from thence to the coast wheie the European ships 
 came, seeing, if the land trended away west for 1500 
 miles, we must have all that shore to traverse before 
 we could double the west point of it. 
 
 He told me it was ten to one but we should hear 
 of some European ships to take us in, for that they 
 often visited the coast of Congo and Angola, in 
 trade with the negroes ; and that if we could not, 
 yet, if we could but find provisions, we should make 
 our way as well along the sea-shore as along the 
 river, till we came to the Gold Coast, which, he said, 
 was not above 400 or 500 miles north of Congo, 
 besides the turning of the coast west about 300 
 more; that shore being in the latitude of six or 
 seven degrees ; and that there the English, or 
 Dutch, or French had settlements or factories, per- 
 haps all of them. 
 
 10 [ 145 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I confess I had more mind, all the while he ar- 
 gued, to have gone northward, and shipped ourselves 
 in the Rio Grande, or, as the traders call it, the river 
 Negro, or Niger, for I knew that at last it would 
 bring us down to the Cape de Verd, where we were 
 sure of relief ; whereas, at the coast we were going 
 to now, we had a prodigious way still to go, either 
 by sea or land, and no certainty which way to get 
 provisions but by force ; but for the present I held 
 my tongue, because it was my tutor's opinion. 
 
 But when, according to his desire, we came to turn 
 southward, having passed beyond the second great 
 lake, our men began all to be uneasy, and said we 
 were now out of our way for certain, for that we 
 were going farther from hqme, and that we were in- 
 deed far enough off already; 
 
 But we had not marched above twelve days more,* 
 eight whereof were taken up in rounding the lake, 
 and four more south-west, in order to make for the 
 river Congo, but we were put to another full stop, 
 by entering a country so desolate, so frightful, and 
 so wild, that we knew not what to think or do ; for, 
 besides that it appeared as a terrible and boundless 
 desert, having neither woods, trees, rivers, or inhabi- 
 tants, so even the place where we were was desolate 
 of inhabitants, nor had we any way to gather in a 
 stock of provisions for the passing of this desert, as 
 we did before at our entering the first, unless we had 
 marched back four days to the place where we turned 
 the head of the lake. 
 
 Well, notwithstanding this, we ventured ; for, to 
 men that had passed such wild places as we had 
 [ 146] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 done, nothing could seem too desperate to undei-take. 
 We ventured, I say, and the rather because we saw 
 very high mountains in our way at a great distance, 
 and we imagined, wherever there were mountains 
 there would be springs and rivers ; where rivers there 
 would be trees and grass ; where trees and grass 
 there would be cattle ; and where cattle, some kind 
 of inhabitants. At last, in consequence of this specu- 
 lative philosophy, we entered this waste, having a 
 great heap of roots and plants for our bread, such as 
 the Indians gave us, a very little flesh or salt, and 
 but a little water. 
 
 We travelled two days towards those hills, and 
 still they seemed as far ofl^ as they did at first, and 
 it was the fifth day before we got to them ; indeed, 
 we travelled but softly, for it was excessively hot; 
 and we were much about the very equinoctial line, 
 we hardly knew whether to the south or the north 
 of it. 
 
 As we had concluded, that where there were hills 
 there would be springs, so it happened ; but we were 
 not only surprised, but really frighted, to find the 
 first spring we came to, and which looked admirably 
 clear and beautiful, to be salt as brine. It was 
 a terrible disappointment to us, and put us under 
 melancholy apprehensions at first ; but the gunner, 
 who was of a spirit never discouraged, told us we 
 should not be disturbed at that, but be vei'y thank- 
 ful, for salt was a bait we stood in as much need of 
 as anything, and there was no question but we should 
 find fresh water as well as salt ; and here our sur- 
 geon stepped in to encourage us, and told us that if 
 [147] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we did not know he would show us a way how to 
 make that salt water fresh, which indeed made us all 
 more cheerful, though we wondered what he meant. 
 
 Meantime our men, without bidding, had been 
 seeking about for other springs, and found several ; 
 but still they were all salt ; from whence we con- 
 cluded that there was a salt rock or mineral stone in 
 those mountains, and perhaps they might be all of 
 such a substance ; but still I wondered by what 
 witchcraft it was that our artist the surgeon would 
 make this salt water turn fresh, and I longed to see 
 the experiment, which was indeed a very odd one ; 
 but he went to work with as much assurance as if he 
 had tried it on the very spot before. 
 
 He took two of our large mats and sewed them 
 together, and they made a kind of a bag four feet 
 broad, three feet and a half high, and about a foot 
 and a half thick when it was full. 
 
 He caused us to fill this bag with dry sand and 
 tread it down as close as we could, not to burst the 
 mats. When thus the bag was full within a foot, he 
 sought some other earth and filled up the rest with 
 it, and still trod all in as hard as he could. When 
 he had done, he made a hole in the upper earth about 
 as broad as the crown of a large hat, or something 
 bigger about, but not so deep, and bade a negro fill 
 it with water, and still as it shrunk away to fill it 
 again, and keep it full. The bag he had placed at 
 first across two pieces of wood, about a foot from the 
 ground ; and under it he ordered some of our skins 
 to be spread that would hold water. In about an 
 hour, and not sooner, the water began to come drop- 
 [148] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ping through the bottom of the bag, and, to our 
 great surprise, was perfectly fresh and sweet, and this 
 continued for several hours ; but in the end the water 
 began to be a little brackish. When we told him 
 that, " Well, then," said he, " turn the sand out, and 
 fill it again." Whether he did this by way of ex- 
 periment from his own fancy, or whether he had seen 
 it done before, I do not remember. 
 
 The next day vt'e mounted the tops of the hills, 
 where the prospect was indeed astonishing, for as far 
 as the eye could look, south, or west, or northwest, 
 there was nothing to be seen but a vast howling 
 wilderness, with neither tree nor rivei', nor any green 
 thing. The surface we found, as the part we passed 
 the day before, had a kind of thick moss upon it, of 
 a blackish dead colour, but nothing in it that looked 
 like food, either for man or beast. 
 
 Had we been stored with provisions to have entered 
 for ten or twenty days upon this wilderness, as we 
 were formerly, and with fresh water, we had hearts 
 good enough to have ventured, though we had been 
 obliged to come back again, for if we went north 
 we did not know but we might meet with the same ; 
 but we neither had provisions, neither were we in any 
 place where it was possible to get them. We killed 
 some wild ferine creatures at the foot of these hills ; 
 but, except two things, like to nothing that we ever 
 saw before, we met with nothing that was fit to eat. 
 These were creatures that seemed to be between the 
 kind of a buffalo and a deer, but indeed resembled 
 neither ; for they had no horns, and had great legs 
 like a cow, with a fine head, and the neck like a deer. 
 : [ 149 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We killed also, at several times, a tiger, two joung 
 lions, and a wolf ; but, God be thanked, we were not 
 so reduced as to eat carrion. 
 
 Upon this terrible prospect I renewed my motion 
 of turning northward, and making towards the river 
 Niger or Rio Grande, then to turn west towards the 
 English settlements on the Gold Coast ; to which 
 every one most readily consented, only our gunner, 
 who was indeed our best guide, though he happened 
 to be mistaken at this time. He moved that, as our 
 coast was now northward, so we might slant away 
 north-west, that so, by crossing the country, we 
 might perhaps meet with some other river that run 
 into the Rio Grande northward, or down to the Gold 
 Coast southward, and so both direct our way and 
 shorten the labour ; as also because, if any of the 
 country was inhabited and fruitful, we should 
 probably find it upon the shore of the rivers, where 
 alone we could be furnished with provisions. 
 
 This was good advice, and too rational not to be 
 taken ; but our present business was, what to do to 
 get out of this dreadful place we were in. Behind 
 us was a waste, which had already cost us five days' 
 march, and we had not provisions for five days left 
 to go back again the same way. Before us was 
 nothing but horror, as above ; so we resolved, seeing 
 the ridge of the hills we were upon had some appear- 
 ance of fruitfulness, and that they seemed to lead 
 away to the northward a great way, to keep under 
 the foot of them on the east side, to go on as far as 
 we could, and in the meantime to look diligently out 
 for food. 
 
 [160] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Accordingly we moved on the next morning ; for 
 we had no time to lose, and, to our great comfort, 
 we came in our first morning's march to very good 
 springs of fresh water ; and" lest we should have 
 a scarcity again, we filled all our bladder bottles and 
 carried it with us. I should also have observed that 
 our surgeon, who made the salt water fresh, took the 
 opportunity of those salt springs, and made us the 
 quantity of three or four pecks of very good salt. 
 
 In our third march we found an unexpected supply 
 of food, the hills being full of hares. They were of 
 a kind something different from ours in England, 
 larger and not as swift of foot, but very good meat. 
 We shot several of them, and the little tame leopard, 
 which I told you we took at the negro town that we 
 plundered, hunted them like a dog, and killed us 
 several every day ; but she would eat nothing of them 
 unless we gave it her, which, indeed, in our circum- 
 stance, was very obliging. We salted them a little 
 and dried them in the sun whole, and cairied a 
 strange parcel along with us. I think it was almost 
 three hundred, for we did not know when we might 
 find any more, either of these or any other food. 
 We continued our course under these hills very com- 
 fortably for eight or nine days, when we found, to 
 our great satisfaction, the country beyond us began 
 to look with something of a better countenance. As 
 for the west side of the hills, we never examined it 
 till this day, when three of our company, the rest 
 halting for refreshment, mounted the hills again to 
 satisfy their curiosity, but found it all the same, nor 
 could they see any end of it, no, not to the north, 
 [151] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the way we were going ; so the tenth day, finding 
 the hills made a turn, and led as it were ii.to the vast 
 desert, we left them and continued our course north, 
 the country being very tolerably full of woods, some 
 waste, but not tediously long, till we came, by our 
 gunner's observation, into the latitude of eight de- 
 grees five minutes, which we were nineteen days more 
 in performing. 
 
 All this way we found no inhabitants, but abun- 
 dance of wild ravenous creatures, with which we 
 became so well acquainted now that really we did 
 not much mind them. We saw lions and tigers 
 and leopards every night and morning in abundance ; 
 but as they seldom came near ias, we let them go 
 about their business : if they offered to come near us, 
 we made false fire with any gun that was uncharged, 
 and they would walk off" as soon as they saw the flash. 
 
 We made pretty good shift for food all this way ; 
 for sometimes we killed hares, sometimes some fowls, 
 but for my life I cannot give names to any of them, 
 except a kiiid of partridge, and another that was 
 like our turtle. Now and then we began to meet 
 with elephants again in great numbers ; those creat- 
 ures delighted chiefly in the woody part of the 
 country. 
 
 This long-continued march fatigued us very much, 
 and two of our men fell sick, indeed, so very sick 
 that we thought they would have died ; and one 
 of our negroes died suddenly. Our surgeon said it 
 was an apoplexy, but he wondered at it, he said, 
 for he could never complain -of his high feeding. 
 Another, of them, was very iU ; but our surgeon with 
 [i52] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 much ado persuading him, indeed it was almost 
 forcing him to be let blood, he recovered. 
 
 We halted here twelve days for the sake of our 
 sick men, and our surgeon persuaded me and three 
 or four more of us to be let blood during the time 
 of rest, which, with other things he gave usj con- 
 tributed very much to our continued health in so 
 tedious a march and in so hot a climate. 
 
 In this march we pitched our matted tents every 
 night, and they were very comfortable to us, though 
 we had trees and woods to shelter us in most places. 
 We thought it very strange that in all this part of 
 the country we yet met with no inhabitants ; but 
 the principal reason, as we found afterwards, was, 
 that we, having kept a western course first, and then 
 a northern .course, were gotten too much into the 
 middle of the country and among the deserts ; whereas 
 the inhabitants are principally found among the 
 rivers, lakes, and lowlands, as well to the south-west 
 as to the north. 
 
 What little rivulets we found here were so empty 
 of water, that except some pits, and little more than 
 ordinary pools, there was scarcely any water to be 
 seen in them ; and they rather showed that during 
 the rainy months they had a channel, than that they 
 had really running water in them at that time, by 
 which it was easy for us to j udge that we had a great 
 way to go ; but this was no discouragement so long 
 as we had but provisions, and some seasonable shelter 
 from the violent heat, which indeed I thought was 
 much greater now than when the sun was just ov6r 
 our heads. 
 
 [153] 
 
CAPTAIxN[ SINGLETON 
 
 Our men being recovered, we set forward again, 
 very well stored with provisions, and water sufficient, 
 and bending our course a little to the westward of 
 the north, travelled in hopes of some favourable 
 stream which might bear a canoe ; but we found 
 none till after twenty days' travel, including eight 
 days' rest ; for our men being weak, we rested very 
 often, especially when we came to places which were 
 proper for our purpose, where we found cattle, fowl, 
 or anything to kill for our food. In those twenty 
 days' march we advanced four degrees to the north- 
 ward, besides some meridian distance westward, and 
 we met with abundance of elephants, and with a good 
 number of elephants' teeth scattered up and down, 
 here and there, in the woody grounds especially, 
 some of which were very large. But they were no 
 booty to us ; our business was provisions, and a good 
 passage out of the country ; and it had been much 
 more to our purpose to have found a good fat deer, 
 and to have killed it for our food, than a hundred 
 ton of elephants' teeth ; and yet, as you shall pres- 
 ently hear, when we came to begin our passage by 
 water, we once thought to have built a large canoe, 
 on purpose to have loaded it with ivory ; but this 
 was when we knew nothing of the rivers, nor knew 
 anything how dangerous and how difficult a passage 
 it was we were likely to have in them, nor had con- 
 sidered the weight of carriage to lug them to the 
 rivers where we might embark. 
 
 At the end of twenty days' travel, as above, in 
 the latitude of three degrees sixteen minutes, we dis- 
 covered in a valley, at some distance from us, a pretty 
 [ 154 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 tolerable stream, which we thought deserved the name 
 of a river, and which ran its course N.N.W., which 
 was just what we wanted. As we had fixed our 
 thoughts upon our passage by water, we took this 
 for the place to make the experiment, and bent our 
 march directly to the valley. 
 
 There was a small thicket of trees just in our way, 
 which we went by, thinking no harm, when on a 
 sudden one of our negroes was dangerously wounded 
 with an arrow shot into his back, slanting between 
 his shoulders. This put us to a full stop ; and three 
 of our men, with two negroes, spreading the wood, 
 for it was but a small one, found a negro with a bow, 
 but no arrow, who would have escaped, but our men 
 that discovered him shot him in revenge of the mis- 
 chief he had done ; so we lost the opportunity of 
 taking him prisoner, which, if we had done, and sent 
 him home with good usage, it might have brought 
 others to us in a friendly manner. 
 
 Going a little farther, we came to five negro huts 
 or houses, built after a different manner from any we 
 had seen yet ; and at the door of one of them lay 
 seven elephants' teeth, piled up against the wall or 
 side of the hut, as if they had been provided against 
 a market. Here were no men, but seven or eight 
 women, and near twenty children. We offered them 
 no incivility of any kind, but gave them every one a 
 bit of silver beaten out thin, as I observed before, 
 and cut diamond fashion, or in the shape of a bird, 
 at which the women were overjoyed, and brought out 
 to us several sorts of food, which we did not under- 
 stand, being cakes of a meal made of roots, which 
 r 155 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 they bake in the sun, and which ate very well. We 
 went a little way farther and pitched our camp for 
 that night, not doubting but our civility to the 
 women would produce some good eifect when their 
 husbands might come home. 
 
 Accordingly, the next morning the women, with 
 eleven men, five young boys, and two good big girls, 
 came to our camp. Before they came quite to us, 
 the women called aloud, and made an odd screaming 
 noise to bring us out ; and accordingly we came out, 
 when two of the women, showing us what we had 
 given them, and pointing to the company behind, 
 made such signs as we could easily understand signi- 
 fied friendship. When the men advanced, having 
 bows and arrows, they laid them down on the ground, 
 scraped and threw sand over their heads, and turned 
 round three times with their hands laid up upon the 
 tops of their heads. This, it seems, was a solemn 
 vow of friendship. Upon this we beckoned them 
 with our hands to come nearer ; then they sent the 
 boys and girls to us first, which, it seems, was to bring 
 us more cakes of bread and some green herbs to eat, 
 which we received, and took the boys up and kissed 
 them, and the little girls too ; then the men came up 
 close to us, and sat thera down on the ground, making 
 signs that we should sit down by them, which we did. 
 They said much to one another, but we could not 
 understand them, nor could we find any way to make 
 them understand us, much less whither we were going, 
 or what we wanted, only that we easily made them un- 
 derstand we wanted victuals ; whereupon one of the 
 men, casting his eyes about him towards a rising 
 [156] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ground that was about half a mile ofF, started up as 
 if he was frighted, flew to the place where they had 
 laid down their bows and arrows, snatched up a bow 
 and two arrows, and ran'liiie a racehorse to the place. 
 When he came there, he let fly both his arrows, and 
 comes back again to us with the same speed. We, 
 seeing he came with the bow, but without the arrows, 
 were the more inquisitive; but the fellow, saying 
 nothing to us, beckons to one of our negroes to come 
 to him, and we bid him go ; so he led him back to 
 the place, where lay a kind of deer, shot with two 
 arrows, but not quite dead, and between them they 
 brought it down to us. This was for a gift to us, 
 and was very welcome, I assure you, for our stock 
 was low. These people were all stark naked. 
 
 The next day there came about a hundred men to 
 us, and women making the same awkward signals of 
 friendship, and dancing, and showing themselves very 
 well pleased, and anything they had they gave us. 
 How the man in the wood came to be so butcherly 
 and rude as to shoot at our men, without making any 
 breach first, we could not imagine ; for the people 
 were simple, plain, and inoffensive in all our other 
 conversation with them. 
 
 From hence we went down the banks of the little 
 river I mentioned, and where, I found, we should see 
 the whole nation of negroes, but whether friendly to 
 us or not, that we could make no judgment of yet. 
 
 The river was no use to us, as to the design of 
 
 making canoes, a great while ; and we traversed the 
 
 country on the edge of it about five days more, when 
 
 our carpenters, finding the stream increased, pro- 
 
 [157 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 posed to pitch our tents, and fall to work to make 
 canoes ; but after we had begun the work, and cut 
 down two or three trees, and spent five days in the 
 labour, some of our men, wandering further down 
 the river, brought us word that the stream rather 
 decreased than increased, sinking away into the 
 sands, or drying up by the heat of the sun, so that 
 the river appeared not able to carry the least canoe 
 that could be any way useful to us ; so we were 
 obliged to give over our enterprise and move on. 
 
 In our further prospect this way, we marched 
 three days full west, the country on the north side 
 being extraordinary mountainous, and more parched 
 and dry than any we had seen yet ; whereas, in the 
 part which looks due west, we found a pleasant val- 
 ley running a great way between two great ridges of 
 mountains. The hills looked frightful, being en- 
 tirely bare of trees or grass, and even white with the 
 dryness of the sand ; but in the valley we had trees, 
 grass, and some creatures that were fit for food, and 
 some inhabitants. 
 
 We passed by some of their huts or houses, and 
 saw 'people about them, but they ran up into the 
 hills as soon as they saw us. At the end of this val- 
 ley we met with a peopled country, and at first it 
 put us to some doubt whether we should go among 
 them, or keep up towards the hills northerly ; and as 
 our aim was principally as before, to make our way 
 to the river Niger, we inclined to the latter, pursu- 
 ing our course by the compass to the N.W. We 
 marched thus without interruption seven days more, 
 when we met with a surprising circumstance much 
 [158] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 more desolate and disconsolate than our own, and 
 which, in time to come, will scarce seem credible. 
 
 We did not much seek the conversing, or acquaint- 
 ing ourselves with the natives of the country, except 
 where v/e found the want of them for our provision, 
 or their direction for our way ; so that, whereas we 
 found the country here begin to be very populous, 
 especially towards our left hand, that is, to the south, 
 we kept at the more distance northerly, still stretch- 
 ing towards the west. 
 
 In this tract we found something or other to kill 
 and eat, which always supplied our necessity, though 
 not so well as we were provided in our first setting 
 out ; being thus, as it were, pushing to avoid a peopled 
 country, we at last came to a very pleasant, agreeable 
 stream of water, not big enough to be called a river, 
 but running to the N.N.W., which was the very 
 course we desired to go. 
 
 On the farthest bank of this brook, we perceived 
 some huts of negroes, not many, and in a little low 
 spot of ground, some maize, or Indian corn, growing, 
 which intimated presently to us, that there were 
 some inhabitants on that side less barbarous than 
 what we had met with in other places where we had 
 been. 
 
 As we went forward, our whole caravan being in a 
 body, our negroes, who were in the front, cried out, 
 that they saw a white man ! We were not much sur- 
 prised at first, it being, as we thought, a mistake of the 
 fellows, and asked them what they meant ; when one 
 of them stepped to me, and pointing to a hut on 
 the other side of the hill, I was astonished to see a 
 [159] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 white man indeed, but stark naked, very busy near 
 the door- of his hut, and stooping down to the 
 ground with something in his hand, as if he had 
 been at some work ; and his back being towards us, 
 he did not see us. 
 
 I gave notice to our negroes to make no noise, and 
 waited till some more of our men were come up, to 
 show the sight to them, that they might be sure I 
 was not mistaken ; and we were soon satisfied of the 
 truth, for the man, having heard some noise, started 
 up, and looked full at us, as much surprised, to be 
 sure, as we were, but whether with fear or hope, we 
 then knew not. 
 
 As he discovered us, so did the rest of the inhabi- 
 tants belonging to the huts about him, and all 
 crowded together, looking at us at a distance, a little 
 bottom, in which the brook ran, lying between us ; 
 the white man, and all the rest, as he told us after- 
 wards, not knowing well whether they should stay 
 or run away. However, it presently came into my 
 thoughts, that if there were white men among them, 
 it would be much easier to make them understand 
 what we meant as to peace or war, than we found it 
 with others ; so tying a piece of white rag to the end 
 of a stick, we sent two negroes with it to the bank 
 of the water, carrying the pole up as high as they 
 could ; it was presently understood, and two of their 
 men and the white man came to the shore on the 
 other side. 
 
 However, as the white man spoke no Portuguese, 
 they could understand nothing of one another but by 
 signs ; but our men made the white man understand 
 [160] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 that they had white men with them too, at which 
 they said the white man laughed. However, to be 
 short, our men came back, and told us they were all 
 good friends, and in about an hour four of our men, 
 two negroes, and the black prince, went to the river- 
 side, where the white man came to them. 
 
 They had not been half a quarter of an hour, but 
 a negro came running to me, and told me the white 
 man was Inglese, as he called him ; upon which I 
 ran back, eagerly enough, you may be sure, with him, 
 and found, as he said, that he was an Englishman ; 
 upon which he embraced me very passionately, the 
 tears running down his face. The first surprise of 
 his seeing us was over before we came, but any one 
 may conceive it by the brief account he gave us after- 
 wards of his very unhappy circumstances, and of so 
 unexpected a deliverance, such as perhaps never 
 happened to any man in the world, for it was a 
 million to one odds that ever he could have been 
 relieved ; nothing but an adventure that never was 
 heard or read of before could have suited his case, 
 unless Heaven, by some miracle that never was to be 
 expected, had acted for him. 
 
 He appeared to be a gentleman, not an ordinary- 
 bred fellow, seaman, or labouring man ; this showed 
 itself in his behaviour in the first moment of our con- 
 versing with him, and in spite of all the disadvantages 
 of his miserable circumstances. 
 
 He was a middle-aged man, not above thirty-seven 
 or thirty-eight, though his beard was grown ex- 
 ceedingly long, and the hair of his head and face 
 strangely covered him to the middle of his back and 
 11 [ 161 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 6reast ; he was white, and his skin very fine, though 
 discoloured, and in some places blistered, and covered 
 with a brown blackish substance, scurfy, scaly, and 
 hard,, which was the effect of the scorching heat of 
 the sun ; he was stark naked, and had been so, as he 
 told us, upwards of two years. 
 
 He was so exceedingly transported at our meeting 
 with him, that he could scarce enter into any dis- 
 course at all with us that day ; and when he could 
 get away from us for a little, we saw him walking 
 alone, and showing all the most extravagant tokens 
 of an ungovernable joy ; and even afterwards he was 
 never without tears in his eyes for several days, upon 
 the least word spoken by us of his circumstances, or 
 by him of his deliverance. 
 
 We found his behaviour the most courteous and 
 endearing I ever saw in any man whatever, and most 
 evident tokens of a mannerly, well-bred person ap- 
 peared in all things he did or said, and our people 
 were exceedingly taken with him. He was a scholar 
 and a mathematician ; he could not speak Portuguese 
 indeed, but he spoke Latin to our surgeon, French 
 to another of our men, and Italian to a third. 
 
 He had no leisure in his thoughts to ask us whence 
 we came, whither we were going, or who we were ; 
 but would have it always as an answer to himself, 
 that to be sure, wherever we were a-going, we came 
 from Heaven, and were sent on purpose to save him 
 from the most wretched condition that ever man was 
 reduced to. 
 
 Our men pitching their camp on the bank of a 
 little river opposite to him, he began to inquire what 
 [162] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 store of provisions we had, and how we proposed to 
 be suppHed. When he found that our store was 
 but small, he said he would talk with the natives, 
 and we should have provisions enough ; for he said 
 they were the most courteous, good-natured part of 
 the inhabitants in all that part of the country, 
 as we might suppose by his living so safe among 
 them. 
 
 The first things this gentleman did for us were 
 indeed of the greatest consequence to us ; for, first, 
 he perfectly informed us where we were, and which 
 ' was the properest course for us to steer ; secondly, 
 he put us in the way how to furnish ourselves effect- 
 ually with provisions ; and thirdly, he was our com- 
 plete interpreter and peace-maker with all the natives, 
 who now began to be very numerous about us, and 
 who were a more fierce and politic people than those 
 we had met with before ; not so easily terrified with 
 our arms as those, and not so ignorant as to give 
 their provisions and corn for our little toys, such as, 
 I said before, our artificer made; but as they had 
 frequently traded and conversed with the Europeans 
 on the coast, or with other negro nations that had 
 traded and been concerned with them, tliey were the 
 less ignorant and the less fearful, and consequently 
 nothing was to be had from them but by exchange 
 for such things as they liked. 
 
 This I say of the negro natives, which we soon 
 came among ; but as to these poor people that he 
 lived among, they were not much acquainted with 
 things, being at the distance of above 300 miles 
 from the coast ; only that they found elephants' 
 ■ [ 163 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 teeth upon the hills to the north, which they took 
 and carried about sixty or seventy miles south, where 
 other trading negroes usually met them, and gave 
 them beads, glass, shells, and cowries, for them, such 
 as the English and Dutch and other traders furnish 
 them with from Europe. 
 
 We now began to be more familiar with oiu" new 
 acquaintance ; and first, though we made but a sorry 
 figure as to clothes ourselves, having neither shoe, or 
 stocking, or glove, or hat among us, and but very 
 few shirts, yet as well as we could we clothed him ; 
 and first, our surgeon having scissors and razors, 
 shaved him, and cut his hair ; a hat, as I say, we 
 had not in all our stores, but he supplied himself by 
 making himself a cap of a piece of a leopard-skin, 
 most artificially. As for shoes or stockings, he had 
 gone so long without them that he eared not even 
 for the buskins and foot-gloves we wore, which I 
 described above. 
 
 As he had been curious to hear the whole story of 
 our travels, and was exceedingly delighted with the 
 relation, so we were no less to know, and pleased with, 
 the account of his circumstances, and the history of 
 his coming to that strange place alone, and in that 
 condition which we found him in, as above. This 
 account of his would indeed be in itself the subject 
 of an agreeable history, and would be as long and 
 diverting as our own, having in it many strange and 
 extraordinary incidents ; but we cannot have room 
 here to launch out into so long a digression : the sum 
 of his history was this : — 
 
 He had been a factor for the English Guinea Com- 
 [164] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 pany at Sierra Leone, or some other of their settle- 
 ments which had been taken by the French, where 
 he had been plundered of all his own effects, as well 
 as of what was entrusted to him by the company. 
 Whether it was that the company did not do him 
 justice in restoring his circumstances, or in further 
 employing him, he quitted their service, and was 
 employed by those called separate traders, and being 
 afterwards out of employ there also, traded on his 
 own account ; when, passing unwarily into one of 
 the company's settlements, he was either betrayed 
 into the hands of some of the natives, or, somehow 
 or other, was surprised by them. However, as they 
 did not kill him, he found means to escape from 
 them at that time, and fled to another nation of the 
 natives, who, being enemies to the other, entertained 
 him friendly, and with them he lived some time ; 
 but not liking his quarters or his company, he fled 
 again, and several times changed his landlords : some- 
 times was carried by force, sometimes hurried by fear, 
 as circumstances altered with him (the variety of 
 which deserves a history by itself), till at last he 
 had wandered beyond all possibility of return, and 
 had taken up his abode where we found him, where 
 he was well received by the petty king of the tribe 
 he lived with ; and he, in return, instructed them 
 how to value the product of their labour, and on 
 what terms to trade with those negroes who came 
 up to them for teeth. 
 
 As he was naked, and had no clothes, so he was 
 naked of arms for his defence, having neither gun, 
 sword, staff, or any instrument of war about him, no, 
 [166] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 not to guard himself against the attacks of a wild 
 beast, of which the country was very full. We asked 
 him how he came to be so entirely abandoned of all 
 concern for his safety ? He answered, that to him, 
 that had so often wished for death, life was not worth 
 defending ; and that, as he was entirely at the mercy 
 of the negroes, they had much the more confidence 
 in him, seeing he had no weapons to hurt them. As 
 for wild beasts, he was not much concerned about 
 that, for he scarce ever went from his hut ; but if he 
 did, the negro king and his men went all with him, 
 and they were all armed with bows and arrows, and 
 lances, with which they would kill any of the ravenous 
 creatures, lions as well as others; but that they seldom 
 came abroad in the day ; and if the negroes wander 
 anywhere in the night, they always build a hut for 
 themselves, and make a fire at the door of it, which 
 is guard enough. 
 
 We inquired of him what we should next do 
 towards getting to the seaside. He told us we were 
 about one hundred and twenty English leagues from 
 the coast, where almost all the European settlements 
 and factories were, and which is called the Gold 
 Coast ; but that there were so many different nations 
 of negroes in the way, that it was ten to one if we 
 were not either fought with continually, or starved 
 for want of provisions ; but that there were two other 
 ways to go, which, if he had had any company to go 
 with him, he had often contrived to make his escape 
 by. The one was to travel full west, which, though 
 it was farther to go, yet was not so full of people, 
 and the people we should find would be so much the 
 [166] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 civiller to us, or be so much the easier to fight with ; 
 or that the other way was, if possible, to get to the 
 Rio Gi-ande, and go down the stream in canoes. We 
 told him, that was the way we had resolved on before 
 we met with him ; but then he told us there was a 
 prodigious desert to go over, and as prodigious woods 
 to go through, before we came to it, and that both 
 together were at least twenty days' march for us, 
 travel as hard as we could. 
 
 We asked him if there were no horses in the 
 countiy, or asses, or even bullocks or buffaloes, to 
 make use of in such a journey, and we showed him 
 ours, of which we had but three left. He said no, 
 all the country did not afford anything of that kind. 
 
 He told us that in this great wood there were im- 
 mense numbers of elephants ; and upon the desert, 
 great multitudes of lions, lynxes, tigers, leopards, &c. ; 
 and that it was to that wood and that desert that 
 the negroes went to get elephants'" teeth, where they 
 never failed to find a great number. 
 
 We inquired still more, and particularly the way 
 to the Gold Coast, and if there were no rivers to 
 ease us in our carriage ; and told him, as to the 
 negroes fighting with us, we were not much con- 
 cerned at that; nor were we afraid of starving, 
 for if they had any victuals among them, we would 
 have our share of it; and, therefore, if he would 
 venture to show us the way, we would venture to go ; 
 and as for himself, we told him we would live and 
 die together — there should not a man of us stir 
 from him. 
 
 He told us, with all his heart, if we resolved it, 
 [ 16T i 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and would venture, we might be assured he would 
 take his fate with us, and he would endeavour to 
 guide us in such a way as we should meet with some 
 friendly savages who would use us well, and perhaps 
 stand by us against some others, who were less tract- 
 able ; so, in a word, we all resolved to go full south 
 for the Gold Coast. 
 
 The next morning he came to us again, and being 
 all met in council, as we may call it, he began to talk 
 very seriously with us, that since we were now come, 
 after a long journey, to a view of the end of our 
 troubles, and had been so obliging to him as to offer 
 to carry him with us, he had been all night revolving 
 in his mind what he and we all might do to make 
 ourselves some amends for all our sorrows ; and first, 
 he said, he was to let me know that we were just 
 then in one of the richest parts of .the world, though 
 it was really otherwise but a desolate, disconsolate 
 wilderness ; " for," says he, " there is not a river but 
 runs gold — not a desert but without ploughing 
 bears a crop of ivory. What mines of gold, what 
 immense stores of gold, those mountains may con- 
 tain, from whence these rivers come, or the shores 
 which these waters run by, we know not, but may 
 imagine that they must be inconceivably rich, seeing 
 so much is washed down the stream by the water 
 washing the sides of the land, that tha quantity 
 suffices all the traders which the European world 
 send thither." We asked him how far they went 
 for it, seeing the ships only trade upon the coast. 
 He told us that the negroes on the coast search the 
 rivers up for the length of 150 or 200 miles, and 
 [168] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 would be out a month, or two, or three at a time, 
 and always come home sufficiently rewarded ; " but," 
 says he, " they never come thus far, and yet here- 
 abouts is as much gold as there." Upon this he 
 told us that he believed he might have gotten a hun- 
 dred pounds' weight of gold since he came thither, if 
 he had employed himself to look and work for it; 
 but as he knew not what to do with it, and had 
 long since despaired of being ever delivered from the 
 misery he was in, he had entirely omitted it. "For 
 what advantage had it been to me," said he, " or 
 what richer had I been, if I had a ton of gold dust, 
 and. lay and wallowed in it ? The richness of it," 
 said he, " would not give me One moment's felicity, 
 nor relieve me in the present exigency. Nay," says 
 he, " as you all see, it would not buy me clothes to 
 cover me, or a drop of drink to save me from perish- 
 ing. It is of no value here," says he ; " there are 
 several people among these huts that would v eigh gold 
 against a few glass beads or a cockle-shell, and give 
 you a handful of gold-dust for a handful of cowries." 
 JV. B. — These are little shells which our children 
 call blackamoors' teeth. 
 
 When he had said thus he pulled out a piece of an 
 earthen pot baked hard in the sun. " Here," says 
 he, " is some of the dirt of this country, and if I 
 would I could have got a great deal more ; " and, 
 showing it to us, I believe there was in it between 
 two and three pounds weight of gold-dust, of the 
 same kind and colour with that we had gotten al- 
 ready, as before. After we had looked at it a while, 
 he told us, smihng, we were his deliverers, and all he 
 [169] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 nad, as well as his life, was ours ; and therefore, as 
 this would be of value to us when we came to our 
 own country, so he desired we would accept of it 
 among us ; and that was the only time that he had 
 repented that he had picked up no more of it. 
 
 I spoke for him, as his interpreter, to my comrades, 
 and in their names thanked him ; but, speaking to 
 them in Portuguese, I desired them to defer the 
 acceptance of his kindness to the next morning ; and 
 so I did, telling him we would further talk of this 
 part in the morning ; so we parted for that time. 
 
 When he was gone I found they were all wonder- 
 fully affected with his discourse, arid with the gene- 
 rosity of his temper, as well as the magnificence of 
 his present, which in another place had been extraor- 
 dinary. Upon the whole, not to detain you with 
 circumstances, we agreed that, seeing he was now one 
 of our number, and that as we were a relief to him 
 in carrying him out of the dismal condition he was 
 in, so he was equally a relief to us, in being our guide 
 through the rest of the country, our interpreter with 
 the natives, and our director how to manage with the 
 savages, and how to enrich ourselves with the wealth 
 of the country ; that, therefore, we would put his 
 gold among our common stock, and every one should 
 give him as much as would make his up just as much 
 as any single share of our own, and for the future we 
 would take our lot together, taking his solemn en- 
 gagement to us, as we had before one to another, 
 that we would not conceal the least grain of gold we 
 found one from another. 
 
 In the next conference we acquainted him with the 
 [170] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 adventures of the Golden River, and how we had 
 shared what we got there, so that every man had a 
 larger stock than he for his share ; that, therefore, 
 i nstead of taking any from him, we had resolved every 
 one to add a little to him. He appeared very glad 
 that we had met with such good success, but would 
 not take a grain from us, till at last, pressing him very 
 hard, he told us, that then he would take it thus : — 
 that, when we came to get any more, he would have 
 so much out of the first as should make him even, 
 and then we would go on as equal adventurers ; and 
 thus we agreed. 
 
 He then told us he thought it would not be an 
 unprofitable adventure if, before we set forward, and 
 after we had got a stock of provisions, we should 
 make a journey north to the edge of the desert he 
 had told us of, from whence our negroes might bring 
 every one a large elephant's tooth, and that he would 
 get some more to assist ; and that, after a certain 
 length of carriage, they might be conveyed by canoes 
 to the coast, where they would yield a very great 
 profit. 
 
 I objected against this on account of our other 
 design we had of getting gold-dust ; and that our 
 negroes, who we knew would be faithful to us, would 
 get much more by searching the rivers for gold for 
 us than by lugging a great tooth of a hundred and 
 fifty pounds weight a hundred miles or more, which 
 would be an insufferable labour to them after so hard 
 a journey, and would certainly kill them. 
 
 He acquiesced in the justice of this answer, but 
 fain would have had us gone to see the woody part 
 [171] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 of the hill and the edge of the desert, that we might 
 see how the elephants' teeth lay scattered up and 
 down there; but when we told him the story of 
 what we had seen before, as is said above, he said no 
 more. 
 
 We stayed here twelve days, during which time 
 the natives were very obliging to us, and brought us 
 fruits, pompions, and a root like carrots, though of 
 quite another taste, but not unpleasant neither, and 
 some guinea-fowls, whose names we did not know. 
 In short, they brought us plenty of what they had, 
 and we lived very well, and we gave them all such 
 little.things as our cutler had made, for he had now 
 a whole bag full of them. 
 
 On the thirteenth day we set forward, taking our 
 new gentleman with us. At parting, the negro king 
 sent two savages with a present to him of some 
 dried flesh, but I do not remember what it was, and 
 he gave him again three silver birds which our cut- 
 ler helped him to, which I assure you was a present 
 for a king. 
 
 We travelled now south, a little west, and hei"e we 
 found the first river for above 2000 miles' march, 
 whose waters run south, all the rest running north 
 or west. We followed this river, which was no 
 bigger than a good large brook in England, till it 
 began to increase its water. Every now and then 
 we found our Englishman went down as.it were pri- 
 vately to the water, which was to try the land ; at 
 length, after a day's march upon this river, he came 
 running up to us with his hands full of sand, and 
 saying, " Look here." Upon looking we found that 
 [ 172] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 a good deal of gold lay spangled among the sand of 
 the river. " Now," says he, " I think we may begin 
 to work ; ■" so he divided our negroes into couples 
 and set them to work, to search and wash the sand 
 and ooze in the bottom of the water where it was 
 not deep. 
 
 In the first day and a quarter our men all together 
 had gathered a pound and two ounces of gold or 
 thereabouts, and as we found the quantity increased 
 the farther we went, we followed it about three days, 
 till another small rivulet joined the first, and then 
 searching up the stream, we found gold there too ; 
 so we pitched our camp in the angle where the rivers 
 joined, and we diverted oui'selves, as I may call ib, in 
 washing the gold out of the sand of the river, and in 
 getting provisions. 
 
 Here we stayed thirteen days more, in which time 
 we had many pleasant adventures with the savages, 
 too long to mention here, and some of them too 
 homely to tell of, for some of our men had made 
 something free with their women, which, had not 
 our new guide made peace for us with one of their 
 men at the price of seven fine bits of silver, which 
 our artificer had cut out into the shapes of lions, 
 and fishes, and birds, and had punched holes to hang 
 them up by (an inestimable treasure), we must have 
 gone to war with them and all their people. 
 
 All the while we were busy washing gold-dust out 
 of the rivers, and our negroes the like, our ingenious 
 cutler was hammering and cutting, and he was grown 
 so dexterous by use that he formed all manner of 
 images. He cut out elephants, tigers, civet cats, 
 [ 173] 
 
• CAPTAIN SINGLETOM 
 
 ostriches, eagles, cranes, fowls, fishes, and indeed 
 whatever he pleased, in thin plates of hammered 
 gold, for his silver and iron were almost all gone. 
 
 At one of the towns of these savage nations we 
 were very friendly received by their king, and as he 
 was very much taken with our workman's toys, he 
 sold him an elephant cut out of a gold plate as thin 
 as a sixpence at an extravagant rate. He was so 
 much taken with it that he would not be quiet till 
 he had given him almost a handful of gold-dust, as 
 they call it ; I suppose it might weigh three-quarters 
 of a pound ; the piece of gold that the elephant was 
 made of might be about the weight of a pistole, 
 rather less than more. Our artist was so honest, 
 though the labour and art were all his own, that he 
 brought all the gold and put it into our common 
 stock ; but we had, indeed, no manner of reason in 
 the least to be covetous, for, as our new guide told 
 us, we that were strong enough to defend ourselves, 
 and had time enough to stay (for we were none of us 
 in haste), might in time get together what quantity 
 of gold we pleased, even to an hundred pounds weight 
 each man if we thought fit ; and therefore he told us, 
 though he had as much reason to be sick of the 
 country as any of us, yet if we thought to turn our 
 march a little to the south-east, and pitch upon a 
 place proper for our headquarters, we might find 
 provisions plenty enough, and extend ourselves over 
 the country among the rivers for two or three years 
 to the right and left, and we should soon find the 
 advantage of it. 
 
 The proposal, however good as to the profitable 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 part of it, suited none of us, for we were all more de- 
 sirous to get home than to be rich, being tired of the 
 excessive fatigue of above a year's continual wander- 
 ing among deserts and wild beasts. 
 
 However, the tongue of our new acquaintance had 
 a kind of charm in it, and used such arguments, and 
 had so much the power of persuasion, that there was 
 no resisting him. He told us it was preposterous 
 not to take the fruit of all our labours now we were 
 come to the harvest ; that we might see the hazard 
 the Europeans run with ships and men, and at great 
 expense, to fetch a little gold, and that we, that were 
 in the centre of it, to go away empty-handed was un- 
 accountable ; that we were strong enough to fight our 
 way thi-ough whole nations, and might make our 
 journey afterward to what part of the coast we 
 pleased, and we should never forgive ourselves when 
 we came to our own country to see we had 500 
 pistoles in gold, and might as easily have had 6000 
 or 10,000, or what we pleased ; that he was no more 
 covetous than we, but seeing it was in all our powers 
 to retrieve our misfortuhes at once, and to make our- 
 selves easy for all our lives, he could not be faithful 
 to us, or grateful for the good we had done him, if 
 he did not let us see the advantage we had in our 
 hands ; and he assured us he would make it clear to 
 our own understanding, that we might in two years 
 time, by good management and by the help of our 
 negroes, gather every man a hundred pounds weight 
 of gold, and get together perhaps two hundred ton 
 of teeth ; whereas, if once we pushed on to the coast 
 and separated, we should never be able, to see that 
 [175] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 place again with our eyes, or do any more than 
 sinners did with heaven, — wish themselves there, 
 but know they can never come at it. 
 
 Our surgeon was the first man that yielded to his 
 reasoning, and after him the gunner ; and they too, 
 indeed, had a great influence over us, but none of the 
 rest had any mind to stay, nor I neither, I must con- 
 fess ; for I had no notion of a great deal of money, or 
 what to do with myself, or what to do with it if I 
 had it. I thought I had enough already, and all the 
 thoughts I had about disposing of it, if I came to 
 Europe, was only how to spend it as fast as I could, 
 buy me some clothes, and go to sea again to be a 
 drudge for more. 
 
 However, he prevailed with us by his good words 
 at last to stay but for six months in the country, and 
 then, if we did resolve to go, he would submit ; so 
 at length we yielded to that, and he carried us about 
 fifty English miles south-east, where we found several 
 rivulets of water, which seemed to come all from a 
 great ridge of mountains, which lay to the north-east, 
 and which, by our calculation, must be the beginning 
 that way of the great waste, which we had been 
 forced northward to avoid. 
 
 Here we found the country barren enough, but 
 yet we had by his direction plenty of food ; for the 
 savages round us, upon giving them some of our 
 toys, as I have so often mentioned, brought us in 
 whatever they had ; and here we found some maize, 
 or Indian wheat, which the negro women planted, 
 as we sow seeds in a garden, and immediately our 
 new provider ordered some of our negroes to plant 
 [ 1T6 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it, and it gi'ew up presently, and by watering it 
 often, we had a crop in less than three months' 
 growth. 
 
 As soon as we were settled, and our camp fixed, we 
 fell to the old trade of fishing for gold in the rivers 
 mentioned above, and our English gentleman so well 
 knew how to direct our search, that we scarce ever 
 lost our labour. 
 
 One time, having set us to work, he asked if we 
 would give him leave, with four or five negroes, to 
 go out for six or seven days to seek his fortune, and 
 see what he could discover in the country, assuring 
 us whatever he got should be for the public stock. 
 We all gave him our consent, and lent him a gun ; 
 and two of our men desiring to go with him, they 
 took then six negroes with them, and two of our 
 buffaloes that came with us the whole journey ; they 
 took about eight days' provision of bread with them, 
 but no flesh, except about as much dried flesh as 
 would serve them two days. 
 
 They travelled up to the top of the mountains I 
 mentioned just now, where they saw (as our men 
 afterwards vouched it to be) the same desert which 
 we were so justly terrified at when we were on the 
 farther side, and which, by our calculation, could not 
 be less than 300 miles broad and above 600 miles in 
 length, without knowing where it ended. 
 
 The journal of their travels is too long to enter 
 upon here. They stayed out two-and-fifty days, 
 when they brought us seventeen pound and something 
 more (for we had no exact weight) of gold-dust, some 
 of it in much larger pieces than any we had found 
 X3 [ 177 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 before, besides about fifteen ton of elephants' teeth, 
 which he had, partly by good usage and partly by 
 bad, obliged the savages of the country to fetch, and 
 bring down to him from the mountains, and which 
 he made others bring with him quite down to our 
 camp. Indeed, we wondered what was coming to us 
 when we saw him attended with above 200 negroes ; 
 but he soon undeceived us, when he made them all 
 throw down their burdens on a heap at the entrance 
 of our camp. 
 
 Besides this, they brought two lions' skins, and five 
 leopards' skins, very large and very fine. He asked 
 our pardon for his long stay, and that he had made 
 no greater a booty, but told us he had one excursion 
 more to make, which he hoped should turn to a 
 better account. 
 
 So, having rested himself and rewarded the savages 
 that brought the teeth for him with some bits of 
 silver and iron cut out diamond fashion, and with 
 two shaped like little dogs, he sent them away 
 mightily pleased. 
 
 The second journey he went, some more of our 
 men desired to go with him, and they made a troop 
 of ten white men and ten savages, and the two 
 buffaloes to carry their provisions and ammunition. 
 They took the same course, only not exactly the same 
 track, and they stayed thirty-two days only, in which 
 time they killed no less than fifteen leopards, three 
 lions, and several other creatures, and brought us 
 home four -and-t wen ty pound some ounces of gold- 
 dust, and only six elephants' teeth, but they were 
 very great ones. 
 
 [178] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 .Our friend the Englishman showed us that now our 
 time was well bestowed, for in five months which we 
 had stayed here, we had gathered so much gold-dust 
 that, when we came to share it, we had five pound 
 and a quarter to a man, besides what we had before, 
 and besides six or seven pound weight which we had 
 at several times given our artificer to make baubles 
 with. And now we talked of going forward to the 
 coast to put an end to our journey ; but our guide 
 laughed at us then. " Nay, you can't go now," says 
 he, " for the rainy season begins next month, and 
 there will be no stirring then." This we found, in- 
 deed, reasonable, so we resolved to furnish ourselves 
 with provisions, that we might not be obliged to go 
 abroad too much in the rain, and we spread ourselves 
 sonie one way and some another, as far as we cared 
 to venture, to get provisions ; and our negroes killed 
 us some deer, which we cured as well as we could in 
 the sun, for we had now no salt. 
 
 By this time the rainy months were set in, and we 
 could scarce, for above two months, look out of our 
 huts. But that was not all, for the rivers were so 
 swelled with the land-floods, that we scarce knew the 
 little brooks and rivulets from the great navigable 
 rivers. This had been a very good opportunity to 
 have conveyed by water, upon rafts, our elephants' 
 teeth, of which we had a very great pile ; for, as we 
 always gave the savages some reward for their labour, 
 the very women would bring us teeth upon every 
 opportunity, and sometimes a great tooth carried 
 between two ; so that our quantity was increased to 
 about two-and-twenty ton of teeth. 
 [179 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 As soon as bhe weather proved fair again, he told 
 us he would not press us to any further stay, since 
 we did not care whether we got any more gold or no ; 
 that we were indeed the first men he ever met with 
 in his life that said they had gold enough, and of 
 whom it might be truly said, that, when it lay under 
 our feet, we would not stoop to take it up. But, 
 since he had made us a promise, he would not break 
 it, nor press us to make any further stay ; only he 
 thought he ought to tell us that now was the time, 
 after the land-flood, when the greatest quantity of 
 gold was found ; and that, if we stayed but one 
 month, we should see thousands of savages spread 
 themselves over the whole country to wash the gold 
 out of the sand, for the European ships which would 
 come on the coast ; that they do it then, because the 
 rage of the floods always works down a great deal of 
 gold out of the hills ; and, if we took the advantage 
 to be there before them, we did not know what 
 extraordinary things we might find. 
 
 This was so forcible, and so well argued, that it 
 appeared in all our faces we were prevailed upon ; so 
 we told him we would all stay : for though it was 
 true we were all eager to be gone, vet the evident 
 prospect of so much advantage could not well be re- 
 sisted ; that he was greatly mistaken, when he sug- 
 gested that we did not desire to increase our store 
 of gold, and in that. we were resolved to make the 
 utmost use of the advantage that was in our hands, 
 and would stay as long as any gold was to be had, if 
 it was another year. 
 
 He could hardly express the joy he was in on this 
 [180] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 occasion ; and the fair weather coming on, we began, 
 just as he directed, to search about the rivers for 
 more gold. At first we had but little encourage- 
 ment, and began to be doubtful ; but it was very 
 plain that the reason was, the water was not fully 
 fallen, or the rivers reduced to their usual channel ; 
 but in a few days we were fully requited, and found 
 much more gold than at first, and in bigger lumps ; 
 and one of our men washed out of the sand a piece 
 of gold as big as a small nut, which weighed, by our 
 estimation — for we had no small weights — almost 
 an ounce and a half 
 
 This success made us extremely diligent ; and in 
 little more than a month we had altogether, gotten 
 near sixty pound weight of gold ; but after this, as 
 he told us, we found abundance of the savages, 
 men, women, and children, hunting evevy river and 
 brook, and even the dry land of the hills for gold ; 
 so that we could do nothing like then, compared to 
 what we had done before. 
 
 But our artificer found a way to make other people 
 find us in gold without our own labour ; for, when 
 these people began to appear, he had a considerable 
 quantity of his toys, birds, beasts, &c., such as 
 before, ready for them ; and the English gentleman 
 being the interpreter, he brought the savages to 
 admire them ; so our cutler had trade enough, and, 
 to be sure, sold his goods at a monstrous rate ; 
 for he would get an ounce of gold, sometimes two, 
 for a bit of silver, perhaps of the value of a groat ; 
 nay, if it were iron and if it was of gold, they would 
 not give the more for it ; and it was incredible 
 [181] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 almost to think what a quantity of gold he got that 
 way. 
 
 In a word, to bring this happy journey to a con- 
 clusion, we increased our stock of gold here, in three 
 months' stay more, to such a degree that, bringing 
 it all to a common stock, in order to share it, we 
 divided almost four pound weight again to every 
 man ; and then we set forward for the Gold Coast, 
 to see what method we could find out for our passage 
 into Europe. 
 
 There happened several remarkable incidents in 
 this part of our journey, as to how we were, or were 
 not, received friendly by the several nations of savages 
 through which we passed ; how we delivered one 
 negro king from captivity, who had been a benefactor 
 to our new guide ; and now our guide, in gratitude, 
 by our assistance, restored him to his kingdom, 
 which, perhaps, might contain about 300 subjects ; 
 how he entertained us ; and how he made his sub- 
 jects go with our Englishmen, and fetch all our 
 elephants' teeth which we had been obliged to leave 
 behind us, and to carry them for us to the river, the 
 name of which I forgot, where we made rafts, and in 
 eleven dayS more came down to one of the Dutch 
 settlements on the Gold Coast, where we arrived in 
 perfect health, and to our great satisfaction. As for 
 our cargo of teeth, we sold it to the Dutch factory, 
 and received clothes and other necessaries for our- 
 selves, and such of our negroes as we thought fit to 
 keep with us ; and it is to be observed, that we had 
 four pound of gunpowder left when we ended our 
 journey. The negro prince we made perfectly free, 
 [182] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 clothed hiai out of our common stock, and gave 
 him a pound and a half of gold for himself, which 
 he knew very well how to manage ; and here we all 
 parted after the most friendly manner possible. Our 
 Englishman remained in the Dutch factory some 
 time, and, as I heard afterwards, died there of grief ; 
 for he having sent a thousand pounds sterling over 
 to England, by the way of Holland, for his refuge 
 at his return to his friends, the ship was taken by 
 the French and the effects all lost. 
 
 The rest of my comrades went away, in a small 
 bark, to the two Portuguese factories, near Gambia, 
 in the latitude of fourteen ; and I, with two negroes 
 which I kept with me, went away to Cape Coast 
 Castle, where I got passage for England, and arrived 
 there in September ; and thus ended my first harvest 
 of wild oats ; the rest were not sowed to so much 
 advantage. 
 
 I had neither friend, relation, nor acquaintance 
 in England, though it was my native country ; I 
 had consequently no person to trust with what I 
 had, or to counsel me to secure or save it ; but, fall- 
 ing into ill company, and trusting the keeper of a 
 public-house in Rotherhithe with a great part of my 
 money, and hastily squandering away the rest, all 
 that great sum, which I got with so much pains and 
 hazard, was gone in little more than two years' time ; 
 and, as I even rage in my own thoughts to reflect 
 upon the manner how it was wasted, so I need record 
 no more; the rest merits to be concealed with 
 blushes, for that it was spent in all kinds of folly 
 and wickedness. So this scelie of my life may be 
 [183] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 said to have begun in theft, and ended in luxury , a 
 sad setting-out, and a worse coining home. 
 
 About the year 1 began to see the bottom of 
 
 my stock, and that it was time to think of further 
 adventures ; for my spoilers, as I call them, began 
 to let me know, that as my money declined, their re- 
 spect would ebb with it, and that I had nothing to 
 expect of them further than as I might command it 
 by the force of my money, which, in short, would 
 not go an inch the further for all that had been 
 spent in their favour before. 
 
 This shocked me very much, and I conceived a 
 just abhorrence of their ingratitude ; but it wore 
 off; nor had I met with any regi-et at the wasting 
 so glorious a sum of money as I brought to England 
 with me. 
 
 I next shipped myself, in an evil hour to be sure, 
 
 on a voyage to Cadiz, in a ship called the , and 
 
 in the course of our voyage, being on the coast of 
 Spain, was obliged to put into the Groyn, by a 
 strong southwest wind. 
 
 Here I fell into company with some masters of 
 mischief ; and, among them, one, forwarder than the 
 rest, began an intimate confidence with me, so that 
 we called one another brothers, and communicated 
 all our circumstances to one another. His name 
 was Harris. This fellow came to me one morning, 
 asking me if I would go on shore, and I agreed ; so 
 we got the captain's leave for the boat, and went to- 
 gether. When we were together, he asked me if I 
 had a mind for an adventure that might make 
 amends for all past misfortunes. I told him, yes, 
 [184] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOxN 
 
 with all my heart ; for I did not care where I went, 
 having nothing to lose, and no one to leave behind 
 me. 
 
 He then asked me if I would swear to be secret, 
 and that, if I did not agree to what he proposed, 
 I would nevertheless never betray him. I readily 
 bound myself to that, upon the most solemn impre- 
 cations and curses that the devil and both of us 
 could invent. 
 
 He told me, then, there was a brave fellow in the 
 other ship, pointing to another English ship which 
 rode in the harbour, who, in concert with some of 
 the men, had resolved to mutiny the next morning, 
 and run away with the ship ; and that, if we could 
 get strength enough among our ship's company, we 
 might do the same. I liked the proposal very well, 
 and he got eight of us to join with him, and he told 
 us, that as soon as his friend had begun the work, 
 and was master of the ship, we should be ready to 
 do the like. This was his plot ; and I, without the 
 least hesitation, either at the villainy of the fact or 
 the difficulty of performing it, came immediately 
 into the wicked conspiracy, and so it went on among 
 us ; but we could not bring our part to perfection. 
 
 Accordingly, on the day appointed, his correspon- 
 dent in the other ship, whose name was Wilmot, 
 began the work, and, having seized the captain's 
 mate and other officers, secured the ship, and gave 
 the signal to us. We were but eleven in our ship, 
 who ,were in the conspiracy, nor could we get any 
 more that we could trust ; so that, leaving the ship, 
 we all took the boat, and went off to join the other. 
 [ 185 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Having thus left the ship I was in, we were enter- 
 tained with a great deal of joy by Captain Wilmot 
 and his new gang ; and, being well prepared for all 
 manner of roguery, bold, desperate (I mean myself), 
 without the least checks of conscience for what I was 
 entered upon, or for anything I might do, much less 
 with any apprehension of what might be the conse- 
 quence of it ; I say, having thus embarked with this 
 crew, which at last brought me to consort with the 
 most famous pirates of the age, some of whom have 
 ended their journals at the gallows, I think the giv- 
 ing an account of some of my other adventures may 
 be an agreeable piece of story ; and this I may 
 venture to say beforehand, upon the word of a pirate, 
 that I shall not be able to recollect the full, no, not 
 by far, of the great variety which has formed one of 
 the most reprobate schemes that ever man was capable 
 to present to the world. 
 
 I that was, as I have hinted before, an original 
 thief, and a pirate, even by inclination before, was 
 now in my element, and never undertook anything 
 in my life with more particular satisfaction. 
 
 Captain Wilmot (for so we are now to call him) 
 being thus possessed of a ship, and in the manner as 
 you have heard, it may be easily concluded he had 
 nothing to do to stay in the port, or to wait either 
 the attempts that might be made from the shore, or 
 any change that might happen among his men. On 
 the contrary, we weighed anchor the same tide, and 
 stood out to sea, steering away for the Canaries. 
 Our ship had twenty-two guns, but was able to carry 
 thirty ; and besides, as she was fitted out for a mer- 
 [186] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 chant-ship only, she was not furnished either with 
 ammunition or small-arms sufficient for our design, 
 or for the occasion we might have in case of a fight. 
 So we put into Cadiz, that is to say, we came to an 
 anchor in the bay ; and the captain, and one whom 
 we called young Captain Kidd, who was the gunner, 
 [landed,] and some of the men who could best be 
 trusted, among whom was my comrade Harris, who 
 was made second mate, and myself, who was made a 
 lieutenant. Some bales of English goods were pro- 
 posed to be carried on shore with us for sale, but 
 my comrade, who was a complete fellow at his busi- 
 ness, proposed a better way for it ; and having been 
 in the town before, told us, in short, that he would 
 buy what powder and bullet, small-arms, or anything 
 else we wanted, on his own word, to be paid for 
 when they came on board, in such English goods as 
 we had there. This was much the best way, and 
 accordingly he and the captain went on shore by 
 themselves, and having made such a bargain as they 
 found for their turn, came away again in two hours' 
 time, and bi'inging only a butt of wine and five 
 casks of brandy with them, we all went on board 
 again. 
 
 The next morning two harcos longos came off to 
 us, deeply laden, with five Spaniards on board 
 them, for traffic. Our captain sold them good 
 pennyworths, and they delivered us sixteen barrels 
 of powder, twelve small rundlets of fine powder 
 for our small-arms, sixty muskets, and twelve fusees 
 for the officers ; seventeen ton of cannon-ball, fifteen 
 barrels of musket-bullets, with some swords and 
 [187] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 twenty good pair of pistols. Besides this, tbey 
 brought thirteen butts of wine (for we, that were now 
 all become gentlemen, scorned to drink the ship's 
 beer), also sixteen puncheons of brandy, with twelve 
 barrels of raisins and twenty chests of lemons ; all 
 which we paid for in English goods ; and, over and 
 above, the captain received six hundred pieces of 
 eight in money. They would have come again, but 
 we would stay no longer. 
 
 From hence we sailed to the Canaries, and from 
 thence onward to the West Indies, where we com- 
 mitted some depredation upon the Spaniards for pro- 
 visions, and took some prizes, but none of any great 
 value, while I remained with them, which was not 
 long at that time ; for, having taken a Spanish sloop 
 on the coast of Carthagena, my friend made amotion 
 to me, that we should desire Captain Wilmot to put 
 us into the sloop, with a proportion of arms and 
 ammunition, and let us try what we could do ; she 
 being much fitter for our business than the great 
 ship, and a better sailer. This he consented to, and 
 ■we appointed our rendezvous at Tobago, making an 
 agreement, that whatever was taken by either of our 
 ships should be shared among the ship's company of 
 both ; all which we very punctually observed, and 
 joined our ships again, about fifteen months after, at 
 the island of Tobago, as above. 
 
 We cruised near two years in those seas, chiefly 
 upon the Spaniards ; not that we made any difficulty 
 of taking English ships, or Dutch, or French, if they 
 came in our way ; and particularly. Captain Wilmot 
 attacked a New England ship bound from the 
 [188] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Madeiras to Jamaica, and another bound from New 
 York to Barbados, with provisions ; which last was 
 a very happy supply to us. But the reason why we 
 meddled as little with English vessels as we could, 
 was, first, because, if they were ships of any force, we 
 were sure of more resistance from them ; and, secondly, 
 because we found the English ships had less booty 
 when taken, for the Spaniards generally had money 
 on board, and that was what we best knew what to 
 do with. Captain Wilmot was, indeed, more partic- 
 ularly cruel when he took any English vessel, that 
 they might not too soon have advice of him in Eng- 
 land ; and so the men-of-war have orders to look out 
 for him. But this part I bury in silence for the 
 present. 
 
 We increased our stock in these two years con- 
 siderably, having taken 60,000 pieces of eight in one 
 vessel, and 100,000 in another ; and being thus first 
 grown rich, we resolved to be strong too, for we had 
 taken a brigantine built at Virginia, an excellent 
 sea-boat, and a good sailer, and able to carry twelve 
 guns ; and a large Spanish frigate-built ship, that 
 sailed incomparably well also, and which afterwards, 
 by the help of good carpenters, we fitted up to carry 
 twenty-eight guns. And now we wanted more 
 hands, so we put away for the Bay of Campeachy, not 
 doubting we should ship as many men there as we 
 pleased ; and so we did. 
 
 Here we sold the sloop that I was in ; and Captain 
 
 Wilmot keeping his own ship, I took the command 
 
 of the Spanish frigate as captain, and my comrade 
 
 Harris as eldest lieutenant, and a bold enterprising 
 
 [189] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 fellow he was, as any the world afforded. One cul- 
 verdine was put into the brigantine, so that we were 
 now three stout ships, well manned, and victualled 
 for twelve months ; for we had taken two or three 
 sloops from New England and New York, laden with 
 flour, peas, and barrelled beef and pork, going for 
 Jamaica and Barbados ; and for more beef we went 
 on shore on the island of Cuba, where we killed as 
 many black cattle as we pleased, though we had very 
 little salt to cure them. 
 
 Out of all the prizes we took here we took their 
 powder and bullet, their small-arms and cutlasses ; 
 and as for their, men, we always took the surgeon 
 and the carpenter, as persons who were of particular 
 use to us upon many occasions ; nor were they always 
 unwilling to go with us, though for their own se- 
 curity, in case of accidents, they might easily pre- 
 tend they were carried away by foi'ce ; of which I 
 shall give a pleasant account in the course of my 
 other expeditions. 
 
 We had one very merry fellow here, a Quaker, 
 whose name was William Walters, whom we took 
 out of a sloop bound from Pennsylvania to Barbados. 
 He was a surgeon, and they called him doctor; but 
 he was not employed in the sloop as a surgeon, but 
 was going to Barbados to get a berth, as the sailors 
 call it. However, he had all his surgeon's chests on 
 board, and we made him go with us, and take all 
 his implements with him. He was a comic fellow 
 indeed, a man of very good solid sense, and an 
 excellent surgeon ; but, what was worth all, very 
 good-humoured and pleasant in his conversation, 
 [190] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and a bold, stout, brave fellow too, as any we had 
 among us. 
 
 I found William, as I thought, not very averse to 
 go along with us, and yet resolved to do it so that it 
 might be apparent he was taken away by force, and 
 to this purpose he comes to me. " Friend," says he, 
 " thou sayest I must go with thee, and it is not in 
 my power to resist thee if I would ; but I desire thou 
 wilt oblige the master of the sloop which I am on 
 board to certify under his hand, that I was taken 
 away by force and against my will." And this he 
 said with so much satisfaction in his face, that I 
 could not but understand him. " Ay, ay," says I, 
 " whether it be against your will or no, I'll make 
 him and all the men give you a certificate of it, or 
 I'll take them all along with us, and keep them till 
 they do." So I drew up a certificate myself, wherein 
 I wrote that he was taken away by main force, 
 as a prisoner, by a pirate ship ; that they carried 
 away his chest and instruments first, and then bound 
 his hands behind him and forced him into their 
 boat ; and this was signed by the master and all his 
 men. 
 
 Accordingly I fell a-swearing at him, and called to 
 my men to tie his hands behind him, and so we put 
 him into our boat and carried him away. When I 
 had him on board, I called him to me. "Now, 
 friend," says I, " I have brought you away by force, 
 it is true, but I am not of the opinion I have 
 brought you away so much against' your will as they 
 imagine. Come," says I, " you will be a useful man 
 to us, and you shall have very good usage among us." 
 [191] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 So I unbound his hands, and first ordered all things 
 that belonged to him to be restored to him, and our 
 captain gave him a dram. 
 
 " Thou hast dealt friendly by me," says he, " and 
 I will be plain with thee, whether I came willingly 
 to thee or not. I shall make myself as useful to thee 
 as I can, but thou knowest it is not my business to 
 meddle when thou art to fight." " No, no," says the 
 captain, " but you may meddle a little when we share 
 the money." " Those things are useful to furnish a 
 surgeon's chest," says William, and smiled, " but I 
 shall be moderate." 
 
 In short, William was a most agreeable companion ; 
 but he had the better of us in this part, that if we 
 were taken we were sure to be hanged, and he was 
 sure to escape ; and he knew it well enough. But, 
 in short, he was a sprightly fellow, and fitter to be 
 captain than any of us. I shall have often an 
 occasion to speak of him in the rest of the story. 
 
 Our cruising so long in these seas began now 
 to be so well known, that not in England only, 
 but in France and Spain, accounts had been made 
 public of our adventures, and many stories told 
 how we murdered the people in cold blood, tying 
 them back to back, and throwing them into the 
 sea ; one half of which, however, was not true, 
 though more was done than is fit to speak of here. 
 
 The consequence of this, however, was, that several 
 English men-of-war were sent to the West Indies, 
 and were particularly instructed to cruise in the Bay 
 of Mexico, and the Gulf of Florida, and among the 
 Bahama islands, if possible, to attack us. We were 
 [192] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 not so ignorant of things as not to expect this, after 
 so long a stay in that part of the world ; but the first 
 certain account we had of them was at Honduras, 
 when a vessel coming in from Jamaica told us that 
 two English men-of-war were coming directly from 
 Jamaica thither in quest of us. We were indeed as 
 it were embayed, and could not have made the least 
 shift to have got off, if they had come directly to us ; 
 but, as it happened, somebody had informed them 
 that we were in the Bay of Campeachy, and they 
 went directly thither, by which we were not only free 
 of them, but were so much to the windward of them, 
 that they could not make any attempt upon us, 
 though they had known we were there. 
 
 We took this advantage, and stood away for 
 Carthagena, and from thence with great difficulty 
 beat it up at a distance from under the shore for 
 Sb. Martha, till we came to the Dutch island of 
 Cura^oa, and from thence to the island of Tobago, 
 which, as before, was our rendezvous ; which, being 
 a deserted, uninhabited island, we at the same time 
 made use of for a retreat. Here the captain of the 
 brigantihe died, and Captain Harris, at that time my 
 lieutenant, took the command of the brigantine. 
 
 Here ,we came to a resolution to go away to the 
 coast of Brazil, and from thence to the Cape of Good 
 Hope, and so for the East Indies ; but Captain Harris, 
 as I have said, being now captain of the brigantine, 
 alleged that his ship was too small for so long a 
 voyage, but that, if Captain Wilmot would consent, 
 he would take the hazard of another cruise, and he 
 would follow us in the first ship he could take. So 
 13 [ 193 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we appointed our rendezvous to be at Madagasc 
 which was done by my recommendation of the pla 
 and the plenty of provisions to be had there. 
 
 Accordingly, he went away from us in an evil hoi 
 for, instead of taking a ship to follow us, he v 
 taken, as I heard afterwards, by an English man- 
 war, and being laid in irons, died of mere grief a 
 anger before he came to England. His lieutena 
 I have heard, was afterwards executed in Engla 
 for a pirate ; and this was the end of the man w 
 first brought me into this unhappy trade. 
 
 We parted from Tobago three days after, bendi 
 our course for the coast of Brazil, but had not be 
 at sea above twenty-four hours, when we were se] 
 rated by a terrible storm, which held three da 
 with very little abatement or intermission. In t 
 juncture Captain Wilmot happened, unluckily, to 
 on board my ship, to his great mortification ; for 
 not only lost sight of his ship, but never saw her mi 
 till we came to Madagascar, where she was cast aw 
 In short, after having in this tempest lost our fo 
 topmast, we were forced to put back to the isle 
 Tobago for shelter, and to repair our damage, wh 
 brought us all very near our destruction. 
 
 We were no sooner on shore here, and all very bi 
 looking out for a piece of timber for a topmast, 1 
 we perceived standing in for the shore an Engl 
 man-of-war of thirty-six guns. It was a great s 
 prise to us indeed, because we were disabled so mui 
 but, to our great good fortune, we lay pretty sr 
 and close among the high rocks, and the man-of-i 
 did not see us, but stood off again upon his era 
 [194] 
 
CAPTAIN SIxNGLETON " 
 
 So we only observed which way she went, and at 
 night, leaving our work, resolved to stand off to sea, 
 steering the contrary way from that which we ob- 
 served she went ; and this, we found, had the desired 
 success, for we saw him no more. We had gotten an 
 old mizzen-topmast on board, which made us a jury 
 fore-topmast for the present ; and so we stood away 
 for the isle of Trinidad, where, though there were 
 Spaniards on shore, yet we landed some men with 
 our boat, and cut a very good piece of fir to make 
 us a new topmast, which we got fitted up effectually ; 
 and also we got some cattle here to eke out our pro- 
 visions ; and calling a council of war among ourselves, 
 we resolved to quit those seas for the present, and 
 steer away for the coast of Brazil. 
 
 The first thing we attempted here was only getting 
 fresh water, but we learnt that there lay the Portu- 
 guese fleet at the bay of All Saints, bound for Lisbon, 
 ready to sail, and only waited for a fair wind. This 
 made us lie by, wishing to see them put to sea, and, 
 accordingly as they were with or without convoy, to 
 attack or avoid them. 
 
 It sprung up a fresh gale in the evening at S.W.' 
 by W., which, being fair for the Portugal fleet, and 
 the weather pleasant and agreeable, we heard the 
 signal given to unmoor, and running in under the 
 
 island of Si , we hauled our mainsail and foresail 
 
 up in the brails, lowered the topsails upon the cap, 
 and clewed theii) up, that we might lie as snug as we 
 could, expecting their coming out, and the next 
 morning saw ths whole fleet come out accordingly, 
 but not at all to our satisfaction, for they consisted 
 [ 195 ] • 
 
' CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 f twenty-six sail, and most of them ships of for 
 s well as burthen, both merchantmen and men- 
 'ar ; so, seeing there was no meddling, we lay si 
 rhere we were also, till the fleet was out of sig 
 nd then stood off and on, in hopes of meeting w: 
 arther purchase. 
 
 It was not long before we saw a sail, and imn 
 lately gave her chase ; but she proved an excellt 
 ailer, and, standing out to sea, we saw plainly s 
 rusted to her heels — that is to say, to her sa: 
 lowever, as, we were a clean ship, we gained up 
 er, though slowly and had we had a day before 
 'e should certainly have come up with'her ; but 
 rew dark apace, and in that case we knew we shoi 
 )se sight of her. 
 
 Our merry Quaker, perceiving us to crowd s1 
 fter her in the dark, wherein we could not see whi 
 'ay she went, came very dryly to me. " Frie 
 ingleton," says he, " dost thee know what we t 
 -doing ? " Says I, " Yes ; why, we are chasing y 
 bip, ai'e we not ? " " And how dost thou km 
 hat ? " says he, very gravely still. " Nay, tha 
 rue," says I again ; " we cannot be sure." " Y 
 fiend," says he, " I think we may be sure that 
 re running away from her, not chasing her. I i 
 fraid," adds he, " thou art turned Quaker, and hi 
 Bsolved not to use the hand of power, or art 
 oward, and art flying from thy enemy." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " says I (I think I swore 
 im). " What do you sneer at now ? You hj 
 Iways one dry rub or another to" give us." 
 
 "Nay," says he, "it is plain enough the si 
 • [ 196 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 stood off to sea due east, on purpose to lose us, and 
 thou mayest be sure her business does not lie that 
 way ; for what should she do at the coast of Africa in 
 this latitude, which should be as far south as Congo 
 or Angola? But as soon as it is dark, that we 
 would lose sight of her, she will tack and stand 
 away west again for the Brazil coast and for the bay, 
 where thou knowest she was going before ; and are 
 we not, then, running away from her ? I am greatly 
 in hopes, friend," says the dry, gibing creature, 
 " thou wilt turn Quaker, for I see thou art not for 
 fighting." 
 
 " Very well, William," says I ; " then I shall make 
 an excellent pirate." However, William was in the 
 right, and I apprehended what he meant, imme- 
 diately ; and Captain Wilmot, who lay very sick in 
 his cabin, overhearing us, understood him as well as 
 I, and called out to me that William was right, and 
 it was our best way to change our course, and 
 stand away for 'the bay, where it was ten to one but 
 we should snap her in the morning. 
 
 Accordingly we went about-ship, got our larboard 
 tacks on board, set the top-gallant sails, and crowded, 
 for the bay of All Saints, where we came to an anchor 
 early in the morning, just out of gunshot of the forts ; 
 we furled our sails with rope-yarns, that we might 
 haul home the sheets without going up to loose them, 
 and, lowering our main and fore-yards, looked just as 
 if we had lain there a good while. 
 
 In two hours afterwards we saw our game standing 
 in for the bay with all the sail she could make, and 
 she came innocently into our very mouths, for v/e lay 
 [197] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 still till we saw hei* almost within gunshot, when, our 
 foremost gears being stretched fore and aft, we first 
 ran up our yards, and then hauled home the topsail 
 sheets, the rope-yarns that furled them giving way 
 of themselves ; the sails were set in a few minutes ; 
 at the same time slipping our cable, we came upon 
 her before she could get under way upon the other 
 tack. They were so surprised that they made little 
 or no resistance, but struck after the first broadside. 
 
 We were considering what to do with her, when 
 William came to me. " Hark thee, friend,'" says he, 
 " thou hast made a fine piece of work of it now, hast 
 thou not, to borrow thy neighbour's ship here just 
 at thy neighbour's door, and never ask him leave ? 
 Now, dost thou not think there are some men-of-war 
 in the port '> Thou hast given them the alarm 
 sufficiently ; thou wilt have them upon thy back 
 before night, depend upon it, to ask thee wherefore 
 thou didst so." 
 
 " Truly, William," said I, " for aught I know, that 
 may be true ; what, then, shall we do next ? " Says 
 he, " Thou hast but two things to do : either to go 
 in and take all the rest, or else get thee gone before 
 they come out and take thee ; for I see they are 
 hoisting a topmast to yon great ship, in order to put 
 to sea immediately, and they won't be long before 
 they come to talk with thee, and what wilt thou say- 
 to them when they ask thee why thou borrowedst 
 their ship without leave ? " 
 
 As William said, so it was. We could see by our 
 glasses they were all in a hurry, manning and fitting 
 some sloops they had there, and a large man-of-war, 
 [198] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and it was plain they would soon be with us. But 
 we were not at a loss what to do ; we found the ship 
 we had taken was laden with nothing considerable for 
 our purpose, except some cocoa, some sugar, and 
 twenty barrels of flour ; the rest of her cargo was 
 hides ; so we took out all we thought fit for our turn, 
 and, among the rest, all her ammunition, great shot, 
 and small-arms, and turned her off. We also took 
 a cable and three anchors she had, which were for 
 our purpose, and some of her sails. She had enough 
 left just to carry her into port, and that was all. 
 
 Having done this, we stood on upon the Brazil 
 coast, southward, till we came to the mouth of the 
 river Janeiro. But as we had two days the wind 
 blowing hard at S.E. and S.S.E., we were obliged to 
 come to an anchor under a little island, and wait for 
 a wind. In this time the Portuguese had, it seems, 
 given notice over land to the governor there, that a 
 pirate was upon the coast ; so that, when we came in 
 view of the port, we saw two men-of-war riding just 
 without the bar, whereof one, we foujid, was getting 
 under sail with all possible speed, having slipped her 
 cable on purpose to speak with us ; the other was 
 not so forward, but was preparing to follow. In less 
 than an hour they stood both fair after us, with all 
 the sail they could make. 
 
 Had not the night come on, William's words had 
 been made good ; they would certainly have asked 
 us the question what we did there, for we found the 
 foremost ship gained upon us, especially upon one 
 tack, for we plied away from them to windward; 
 but in the dark losing sight of them, we resolved to 
 [199] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 change our course and stand away directly for sea, 
 not doubting that we should lose them iu the night. 
 
 Whether the Portuguese commander guessed we 
 would do so or no, I know not ; but in the morning, 
 when the daylight appeared, instead of having lost 
 him, we found him in chase of us about a league 
 astern ; only, to our great good fortune, we could see 
 but one of the two. However, this one was a great 
 ship, carried six-and-forty guns, and an admirable 
 sailer, as appeared by her outsailing us ; for our ship 
 was an excellent sailer too, as I have said before. 
 
 When I found this, I easily saw there was no 
 remedy, but we must engage ; and as we knew we 
 could expect no quarter from those scoundrels the 
 Portuguese, a nation I had an original aversion to, I 
 let Captain Wilmot know how it was. The captain, 
 sick as he was, jumped up in the cabin, and would 
 be led out upon the deck (for he was ver}- weak) to 
 see how it was. " Well," says he, " we '11 fight 
 them ! " 
 
 Our men were all in good heart before, but to see 
 the captain so brisk, who had lain ill of a calentuj'e 
 ten or eleven days, gave them double courage, and 
 they went all hands to work to make a clear ship 
 and be ready. William, the Quaker, comes to me 
 with a kind of a sniile. " Friend," says he, " what 
 does yon ship follow us for ? " " Why," says I, " to 
 fight us, you may be sure." " Well," says he, " and 
 will he come up with us, dost thou think ? " " Yes," 
 said I, " you see she will." " Why, then, friend," 
 says the dry wretch, " why dost thou run from her 
 still, when thou seest she will overtake thee ? Will 
 [200] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it be better for us to be overtaken farther off than 
 here ? " " Much as one for that," says I ; " why, what 
 would you have us do ? " " Do ! " says he ; " let us 
 not give the poor man more trouble than needs must ; 
 let us stay for him and hear what he has to say to 
 us." " He will talk to us in powder and ball," said I. 
 " Very well, then," says he, " if that be his country 
 language, we must talk to him in the same, must we 
 not ? or else how shall he understand us ? " " Very 
 well, William," says I, " we understand you." And 
 the captain, as ill as he was, called to me, " William 's 
 right again," says he; "as good here as a league 
 farther." So he gives a word of command, "Haul 
 up the main-sail ; we '11 shorten sail for him." 
 
 Accordingly we shortened sail, and as we expected 
 her upon our lee-side, we being then upon our star- 
 board tack, brought eighteen of our guns to the lar- 
 boarf side, resolving to give him a broadside that 
 should warm him. It was about half-an-hour before 
 he came up with us, all which time we luffed up, 
 that we might keep the wind of him, by which he 
 was obliged to run up under our lee, as we designed 
 hini ; when we got him upon our quarter, we edged 
 down, and received the fire of five or six of his guns. 
 By this time you may be sure all our hands were at 
 their quarters, so we clapped our helm hard a-weather, 
 let go the lee-braces of the maintop sail, and laid 
 it a-back, and so our ship fell athwart the Portu- 
 guese ship's hawse ; then we immediately poured in 
 our broadside, raking them fore and aft, and killed 
 them a great many men. 
 
 The Portuguese, we could see, were in the utmost 
 [201] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 confusion ; and not being aware of our design, their 
 ship having fresh way, ran their bowsprit into tlie 
 fore part of our main shrouds, as that they could 
 not easily get clear of us, and so we lay locked after 
 that manner. The enemy could not bring above 
 five or six guns, besides their small-arms, to bear 
 upon us, while we played our whole broadside upon 
 him. 
 
 In the middle of the heat of this fight, as I was 
 very busy upon the quarter-deck, the captain calls 
 to me, for he never stirred from us, " What the 
 devil is friend William a-doing yonder.?" says the 
 captain ; " has he any business upon deck ? " I 
 stepped forward, and there was friend William, with 
 two or three stout fellows, lashing the ship's bow- 
 sprit fast to our main-mast, for fear they should get 
 away from us ; and every now and then he pulled 
 a bottle out of his pocket, and gave the men a dram 
 to encourage them. The shot flew about his ears 
 as thick as may be supposed in such an action, where 
 the Portuguese, to give them their due, fought very 
 briskly, believing at first they were sure of their 
 game, and trusting to their supei'iority ; but there 
 was William, as composed, and in as perfect tran- 
 quillity as to danger, as if he had been over a bowl 
 of punch, only very busy securing the matter, that a 
 ship of forty-six guns should not run away from a 
 ship of eight-and-twenty. 
 
 This work was too hot to hold long ; our men be- 
 haved bravely : our gunner, a gallant man, shouted 
 below, pouring in his shot at such a rate, that the 
 Portuguese began to slacken their fire ; we had dis- 
 [202 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 mounted several of their guns by firing in at their fore- 
 castle, and raking them, as I said, fore and aft. Pres- 
 ently comes William up to me. "Friend," says he, 
 very calmly, " what dost thou mean 'i Why dost thou 
 not visit thy neighbour in the ship, the door being 
 open for thee .''" I understood him immediately, for 
 our guns had so torn tiieir hull, that we had beat 
 two port-holes into one, and the bulk-head of their 
 steerage was split to pieces, so that they could not 
 retire to their close quarters ; so I ga\e the word 
 iinmediattly to board them. Our second lieutenant, 
 with about thirty men, entered in an instant over 
 the forecastle, followed by some more with the boat- 
 swain, and cutting in pieces about twenty-five men 
 that the;, found upon the deck, and then throwing 
 some grenadoes into the steerage, they entered there 
 also ; upon which the Portuguese cried quarter 
 presently, and we mastered the ship, contrary indeed 
 to our own expectation ; for we w ould have com- 
 pounded with them if they would have sheered off": 
 but laying them athwart the hawse at first, and fol- 
 lowing our fire furiously, without giving them any 
 time to get clear of us and work their ship ; by this 
 means, though they had six-and-forty guns, they 
 were not able to fight above five or six, as I said 
 above, for we beat them immediately from their 
 guns in the forecastle, and killed them abundance 
 of men between decks, so that ^vhen we entered they 
 had hardly found men enough to fight us hand to 
 hand upon their deck. 
 
 The surprise of joy to hear the Portuguese cry 
 quarter, and see then- ancient struck, was so great 
 [ 203 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to our captain, who, as I have said, was reduced very 
 weak with a high fever, that it gave him new life. 
 Nature conquered the distemper, and the fever abated 
 that very night ; so that in two or three days he was 
 sensibly better, his strength began to come, and he 
 was able to give his orders effectually in everything 
 that was material, and in about ten days was en- 
 tirely well and about the ship. 
 
 In the meantime I took possession of the Portu- 
 guese man-of-war ; and Captain Wilmot made me, 
 or rather I made myself, captain of her for the 
 present. About thirty of their seamen took service 
 with us, some of which were French, some Genoese ; 
 and we set the rest on shore the next day on a little 
 island on the coast of Brazil, except some wounded 
 men, who were not in a condition to be removed, 
 and whom we were bound to keep on board ; but we 
 had an occasion afterwards to dispose of them at the 
 Cape, where, at their own request, we set them on 
 shore. 
 
 Captain Wilmot, as soon as the ship was taken, 
 and the prisoners stowed, was for standing in for the 
 I'iver Janeiro again, not doubting but we should 
 meet with the other man-of-war, who, not having 
 been able to find us, and having lost the company 
 of her comrade, would certainly be returned, and 
 might be surprised by the ship we had taken, if we , 
 carried Portuguese colours ; and our men were all 
 for it. 
 
 But our friend William ga,ve us better counsel, 
 for he came to me, " Friend," says he, " I under- 
 stand the captain is for sailing back to the Rio 
 [204] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Janeiro, in hopes to meet with the other ship that 
 was in chase of thee yesterday. Is it true, dost 
 ■thou intend it ? " " Why, yes," says I, « William, 
 pray why not ? " " Nay," says he, " thou mayest 
 do so if thou wilt.'' " Well, I know that too, 
 William,'" sai3 I, " but the captain is a man will be 
 ruled by reason ; what have you to say to it ? " 
 " Why," says William gravely, " I only ask what is 
 thy busihess, and the business of all the people 
 thou hast with thee ? Is it not to get money ? " 
 " Yes, William, it is so, in our honest way." " And 
 wouldest thou," says he, " rather have money with- 
 out fighting, or fighting without money ? I mean 
 which wouldest thou have by choice, suppose it to 
 be left to thee ? " " O William," says I, " the first 
 of the two, to be sure." "Why, then," says he, 
 " what great gain hast thou made of the prize thou 
 hast taken now, though it has cost the lives of thir- 
 teen of thy men, besides some hurt ? It is true thou 
 hast got the ship and some prisoners ; but thou 
 wouldest have had twice the booty in a merchant- 
 ship, with not one quarter of the fighting ; and how 
 dost thou know either what force or what number of 
 men may be in the other ship, and what loss thou 
 mayest suffer, and what gain it shall be to thee if 
 thou take her ? I think, indeed, thou mayest much 
 better let her alone." 
 
 "Why, William, it is true," said I, "and Til go 
 tell the captain what your opinion is, and bring you 
 word what he says." Accordingly in I went to the 
 captain and told him William's reasons ; and the 
 captain was of his mind, that our business was indeed 
 [ 205 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 fighting when we could not help it, but that our 
 main affair was money, and that with as few blows 
 as we could. So that adventure was laid aside, and 
 we stood along shore again south for the river De la 
 Plata, expecting some purchase thereabouts ; es- 
 pecially we had our eyes upon some of the Spanish 
 ships from Buenos Ayres, which are generally very 
 rich in silver, and one such prize would have done 
 our business. We plied about here, in the latitude 
 of south, for near a month, and nothing of- 
 fered ; and here we began to consult what we should 
 do next, for we had come to no resolution yet. In- 
 deed, my design was always for the Cape de Bona 
 Speranza, and so to the East Indies. I had heard 
 some flaming stories of Captain Avery, and the fine 
 things he had done in the Indies, which were doubled 
 and doubled, even ten thousand fold ; and from tak- 
 ing a great prize in the Bay of Bengal, where he tooic 
 a lady, said to be the Great Mogul's daughter, with 
 a great quantity of jewels about her, we had a story 
 told us, that he took a Mogul ship, so the foolish 
 sailors called it, laden with diamonds. 
 
 I would fain have had friend William's advice 
 whither we should go, but he always put it off with 
 some quaking quibble or other. In short, he did not 
 care for directing us neither ; whether he made a 
 piece of conscience of it, or whether he did not care 
 to venture- having it come against him afterwards or 
 no, this I know not; but we concluded at last 
 without him. 
 
 We were, however, pretty long in resolving, and 
 hankered about the Rio de la Plata a long time. At 
 [ 206 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 last we spied a sail to windward, and it was such a 
 sail as I believe had not been seen in that part of 
 the world a great while. It wanted not that we 
 should give it chase, for it stood directly towards us, 
 as well as they that steered could make it ; and even 
 that was more accident of weather than anything 
 else, for if the wind had chopped about anywhere 
 they must have gone with it. I leave any man that 
 is a sailor, or understands anything of a ship, to 
 judge what a figure this ship made when we first saw 
 her, and what we could imagine was the matter with 
 her. Her maintop-mast was come by the board 
 about six foot above the cap, and fell forward, the 
 head of the topgallant- mast hanging in the fore- 
 shrouds by the stay ; at the same time the parrel of 
 the mizzen-topsail-yard by some accident giving 
 way, the mizzen-topsail-braces (the standing part 
 of which being fast to the main-topsail shrouds) 
 brought the mizzen-topsail, yard and all, down with 
 it, which spread over part of the quarter-deck like an 
 awning; the fore-topsail was hoisted up two-thirds 
 of the mast, but the sheets were flown ; the fore-yard 
 was lowered down upon the forecastle, the sail loose, 
 and part of it hanging overboard. In this manner 
 she came down upon us with the wind quartering. 
 In a word, the figure the whole ship made was the 
 most confounding to men that understood the sea 
 that ever was seen. She had no boat, njeither had 
 she any colours out. 
 
 When we came near to her; we fired a gun to bring 
 her to. She took no notice of it, nor of us, but 
 came on just as she did before. We fired again, but 
 [207 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it was all one. At length we came within pistol- 
 shot of one another, but nobody answered nor ap- 
 peared ; so we began to think that it was a ship gone 
 ashore somewhere in distress, and the men having 
 forsaken her, the high tide had floated her off to 
 sea. Coming nearer to her, we ran up alongside 
 of her so close that we could hear a noise within 
 her, and see the motion of several people through 
 her ports. 
 
 Upon this we manned out two boats full of men, 
 and very well armed, and ordered them to board her 
 at the same minute, as near as they could, and to 
 enter one at '.ler fore-chains on the one side, and the 
 other amidships on the other side. As soon as they 
 came to the ship's side, a surprising multitude of 
 black sailors, such as they were, appeared upon deck, 
 and, in short, terrified our men so much that the 
 boat which was to enter her men in the waist stood 
 off again, and durst not board her ; and the men that 
 entered out of the other boat, finding the first boat, 
 as they thought, beaten off, and seeing the ship full 
 of men, jumped all back again into their boat, and 
 put off, not knowing what the matter was. Upon 
 this we prepared to pour in a broadside upon her ; 
 but our friend William set us to rights again here ; 
 for it seems he guessed how it was sooner than we 
 did, and coming up to me (for it was our ship that 
 tame up with her), " Friend," says he, " I am of 
 opinion that thou art wrong in this matter, and thy 
 men have been wrong also in their conduct. I '11 
 tell thee how thou shalt take this ship, without 
 making use of those things called guns." "How 
 [208] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 can that be, William ? " said I. « Why," said he, 
 " thou mayest take her with thy helm ; thou seest 
 they keep no steerage, and thou seest the condition 
 they are in ; board her with thy ship upon her lee 
 quarter, and so enter her from the ship. I am per- 
 suaded thou wilt take her without fighting, for there 
 is some mischief has befallen the ship, which we 
 know nothing of." 
 
 In a word, it being a smooth sea, and little wind, 
 I took his advice, and laid her aboard. Immediately 
 our men entered the ship, where we found a large 
 ship, with upwards of 600 negroes, men and women, 
 boys and girls, and not one Christian or white man 
 on board. 
 
 I was struck with horror at the sight ; for imme- 
 diately I concluded, as was partly the case, that these 
 black devils had got loose, had murdered all the 
 white men, and thrown them into the sea ; and I 
 had no sooner told my mind to the men, but the 
 thought so enraged them that I had much ado to 
 keep my men from cutting them all in pieces. But 
 William, with many persuasions, prevailed upon 
 them, by telling them that it was nothing but what, 
 if they were in the negroes' condition, they would 
 do if they could ; and that the negroes had really 
 the highest injustice done them, to be sold for slaves 
 without their consent ; and that the law of nature 
 dictated it to them; that they ought not to kill 
 them, and that it would be wilful murder to do it. 
 
 This prevailed with them, and cooled their first 
 heat ; so they only knocked down twenty or thirty 
 of them, and the rest ran all down between decks to 
 u [ 209 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 their first places, believing, as we fancied, that we 
 were their first masters come again. 
 
 It was a most unaccountable difficulty we had 
 next ; for we could not make them understand one 
 word we said, nor could we understand one word 
 ourselves that they said. We endeavoured by signs 
 to ask them whence they came ; but they could 
 make nothing of it. We pointed to the great cabin, 
 to the round-house, to the cook-room, then to our 
 faces, to ask if they had no white men on board, and 
 where they were gone ; but they could not under- 
 stand what we meant. On the other hand, they 
 pointed to our boat and to their ship, asking ques- 
 tions as well as they could, and said a thousand 
 things, and expressed themselves with great earnest- 
 ness ; but we could not understand a word of it all, 
 or know what they meant by any of their signs. 
 
 We knew very well they must have been taken 
 on board the ship as slaves, and that it must be by 
 some European people too. We could easily see 
 that the ship was a Dutch-built ship, but very much 
 altered, having been built upon, and, as we supposed, 
 in France ; for we found two or three French books 
 on board, and afterwards we found clothes, linen, 
 lace, some old shoes, and several other things. We 
 found among the provisions some baiTels of Irish 
 beef, some Newfoundland fish, and several other 
 evidences that there had been Christians on board, 
 but saw no remains of them. We found not a sword, 
 gun, pistol, or weapon of any kind, except some cut- 
 lasses ; and the negi-oes had hid them below where 
 they lay. We asked them what was become of all 
 [210] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the small-arms, pointing to our own and to the 
 places where those belonging to the ship had hung. 
 One of the negroes understood me presently, and 
 beckoned to me to come upon the deck, where, 
 taking my fuzee, which I never let go out of my 
 hand for some time after we had mastered the ship — 
 I say, offering to take hold of it, he made the proper 
 motion of throwing it into the sea; by which I 
 understood, as I did afterwards, that they had 
 thrown all the small-arms, powder, shot, swords, &c., 
 into the sea, believing, as I supposed, those things 
 would kill them, though the men were gone. 
 
 After we understood this we made no question but 
 that the ship's crew, having been surprised by these 
 desperate rogues, had gone the same way, and had 
 been thrown overboard also. We looked all over 
 the ship to see if we could find any blood, and we 
 thought we did perceive some in several places ; but 
 the heat of the sun, melting the pitch and tar upon 
 the decks, made it impossible for us to discern it 
 exactly, except in the round-house, where we plainly 
 ,saw that there had been much blood. We found 
 the scuttle open, by which we supposed that the 
 captain and those that were with him had made 
 their retreat into the great cabin, or those in the 
 cabin had made their escape up into the round-house. 
 
 But that which confirmed us most of all in what 
 had happened was that, upon further inquiry, we 
 found that there were seven or eight of the negroes 
 very much wounded, two or three of them with shot, 
 whereof one had his leg broken and lay in a miserable 
 condition, the flesh being mortified, and, as our friend 
 [211] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 William said, in two days more he would have died. 
 William was a most dexterous surgeon, and he showed 
 it in this cure ; for though all the surgeons we had on 
 board both our ships (and we had no less than five that 
 called themselves bred surgeons, besides two or three 
 who were pretenders or assistants) — though all these 
 gave their opinions that the negro's leg must be cut 
 off, and that his life could not be saved without it ; 
 that the mortification had touched the marrcJw in the 
 bone, that the tendons were mortified, and that he 
 could never have the use of his leg if it should be 
 cured, William said nothing in general, but that his 
 opinion was otherwise, and that he desired the wound 
 might be searched, and that he would then tell them 
 further. Accordingly he went to work with the leg ; 
 and, as' he desired that he might have some of the 
 surgeons to assist him, we appointed him two of the 
 ablest of them to help, and all of them to look on, 
 if they thought fit. 
 
 William went to work his own way, and some of 
 them pretended to find fault at first. However, he 
 proceeded and searched every part of the leg where 
 he suspected the mortification had touched it ; in a 
 word, he cut off a great deal of mortified flesh, in all 
 which the poor fellow felt no pain. William pro- 
 ceeded till he brought the vessels which he had cut 
 to bleed, and the man to cry out ; then he reduced 
 the splinters of the bone, and, calling for help, set it, 
 as we call it, and bound it up, and laid the man to 
 rest, who found himself much easier than before. 
 
 At the first opening the surgeons began to triumph ; 
 the mortification seemed to spread, and a long red 
 [212] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 streak of blood appeared from the wound upwards 
 to the middle of the man's thigh, and the surgeons 
 told rae the man would die in a few hours. I went 
 to look at it, and found William himself under some 
 surprise ; but when I asked him how long he thought 
 the poor fellow could live, he looked gravely at me, 
 and saidj " As long as thou canst ; I am not at all 
 apprehensive of his life," said he, " but I would cure 
 him, if I could, without making a cripple of him." 
 I found he was not just then upon the operation as 
 to his leg, but was mixing up something to give the 
 poor creature, to repel, as I thought, the spreading 
 contagion, and to abate or prevent any feverish 
 temper that might happen in the blood ; after which 
 he went to work again, and opened the leg in two 
 places above the wound, cutting out a great deal of 
 mortified flesh, which it seemed was occasioned by 
 the bandage, which had pressed the parts too much ; 
 and withal, the blood being at the time in a more 
 than common disposition to mortify, might assist to 
 spread it. 
 
 Well, our friend William conquered all this, cleared 
 the spreading mortification, and the red streak went 
 off again, the flesh began to heal, and matter to run ; 
 and in a few days the man's spirits began to recover, 
 his pulse beat regular, he had no fever, and gathered 
 strength daily ; and, in a word, he was a perfect sound 
 man in about ten weeks, and we kept him amongst us, 
 and made him an able seaman. But to return to the 
 ship : we never could come at a certain information 
 about it, till some of the negroes which we kept on 
 board, and whom we taught to speak English, gave 
 [213 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the account of it afterwards, and this maimed man 
 in particular. 
 
 We inquired, by all the signs and motions we 
 could imagine, what was become of the people, and 
 yet we could get nothing from them. Our lieu- 
 tenant was for torturing some of them to make them 
 confess, but William opposed that vehemently ; and 
 when hfe heard it was under consideration he came to 
 me. " Friend," says he, " I make a request to thee 
 not to put any of these poor wretches to torment." 
 " Why, William," said I, " why not ? You see they 
 will not give any account of what is become of the 
 white men." " Nay," says William, " do not say so 
 I suppose they have given thee a full account ol 
 every particular of it." " How so ? " says I ; " pray 
 what are we the wiser for all their jabbering?'' 
 " Nay," says William, "that maybe thyfault, for aught 
 I know ; thou wilt not punish the poor men because 
 they cannot speak English ; and perhaps they never 
 heard a word of English before. Now, I may very 
 well suppose that they have given thee a large ac- 
 count of everything ; for thou seest with what earnest- 
 ness, and how long, some of them have talked to 
 thee ; and if thou canst not understand their lan- 
 guage, nor they thine, how can they help that ? 
 At the best, thou dost but suppose that they have 
 not told thee the whole truth of the story ; and, on 
 the contrary, I suppose they have ; and how wilt thou 
 decide the question, whether thou art right or 
 whether I am right ? Besides, what can they say to 
 thee when thou askest them a question upon the tor- 
 ture, and at the same time they do not understand 
 [214] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the question, and thou dost not know whether they 
 say ay or no ? " 
 
 It is no compliment to my moderation to say I 
 was convinced by these reasons ; and yet we had all 
 much ado to keep our second lieutenant from murder- 
 ing some of them, to make them tell. What if they 
 had told ? He did not understand one word of it ; 
 but he would not be persuaded but that the negi-oes 
 must needs understand him when he asked them 
 whether the ship had any boat or no, like ours, and 
 what was become of it. 
 
 But there was no remedy but to wait till we made 
 these people understand English, and to adjourn the 
 story till that time. The case was thus : where they 
 were taken on board the ship, that we could never 
 understand, because they never knew the English 
 names which we give to those coasts, or what nation 
 they were who belonged to the ship, because they 
 knew not one tongue from another ; but thus far 
 the negro I examined, who was the same whose leg 
 William had cured, told us, that they did not speak 
 the same language as we spoke, nor the same our 
 Portuguese spoke ; so that in all probability they 
 must be French or Dutch. 
 
 Then he told us that the white men used them 
 barbarously ; that they beat them unmercifully ; that 
 one of the negro men had a wife and two negro 
 children, one a daughter, about sixteen years old; 
 that a white man abused the negro man's wife, and 
 afterwards his daughter, which, as he said, made all 
 the negro men mad ; and that the woman's husband 
 was in a great rage ; at which the white man was so 
 [215] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 provoked that he threatened to kill him ; but, in the 
 night, the negro man, being loose, got a great club, 
 by which he made us understand he meant a hand- 
 spike, and that when the same Frenchman (if it was a 
 Frenchman) came among them again, he began again 
 to abuse the negro man's wife, at which the negro, tak- 
 ing up the handspike, knocked his brains out at one 
 blow ; and then taking the key from him with which 
 he usually unlocked the handcuffs which the negroes 
 were fettered with, he set about a hundred of them 
 at liberty, who, getting up upon the deck by the 
 same scuttle that the white men came down, and 
 taking the man's cutlass who was killed, and laying 
 hold of what came next them, they fell upon the 
 men that were upon the deck, and killed them all, 
 and afterwards, those they found upon the forecastle ; 
 that the captain and his other men, who were in the 
 cabin and the round-house, defended themselves with 
 great courage, and shot out at the loopholes at them, 
 by which he and several other men were wounded, 
 and some killed ; but that they broke into the 
 round-house after a long dispute, where they killed 
 two of the white men, but owned that the two 
 white men killed eleven of their men before they 
 could break in ; and then the rest, having got down 
 the scuttle into the great cabin, wounded three more 
 of them. 
 
 That, after this, the gunner of the ship having 
 secured himself in the gun-room, one of his men 
 hauled up the long-boat close under the stern, and 
 putting into her all the arms and ammunition they 
 could come at, got all into the boat, and afterwards 
 [216] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 took in the captain, and those that were with him, 
 out of the great cabin. When they were all thus 
 embarked, they resolved to lay the ship aboard again, 
 and try to recover it. That they boarded the ship 
 in a desperate manner, and killed at first all that 
 stood in their way; but the negroes being by this 
 time all loose, and having gotten some arms, though 
 they understood nothing of powder and bullet, or 
 guns, yet the men could never master them. How- 
 ever, they lay under the ship's bow, and got out all 
 the men they had left in the cook-room, who had 
 maintained themselves there, notwithstanding all the 
 negroes could do, and with their small-arms killed 
 between thirty and forty of the negroes, but were at 
 last forced to leave them. 
 
 They could give me no account whereabouts this 
 was, whether near the coast of Africa, or far oft", or 
 how long it was before the ship fell into our hands ; 
 only, in general, it was a great while ago, as they 
 called it ; and, by all we could learn, it was within 
 two or three days after they had set sail from the 
 coast. They told us that they had killed about 
 thirty of the white men, having knocked them on 
 the head with crows and handspikes, and such things 
 as they could get ; and one strong negro killed three 
 of them with an iron crow, after he was shot twice 
 through the body ; and that he was afterwards shot 
 through the head by the captain himself at the door 
 of the round-house, which he had split open with the 
 crow ; and this we supposed was the occasion of the 
 great quantity of blood which we saw at the round- 
 house door. 
 
 [217] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 The same negro told us that they threw all the 
 powder and shot they could find into the sea, and 
 they would have thrown the great guns into the sea 
 if they could have lifted them. Being asked how 
 they came to have their sails in such a condition, his 
 answer was, " They no understand ; they no know 
 what the sails do ; " that was, they did not so much 
 as know that it was the sails that made the ship go, 
 or understand what they meant, or what to do with 
 them. When we asked him whither they were going, 
 he said they did not know, but believed they should 
 go home to their own country again. I asked him, 
 in particular, what he thought we were when we first 
 came up. with them ? He said they were terribly 
 frighted, believing we were the same white men that 
 had gone away in their boats, and were come again 
 in a great ship, with the two boats with them, and 
 expected they would kill them all. 
 
 This was the account we got out of them, after we 
 had taught them to speak English, and to under- 
 stand the names and use of the things belonging to 
 the ship which they had occasion to speak of ; and 
 we observed that the fellows were too innocent to 
 dissemble in their relation, and that they all agreed 
 in the particulars, and were always in the same story, 
 which confirmed very much the truth of what they 
 said. 
 
 Having taken this ship, our next difficulty was, 
 what to do with the negroes. The Portuguese in 
 the Brazils would have bought them all of us, and 
 been glad of the purchase, if we had not showed our- 
 selves enemies there, and been known for pirates ; 
 [218] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 but, as it was, we durst not go ashore anywhere 
 thereabouts, or treat with any of the planters, 
 because we should raise the whole country upon us ; 
 and, if there were any such things as men-of-war in 
 any of their ports, we should be as sure to be attacked 
 by them, and by all the force they had by land or 
 sea. 
 
 Nor could we think of any better success if we went 
 northward to our own plantations. One while we 
 determined to carry them all away to Buenos Ayres, 
 and sell them there to the Spaniards ; but they were 
 really too many for them to make use of; and to 
 carry them round to the South Seas, which was the 
 only remedy that was left, was so far that we 
 should be no way able to subsist them for so long 
 a voyage. 
 
 At last, our old, never-failing friend, William, 
 helped us out again, as he had often done at a dead 
 lift. His proposal was this, that he should go as 
 master of the ship, and about twenty men, such as 
 we could best trust, and attempt to trade privately, 
 upon the coast of Brazil, with the planters, not at 
 the principal ports, because that would not be 
 admitted. 
 
 We all agreed to this, and appointed to go away 
 ourselves towards the Rio de le Plata, where we had 
 thought of going before, and to wait for him, not 
 there, but at Port St. Pedro, as the Spaniards call 
 it, lying at the mouth of the river which they call 
 Rio Grande, and where the Spaniards had a small 
 fort and a few people, but we believe there was no- 
 body in it, 
 
 [219] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Here we took up our station, cruising off and on, 
 to see if we could meet any ships going to or coming 
 from the Buenos Ayres or the Rio de la Plata ; but 
 we met with nothing worth notice. However, we 
 employed ourselves in things necessary for our going 
 off to sea ; for we filled all our water-casks, and got 
 some fish for our present use, to spare as much as 
 possible our ship's stores. 
 
 William, in the meantime, went away to the north, 
 and made the land about the Cape de St. Thomas ; 
 and betwixt that and the isles De Tuberon he found 
 means to trade with the planters for all his negroes, 
 as well the women as the men, and at a very good 
 price too ; for William, who spoke Portuguese pretty 
 well, told them a fair story enough, that the ship 
 was in scarcity of provisions, that they were driven 
 a great way out of their way, and indeed, as we say, 
 out of their knowledge, and that they must go up to 
 the northward as far as Jamaica, or sell there upon 
 the coast. This was a very plausible tale, and was 
 easily believed ; and, if you observe the manner of 
 the negroes' sailing, and what happened in their 
 voyage, was every word of it true. 
 
 By this method, and being true to one another, 
 William passed for what he was — I mean, for a very 
 honest fellow ; and by the assistance of one planter, 
 who sent to some of his neighbour planters, and 
 managed the trade among themselves, he got a quick 
 market ; for in less than five weeks William sold all 
 his negroes, and at last sold the ship itself, and 
 shipped himself and his twenty men, with two negro 
 boys whom he had left, in a sloop, one of those 
 [220 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 which the planters used to send on board for the 
 negroes. With this sloop Captain William, as we 
 then called him, came away, and found us at Port St. 
 Pedro, in the latitude of 32 degrees 30 minutes 
 south. 
 
 Nothing was more surprising to us than to see a 
 sloop come along the coast, carrying Portuguese 
 colours, and come in directly to us, after we were 
 assured he had discovered both our ships. We fired 
 a gun, upon her nearer approach, to bring her to an 
 anchor, but immediately she fired five guns by way of 
 salute, and spread her English ancient. Then we 
 began to guess it was friend William, but wondered 
 what was the meaning of his being in a sloop, 
 whereas we sent him away in a ship of near 300 tons ; 
 but he soon let us into the whole history of his 
 management, with which we had a great deal of 
 reason to be very well satisfied. As soon as he had 
 brought the sloop to an anchor, he came aboard of 
 my ship, and there he gave us an account how he 
 began to trade by the help of a Portuguese planter, 
 who lived near the seaside ; how he went on shore 
 and went up to the first house he could see, and 
 asked the man of the house to sell him some hogs, 
 pretending at first he only stood in upon the coast 
 to take in fresh water and buy some provisions ; and 
 the man not only sold him seven fat hogs, but invited 
 him in, and gave him, and five men he had with him, 
 a very good dinner ; and he invited the planter on 
 board his ship, and, in return for his kindness, gave 
 him a negro girl for his wife. 
 
 This so obliged the planter that the next morning 
 [221 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 he sent him on board, in a great luggage-boat, a cow 
 and two sheep, with a chest of sweetmeats and some 
 sugar, and a great bag of tobacco, and invited Cap- 
 tain William on shoi-e again ; that, after this, they 
 grew from one kindness to another ; that they began 
 to talk about trading for some negroes ; and William, 
 pretending it was to do him service, consented to sell 
 him thirty negroes for his private use in his planta- 
 tion, for which he gave William ready money in gold, 
 at the rate of five-and-thirty moidores per head ; but 
 the planter was obliged to use great caution in the 
 bringing them on shore ; for which purpose he 
 made William weigh and stand out to sea, and put 
 in again, about fifty miles farther north, where at a 
 little creek he took the negroes on shore at another 
 plantation, being a finend's of his, whom, it seems, he 
 could trust. 
 
 This remove brought William into a further 
 intimacy, not only with the first planter, but also 
 with his friends, who desired to have some of the 
 negroes also ; so that, from one to another; they 
 bought so many, till one overgrown planter took 100 
 negroes, which was all William had left, and sharing 
 them with another planter, that other planter chaf- 
 fered with William for ship and all, giving him in 
 exchange a very clean, large, well-built sloop of near 
 sixty tons, very well furnished, carrying six guns ; 
 but we made her afterwards carry twelve guns. 
 William had 300 moidores of gold, besides the sloop, 
 in payment for the ship ; and with this money he 
 stored the sloop as full as she could hold with provi- 
 sions, especially bread, some pork, and about sixty 
 [222] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 hogs alive; among the rest, WiUiam got eighty 
 barrels of good gunpowder, which was very much for 
 our purpose ; and aU the provisions which were in 
 the French ship he took out also. 
 
 This was a very agreeable account to us, especially 
 when we saw that William had received in gold 
 coined, or by weight, and some Spanish silver, 
 60,000 pieces of eight, besides a new sloop, and a 
 vast quantity of provisions. 
 
 We were very glad of the sloop in particular, and 
 began to consult what we should do, whether we had 
 not best turn off our great Portuguese ship, and stick 
 to our first ship and the sloop, seeing we had scarce 
 men enough for all three, and that the biggest ship 
 was thought too big for our business. However, 
 another dispute, which was now decided, brought the 
 first to a conclusion. The first dispute was, whither 
 we should go. My comrade, as I called him now, 
 that is to say, he that was my captain before we took 
 this Portuguese man-of-war, was for going to the 
 South Seas, and coasting up the west side of America, 
 where we could not fail of making several good prizes 
 upon the Spaniards ; and that then, if occasion 
 required it, we might come home by the South Seas 
 to the East Indies, and so go round the globe, as 
 others had done before us. 
 
 But my head lay another way. I had been in the 
 East Indies, and had entertained a notion ever since 
 that, if we went thither, we could not fail of making 
 good work of it, and that we might have a safe re- 
 treat, and good beef to victual our ship, among my 
 old friends the natives of Zanzibar, on the coast of 
 [223] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Mozambique, or the island of St. Lawrence. I say, 
 my thoughts lay this way ; and I read so many lectures 
 to them all of the advantages they would certainly 
 make of their strength by the prizes they would take 
 in the Gulf of Mocha, or the Red Sea, and on the 
 coast of Malabar, or the Bay of Bengal, that I amazed 
 them. 
 
 With these arguments I prevailed on them, and 
 we all resolved to steer away S.E. for the Cape of 
 Good Hope ; and, in consequence of this resolution, 
 we concluded to keep the sloop, and sail with all 
 three, not doubting, as I assured them, but we should 
 find men there to make up the number wanting, 
 and if not, we might cast any of them off when we 
 pleased. 
 
 We could do no less than make our friend William 
 captain of the sloop which, with such good manage- 
 ment, he had brought us. He told us, though with 
 much good manners, he would not command her as 
 a frigate ; but, if we would give her to him for his 
 share of the Guinea ship, which we came very 
 honestly by, he would keep us company as a vict- 
 ualler, if we commanded him, as long as he was under 
 the same force that took him away. 
 
 We understood him, so gave him the sloop, but 
 upon condition that he should not go from us, and 
 should be entirely under our command. However, 
 William was not so easy as before ; and, indeed, as 
 we afterwards wanted the sloop to cruise for pur- 
 chase, and a right thorough-paced pirate in her, so 
 I was in such pain for William that I could not be 
 without him, for he was my privy counsellor and 
 [224] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 companion upon all occasions ; so I put a Scotsman, 
 a bold, enterprising, gallant fellow, into her, named 
 Gordon, and made her carry twelve guns and four 
 petereroes, though, indeed, we wanted men, for we 
 were none of us manned in proportion to our force. 
 
 We sailed away for the Cape of Good Hope the 
 beginning of October 1706, and passed by, in sight 
 of the Cape, the 12th of November following, having 
 met with a great deal of bad weather. We saw 
 several merchant-ships in the roads there, as well 
 English as Dutch, whether outward bound or home- 
 ward we could not tell ; be it what it would, we did 
 not think fit to come to an anchor, not knowing 
 what they might be, or what they might attempt 
 against us, when they knew what we were. How- 
 ever, as we wanted fresh water, we sent the two boats 
 belonging to the Portuguese man-of-war, with all 
 Portuguese seamen or negroes in them, to the water- 
 ing place, to take in water ; and in the meantime we 
 hung out a Portuguese ancient at sea, and lay by 
 all that night. They knew not what we were, but 
 it seems we passed for anything but really what we 
 was. 
 
 Our boats returning the third time loaden, about 
 five o'clock next morning, we thought ourselves suffi- 
 ciently watered, and stood away to the eastward ; 
 but, before our men returned the last time, the wind 
 blowing an easy gale at west, we perceived a boat in 
 the grey of the morning under sail, crowding to come 
 up with us, as if they were afraid we should be gone. 
 We soon found it was an English long-boat, and that 
 it was pretty full of men. We could not imagine 
 IS [ 225 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 what the meaning of it should be ; but, as it was but 
 a boat, we thought there could be no great harm in 
 it to let them come on board ; and if it appeared 
 they came only to inquire who we were, we would 
 give them a full account of our business, by taking 
 them along with us, seeing we wanted men as much 
 as anything. But they saved us the labour of being 
 in doubt how to dispose of them ; for it seems our 
 Portuguese seamen, who went for water, had not 
 been so silent at the watering-places as we thought 
 they would have been. Butthecase,in short, was this: 
 Captain (I forbear his name at present, for a par- 
 ticular reason), captain of an East India merchant- 
 ship, bound afterwards for China, had found some 
 reason to be very severe with his men, and had 
 handled some of them very roughly at St. Helena ; 
 insomuch, that they threatened among themselves to 
 leave the ship the first opportunity, and had long 
 wished for that opportunity. Some of these men, it 
 seems, had met with our boat at the watering-place, 
 and inquiring of one another who we were, and upon 
 what account, whether the Portuguese ^seamen, by 
 faltering in their account, made them suspect that 
 we were out upon the cruise, or whether they told it 
 in plain English or no (for they all spoke English 
 enough to be understood), but so it was, that as soon 
 as ever the men carried the news on board, that the 
 ships which lay by to the eastward were English, and 
 that they were going upon the accmmt, which, by the 
 way, was a sea term for a pirate ; I say, as soon as 
 ever they heard it, they went to work, and getting 
 all things ready in the night, their chests and clothes, 
 [226] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 and whatever else they could, they came away 
 before it was day, and came up with us about seven 
 o'clock. 
 
 When they came by the ship's side which I com- 
 manded we hailed them in the usual manner, to know 
 what and who they were, and what their business. 
 They answered they were Englishmen, and desired 
 to come on board. We told them they might lay 
 the ship on board, but ordered they should let only 
 one man enter the ship till the captain knew their 
 business, and that he should come without any arms. 
 They said. Ay, with all their hearts. 
 
 We presently found their business, and that they 
 desired to go with us ; and as for their arms, they 
 desired we would send men on board the boat, and 
 that they would deliver them all to us, which was 
 done. The fellow that came up to me told me how 
 they had been used by their captain, how he had 
 starved the men, and used them like dogs, and that, 
 if the rest of the men knew they should be admitted, 
 he was satisfied two-thirds of them would leave the 
 ship. We found the fellows were very hearty in their 
 resolution, and jolly brisk sailors they were ; so I 
 told them I would do nothing without our admiral, 
 that was the captain of the other ship ; so I sent my 
 pinnace on board Captain Wilmot, to desire him to 
 come on board. But he was indisposed, and being 
 to leeward, excused his coming, but left it all to me ; 
 but before my boat was returned. Captain Wilmot 
 called to me by his speaking-trumpet, which all the 
 men might hear as well as I ; thus, calling me by 
 my name, " I hear they are honest fellows ; pray tell 
 
 ■[ ni ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 them they are all welcome, and make them a bowl 
 of punch." 
 
 As the men heard it as well as I, there was no 
 need to tell them what the captain said ; and, as 
 soon as the trumpet had done, they set up a huzza, 
 that showed us they were very hearty in their coming 
 to us ; but we bound them to us by a stronger obliga- 
 tion still after this, for when we came to Madagascar, 
 Captain Wilmot, with consent of all the ship's com- 
 pany, ordered that these men should have as much 
 money given them out of the stock as was due to 
 them for their pay in the ship they had left ; and 
 after that we allowed them twenty pieces of eight a 
 man bounty money ; and thus we entered them upon 
 shares, as we were all, and brave stout fellows they 
 were, being eighteen in number, whereof two were 
 midshipmen, and one a carpenter. 
 
 It was the 28th of November, when, having had 
 some bad weather, we came to an anchor in the road 
 off St. Augustine Bay, at the south-west end of my 
 old acquaintance the isle of Madagascar. We lay 
 here awhile and trafficked with the natives for some 
 good beef; though the weather was so hot that we 
 could not promise ourselves to salt any of it up to 
 keep ; but I showed them the way which we practised 
 before, to salt it first with saltpetre, then cure it by 
 drying it in the sun, which made it eat very agree- 
 ably, though not so wholesome for our men, that not 
 agreeing with our way of cooking, viz., boiling with 
 pudding, brewis, &c., and particularly this way, 
 would be too salt, and the fat of the meat be rusty, 
 or dried away so as not to be eaten. 
 [228 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 This, however, we could not help, and made our- 
 selves amends by feeding heartily on the fresh beef 
 while we were there, which was excellent, good and 
 fat, every way as tender and as well relished as in 
 England, and thought to be much better to us who 
 had not tasted any in England for so long a time. 
 
 Having now for some time remained here, we began 
 to consider that this was not a place for our business ; 
 and I, that had some views a particular way of my 
 own, told them that this was not a station for those 
 who looked for purchase ; that there were two parts 
 of the island which were particularly proper for our 
 purposes ; first, the bay on the east side of the island, 
 and from thence to the island Mauritius, which was 
 the usual way which ships that came from the Malabar 
 coast, or the coast of Coromandel, Fort St. George, 
 &c., used to take, and where, if we waited for them, 
 we ought to take our station. 
 
 • But, on the other hand, as we did not resolve to 
 fall upon the European traders, who were generally 
 ships of force and well manned, and where blows 
 must be looked for ; so I had another prospect, which 
 I promised myself would yield equal profit, or per- 
 haps greater, without any of the hazard and difficulty 
 of the former ; and this was the Gulf of Mocha, or 
 the Red Sea. 
 
 I told them that the trade here was great, the 
 ships rich, and the Strait of Babelmandel narrow ; 
 so that there was no doubt but we might cruise so 
 as to let nothing slip our hands, having the seas open 
 from the Red Sea, along the coast of Arabia, to the 
 Persian Gulf, and the Malabar side of the Indies. 
 [229 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I told them what I had observed when I sailed 
 round the island in my former progress ; how that, 
 on the northernmost point of the island, there were 
 several very good harbours and roads for our ships ; 
 that the natives were even more civil and tractable, if 
 possible, than those where we were, not having been 
 so often ill-treated by European sailors as those had 
 in the south and east sides ; and that we might always 
 be. sure of a retreat, if we were driven to put in by 
 any necessity, either of enemies or weather. 
 
 They were easily convinced of the reasonableness 
 of my scheme ; and Captain Wilmot, whom I now 
 called our admiral, though he was at first of the mind 
 to go and lie at the island Mauritius, and wait for 
 some of the European merchant-ships from the road 
 of Coromandel, or the Bay of Bengal, was now of 
 my mind. It is trae we were strong enough to have 
 attacked an English East India ship of the greatest 
 force, though some of them were said to carry fifty 
 guns ; but I represented to him that we were sure to 
 have blows and blood if we took them ; and, after we 
 had done, their loading was not of equal value to 
 us, because we had no room to dispose of their 
 merchandise ; and, as our circumstances stood, we 
 had rather have taken one outward-bound East India 
 ship, with her ready cash on board, perhaps to the 
 value of forty or fifty thousand pounds, than three 
 homeward-bound, though their loading would at 
 London be worth three times the money, because we 
 knew not whither to go to dispose of the cargo ; 
 whereas the ships from London had abundance of 
 things we knew how to make use of besides their 
 [230] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 money, such as their stores of provisions and liquors, 
 and great quantities of the hke sent to the governors 
 and' factories at the English settlements for their 
 use ; so that, if we resolved to look for our own 
 country ships, it should be those that were outward- 
 bound, not the London ships homeward. 
 
 All these things considered, brought the admiral 
 to be of my mind entirely ; so, after taking in water 
 and some fresh provisions where we lay, which was 
 near Cape St. Mary, on the south-west corner of the 
 island, we weighed and stood away south, and after- 
 wards S.S.E., to round the island, and in about 
 six days' sail got out of the wake of the island, and 
 steered away north, till we came off Port Dauphin, 
 and then north by east, to the latitude of 13 degrees 
 40 minutes, which was, in short, just at the farthest 
 part of the island ; and the admiral, keeping ahead, 
 made the open sea fair to the west, clear of the 
 whole island ; upon which he brought to, and we 
 sent a sloop to stand in round the farthest point 
 north, and coast along the shore, and see for a 
 harbour to put into, which they did, and soon 
 brought us an account that there was a deep bay, 
 with a very good road, and several little islands, 
 under which they found good riding, in ten to 
 seventeen fathom water, and accordingly there we 
 put in. 
 
 However, we afterwards found occasion to remove 
 our station, as you shall hear presently. We had 
 now nothing to do but go on shore, and acquaint 
 ourselves a little with the natives, take in fresh 
 water and some fresh provisions, and then to sea 
 [ 231 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 again. We found the people very easy to deal with, 
 and some cattle they had ; but it being at the ex- 
 tremity of the island, they had not such quantities of 
 cattle here. However, for the present we resolved to 
 appoint this for our place of rendezvous, and go and 
 look out. This was about the latter end of April. 
 
 Accordingly we put to sea, and cruised away to 
 the northward, for the Arabian coast. It was a 
 long run, but as the winds generally blow trade from 
 the S. and S.S.E. from May to September, we had 
 good weather; and in about twenty days we made 
 the island of Socotra, lying south from the Arabian 
 coast, , and E.S.E. from the mouth of the Gulf of 
 Mocha, or the Red Sea. 
 
 Here we took in water, and stood off and on upon 
 the Arabian shore. We had not cruised here above 
 three days, or thereabouts, but I spied a sail, and 
 gave her chase ; but when we came up with her, never 
 was such a poor prize chased by pirates that looked 
 for booty, for we found nothing in her but poor, 
 half-naked Turks, going a pilgrimage to Mecca, to 
 the tomb of their prophet Mahomet. The junk 
 that carried them had no one thing worth taking 
 away but a little rice and some coffee, which was all 
 the poor wretches had for their subsistence ; so we 
 let them go, for indeed we knew not what to do with 
 them. 
 
 The same evening we chased another junk with 
 two masts, and in something better plight to look 
 at than the former. When we came on board we 
 found them upon the same errand, but only that 
 they were people of some better fashion than the 
 [232] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 other ; and here we got some plunder, some Turkish 
 . stores, a few diamonds in the ear-drops of five or six 
 persons, some fine Persian carpets, of which they 
 made their safFras to lie upon, and some money ; so 
 we let them go also. 
 
 We continued here eleven days longer, and saw 
 nothing but now and then a fishing-boat ; but the 
 twelfth day of our cruise we spied a ship : indeed I 
 thought at first it had been an English ship, but it 
 appeared to be an European freighted for a voyage 
 from Goa, on the coast of Malabar, to the Red Sea, 
 and was very rich. We chased her, and took her 
 without any fight, though they had some guns on 
 board too, but not many. We found her manned 
 with Portuguese seamen, but under the direction of 
 five merchant Turks, who had hired her on the 
 coast of Malabar of some Portugal merchants, and 
 had laden her with pepper, saltpetre, some spices, 
 and the rest of the loading was chiefly calicoes and 
 wrought silks, some of them very rich. 
 
 We took her and carried her to Socotra ; but we 
 really knew not what to do with her, for the same 
 reasons as before ; for all their goods were of little 
 or no value to us. After some days we found means 
 to let one of the Turkish merchants know, that if he 
 would ransom the ship we would take a sum of money 
 and let them go. He told me that if I would let one 
 of them go on shore for the money they would do it ; 
 so we adjusted the value of the cargo at 30,000 
 ducats. Upon this agreement, we allowed the sloop 
 to carry him on shore, at Dofar, in Arabia, where a 
 rich merchant laid down the money for them, and 
 [233 j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 eame off with our sloop ; and on payment of the 
 money we very fairly and honestly let them go. 
 
 Some days after this we took an Arabian junk, 
 going from the Gulf of Persia to Mocha, with a good 
 quantity of pearl on board. We gutted him of the 
 pearl, which it seems was belonging to some mer- 
 chants at Mocha, and let him go, for there was 
 nothing else worth our taking. 
 
 We continued cruising up and down here till we 
 began to find our provisions grow low, when Captain 
 Wilmot, our admiral, told us it was time to think 
 of going back to the rendezvous ; and the rest of the 
 men said the same, being a little weary of beating 
 about for above three months together, and meeting 
 with little or nothing compared to our great expec- 
 tations ; but I was very loth to part with the Red 
 Sea at so cheap a rate, and pressed them to tarry a 
 little longer, which at my instance they did ; but 
 three days afterwards, to our great misfortune, un- 
 derstood that, by landing the Turkish merchants at 
 Dofar, we had alarmed the coast as far as the Gulf 
 of Persia, so that no vessel would stir that way, and 
 consequently nothing was to be expected on that 
 side. 
 
 I was greatly mortified' at this news, and could 
 no longer withstand the importunities of the men to 
 return to Madagascar. However, as the wind con- 
 tinued still to blow at S.S.E. by S., we were obliged 
 to stand away towards the coast of Africa and the 
 Cape Guardafui, the winds being more variable under 
 the shore than in the open sea. 
 
 Here we chopped upon a booty which we did not 
 [234-] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 look for, and which made amends for all our waiting ; 
 for the very same hour that we made land we spied 
 a large vessel sailing along the shore to the south- 
 ward. The ship was of Bengal, belonging to the , 
 Great Mogul's country, but had on board a Dutch 
 pilot, whose name, if I remember right, was Vander- 
 gest, and several European seamen, whereof three 
 were English. She was in no condition to resist us. 
 The rest of her seamen were Indians of the Mogul's 
 subjects, some Malabars and some others. There 
 were five Indian merchants on board, and some Ar- 
 menians. It seems they had been at Mocha with 
 spices, silks, diamonds, pearls, calico, &c., such goods 
 as the country afforded, and had little on board now 
 but money in pieces of eight, which, by the way, was 
 just what we wanted ; and the three English seamen 
 came along with us, and the Dutch pilot would have 
 done so too, but the two Armenian merchants en- 
 treated us not to take him, for that he being their 
 pilot, there was none of the men knew how to guide 
 the ship ; so, at their request, we refused him ; but 
 we made them promise he should not be used ill for 
 being willing to go with us. 
 
 We got near 200,000 pieces of eight in this vessel ; 
 and, if they said true, there was a Jew of Goa, who 
 intended to have embarked with them, who had 
 200,000 pieces of eight with him, all his own ; but 
 his good fortune, springing out of his ill fortune, 
 hindered him, or he fell sick at Mocha, and could 
 not be ready to travel, which was the saving of his 
 money. 
 
 There was none with me at the taking this prize 
 [236 j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 but the sloop, for Captain Wilmot's ship proving 
 leaky, he went away for the rendezvous before us, 
 and arrived there the middle of December ; but not 
 liking the port, he left a great cross on shore, with 
 directions written on a plate of lead fixed to it, for 
 us to come after him to the great bays at Manga- 
 helly, where he found a very good harbour ; but we 
 learned a piece of news here that kept us from him, 
 a great while, which the admiral took' oiFence at ; 
 but we stopped his mouth with his share of 200,000 
 pieces of eight to him and his ship's crew. But the 
 story which interrupted our coming to him was this. 
 Between Mangahelly and another point, called Cape 
 St. Sebastian, there came on shore in the night an 
 European ship, and whether by stress of weather or 
 want of a pilot I know not, but the ship stranded 
 and could not be got off. 
 
 We lay in the cove or harbour, where, as I have 
 said, our rendezvous was appointed, and had not yet 
 been on shore, so we had not seen the directions our 
 admiral had left for us. 
 
 Our friend William, of whom I have said nothing 
 a great while, had a great mind one day to go on 
 shore, and importuned me to let him have a little 
 troop to go with him, for safety, that they might see 
 the country. I was mightily against it for many 
 reasons ; but particularly I told him he knew the 
 natives were but savages, and they were very treacher- 
 ous, and I desired him that he would not go ; and, 
 had he gone on much farther, I believe I should 
 have downright refused him, and commanded him 
 not to go. 
 
 [236 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 But, in order to persuade me to let him go, he told 
 me he would give me an account of the reason why 
 he was so importunate. He told me, the last night 
 he had a dream, which was so forcible, and made such 
 an impression upon his mind, that he could not be 
 quiet till he had made the proposal to me to go ; 
 and if I refused him, then he thought his dream was 
 significant ; and if not, then his dream was at an 
 end. 
 
 His dream was, he said, that he went on shore with 
 thirty men, of which the cockswain, he said, was one, 
 upon the island ; and that they found a mine of gold, 
 and enriched them all. But this was not the main 
 thing, he said, but that the same morning he had 
 dreamed so, the cockswain came to him just then, 
 and told him that he dreamed he went on shore on 
 the island of Madagascar, and that some men came 
 to him and told him they would show him where 
 he should get a prize which would make them all 
 rich. 
 
 These two things put together began to weigh 
 with me a little, though I was never inclined to give 
 any heed to dreams ; but William's importunity 
 turned me efl^ectually, for I always put a great deal 
 of stress upon his judgment ; so that, in short, I gave 
 them leave to go, but I charged them not to go far 
 off from the seacoast ; that, if they were forced down 
 -to the seaside upon any occasion, we might perhaps 
 see them, and fetch them off with our boats. 
 
 They went away early in the morning, one-and- 
 thirty men of them in number, very well armed, and 
 very stout fellows ; they travelled all the day, and at 
 [ 237 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 night made us a signal that all was well, from the 
 top of a hill, which we had agreed on, by making a 
 great fire. 
 
 Next day they marched down the hill on the other 
 side, inclining towards the seaside, as they had prom- 
 ised, and saw a very pleasant valley before them, 
 with a river in the middle of it, which, a little farther 
 below them, seemed to be big enough to bear small 
 ships ; they marched apace towards this river, and 
 were surprised with the noise of a piece going off, 
 which, by the sound, could not be far oiF. They 
 listened long, but could hear no more ; so they went 
 on to the river-side, which was a very fine fresh 
 stream, but widened apace, and they kept on by the 
 banks of it, till, almost at once, it opened or widened 
 into a good large creek or harbour, about five miles 
 from the sea ; and that which was still more surpris- 
 ing, as they marched forward, they plainly saw in the 
 mouth of the harbour, or creek, the wreck of a ship. 
 
 The tide was up, as we call it, so that it did not 
 appear very much above the water, but, as they made 
 downwards, they found it grow bigger and bigger ; 
 and the tide soon after ebbing out, they found it lay 
 dry upon the sands, and appeared to be the wreck of 
 a considerable vessel, larger than could be expected 
 in that country. 
 
 After some time, William, taking out his glass to 
 look at it mor.e nearly, was surprised with hearing a- 
 musket-shot whistle by him, and immediately after 
 that he heard the gun, and saw the smoke from the 
 other side ; upon which our men immediately fired 
 three muskets, to discover, if possible, what or who 
 [ 238 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 they were. Upon the noise of these guns, abundance 
 of men came running down to the shore from among 
 the trees ; and our men could easily pei-ceive that 
 they were Europeans, though they knew not of what 
 nation ; however, our men hallooed to them as loud 
 as they could, and by-and-by they got a long pole, 
 and set it up, and hung a white shirt upon it for a 
 flag of truce. They on the other side saw it, by the 
 help of their glasses, too, and quickly after our men 
 see a boat launch off from the shore, as they thought, 
 but it was from another creek, it seems ; and imme- 
 diately they came i-owing over the creek to our men, 
 carrying also a white flag as a token of truce. 
 
 It is not easy to describe the surprise, or joy and 
 satisfaction, that appeared on both sides, to see not 
 only white men, but Englishmen, in a place so re- 
 mote ; but what then must it be when they came to 
 know one another, and to find that they were not 
 only countrymen but comrades, and that this was 
 the very ship that Captain Wilmot, our admiral, 
 commanded, and whose company we had lost in the 
 storm at Tobago, after making an agreement to ren- 
 dezvous at Madagascar ! 
 
 They had, it seems, got intelligence of us when 
 they came to the south part of the island, and had 
 been a-roving. as far as the Gulf of Bengal, when they 
 met Captain Avery, with whom they joined, took 
 several rich prizes, and, amongst the rest, one ship 
 with the Great Mogul's daughter, and an immense 
 treasure in money and jewels ; and from thence they 
 came about the coast of Coromandel, and afterwards 
 that of Malabar, into the Gulf of Persia, where they 
 [239 j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 also took some prize, and then designed for the south 
 part of Madagascar ; but the winds blowing hard at 
 S.E. and S.E. by E., they came to the northward of 
 the isle, and being after that separated by a furious 
 tempest from the N.W., they were forced into the 
 mouth of that creek, where they lost their ship. 
 And they told us, also, that they heard that Captain 
 Avery himself had lost his ship also not far off. 
 
 When they had thus acquainted one another with 
 their fortunes, the poor overjoyed men were in haste 
 to go back to communicate their joy to their com- 
 rades ; and, leaving some of their men with ours, the 
 rest went back, and William was so earnest to see 
 them that he and two more went back with them, 
 and there he came to their little camp where they 
 lived. There were about a hundred and sixty 
 men of them in all ; they had got their guns on 
 shore, and some ammunition, but a good deal of 
 their powder was spoiled ; however, they had raised 
 a fair platform, and mounted twelve pieces of cannon 
 upon it, which was a sufficient defence to them on 
 that side of the sea ; and just at the end of the 
 platform they had made a launch and a little yard, 
 and were all hard at work, building another little 
 ship, as I may call it, to go to sea in ; but they put 
 a stop to this work upon the news they had of our 
 being come in. 
 
 When our men went into their huts, it was sur- 
 prising, indeed, to see the vast stock of wealth they 
 had got, in gold and silver and jewels, which, how- 
 ever, they told us was a trifle to what Captain Avery 
 had, wherever he was gone. 
 
 [240] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 It was five days we had waited for our men, and 
 no news of them ; and indeed I gave them over 
 for lost, but was surprised, after five days' waiting, 
 to see a ship's boat come rowing towards us along 
 shore. What to make of it I could not tell, but 
 was at least better satisfied when our men told me 
 they heard them halloo and saw them wave their 
 caps to us. 
 
 In a little time they came quite up to us ; and 
 I saw friend William stand up in the boat and make 
 signs to us ; so they came on board ; but when I 
 saw there were but fifteen of our one-and-thirty 
 men, I asked him what had become of their fellows. 
 " Oh," says William, " they are all very well ; and 
 my dream is fully made good, and the cockswain's 
 too." 
 
 This made me very impatient to know how the 
 case stood ; so he told us the whole story, which in- 
 deed surprised us all. The next day we weighed, 
 and stood away southerly to join Captain Wilmot 
 and ship at Mangahelly, where we found him, as I 
 said, a little chagrined at our stay ; but we pacified 
 him afterwards with telling him the history of 
 William's dream, and the consequence of it. 
 
 In the meantime the camp of our comfades was so 
 near Mangahelly, that our admiral and I, friend 
 William, and some of the men, resolved to take the 
 sloop and go and see them, and fetch them all, and 
 their goods, bag and baggage, on board our ship, 
 which accordingly we did, and found their camp, 
 their fortifications, the battery of guns they had 
 erected, their treasure, and all the men, just as 
 16 [ 241 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 William had related it ; so, after some stay, we took 
 all the men into the sloop, and brought them away 
 with us. 
 
 It was some time before we knew what was become 
 of Captain Avery ; but after about a month, by the 
 direction of the men who had lost their ship, we sent 
 the sloop to cruise along the shore, to find out, if 
 possible, where they were ; and in about a week's 
 cruise our men found them, and particularly that 
 they had lost their ship, as well as our men had lost 
 theirs, and that they were every way in as bad a 
 condition as ours. 
 
 It was about ten days before the sloop returned, 
 and Captain Avery with them ; and this was the 
 whole force that, as I remember, Captain Avery ever 
 had with him ; for now we joined all our companies 
 together, and it stood thus : — We had two ships and 
 a sloop, in which we had 320 men, but much too few 
 to man them as they ought to be, the great Portu- 
 guese ship requiring of herself near 400 men to man 
 her completely. As for our lost, but now found com- 
 rade, her complement of men was 180, or thereabouts ; 
 and Captain Avery had about 300 men with him, 
 whereof he had ten carpenters with him, most of 
 which were 'taken aboard the prize they had taken ; 
 so that, in a word, all the force Avery had at Mada- 
 gascar, in the year 1699, or thereabouts, amounted 
 to our three ships, for his own was lost, as you have 
 heard; and never had any more than about 1200 
 men in all. 
 
 It was about a month after this that all our crews 
 got together, and as Avery was unshipped, we all 
 [242] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 agreed to bring our own company into the Poi'tu- 
 guese man-of-war and the sloop, and give Captain 
 Avery the Spanish frigate, with all the tackles and 
 furniture, guns and ammunition, for his crew by 
 themselves ; for which they, being full of wealth, 
 agreed to give us 40,000 pieces of eight. 
 
 It was next considered what course we should take. 
 Captain Avery, to give him his due, proposed our 
 building a little city here, establishing ourselves on 
 shore, with a good fortification and works proper to 
 defend ourselves ; and that, as we had wealth enough, 
 and could increase it to what degree we pleased, we 
 should content ourselves to retire here, and bid de- 
 fiance to the world. But I soon convinced him that 
 this place would be no security to us, if we pretended 
 to carry on our cruising trade ; for that then all the 
 nations of Europe, and indeed of that part of the 
 world, would be engaged to root us out ; but if we 
 resolved to live there as in retirement, and plant in 
 the country as private men, and give over our trade 
 of pirating, then, indeed, we might plant and settle 
 ourselves where we pleased. But then, I told him, 
 the best way would be to treat with the natives, and 
 buy a tract of land of them farther up the country, 
 seated upon some navigable river, where boats might 
 go up and down for pleasure, but not ships to en- 
 danger us ; that thus planting the high ground with 
 cattle, such as cows and goats, of which the country 
 also was full, to be sure we might live here as well as 
 any men in the world ; and I owned to him I thought 
 it was a good retreat for those that were willing to 
 leave off and lay down, and yet did not care to 
 [243] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 venture home and be hanged ; that is to say, to run 
 the risk of it. 
 
 Captain Avery, however he made no positive dis- 
 covery of his intentions, seemed to me to decline my 
 notion of going up into thie country to plant ; on the 
 contrary, it was apparent he was of Captain Wilmot's 
 opinion, that they might maintain themselves on 
 shore, and yet carry on their cruising trade too ; and 
 upon this they resolved. But, as I afterwards under- 
 stood, about fifty of their men went up the country, 
 and settled themselves in an inland place as a colony. 
 Whether they are there still or not, I cannot tell, or 
 how many of them are left alive ; but it is my opinion 
 they are there still, and that they are considerably 
 increased, for, as I hear, they have got some women 
 among them, though not many ; for it seems five 
 Dutch women and three or four little girls were taken 
 by them in a Dutch ship, which they afterwards took 
 going to Mocha ; and three of those women, marry- 
 ing some of these men, went with them to live in 
 their new plantation. But of this I speak only by 
 hearsay. 
 
 As we lay here some time, I found our people 
 mightily divided in their notions ; some were for 
 going this way, and some that, till at last I began 
 to foresee they would part company, and perhaps we 
 should not have men enough to keep together to man 
 the great ship ; so I took Captain Wilmot aside, and 
 began to talk to him about it, but soon perceived 
 that he inclined himself to stay at Madagascar, and 
 having got a vast wealth for his own share, had 
 secret designs of getting home some way or other. 
 [244. ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I argued the impossibility of it, and the hazard he 
 would run, either of falling into the hands of thieves 
 and murderers in the Red Sea, who would never let 
 such a treasure as his pass their hands, or of his fall- 
 ing into the hands of the English, Dutch, or French, 
 who would certainly hang him for a pirate. I gave 
 him an account of the voyage I had made from this 
 very place to the continent of Africa, and what a 
 journey it was to travel on foot. 
 
 In short, nothing could persuade him, but he would 
 go into the Red Sea with the sloop, and where the 
 children of Israel passed through the sea dry-shod, 
 and, landing there, would travel to Grand Cairo by 
 land, which is not above eighty miles, and from 
 thence he said he could ship himself, by the way of 
 Alexandria, to any part of the world. 
 
 I represented the hazard, and indeed the impossi- 
 bility, of his passing by Mocha and Jiddah without 
 being attacked, if he offered it by force, or plundered, 
 if he went to get leave ; and explained the reasons of 
 it so much and so effectually, that, though at last he 
 would not hearken to it himself, none of his men 
 would go with him. They told him they would go 
 anywhere with him to serve him, but that this was 
 running himself and them into certain destruction, 
 without any possibility of avoiding it, or probability 
 of answering his end. The captain took what I said 
 to him quite wrong, and pretended to resent it, and 
 gave me some buccaneer words upon it ; but I gave 
 him no return to it but this : that I advised him for 
 his advantage ; that if he did not understand it so, 
 it was his fault, not mine ; that I did not forbid him 
 [245] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to go, nor had I offered to persuade any of the men 
 not to go with him, though it was to their apparent 
 destraction. 
 
 However, warm heads are not easily cooled. The 
 captain was so eager that he quitted our company, 
 and, with most part of his crew, went over to Captain 
 Avery, and sorted with his people, taking all the 
 treasure with him, which, by the way, was not very 
 fair in him, we having agreed to share all our gains, 
 whether more or less, whether absent or present. 
 
 Our men muttered a little at it, but I pacified 
 them as well as I could, and told them it was easy 
 for us to get as much, if we minded our hits ; and 
 Captain Wilmot had set us a very good example ; 
 for, by the same rule, th^ agreement of any further 
 sharing of profits with them was at an end. I took 
 this occasion to put into their heads some part of my 
 further designs, which were, to range over the eastern 
 sea, and see if we could not make ourselves as rich as 
 Mr. Avery, who, it was true, had gotten a prodigious 
 deal of money, though not one-half of what was said 
 of it in Europe. 
 
 Our men were so pleased with my forward, enter- 
 prising temper, that they assured me that they 
 would go with me, one and all, over the whole globe, 
 wherever I would carry them ; and as for Captain 
 Wilmot, they would have nothing more to do with 
 him. This came to his ears, and put him into a 
 great rage, so that he threatened, if I came on shore, 
 he would cut my throat. 
 
 I had information of it privately, but took no 
 notice of it at all ; only I took care not to go un- 
 [ 246 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 provided for him, and seldom walked about but in 
 very good company. However, at last Captain 
 Wilmot and I met, and talked over the matter very 
 seriously, and I offered him the sloop to go where 
 he pleased, or, if he was not satisfied with that, I 
 offered to take the sloop and leave him the great 
 ship ; but he declined both, and only desired that I 
 would leave him six carpenters, which I had in our 
 ship more than I had need of, to help his men to 
 finish the sloop that was begun before we came 
 thither, by the men that lost their ship. This I 
 consented readily to, and lent him several other 
 hands that were useful to them ; and in a little time 
 they built a stout brigantine, able to carry fourteen 
 guns and 200 men. 
 
 What measures they took, and how Captain Avery 
 managed aftei-wards, is too long a story to meddle 
 with here ; nor is it any of my business, having my 
 own story still upon my hands. 
 
 We lay here, about these several simple disputes, 
 almost five months, when, about the latter end of 
 March, I set sail with the great ship, having in her 
 forty-four guns and 400 men, and the sloop, caiTying 
 eighty' men. We did not steer to the Malabar 
 coast, and so to the Gulf of Persia, as was first 
 intended, the east monsoons blowing yet too strong, 
 but we kept more under the African coast, where we 
 had the wind variable till we passed the line, and 
 made the Cape Bassa, in the latitude of four degrees 
 ten minutes ; from thence, the monsoons beginning 
 to change to the N.E. and N.N.E., we led it away, 
 with the wind large, to the Maldives, a famous ledge 
 [247] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 of islands, well known by all the sailors who have 
 gone into those parts of the world ; and, leaving 
 these islands a little to the south, we made Cape 
 Comorin, the southernmost land of the coast of 
 Malabar, and went round the isle of Ceylon. Here 
 we lay by a while to wait for purchase ; and here we 
 saw three large English East India ships going from 
 Bengal, or from Fort St. George, homeward for 
 England, or rather for Bombay and Surat, till the 
 trade set in. 
 
 We brought to, and hoisting an English ancient 
 and pendant, lay by for them, as if we intended to 
 attack them. They could not tell what to make of 
 us a good while, though they saw our colours ; and 
 I believe at first they thought us to be French ; but 
 as they came nearer to us, we let them soon see what 
 we were, for we hoisted a black flag, with two cross 
 daggers in it, on our main-top-mast head, which let 
 them see what they were to expect. 
 
 We soon found the effects of this ; for at first 
 they spread their ancients, and made up to us in a 
 line, as if they would fight us, having the wind off 
 shore, fair enough to have brought them on board 
 us ; but when they saw what force we were of, and 
 found we were cruisers of another kind, they stood 
 away from us again, with all the sail they could 
 make. If they had come up, we should have given 
 them an unexpected welcome, but as it was, we had 
 no mind to follow them ; so we let them so, for the 
 same reasons which I mentioned before. 
 
 But though we let them pass, we did not design 
 to let others go at so easy a price. It was but the 
 [248] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 next mornihg that we saw a sail standing round Cape 
 Comorin, and steering, as we thought, the same 
 course with us. We knew not at first what to do 
 with her, because she had the shore on her larboard 
 quarter, and if we offered to chase her, she might 
 put into any port or creek, and escape us ; but, to 
 prevent this, we sent the sloop to get in between her 
 and the land. As soon as she saw that, she hauled 
 in to keep the land aboard, and when the sloop 
 stood towards her she made right ashore, with all 
 the canvas she could spread. 
 
 The sloop, however, came up with her and engaged 
 her, and found she was a vessel of ten guns, Portu- 
 guese built, but in the Dutch traders' hands, and 
 manned by Dutchmen, who were bound from the 
 Gulf of Persia to Batavia, to fetch spices and other 
 goods from thence. The sloop's men took her, and 
 had the rummaging of her before we came up. She 
 had in her some European goods, and a good round 
 sum of money, and some pearl ; so that, though we 
 did not go to the gulf for the pearl, the pearl came 
 to us out of the gulf, and we had our share of it. 
 This was a rich ship, and the goods were of very 
 considerable value, besides the money and the pearl. 
 
 We had a long consultation here what we should 
 do with the men, for to give thera the ship, and let 
 them pursue their voyage to Java, would be to 
 alarm the Dutch factory there, who are by far the 
 strongest in the Indies, and to make our passage 
 that way impracticable ; whereas we resolved to visit 
 that part of the world in our way, but were not 
 willing to pass the great Bay of Bengal, where we 
 [249] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 hoped for a great deal of purchase ; and therefore 
 it behoved us not to be waylaid before we came 
 there, because they knew we must pass by the Straits 
 of Malacca, or those of Sunda ; and either way it 
 was very easy to prevent us. 
 
 While we were consulting this in the great cabin, 
 the men had had the same debate before the mast ; 
 and it seems the majority there were for pickling up 
 the poor Dutchmen among the herrings ; in a word, 
 they were for throwing them all into the sea. Poor 
 William, the Quaker, was in great concern about this, 
 and comes directly to me to talk about it. " Hark 
 thee," says William, " what wilt thou do with these 
 Dutchmen that thou hast on board .'' Thou wilt 
 not let them go, I suppose," says he. " Why," says 
 I, " William, would you advise me to let them go .-' " 
 " No," says William, " I cannot say it is fit for thee 
 to let them go ; that is to say, to go on with their 
 voyage to Batavia, because it is not for thy turn 
 that the Dutch at Batavia should have any knowl- 
 edge of thy being in these seas." " Well, then," 
 says I to him, " I know no remedy but to throw them 
 overboard. You know, William," says I, " a Dutch- 
 man swims like a fish ; and all our people here are 
 of the same opinion as well as I." At the same time 
 I resolved it should not be done, but wanted to hear 
 what William would say. He gravely replied, " If 
 all the men in the ship were of that mind, I will 
 never believe that thou wilt be of that mind thyself, 
 for I have heard thee protest against cruelty in all 
 other cases." " Well, William," says I, " that is 
 true ; but what then shall we do with them ? " 
 [250] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 " Why," says William, « is there no way but to 
 murder them ? I am persuaded thou canst not be 
 in earnest." " No, indeed, William," says I, " I am not 
 in earnest ; but they shall not go to Java, no, nor 
 to Ceylon, that is certain." « But," says William, 
 " the men have done thee no injury at all ; thou 
 hast taken a great treasure from them ; what canst 
 thou pretend to hurt them for ? " " Nay, William," 
 says I, " do not talk of that ; I have pretence enough, 
 if that be all ; my pretence is, to prevent doing me 
 hurt, and that is as necessary a piece of the law of 
 self-preservation as any you can name ; but the main 
 thing is, I know not what to do with them, to 
 prevent their prating." 
 
 While William and I were talking, the poor 
 Dutchmen were openly condemned to die, as it may 
 be called, by the whole ship's company ; and so warm 
 were the men upon it, that they grew very clamor- 
 ous ; and when they heard that William was against 
 it, some of them swore they should die, and if Wil- 
 liam opposed it, he should drown along with them. 
 
 But, as I was resolved to put an end to their cruel 
 project, so I found it was time to take upon me a 
 little, or the bloody humour might grow too strong ; 
 so I called the Dutchmen up, and talked a little 
 with them. First, I asked them if* they were willing 
 to go with us. Two of them offered it presently ; 
 but the rest, which were fourteen, declined it. 
 " Well, then," said I, " where would you go ? " 
 They desired they should go to Ceylon. No, I told 
 them I could not allow them to go to any Dutch 
 factory, and told them very plainly the reasons of it, 
 [261] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 which they could not deny to be just. I let them 
 know also the cruel, bloody measures of our men, 
 but that I had resolved to save them, if possible ; 
 and therefore I told them I would set them on shore 
 at some English factory in the Bay of Bengal, or 
 put them on board any English ship I met, after I 
 was past the Straits of Sunda or of Malacca, but 
 not before ; for, as to my coming back again, I told 
 them I would run the venture of their Dutch power 
 from Batavia, but I would not have the news come 
 there before me, because it would make all their 
 merchant-ships lay up, and keep out of our way. 
 
 It came next into our consideration what we should 
 do with their ship ; but this was not long resolving ; 
 for there were but two ways, either to set her on 
 fire, or to run her on shore, and we chose the last. 
 So we set her foresail with the tack at the cat-head, 
 and lashed her helm a little to starboard, to answer 
 her head-sail, and so set her agoing, with neither cat 
 or dog in her ; and it was not above two hours be- 
 fore we saw her run right ashore upon the coast, a 
 little beyond the Cape Comorin ; and away we went 
 round about Ceylon, for the coast of Coromandel. 
 
 We sailed along there, not in sight of the shore 
 only, but so near as to see the ships in the road at 
 Fort St. David, Fort St. George, and at the other 
 factories along that shore, as well as along the coast 
 of Golconda, carrying our English ancient when we 
 came near the Dutch factories, and Dutch colours 
 when we passed by the English factories. We met 
 with little purchase upon this coast, except two 
 small vessels of Golconda, bound across the bay with 
 ■ [252] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 bales of calicoes and muslins and wrought silks, and 
 fifteen bales of romals, from the bottom of the bay, 
 which were going, on whose account we knew not, to 
 Acheen, and to other ports on the coast of Malacca. 
 We did not inquire to what place in particular ; but we 
 let the vessels go, having none but Indians on board. 
 
 In the bottom of the bay we met with a great junk 
 belonging to the Mogul's court, with a great many 
 people, passengers as we supposed them to be : it 
 seems they were bound for the river Hooghly or 
 Ganges, and came from Sumatra. This was a prize 
 worth taking indeed ; and we got so much gold in 
 her, besides other goods which we did not meddle 
 with — pepper in particular — that it had like to 
 have put an end to our cruise ; for almost all my 
 men said we were rich enough, and desired to go 
 back again to Madagascar. But I had other things 
 in my head still, and when I came to talk with them, 
 and set friend William to talk with them, we put 
 such further golden hopes into their heads that we 
 soon prevailed with them to let us go on. 
 
 My next design was to leave all the dangerous 
 straits of Malacca, Singapore, and Sunda, where we 
 could expect no great booty, but what we might 
 light on in European ships, which we must fight 
 for ; and though we were able to fight, and wanted 
 no courage, even to desperation, yet we were rich 
 too, and resolved to be richer, and took this for our 
 maxim, that while we were sure the wealth we sought 
 was to be had without fighting, we had no occasion 
 to put ourselves to the necessity of fighting for that 
 which would come upon easy terms. 
 [253] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We left, therefore, the Bay of Bengal, and coming 
 to the coast of Sumatra, we put in at a small port, 
 where there was a town, inhabited only by Malays ; 
 and here we took in fresh water, and a large quantity 
 of good pork, pickled up and well salted, notwith- 
 standing the heat of the climate, being in the very 
 middle of the torrid zone, viz., in three degrees fifteen 
 minutes north latitude. We also took on board 
 both our vessels forty hogs alive, which served us for 
 fresh ptovisions, having abundance of food for them, 
 such as the country produced, such as guams, potatoes, 
 and a sort of coarse rice, good for nothing else but to 
 feed the swine. We killed one of these hogs every 
 day, and found them to be excellent meat. We took 
 in also a monstrous quantity of ducks, and cocks and 
 hens, the same kind as we have in England, which 
 we kept for change of provisions ; and if I remember 
 right, we had no less than two thousand of them ; 
 so that at first we were pestered with them very 
 much, but we soon lessened them by boiling, roast- 
 ing, stewing, &c., for we never wanted while we 
 had them. 
 
 My long-projected design now lay open to me, 
 which was to fall in amongst the Dutch Spice 
 Islands, and see what mischief I could do there. 
 Accordingly, we put out to sea the 12th of August, 
 and passing the line on the 17th, we stood away due 
 south, leaving the Straits of Sunda and the isle of 
 Java on the east, till we came to the latitude of 
 eleven degrees twenty minutes, when we steered east 
 and E.N.E., having easy gales from the W.S.W. till 
 we came among the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. 
 [254] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We passed those seas with less difficulty than in 
 other places, the winds to the south of Java being 
 more variable, and the weather good, though some- 
 times we met with squally weather and short storms ; 
 but when we came in among the Spice Islands them- 
 selves, we had a share of the monsoons, or trade-winds, 
 and made use of them accordingly. 
 
 The infinite number of islands which lie in these 
 seas embarrassed us strangely, and it was with great 
 difficulty that we worked our way through them ; 
 then we steered for the north side of the Philippines, 
 when we had a double chance for purchase, viz., 
 either to meet with the Spanish ships from Acapulco, 
 on the coast of New Spain, or we were certain not to 
 fail of finding some ships or junks of China, who, if 
 they came from China, would have a great quantity 
 of goods of value on board, as well as money ; or if 
 ive took them going back, we should find them laden 
 with nutmegs and cloves from Banda and Ternate, or 
 from some of the other islands. 
 
 We were right in our guesses here to a tittle, and 
 we steered directly through a large outlet, which 
 they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad, 
 and to an island they call Dammer, and from thence 
 N.N.E. to Banda. Between these islands we met 
 with a Dutch junk, or vessel, going to Amboyna : we 
 took her without much trouble, and I had much ado 
 to prevent our men murdering all the men, as soon 
 as they heard them say they belonged to Amboyna : 
 the reasons I suppose any one will guess. 
 
 We took out of her about sixteen ton of nutmegs, 
 some provisions, and their small-arms, for they had 
 [255] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 no great guns, and let the ship go : from thence we 
 sailed directly to the Banda Island, or Islands, where 
 we were sure to get more nutmegs if we thought fit. 
 For my part, I would willingly have got more nut- 
 megs, though I had paid for them, but our people 
 abhorred paying for anything ; so we got about 
 twelve ton more at several times, most of them from 
 shore, and only a few in a small boat of the natives, 
 which was going to Gilolo. We would have traded 
 openly, but the Dutch, who have made themselves 
 masters of all those islands, forbade the people 
 dealing with us, or any strangers whatever, and 
 kept them so in awe that they durst not do it ; so 
 we could indeed have made nothing of it if we had 
 stayed longer, and therefore resolved to be gone for 
 Temate, and see if we could make up our loading 
 with cloves. 
 
 Accordingly we stood away north, but found our- 
 selves so entangled among innumerable islands, and 
 without any pilot that understood the channel and 
 races between them, that we were obliged to give 
 it over, and resolved to go back again to Banda, and 
 see what we could get among the other islands 
 thereabouts. 
 
 The first adventure we made here had like to have 
 been fatal to us all, for the sloop, being ahead, made 
 the signal to us for seeing a sail, and afterwards 
 another, and a third, by which we understood she 
 saw three sail ; whereupon we made more sail to 
 come up with her, but on a sudden were gotten 
 among some rocks, falling foul upon them in such a 
 manner as frighted us all very heartily ; for having, 
 [256] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 it seems, but just watev enough, as it were to an inch, 
 our rudder struck upon the top of a rock, which gave 
 us a terrible shock, and split a great piece off the 
 rudder, and indeed disabled it so that our ship would 
 not steer at all, at least not so as to be depended 
 upon ; and we were glad to hand all our sails, except 
 our fore-sail and main-top-sail, and with them we 
 stood away to the east, to see if we could find any 
 creek or harbour where we might lay the ship on 
 shore, and repair our rudder ; besides, we found the 
 ship herself had received some damage, for she had 
 some little leak near her stern-post, but a great way 
 under water. 
 
 By this mischance we lost the advantages, whatever 
 they were, of the three sail of ships, which we after- 
 wards came to hear were small Dutch ships from 
 Batavia, going to Banda and Amboyna, to load 
 spice, and, no doubt, had a good quantity of money 
 on board. 
 
 Upon the disaster I have been speaking of you 
 may very well suppose that we came to an anchor as 
 soon as we could, which was upon a small island not 
 far from Banda, where, though the Dutch keep no 
 factory, yet they come at the season to buy nutmegs 
 and mace. We stayed there thirteen days ; but 
 there being no place where we could lay the ship on 
 shore, we sent the sloop to cruise among the islands, 
 to look out for a place fit for us. In the meantime 
 we got very good water here, some provisions, roots, 
 and fruits, and a good quantity of nutmegs and mace, 
 which we found ways to trade with the natives for, 
 without the knowledge of their masters, the Dutch. 
 IT ' i 257 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 At length our sloop returned ; having found 
 another island where there was a very good harbour, 
 we ran in, and came to an anchor. We immediately 
 unbent all our sails, sent them ashore upon the 
 island, and set up seven or eight tents with them ; 
 then we unrigged our top-masts, and cut them down, 
 hoisted all our guns out, our provisions and loading, 
 and put them ashore in the tents. With the guns 
 we made two small batteries, for fear of a surprise, 
 and kept a look-out upon the hill. When we were 
 all ready, we laid the ship aground upon a hard sand, 
 the upper end of the harbour, and shored her up on 
 each side. At low water she lay almost dry, so we 
 mended her bottom, and stopped the leak, which 
 was occasioned by straining some of the rudder 
 irons with the shock which the ship had against the 
 rock. 
 
 Having done this, we also took occasion to clean 
 her bottom, which, having been at sea so long, was 
 very foul. The sloop washed and tallowed also, but 
 was ready before us, and cruised eight or ten days 
 among the islands, but met with no purchase ; so 
 that we began to be tired of the place, having 
 little to divert us but the most furious claps of 
 thunder that ever were heard or read of in the 
 world. 
 
 We were in hopes to have met with some purchase 
 here among the Chinese, who, we had been told, came 
 to Ternate to trade for eloves,.and to the Banda Isles 
 for nutmegs ; and we .would have been very glad to 
 have loaded our galleon, or great ship, with these 
 two sorts of spice, and have thought it a glorious 
 [258] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 voyage ; but we found nothing stirring more than 
 what I have said, except' Dutchmen, who, by what 
 means we could not imagine, had either a jealousy 
 of us or intelligence of us, and kept themselves close 
 in their ports. 
 
 I was once resolved to have made a descent at the 
 island of Dumas, the place most famous for the best 
 nutmegs; but friend William, who was always for 
 doing our business without fighting, dissuaded me 
 from it, and gave such reasons for it that we could 
 not resist ; particularly the great heats of the season, 
 and of the place, for we were now in the latitude of 
 just half a degree south. But while we were dis- 
 puting this point we were soon determined by the 
 following accident : — We had a strong gale of wind 
 at S.W. by W., and the ship had fresh way, but a 
 great sea rolling in upon us from the N.E., which we 
 afterwards found was the pouring in of the great 
 ocean east of New Guinea. However, as I said, we 
 stood away large, and made fresh way, when, on the 
 sudden, from a dark cloud which hovered over our 
 heads, came a flash, or rather blast, of lightning, 
 which was so terrible, and quivered so long among 
 us, that not I only, but all our men, thought the 
 ship was on fire. The heat of the Hash, or fire, was 
 so sensibly felt in our faces, that some of our men had 
 blisters raised by it on their skins, not immediately, 
 perhaps, by the heat, but by the poisonous or noxious 
 particles which mixed themselves with the matter in- 
 flamed. But this was not all ; the shock of the air, 
 which the fracture in the clouds made, was such that 
 our ship shook as when a broadside is fired ; and her 
 [259 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 motion being checked, as it were at once, by a repulse 
 superior to the force that -gave her way before, the 
 sails all flew back in a moment, and the ship lay, as 
 we might truly say, thunder-struck. As the blast 
 from the cloud was so very near us, it was but a few 
 moments after the flash that the terriblest clap of 
 thunder followed that was ever heard by raorbals. I 
 firmly believe a blast of a hundred thousand barrels 
 of gunpowder could not have been greater to our 
 hearing; nay, indeed, to some of our men it took 
 away their hearing. 
 
 It is not possible for me to describe, or any one to 
 conceive, the terror of that minute. Our men wei-e 
 in such a consternatioq, that not a man on board the 
 ship had presence of mind to apply to the proper duty 
 of a sailor, except friend William ; and had he not 
 run very nimbly, and with a composure that I am 
 sure I was not master of, to let go the fore-sheet, set 
 in the weather-brace of the fore-yard, and haul down 
 the top-sails, we had certainly brought all our masts 
 by the board, and perhaps have been overwhelmed 
 in the sfea. 
 
 As for myself, I must confess my eyes were open 
 to my danger, though not the least to anything of 
 application for remedy. T was all amazement and 
 confusion, and this was the first time that I can say 
 I began to feel the effects of that horror which I 
 know since much more of, upon the just reflection 
 on my former life. I thought myself doomed by 
 Heaven to sink that moment into eternal destruc- 
 tion ; and with this peculiar mark of terror, viz., 
 that the vengeance was not executed in the ordinary 
 [260] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 way of human justice, but that God had taken me 
 intcj His immediate disposing, and had resolved to 
 be the executor of His own vengeance. 
 
 Let them alone describe the confusion I was in 
 who know what was the case of [John] Child, 
 of Shadwell, or Francis Spira. It is impossible to 
 describe it. My soul was all amazement and surprise. 
 I thought myself just sinking into eternity, owning 
 the divine justice of my punishment, but not at all' 
 feeling any of the moving, softening tokens of a 
 sincere penitent ; afflicted at the punishment, but 
 not at the crime ; alarmed at the vengeance, but not 
 terrified at the guilt ; having the same gust to 
 the crime, though terrified to the last degi'ee 
 at the thought of the punishment, which I concluded 
 I was just now going to receive. 
 
 But perhaps many that read this will be sensible 
 of the thunder and lightning, that may think noth- 
 ing of the rest, or rather may make a jest of it all ; 
 so I say no more of it at this time, but proceed to 
 the story of the voyage. • When the amazement was 
 over, and the men began to come to themselves, 
 they fell a-calling for one another, every one for his 
 friend, or for those he had most respect for ; and it 
 was a singular satisfaction to find that nobody was 
 hurt. The next thing was to inquire if the ship had 
 received no damage, when the boatswain, stepping 
 forward, found that part of the head was gone^ but 
 not so as to endanger the bowsprit ; so we hoisted 
 our top-sails again, hauled aft the fore-sheet, braced 
 the yards, and went our course as before. Nor can 
 I deny but that we were all somewhat like the ship ; 
 [261 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 our first astonishment being a little over, and that 
 we found the ship swim again, we were soon the 
 same irreligious, hardened crew that we were before, 
 and I among the rest. 
 
 As we now steered, our course lay N.N.E., and we 
 passed thus, with a fair wind, through the strait or 
 channel between the island of Gilolo and the land 
 of Nova Guinea, when we were soon in the open sea 
 or ocean, on the south-east of the Philippines, being 
 the great Pacific, or South Sea, where it may be said 
 to join itself with the vast Indian Ocean. 
 
 As we passed into these seas, steering due north, 
 so we soon crossed the line to the north side, and so 
 sailed on towards Mindanao and Manilla, the chief 
 of the Philippine Islands, without meeting with any 
 purchase till we came to the northward of Manilla, 
 and then our trade began ; for here we took three 
 Japanese vessels, though at some distance from Man- 
 illa. Two of them had made their market, and were 
 going home with nutmegs, cinnamon, cloves, &c., 
 besides all sorts of European goods, brought with 
 the Spanish ships from Acapulco. They had together 
 eight-and- thirty ton of cloves, and five or six ton 
 of nutmegs, and as much cinnamon. We took the 
 spice, but meddled with very little of the European 
 goods, they being, as we thought, not worth our 
 while ; but we were very sorry for it soon after, and 
 therefore grew wiser upon the next occasion. 
 
 The third Japanese was the best prize to us ; for 
 he came with money, and a great deal of gold un- 
 coined, to buy such goods as we mentioned above. 
 We eased him of his gold, and did him no other 
 [262 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 harm, and having no intention to stay long here, we 
 stood away for China. 
 
 We were at sea above two months upon this 
 voyage, beating it up against the wind, which blew 
 steadily from the N.E., and within a point or two 
 one way or other ; and this indeed was the reason 
 why we met with the more prizes in our voyage. 
 
 We were just gotten clear of the Philippines, and 
 we purposed to go to the isle of Formosa, but the 
 wind blew so fresh at N.N.E. that there was no 
 making anything of it, and we were forced to put 
 back to Laconia, the most northerly of those islands. 
 We rode here very secure, and shifted our situation, 
 not in view of any danger, for there was none, but 
 for a better supply of provisions, which we found the 
 people very willing to supply us with. 
 
 There lay, while we remained here, three very 
 great galleons, or Spanish ships, from the south seas ; 
 whether newly come in or ready to sail we could not 
 understand at first ; but as we found the China traders 
 becan to load and set forward to the north, we con- 
 cluded the Spanish ships had newly unloaded their 
 cargo, and these had been buying; so we doubted 
 not but we should meet with purchase in the rest 
 of the voyage, neither, indeed, could we well miss 
 
 of it. 
 
 We stayed here till the beginning of May, when 
 we were told the Chinese traders would set forward ; 
 for the northern monsoons end about the latter end 
 of March or beginning of April ; so that they are 
 sure of fair winds home. Accordingly we hired some 
 of the country boats, which are very swift sailers, to 
 [263 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 go and bring us word how affairs stood at Manilla, 
 and when the China junks would sail ; and by this 
 intelligence we ordered our matters so well, that 
 three days after we set sail we fell in with no less 
 than eleven of them ; out of which, however, having 
 by misfortune of discovering ourselves, taken but 
 three, we contented ourselves and pursued our voyage 
 to Formosa. In these three vessels we took, in short, 
 such a quantity of cloves, nutmegs, cinnamon, and 
 mace, besides silver, that our men began to be of 
 my opinion, — that we were rich enough ; and, in 
 short, we had nothing to do now but to consider by 
 what methods to secure the immense treasure we 
 had got. 
 
 I was secretly glad to hear that they were of this 
 opinion, for I had long before resolved, if it were 
 possible, to persuade them to think of returning, 
 having fully perfected my first projected design of 
 rummaging among the Spice Islands ; and all those 
 prizes, which were exceeding rich at Manilla, was 
 quite beyond my design. 
 
 But now I had heard what the men said, and how 
 they thought we were very well, I let them know by 
 friend William, that I intended only to sail to the 
 island of Formosa, where I should find opportunity to 
 turn our spices and Eui'ope goods into ready money, 
 and that then I would tack about for the south, 
 the northern monsoons being perhaps by that time 
 also ready to set in. They all approved of my de- 
 sign, and wiUingly went forward ; because, besides 
 the winds, which would not permit until October to 
 go to the south, I say, besides this, we were now a 
 [264. J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 very deep ship, having near two hundred ton of goods 
 on board, and particularly, some very valuable ; the 
 sloop also had a proportion. 
 
 With this resolution we went on cheerfully, when, 
 within about twelve days' sail more, we made the 
 island Formosa, at a great distance, but were our- 
 selves shot beyond the southernmost part of the 
 island, being to leeward, and almost upon the coast 
 of China. Her6 we were a little at a loss, for the 
 English factories were not far off, and we might 
 be obliged to fight some of their ships, if we met 
 with them ; which, though we were able enough to 
 do, yet we did not desire it on many accounts, and 
 particularly because we did not think it was our 
 business to have it known who we were, or that such 
 a kind of people as we had . been seen on the coast. 
 However, we were obliged to keep to the northward, 
 keeping as good an offing as we could with respect 
 to the coast of China. 
 
 We had not sailed long*but we chased a small 
 Chinese junk, and having taken her, we found she was 
 bound to the island of Formosa, having no goods on 
 board but some rice and a small quantity of tea ; 
 but she had three Chinese merchants in her ; and 
 they told us that they were going to meet a large 
 vessel of their country, which came from Tonquin, 
 and lay in a river in Formosa, whose name I forgot ; 
 and they were going to the Philippine Islands, 
 with silks, muslins, calicoes, and such goods as are the 
 product of China, and some gold ; that their business 
 was to sell their cargo, and buy spices and European 
 goods. 
 
 '[ 265 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 . This suited very well with our purpose ; so I re- 
 solved now that we would leave off being pirates and 
 turn merchants ; so we told them what goods we had 
 on board, and that if they would bring their super- 
 cargoes or merchants on board, we would trade with 
 them. They were very willing to trade with us, bul 
 terribly afraid to trust us ; nor was it an unjust fear 
 for we had plundered them already of what they had 
 On the other hand, we were as diffident as they, and 
 veiy uncertain what to do ; but William the Quaker 
 put this matter into a way of barter. He came to 
 me and told me he really thought the merchants 
 looked like fair men, that meant honestly. " And 
 besides," says William, " it is their interest to be 
 honest now, for, as they know upon what terms we 
 got the goods we are to truck with them, so they 
 know we can afford good pennyworths ; and in the, 
 next place, it saves them going the whole voyage, so 
 that the southerly monsoons yet holding, if they 
 traded with us, they collld immediately return with 
 their cargo to China ; " though, by the way, we 
 afterwards found they intended for Japan ; but that 
 was all one, for by this means they saved at least 
 eight months' voyage. Upon these foundations, 
 William said he was satisfied we might trust them ; 
 " for," says William, " I would as soon trust a man 
 whose interest binds him. to be just to me as a man 
 whose principle binds himself." Upon the whole, 
 William proposed that two of the merchants should 
 be left on board Our ship as hostages, and that part 
 of our goods should be loaded in their vessel, and let 
 the third go with it into the port where their ship 
 [266]' 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 lay ; and when he had delivered the spices, he should 
 bring bacli such things as it was agreed should be 
 exchanged. This was concluded on, and William 
 the Quaker ventured to go along with them, which, 
 upon my word, I should not have cared to have 
 done, nor was I willing that he should, but he went 
 still upon the notion that it was their interest to 
 treat him friendly. 
 
 In the meantime, we came to an anchor under a 
 little island in the latitude of 23 degrees 28 minutes, 
 being just under the northern tropic, and about 
 twenty leagues from the island. Here we lay thir- 
 teen days, and began to be very uneasy for my friend 
 William, for they had promised to be back again in 
 four days, which they might very easily have done. 
 However, at the end of thirteen days, we saw three 
 sail coming directly to us, which a little surprised us 
 all at first, not knowing what might be the case; 
 and we began to put ourselves in a posture of de- 
 fence ; but as they came nearer us, we were soon 
 satisfied, for the first vessel was that which William 
 went in, who carried a flag of truce ; and in a few 
 hours they all came to an anchor, and William 
 came on board us with a little boat, with the Chi- 
 nese merchant in his company, and two other 
 merchants, who seemed to be a kind of brokers for 
 the rest. 
 
 Here he gave us an account how civilly he had 
 been used ; how they had treated him with all 
 imaginable frankness and openness ; that they had 
 not only given him the full value of his spices and 
 other goods which he carried, in gold, by good 
 [267] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 weight, but had loaded the vessel again with such 
 goods as he knew we were willing to trade for ; and 
 that afterwards they had resolved to bring the great 
 ship out of the harbour, to lie where we were, that so 
 we might make what bargain we thought fit ; only 
 William said he had promised, in our name, that we 
 should use no violence with them, nor detain any of 
 the vessels after we had done trading with them. 
 I told him we would strive to outdo them in civility, 
 and that we would make good every part of his 
 agreement ; in token whereof, I caused a white flag 
 likewise to be spread at the poop of our great ship, 
 which was the signal agreed on. 
 
 As to the third vessel which came with them, it 
 was a kind of bark of the country, who, having intel- 
 ligence of our designs to traffic, came off" to deal with 
 us, bringing a great deal of gold and some provisions, 
 which at that time we were very glad of. 
 
 In short, we traded upon the high seas with these 
 men, and indeed we made a very good market, and 
 yet sold thieves' pennyworths too. We sold here 
 about sixty ton of spice,' chiefly cloves and nutmegs, 
 and above two hundred bales of European goods, 
 such as linen and woollen manufactures. We con- 
 sidered we should have occasion for some such things 
 ourselves, and so we kept a good quantity of English 
 stuff's, cloth, baize, &c., for ourselves. I shall not 
 take up any of the little room I have left here with 
 the further particulars of our trade ; it is enough to 
 mention, that, except a parcel of tea, and twelve 
 bales of fine China wrought silks, we took nothing 
 in exchange for our goods but gold ; so that the sum 
 [268] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we took here in that glittering commodity amounted 
 to above fifty thousand ounces, good weight. 
 
 When we had finished ouv barter, we restored the 
 hostages, and gave the three merchants about the 
 quantity of twelve hundredweight of nutmegs, and 
 as many of cloves, with a han'dsome present of Euro- 
 pean linen and stuff for themselves, as a recompense 
 for what we had taken from them ; so we sent them 
 away exceedingly well satisfied. 
 
 Here it was that William gave me an account, that 
 while he was on board the Japanese vessel, he met 
 with a kind of religious, or Japan priest, who spoke 
 some words of English to him ; and, being very in- 
 quisitive to know how he came to learn any of those 
 words, he told him that there was in his country 
 thirteen Englishmen ; he called them Englishmen 
 very articulately and distinctly, for he had conversed 
 with them very frequently and freely. He said that 
 they were all that were left of two-and-thirty men, 
 who came on shore on the north side of Japan, being 
 driven upon a great rock in a stormy night, where 
 they lost their ship, and the rest of their men were 
 drowned ; that he had persuaded the king of his 
 country to send boats off to the rock or island where 
 the ship was lost, to save the rest of the men, and to 
 bring them on shore, which was done, and they were 
 used very kindly, and had houses built for them, 
 and land given them to plant for provision ; and that 
 they lived by themselves. 
 
 He said he went frequently among them, to per- 
 suade them to worship their god (an idol, I suppose, 
 of their own making), which, he said, they ungrate- 
 [269] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 fully refused ; and that therefore the king had once 
 or twice ordered thenr all to be put to death ; but 
 that, as he said, he had prevailed upon the king to 
 spare them, and let them live their own way, as long 
 as they were quiet and peaceable, and did not go 
 about to withdraw others from the worship of the 
 country. 
 
 I asked William why he did not inquire from 
 whence they came. " I did," said William ; " for 
 how could I but think it strange," said he, " to hear 
 him talk of Englishmen on the north side of Japan ? " 
 " Well," said I, " what account did he give of it ? " 
 " An account," said William, " that will surprise thee, 
 and all the world after thee, that shall hear of it, and 
 which makes me wish thou wouldst go up to Japan 
 and find them out." " What do you mean .-' " said I. 
 " Whence could they come ? " " Why," says Wil- 
 liam, " he pulled out a little book, and in it a piece 
 of paper, where it was written, in an Englishman's 
 hand, and in plain English words, thus ; and," says 
 William, "I read it myself: — 'We came from 
 Greenland, and from the North Pole.'" This, in- 
 deed, was amazing to us all, and more so to those 
 seamen among us who knew anything of the infinite 
 attempts which had been made from Europe^ as well 
 by the English as the Dutch, to discover a passage 
 that way into those parts of the world ; and as 
 William pressed as earnestly to go on to the north 
 to rescue those poor men, so the ship's company be- 
 gan to iilcline to it ; and, in a word, we all came to 
 this, that we would stand in to the shore of Formosa, 
 to find this priest again, and have a further account 
 [270] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 of it all from him. Accordingly, the sloop went over ; 
 but when they came there, the vessels were very un- 
 happily sailed, and this put an end to our inquiry 
 after them, and perhaps may have disappointed man- 
 kind of one of the most noble discoveries that ever 
 was made, or will again be made, in the world, for the 
 good of mankind in general ; but so much for that. 
 William was so uneasy at losing this opportunity, 
 that he pressed us earnestly to go up to Japan to 
 find out these men. He told us that if it was nothing 
 but to recover thirteen honest poor men from a 
 kind of captivity, which they would otherwise never 
 be redeemed from, and where, perhaps, they might, 
 some time or other, be murdered by the barbarous 
 people, in defence of their idolatry, it were very 
 Well worth our while, and it would be, in some meas- 
 ure, making amends for the mischiefs we had done 
 in the world ; but we, that had no concern upon us 
 for the mischiefs we had done, had much less about 
 any satisfactions to be made for it, so he found that 
 kind of discourse would weigh very little with us. 
 Then he pressed us very earnestly to let him have 
 the sloop to go by himself, and I told him I would 
 not oppose it ; but when he came to the sloop none 
 of the men would go with him ; for the case was 
 plain, they had all a share in the cargo of the great 
 ship, as well as in that of the sloop, and the richness 
 of the cargo was such that they would not leave it 
 by any means ; so poor William, much to his morti- 
 fication, was obliged to give it over. What became 
 of those thirteen men, or whether they are not there 
 still, I can give no account of. 
 [271] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We are now at the end of our cruise ; what we 
 had taken was indeed so considerable, that it was not 
 only enough to satisfy the most covetous and the 
 most ambitious minds in the world, but it did indeed 
 satisfy us, and our men declared they did not desire 
 any more. The next motion, therefore, was about 
 going back, and the way by which we should perform 
 the voyage, so as not to be attacked by the Dutch 
 in the Straits of Sunda. 
 
 We had pretty well stored ourselves here with 
 provisions, and it being now near the i-eturn of the 
 monsoons, we resolved to stand away to the south- 
 ward ; and not only to keep without the Philippine 
 Islands, that is to say, to the eastward of them, but 
 to keep on to the southward, and see if we could not 
 leave not only the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, be- 
 hind us, but even Nova Guinea and Nova Hollandia 
 also ; and so getting into the variable winds, to the 
 south of the tropic of Capricorn, steer away to the 
 west, over the great Indian Ocean. 
 
 This was indeed at first a monstrous voyage in its 
 appearance, and the want of provisions threatened 
 us. William told us in so many words, that it was 
 impossible we could carry provisions enough to sub- 
 sist us for such a voyage, and' especially fresh water ; 
 and that, as there would be no land for us to touch 
 at where we could get any supply, it was a madness 
 to undertake it. 
 
 But I undertook to remedy this evil, arid there- 
 fore desired them not to be uneasy at that, for I 
 knew that we might supply ourselves at Mindanao, 
 the most southerly island of the Philippines. 
 [272] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Accordingly, we set sail, having taken all the pro- 
 visions here that we could get, the 28th of Septem- 
 ber, the wind veering a little at first from the N.N.W. 
 to the N.E. by E., but afterwards settled about the 
 N.E. and the E.N.E. We were nine weeks in this 
 voyage, having met with several interruptions by the 
 weather, and put in under the lee of a small island 
 in the latitude of 16 degrees 12 minutes, of which 
 we never knew the name, none of our charts having 
 given any account of it : I say, we put in here by 
 reason of a strange tornado or hurricane, which 
 brought us into a great deal of danger. Here we 
 rode about sixteen days, the winds being very tem- 
 pestuous and the weather uncertain. However, we 
 got some provisions on shore, such as plants and 
 roots, and a few hogs.* We believed there were 
 inhabitants on the island, but we saw none of 
 them. 
 
 From hence, the weather settling again, we went 
 on and came to the southernmost part of Mindanao, 
 where we took in fresh water and some cows, but the 
 climate was so hot that we did not attempt to salt 
 up any more than so as to keep a fortnight or thi'ee 
 weeks ; and away we stood southward, crossing the 
 line, and, leaving Gillolo on the starboard side, we 
 coasted the country they call New Guinea, where, in 
 the latitude of eight degrees south, we put in again 
 for provisions and water, and where we found inhab- 
 itants; but they fled from us, and were altogether 
 inconversable. From thence, sailing still southward, 
 we left all behind us that any of our charts and maps 
 took any notice of, and went on till we came to the 
 18 [ 273 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 latitude of seventeen degrees, the wind continuing 
 still north-east. 
 
 Here we made land to the westward, which, when 
 we had kept in sight for three days, coasting along 
 the shore for the distance of about four leagues, we 
 began to fear we should find no outlet west, and so 
 should be obliged to go back again, and put in 
 among the Moluccas at last ; but at length we found 
 the land break off, and go trending away to the west 
 sea, seeming to be all open to the south and south- 
 west, and a gi-eat sea came rolling out of the south,- 
 which gave us to understand that there was no land 
 for a great way. 
 
 In a word, we kept on our course to the south, a 
 little westerly, till we passed the south tropic, where 
 we found the winds variable ;• and how we stood away 
 fair west, and held it out for about twenty days, 
 when we discovered land right ahead, and on our 
 larboard bow ; we made directly to the shore, being 
 willing to take all advantages now for supplying our- 
 selves with fresh provisions and water, knowing we 
 were now entering on that vast unknown Indian 
 Ocean, perhaps the greatest sea on the globe, having, 
 with very little interruption of islands, a continued 
 sea quite round the globe. 
 
 We found a good road here, and some people on 
 shore ; but when we landed, they fled up the country, 
 nor would they hold any correspondence with us, nor 
 come near us, but shot at us several times with arrows 
 as long as lances. We set up white flags for a truce, 
 but they either did not or would not understand it ; 
 on the contrary, they shot our flag of truce through 
 [274] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 several times with their arrows, so that, in a word, 
 fve never came near any of them. 
 
 We found good water here, though it was some- 
 thing difficult to get at it, but for hving creatures 
 we could see none ; for the people, if they had any 
 cattle, drove them all away, and showed us nothing 
 but themselves, and that sometimes in a threatening 
 posture, and in number so great, that made us sup- 
 pose the island to be greater than we first imagined. 
 It is true, they would ngt come near enough for us 
 to engage with them, at least not openly ; but they 
 came near enough for us to see them, and, by the 
 help of our glasses, to see that they were clothed and 
 armed, but their clothes were only about their lower 
 und . middle parts ; that they had long lances, half 
 pikes, in their hands, besides bows and arrows ; that 
 they had great high things on their heads, made, as 
 we believed, of feathers, and which looked something 
 like our grenadiers' caps in England. 
 
 When we saw them so shy that they would not 
 come near us, our men began to range over the 
 island, if it was such (for we never surrounded it), 
 to search for cattle, and for any of the Indian plan- 
 tations, for fruits or plants ; but they soon found, to 
 their cost, that they were to use more caution than 
 that came to, and that they were to discover per- 
 fectly every bush and every tree before they ventured 
 abroad in the country ; for about fourteen of our men 
 going farther than the rest, into a part of the coun- 
 try which seemed to be planted, as they thought, 
 for it did but seem so, only I think it was overgrown 
 with canes, such as we make our cane chairs with — 
 [275] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I say, venturing too far, they were suddenly attacked 
 with a shower of arrows from almost every side of 
 them, as they thought, out of the tops of the trees. 
 
 They had nothing to do but to fly for it, which, 
 however, they could not resolve on, till five of them 
 were wounded ; nor had they escaped so, if one of 
 them had not been so much wiser or thoughtfullei 
 than the rest, as to consider, that though they could 
 not see the enemy, so as to shoot at them, yet per- 
 haps the noise of their sliot, might terrify them, and 
 that they should rather fire at a venture. Accord- 
 ingly, ten of them faced about, and fired at random 
 anywhere among the canes. 
 
 The noise and the fire not only terrified the enemy, 
 but, as they believed, their shot had luckily hit some 
 of them ; for they found not only that the arrows, 
 which came thick among them before, ceased, but 
 they heard the Indians halloo, after their way, to 
 one another, and make a strange noise, more un- 
 couth and inimitably strange than any they had ever 
 heard, more like the howling and barking of wild 
 creatures in the woods than like the voice of men, 
 only that sometimes they seemed to speak words. 
 
 They observed also, that this noise of the Indians 
 went fai-ther and farther off, so that they were satis- 
 fied the Indians fled away, except on one side, where 
 they heard a doleful groaning and howling, and where 
 it continued a good while, which they supposed was 
 from some or other of them being wounded, and 
 howling by reason of their wounds ; or killed, and 
 others howling over them : but our men had enough 
 of making discoveries; so they did not trouble 
 [ 276 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 themselves to look, farther, but resolved to take this 
 opportunity to retreat. But the worst of their 
 adventure was to come ; for as they came back, they 
 passed by a prodigious great trunk of an old tree ; 
 what tree it was, they said, they did not know, but 
 it stood like an old decayed oak in a park, where the 
 keepers in England take a stand, as they call it, to 
 shoot a deer ; and it stood just under the steep side 
 of a great rock, or hill, that our people could not see 
 what was beyond it. 
 
 As they came by this tree, they were of a sudden 
 shot at, from the top of the tree, with seven arrows 
 and three lances, which, to our great grief, killed two 
 of our men, and wounded thi'ee more. This was the 
 more surprising, because, being without any defence, 
 and so near the trees, they expected more lances and 
 arrows every moment ; nor would flying do them any 
 service, the Indians being, as appeared, very good 
 marksmen. In this extremity, they had happily this 
 presence of mind, viz., to run close to the tree, and 
 stand, as it were, under it ; so that those above could 
 not come at, or see them, to throw their lances at 
 them. This succeeded, and gave them time to con- 
 sider what to do ; they knew their enemies and 
 murderers were above ; they heard them talk, and 
 those above knew those were below ; but they below 
 were obliged to keep close for fear of their lances 
 from above. At length, one of our men, looking a 
 little more strictly than the rest, thought he saw the 
 head of one of the Indians just over a dead limb of 
 the tree, which, it seems, the creature sat upon. One 
 man immediately fired, and levelled his piece so true 
 [277] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 that the shot went through the fellow's head ; and 
 down he fell out of the tree immediately, and came 
 upon the ground with such force, with the height of 
 his fall, that if he had not been killed with the shot, 
 he would ceitainly have been killed with dashing his 
 body against the ground. 
 
 This so frightened them, that, besides the howling 
 noise they made in the tree, our men heard a strange 
 clutter of them in the body of the tree, from whence 
 they concluded they had made the tree hollow, and 
 were got to hide themselves there. Now, had this 
 been the case, they were secure enough from our 
 men, for it was impossible any of our men could get 
 up the tree on the outside, there being no branches 
 to climb by ; and, to shoot at the tree, that they 
 tried several times to no purpose, for the tree was sft 
 thick that no shot would enter it. They made no 
 doubt, however, but that they had their enemies in a, 
 trap, and that a small siege would either bring them 
 down, tree and all, or starve them out ; so they re- 
 solved to keep their post, and send to us for help. 
 Accordingly, two of them came away to us for more 
 hands, and particularly desired that some of our car- 
 penters might come with tools, to help to cut down 
 the tree, or at least to cut down other wood and set 
 fire to it ; and that, they concluded, would not fail 
 to bring them out. 
 
 Accordingly, our men went like a little army, and 
 with mighty preparations for an enterprise, the like 
 of which has scarce been ever heard, to form the siege 
 of a great tree. However, when they came there, 
 they found the task difficult enough, for the old 
 [278] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 trunk was indeed a very great one, and very tall, 
 being at lea^t two-and-twenty feet high, with seven 
 old limbs standing out every way from the top, but 
 decayed, and very few leaves, if any, left on it. 
 
 William the Quaker, whose curiosity led him to 
 go among the rest, proposed that they should make 
 a ladder, and get upon the top, and then throw wild- 
 fire into the tree, and smoke them out. Others pro- 
 posed going back, and getting a great gun out of the 
 ship, which would split the tree in pieces with the 
 iron bullets ; others, that they should cut down a great 
 deal of wood, and pile it up round the tree, and set it 
 on fire, and burn the tree, and the Indians in it. 
 
 These consultations took up our people no less 
 than two or three days, in all which time they heard 
 nothing of the supposed garrison within this wooden 
 castle, nor any noise within. William's project was 
 first gone about, and a large strong ladder was made, 
 to scale this wooden tower; and in two or three 
 hours' time it would have been ready to mount, 
 when, on a sudden, they heard the noise of the 
 Indians in the body of the tree again, and a little 
 after, several of them appeared at the top of the 
 tree, and threw some lances down at our men ; one 
 of which struck one of our seamen a-top of the 
 shoulder, and gave him such a desperate wound, 
 that the surgeons not only had a great deal of diffi- 
 culty to cure him, but the poor man endured such 
 horrible torture, that we all said they had better 
 have killed him outright. However, he was cured 
 at last, though he never recovered the perfect use of 
 his arm, the lance having cut some of the tendons on 
 [ 279 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the top of the arm, near the shoulder, which, as I 
 supposed, performed the office of motiofi to the hmb 
 before ; so that the poor man was a cripple all the 
 days of his life. But to return to the desperate 
 rogues in the tree ; our men shot at them, but did 
 not find they had hit them, or any of them ; but as 
 soon as ever they shot at them, they could hear them 
 huddle down into the trunk of the tree again, and 
 there, to be sure, they were safe. 
 
 Well, howevei', it was this which put by the pro- 
 ject of William's ladder ; for when it was done, who 
 would venture up among such a troop of bold crea- 
 tures as were there, and who, they supposed, were 
 desperate by their circumstances ? And as but one 
 man at a time could go up, they began to think it 
 would not do ; and, indeed, I was of the opinion (for 
 about this time I was come to their assistance) that 
 going up the ladder would not do, unless it was thus, 
 that a man should, as it were, run just up to the 
 top, and throw some fireworks into the tree, and 
 come down again ; and this we did two or three 
 times, but found no effect of it. At last, one of our 
 gunners made a stink-pot, as we called it, being a 
 composition which only smokes, but does not flame 
 or burn ; but withal the smoke of it is so thick, and 
 the smell of it so intolerably nauseous, that it is not 
 to be suffered. This he threw into the tree himself, 
 and we waited for the effect of it, but heard or saw 
 nothing all that night or the next day ; so we con- 
 cluded the men within were all smothered ; when, on a 
 sudden, the next night we heard them upon the top of 
 the tree again shouting and hallooing like madmen. 
 [280] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 We concluded, as anybody would, that this was to 
 call for help, and we resolved to continue our siege ; 
 for we were all enraged to see ourselves so baulked 
 by a few wild people, whom we thought we had safe in 
 our clutches ; and, indeed, never were there so many 
 concurring circumstances to delude men in any case 
 we had met with. We resolved, however, to try 
 another stink-pot the next night, and our engineer 
 and gunner had got it ready, when, hearing a noise 
 of the enemy on the top of the tree, and in the body 
 of the tree, I was not willing to let the gunner go up 
 the ladder, which, I said, would be but to be cer- 
 tain of being murdered. However, he found a 
 medium for it, and that was to go up a few steps, 
 and, with a long pole in his hand, to throw it 
 in upon the top of the tree, the ladder being stand- 
 ing all this while against the top of the tree ; but 
 when the gunner, with his machine at the top of 
 his pole, came to the tree, with three other men to 
 help him, behold the ladder was gone. 
 
 This perfectly confounded us ; and we now con- 
 cluded the Indians in the tree had, by this piece of 
 negligence, taken the opportunity, and come all 
 down the laddej-, made their escape, and had carried 
 away the ladder with them. I laughed most heartily 
 at my friend William, who, as I said, had the direc- 
 tion of the siege, and had set up a ladder for the 
 garrison, as we called them, to get down upon, and 
 run away. But when daylight came, we were all set 
 to rights again ; for there stood our ladder, hauled up 
 on the top of the tree, with about half of it in the 
 hollow of the tree, and the other half upright in the 
 [ 281 j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 air. Then we began to laugh at the Indians for fools, 
 that they could not as well have found their way 
 down by the ladder, and have made their escape, as to 
 have puUed it up by main strength into the tree. 
 
 We then resolved upon fire, and so to put an end 
 to the work at once, and burn the tree and its inhabi- 
 tants together ; and accordingly we went to work to 
 cut wood, and in a few hours' time we got enough, 
 as we thought, together ; and, piling it up round the 
 bottom of the tree, we set it on fire, waiting at a dis- 
 tance to see when, the gentlemen's quarters being too 
 hot for them, they would come flying out at the top. 
 But we were quite confounded when, on a sudden, 
 we found the fire all put out by a great quantity of 
 water thrown upon it. We then thought the devil 
 must be in them, to be sure. Says William, " This 
 is certainly the cunningest piece of Indian engineer- 
 ing that ever was heard of; and there can be but 
 one thing more to guess at, besides witchcraft and 
 dealing with the devil, which I believe not one word 
 of," says he ; " and that must be, that this is an arti- 
 ficial tree, or a natural tree artificially made hollow 
 down into the earth, through root and all ; and that 
 these creatures have an artificial cavity underneath 
 it, quite into the hill, or a way to go through, and 
 under the hill, to some other place ; and where that 
 other place is, we know not ; but if it be not our 
 own fault, I '11 find the place, and follow them into it, 
 before I am two days older." He then called the 
 carpenters, to know of them if they had any lar'ge 
 saws that would cut through the body ; and they ' 
 told him they had no saws that were long enough, 
 [282] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 nor could men work into such a monstrous old stump 
 in a great while ; but that they would go to work 
 with it with their axes, and undertake to cut it down 
 in two days, and stock up the root of it in two more. 
 But William was for another way, which proved much 
 better than all this ; for he was for silent work, that, 
 if possible, he might catch some of the fellows in it. 
 So he sets twelve men to it with large augers, to bore 
 great holes into the side of the tree, to go almost 
 through, but not quite through ; which holes were 
 bored without noise, and when they were done he 
 filled them all with gunpowder, stopping sti-ong 
 plugs, bolted crossways, into the holes, and then 
 boring a slanting hole, of a less size, down into the 
 greater hole, all of which were filled with powder, 
 and at once blown up. When they took fire, they 
 made such a noise, and tore and split up the tree in 
 so many places, and in such a manner, that we could 
 see plainly such another blast would demolish it ; 
 and so it did. Thus at the second time we could, at 
 two or three places, put our hands in them, and dis- 
 covered a cheat, namely, that there was a cave or hole 
 dug into the earth, from or through the bottom of 
 the hollow, and that it had communication with 
 another cave farther in, where we heard the voices 
 of several of the wild folks, calling and talking to 
 one another. 
 
 When we came thus far we had a great mind to get . 
 at them ; and William desired that three men might 
 be given him with hand-grenadoes ; and he promised 
 to go down first, and boldly he did so ; for William, 
 to give him his due, had the heart of a lion. 
 [283] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 They had pistols in their hands, and swords by 
 their sides ; but, as they had taught the Indians be- 
 fore by their stink-pots, the Indians returned them 
 in their own kind ; for they made such a smoke come 
 up out of the entrance into the cave or hollow, that 
 William and his three men were glad to come run- 
 ning out of the cave, and out of the tree too, for 
 mere want of breath ; and indeed they were almost 
 stifled. 
 
 Never was a fortification so well defended, or 
 assailants so many ways defeated. We were now for 
 giving it over, and particularly I called William, 
 and told him I could not but laugh to see us spin- 
 ning out our time here for nothing ; that I could not 
 imagine what we were doing ; that it was certain 
 that the rogues that were in it were cunning to the 
 last degree, and it would vex anybody to be so 
 baulked by a few naked ignorant fellows ; but still 
 it was not worth our while to push it any further, 
 nor was there anything that I knew of to be got by 
 the conquest when it was made, so that I thought it 
 high time to give it over. 
 
 William acknowledged what I said was just, and 
 that there was nothing but our curiosity to be grati- 
 fied in this attempt ; and though, as he said, he was 
 very desirous to have searched into the thing, yet 
 he would not insist upon it; so we resolved to quit 
 it and come away, which we did. However, William 
 said before we went he would have this satisfaction 
 of them, viz., to burn down the tree and stop up the 
 entrance into" the cave. And while doing this the 
 gunner told him he would have one satisfaction of 
 [284] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the rogues ; and this was, that he would make a 
 mine of it, and see which way it had vent. Upon 
 this he fetched two barrels of powder out of the 
 ships, ajiid placed them in the inside of the hollow of 
 the cave, as far in as he durst go to carry them, and 
 then filling up the mouth of the cave where the tree 
 stood, and ramming it sufficiently hard, leaving only 
 a pipe or touch-hole, he gave fire to it, and stood at 
 a distance to see which way it would operate, when 
 on a sudden he found the force of the powder burst 
 its way out among some bushes on the other side the 
 little hill I mentioned, and that it came roaring 
 out there as out of the mouth of a cannon. Imme- 
 diately running thither, we saw the effects of the 
 powder. 
 
 First, we saw that there was the other mouth of 
 the cave, which the powder had so torn and opened, 
 that the loose earth was so fallen in again that 
 nothing of shape could be discerned ; but there we 
 saw what was become of the garrison of the Indians, 
 too, who had given us all this trouble, for some of 
 them had no arms, some no legs, some no head ; 
 some lay half buried in the rubbish of the mine — 
 that is to say, in the loose earth that fell in ; and, 
 in short, there was a miserable havoc made in them 
 all ; for we had good reason to believe not one of 
 them that were in the inside could escape, but rather 
 were shot out of the mouth of the cave, like a bullet 
 out of a gun. 
 
 We had now our full satisfaction of the Indians ; 
 but, in short, this was a losing voyage, for we had 
 two men killed, one quite crippled, and five more 
 [285] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 wounded ; we spent two barrels of powder, and eleven 
 days' time, and all to get the understanding how to 
 make an Indian mine, or how to keep garrison in a 
 hollow tree ; and with this wit, bought at this dear 
 price, we came away, having taken in some fresh 
 water, but got no fresh provisions. 
 
 We then considered what we should do to get 
 back again to Madagascar. We were much about 
 the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, but had such 
 a very long run, and were neither sure of meeting 
 with fair winds nor with any land in the way, that 
 we knew not what to think of it. William was our 
 last resort in this case again, and he was very plain 
 with us. " Friend," says he to Captain Wilmot, 
 " what occasion hast thou to run the venture of 
 starving, merely for the pleasure of saying thou 
 hast been where nobody has been before .'' There 
 are a great many places nearer home, of which thou 
 mayest say the same thing at less expense. I see 
 no occasion thou hast of keeping thus far south any 
 longer than till you are sure you are to the west end 
 of Java and Sumatra ; and then thou mayest stand 
 away north towards Ceylon, and the coast of Coro- 
 mandel and Madras, where thou mayest get both 
 fresh water and fresh provisions ; and to that part 
 it is likely we may hold out weU enough with the 
 stores we have already." 
 
 This was wholesome advice, and such as was not to 
 be slighted ; so we stood away to the west, keeping 
 between the latitude of 31 and 35, and had very 
 good weather and fair winds for about ten days' sail ; 
 by which time, by our reckoning, we were clear of 
 [286 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 the isles, and might run away to the north ; and if 
 we did not fall in with Ceylon, we should at least 
 go into the great deep Bay of Bengal. 
 
 But we were out in our reckoning a great deal ; 
 for, when we had stood due north for about fifteen 
 or sixteen degrees, we met with land again on our 
 starboard bow, about three leagues' distance ; so we 
 came to an anchor about half a league from it, and 
 manned out our boats to see what sort of a country 
 it was. We found it a very good one ; fresh water 
 easy to come at, but no cattle that we could see, or 
 inhabitants ; and we were very shy of searching too 
 far after them, lest we should make such another 
 journey as we did last; so that we let rambling 
 alone, and chose rather to take wl^t we could find, 
 which was only a few wild mangoes, and some plants 
 of several kinds, which we knew not the names of. 
 
 We made no stay here, but put to sea again, N.W. 
 by N., but had little wind for a fortnight more, when 
 we made land again ; and standing in with the shore, 
 we were surprised to find ourselves on the south 
 shore of Java ; and just as we were coming to an 
 anchor we saw a boat, carrying Dutch colours, sail- 
 ing along-shore. We were not solicitous to speak 
 with them, or any other of their nation, but left it 
 indifferent to our people, when they went on shore, 
 to see the Dutchmen or not to see them ; our busi- 
 ness was to get provisions, which, indeed, by this 
 time were very short with us. 
 
 We resolved to go on shore with our boats in the 
 most convenient place we could find, and to look out 
 a proper harbour to bring the ship into, leaving it 
 [ 287 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to our fate whether we should meet with friends or 
 enemies; resolving, however, not to stay any con- 
 siderable time, at least not long enough to have ex- 
 presses sent across the island to Batavia, and for 
 ships to come round from thence to attack us. 
 
 We found, according to our desire, a very good 
 harbour, where we rode in seven fathom water, well 
 defended from the weather, whatever might happen ; 
 and here we got fresh provisions, such as good hogs 
 and some cows ; and that we might lay in a little 
 store, we killed sixteen cows, and pickled and bar- 
 relled up the flesh as well as we could be supposed 
 to do in the latitude of eight degrees from the line. 
 
 We did all this in about five days, and filled our 
 casks with water ; and the last boat was coming off 
 with herbs and roots, we being unmoored, and our 
 foretopsail loose for sailing, when we spied a large 
 ship to the northward, bearing down directly upon 
 us. We knew not what she might be, but concluded 
 the worst, and made all possible haste to get our 
 anchor up, and get under sail, that we might be in a 
 readiness to see what she had to say to us, for we 
 were under no great concern for one ship, but our 
 notion was, that we should be attacked by three or 
 four together. 
 
 By the time we had got up our anchor and the 
 boat was stowed, the ship was within a league of us, 
 and, as we thought, bore down to engage us ; so we 
 spread our black flag, or ancient, on the poop, and 
 the bloody flag at the top-mast-head, and having 
 made a clear ship, we stretched away to the west- 
 ward, to get the wind of him. 
 [ 288] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 They had, it seems, quite mistaken us before^ 
 expecting nothing of an enemy or a pirate in those 
 seas ; and, not doubting but we had been one of 
 their own ships, they seemed to be in some confusion 
 when they found their mistake, so they immediately 
 hauled upon a wind on the other tack, and stood 
 edging in for the shore, towards the easternmost 
 part of the island. Upon this we tacked, and stood 
 after him with all the sail we could, and in two hours 
 came almost within gunshot. Though they crowded 
 all the sail they could lay on, there was no remedy 
 but to engage us, and they soon saw their inequality 
 of force. We fired a gun for them to bring to ; so 
 they manned out their boat, and sent to us with a 
 flag of truce. We sent'back the boat, but with this 
 answer to the captain, that he had nothing to do 
 but to strike and bring his ship to an anchor under 
 our stern, and come on board us himself, when he 
 should know our demands ; but that, however, since 
 he had not yet put us to the trouble of forcing him, 
 which we saw we were able to do, we assured them 
 that the captain should return again in safety, and 
 all his men, and that, supplying us with such things 
 as we should demand, his ship should not be plun- 
 dered. They went back with this message, and it 
 was some time after they were on board before they 
 struck, which made us begin to think they refused 
 it ; so we fired a shot, and in a few minutes more 
 we perceived their boat put off ; and as soon as the 
 boat put off the ship struck and came to an anchor, 
 as was directed. 
 
 When the captain came on board, we demanded 
 19 [ 289 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOxN 
 
 m account of their cargo, which was chiefly bales of 
 roods from Bengal for Bantam. We told them our 
 jresent want was provisions, which they had no need 
 )f, being just at the end of their voyage ; and that, 
 f they would send their boat on shore with ours, 
 md pi'ocure us six-and-twenty head of black cattle, 
 ihreescore hogs, a quantity of brandy and arrack, 
 md three hundred bushels of rice, we would let them 
 fo free. 
 
 As to the rice, they gave us six hundred bushels, 
 vhich they had actually on board, together with a 
 )arcel shipped upon freight. Also, they gave us 
 ;hirty middling casks of very good arrack, but beef 
 md pork they had none. However, they went on 
 hore with our men, and bought eleven bullocks and 
 ifty hogs, which were pickled up for our occasion ; 
 ind upon the supplies of provision from shore, we 
 lismissed them and their ship. 
 
 We lay here several days before we could furnish 
 )urselves with the provisions agreed for, and some of 
 he men fancied the Dutchmen were contriving our 
 lestruction ; but they were very honest, and did w hat 
 hey could to furnish the black cattle, but found it 
 mpossible to supply so many. So they came and 
 old us ingenuously, that, unless we could stay a while 
 onger, thpy could get no more oxen or cows than 
 hose eleven, with which we were obliged to be satis- 
 led, taking the value of them in other things, rather 
 han stay longer there. On our side, we were punc- 
 ual with them in observing the conditions we had 
 igreed on ; nor would we let any of our men so much 
 is go on board them, or suffer any of their men to 
 [290 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 come on board us ; for, had any of our men gone on 
 board, nobody could have answered for their be- 
 haviour, any more than if they had been on shore in 
 an enemy's country. 
 
 We were now victualled for our voyage ; and, as 
 we mattered not purchase, we went merrily on for 
 the coast of Ceylon, where we intended to touch, to 
 get fresh water again, and more provisions ; and we 
 had nothing material offered in this part of the 
 voyage, only that we met with contrary winds, and 
 Vere above a month in the passage. 
 
 We put in upon the south coast of the island, 
 desiring to have as little to do with the Dutch as we 
 could ; and as the Dutch were lords of the country 
 as to commerce, so they are more so of the sea-coast, 
 where they have several forts, and, in particular, 
 have all the cinnamon, which is the trade of that 
 island. 
 
 We took in fresh water here, and some provisions, 
 but did not much trouble ourselves about laying in 
 any stores, our beef and hogs, which we got at Java, 
 being not yet all gone by a good deal. We had a 
 little skirmish on shore here with some of the people 
 of the island, some of our men having been a little 
 too familiar with the homely ladies of the country ; 
 ft»r homely, indeed, they were, to such a degree, that 
 if our men had not had good stomachs that way, 
 they would scarce have touched any of them. 
 
 I could never fully get it out of our men what 
 
 they did, they were so true to one another in their 
 
 wickedness, but I understood in the main, that it was 
 
 some bai-barous thing they had done, and that they 
 
 [291] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 had like to have paid dear for it, for the men resented 
 it to the last degree, and gathered in such numbers 
 about them, that, had Hot sixteen more of our men, 
 in another boat, come £ill in the nick of time, just to 
 rescue our first men, who were but eleven, and so 
 fetch them off by main force, they had been all cut 
 off, the inhabitants being no less than two or three 
 hundred, armed with darts and lances, the usual 
 weapons of the country, and which they are very 
 dexterous at the throwing, even so dexterous that it 
 was scarce credible ; and had our men stood to fight 
 them, as some of them were bold enough to talk of, 
 they had been all overwhelmed and killed. As it 
 was, seventeen of our men were wounded, and some of 
 them very dangerously. But they were moi-e frighted 
 than hurt too, for every one of them gave them- 
 selves over for dead men, believing the lances 
 were poisoned. But William was our comfort here 
 too ; for, when two of our surgeons were of the 
 same opinion, and told the men foolishly enough 
 that they would die, William cheerfully went to 
 work with them, and cured them all but one, who 
 rather died by drinking some arrack punch than of 
 his wound ; the excess of drinking throwing him into 
 a fever. 
 
 We had enough of Ceylon, though some of oOr 
 people were for going ashore again, sixty or seventy 
 men together, to be revenged ; but William per- 
 suaded them against it ; and his reputation was so 
 great among the men, as well as with us that were 
 commanders, that he could influence them more than 
 any of us. 
 
 [292] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 They were mighty warm upon their revenge, and 
 they would go on shore, and destroy five hundred of 
 them. " Well," says William, " and suppose you do, 
 what are you the better ? " " Why, then," says one 
 of them, speaking for the rest, " we shall have 
 our satisfaction." " Well, and what will you be 
 the better for that ? " says William. They could 
 then say nothing to that. " Then," says William, 
 " if I mistake not, your business is mone)' ; now, I 
 desire to know, if you conquer and kill two or three 
 thousand of these poor creatures, they have no 
 money, pray what will you get ? They are poor 
 naked wretches ; what shall you gain by them ? 
 But then," says William, "perhaps, in doing this, 
 you may chance to lose half-a-score of your 
 own company, as it is very probable you may. 
 Pray, what gain is in it .' and what account can you 
 give the captain for his lost men ?" In short, Wil- 
 liam argued so effectually, that he convinced them 
 that it was mere murder to do so ; and that the men 
 had a right to their own, and that they had no right 
 to take them away ; that it was destroying innocent 
 men, who had acted no otherwise than as the laws 
 of nature dictated ; and that it would be as much 
 murder to do so, as to meet a man on the highway, 
 and kill him, for the mere sake of it, in cold blood, 
 not r^arding whether he had done any wrong to 
 us or no. 
 
 These reasons prevailed with them at last, and 
 they were content to go away, and leave them as they 
 found them. In the first skirmish they killed be- 
 tween sixty and seventy men, and wounded a great 
 [293 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 many more ; but they had nothing, and our people 
 got nothing by it, but the loss of one man's life, and 
 the wounding sixteen more, as above. 
 
 But another accident brought us to a necessity of 
 further business with these people, and indeed we had 
 like to have put an end to our lives and adventures 
 all at once among them ; for, about three days after 
 our putting out to sea from the place where we had 
 that skirmish, we were attacked by a violent storm 
 of wind from the south, or rather a hurricane of wind 
 from all the points southward, for it blew in a most 
 desperate and furious manner from the S.E. to the 
 S.W., one minute at one point, and then instantly 
 turning about again to another point, but with the 
 same violence ; nor were we able to work the ship in 
 that condition, so that the ship I was in split three 
 top-sails, and at last brought the main-top-mast by 
 the board ; and, in a word, we were once or twice 
 driven right ashore ; and one time, had not the wind 
 shifted the very moment it did, we had been dashed 
 in a thousand pieces upon a great ledge of rocks 
 which lay oiF about half-a-league from the shore ; 
 but, as I have said, the wind shifting very often, and 
 at that time coming to the E.S.E., we stretched off, 
 and got above a league more sea-room in half-an- 
 hour. After that, it blew with some fury S.W. by 
 S., then S.W. by W., and put us back again a great 
 way to the eastward of the ledge of rocks, where we 
 found a great opening between the rocks and the 
 land, and endeavoured to come to an anchor there, 
 but we found there was no ground fit to anchor in, 
 and that we should lose our anchors, there being 
 [294] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 nothing but rocks. We stood through the opening, 
 which held about four leagues. The storm con- 
 tinued, and now we found a dreadful foul shore, and 
 knew not what course to take. We looked out very 
 narrowly for some river or creek or bay, where we 
 might run in, and come to an anchor, but found 
 none a great while. At length we saw a great head- 
 land lie out far south into the sea, and that to such 
 a length, that, in short, we saw plainly that, if the 
 wind held where it was, we could not weather it, so 
 we ran in as much under the lee of the point as we 
 could, and came to an anchor in about twelve fathom 
 water. 
 
 But the wind veering again in the night, and blow- 
 ing exceedingly hard, our anchors came home, and 
 the ship drove till the rudder struck against the 
 ground ; and had the ship gone half her length 
 farther she had been lost, and every one of us with 
 her. But our sheet-anchor held its own, and we 
 heaved in some of the cable, to get clear of the 
 ground we had struck upon. It was by this only 
 cable that we rode it out all night; and towards 
 morning we thought the wind abated a little ; and 
 it was well for us that it was so, for, in spite of what 
 our sheet-anchor did for us, we found the ship fast 
 aground in the morning, to our very great surprise 
 and amazement. 
 
 When the tide was out, though the water here 
 ebbed away, the ship lay almost dry upon a bank of 
 hard sand, which never, I suppose, had any ship 
 upon it before. The people of the country came 
 down in great numbers to look at us and gaze, not 
 [295 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 knowing what we were, but gaping at us as at a 
 great sight or wonder at which they were surprised, 
 and knew not what to do. 
 
 I have reason to believe that upon the sight thev 
 immediately sent an account of a ship being there, 
 and of the condition we were in, for the next day 
 there appeared a great man ; whether it was their 
 king or no I know not, but he had abundance of 
 men with him, and some with long javelins in their 
 hands as long as half-pikes ; and these came all down 
 to the water's edge, and drew up in a very good 
 order, just in our view. They stood near an hour 
 without making any motion ; and then there came 
 near twenty of them, with a man before them carry- 
 ing a white flag. They came forward into the water 
 as high as their waists, the sea not going so high 
 as "before, for the wind was abated, and blew off 
 the shore. 
 
 The man made a long oration to us, as we could 
 see by his gestures ; and we sometimes heard his 
 voice, but knew not one word he said. William, 
 who was always useful to us, I believe was here again 
 the saving of all our lives. The case was this : The 
 fellow, or what I might call him, when his speech 
 was done, gave three great screams (for I know not 
 what else to say they were), then lowered his white 
 flag three times, and then made three motions to us 
 with his arm to come to him. 
 
 I acknowledge that I was for manning out the boat 
 
 and going to them, but William would by no means 
 
 allow me. He told me we ought to trust nobody •, 
 
 that, if they were barbarians, and under their own 
 
 [296] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 government, we might be sure to be all murdered ; 
 and, if they were Christians, we should not fare 
 much better, if they knew who we were ; that it was 
 the custom of the Malabars to betray all people 
 that they could get into their hands, and that these 
 were some of the same people ; and that, if we had 
 any regard to our own safety, we should not go to 
 them by any means. I opposed him a great while, 
 and told him I thought he used to be always right, 
 but that now I thought he was not ; that I was no 
 more for running needless risks than he or any one 
 else ; but I thought all nations in the world, even 
 the most savage people, when they held out a flag 
 of peace, kept the offer of peace made by that signal 
 very sacredly ; and I gave him several examples of it 
 in the history of my African travels, which I have 
 here gone through in the beginning of this work, 
 and that I could not think these people worse than 
 some of them. And, besides, I told him our case 
 seemed to be such that we must fall into somebody's 
 hands or other, and that we had better fall into 
 their hands by a friendly treaty than by a forced 
 submission, nay, though they had indeed a treach- 
 erous design ; and therefore I was for a parley with 
 them. 
 
 " Well, friend," says William very gravely, " if 
 thou wilt go I cannot help it ; I shall only desire to 
 take my last leave of thee at parting, for, depend 
 upon it, thou wilt never see us again. Whether we 
 in the ship may come off any better at last I cannot 
 resolve thee ; but this I will answer for, that we will 
 not give up our lives idly, and in cool blood, as thou 
 [297] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 art going to do ; we will at least preserve ourselves 
 as long as we can, and die at last like men, not like 
 fools, trepanned by the wiles of a few barbarians." 
 
 William spoke this with so much warmth, and yet 
 with so much assurance of our fate, that I began to 
 think a little of the risk I was going to run. I had 
 no more mind to be murdered than he ; and yet I 
 could not for my life be so faint-hearted in the 
 thing as he. Upon which I asked him if he had any 
 knowlege of the place, or had ever been there. He 
 said, No. Then I asked him if he had heard or 
 read anything about the people of this island, and 
 of their way of treating any Christians that had 
 fallen into their hands; and he told me he had heard 
 of one, and he would tell me the story afterward. 
 His name, he said, was Knox, commander of an East 
 India ship, who was driven on shore, just as we 
 were, upon this island of Ceylon, though he could 
 not say it was at the same place, or whereabouts ; 
 that he was beguiled by the barbarians, and enticed 
 to come on shore, just as we we^re invited to do at 
 that time-; and that, when they had him, they sur- 
 rounded him, and eighteen or twenty of his men, 
 and never suffered them to return, but kept them 
 prisoners, or mui-dered them, he could not tell 
 which ; but they were carried away up into the 
 country, separated from one another, and never 
 heard of a,fterwards, except the captain's son, who 
 miraculously made his escape, after twenty years' 
 slavery. 
 
 I had no time then to ask him to give the full 
 story of this Knox, much less to hear him tell it me ; 
 [298] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 but, as it is usual in such cases, when one begins to 
 be a little touched, I turned short with him. " Why 
 then, friend William," said I, " what would you have 
 us do ? You see what condition we are in, and what 
 is before us ; something must be done, and that im- 
 mediately." " Why," says William, " 1 11 tell thee 
 what thou shalt do ; first, cause a white flag to be 
 hanged out, as they do to us, and man out the long- 
 boat and pinnace with as many men as they can well 
 stow, to handle their arms, and let me go with them, 
 and thou shalt see what we will do. If I miscarry, 
 thou mayest be safe ; and I will also tell thee, that if 
 I do miscarry, it shall be my own fault, and thou shalt 
 learn wit by my folly." 
 
 I knew not what to reply to him at first ; but, after 
 some pause, I said, " William, William, I am as loth 
 you should be lost as you are that I should ; and if 
 there be any danger, I desire you may no more fall 
 into it than I. Therefore, if you will, let us all keep 
 in the ship, fare alike, and take our fate together.'' 
 
 " No, no,'' says William, " there 's no danger in the 
 method I propose ; thou shalt go with me, if thou 
 thinkest fit. If thou pleasest but to follow the meas- 
 ures that I shall resolve on, depend upon it, though 
 we will go oiF from the ships, we will not a man of 
 us go any nearer them than within call to talk with 
 them.' Thou seest they have no boats to come off to 
 us ; but," says he, " I rather desire thou wouldst take 
 my advice, and manage the ships as I shall give the 
 sienal from the boat, and let us concert that matter 
 together before we go off." 
 
 Well, I found William had his measures in his 
 [299] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 head all laid beforehand, and was not at a loss what 
 to do at all ; so I told him he should be captain for 
 this voyage, and we would be all of us under his 
 orders, which I would see observed to a tittle. 
 
 Upon this conclusion of our debates, he ordered 
 four-and-twenty men into the long-boat, and twelve 
 men into the pinnace, and the sea being now pretty 
 smooth, they went off, being all very well armed. 
 Also he ordered that all the guns of the great ship, 
 on the side which lay next the shore, should be loaded 
 with musket-balls, old nails, stubs, and such-like pieces 
 of old iron, lead, and anything that came to hand ; 
 and that we should prepare to fire as soon as ever we 
 saw them lower the white flag and hoist up a red one 
 in the pinnace. 
 
 With these measures fixed between us, they went 
 off towards the shore, William in the pinnace with 
 twelve men, and the long-boat coming after him with 
 four-and-twenty more, all stout resolute fellows, and 
 very well armed. They rowed so near the shore as 
 that they might speak to one another, carrying a 
 white flag, as the other did, and offering a parley. 
 The brutes, for such they were, showed themselves 
 very courteous ; but finding we could not understand 
 them, they fetched an old Dutchman, who had been 
 their prisoner many years, and set him to speak to us. 
 The sum and substance of his speech was, that the king 
 of the country had sent his general down to know who 
 we were, and what our business was. William stood 
 up in the stern of the pinnace, and told him, that as 
 to that, he, that was an European, by his language and 
 voice, might easily know what we were, and our con- 
 [300 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 dition ; the ship being aground upon the sand 
 would also tell him that our business there was that 
 of a ship in distress ; so William desired to know 
 what they came down for with such a multitude, 
 and with arms and weapons, as if they came to war 
 with us. 
 
 He answered, they might have good reason to 
 come down to the shore, the country being alarmed 
 with the appearance of ships of strangers upon the 
 coast ; and as our vessels were full of men, and as we 
 had guns and weapons, the king had sent part of his 
 military men, that, in case of any invasion upon the 
 country, they might be ready to defend themselves, 
 whatsoever might be the occasion. 
 
 " But," says he, " as you are men in distress, the 
 king has ordered his general, who is here also, to 
 give you all the assistance he can, and to invite you 
 on shore, and receive you with all possible courtesy." 
 Sftys William, very quick upon him, " Before I give 
 thee an answer to that, I desire thee to tell me what 
 thou art, for by thy speech thou art an European." 
 He answei-ed presently, he was a Dutchman. " That 
 I know well," says William, " by thy speech ; but art 
 thou a native Dutchman of Holland, or a native of 
 this country, that has learned Dutch by conversing 
 among the Hollanders, who we know are settled 
 upon this island .'' " 
 
 " No," says the old man, " I am a native of Delft, 
 in the province of Holland, in Europe." 
 
 "Well," says William, immediately, "but art 
 thou a Christian or a heathen, or what we call a 
 renegado .'' " 
 
 [301] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 "I am," says he, "a Christian." And so they 
 went on, in a short dialogue, as follows : — ■ 
 
 Willicmi. Thou art a Dutchman, and a Christian, 
 thou sayest ; pray, art thou a freeman or a servant ? 
 
 Dutchman. I am a servant to the king here, and 
 in his army. 
 
 W. But art thou a volunteer, or a prisoner ? 
 
 D. Indeed I was a prisoner at first, but am at 
 liberty now, and so am a volunteer. 
 
 W. That is to say, being first a prisoner, thou hast 
 liberty to serve them ; but art thou so at liberty that 
 thou mayest go away, if thou pleasest, to thine own 
 countrymen ? 
 
 D. No, I do not say so ; my countrymen live a 
 great way off, on the north and east parts of the 
 island, and there is no going to them without the 
 king's express license. 
 
 W. WeU, and why dost thou not get a license to 
 go away ? ■ 
 
 D. I have never asked for it. 
 
 W. And, I suppose, if thou didst, thou knowest 
 thou couldst not obtain it. 
 
 D. I cannot say much as to that ; but why do 
 you ask me all these questions ? 
 
 W. Why, my reason is good ; if thou art a Chris- 
 tian and a prisoner, how canst thou consent to be 
 made an instrument to these barbarians, to betray 
 us into their hands, who are thy countrymen and 
 fellow-Christians.? Is it not a' barbarous thing in 
 thee to do so ? 
 
 D. How do I go about to betray you ? Do I not 
 give you an account how the king invites you to come 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 on shore, and has ordered you to be treated courteously 
 and assisted ? 
 
 W. As thou art a Christian, though I doubt it 
 much, dost thou believe the king or the general, as 
 thou callest it, means one word of what he says ? 
 
 D. He promises you by the mouth of his great 
 general. 
 
 W. I don't ask thee what he promises, or by 
 whom ; but I ask thee this : Canst thou say that 
 thou believest he intends to perform it ? 
 
 D. How can I answer 'that ? How can I tell what 
 he intends ? 
 
 W. Thou canst tell what thou believest. 
 
 D. I cannot say but he will perform it ; I believe 
 he may. 
 
 W. Thou art but a double-tongued Christian, I 
 doubt. Come, I '11 ask thee another question : Wilt 
 thou say that thou believest it, and that thou wouldst 
 advise me to believe it, and put our lives into their 
 hands upon these promises ? 
 
 D. I am not to be your adviser. 
 
 W. Thou art perhaps afraid to speak thy mind, 
 because thou art in their power. Pray, do any of 
 them understand what thou and I say ? Can they 
 speak Dutch.'' 
 
 D. No, not one of them ; I have no apprehensions 
 upon that account at all. 
 
 W. Why, then, answer me plainly, if thou art a 
 Christian : Is it safe for us to venture upon their 
 words, to put ourselves into their hands, and come 
 on shore ? 
 
 D. You put it very home to me. Pray let me 
 [303] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ask you another question : Are you in any likeli- 
 hood of getting your ship off, if you refuse it ? 
 
 W. Yes, yes, we shall get off the ship ; now the 
 storm is over we don't fear it. 
 
 D. Then I cannot say it is best for you to trust 
 them. 
 
 W. Well, it is honestly said. 
 
 D. But what shall I say to them ? 
 
 W. Give them good words, as they give us. 
 
 D. What good words ? 
 
 W. Why, let them tell the king that we are 
 strangers, who were driven on his coast by a great 
 storm ; that we thank him very kindly for his offer 
 of civility to us, which, if we are further distressed, 
 we will accept thankfully ; but that at present we 
 have no occasion to come on shore ; and besides, 
 that we cannot safely leave the ship in the present 
 condition she is in ; but that we are obliged to take 
 care of her, in order to get her off; and expect, in a 
 tide or two more, to get her quite clear, and at an 
 anchor. 
 
 D. But he will expect you to come on shore, 
 then, to visit him, and make him some present for 
 his civility. 
 
 W. When we have got our ship clear, and stopped 
 the leaks, we will pay our respects to him. 
 
 D. Nay, you may as well come to him now as 
 then. 
 
 W. Nay, hold, friend ; I did not say we would 
 come to him then : you talked of making him a 
 present, that is to pay our respects to him, is it 
 not.? 
 
 [804 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 D. Well, but I will tell hitn that you will come 
 on shore to him when your ship is got off. 
 
 W. I have nothing to say to that ; you may tell 
 him what you think fit. 
 
 D. But he will be in a great rage if I do not. 
 
 W. Who will he be in a great rage at ? 
 
 D. At you. 
 
 W. What occasion have we to value that ? 
 
 D. Why, he will send all his army down against 
 you. 
 
 W. And what if they were all here just now ? 
 What dost thou suppose they could do to us ? - 
 
 D. He would expect they should burn your ships 
 and bring you all to him. 
 
 W. Tell him, if he should try, he may catch a 
 Tartar. 
 
 D. He has a world of men. 
 
 W. Has he. any ships ? 
 
 D. No, he has no ships. 
 
 W. Nor boats ? 
 
 D. No, nor boats. 
 
 W. Why, what then do you think we care for his 
 men .'' What canst thou do now to us, if thou hadst 
 a hundred thousand with thee .'' 
 
 D. Oh ! they might set you on fire. 
 
 W. Set us a-firing, thou meanest ; that they might 
 indeed ; but set us on fire they shall not ; they may 
 try, at their peril, and we shall make mad work with 
 your hundred thousand men, if they come within 
 reach of our guns, I assure thee. 
 
 D. But what if the king gives you hostages for 
 your safety ? 
 
 20 [ 305 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 W. Whom can he give but mere slaves and ser- 
 vants like thyself, whose lives he no more values than 
 we an English hound ? 
 
 D. Whom do you demand for hostages ? 
 
 W. Himself and your worship. 
 
 D. What would you do with him ? 
 
 W. Do with him as he would do with us — cut 
 his head ofF. 
 
 D. And what would you do with me ? 
 
 W. Do with thee ? We would carry thee home 
 into thine own country ; and, though thou deservest 
 the gallows, we would make a man and a Christian 
 of thee again, and not do by thee as thou wouldst 
 have done by us — betray thee to a parcel of merci- 
 less, savage pagans, that know no God, nor how to 
 show mercy to man. 
 
 D. You put a thought in my head that I will 
 speak to you about to-morrow. 
 
 Thus they went away, and William came on.board, 
 and gave us a full account of his parley with the old 
 Dutchman, which was very diverting, and to me in- 
 structing ; for I had abundance of reason to acknowl- 
 edge William had made a better judgment of things 
 than I. 
 
 It was our good fortune to get our ship off that 
 very night, and to bring her to an anchor at about 
 a mile and a half farther out, and in deep water, to 
 our great satisfaction ; so that we had no need to 
 fear the Dutchman's king, with his hundred thou- 
 sand men ; and indeed we had some sport with them 
 the next day, when they came down, a vast prodi- 
 gious multitude of them, very few less in number, in 
 [306] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 our imagination, than a hundred thousand, with 
 some elephants ; though, if it had been an army of 
 elephants, they could have done us no harm ; for we 
 were fairly at our anchor now, and out of their 
 reach. And indeed we thought ourselves more out 
 of their reach than we really were ; and it was ten 
 thousand to one that we had not been fast aground 
 again, for the wind blowing oif shore, though it made 
 the water smooth where we lay, yet it blew the ebb 
 farther out than usual, and we could easily perceive 
 the sand, which we touched upon before, lay in the 
 shape of a half-moon, and surrounded us with two 
 horns of it, so that we lay in the middle or centre 
 of it, as in a round bay, safe just as we were, and in 
 deep water, but present death, as it were, on the 
 right hand and on the left, for the two horns or 
 points of the sand reached out beyond where our ship 
 lay near two miles. 
 
 On tJaat part of the sand which lay on our east 
 side, this misguided multitude extended themselves ; 
 and being, most of them, not above their knees, or 
 most of them not above ankle-deep in the water, 
 they as it were surrounded us on that side, and on 
 the side of the mainland, and a little way on the 
 other side of the sand, standing in a half-circle, or 
 rather three-fifths of a circle, for about six miles in 
 length. The other horn, or point of the sand, 
 which lay on our west side, being not quite so shal- 
 low, they could not extend themselves upon it so far. 
 
 They little thought what service they had done us, 
 and how unwittingly, and by the greatest ignorance, 
 they had made themselves pilots to us, while we, 
 [307] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 haviiig not sounded the place, might have been lost 
 before we were aware. It is true we might have 
 sounded our new harbour before we had ventured 
 out, but I cannot say for certain whether we should 
 or not ; for I, for my part, had not the least suspicion 
 of what our real case was ; however, I say, perhaps, 
 before we had weighed,, we should have looked about 
 us a little. I am sure we ought to have done it ; 
 for, besides these armies of human furies^ we had a 
 very leaky ship, and all our pumps could hardly keep 
 the water from growing upon us, and our carpenters 
 were overboard, working to find out and stop the 
 wounds we had received, heeling her first on the one 
 side, and then on the other ; and it was very divert- 
 ing to see how, when our men heeled the ship over 
 to the side next the wild army tbat stood on the east 
 horn of the sand, they were so amazed, between fright 
 and joy, that it put them into a kind of confusion, 
 calling to one another, hallooing and skreekiag, in a 
 manner that it is impossible to describe. 
 
 While we were doing this, for we were in a great 
 hurry you may be sure, and all hands at work, as 
 well at the stopping our leaks as repairing our rig- 
 ging and sails, which had received a great deal of 
 damage, and also in rigging a new main-top-mast and 
 the like ; — I say, while we were doing all this, we 
 perceived a body of men, of near a thousand, move 
 from that part of the army of the barbarians that 
 lay at the bottom of the sandy bay, and came all 
 along the water's edge, round the sand, till they 
 stood just on our broadside east, and were within 
 about half-a-mile of us. Then we saw the Dutch- 
 [308 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 man come forward nearer to us, and all alone, with 
 his white flag and all his motions, just as before, and 
 there he stood. 
 
 Our men had but just brought the ship to rights 
 again as they came up to our broadside, and we had 
 very happily found out and stopped the worst and 
 most dangerous leak that we had, to our very great 
 satisfaction ; so I ordered the boats to be hauled up 
 and manned as they were the day before, and Wil- 
 liam to go as plenipotentiary. I would have gone 
 myself if I had understood Dutch, but as I did not, 
 it was to no purpose, for I should be able to know 
 nothing of what was said but from him at second- 
 hand, which might be done as well aftei-wards. All 
 the instructions I pretended to give William was, if 
 possible, to get the old Dutchman away, and, if he 
 could, to make him come on board. 
 
 Well, William went just as before, and when he 
 came within about sixty or seventy yards of the 
 shore, he held up his white flag as the Dutchman 
 did, and turning the boat's broadside to the shore, 
 and his men lying upon their oars, the parley or 
 dialogue began again thus : — 
 
 William. Well, friend, what dost thou say to us 
 now ? 
 
 Dutchman. I come of the same mild errand as I 
 did yesterday. 
 
 W. What ! dost thou pretend to come of a mild 
 errand with all these people at thy back, and all the 
 foolish weapons of war they bring with them ? 
 Prithee, what dost thou mean ? 
 
 D. The king hastens us to invite the captain and 
 [ 309 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 all his men to come on shore, and has ordered all hi» 
 men to show them all the civility they can. 
 
 W. Well, and are all those men come to invite us 
 ashore ? 
 
 D. They will do you no hurt, if you will come on 
 shore peaceably. 
 
 W. Well, and what dost thou think they can do 
 to us, if we will not ? 
 
 D. I would not have them do you any hurt then, 
 neither. 
 
 W. But prithee, friend, do not make thyself fool 
 and knave too. Dost not thou know that we are out 
 of fear of all thy army, and out of danger of all that 
 they can do ? What makes thee act so simply as 
 well as so knavishly.? 
 
 D. Why, you may think yourselves safer than you 
 are ; you do not know what they may do to you. I 
 can assure you they are able to do you a great deal 
 of harm, and perhaps burn your ship. 
 
 W. Suppose that were true, as I am sure it is false ; 
 you see we have more ships to carry us off (pointing 
 to the sloop). 
 
 [N. B. - — Just at this time we discovered the sloop 
 standing towards us from the east, along the shore, 
 at about the distance of two leagues, which was to our 
 particular satisfaction, she having been missing 
 thirteen days.] 
 
 D. We do not value that ; if you had ten ships, 
 you dare not come on shore, with all the men you 
 have, in a hostile way ; we are too many for you. 
 
 W. Thou dost not, even in that, speak as thou 
 meanest ; and we may give thee a trial of our hands 
 [ 310 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 when our friends come up to us, for thou hearest they 
 have discovered us. 
 
 [Just then the sloop fired five guns, which was to 
 get news of us, for they did not see us.] 
 
 D. Yes, I hear they fire ; but I hope your ship 
 will not fire again ; for, if they do, our general will 
 take it for breaking the truce, and will make the 
 array let fly a shower of aiTows at you in the boat. 
 
 W. Thou mayest be sure the ship will fire that 
 the other ship may hear thera, but not with ball. 
 If thy general knows no better, he may begin when 
 he will ; but thou mayest be sure we will return it 
 to his cost. 
 
 D. What must I do, then ? 
 
 W. Do ! Why, go to him, and tell him of it be- 
 forehand, then ; and let him know that the ship firing 
 is not at him nor his men ; and then come again, and 
 tell us what he says. 
 
 D. No ; I will send to him, which will do as 
 well. 
 
 W. Do as thou wilt, but I believe thou hadst 
 better go thyself; for if our men fire first, I suppose 
 he will be in a great wrath, and it may be at thee ; 
 for, as to his wrath at us, we tell thee beforehand we 
 value it not. 
 
 D. You slight them too much ; you know not 
 what they may do. 
 
 W. Thou makest as if these poor savage wretches 
 could do mighty things : prithee, let us see what 
 you can all do, we value it not ; thou mayest 
 set down thy flag of truce when thou pleasest, and 
 begin. 
 
 [311] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 D. I had rather make a truce, and have you all 
 part friends. 
 
 W. Thou art a deceitful rogue thyself, for it is 
 plain thou knowest these people would only persuade 
 us on shore to entrap and surprise us ; and yet thou 
 that art a Christian, as thou callest thyself, would 
 have us come on shore and put our lives into their 
 hands who know nothing that belongs to compassion, 
 good usage, or good manners. How canst thou be 
 such a villain ? 
 
 D. How can you call me so ? What have I done 
 to you, and what would you have me do ? 
 
 W. Not act like a traitor, but like one that was 
 once a Christian, and would have been so still, if you 
 had not been a Dutchman. 
 
 D. I know not what to do, not I. I wish I were 
 from them ; they are a bloody people. 
 
 W. Prithee, make no difficulty of what thou 
 shouldst do. Canst thou swim .? 
 
 D. Yes, I can swim; but if I should attempt to 
 swim off to you, I should have a thousand arrows 
 and javelins sticking in me before I should get to 
 your boat. 
 
 W. I'll bring the boat close to thee, and take 
 thee on board in spite of them all. We will give 
 them but one volley, and I'll engage they will all 
 run away from thee. 
 
 D. You are mistaken in them, I assure you ; they 
 would immediately come all running down to the 
 shore, and shoot fire-arrows at you, and set your 
 boat and ship and all on fire about yout ears. 
 
 W. We will venture that if thou wilt come off. 
 [312] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 D. Will you use me honourably when I am among 
 you? 
 
 W. I '11 give thee my word for it, if thou provest 
 honest. 
 
 D. Will you not make me a prisoner ? 
 
 W. I will be thy surety, body for body, that thou 
 shalt be a free man, and go whither thou wilt, 
 though I own to thee thou dost not deserve it. 
 
 Just at this time our ship fired three guns to 
 answer the sloop and let her know we saw her, who 
 immediately, we perceived, understood it, and stood 
 directly for the place. But it is impossible to ex- 
 press the confiision and filthy vile noise, the hurry 
 and universal disorder, that was among that vast 
 multitude of people upon our firing off three guns. 
 They immediately all repaired to their arms, as I 
 may call it ; for to say they put themselves into 
 order w^ould be saying nothing. 
 
 Upon the word of command, then, they advanced 
 all in a body to the seaside, and resolving to give us 
 one volley of their fire-arms (for such they were), 
 immediately they saluted us with a hundred thou- 
 sand of their fire-arrows, every one carrying a little 
 bag of cloth dipped in brimstone, or some such 
 thing, which, flying through the air, had nothing 
 to hinder it taking fire as it flew, and it generally 
 did so. 
 
 I cannot say but this method of attacking us, by 
 a way we had no notion of, might give us at first 
 some little surprise, for the number was so great at 
 first, that we were not altogether without apprehen- 
 sions that they might unluckily set our ship on fire, 
 [313] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 so that William resolved immediately to row on 
 board, and persuade us all to weigh and stand out 
 to sea ; but there was no time for it, for they imme- 
 diately let fly a volley at the boat, and at the ship, 
 from all parts of the vast crowd of people which 
 stood near the shore. Nor did they fire, as I may 
 call it, all at once, and so leave off ; but their arrows 
 being soon notched upon their bows, they kept con- 
 tinually shooting, so that the air was full of flame. 
 
 I could not say whether they set their cotton rag 
 on fire before they shot the arrow, for I did not per- 
 ceive they had fire with them-, which, however, it 
 seems they had. The arrow, besides the fire it car- 
 ried with it, had a head, or a peg, as we call it, of 
 bone ; and some of sharp flint stone ; and some few 
 of a metal, too soft in itself for metal, but hard 
 enough to cause it to enter, if it were a plank, so as 
 to stick where it fell. 
 
 William and his men had notice sufficient to lie 
 close behind their waste-boards, which, for this very 
 purpose, they had made so high that they could 
 easily sink themselves behind them, so as to defend 
 themselves from anything that came point-blank (as 
 we call it) or upon a line ; but for what might fall 
 perpendicularly out of the air they had no guard, 
 but took the hazard of that. At first they made as 
 if they would row away, but before they went they 
 gave a volley of their fire-arms, firing at those which 
 stood with the Dutchman ; but William ordered 
 them to be sure to take their aim at others, so as to 
 miss him, and they did so. 
 
 There was no calling to them now, for the noise 
 [314] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 was so great among them that they could hear no- 
 body, but our men boldly rowed in nearer to them, 
 for they were at first driven a little off, and when 
 they came nearer, they fired a second volley, which 
 put the fellows into great confusion, and we could 
 see from the ship that several of them were killed or 
 wounded. • 
 
 We thought this was a very unequal fight, and 
 therefore we made a sigflal to our men to row away, 
 that we might have a little of the sport as well as 
 they ; but the arrows flew so thick upon them, 
 being so near the shore, that they could not sit to 
 their oars, so they spread a little of their sail, think- 
 ing they might sail along the shore, and lie be- 
 hind their waste-board; but the sail had not been 
 spread six minutes till it had five hundred fire-arrows 
 shot into it and through it, and at length set it 
 fairly on fire ; nor were our men quite out of the 
 danger of its setting the boat on fire, and this made 
 them paddle and shove the boat away as well as they 
 could, as they lay, to get farther off". 
 
 By this time they had left us a fair mark at the 
 whole savage army ; and as we had sheered the ship 
 as near to them as we could, we fired among the 
 thickest of them six or seven times, five guns at a 
 time, with shot, old iron, musket-bullets, &c. 
 
 We could easily see that we made havoc among 
 them, and killed and wounded abundance of them, 
 and that they were in a great surprise at it ; but yet 
 they never offered to stir, and all this while their 
 fire-arrows flew as thick as before. 
 
 At last, on a sudden their arrows stopped, and the 
 [315 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 old Dutchman came running down to the water-side 
 all alone, with his white flag, as before, waving it as 
 high as he could, and making signals to our boat to 
 come to him again. 
 
 William did not care at first to go near him, but 
 the man continuing to make signals to him to come, 
 at last William went ; and the Dutchman told him 
 that he had been with the general, who was much 
 mollified by the slaughter of his men, and that now 
 he could have anything of him. 
 
 " Anything ! " says William ; " what have we to 
 do with him ? Let him go about his business, and 
 carry his men out of gunshot, can't he .'' " 
 
 " Why," says the Dutchman, " but he dares not 
 stir, nor see the king's face; unless some of your 
 men come on shore, he will certainly put him to 
 death." 
 
 " Why, then," says William, " he is a dead man ; 
 for if it were to save his life, and the lives of all the 
 crowd that is with him, he shall never have one of 
 us in his power. But 1 11 tell thee," said William, 
 " how thou shalt cheat him, and gain thy own liberty 
 too, if thou hast any mind to see thy own country 
 again, and art not turned savage, and grown fond of 
 living all thy days among heathens and savages." 
 
 "I would be glad to do it with all my heart," 
 says he ; " but if I should offer to swim off to you 
 now, though they are so far from me, they shoot so 
 true that they would kill me before I got half-way." 
 
 " But," says William, " I '11 tell thee how thou 
 shalt come with his consent. Go to him, and tell 
 him I have offered to carry you on board, to try 
 [ 316 ] ■ 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 if you could persuade the captain to come on shore, 
 and that I would not hinder him if he was willing to 
 venture." 
 
 The Dutchman seemed in a rapture at the very 
 first word. " I '11 do it," says he ; "I am persuaded 
 he will give me leave to come." 
 
 Away he runs, as if he had a glad message to carry, 
 and tells the general that William had promised, if 
 he would go on board the ship with him, he would 
 persuade the captain to return with him. The 
 general was fool enough to give him orders to go, 
 and charged him not to come back without the cap- 
 tain ; which he readily promised, and very honestly 
 might. 
 
 So they took him in, and brought him on board, 
 and he was as good as his word to them, for he never 
 went back to them any more ; and the sloop being 
 come to the mouth of the inlet where we lay, we 
 weighed and set sail ; but, as we went out, being 
 pretty near the shore, we fired three guns, as it were 
 among them, but without any shot, for it was of no 
 use to us to hurt any more of them. After we had 
 fired, we gave them a cheer, as the seamen call it ; that 
 is to say, we hallooed at them, by way of triumph, and 
 so carried off their ambassador. How it fared with 
 their general, we know nothing of that. 
 
 This passage, when I related it to a friend of mine, 
 after my return from those rambles, agreed so well 
 with his relation of what happened to one Mr. Knox, 
 an English captain, who some time ago was decoyed 
 on shore by these people, that it could not but be 
 very niuch to my satisfaction to think what mischief 
 [317 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 we had all escaped ; and I think it cannot but be 
 very profitable to record the other story (which is 
 but short) with my own, to show whoever reads this 
 what it was I avoided, and prevent their falling into 
 the like, if they have to do with the perfidious people 
 of Ceylon. The relation is as follows : — 
 
 The island of Ceylon being inhabited for the great- 
 est part by barbarians, which will not allow any trade 
 or commerce with any European nation, and inac- 
 cessible by any travellers, it will be convenient to 
 relate the occasion how the author of this story 
 happened to go into this island, and what oppor- 
 tunities he had of being fully acquainted with the 
 people, their laws and customs, that so we may the 
 better depend upon the account, and value it as it 
 deserves, for the rarity as well as the truth of it ; 
 and both these the author gives us a brief relation 
 of in this manner. His words are as follows : 
 
 In the year 1657, the Anne frigate, of London, 
 Captain Robert Knox, commander, on the 21st day 
 of January, set sail out of the Downs, in the service 
 of the honourable East India Company of England, 
 bound for Fort St. George, upon the coast of Coro- 
 mandel, to trade for one year from port to port in 
 India ; which having performed, as he was lading his 
 goods to return for England, being in the road of 
 Masulipatam, on the 19th of November 1659, there 
 happened such a mighty storm, that in it several 
 ships were cast away, and he was forced to cut his 
 mainmast by the board, which so disabled the ship, 
 that he could not proceed in his voyage ; whereupon 
 Cottiar, in the island of Ceylon, being a very com- 
 [ 318 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 modious bay, fit for her present distress, Thomas 
 Chambers, Esq., since Sir Thomas Chambers, the 
 agent at Fort St. George, ordered that the ship 
 should take in some cloth and India merchants be- 
 longing to Porto Novo, who might trade there while 
 she lay to set her mast, and repair the other damages 
 sustained by the storm. At her first coming thither, 
 after the Indian merchants were set ashore, the cap- 
 tain and his men were ver)'^ jealous of the people of 
 that place, by reason the English never had any com- 
 merce or dealing with them ; but after they had been 
 there twenty days, going ashore and returning again 
 at pleasure, without any molestation, they began to 
 lay aside all suspicious thoughts of the people that 
 dwelt thereabouts, who had kindly entertained them 
 for their money. 
 
 By this time the king of the country had notice 
 of 'their arrival, and, not being acquainted with their 
 intents, he sent down a dissauva, or general, with an 
 army, to them, who immediately sent a messenger to 
 the captain on board, to desire him to come ashore 
 to him, pretending a letter from the king. The cap- 
 tain saluted the message with firing of guns, and 
 ordered his son, Robert Knox, and Mr. John Love- 
 land, merchant of the ship, to go ashore, and wait 
 on him. When they were come before him, he de- 
 manded who they were, and how long "they should 
 stay. They told him they were Englishmen, and not 
 to stay above twenty or thirty days, and desired per- 
 mission to trade in his Majesty's port. His answer 
 was, that the king was glad to hear the English 
 were come into his country, and had commanded him 
 [319] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to assist them as they should desire, and had sent a 
 letter to be delivered to none but the captain him- 
 self.. They were then twelve miles from the seaside, 
 and therefore replied, that the captain could not leave 
 his ship to come so far ; but if he pleased to go down 
 to the seaside, the captain would wait on him to re- 
 ceive the letter ; whereupon the dissauva desired them 
 to stay that day, and on the morrow he would go with 
 them ; which, rather than displease him in so small 
 a matter, they consented to. In the evening the dis- 
 sauva sent a present to the captain of cattle and 
 fruits, &c., which, being carried all night by the 
 messengers, was delivered to him in the morning, 
 who told him withal that his men were coming down 
 with the dissauva, and desired his company on shore 
 against his coming, having a letter from the king to 
 deliver into his own hand. The captain, mistrusting 
 nothing, came on shore with his boat, and, sitting 
 under a tamarind tree, waited for the dissauva. In 
 the meantime the native soldiers privately surrounded 
 him and the seven men he had with him, and seizing 
 them, carried them to meet the dissauva, bearing the 
 captain on a hammock on their shoulders. 
 
 The next day the long-boat's crew, not knowing 
 what had happened, came on shore to cut down a 
 tree to make cheeks for the mainmast, and were made 
 prisoners after the same manner, though with more 
 violence, because they were more rough with them, 
 and made resistance ; yet they were not brought to 
 the captain and his company, but quartered in an- 
 other house in the same town. 
 
 The dissauva having thus gotten two boats and 
 [320] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 eighteen men, his next care was to gain the ship ; 
 anti to that end, telling the captain that he and his 
 men were only detained because the king intended 
 to send letters and a present to the English nation 
 by him, desired he would send some men on board 
 his ship to order her to stay ; and because the ship 
 was in danger of being fired by the Dutch if she 
 stayed long in the bay, to bring her up the river. 
 The captain did not approve of the advice, but did 
 not dare to own his dislike ; so he sent his son with 
 the order, but with a solemn conjuration to return 
 again, which he accordingly did, bringing a letter 
 from the company in the ship, that they would not 
 obey the captain, nor any other, in this matter, but 
 were resolved to stand on their own defence. This 
 letter satisfied the dissauva, who thereupon gave the 
 captain leave to write for what he would have 
 brought from the ship, pretending that he had not 
 the king's order to release them, though it would 
 suddenly come. 
 
 The captain seeing he was held in suspense, and 
 the season of the year spending for the ship to pro- 
 ceed on her voyage to some place, sent order to Mr. 
 John Burford, the chief mafe, to take charge of the 
 ship, and set sail to Porto Novo, from whence they 
 came, and there to follow the agent's order. 
 
 And now began that long and sad captivity they 
 all along feared. The ship being gone, the dissauva 
 was called up to the king, and they were kept under 
 guards a while, till a special order came from the 
 king to part them, and put one in a town, for the 
 conveniency of their maintenance, which the king 
 21 [ 321 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 ordered to be at the charge of the country. On 
 September 16, 1660, the captain and his son were 
 placed in a town called Bonder Coswat, in the country 
 of Hotcurly [? Hewarrisse Korle], distant from the 
 city of Kandy northward thirty miles, and from the 
 rest of the English a full day's journey. Here they 
 had their provisions brought them twice a day, with- 
 out money, as much as they could eat, and as good 
 as the country yielded. The situation of the place 
 was very pleasant and commodious ; but that year 
 that part of the land was very sickly by agues and 
 fevers, of which many died. The captain and his 
 son after some time were visited with the coirnrion 
 distemper, and the captain, being also loaded with 
 grief for his deplorable condition, languished more 
 than three months, and then died, February 9, 1661. 
 Robert Knox, his son, was now left desolate, sick, 
 and in captivity, having none to comfort him but 
 God, who is the Father of the fatherless, and hears 
 the groans of such as are in captivity ; being alone 
 to enter upon a long scene of misery and calamity ; 
 oppressed with weakness of body and grief of soul 
 for the loss of his father, and the remediless trouble 
 that he was like to endure ; and the first instance of 
 it was in the burial of his father, for he sent his 
 black boy to the people of the town, to de.sire their 
 assistance, because they understood not their lan- 
 guage ; but they sent him only a rope, to di"ag him 
 by the neck into the woods, and told him that they 
 would offer him no other help, unless he would pay 
 for it. This barbarous answer increased his trouble 
 for his father's death, that now he was like to lie 
 [ 322] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 unburied, and be made a prey to the wild beasts in 
 the woods ; for the ground was very hard, and they 
 had not tools to dig with, and so it was impossible 
 for them to bury him ; and having a small matter 
 of money left him, viz., a pagoda and a gold ring, 
 he hired a man, and so buried him in as decent a 
 manner as their condition would permit. 
 
 His dead father being thus removed out of his 
 sight, but his ague continuing, he was reduced very 
 low, partly by sorrow and partly by his disease. 
 All the comfort he had was to go into the wood and 
 fields with a book, either the " Practice of Piety "" or 
 Mr. Rogers's " Seven Treatises," which were the only 
 two books he had, and meditate and read, and some- 
 times pray ; in which his anguish made him often 
 invert Elijah's petition, — that he might die, because 
 his life was a burden to him. God, though He was 
 pleased to prolong his life, yet He found a way to 
 lighten his grief, by removing his ague, and granting 
 him a desire which above all things was acceptable 
 to him. He had read his two books over so often 
 that he had both almost by heart ; and though they 
 were both pious and good writings, yet he longed 
 for the truth from the original fountain, and thought 
 it his greatest unhappiness that he had not a Bible, 
 and did believe that he should never see one again ; 
 but, contrary to his expectation, God brought him 
 one after this manner. As he was fishing one day 
 with his black boy, to catch some fish to relieve his 
 hunger, an old man passed by them, and asked his 
 boy whether his master could read ; and when the 
 boy had answered yes, he told him that he had 
 [323 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 gotten a book from the Portuguese, when they left 
 Colombo; and, if his master pleased, he would sell it 
 him. The boy told his master, who bade him go 
 and see what book it was. The boy having served 
 the English some time, knew the book, and as soon 
 as he got it into his hand, came running to him, 
 calling out before he came to him, "It is the Bible ! " 
 The words startled him, and he flung down his angle 
 to meet him, and, finding it was true, was mightily 
 rejoiced to see it ; but he was afraid he should not 
 have enough to purchase it, though he was resolved 
 to part with all the money he had, which was but 
 one pagoda, to buy it ; but his black boy persuading 
 him to slight it, and leave it to him to buy it, he at 
 length obtained it for a knit cap. 
 
 This accident he could not but look upon as a 
 great miracle, that God should bestow upon him 
 such an extraordinary blessing, and bring him a 
 Bible in his own native language, in such a remote 
 part of the world, where His name was not known, 
 and where it was never heard of that an Englishman 
 had ever been before. The enjoyment of this mercy 
 was a great comfort to him in captivity, and though 
 he wanted no bodily convenience that the country 
 did afford ; for the king, immediately after his 
 father s death, had sent an express order to the peo- 
 ple of the towns, that they should be kind to him, 
 and give him good victuals ; and after he had been 
 some time in the country, and understood the lan- 
 guage, he got him good conveniences, as a house and 
 gardens; and falling to husbandry, God so prospered 
 him, that he had plenty, not only for himself, but 
 [324 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to lend others ; which being, according to the cus- 
 tom of the country, at 50 per cent, a year, much 
 enriched him : he had also goats, which served him 
 for mutton, and hogs and hens. Notwithstanding 
 this, I say, for he lived as fine as any of their noble- 
 men, he could not so far forget his native country as 
 to be contented to dwell in a strange land, where 
 there was to hinl a famine of God's word and sacra- 
 ments, the want of which made all other things to 
 be of little value to him ; therefore, as he made it 
 his daily and fervent prayer to God, in His good 
 time, to restore him to both, so, at length, he, with 
 one Stephen Rutland, who had lived with him two 
 yeai's before, resolved to make their escape, and, 
 about the year. 1673, meditated all secret ways to 
 compass it. They had before taken up a way of 
 peddling about the country, and buying tobacco, 
 pepper, garlic, combs, and all sorts of iron ware, and 
 carried them into those parts of the country where 
 they wanted them ; and now, to promote their de- 
 sign, as they went with their commodities from place 
 to place, they discoursed with the country people 
 (for they could now speak their language well) con- 
 cerning the ways and inhabitants, where the isle was 
 thinnest and fullest inhabited, where and how the 
 watches lay from one country to another, and what 
 commodities were proper for them to carry into all 
 parts; pretending that they would furnish them- 
 selves with such wares as the respective places 
 wanted. None doubted but what they did was upon 
 the account of trade, because Mr. Knox was so well 
 seated, and could not be supposed to leave such an 
 [325 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 estate, by travelling northward, because that part of 
 the land was least inhabited; and so, furnishing 
 themselves with such wares as were vendible in those 
 parts, they set forth, and steered their course to- 
 wards the north part of the islands, knowing very 
 little of the ways, which were generally intricate and 
 perplexed, because they have no public roads, but a 
 multitude of little paths from one town to another, 
 and those often changing ; and for white men to 
 inquire about the ways was very dangerous, because 
 the people would presently suspect their design. 
 
 At this time they travelled from Conde Uda as 
 far as the country of Nuwarakalawiya, which is the 
 furthermost part of the king's dominions, and about 
 three days' journey from their dwelling. They were 
 very thankful to Providence that they had passed all 
 difficulties so far, but yet they durst not go any 
 farther, because they had no wares left to traffic 
 with ; and it being the first time they had been 
 absent so long from home, they feared the townsmen 
 would come after them to seek for them ; and so 
 they returned home, and went eight or ten times 
 into those parts with their wares, till they became 
 well acquainted both with the people and the paths. 
 
 In thes'e parts Mr. Knox met his black boy, whom 
 he had turned away divers years before. He had 
 now got a wife and children, and was very poor ; but 
 being acquainted with these quarters, he not only 
 took directions of him, but agreed with him, for a 
 good reward, to conduct him and his companions to 
 the Dutch. He gladly undertook it, and a time was 
 appointed between them ; but Mr. Knox being dis- 
 [326] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 abled by a grievous pain, which seized him on his 
 right side, and held him five days that he could not 
 travel, this appointment proved in vain ; for though 
 he went as soon as he was well, his guide was gone 
 into another country about his business, and they 
 durst not at that time venture to run away without 
 him. 
 
 These attempts took up eight or nine years, vari- 
 ous accidents hindering their designs, but most com- 
 monly the dry weather, because they feared in the 
 woods they should be starved with thirst, all the 
 country being in such a condition almost four or 
 five years together for lack of rain. 
 
 On September 23,, 1679, they set forth again, fur- 
 nished with knives and small axes for their defence, 
 because they could carry them privately and send all 
 sorts of wares to sell as formerly, and all necessary 
 provisions, the moon being twenty-seven days old, 
 that they might have light to run away by, to try 
 what success God Almighty would now give them 
 in seeking their liberty. Their first stage was to 
 Anuradhapoora, in the way to which lay a wilder- 
 ness, called Parraoth Mocolane, full of wild elephants, 
 tigers, and bears ; and because it is the utmost con- 
 fines of the king's dominions, there is always a watch 
 kept. 
 
 In the middle of the way they heard that the 
 governor's officers of these parts were out to gather 
 up the king's revenues and duties, to send them up 
 to the city ; which put them into no small fear, lest, 
 finding them, they should send them back again ; 
 whereupon they withdrew to the western parts of 
 [327 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Ecpoulpot, and sat down to knitting till they heard 
 the officers were gone. As soon as they were de- 
 parted, they went onwards of their journey, having 
 got a good parcel of cotton-yarn to knit caps with, 
 and having kept their wares, as they pretended, to 
 exchange for dried flesh, which was sold only in those 
 lower parts. Their way lay necessai-ily through the 
 governor's yard at Kalluvilla, who dwells there on 
 purpose to examine all that go and come. This 
 greatly distressed them, because he would easily sus- 
 pect they were out of their bounds, being captives ; 
 however, they went resolutely to his house, and 
 meeting him, presented him with a small parcel of 
 tobacco and betel; and, showing him their wares, 
 told him they came to get dried flesh to cairy back 
 with them. The governor did not suspect them, but 
 told them he was soiTy they came in so dry a time, 
 when no deer were to be catched, but if some rain 
 fell, he would soon supply them. This answer 
 pleased them, and they seemed contented to stay ; 
 and accordingly, abiding with him two or three 
 days, and no rain falling, they presented the gover- 
 nor with five or six charges of gunpowder, which is 
 a rarity among them ; and leaving a bundle at his 
 house, they desired him to shoot them some deer, 
 while they made a step to Anuradhapoora. Here 
 also they were put in a great fright by the coming 
 of certain soldiers from the king to the governor, to 
 give him orders to set a secure guard at the watches, 
 that no suspicious persons might pass, which, thougVi 
 it was only intended to prevent the flight of the rela- 
 tions of certain nobles whom the king had clapped up, 
 [328] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 yet they feared they might wonder to see white men 
 here, and so send them back again; but God so 
 ordered it that they were very kind to them and 
 left them to their business, and so they got safe to 
 Anuradhapoora. Their pretence was dried flesh, 
 though they knew their was none to be had; but 
 their real business was to search the way down to 
 the Dutch, which they stayed three days to do ; but 
 finding that in the way to Jaffnapatam, which is one 
 of the Dutch ports, there was a watch which could 
 hardly be passed, and other inconveniences not sur- 
 mountable, they resolved to go back, and take the 
 river Malwatta Oya, which they had before judged 
 would be a probable guide to lead them to the sea ; 
 and, that they might not be pursued, left Anurad- 
 hapoora just at night, when the people never travel 
 for fear of wild beasts, on Sunday, October 12, being 
 stored with all things needful for their journey, viz., 
 ten days' provision, a basin to boil their provision 
 in, two calabashes to fetch water in, and two great 
 tallipat leaves for tents, with jaggery, sweetmeats, 
 tobacco, betel, tinder-boxes, and a deerskin for 
 shoes, to keep their feet from thorns, because to 
 them they chiefly trusted. Being come to the river, 
 they struck into the woods, and kept by the side of 
 it ; yet not going on the sand (lest their footsteps 
 should be discerned), unless forced, and then going 
 backwards. 
 
 Being gotten a good way into the wood, it be- 
 gan to rain ; wherefore they erected their tents, 
 made a fire, and refreshed themselves against the 
 rising of the moon, which was then eighteen days 
 [329 J 
 
CAPTAIN SIN d^E TON 
 
 old ; and having tied deerskins about their feet, and 
 eased themselves of their wares, they proceeded on 
 their journey. When they had travelled three or 
 four hours with difficulty, because the moon gave but 
 little light among the thick trees, they found an 
 elephant in their way before them, and because they 
 could not scare him away, they were forced to stay 
 till morning ; and so they kindled a fire, and took a 
 pipe of tobacco. By the light they could not dis- 
 cern that ever anybody had been there, nothing be- 
 ing to be seen but woods ; and so they were in great 
 hopes that they were past all danger, being beyond 
 all inhabitants ; but they were mistaken, for the 
 river winding northward, brought them into the 
 midst of a parcel of towns, called Tissea Wava, where, 
 being in danger of being seen, they were under a 
 mighty terror ; for had the people found them, they 
 would have beat them, and sent them up to the 
 king ; and, to avoid it, they crept into a hollow tree, 
 and sat there in mud and wet till it began to grow 
 dark, and then betaking themselves to their legs, 
 travelled till the darkness of .night stopped them. 
 They heard voices behind them, and feared it was 
 somebody in pursuit of them ; but at length, discern- 
 ing it was only an hallooing to keep the wild beasts 
 out of the com, they pitched their tents by the river, 
 and having boiled rice and roasted meat for their 
 suppers, and satisfied their hunger, they committed 
 themselves to God's keeping, and laid them down to 
 sleep. 
 
 The next morning, to prevent the worst, they got 
 up early and hastened on their journey ; and though 
 [ 330 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOIS 
 
 they were now got out of all danger of the tame 
 Chiangulays, they were in great danger of the wild 
 ones, of whom those woods were full; and though 
 they saw their tents, yet they were all gone, since the 
 rains had fallen, from the river into the woods ; and 
 so God kept them from that danger, for, had they 
 met the wild men, they liad been shot. 
 
 Thus they travelled from morning till night several 
 days, through bushes and thorns, which made their 
 arms and shoulders, which were naked, all of a gove 
 blood. They often met with bears, hogs, deer, and 
 wild buffaloes ; but they all ran away as soon as 
 they saw them. The river was exceedingly full 
 of alligators ; in the evening they used to pitch their 
 tents, and make great fires both before and behind 
 them, to affright the wild beasts ; and though they 
 heard the voices of all sorts, they saw none. 
 
 On Thursday, at noon, they crossed the river 
 Coronda [? Kannadera Oya], which parts the country 
 of the Malabars from the king's, and on Friday, 
 about nine or ten in the morning, came aaiong the 
 inhabitants, of whom they were as much afraid as of 
 the Chiangulays before ; for, though the Wanniou- 
 nay, or prince of this people, payeth tribute to the 
 Dutch out of fear, yet he is better affected to the 
 King of Kandy, and, if he had took them, would 
 have sent them up to their old master; but not 
 knowing any way to escape, they kept on their 
 journey by the river-side by day, because the woods 
 were not to be travelled by night for thorns and 
 wild beasts, who came down then to the river to 
 drink. In all the Malabar country they met with 
 [331] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 only two Brahmins, who treated them very civilly ; 
 and for their money, one of them conducted them 
 till they came into the territories of the Dutch, and 
 out of all danger of the King of Kandy, which did 
 not a little rejoice them ; but yet they were in no 
 small trouble how to find the way out of the woods, 
 till a Malabar, for the lucre of a knife, conducted 
 them to a Dutch town, where they found guides to 
 conduct them from town to town, till they came to 
 the fort called Aripo, where they arrived Saturday, 
 October 18, 1679, and there thankfully adored God's 
 wonderful providence, in thus completing their deliv- 
 erance from a long captivity of nineteen years and 
 six months. 
 
 I come now back to my own history, which grows 
 near a conclusion, as to the travels I took in this part 
 of the world. We were now at sea, and we stood 
 away to the north for a while, to try if we could get 
 a market for our spice, for we were very rich in nut- 
 megs, but we ill knew what to do with them ; we 
 durst not go upon the English coast, or, to speak 
 more properly, among the English factories to trade ; 
 not that we were afi-aid to fight any two ships they 
 had, and, besides that, we knew that, as they had no 
 letters of mai-que, or of reprisals from the govern- 
 ment, so it was none of their business to act offen- 
 sively, no, not though we were pirates. Indeed, if 
 we had made any attempt upon them, they might 
 have justified themselves in joining together to resist, 
 and assisting one another to defend themselves ; but 
 to go out of their business to attack a pirate ship of 
 [332 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 almost fifty guns, as we were, it was plain that it was 
 none of their business, and consequently it was none 
 of our concern, so we did not trouble ourselves about 
 it ; but, on the other hand, it was none of our busi- 
 ness to be seen among them, and to have the news of 
 us carried from one factory to another, so that what- 
 ever design we might be upon at another time, we 
 should be sure to be prevented and discovered. 
 Much less had we any occasion to be seen among 
 any of the Dutch factories upon the coast of Malabar ; 
 for, being fully laden with the spices which we had, 
 in the sense of their trade, plundered them of, it 
 would have told them what we were, and all that we 
 had been doing ; and they would, no doubt, have 
 concerned themselves all manner of ways to have 
 fallen upon us. 
 
 The only way we had for it was to stand away for 
 Goa, and trade, if we could, for our spices, with the 
 Portuguese factory there. Accordingly, we sailed 
 almost thither, for we had made land two days 
 before, and being in the latitude of Goa, were stand- 
 ing in fair for Margaon, on the head of Salsat, at 
 the going up to Goa, when I called to the men at 
 the helm to bring the ship to, and bid the pilot go 
 away N.N.W., till we came out of sight of the 
 shore, when William and I called a council, as we 
 used to do upon emergencies, what course we should 
 take to trade there and not be discovered ; and we 
 concluded at length that we would not go thither at 
 all, but that William, with such trusty fellows only 
 as could be depended upon, should go in the sloop 
 to Surat, which was still farther northward, and 
 [ 333 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 trade there as merchants with such of the Enghsh 
 factory as they could find to be for their turn. 
 
 To caiTV this with the more caution, and so as not 
 to be suspected, we agreed to take out all her guns, 
 and put such men into her, and no other, as would 
 promise us not to desire or offer to go on shore, or 
 to enter into any talk or conversation with any that 
 might come on board ; and, to finish the disguise to 
 our mind, William documented two of our men, one 
 a surgeon, as he himself was, and the other, a ready- 
 witted fellow, an old sailor, that had been a pilot 
 upon the .coast of New England, and was an excellent 
 mimic ; these two William dressed up like two 
 Quakers, and made them talk like such. The old 
 pilot he made go captain of the sloop, and the sur- 
 geon for doctor, as he was, and himself supercargo. 
 In this figure, and the sloop all plain, no curled 
 work upon her (indeed she had not much before), 
 and no guns to be seen, away he went for Surat. 
 
 I should, indeed, have observed, that we went, 
 some days before we parted, to a small sandy island 
 close under the shore, where there was a good cove 
 of deep water, like a road, and out of sight of any 
 of the factories, which are here very thick upon the 
 coast. Here we shifted the loading of the sloop, and 
 put into her such things only as we had a mind to 
 dispose of there, which was indeed little but nutmegs 
 and cloves, but chiefly the former ; and from thence' 
 William and his two Quakers, with about eighteen 
 men in the sloop, went away to Surat, and came to 
 an anchor at a distance from the factory. 
 
 William used such caution that he found means 
 [ 334 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to go on shore himself, and the doctor, as he called 
 him, in a boat which came on board them to sell 
 fish, rowed with only Indians of the country, which 
 boat he afterwards hired to carry him on board 
 again. It was not long that they were on shore, but 
 that they found means to get acquaintance with 
 some Englishmen, who, though they lived there, and 
 perhaps were the company's servants at first, yet ap- 
 peared then to be traders for themselves, in what- 
 ever coast business especially came in their way ; and 
 the doctor was made the first to pick acquaintance v 
 so he recommended his friend, the supercargo, till, 
 by degrees, the merchants were as fond of the bar- 
 gain as our men were of the merchants, only that 
 the cargo was a little too much for them. 
 
 However, this did not prove a difficulty long with 
 them, for the next day they brought two more mer- 
 chants, English also, into their bargain, and, as Wil- 
 liam could perceive by their discourse, they resolved; 
 if they bought them, to carry them to the Gulf of 
 Persia upon their own accounts. William took the 
 hint, and, as he told me afterwards, concluded we 
 might carry them there as well as they. But this 
 was not William's present business ; he had here no 
 less than three-and-thirty ton of nuts and eighteen 
 ton of cloves. There was a good quantity of mace 
 among the nutmegs, but we did not stand to make 
 much allowance. In short, they bargained, and the 
 merchants, who would gladly have bought sloop and 
 all, o-ave William directions, and two men for pilots, 
 to go to a creek about six leagues from the factory, 
 where they brought boats, and unloaded the whole 
 [335 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 cargo, and paid William very honestly for it ; the 
 whole parcel amounting, in money, to about thirty- 
 five thousand pieces of eight, besides some goods of 
 value, which William was content to take, and two 
 large diamonds, worth about three hundred pounds 
 sterling. 
 
 When they paid the money, William invited them 
 on board the sloop, where they came ; and the merry 
 old Quaker diverted them exceedingly with his talk, 
 and " thee'd " them and " thou'd " them till he made 
 .them so drunk that they could not go on shore 
 for that night. 
 
 They would fain have known who our people were, 
 and whence they came ; but not a man in the sloop 
 would answer them to any question they asked, but 
 in such a manner as let them think themselves 
 bantered and jested with. However, in discourse, 
 William said they were able men for any cargo we 
 could have brought them, and that they would have 
 bought twice as much spice if we had had it. He 
 ordered the merry captain to tell them that they had 
 another sloop that lay at Margaon, and that had 
 a great quantity of spice on board also ; and that, if 
 it was not sold when he went back (for that thither 
 he was bound), he would bring her up. 
 
 Their new chaps were so eager," that they would 
 have bargained with the old captain beforehand. 
 " Nay, friend," said he, " I will not trade with thee 
 unsight and unseen ; neither do I know whether the 
 master of the sloop may not have sold his loading al- 
 ready to some merchants of Salsat ; but if he has not 
 when I come to him, I think to bring him up to thee." 
 [336] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 The doctor had his employment all this while, as 
 well as William and the old captain, for he went on 
 shore several times a day in the Indian boat, and 
 brought fresh provisions for the sloop, which the 
 men had need enough of. He brought, in particular, 
 seventeen large casks of arrack, as big as butts, be- 
 sides smaller quantities, a quantity of rice, and 
 abundance of fruits, mangoes, pompions, and such 
 things, with fowls and fish. He never came on 
 board but he was deep laden ; for, in short, he bought 
 for the ship as well as for themselves ; and, partic- 
 ularly, they half-loaded the ship with rice and ar- 
 rack, with some hogs, and six or seven cows, alive ; 
 and thus, being well victualled, and having directions 
 for coming again, they returned to us. 
 
 William was always the lucky welcome messenger 
 to us, but never more welcome to us than now ; for 
 where we had thrust in the ship, we could get noth- 
 ing, except a few mangoes and roots, being not will- 
 ing to make any steps into the country, or make 
 ourselves known till we had news of our sloop ; and 
 indeed our men's patience was almost tired, for it 
 was seventeen days that William spent upon this 
 enterprise, and well bestowed too. 
 
 When he came back we had another conference 
 upon the subject bf ti-ade, namely, whether we should 
 send the best of our spices, and other goods we had 
 in the ship, to Surat, or whether we should go up to 
 the Gulf of Persia ourselves, where it was probable 
 we might sell them as well as the English merchants 
 of Surat. William was for going ourselves, w.iich, 
 by the way, was from the good, frugal, merchant- 
 22 [ 337 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 like temper of the man, who was 'for the best of 
 everything ; but here I overruled William, which I 
 very seldom took upon me to do ; but I told him, 
 that, considering our circumstances, it was much 
 better for us to sell all our cargoes here, though we 
 made but half-price of them, than to go with them 
 to the Gulf of Persia, where we should run a greater 
 risk, and where people would be much more curious^ 
 and inquisitive into things than they were here, and 
 where it would not be so easy to manage them, 
 seeing they traded freely and openly there, not by 
 stealth, as those men seemed to do ; and, besides, if 
 they suspected anything, it would be much more diffi- 
 cult for us to retreat, except by mere force, than here, 
 where we were upon the high sea as it were, and 
 could be gone whenever we pleased, without any dis- 
 guise, or, indeed, without the least appearance of 
 being pursued, none knowing where to look for us. 
 My apprehensions prevailed with William, whether 
 my reasons did or no, and he submitted ; and we re- 
 solved to try another ship's loading to the same mer- 
 chants. The main business was to consider how to 
 get off that circumstance that had exposed them to 
 the English merchants, namely that it was our other 
 sloop ; but this the old Quaker pilot undertook ; for 
 being, as I said, an excellent mimic himself, it was 
 the easier for him to dress up the sloop in new 
 clothes ; and first, he put on all the carved work he 
 had taken off before ; her stern, which was painted of 
 a dumb white or dun colour before, all flat, was now 
 all lacquered and blue, and I know not how many gay 
 figures in it ; as to her quarter, the carpenters made 
 [338 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 her a neat little 'gallery on either side; she had twelve 
 guns put into her, and some petereroes upon her gun- 
 nel, none of which were there before ; and to finish 
 her new habit or appearance, and make her change 
 complete, he ordered her sails to be altered ; and as 
 she sailed before with a half-sprit, like a yacht, she 
 sailed now with square-sail and mizzen-mast, like 
 a ketch ; so that, in a word, she was a perfect cheat, 
 disguised in everything that a stranger could be sup- 
 posed to take any notice of that had never had but 
 one view, for they had been but once on board. 
 
 In this mean figure the sloop returned ; she had 
 a new man put into her for captain, one we knew 
 how to trust ; and the old pilot appearing only as 
 a passenger, the doctor and William acting as the 
 supercargoes, by a formal procuration from one Cap- 
 tain Singleton, and all things ordered in form. 
 
 We had a complete loading for the sloop ; for, 
 besides a very great quantity of nutmegs and cloves, 
 mace, and some cinnamon, she had on board some 
 goods which we took in as we lay about the Philippine 
 Islands, while we waited as looking for purchase. 
 
 William made no difficulty of selling this cargo 
 also, and in about twenty days returned again, 
 freighted with all necessary provisions for our voyage, 
 and for a long time ; and, as I say, we had a great 
 deal of other goods : he brought us back about three- 
 and-thirty thousand pieces of eight, and some dia- 
 monds, which, though William did not pretend to 
 much skill in, yet he made shift to act so as not to 
 be imposed upon, the merchants he had to deal with, 
 too, being very fair men. 
 
 [339] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 They had no difficulty at all with these merchants, 
 for the prospect they had of gain made them not at 
 all inquisitive, nor did they make the least discovery 
 of the sloop ; and as to the selling them spices which 
 were fetched so far from thence, it seems it was not 
 so much a novelty there as we believed, for the 
 Portuguese had frequently vessels which came from 
 Macao in China, who brought spices, which they 
 bought of the Chinese traders, who again frequently 
 dealt among the Dutch Spice Islands, and received 
 spices in exchange for such goods as they carried 
 from China. 
 
 This might be called, indeed, the only trading 
 voyage we had made ; and now we were really very 
 rich, and it came now naturally before us to consider 
 whither we should go next. Our proper delivery 
 port, as we ought to have called it, was at Madagas- 
 car, in the Bay of Mangahelly ; but William took 
 me by myself into the cabin of the sloop one day, 
 and told me he wanted to talk seriously with me a 
 little ; so we shut ourselves in, and William began 
 with me. 
 
 " Wilt thou give me leave," says William, " to talk 
 plainly with thee upon thy present circumstances, 
 and thy future prospect of living.'' and wilt thou 
 promise, on thy word, to take nothing ill of me ? " 
 
 " With all my heart," said I. " William, I have 
 always found your advice good, and your designs 
 have not only been well laid, but your counsel has 
 been very lucky to us ; and, therefore, say what vou 
 will,' I promise you I will not take it ill." 
 
 " But that is not all my demand," says William ; 
 [34.0] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 "' if thou dost not like what I am going to propose to 
 thee, thou shalt promise me not to make it pubhc 
 among the men." 
 
 " I will not, William," says I, " upoa my word ; " 
 and swore to him, too, very heartily. 
 
 " Why, then," says William, " I have but one 
 thing more to article with thee about, and that is, 
 that thou wilt consent that if thou dost not approve 
 of it for thyself, thou wilt yet consent that I shall 
 put so much of it in practice as relates to myself and 
 my new comrade doctor, so that it be nothing to thy 
 detriment and loss." 
 
 ''In anything," says I, "William, but leaving me, 
 I will ; but I cannot part with you upon any terms 
 whatever." 
 
 " Well," says William, " I am not designing to part 
 from thee, unless it is thy own doing. But assure me 
 in all these points, and I will tell my mind freely." 
 
 So I promised him everything he desired of me in 
 the solemnest manner possible, and so seriously and 
 frankly withal, that William made no scruple to open 
 his mind to me. 
 
 "Why, then, in the first place," says William, 
 " shall I ask thee if thou dost not think thou and all " 
 thy men are rich enough, and have really gotten as 
 much wealth together (by whatsoever way it has been 
 gotten, that is not the question) as we all know what 
 to do with .'' " 
 
 " Why, truly, William," said I, " thou art pretty 
 right ; I think we have had pretty good luck." 
 
 " Well, then," says William, " I would ask whether, 
 if thou hast gotten enough, thou hast any thought 
 [341] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 of leaving oflF this trade ; for most people leave off 
 trading when they are satisfied of getting, and are rich 
 enough ; for nobody trades for the sake of trading ; 
 much less do^en rob for the sake of thieving." 
 
 " Well, William," says I, " now I perceive what it 
 is thou art driving at. I warrant you," says I, "you 
 begin to hanker after home." 
 
 " Why, truly," says William, " thou hast said it, 
 and so I hope thou dost too. It is natural for most 
 men that are abroad to desire to come home again at 
 last, especially when they are grown rich, and when 
 they are (as thou ownest thyself to be) rich enough, 
 and so rich as they know not what to do with more 
 if they had it." 
 
 " Well, William," said I, " but now you think you 
 have laid your preliminary at first so home that I 
 should have nothing to say ; that is, that when I had 
 got money enough, it would be natural to think of 
 going home. But you have not explained what you 
 mean by home, and there you and I shall differ. 
 Why, man, I am at home ; here is my habitation ; 
 I never had any other in my lifetime ; I was a kind 
 of charity school boy ; so that I can have no desire 
 •of going anywhere for being rich or poor, for I have 
 nowhere to go." 
 
 "Why," says William, looking a little confused, 
 " art not thou an Englishman ? " 
 
 " Yes," says I, " I think so : you see I speak 
 English; but I came out of England a child, and 
 never was in it but once since I was a man ; and 
 then I was cheated and imposed upon, and used so 
 ill that I care not if I never see it more." 
 [342] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 " Why, hast thou no relations or friends there ? " 
 says he; "no acquaintance — none that thou hast 
 any kindness or any remains of respect for?" 
 
 " Not I, William," said I ; "no more than I have 
 in the court of the Great Mogul." 
 
 " Nor any kindness for the country where thou 
 wast born ? " says William. 
 
 " Not I, any more than for the island of Madagas- 
 car, nor so much neither ; for that has been a fortu- 
 nate island to me more than once, as thou knowest, 
 William," said I. 
 
 William was quite stunned- at my discourse, and 
 held his peace ; and I said to him, " Go on, William ; 
 what hast thou to say farther ? for I hear you have 
 some project in your head," says I; "come, let's 
 have it out." 
 
 " Nay," says William, " thou hast put me to silence, 
 and all I had to say is overthrown ; all my projects 
 are come to nothing, and gone." 
 
 " Well, but, William," said I, " let me hear what 
 they were ; for though it is so that what I have to 
 aim at does not look your way, and though I have no 
 relation, no friend, no acquaintance in England, yet 
 I do not say I like this roving, cruising life so well as 
 never to give it over. Let me hear if thou canst 
 propose to me anything beyond it." 
 
 " Certainly, friend," says William, very gravely, 
 " there is something beyond it ; " and lifting up his 
 hands, he seemed very much affected, and I thought 
 I saw tears stand in his eyes ; but I, that was too 
 hardened a wretch to be moved with these things, 
 laughed at him. " What ! " says I, " you mean death, 
 [343] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 I warrant you : don't you ? That is beyond this 
 trade. Why, when it comes, it comes ; then we are 
 all provided for." 
 
 " Ay," says William, " that is true ; but it would 
 be better that some things were thought on before 
 that came." 
 
 " Thought on ! " says I ; " what signifies thinking 
 of it ? To think of death is to die, and to be 
 always thinking of it is to be all one's life long 
 a-dying. It is time enough to think of it when it 
 comes." 
 
 You will easily believe I was well qualified for a 
 pirate that could talk thus. But let me leave it upon 
 record, for the remark of other hardened rogues like 
 myself, — my conscience gave me a pang that I never 
 felt before when I said, " What signifies thinking of 
 it ? " and told me I should one day think of these 
 words with a sad heart ; but the time of my reflection 
 was not yet come ; so I went on. 
 
 Says William very seriously, " I must tell thee, 
 friend, I am sorry to hear thee talk so. They that 
 never think of dying, often die without thinking 
 of it." 
 
 I carried on the jesting way a while farther, and 
 said, " Prithee, do not talk of dying ; how do we 
 know we shall ever die .'' " and began to laugh. 
 
 " I need not answer thee to that," says William ; 
 " it is not my place to reprove thee, who art 
 commander over me here ; but I would rather 
 thou wouldst talk otherwise of death ; it is a coarse 
 thing." 
 
 " Say anything to me, William," said I ; " I will 
 [344] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 take it kindly." I began now to be very much moved 
 at his discourse. 
 
 Says William (tears running down his face), " It 
 is because men live as if they were never to die, that 
 so many die before they know how to live. But it 
 was not death that I meant when I said that there 
 was something to be thought of beyond this way of 
 living." 
 
 « Why, William," said I, " what was that ?" 
 
 " It was repentance," says he. 
 
 " Why," says I, " did you ever know a pirate 
 repent ? " 
 
 At this he startled a little, and returned, " At the 
 gallows I have [known] one before, and I hope thou 
 wilt be the second." 
 
 He spoke this very aflFectionately, with an appear- 
 ance of concern for me. 
 
 "Well, William," says I, "I thank you; and I 
 am not so senseless of these things, perhaps, as I make 
 myself seem to be. But come, let me hear your 
 proposal." 
 
 " My proposal," says William, " is for thy good as 
 well as my own. We may put an end to this kind of 
 life, and repent ; and I think the fairestjoccasion offers 
 for both, at this very time, that ever did, or ever 
 will, or, indeed, can happen again." 
 
 " Look you, William," says I ; " let me have your 
 proposal for putting an end to our present way of 
 living first, for that is the case before us, and you and 
 I will talk of the other afterwards. I am not so in- 
 sensible," said I, " as you may think me to be. But 
 let us get out of this hellish condition we are in first." 
 [34.5 j 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 "Nay," says William, "thou art in the right 
 there ; we must never talk of repenting while we con- 
 tinue pirates." 
 
 " Well," says I, " William, that 's what I meant ; 
 for if we must not reform, as well as be sorry for 
 what is done, I have no notion what repentance 
 means ; indeed, at best I know little of the matter ; 
 but the nature of the thing seems to tell me that the 
 first step we have to take is to break off this wretched 
 course ; and I '11 begin there with you, with all my 
 heart." 
 
 I could see by his countenance that William was 
 thoroughly pleased with the offer; and if he had tears 
 in his eyes before, he had more now; but it was from 
 quite a different passion ; for he was so swallowed up 
 with joy he could not speak. 
 
 " Come, William," says I, " thou showest me plain 
 enough thou hast an honest meaning ; dost thou 
 think it practicable for us to put an end to our un- 
 happy way of living here, and get off? " 
 
 " Yes," says he, " I think it very practicable for 
 me ; whether it is for thee or no, that will depend 
 upon thyself." 
 
 " Well," says I, " I give you my word, that as I 
 have commanded you all along, from the time I 
 first took you on board, so you shall command me 
 from this hour, and everything you direct me 
 I'll do." 
 
 " Wilt thou leave it all to me ? Dost thou say this 
 freely.?" 
 
 " Yes, William," said I, « freely ; and I '11 perform 
 it faithfully." 
 
 [ 346 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 " Why, then," says William, " my scheme is this -. 
 We are now at the mouth of the Gulf of Persia ; we 
 have sold so much of our cargo here at Surat, that 
 we have money enough ; send me away for Bassorah 
 with the sloop, laden with the China goods we have 
 on board, which will make another good cargo, and 
 I '11 warrant thee I '11 find means, among the English 
 and Dutch merchants there, to lodge a quantity of 
 goods and money also as a merchant, so as we will 
 be able to have recourse to it again upon any occa- 
 sion, and when I come home we will contrive the 
 rest; and, in the meantime, do you bring the ship's 
 crew to take a resolution to go to Madagascar as soon 
 as I return." 
 
 I told him I thought he need not go so far as 
 Bassorah, but might run into Gombroon, or to 
 Ormuz, and pretend the same business. 
 
 " No," says he, " I cannot act with the same free- 
 dom there, because the Company's factories are there, 
 and I may be laid hold of there on pretence of 
 interloping." 
 
 " Well, but," said I, " you may go to Ormuz, 
 then ; for I am loth to part with you so long as to 
 go to the bottom of the Persian Gulf." He re- 
 turned, that I should leave it to him to do as he 
 should see cause. 
 
 We had taken a large sum of money at Surat, so 
 that we had near a hundred thousand pounds in 
 money at our command, but on board the great ship 
 we had still a great deal more. 
 
 I ordered him publicly to keep the money on 
 board which he had, and to buy up with it a quantity 
 [ 347 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 of ammunition, if he could get it, and so to furnish 
 us for new exploits ; and, in the meantime, I resolved 
 to get a quantity of gold and some jewels, which I 
 had on board the great ship, and place them so that 
 I might cany them off without notice as soon as he 
 came back ; and so, according to William's direc- 
 tions, I left him to go the voyage, and I went on 
 board the great ship, in which we had indeed an 
 immense treasure. 
 
 We waited no less than two months for William's 
 return, and indeed I began to be very uneasy about 
 William, sometimes thinking he had abandoned me, 
 and that he might have used the same artifice to 
 have engaged the other men to comply with him, 
 and so they were gone away together ; and it was . 
 but three days before his return that I was just 
 upon the point of resolving to go away to Madagas- 
 car, and give him over ; but the olH surgeon, who 
 mimicked the Quaker and passed for the master of 
 the sloop at Surdt, persuaded me against that, for 
 which good advice and apparent faithfulness in what 
 he had been trusted with, I made him a party to 
 my design, and he proved very honest. 
 
 At length William came back, to our inexpressible 
 joy, and brought a great many necessary things with 
 him ; as, particularly, he brought sixty barrels of 
 powder, some iron shot, and about thirty ton of 
 lead ; also he brought a great deal of provisions ; 
 and, in a word, William gave me a public account 
 of his voyage, in the hearing of whoever happened 
 to be upon the quarter-deck, that no suspicions 
 might be found about us. 
 
 [ 348 J 
 
 '•o" 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 After all was done, William moved that he might 
 go up again, and that I would go with him ; named 
 several things which we had on board that he could 
 not sell there ; and, particularly, told us he had been 
 obliged to leave several things there, the caravans 
 being not come in ; and that he had engaged to come 
 back again with goods. 
 
 This was what I wanted. The men were eager 
 for his going, and particularly because he told them 
 they might load the sloop back with rice and pro- 
 visions ; but I seemed backward to going, when the 
 old surgeon stood up and .persuaded me to go, and 
 with many arguments pressed me to it ; as, partic- 
 ularly, if I did not go, there would be no order, and 
 several of the men might drop away, and perhaps 
 betray all the rest ; and that they should not 
 think it safe for the sloop to go again if I did not 
 go; and to urge me to it, he offered himself to go 
 with me. 
 
 Upon these considerations I seemed to be over- 
 persuaded to go, and all the company seemed to be 
 better satisfied when I had consented ; and, accord- 
 ingly, we took all the powder, lead, and iron out of 
 the sloop into the great ship, and all the other things 
 that were for the ship's use, and put in some bales 
 of spices and casks or frails of cloves, in all about 
 seven ton, and some other goods, among the bales 
 of which I had conveyed all my private treasure, 
 which, I assure you, was of no small value, and away 
 I went. 
 
 At going off I called a council of all the officers in 
 the ship to consider in what place they should wait 
 [349] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 for me, and how long, and we appointed the ship to 
 stay eight-and-twenty days at a little island on the 
 Arabian side of the Gulf, and that, if the sloop did 
 not come in that time, they should sail to another 
 island to the west of that place, and wait there 
 fifteen days more, and that then, if the sloop did not 
 come, they should conclude some accident must 
 have happened, and the rendezvous should be at 
 Madagascar. 
 
 Being thus resolved, we left the ship, which both 
 William and I, and the surgeon, never intended to 
 see any more. We steered directly for the Gulf, 
 and through to Bassorah, or Balsara. This city of 
 Balsara lies at some distance from the place where our 
 sloop lay, and the river not being very safe, and we 
 but ill acquainted with it, having but an ordinary 
 pilot, we went on shore at a village where some 
 merchants live, and which is very populous, for the 
 sake of small vessels riding there. 
 
 Here we stayed and traded three or four days, 
 landing all our bales and spices, and indeed the 
 whole cargo that was of any considerable value, 
 which we chose to do rather than go up immediately 
 to Balsara till the project we had laid was put in 
 execution. 
 
 After we had bought several goods, and were pre- 
 paring to buy several others, the boat being on shore 
 with twelve men, myself, William, the surgeon, and 
 one fourth man, whom we had singled out, we con- 
 trived to send a Turk just at the dusk of the even- 
 ing with a letter to the boatswain, and giving the 
 fellow a charge to run with all possible speed, we 
 [350] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 stood at a small distance to observe the event. The 
 contents of the letter were thus written by the old 
 doctor : — 
 
 "Boatswain Thomas, — We are all betrayed. For 
 God's sake make off with the boat, and get on board, 
 or you. are all lost. The captain, William the Quaker, 
 and George the reformade are seized and carried away : 
 I am escaped and hid, but cannot stir out ; if I do I am 
 a dead man. As soon as you are on board cut or slip, 
 and make sail for your lives. Adieu. — R.S." 
 
 We stood undiscovered, as above, it being the 
 dusk of the evening, and saw the Turk deliver the 
 letter, and in three minutes we saw all the men hurry 
 into the boat and put off, and no sooner were they 
 on board than they took the hint, as we supposed, 
 for the next morning they were out of sight, and we 
 never heard tale or tidings of them since. 
 
 We were now in a good place, and in very good 
 circumstances, for we passed for merchants of Persia. 
 
 It is not material to record here what a mass of 
 ill-gotten wealth we had got together: it will be more 
 to the purpose to tell you that I began to be sensible 
 of the crime of getting of it in such a manner as I 
 had done ; that I had very little satisfaction in the 
 possession of it ; and, as I told William, I had no 
 expectation of keeping it, nor much desire ; but, as I 
 said to him one day walking out into the fields near 
 the town of Bassorah, so I depended upon it that it 
 -vvould be the case, which you will hear presently. 
 
 We were perfectly secured at Bassorah, by having 
 frighted away the rogues, our comrades ; and we had 
 [351] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 nothing to do but to consider how to convert our 
 treasure into things proper to make us look like 
 merchants, as we were now to be, and not like free- 
 booters, as we really had been. 
 
 We happened very opportunely here upon a 
 Dutchman, who had travelled from Bengal to Agra, 
 the capital city of the Great Mogul, and from thence 
 was come to the coast of Malabar by land, and got 
 shipping, somehow or other, up the Gulf; and we 
 found his design was to go up the great river to 
 Bagdad or Babylon, and soj by the caravan, to 
 Aleppo and Scanderoon. As William spoke Dutch, 
 and was of an agreeable, insinuating behaviour, he 
 soon got acquainted with this Dutchman, and dis- 
 covering our circumstances to one another, we found 
 he had considerable effects with him ; and that he 
 had traded long in that country, and was making 
 homeward to his own country ; and that he had 
 servants with him ; one an Armenian, whom he had 
 taught to speak Dutch, and who had something of 
 his own, but had a mind to travel into Europe ; and 
 the other a Dutch sailor, whom he had picked up by 
 his fancy, and reposed a great trust in him, and a 
 very honest fellow he was. 
 
 This Dutchman was very glad of an acquaintance, 
 because he soon found that we directed our thoughts 
 to Europe also ; and as he found we were encum- 
 bered with goods only (for we let him know nothing 
 of our money), he readily offered us his assistance to 
 dispose pf as many of them as the place we were in 
 would put off, and his advice what to do with the 
 rest. 
 
 [352] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 While this was doing, Wilhara and I consulted 
 what to do with ourselves and what we had ; and 
 first, we resolved we would never talk seriously of 
 our measures but in the open fields, where we were 
 sure nobody could hear ; so every evening, when the 
 sun began to decline and the air to be moderate we 
 walked out, sometimes this way, sometimes that, to 
 consult of our affairs. 
 
 I should have observed that we had new clothed 
 ourselves here, after the Persian manner, with long 
 vests of silk, a gown or robe of English crimson cloth, 
 very fine and handsome, and had let our beards grow 
 so after the Persian manner that we passed for Per- 
 sian merchants, in view only, though, by the way, 
 we could not understand or speak one word of the 
 language of Persia, or indeed of any other but 
 English and Dutch ; and of the latter I understood 
 very little. 
 
 However, the Dutchman supplied all this for us ; 
 and as we had resolved to keep ourselves as retired 
 as we could, though there were several English mer- 
 chants upon the place, yet we never acquainted our- 
 selves with one of them, or exchanged a word with 
 them ; by which means we prevented their inquiry 
 of us now, or their giving any intelligence of us, if 
 any news of our landing here should happen to come, 
 which, it was easy for us to know, was possible 
 enough, if any of our comrades fell into bad hands, 
 or by many accidents which we could not foresee. 
 
 It was during my being here, for here we stayed 
 near two months, that I grew very thoughtful about 
 my circumstances ; not as to the danger, neither in- 
 23 [ 353 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 deed were we in any, but were entirely concealed and 
 unsuspected ; but I really began to have other 
 thoughts of myself, and of the world, than ever I 
 had before. 
 
 William had struck so deep into ray unthinking 
 temper with hinting to me that there was something 
 beyond all this ; that the present time was the time 
 of enjoyment, but that the time of account ap- 
 proached ; that the work that remained was gentler 
 than the labour past, viz., repentance, and that it 
 was high time to think of it ; — I say these, and 
 such thoughts as these, engrossed my hours, and, in 
 a word, I grew very sad. 
 
 As to the wealth I had, which was immensely 
 great, it was all like dirt under my feet ; I had no 
 value for it, no peace in the possession of it, no great 
 concern about me for the leaving of it. 
 
 William had perceived my thoughts to be troubled 
 and my mind heavy and oppressed for some time; 
 and one evening, in one of our cool walks, I began 
 with him about the leaving our effects. William 
 was a wise and wary man, and indeed all the pru- 
 dentials of my conduct had for a long time been 
 owing to his advice, and so now all the methods for 
 preserving our effects, and even ourselves, lay upon 
 him ; and he had been telling me of some of the 
 measures he had been taking for our making home- 
 ward, and for the security of our wealth, when I 
 took him very short. "Why, William," says I, 
 "dost thou think we shall ever be able to reach 
 Europe with all this cargo that we have about us ? " 
 
 " Ay," says William, " without doubt, as well as 
 [854] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 other merchants with theirs, as long as it is not pub- 
 licly known what quantity or of what value our cargo 
 consists." 
 
 " Why, William," says I, smiling, " do you think 
 that if there is a God above, as you have so long 
 been telling me there is, and that we must give an 
 account to Him, — I say, do you think, if He be a 
 righteous Judge, He will let us escape thus with the 
 plunder,' as we may call it, of so many innocent 
 people, nay, I might say nations, and not call us to 
 an account for it before we can get to Europe, where 
 we pretend to enjoy it ? " 
 
 William appeared struck and surprised at the 
 question, and made no answer for a great while ; 
 and I repeated the question, adding that it was not 
 to be expected. 
 
 After a little pause, says William, "Thou hast 
 started a very weighty question, and I can make no 
 positive answer to it ; but I will state it thus : first, 
 it is true that, if we consider the justice of God, we 
 have no reason to expect any protection ; but as the 
 ordinary ways of Providence are out of the common 
 road of human affairs, so we may hope for mercy still 
 upon our repentance, and we know not how good He 
 may be to us ; so we are to act as if we rather de- 
 pended upon the last, I mean the merciful part, than 
 claimed the first, which must produce nothing but 
 judgment and vengeance." 
 
 " But hark ye, William," says I, " the nature of 
 repentance, as you have hinted once to me, included 
 reformation ; and we can never reform ; how, then, 
 can we repent ? " 
 
 [355 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 " Why can we never reform ? " says Willifim. 
 
 " Because," said I, " we cannot restore what we 
 have taken away by rapine and spoil." 
 
 " It is true," says William, " we never can do 
 that, for we can never come to the knowledge of the 
 owners." 
 
 " But what, then, must be done with our wealth," 
 said I, " the effects of plunder and rapine ? If we 
 keep it, we continue to be robbers and thieves ; and 
 if we quit it we cannot do justice with it, for we 
 cannot restore it to the right owners." 
 
 " Nay," says William, " the answer to it is short. 
 To quit what we have, and do it here, is to throw it 
 away to those who have no claim to it, and to divest 
 ourselves of it, but to do no right with it ; whereas 
 we ought to keep it carefully together, with a reso- 
 lution to do what right- with it we are able ; and 
 who knows what opportunity Providence may put 
 into our hands to do justice, at least, to some of 
 those we have injured ? So we ought, at least, to 
 leave it to Him and go on. As it is, without doubt 
 our present business is to go to some place of safety, 
 where we may wait His will." 
 
 This resolution of William was very satisfying to 
 me indeed, as, the truth is, all he said, and at all 
 times, was solid and good ; and had not William 
 thus, as it were, quieted my mind, I think, verily, I 
 was so alarmed at the just reason I had to expect 
 vengeance from Heaven upon me for my ill-gotten 
 wealth, that I should have run away from it as the 
 devil's goods, that I had nothing to do with, that 
 did not belong to me, and that I had no right to 
 [ 356 ] ■ 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 keep, and was in certain danger of being destroyed 
 for. 
 
 However, William settled my mind to more pru- 
 dent steps than these, and I concluded that I ought, 
 however, to proceed to a place of safety, and leave 
 the event to God Almighty's mercy. But this I must 
 leave upon record, that I had from this time no joy 
 of the wealth I had got. I looked upon it all as 
 stolen, and so indeed the greatest part of it was. I 
 looked upon it as a hoard of other men's goods, 
 which I had robbed the innocent owners of, and 
 which I ought, in a word, to be hanged for here, and 
 damned for hereafter. And now, indeed, I began 
 sincerely to hate myself for a dog ; a wretch that 
 had been a thief and a murderer ; a wretch that was 
 in a condition which nobody was ever in ; for I had 
 robbed, and though I had the wealth by me, yet it 
 was impossible I should ever make any restitution ; 
 and upon this account it ran in my head that I could 
 never repent, for that repentance could not be sin- 
 cere without restitution, and therefore must of 
 necessity be damned. There was no room for me to 
 escape. I went about with my heart full of these 
 thoughts, little better than a distracted fellow ; in 
 short, running headlong into the dreadfuUest despair, 
 and premeditating nothing but how to rid myself 
 out of the world ; and, indeed, the devil, if such 
 things are of the devil's immediate doing, followed 
 his work very close with me, and nothing lay upon 
 my mind for several days but to shoot myself into 
 the head with my pistol. 
 
 I was all this while in a vagrant life, among in- 
 [867] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 fidels, Turks, pagans, and such sort of people. I had 
 no minister, no Christian to converse with but poor 
 Wil]ig,m. He was my ghostly father or confessor, and 
 he was all the comfort I had. As for my knowledge 
 of religion, you have heard my history. You may 
 suppose I had not much ; and as for the Word of 
 God, I do not remember that I ever read a chapter 
 in the Bible in my lifetime. I was little Bob at Bussle- 
 ton, and went to school to learn my Testament. 
 
 However, it pleased God to make William the 
 Quaker everything to me. Upon this occasion, I took 
 him out one evening, as usual, and hurried him away 
 into the fields with me, in more haste than ordinary ; 
 and there, in short, I told him the perplexity of my 
 mind, and under what terrible temptations of the devil 
 I had been ; that I must shoot myself, for I could not 
 support the weight and terror that was upon me. 
 
 " Shoot yourself! " says William ; " why, what will 
 that do for you .'' " 
 
 " Why," says I, " it will put an end to a miserable 
 hfe." 
 
 " Well,'" says William, " are you satisfied the next 
 will be better ? " 
 
 " No, no," says I ; " much worse, to be sure." 
 
 " Why, then," says he, " shooting yourself is the 
 devil's motion, no doubt ; for it is the devil of a 
 reason, that, because thou art in an ill case, there- 
 fore thou must put thyself into a worse." 
 
 This shocked my reason indeed. " Well, but," 
 says I, " there is no bearing the miserable condition 
 I am in." 
 
 " Very well," says William ; " but it seems there is 
 [358] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 some bearing a worse condition ; and so you will 
 shoot yourself, that you may be past remedy ? "" 
 
 " I am past remedy already," says I. 
 
 " How do you know that ? " says he. 
 
 "■ I am satisfied of it," said I. 
 
 " Well," says he, " but you are not sure ; so you 
 will shoot yourself to make it certain ; for though on 
 this side death you cannot be sure you will be damned 
 at all, yet the moment you step on the other side of 
 time you are sure of it ; for when it is done, it is not 
 to be said then that you will be, but that you are 
 damned." 
 
 " Well, but," says William, as if he had been be- 
 tween jest and earnest, " pray, what didst thou dream 
 of last night.?" 
 
 " Why," said I, " I had frightful dreams all night ; 
 and, particularly, I dreamed that the devil came for 
 me, and asked me what my name was ; and I told 
 him. Then he asked me what trade I was. ' Trade .? ' 
 says I ; ' I am a thief, a rogue, by my calling : I am 
 a pirate and a murderer, and ought to be hanged.' 
 ' Ay, ay,' says the devil, ' so you do ; and you are the 
 man I looked for, and therefore come along with me.' 
 At which I was most horribly frighted, and cried out 
 so that it waked me ; and I have been in horrible 
 agony ever since." 
 
 "Very well," says William; "come, give me the 
 pistol thou talkedst of just now." 
 
 " Why," says I, " what will you do with it ? " 
 
 " Do with it ! " says William. " Why, thou 
 needest not shoot thyself; I shall be obliged to do 
 it for thee. Why, thou wilt destroy us all." 
 [ 359 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 " What do you mean, William ? " said I. 
 
 " Mean ! " said he ; " nay, what didst thou mean, 
 to cry out aloud in thy sleep, ' I am a thief, a pirate, 
 a murderer, and ought to be hanged ' ? Why, thou 
 wilt ruin us all. 'T was well the Dutchman did not 
 understand English. In short, I must shoot thee, to 
 save my own life. Come, come," says he, " give me 
 thy pistol." 
 
 I confess this terrified me again another way, and 
 I began to be sensible that, if anybody had been near 
 me to understand English, I had been undone. The 
 thought of shooting myself forsook me from that 
 time ; and I turned to William, " You disorder me 
 extremely, William," said I ; " why, I am never safe, 
 nor is it safe to keep me company. What shall I do ? 
 I shall betray you all." 
 
 " Come, come, friend Bob," says he, " I '11 put an 
 end to it all, if you will take my advice." 
 
 " How 's that ? " said I. 
 
 " Why, only," says he, " that the next time thou 
 talkest with the devil, thou wilt talk a little softlier, 
 or we shall be all undone, and you too." 
 
 This frighted me, I must confess, and allayed a 
 great deal of the trouble of mind I was in. But 
 William, after he had done jesting with me, entered 
 upon a very long and serious discourse with me about 
 the nature of my circumstances, and about repent- 
 ance ; that it ought to be attended, indeed, with a 
 deep abhorrence of the crime that I had to charge 
 myself with ; but that to despair of God's mercy was 
 no part of repentance, but putting myself into the 
 condition of the devil ; indeed, that I must apply . 
 [ 360 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 myself with a sincere, humble confession of my crime, 
 to ask pardon of God, whom I had offended, and 
 cast myself upon His mercy, resolving to be willing 
 to make restitution, if ever it should please God to 
 put it in my power, even to the utmost of what I 
 had in the world. And this, he told me, was the 
 method which he had resolved upon himself; and in 
 this, he told me, he had found comfort. 
 
 I had a great deal of satisfaction in William's dis- 
 course, and it quieted me very much ; but Wilham 
 was very anxious ever after about my talking in my 
 sleep, and took care to lie with me always himself, 
 and to keep me from lodging in any house where so 
 much as a word of English was understood. 
 
 However, there was not the like occasion after- 
 ward ; for I was much more composed in my mind, 
 and resolved for the future to live a quite different 
 life from what I had done. As to the wealth I had, 
 I looked upon it as nothing ; I resolved to set it 
 apart to any such opportunity of doing justice as 
 God should put into my hand ; and the miraculous 
 opportunity I had afterwards of applying some parts 
 of it to preserve a ruined family, whom I had plun- 
 dered, may be worth reading, if I have room for it in 
 this account. 
 
 With these resolutions I began to be restored to 
 some degree of quiet in my mind ; and having, after 
 almost three months' stay at Bassorah, disposed of 
 some goods, but having a great quantity left, we 
 hired boats according to the Dutchman's direction, 
 and went up to Bagdad, or Babylon, on the river 
 Tigris, or rather Euphrates. We had a very con- 
 [361] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 siderable cargo of goods with us, and therefore made 
 a great figure there, and were received with respect. 
 We had, in particular, two-and-forty bales of Indian 
 stuffs of sundry sorts, silks, muslins, and fine chintz ; 
 we had fifteen bales of very fine China silks, and 
 seventy packs or bales of spices, particularly cloves 
 and nutmegs, with other goods. We were bid money 
 here for our cloves, but the Dutchman advised us 
 not to part with them, and told us we should get a 
 better price at Aleppo, or in the Levant ; so we pre- 
 pared for the caravan. 
 
 We concealed our having any gold or pearls as 
 much as we could, and therefore sold three or four 
 bales of China silks and Indian calicoes, to raise money 
 to buy camels and to pay the customs which are 
 taken at several places, and for our provisions over 
 the deserts. 
 
 I travelled this journey, careless to the last degree 
 of my goods or wealth, believing that, as I came by 
 it all by rapine and violence, God would direct that 
 it should be taken from me again in the same man- 
 ner ; and, indeed, I think I might say I was very 
 willing it should be so. But, as I had a merciful 
 Protector above me, so I had a most faithful steward, 
 counsellor, partner, or whatever I might call him, 
 who was my guide, my pilot, my governor, my every- 
 thing, and took care both of me and of all we had ; 
 and though he had never been in any of these parts 
 of the world, yet he took the care of all upon him ; 
 and in about nine-and-fifty days we arrived from 
 Bassorah, at the mouth of the river Tigris or Eu- 
 phrates, through the desert, and through Aleppo 
 [362] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 to Alexandria, or, as we call it, Scanderoon, in the 
 Levant. 
 
 Here William and I, and the other two, our faith- 
 ful comrades, debated what we should do ; and here 
 William and I resolved to separate from the other 
 two, they resolving to go with the Dutchman into 
 Holland, by the means of some Dutch ship which lay 
 then in the road. William and I told them we 
 resolved to go and settle in the Morea, which then 
 belonged to the Venetians. 
 
 It is true we acted wisely in it not to let them 
 know whither we went, seeing we had resolved to 
 separate ; but we took our old doctor's directions 
 how to write to him in Holland, and in England, that 
 we might have intelligence from him on occasion, 
 and promised to give him an account how to write 
 to us, which we afterwards did, as may in time be 
 made out. 
 
 We stayed here some time after they were gone, 
 till at length, not being thoroughly resolved whither 
 to go till then, a Venetian ship touched at Cyprus, 
 and put in at Scanderoon to look for freight home. 
 We took the hint, and bargaining for our. passage, 
 and the freight of our goods, we embarked for Venice, 
 where, in two-and-twenty days, we arrived safe, with 
 all our treasure, and with such a cargo, take our 
 goods and our money and our jewels together, as, 
 I believed, was never brought into the city by two 
 single men, since the state of Venice had a being. 
 
 We kept ourselves here incognito for a great while, 
 passing for two Armenian merchants still, as we had 
 done before ; and by this time we had gotten so 
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CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 much of the Persian and Armenian jargon, which 
 they talked at Bassorah and Bagdad, and every- 
 where that we came in the country, as was sufficient 
 to make us able to talk to one another, so as not to 
 be undei'stood by anybody, though sometimes hardly 
 by ourselves. 
 
 Here we converted all our effects into money, 
 settled our abode as for a considerable time, and 
 William and I, maintaining an inviolable friendship 
 and fidelity to one another, lived like two brothers ; 
 we neither had or sought any separate interest ; 
 we conversed seriously and gravely, and upon the 
 subject of our repentance continually ; we never 
 changed, that is to say, so as to leave off our 
 Armenian garbs ; and we were called, at Venice, the 
 two Grecians. 
 
 I had been two or three times going to give a 
 detail of our wealth, but it will appear incredible, 
 and we had the greatest difficulty in the world how 
 to conceal it, being justly apprehensive lest we might 
 be assassinated in that country for our treasure. 
 At length William told me he began to think now 
 that he must never see England any more, and that 
 indeed he did not much concern himself about it ; 
 but seeing we had gained so great wealth, and he 
 had some poor relations in England, if I was willing, 
 he would write to know if they were living, and to 
 know what condition they were in, and if he found 
 such of them were alive as he had some thoughts 
 about, he would, with my consent, send them some- 
 thing to better their condition. 
 
 I consented most willingly ; and accordingly Wil- 
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CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 Ham wrote to a sister and an uncle, and in about five 
 weeks' time received an answer from them both, 
 directed to himself, under cover of a hard Armenian 
 name that he had given himself, viz., Signore Con- 
 stantine Alexion of Ispahan, at Venice. 
 
 It was a very moving letter he received from his 
 sister, who, after the most passionate expressions of 
 joy to hear he was alive, seeing she had long ago 
 had an account that he was murdered by the pirates 
 in the West Indies, entreats him to let her know 
 what circumstances he was in ; tells him she was 
 not in any capacity to do anything considerable for 
 him, but that he should be welcome to her with 
 all her heart ; that she was left a widow, with four 
 children, but kept a little shop in the Minories, 
 by which §he made shift to maintain her family ; 
 and that she had sent him five pounds, lest he 
 should want money, in a strange country, to bring 
 him home. 
 
 I could see the letter brought tears out of his eyes 
 as he read it ; and, indeed, when he showed it to 
 me, and the little bill for five pounds, upon an Eng- 
 lish merchant in Venice, it brought tears out of my 
 eyes too. 
 
 After we had been both affected sufficiently with 
 the tenderness and kindness of this letter, he turns 
 to me ; says he, " What shall I do for this poor 
 woman ? ■" I mused a while ; at last says I, " I will 
 tell you what you shall do for her. She has sent 
 you five pounds, and she has four children, and her- 
 self, that is five ; such a sum, from a poor woman in 
 her circumstances, is as much as five thousand pounds 
 [365] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETOiN 
 
 is to us ; you shall send her a bill of exchange for 
 five thousand pounds English money, and bid her 
 conceal her surprise at it till she hears from you 
 again ; but bid her leave off her shop, and go. and 
 take a house somewhere in the country, not far off 
 from London, and stay there, in a moderate figure, 
 till she hears from you again." 
 
 " Now," says William, " I perceive by it that you 
 have some thoughts of venturing into England." 
 
 " Indeed, William," said I, " you mistake me ; 
 but it presently occurred to me that you should 
 venture, for what have you done that you may not be 
 seen there ? Why should I desire to keep you from 
 your relations, purely to keep me company ? " 
 
 William looked very affectionately upon me. 
 " Nay," says he, " we have embarked together so 
 long, and come together so far, I am resolved I will 
 never part with thee as long as I live, go where thou 
 wilt, or stay where thou wilt ; and as for my sister," 
 said William, " I cannot send her such a sum of 
 money, for whose is all this money we have ? It is 
 most of it thine." 
 
 " No, William," said I, " there is not a penny of 
 it mine but what is yours too, and I won't have 
 anything but an equal share with you, and therefore 
 you shall send it to her ; if not, I will send it." 
 
 "Why," says William, "it will make the poor 
 woman distracted ; she will be so surprised she will 
 go out of her wits." 
 
 " Well," said I, " William, you may do it pru- 
 dently ; send her a bill backed of a hundred pounds, 
 and bid her expect more in a post or two, and that 
 [366] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 you will send her enough to live on without keeping 
 shop, and then send her more.'" 
 
 Accordingly William sent her a very kind letter, 
 with a bill upon a merchant in London for a hundred 
 and sixty pounds, and bid her comfort herself with 
 the hope that he should be able in a little time to 
 send her more. About ten days after, he sent her 
 another bill of five hundred and forty pounds ; and 
 a post or two after, another for three hundred 
 pounds, making in all a thousand pounds ; and told 
 her he would send her sufficient to leave oif her shop, 
 and directed her to take a house as above. 
 
 He waited then till he received an answer to all 
 the three letters, with an account that she had re- 
 ceived the money, and, which I did not expect, that 
 she had not let any other acquaintance know that 
 she had received a shilling from anybody, or so much 
 as that he was alive, and would not till she had 
 heard again. 
 
 When he showed me this letter, "Well, William," 
 said I, " this woman is fit to be trusted with life or 
 anything; send her the rest of the five thousand 
 pounds, and I '11 venture to England with you, to 
 this woman's house, whenever you will." 
 
 In a word, we sent her five thousand pounds in 
 good bills ; and she received them very punctually, 
 and in a little time sent her brother word that she 
 had pretended to her uncle that she was sickly and 
 could not carry on the trade any longer, and that she 
 had taken a large house about four miles from Lon- 
 don, under pretence of letting lodgings for her live- 
 lihood ; and, in short, intimated as if she understood 
 
 rs67 1 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 that he intended to come over to be incognito, assur- 
 ing him he should be as retired as he pleased. 
 
 This was opening the very door for us that we 
 thought had been effectually shut for this life ; and, 
 in a word, we resolved to venture, but to keep our- 
 selves entirely concealed, both as to name and every 
 other circumstance ; and accordingly William sent 
 his sister word how kindly he took her prudent steps, 
 and that she had guessed right that he desired to be 
 retired, and that he obliged her not to increase her 
 figure, but live private, till she might perhaps see 
 him. 
 
 He was going to send the letter away. " Come, 
 William," said I, " you shan't send her an empty 
 letter ; tell her you have a friend coming with you 
 that must be as retired as yourself, and I '11 send her 
 five thousand pounds more." 
 
 So, in short, we made this poor woman's family 
 rich ; and yet, when it came to the point, my heart 
 failed me, and I durst not venture ; and for William, 
 he would not stir without me ; and so we stayed about 
 two years after this, considering what we should do. 
 
 You raaly think, perhaps, that I was very prodigal of 
 my ill-gotten goods, thus to load a stranger with my 
 bounty, and give a gift like a prince to one that had 
 been able to merit nothing of me, or indeed know 
 me ; but my condition ought to be considered in thi^s 
 case ; though I had money to profusion, yet I was 
 perfectly destitute of a friend in the world, to have 
 the least obligation or assistance from, or knew not 
 either where to dispose or trust anything I had while 
 I lived, or whom to give it to if I died. 
 [868 J 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 When I had reflected upon the manner of my 
 getting of it, I was sometimes for giving it all to 
 charitable uses, as a debt due to mankind, though I 
 was no Roman Catholic, and not at all of the opinion 
 that it would purchase me any repose to my soul ; 
 but I thought, as it was got by a general plunder, 
 and which I could make no satisfaction for, it was 
 due to the community, and I ought to distribute it 
 for the general good. But still I was at a loss how, 
 and where, and by whom to settle this charity, not 
 daring to go home to my own country, lest some of 
 my comrades, strolled home, should see and detect 
 me, and for the very spoil of my money, or the pur- 
 chase of his own pardon, betray and expose me to an 
 untimely end. 
 
 Being thus destitute, I say, of a friend, I pitched 
 thus upon William's sister ; the kind step of hers 
 to her brother, whom she thought to be in distress, 
 signifying a generous mind and a charitable disposi- 
 tion ; and having resolved to make her the object of 
 my first bounty, I did not doubt but I should pur- 
 chase something of a refuge for myself, and a kind 
 of a centre, to which I should tend in my future 
 actions ; for really a man that has a subsistence, and 
 no residence, no place that has a magnetic influence 
 upon his affections, is in one of the most odd, uneasy 
 conditions in the world, nor is it in the power of all 
 his money to make it up to him. 
 
 It was, as I told you, two years and upwards that 
 
 we remained at Venice and thereabout, in the greatest 
 
 hesitation imaginable, iiTesolute and unfixed to the 
 
 last degree. William's sister importuned us daily to 
 
 24 [ 369 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 come to England, and wondered we should not dare 
 to trust her, whom we had to such a degree obliged 
 to be faithful ; and in a manner lamented her being 
 suspected by us. 
 
 At last I began to incline ; and I said to William, 
 " Come, brother William," said I (for ever since our 
 discourse at Bassorah I called him brother), " if you 
 will agree to two or three things with me, 1 11 go 
 home to England with all my heart." 
 
 Says William, " Let me know what they are." 
 
 " Why, first," says I, " you shall not disclose your- 
 self to any of your relations in England but your 
 sister — no, not one ; secondly, we will not shave off 
 our mustachios or beards" (for we had all along 
 worn our beards after the Grecian manner), " nor 
 leave off our long vests, that we may pass for Gre- 
 cians and foreigners ; thirdly, that we shall never 
 speak English in public before anybody, your sister 
 excepted ; fourthly, that we will always live together 
 and pass for brothers." 
 
 William said he would agree to them all with all 
 his heart, but that the not speaking English would 
 be the hardest, but he would do his best for that 
 too ; so, in a word, we agreed to go from Venice to 
 Naples, where we converted a large sum of money 
 into bales of silk, left a large sum in a merchant's 
 hands at Venice, and another considerable sum at 
 Naples, and took bills of exchange for a great 
 deal too ; and yet we came with such a cargo to 
 London as few American merchants had done for 
 some years, for we loaded in two ships seventy-three 
 bales of thrown silk, besides thirteen bales of wrought 
 [370 ] 
 
CAPTAIN SINGLETON 
 
 silks, from the duchy of Milan, shipped at Genoa, 
 with all which I arrived safely ; and some time after 
 I married my faithful protectress, William's sister, 
 with whom I am much more happy than I deserve. 
 
 And now, having so plainly told you that I am 
 come to England, after I have so boldly owned what 
 life I have led abroad, it is time to leave off, and 
 say no more for the present, lest some should be 
 willing to inquire too nicely after your old friend 
 Captain Bob. 
 
 THE END