fyxmll Hmtrmitg fatatg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF SHenrg W. Sage 1891 . v^sy^ \\3\06 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 088 001 320 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088001320 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE VOL. L LONDON : PRINTED I1Y SPOTTIKWOODB AND CO., NE1V -'STREET SQUARE AXD PARLIAMENT STREET JOHN l £T VISCOUNT SCUDAMORE. FROM A PORTRAIT IN THE POSSESSION OF SIR H. SCUDAMORE STAN H OPE, BABT. MEMOEIALS OF THE CIYIL WAR BETWEEN KING CHARLES I. AND THE PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND AS IT AFFECTED HEEEFOEDSHIRE and the ADJACENT COUNTIES BY THE LATE KEV. JOHN WEBB, M.A., F.S.A., F.E.S.L. RECTOR OF TRETIRE, HEREFORDSHIRE EDITED AND COMPLETED BY THE EEV. T. W. WEBB, M.A., F.K.A.S. VICAR OF HARDWICK, HEREFORDSHIRE Wkt\ mx glppntfrbe of gocnnrcnts IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1879 TO HER GRACE THE DUCHESS OF BEAUFOKT THIS WORK IS BY PERMISSION MOST RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY DEDICATED BY THE EDITOE EDITOR'S PREFACE. The earlier part of the following pages contains the result of the investigations of a mind of no common accuracy and candour, directed through a prolonged period to one of the most interesting as well as import- ant epochs of English history. It is not too much to say that in contemporary estimation the ability and learning of the writer would have abundantly guaranteed any production of his pen. The extension of life to nearly 93 years was necessarily attended in this respect with disadvantage ; but it will be only a partial and transient drawback. History is not the amusement of a passing hour ; nor even the possession of a single generation ; and the reputation of faithful research, once worthily attained, will neither be obliterated by the lapse of time, nor, it is hoped, materially impaired by the disadvan- tage of posthumous publication. Among intimate friends, the appearance of these memorials has been so long desired that an explanation must in fairness be given of such an extended and unusual delay. Long years of thoughtful study had preceded the reading of the opening pages at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in March, 1836 ; and it subsequently formed the cherished pursuit of a great part of middle and advancing life. But, not to mention the difficulty of collecting materials, there was such a dread of inadequacy or precipitation that few persons have reduced so completely to practice the precept of viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. * nonum preuiatur in annum,' or so carried it out in a more than literal fulfilment. And then failure of health supervened : and other labours of a kindred nature were undertaken, 1 chiefly at the importunity of friends : and thus the intention was deferred till its prosecution became impossible. But the idea never lost its hold upon the mind. His unvarying desire was not merely to add a contribution to the history of the county in which his days were passed, but to revive and impress the terrible lesson of that sanguinary period of civil hostility— a lesson too little inculcated, as it has been too readily forgotten. Miserable during its continuance to a degree now httle comprehended, its memory has been effaced not only by lapse of years, but by the intermediate convulsions of Europe, and the rapid changes in our social and intellectual condition. There can be no doubt that, through the mercy of Him who ruleth the madness of the people, the result of this terrible strife has been deeply beneficial to our land ; but the benefit will be diminished in proportion to the obliteration of the lesson : and if ever the day should come when that lesson is forgotten or misread, no surer indication can be expected of the decay of sound feeling and the perversion of upright principle in the national mind and heart. Whatever apology therefore may be needed for the defects inevitably associated with posthumous publication, for its motive none can be required, and httle it may be hoped for its execution, considering that it had not received the final revision of the author. The editor however is in a position to re- quest a much larger measure of indulgent consideration. In the verification of references, as to which anxiety 1 Household Expenses of Bishop Swinfield (Camden Society) ; Memoir of Mrs. Joyce Jefferies (Archjeologia) ; Military Memoir of Col. John Birch (Camden Society) ; besides an intended translation of the MS. autobiography of Dumont- Bostaquet, intercepted by a modern French edition. EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix • had been known to exist, he has had to deal with such a mass of unarranged extracts and memoranda that, notwithstanding much tedious labour, the desired con- firmation has not always been attainable. He has also had much misgiving as to the employment of a quantity of sketched-out material, the destination of which can never now be ascertained : but, as much of it seemed too valuable or interesting to be suppressed, he has ventured, even at the risk of occasional tautology, to append it in the form of foot-notes, the text being preserved as nearly unaltered as possible. To deal with the thoughts of the departed involves responsibility not to be fulfilled without many a chance of error : the editor can only say that he has attempted to do his best. For anything in this earlier part included in brackets, he is personally responsible. A further task however awaited him. According to the original idea, as much of the manuscript as was in any sense prepared would have been published as a fragment : but as several of the principal events of the war in Herefordshire would thus have been left untold, it was soon perceived that such a course would lead to inevitable dissatisfaction, and that such a continuation must be attempted as might serve, however inadequately, to complete the story. Of the comparative imperfection of this portion, except where it occasionally embodies the fresh thoughts and picturesque remarks of the previous writer, the reader will soon be sensible : all that the editor has to rest upon is the belief that he has endeavoured to make a reliable use of his materials : and where he has ventured to draw conclusions, not to transgress those limits of opinion which by common consent are permitted to all who treat of a long and gravely controverted question. Habdwick Vicarage, Hay : March, 1879. AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. The portion of our national history which it is the business of this attempt to illustrate will ever be inter- esting to Englishmen : it is a melancholy but improving subject ; and might be of essential service to them, if well understood and rightly employed. For if it be satisfactory to contemplate the state of a country at the periods of its prosperity, it is no less advantageous to view it in its seasons of suffering ; and a knowledge of the past on either hand may be turned to good account. In the course of a long life, during an eventful and stormy succession of political changes in many nations, the writer has had occasion to observe how eager the inhabitants of all countries are to rush into revolutions, and how comparatively trivial are sometimes the imme- diate and apparent causes which are sufficient to kindle the flame. Materials, indeed, can never be wanting, where such numbers are interested in the hope of gain, or attracted by the love of novelty. Even among those who should be better instructed, some temporary pressure, some imaginary good or anticipated evil is enough to lead too many to think and speak of that dire extremity, a civil war, as if it were rather to be desired than abhorred : they look upon it, not upon the whole unfavourably, merely as a last remedy, with- out considering that it may be in its progress and effects far more cruel and bitter than the disease, or xii AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. reflecting how frequently it has happened, that when men have smarted under such a scourge, they are ready to bow their necks to any yoke. A disposition of this rash disordered kind seems periodically to arise in states ; and among the reasons why it meets with encouragement, may be ignorance, or impressions destroyed. When they are departed who could have related the personal miseries that they endured, the feeling gradually dies away, and posterity are as liable to be led into error as their forefathers. Thus it has happened that on this point nations never grow wise by experience. In the multitude of coun- sellors there may be safety ; but the multitude itself is never wise. The effects of the war of ' the Eoses,' which devastated England for so long a time, and filled it with blood and fire, seem to have been utterly un- known or forgotten by the mass of the population, when Charles and the Parliament appealed to arms. It were therefore well to provide that, though the sense of such calamities be worn away, the memory of them should not be altogether lost. Separate Histories of the Counties of England agitated by the last Civil War might tend in some measure to revive this salu- tary lesson, by bringing it ' home to men's business and bosoms,' and showing them where the dwellings of their ancestors were rifled and ruined, and their fields stained by the sword, how they were doomed to captivity, or driven from their homes, without knowing where to hide their heads. The writer of this narrative may not presume to boast, with the able historian of the Civil Wars of France, that he has ' for many years been conversant in the Courts of Kings, and always active in the first files of armies,' and learned that which he has recorded ' by experience and action.' Yet, without presumptuous AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. xiii comparison with that acute eyewitness and eloquent relator of great and tragic actions, in a humble and very distant degree, more befitting him, and suitable to the confined nature of his undertaking, he may express a hope, on very different grounds from that of Davila, that he shall be able in some measure to reach the proper order and - natural unfolding ' of this fatal story. At a distance of two centuries from the events of which he treats, engaged in occupations of a peaceful kind, sur- rounded by pastoral scenes and agricultural labours, he has meditated in tranquil obscurity upon the distractions that once agitated this very county ; and has thrown into the following form the materials which public libraries and private resources have supplied. If for want of diligence or means of information, in an enquiry of several years, he has failed to attain so full a knowledge, or so entire an accuracy as could be desired, under many hindrances and difficulties he has done what he could. While some may think that too little and others that too much has been said upon so con- fined and local a subject, it shall be his consolation that there may still be those who will look with interest, if not indulgence, on the sincerity of his attempt to convey some useful information to an unconscious or forgetful age ; and who will at least believe that, whatever may be the view of his private judgment, he has aimed at modera- tion and sought for truth. Whoever had undertaken the task a century ago might have enjoyed greater advan- tages. By the decay and departure of ancient families, the destruction of papers, the death of aged persons, and the obliteration of traditions, much has irrecover- ably perished that might have amplified and cleared up defective parts of the story. But there still remains sufficient to afford general and connected outlines, as well as particular facts and local circumstances, which xiv AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION. may not be uninteresting to the reader. Many illustra tions will necessarily be drawn from my own neighbour- hood, which, it may be supposed, has been most open to my researches. The greater part of this work will be found to consist of original matter ; and other portions, such as pamphlets and public documents, are difficult of access, and have hitherto been little known. Public sources of information have been opened to me with the wonted liberality of those who preside over and conduct them, and my researches in the county itself have been liberally seconded by all who were acquainted with my object and had it in their power to give me any aid. [A full and special acknowledgment to numerous friends has been omitted here. Since it was penned so many, like the writer, have passed away from earth that it would only lead to mournful reflections. The editor however feels that he has on his own account to record a similar debt of gratitude for much kind assistance ; especially to Mrs. Stackhouse Acton, Acton Scott ; Sir Herbert D. Croft, Bart., Lugwardine Court ; C. Baker, Esq., 11, Sackville Street, London ; the Eev. Prebendary Davies, Moor Court ; Osmond A. Wyatt, Esq., Troy House ; as well as many other friends.] CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. Herefordshire : its state about" the early part of the seventeenth century — Its natural productions and trade — Inhabitants chiefly pastoral and agricultural, averse from innovations — Their sheep and cattle, corn and cider — Orchards improved by Lord Scudamore — Antiquity of many families — Mode of living among landlords and tenants — Universal cousinship among the gentry — Se- clusion and difficulty of travelling except on horseback, owing to the state of the roads, the river Wye, and tributary streams — Other causes of seclusion — Remoteness of geographical position — Adherence to ancient customs arising from want of intercourse — Character of the natives with respect to military usages — The Marches, and temper of the borderers there — Musters of Militia — Agriculturists better soldiers than artisans, but less excitable as to war — Condition of the lower orders — A large comparative proportion of poor — Testimony of Vaughan in particular as to the Golden Vale — Loyalty of all classes — Untainted by political agitation — The Clergy — Lecturers gradually introduced by Sir Robert Harley — Laxity of discipline in the Established Church — Archbishop Laud's visitation — Sunday sports reproved by the Puritan preachers — Symptoms and misgivings of a change in Church and State — Pestilence in 1637 — Omen at the Wirgens in 1641-2 — Persons of eminence and authority in the county — John, Viscount Scudamore, and Sir Robert Harley, leaders of the Royalists and Parliamentarians — Their characters — Lists of others on both sides — Causes of public anxiety and irritation — Loyalty of the Romanists — Names of some of the families of that Church in the county — In Monmouthshire, Henry, Marquess of Worcester, his son Lord Herbert, and others — Summary of the state of public feeling in politics in these and other adjoining parts of England and Wales .... Page 1 CHAPTER II. Brief review of the causes of mutual offence that led to the rupture between Charles I. and his Parliaments —Want of confidence towards the King and hatred of his advisers consequent upon abuses and grievances — Illegal and vol. i. a xvi CONTENTS OF THE arbitrary modes of raising supplies — Compulsory Knighthood — Loans of Privy Seal — Monopolies — Coat-and-Conduet-money — Ship-money — Early popularity of the King and prosperity of the kingdom — Disturbances in Scotland on account of the Liturgy and service of the Church of England, and their conse- quences — After a long interval a Parliament called — Representatives of the county and boroughs of Hereford — Speech of Sir Benjamin Rudyerd on the state of affairs — Character and conduct of the Parliament — Reforms effected — Eitzwilliam Coningsby, member for Herefordshire, expelled the House of Commons as a monopolist — Authority and Courts of the Lords Marchers abolished — General satisfaction on the correction of abuses — Opinion of the Royalists on this subject, and of Judge Jenkins in particular — Death of the Earl of Strafford — Impeachment and imprisonment of Archbishop Laud — The King perpetuates the Parliament — Clamour against the Bishops and Church government — Origin and growth of the Puritans from the Reformation through the reign of Elizabeth — Their aversion to the Episcopal office — Presbyte- rianism fostered by the press and the pulpit, cherished by the Parliament — ■ Popular outrages against the churches pass unpunished — Petition of Here- fordshire in favour of Episcopacy — Arts employed to obtain signatures to others against the question — Opinion of "Waller the poet in the House of Commons as to this mode of addressing Parliament — Deans and Chapters and other officers of Cathedrals abolished — Bishops impeached — Mobs, demanding their expulsion from the House of Lords, encouraged by the Commons — Twelve of them expelled and placed under confinement, but after a while dismissed to their dioceses — Treatment of Coke, Bishop of Hereford — Assembly of Divines at Westminster — Lecturers — Tombes of Leominster and the brothers Sedgwick — Extracts from a sermon of Obadiah Sedgwick — Interference of the jpreachers with politics — Their influence with the populace Page 34 OHAPTEE III. The King attempts but fails to arrest certain members of the Commons — Multi- tudes of horse and foot bring up petitions — Style and character of these addresses — Another petition from the county of Hereford — Charles leaves London and goes to York : the Queen to Holland — He disputes about the militia with the Parliament, who vote that the kingdom should be put in a posture of defence — Notions of the Royalists as to the state and merits of the controversy — Orders and Ordinances of the Houses substituted for Acts of Parliament — Officers selected by them for the Militia — Men levied for the King under the Commissions of Array — Magazines and beacons — Sir John Hotham refuses to admit the King into Hull, and is justified by the Parliament — House of Lords prohibit their members from attending upon the King Military preparations in London and at York — The King's guard — Resolutions of the two Houses, May 20, 1642— Terms Malignant and Cavalier, Puritan and Roundhead — Conduct of individual members of Parliament, including those of the county of Hereford and its borough towns — Behaviour of Sir Robert Harley — Lord Keeper Littleton goes to the King — Speech of the Earl of Bristol— Nearer approach of rupture between the parties— Legal settlements and transfers in anticipation of civil war — Case of Lord Scudamore Councils and bearing of the Royalists— Temper of the Houses— Declaration of the County of Hereford gives offence to the Commons— Picture of the distracted feelings of the moderate and impartial gj FIRST VOLUME. xvii -CHAPTER IV. Difficulties arising from the calling out of the Trained-bands and Militia to the L Judges, Sheriffs, and parochial Clergy — Volunteers— Muster of Parliamen- tarians at Dunmow in Essex, and inflammatory language of their 'Resolution ' — Contest about the levies in Leicestershire between the Sheriff Henry Hastings, and the Earl of Stamford— Struggles in other counties — Treatment of Lord Chandos by the populace at Cirencester in Gloucestershire Levies in Herefordshire — Contributions and loans for the King — Transactions in Mon- mouthshire — The Earl of "Worcester and his son, Lord Herbert, their zealous and liberal efforts in the King's behalf— Marquess of Hertford, his commis- sion as Lieutenant-General of many counties in the "West of England and in "Wales — Anecdotes of the Earl of Worcester— Dispute respecting the magazine at Monmouth — The Parliament endeavour to stop the execution of the Commission of Array in that county — Scarcity of arms among the King's adherents — Collections of ancient armour brought into use — That of Lord Scudamore at Horn Lacy and Ballingham furbished and repaired — Tilting and equestrian exercises at Horn Lacy in the reign of Elizabeth described by an eye-witness Page 91 CHAPTER V. Speeches of "Whitelocke and Rudyerd, members of the Commons, in favour of accommodation — The Earl of Essex appointed General-in-Chief of their army ; the Earl of Bedford General of their horse — The King leaves York, and at Leicester proclaims the Earl of Stamford traitor : appoints the Earl of Lindsey his Commander in Chief, and sends the Marquess of Hertford into the "West to execute his Commission of Array — 111 success of that nobleman — Last and fruitless attempts at reconciliation — The Earl of Essex, the Parliament and all their adherents proclaimed traitors — Indignation of the Houses of Lords and Commons — Their Declaration that the King had commenced hostilities, and that all who should assist him were guilty of treason — Royalist view of the question of disobedience: illustrations from Bacon's Life of Henri/ VII. and Latimer's Sermons — Richard Baxter's representation of the motives on either side — Royal standard set up at Nottingham — Supineness of many well- affected to the royal cause — Abusive language between Cavaliers and Round- heads in the streets — The clergy insulted : the gentry watched — Attack upon Sir Charles Lucas and others in Essex and Suffolk — Injurious effects upon trade — Messages between the King and Parliament — Earl of Essex holds his rendezvous at Northampton — Excesses of the soldiery — Mutual accusations of plundering — Princes Rupert and Maurice described — Early career of Rupert — ■ Letter of Sir Thomas Roe respecting him — Anecdote of his attack on Caldecot in Warwickshire — State of the King's army at York and Nottingham : thei» insecure condition at the latter place — He draws towards Coventry, summons the place, and is refused — Both armies approach each other — Skirmish near Southam — Essex leaves London in great state — His courtesy to a Cavalier nobleman — Joins his forces at Northampton, while the King marches to Shrewsbury . . . . • • . . . . . .110 a 2 CONTENTS OF THE CHAPTER VI. Shrewsbury described — The King arrives there — State of his feelings — His address to his army — Annoyance of the Houses — Essex marches towards Worcester — His speech to his forces — ' King and Parliament ' — Approach of hostilities — Goring deserts to the King — Byron arrives with a convoy at Worcester — State of that city — Nathaniel Fiennes, despatched to intercept Byron, is overthrown by Bupert in a skirmish at Powick — Col. Sandys wounded— Panic of Essex's Life-guard — Lord Falkland's pamphlet — Parliament offended by it — Rupert withdraws towards Ludlow — Essex enters Worcester — Puritan preaching — Outrages of soldiery and desecration of Cathedral — Controversy over Sandys : his death — Essex receives instructions — Neighbourhood spoiled — Parliamentary committee appointed — Royalist movements in South Wales — Essex resolves to occupy Hereford Page 136 CHAPTER VII. The Earl of Stamford sent by Essex to occupy Hereford — That city and its defences described— Stamford's officers — He enters unopposed — Dr. Rogers, a Royalist Divine — Misrepresentations of News-books and Pamphlets — Charles marches from Shrewsbury : Essex from Worcester — Battle of Edge Hill— Sir W. Croft appears for the King — Reconciliation on the field — Memoirs of a Cavalier quoted — Speech of Lord Wharton at Guildhall — Prince Rupert's reply .......... 157 CHAPTER VIII. The Earl of Stamford in Hereford — His despatches to the House of Lords — His proceedings against Papists and Royalists — Goodrich described — Merciless plundering of Swift, the Vicar — Revenues of Dean and Chapter seized — Cathedral Service : pulpit occupied by John Sedgwick, Stamford's chaplain — His sermons at Marlborough quoted at length — Preachers among the soldiery — State of Radnorshire : execution of Commission of Array — Royalist meeting at Presteign surprised by a party of Stamford's soldiers — Prisoners brought to Hereford, and forwarded to Gloucester and Coventry — Seizure and restoration of public documents . . . . . , ,173 CHAPTER IX. Marquess of Hertford's levies in South Wales— Opposition in Pembrokeshire — Parliamentarians apply in vain to Stamford — His position in Hereford becomes difficult — Country people oppressed — Gwithin carried prisoner to Raglan Castle — Romanists in both armies — Earl of Newcastle's declaration — Stam- ford writes to Lord Herbert : his reply — Parliament offended by it — Plunder- ing by parties from Raglan— Sufferers petition Stamford— Harold's Ewyas described — Surprise and dispersion of Royalists there by Kyrle — Failure of County Meeting and levy of dragoons— Battle of Brentford— Its unfortunate FIRST VOLUME. xix effect— The King addresses the Welsh there— Perjury of Roundhead prisoners — Royalists advance towards Hereford— Correspondence of Lawdey and Ferrar— Motives of the latter in refusing a bribe — Stamford's difficulties increase : his situation becomes critical — Garrison recalled from Goodrich Castle, after plundering the Vicar for the last time— Commission prepared for Stamford — He withdraws from Hereford to Gloucester, and proceeds to the West— Massey left in charge of Gloucester— His soldiers plunder the Bishop's country house — Lawdey occupies Hereford — Retaliation on Parliamentarians — Canon Frome plundered — Marquess of Hertford arrives in Hereford — His disagreement with Lord Herbert — The King retires to Oxford— He nominates High Sheriffs : Fitzwilliam Coningsby for Herefordshire — Account of his family, and the house at Hampton Court — Coningsby of South Mims imprisoned and fined — Fitzwilliam Coningsby made Governor of Hereford . . Page 190 CHAPTER X. Herefordshire tranquil — Activity of Commission of Array — Petition to Parliament from Grand Jury — Character of Stamford — Outrages of his troops at Taunton — Regimental chaplains retire : Baxter's reflections upon it — He and others take refuge in Coventry — Garrisons and Governors — Mode of raising supplies — Difficulties of Governors — Insubordination of soldiery — Remarkable case of David Hide at Worcester — Capture of Marlborough by Wilmot : of Winchester and Chichester by Waller : of Cirencester and Sudley Castle by Massey — Recovery of Cirencester by Rupert — Prisoners brought to Oxford — Tragical death of one of them — Sudley and Berkeley Castles, Tewkesbury, and other places abandoned by Parliamentarians — Rupert summons Gloucester in vain — Forces raised by Lord Herbert in S. Wales march upon Gloucester through Forest of Dean — Hall fortifies his country house at High Meadow — Character and customs of the Foresters — Welsh carry Coleford by assault, but with the loss of Lawdey — Funeral of Royalist officer — Welsh encamp at Highnam — Defection of Kyrle : his published vindication — Importance of Bristol — Its divided state — Suspicious conduct of Col. Essex the Governor — Superseded by Nathaniel Fiennes — Severities against Royalists and Clergy — Plot of Yeomans and Boucher — Approach of Rupert — Failure of the attempt, and imprisonment of its authors— Welsh at Highnam kept in check by Massey — Their igno- minious surrender on Waller's arrival from Malmesbury — Prisoners conducted to Gloucester — This army a great loss to the King : affair disguised in Oxford Mercury — Tewkesbury garrisoned by Roundheads — Close of first year of the war ............. 213 CHAPTER XI. Lords Herbert and Scudamore return to Herefordshire — Lord Capel's adminis- tration in Shropshire— Condition of Shrewsbury — Insecurity of communica- tions, instanced in the cases of Boys and Gittins — Passes requisite for safe travelling : sometimes courteously granted : but the suspicions of the Houses increase — Admirable speech of Rudyerd — Parliamentary associations of coun- ties : less successfully imitated on the royalist side— Houses discourage neu- trality, and prohibit the holding of Assizes— London fortified— Return of the Queen with reinforcements : she is fired upon by Batten— Sequestration of : CONTENTS OF THE delinquents commenced— Names of Herefordshire sequestrators— First estab- lishment of Excise— Failure of attempt at pacification— Cavalier satire against the war party— Character of Sir T. Roe— Waller and Hesilrige advance from Gloucester through Boss and Monmouth to Chepstow— They are followed by Prince Maurice, who occupies part of the Forest of Dean, and detaches Sir R. Cave, a veteran officer, into Monmouthshire— Waller's hasty retreat to Glou- cester—Amusing panic of Captain Wathen's men : such terrors not uncommon — Waller and Massey capture Tewkesbury, but retreat from Maurice to Glou- cester — Hesilrige's ' Lobsters ' — Lord Herbert and the Welsh withdraw from Hereford, where Cave is requested by Maurice to remain — Bad state of Essex's arm y — He lays siege to Eeading— Waller disobeys his orders, and with Massey makes a push at Hereford — Cave, deserted by his soldiers, negotiates a sur- render upon articles ; and Waller occupies the city — Character of Waller — His noble letter to Sir Ralph Hopton Page 240 CHAPTER XII. Prisoners of consequence taken by Waller in Hereford : especially Lord Scuda- more, who is sent to London— His letters to Sir Robert Pye respecting his capture and losses — He appeals to the Parliament in vain — Seizure and sale of his personal property — Fruitless attempts to regain his liberty — His long confinement and serious illness — Hard fate of captives on either side — Cheerful spirit of imprisoned Royalists, instanced in Lovelace and L'Estrange . 262 CHAPTER XIII. News of the surrender of Hereford brought to Oxford by Cave — Suspicions of his fidelity — He is arrested and tried by a court-martial — Col. Price's evidence — Cave defends himself at length, reciting the details of the transaction — His honourable acquittal — Col. Fielding sentenced to die, but pardoned — Rejoicings in London — Success ascribed to Divine interposition — Ridicule of the Welsh and Prince Maurice — Misplaced levity reproved, and forbearance in the com- manders censured — Waller enforces contributions — Price, the Mayor, assists him — He threatens Shropshire, but shortly withdraws to Gloucester — He summons Worcester; but his trumpeter is shot, and an assault repulsed, with the loss of Sir Robert Cooke — He marches through Gloucester westward, leaving his prisoners in Bristol 272 CHAPTER XIV. The tragedy at Bristol — Yeomans and Boucher condemned by a court-martial — Fruitless attempts of the King to save them — Their execution — Forbearance of Charles — Impeachment of the Queen— Destruction of stained windows and crosses, especially the Cross in Cheapside, by Sir R. Harley— Henry Lingen made High Sheriff of Herefordshire— His descent and character— Sir W. Vavasour sent to Hereford to keep Massey in eheck at Gloucester - Breach of parole by the former, censured by Parliament— Activity of both parties- Severe action between Hertford and Waller at Lansdown— Sir B. Grenville slain, and Sir R. Hopton dangerously hurt— Waller and Hesilrige routed by FIRST VOLUME. xxi Wilmot at Rcmndway Down : they escape to London— Birmingham burnt by Rupert: Lord Denbigh slain— Lichfield captured by the Prince, after a gallant resistance— Skirmish at Chalgrove— Hampden mortally wounded— Goodwin's character of him — Preparations at Oxford— Difficulties and abuses in supplying the royal forces : contributions— Inefficiency and disagreement of Essex and Waller — The former, suspected, vindicates himself— Apprehensions and placards in London— Storming of Bristol by Royalists : Slanning and Trevanion slain — Cowardice of Fiennes : his subsequent trial and banishment — Escape of Tombes, afterwards Master of the Temple— Herefordshire prisoners, released —Desolate situation of Brampton Bryan Castle, threatened by Royalists, defended by Lady Brilliana Harley — Her character and corre- spondence — Distress of her position — First investment by Vavasour, raised after great damage — Death of Lady Harley : comments upon it at Oxford — Destruc- tion of Wigmore Castle Page 295 CHAPTER XV. Ill effects of the commission granted to Prince Rupert — Disputes respecting the appointment of Governor of Bristol — Clamours for peace in London — Gloucester besieged by the King : gallantly defended by Massey : relieved by Essex with forces from London, who is pursued on his return by the royal army — First battle of Newbury — Duelling among the Royalists — Scots invited into England by the Parliament — Solemn League and Covenant taken — The King brings over troops from Ireland — Lord Stamford besieged in Exeter surrenders to Prince Maurice 322 CHAPTER XVI. Parliament vote supplies of men and money for Gloucester — Sir William Vavasour appointed Commander-in-chief of the counties of Gloucester and Hereford — Difficulty of levying contributions — Case of Abrahall of Mountbury Court, parish of Yarkhill — Seizure of cattle and horses — Gloucester blockaded: activity of the Governor — Vavasour occupies Tewkesbury : his men desert him — Lord Molyneux beaten up in his quarters at Campden by forces from Warwick — Successful operations of the Parliamentarians in Shropshire — Sequestration of the royal revenues — The King retaliates on the rents of the Earl of Essex in Herefordshire — Warrant for the arrest of Sir Richard Hopton, recalled by his Majesty — Sir Edward Powell's rents sequestered — Establishment of gar- risons in Gloucestershire by Lord Herbert and Vavasour — Regiments brought over for the King from Ireland, commanded by Colonels St. Leger and Mynne • — Character of the latter —State of the army at Oxford and parties there — ■ Failure of a plot for the recovery of Gloucester — Civilities between Vava- sour and Massey — Operations of the latter in Monmouthshire : his narrow escape ......■■••••• 346 CHAPTER XVH. A new Great Seal adopted by the Parliament— Account of the Scottish army — Rupert's warrants and quarterings — Waller's warrants— A pause in hostilities Lord Mayor of London feasts the two Houses of Parliament— Scots cross the xxil CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. border — Landing of other regiments from Ireland, and their defeat at Nant- wich — King's speech on the assembling of Parliament at Oxford — Proceedings of the Houses — Affairs in Wales : barbarity of Captain Swanley there — Colonel Mynne at Oxford — King's troops in the counties of Worcester and Gloucester — Vavasour retires from his command — Rupert declared General of the royal forces in Salop and the neighbouring counties, and President of North Wales : his letter to Colonel Ottley, Governor of Shrewsbury : takes up his head-quar- ters there : relieves Newark — State of Ludlow and the Court of the Marches — Colonel Woodhouse Governor of Ludlow : his capture of Hopton Castle and massacre of the garrison Page 364 LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS. John Piest Viscount Scodamore ..... Frontispiece. Welsh Bills ...... » 11 The Wirqens . . ,» Sib Robert Harley . . . to f ace 20 Hampden's Ornament .... 1.0 Plan of the City of Hereford .... 153 Monnow Bridge Gate, Monmodth (prom a sketch in 1823) . 159 Lady Brilliana Harley (ofaoe 3U Bums of Hopton Castle . . „ n . THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. CHAPTER I. Herefordshire : its state about the early part of the seventeenth century — Its natural productions and trade — Inhabitants chiefly pastoral and agricultural, averse from innovations — Their sheep and cattle, com and cider — Orchards improved by Lord Scudamore — Antiquity of many families — Mode of living among landlords and tenants — Universal cousinship among the gentry — Se- clusion and difficulty of travelling except on horseback owing to the state of the roads, the river "Wye, and tributary streams — Other causes of seclusion — ■ Remoteness of geographical* position — Adherence to ancient customs arising from want of intercourse — Character of the natives with respect to military usages — The Marches, and temper of the borderers there — Musters of Militia — Agriculturists better soldiers than artisans but less excitable as to war — Condition of the lower orders — A large comparative proportion of poor — • Testimony of Vaughan in particular as to the Golden Vale — Loyalty of all classes — Untainted by political agitation — The Clergy — Lecturers gradually introduced by Sir Robert Harley — Laxity of discipline in the Established Church — Archbishop Laud's visitation— Sunday sports reproved by the Puritan preachers — Symptoms and misgivings of a. change in Church and State — Pestilence in 1637— Omen at the Wirgens in 1641-2 — Persons of eminence and authority in the county — John, Viscount Scudamore, and Sir Robert Harley, leaders of the Royalists and Parliamentarians — Their characters — Lists of others on both sides — Causes of public anxiety and irritation — Loyalty of the Romanists — Names of some of the families of that Church in the county — In Monmouthshire, Henry, Marquess of Worcester, his son Lord Herbert, and others — Summary of the state ot public feeling in politics in these and other adjoining parts of England and "Wales. Herefordshire is singularly blessed in situation and the gifts of Providence. The peculiarities of this county have often been described ; and all travellers and writers agree as to its natural fertility and beauty. Its rising and falling surface, winding river and tributary streams, its productive soil, swel- ling knolls crowned with groves of oak and luxuriant orchards, its rich valleys and distant mountains, form a happy union of vol. I. B 2 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- the fruitful and the romantic, and present an endless- succession of pleasing prospects to the eye. The popular and proverbial boast of its inhabitants was that they had in eminent perfection and abundance, — water, wood, women, wool and wheat, according to the order in which they are enumerated by a native poet, Unda, et silva frequens, fcemina, lana, seges. This part of England, at the time about to be described, was, as it has chiefly since continued, altogether pastoral or agricultural. Hardly had a manufacturer obtained a footing there. They had neither mine of iron nor of coal as in some adjoining counties, but ample amends had been made for the absence of these ; and for domestic purposes abundance of fuel was supplied from 3,600 acres of coppice alone. In very early days there had been furnaces on the southern side in the neigh- bourhood of the Forest of Dean, and the cinders that lie scattered through the fields attest the existence of those blo- maries by which the oaks were destroyed ; but the making of iron, though upon a contracted scale, in the reign of Charles I. was looked upon with jealousy, and reprobated as injurious to the public from the consumption of timber and smaller wood. For the most part they had, however, little coal but what they procured from the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, in wains, or by sumpter horses and mules through rugged and almost impracticable roads ; and the consumption of this article could not be extensive, owing to the difficulties of land and water carriage, the Wye being obstructed by wears, and only navi- gable for boats of ten tons' burden four months in the year ; and this impediment has been referred to as the sole cause why Hereford was then inferior to Gloucester and Worcester. Their trade with neighbouring counties was limited and simple, and is thus described in a contemporary memorial : ' Our commo- dities consist of corn, of butter and cheese ; we sell our rye into Shropshire and the parts of Wales next adjoining ; our wheat is carried into Gloucestershire, and the return for it is malt, of which our country is not sufficiently provided. Cider, though useful in long sea voyages, is not a vendible commodity in the country adjoining to Severn.' 1 In general they consumed their own produce, depended much upon themselves, and 1 Papers on the Navigation of the Yfye.—Scvdmnore MSS. 1640] SHEEP AND CATTLE. 3 disliked a change. For when the city of Hereford attempted to obtain an act for opening the navigation of the Wye, the in- habitants and landholders adjoining the river objected to the in- troduction of luxuries as useless and injurious. They asserted that they should derive ' no good at all, but rather hurt by the importation of wines, fruits, sugar, spices, and such unnecessary commodities, which are better spared, than had.' Excepting in the city and smaller towns, and among those who, scattered throughout the parishes and villages, exercise the arts and trades that minister to the lowest necessities of life, it was a land of owners and cultivators, a mixed population of farmers and husbandmen, woodmen and shepherds, and a few who earned a hard subsistence at a furnace or a forge, or in barks and salmon fisheries upon the Wye. If the farmers were slovenly culti- vators, and unacquainted with that variety of produce which later improvements have introduced, yet that which they com- mitted to the soil it was upon the whole generous to return. The flocks of Archenfield ' and the district around Leominster 2 were in high repute. Men of rank attended to the rearing, if not to the improvement of sheep and horses. Lord Scudamore's flock is enumerated upon one occasion at 600 ; 3 and Sir Eobert Harley was spoiled in war of 800, besides a stud of 30 brood mares : Gatley park, belonging to Sir Sampson Eure, was also famous for the range and pasturage of colts. There is a passage in a letter from John Elyott to John Scudamore, Esq : dated November 11, 1564, which shows that in the reign of Elizabeth they had paid no particular attention to their herds : — ' al- thoughe we be no breders in Herefordshere, yet we be accomp- ted to be ffeders of oxen.' 4 But if we may believe that the present breed of what may seem indigenous oxen was derived from them, it is evident that they must have been of noble proportions and strong to labour ; the cows, however, were too few in number, or not abundant in milk, for it was complained that their dairies hardly supplied their wants. They had re- cently been instructed in the method of floating their meadows by Vaughan, a gentleman who resided upon and managed his 1 [This name is spelt in various ways, all derived from the ancient British Ergyvg. It appears as Arcenfelde in Domesday Book.] 2 The Leominster sheep are the breed from the Radnorshire hills, improved by being fed on the rich pastures near Leominster.— Dunster on Phillips's Cider. s There was a vrool-chamber in Horn Lacy House. * Scudamore MSS. B 2 4 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- own estate in the Golden Valley ; but as any invention gained credit with them slowly, the practice was, perhaps, not very general. They had learned the use of lime as manure, from which the hundred of Wormelow and part of Greytree- derived great advantage ; and the culture of hops was understood. The quantity of barley that they raised might not be sufficient for their consumption, but they were well supplied with rye. The inmates of monasteries had long ago discovered the excel- lence of a bread prepared by the mixture of this grain with wheat, called thence 'monk-corn;' most of the bread of the common people, however, was made only of rye ; for according to a writer of that time, it was ' one of the best grains that the land produced, and equal to the monkcorn of other parts.' ' When Christmas was kept in a noble mansion, with open house, as it was by Lord Scudamore in the year 1639, after his return from his embassy in France, while the higher class of guests were regaled with wheaten manchets in the parlour, rye-bread was served out to the tenantry or commonalty in the hall. It also formed a part of the provision for the soldiery in the gar- rison of Hereford. The method of managing the apple had probably been long their care. It does not seem to be well ascertained at what time this fruit, the glory, and often in its consequences the disgrace, of the country, was introduced here ; but their skill in cultivating it about this period had considerably increased. 2 1 Dr. Beale. 2 Though there are accounts of apples and cider at Horn Lacy and at Cradock, another estate belonging to Lord Scudamore, near Ross, and lie sometimes sent cider up to London, only six hogsheads of it were consumed at his great enter- tainment above alluded to, agninst fifty-four of beer and one, of ale. Its value, however, per hogshead was 17*., while beer was only set at 10s. and ale at 15s. Somewhat earlier, in the MSS. Letters of a Thomas Coningsby, steward to Fitz- williani Coningsby, who resided some time at Hampton- Wafer, repeated, urgent requests are made that he would give orders for brewing as serious matter of necessity; but no allusion to cider as a substitute. Dr. Beale, who wrote in the time of Charles II., in his letter to Hartlib, the friend of Milton, says much of cider as an universal beverage, and names many sorts of apples. This was, how- ever, subsequent to the improvement of the orchards. See also Vaughan's ' Pro- tectorate of 0. Cromwell.' [Beale says that ' when the late King (of blessed memory) came to Hereford in his distress, and such of the gentry of Worcester- shire as were brought thither as prisoners ; both King, nobility, and gentry did prefer it before the best wines those parts afforded.' He asserts also that old bottled cider will burn like spirit of wino; and that from four quarts a full pint of excellent spirit has been extracted : so that the art of making it must then have been well understood. The Redstreak in his estimation was the best apple. 1640] ORCHARDS— STATE OF SOCIETY. 5 The distinguished nobleman above-mentioned, whose attach- ment to his native land was only equalled by his virtues and talents and sufferings in the royal cause, when, more than once, he withdrew in grief and resignation from the public scene, is said to have found a solace in the improvement of his orchards ; and the benefits derived from his experiments in planting and grafting were long acknowledged by posterity. There is reason to believe that his- exertions tended not only to decorate the neighbourhood of his residence at Horn Lacy, but eventually to render the whole district beautiful as we behold it, in the glowing days of autumn and the bloom of spring. Many of the lords of the soil had large possessions, and there were families who had successively enjoyed the estates of their ancestors from the era of the Conquest. 1 Much inter- course existed between them and their tenants ; and again between the latter and their labourers was a still closer habit of union, since a great part of those employed on a farm were servants of the household, dwelt beneath the same roof, and ate at the same board with their masters. And in this system of dependence, where opportunities were used aright, authority and influence might be powerfully and wholesomely established. As to the gentry, unless they were youths in minority, sent for education abroad, or to the universities at home, incidentally attached to the Court, or on foreign travel or service, they lived and died chiefly among their own people. Their lofty halls, many of them till lately existing, which occupied the centre and rose to the full height of the dwellings were enlivened by much liberal hospitality. Frome the Teme to the Monnow, and from the Hatrel to. the Malvern Hills, by courtesy, or rather in reality, they were all cousins ^ which, however ridicu- lous it may appear, must necessarily be the case where a people, as here and in Wales, had rested for centuries within certain bounds, and rarely looked for alliance beyond them. Their During the siege of Hereford in 1645 the Scottish soldiery made themselves ill with eating apples— to them an unwonted luxury.] 1 Scudamore of Kentchurch may be instanced, Mynors of Treago, and till lately Westfaling of Rudhall. [A small estate called Lower Hendre, in the parish of Peterstow, three miles from Ross, was traditionally said to have passed from father to son from the. reign of King John for 700 years ; the family name was Davies. In modern times they were connected by marriage with the family of Arnaud. akin to that of the celebrated Vaudois pastor and captain, a, branch of whom had become refugees in England.] 6 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- pedigrees prove that they were actually so through successive generations. And this state of things, the war, that was about to arise, and set domestic connexions and members of families at variance, does not appear to have interrupted so widely as might have been expected. Thus they remained much within their own circle, attended to their stock and grain, hawked and hunted, litigated and formed friendships and marriage unions among themselves ; and once at least, annually visited and took up their abode for some days with each other. In the gloomy months, "when nights are dark and ways are foul,' persons ' of quality,' as they were called, were wont chiefly to assemble. Few public inducements were held out to draw people far from their kindred and estates. Hardly any watering place on this side of England was resorted to by invalids, except ' the Bath ; ' and that advantage fell not to the lot of many. Sick or well, idle or occupied, they found their recreations or their employments at home. The occupations of the inmates of farm-houses were nume- rous, and such as are now in a great measure laid aside. In those of any size they manufactured their own malt and their candles, and spun their own flax ' and excellent wool, 2 which they knew how to convert to such purposes as substantially befitted their state of life. ' The wheel at night,' as the Welsh proverb graphically expresses an industrious life, cheered the kitchen with its whirring sound, while the family were assem- bled round the wood-fire hearth. Such of these homesteads as were seated in the deeper clay had few guests or intruders during the long evenings of winter. ' How do your friends get to you in winter ? ' was the question put by a stranger, who had nearly been swallowed up in a deep lane leading to a house 1 Thomas Coningsby, steward to Fitzwilliam Coningsby, writing an account of domestic affairs to his relation and employer in London, mentions, as matter of exultation worthy of a postscript, that his wife has the best flax of all the country. This Mrs. Coningsby, though a poor kinswoman by marriage, was invited to Hampton Court, by old Sir Thomas, the father of Fitzwilliam, that she might lie-in in the very room in which his son had been born. — Coningsby MSS. 2 Wool was looked upon as their staple article. They flattered themselves that the Herefordshire fleeces were far preferable to the Spanish, though it was thought that the importation of Segovia wool had injured this branch of trade.— Coningsby and Scud. HISS.— Beale. The latter says, 'For sheep we are skilled— our wool being the finest of England, and our Sheep small, not bearing above 16 ounces ordinarily.' — He mentions some of the fairest wethers as bearing about thirty ounces.— Herefordshire Orchards a Pattern, §c, 32. 1640] STATE OF ROADS. 7 of this kind. ' We never expect them at that season,' was the reply. Much of this seclusion was no doubt attributable to the wretched state of their roads, which were long proverbial throughout England. They journeyed literally in ditches, in narrow forest lanes, or antiquated hollow ways, deeper than the head of horse and rider ; a troop of horse might pass between the steep banks of the trackways almost from one side of the county to the other — so little were the roads above ground : and these were the remains of original British ways, the wear of centuries, in which an opening rarely occurred where two carriages could pass. Overhung by trees, the mire of January was hardly dry at Midsummer ; in other places the bare rock, worn into inequalities by heavy rains, rose at ascents in ledges like stairs. A horse unaccustomed to the work was soon dis- tressed. Hence produce was with great difficulty conveyed to markets and fairs ; nor could travelling be carried on with that modern rapidity which leaves time and distance so mar- vellously behind, and — as no good can be had without its ac- companying drawback — while it multiplies the conveniences, excites the restlessness of the community. In those days it was what the original term describes it, truly a travail and a toil,— the same throughout all the kingdom, but doubly so in the county of Hereford. The use of coaches, principally for the accommodation of females, was increasing during the reign of Charles I., but if there were any part of the kingdom in which they could be employed to least advantage, surely it was in impenetrable, impassable Herefordshire. An overturn or two in the space of a few miles was a matter of no very un- common occurrence ; and where the inequalities or quicksands of the rude trough,- called a road, would admit of no farther passage, a gap was made, and the cumbrous vehicle was dragged over levelled hedge and ditch to continue its awkward, uneasy course through the adjacent fields. Serjeant Hoskyns l of Morehampton, purposing to bring his coach into the country, gives these instructions from London to his correspondent, 1 [The spelling of proper names at this period was so unsettled that no certain, standard can be adopted, though, where ascertainable, the owner's practice would naturally be preferred. In names such as Hoskyns, Kyrle, and Byron, the i and y were interchangeable : the latter name is spelt both ways m an order of the House of Lords. The same may be said of Rudyerd or Rudyurd, Ormond or Ormonde, and many others.] 8 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- Miss Bourne, to prepare for his coming : ' take care for the Coach horses to be had at this time, and go presently about it day and night . . . study the coach way, where to break hedges, and how to avoid deep and dangerous ways.' ] To reach the metropolis was in any case no trifling undertaking. By memoranda of Lord Scudamore it appears that he was be- tween three and four days accomplishing it from Horn Lacy. On the first he arrived at Gloucester, his next stage was to Cirencester, and the ensuing night he passed at Kingston-upon- Thames. 2 A part of these difficulties was experienced with little alteration by the generation immediately preceding our own. The writer, with many others now living may well re- member the gradual removal of them ; and an aged man of this country was wont, when speaking of his friend, to instance the following effort as a striking and extraordinary proof of their mutual attachment : ' He would have gone, I know, even to London to serve me, and I would have done as much for him.' Journeys of any length, or such as required speed, were usually performed on horseback, and the night was sometimes preferred during the heat and light of summer. For the com- mon transport of heavy articles and for rural purposes their wains were drawn by six oxen ; and the tinkling of bells or the occasional blowing of the driver's horn was necessary to notify their approach, that any carriage advancing in an opposite direction might take timely heed, and turn aside, if possible, in openings or recesses provided for that purpose at intervals, and wait to pass. Such circumstances would be utterly con- founding to the rapidity of military movements, the conveyance of stores and ammunition, and the passage of artillery. Thus it came to pass that the active Waller was embarrassed in his progress through the southern borders in 1643; 3 and the Scots, in 1645, on their march to the siege of Hereford, com- plained that they ' found the waies on this side Severn ex- ceedingly strait and hard to passe.' 4 Wye is a rapid river, whose spring-head is in one of the 1 December, 1627.— Morehampton MSS. Rebecca, Marchioness of Worcester, returning from a visit to Lady Hoskyns atHarewood, March 9, 1684, writes to hor that she came back to Troy, ' safe and very well on friday night after hauing had a happy deliuerance from two ouerturns of the coach.*— Harewood MSS. 2 Private Accounts. — Scud. MSS. 3 Waller's Despatch. 4 Despatch of the Earl of Leven. 1610] RIVER WYE— SECLUSION. 9 loftiest mountains of Wales. In its whole course, throughout the county, were but two bridges, those at Hereford and Wilton; and the latter had only been built about the year 1600 ; ' so that communication between the opposite sides was kept up by ferries and numerous fords. Of these, to speak within compass, there were at least 20 between Monmouth and Hereford ; and especially useful and necessary they were, if the lands of an occupier, as sometimes happened, lay on either side of the water. The fords were ways of husbandry as well as highways. Where the floor of the ford was too uneven for a wain, the produce of hay or corn harvest was carried over upon the backs of horses. But these facilities, if such they may be termed, would be obviously interrupted in certain seasons by floods from the outpouring of tributary streams, or melted snows upon the mountains. The rapidity with which smaller currents rise occasions many temporary difficulties in roads where bridges are rare. For, the valleys abounding with brooks that in storms receive an unusual gush of water from innumerable slopes, their little winding channels are soon filled to overflowing. Occasionally it has happened that the traveller has passed through a shallow stream, that has scarcely reached above the fetlock of his horse in the morning ; but on his return to the same spot in darkness, the gentle ripple has been changed into a torrent that has swept them both away. Happily these swellings subside as rapidly as they rise. Such were some of the circumstances attendant upon this county and its inhabitants about the period under consideration. That a people so situated should be adverse, as they certainly were, to any disturbance of their fixed habits or their tran- quillity, may easily be imagined : but it may be better under- stood from other peculiarities and causes to be assigned. They were out of the direct line of communication with any part of the kingdom important from resort or traffic. Shrews- bury was the inlet and commercial store-house of the lower part of North Wales. The towns of Monmouth and Chepstow were the openings into the southern half of the principality, of which Gloucester and Bristol were the chief marts. Behind the Herefordshire district lay the remoter and thinly populated 1 The act for building Wiltou bridge bears date 39 Eliz. c. 24. 10 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- counties of Brecon and Radnor. The customary passages to Ireland were above or below them. Their seclusion had ever fostered prejudices, and resisted the progress even of rational, unquestionable improvement : they were habitually reluctant in giving way whether to advantage or disadvantage. The feeling of tenacity was long impressed upon the very face and features of the country itself: the style of agriculture and buildings, as well as habits and manners, would have induced a reflecting visitor to conclude that, while other parts of the kingdom were undergoing or had experienced a change, this tract continued to represent what England had been at an earlier date. Castles and antique houses, if dilapidated, were not removed. Perhaps fewer crosses had been demolished at the Eeformation than in most counties. The remains of their wakes and Sunday sports have not been entirely abandoned in our own times ; and almost every old church tower till of late bore the red line of the fives' court where the youths were accustomed to play. 1 The labourers in many places observe certain ceremonies at Christmas and New Year's tides, which have been traced, it is thought, as successfully as the undoubted vestiges of their arts and buildings, to the rule and influence of the heathen Romans. 2 But the minds of all classes thus more or less attached to the soil, and devoted to the uninter- rupted habits of those who went before them, would naturally correspond with their outward circumstances. They saw and did little to remind them of novelties : they looked with sus- picion or distaste upon the new, for they had been inured to the old. Even in the common intercourse of life they were 1 The youths of Ross, who prided themselves upon their superior skill in this game, abandoned it with great reluctance, and it was not till after a severe struggle with the authorities and some outrage that thoy gave up the tower. Servants were allowed their sports on holidays. Michael Coningsby writes thus from Hampton Wafer to Pitzwilliam Coningsby in London, May 16, 1618 : ' I could intreate you that you would be pleased to send downe some boules that your servantes might be kept from worser exercises upon the holly dayes.' — Coningsby MSS. 2 The twelve fires kindled in a row before a wisp of straw, elevated upon a pole at the end of the line, and called ' the old woman,' are conjectured to be representative of the twelve months, and allusive to the worship of Ceres. This ceremony, accompanied with libations of cider and uproarious shoutings to the health and prosperity of the master, took place universally in a certain field sown with grain on the eve of Twelfth night, in every farm of any considerable size in Archenfield ; and is not as yet altogether abandoned. 1640] MILITARY USAGES. 11 slow and peculiar of speech ; their phrases were delivered with a drawling intonation ; and they were reserved or dull of appre- hension, especially in the presence of strangers. In the days of my youth it was a common saying, 'If you ask a question of a peasant on the "Worcestershire side of Malvern hill you may get a direct answer : on the Herefordshire side you must repeat that question before you will obtain a reply.' Formerly they had been attached and inured to arms. It is no idle vaunt to assert that a large proportion of the earlier inhabitants were of the blood of those Silures who so vigorously opposed the legions of Italy ; and that under the Saxons and Normans, as appears from the Book of Domesday, it was the privilege of the men of Archenfield to form the van in ad- vance, and the rear in retreat. Under a series of intrusions they had retained much of the manners and character of a border country. The Welsh language was still in use within the line of separation ; l nor had their intermixtures with invaders ob- literated the British names of families and fields. The nume- rous decayed fortresses and moated mansions, the ancient bills hanging up in the houses of the land of Ewyas, 2 — a favourite weapon with which every constable went customarily armed to the execution of his duty, — served to call to mind that attack and defence had been habitual there. Indeed the whole of that part which touches upon the counties of Monmouth and ' Welsh was spoken in Hereford by many in 1 642.— Letters from a Subaltern : Arckmol. sxxv. 332. 2 [In 1608, eight of the clergy of the county were assessed at one bill each, according to the ' Muster Booke.' — The magazine in St. Owen's Gate at Hereford contained, in 1619, ' Old Black Bills 110,' as well as 13 long-bows and 5 bundles of old arrows. — Every inhabitant of the parish of Cwmyoy, in the Black Mountains, on the confines of the counties of Hereford, Brecon, and Monmouth, if worth more than lOl.per annum, was compelled to keep a bill in his house (Information of John Hughes of St. Weonard's, at. 85 : Oct. 1835).— The woodcut is from DuncumbJ 12 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- Brecon, Radnor and Salop bad been within tbe Marcbes under the authority of the Lords thereof, and was long liable to in- roads from hostile neighbours; and when these had ceased, there still existed in the temper of the natives that spirit of jealousy and sneering that delights in scoff and nickname, that fiery irritability and resentment of injury attached to borderers, which it is the province of religion and civilisation to soften and subdue. To be ' sudden and quick in quarrel,' and to quarrel about trifles, was their inherent infirmity, and to be laughed at was one of the intolerables of life. Never was proof of this wanted in the lower orders in Ewyas. A stranger would have found it best to be upon his guard among them. On slightest provocation a man who had been sometime offended would run to a distance that he might overtake and strike his fellow as he passed, rather than lose the chance of a battle with him. A merry-making was ever a favourite opportunity for settling old grudges, and usually ended in a broil. So among the boors of Wormelow, Huntington, and other hundreds, wounds and death have been till of late years too frequently the accompaniments of those annual feasts, that were originally instituted for the cultivation of religious and moral feelings, the promotion of charity and peace. The warlike spirit of the inhabitants had, however, not a little subsided. From tbe days of the contest between the houses of York and Lancaster ; or from the time when Buck- ingham, and afterwards Richmond marched to the Severn to oppose Richard the Third ; or later still, in the beginning of Queen Mary's reign, when the forces under the Earl of North- ampton defeated the partizans of Lady Jane Grey near Leo- minster, this portion of the island had probably never witnessed large bodies of men drawn into the field for actual and imme- diate fight. Like all other counties they bad their occasional musters of militia and county horse under the Lords Lieutenants and their deputies, and at the beginning of this unhappy reign they were trained by Low Country soldiers expert in war. Once called into action, and familiarised to sights and sounds of hostility, they were likely to have been found efficient, if, according to the Spanish saying, £ he is the best soldier that comes from the plough.' But they do not now seem to have been distinguished by any desire or aptitude for bearing arms ; and, like the Welsh, would gladly have declined the contest, if 1640] POVERTY OF LOWER ORDERS. 13 it had been in their power. It has been frequently observed that artisans are more prone to take up arms than peasants ; less brave, it may be, in danger, but more easily excited. The weavers of Gloucestershire, and smiths of Stafford and Warwick- shire were eager to enrol themselves ; the brasier of Bewdley ' forsook the din of his employment for that of battle, and rose to the rank of colonel ; and even the shepherd of Hampden, who attained the same rank, 2 was exchanging his crook for a sword ; but we find no early mention of such martial spirits here. This, which has been ascertained by Parliamentary enquiry to be the healthiest county in England, contained a large population and many poor. When assessed to the impost of ship-money, against which Sir John Kyrle of Marcle and others sent up a remonstrance, 3 the sheriff pleaded, that ' for so small a circuit of ground as this shire contains, there are not in this kingdom a greater number of poor people.' 4 Settlers of this class had multiplied in the Golden Valley, tempted, perhaps, in the first instance either by the fertility of the soil or by the retiredness of the situation, where they could erect cabins and enclose small pieces of ground unmolested in the wastes on the south or western sides. Vaughan thus quaintly describes the place and its colonisation. ' The Golden Vale, . . . the pride of all that country, being the richest, yet, from want of imploy- ment, the plentifullest place of poore in the kingdome, yeelding two or three-hundred folde ; the number so increasing (Idlenesse having gotten the upper hand ;) if trades bee not raised, beggery will carry such reputation in my quarter of the country, as if it had the whole to halves ' (i.e. every one's share as well as its own). ' There bee within a mile and a halfe -from my house every way, five hundred poore habitations.' In general, how- ever, the population were not so thickly planted. As the war went on, the city became the resort of many who fled thither for shelter. Hereford, when surprised by Colonels Birch and Morgan, in its crowded state, besides the garrison, and military strangers, and a mixed concourse of other inhabitants, contained 1,100 townsmen bearing arms. i Colonel Fox. 2 Colonel Shilbourne. 3 MS. Letter of Sir John Kyrle. Aug. 30, 1635.— Ballingham MSS. 4 Roger Vaughan. 12 Car. I. Letter, Feb. 1, 1636— Duncumb, Collections $c. i. 103. 14 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- We have the testimony of Baxter and Corbet that Here- fordshire was wholly for the King ; and it is unquestionable from a variety of evidence that the gentry and their dependents of every rank were in general nowhere more loyally inclined. The swarms of pamphlets, that like the ephemera of summer show the season of the year and the temperature of the hour, and that burst forth upon the reading classes where the Parlia- ment prevailed, teaching them that they were ill governed, and exciting animosity against the persons of rulers, and dissatis- faction against Church and State, found comparatively little circulation here. 1 They neither debated, nor listened to inflammatory harangues, and if they were less disposed to political discussion than the manufacturers, they were less clamorous for changes. Some of their religious instructors, as will ever happen, might be slumbering at their posts ; but there had been little disturbance from irregular teachers. The pulpits were not so numerously as elsewhere manned with pastors of the Genevan school to inculcate lessons of innovation in their discourses, call for another and a sweeping reformation, preach down the Common Prayer, and depreciate Episcopacy, the ceremonies and vestments of the Church, and the service of cathedrals. Puritans and partial dissenters they had among their parochial clergy, whose numbers might be somewhat on the increase ; yet their influence was not very widely prevalent. Lecturers (the aversion of King James, and the annoyance of his successor), who blended political with religious doctrines, men of pious affections in many instances, but hostile to the institutions of that establishment under which they were bred, had gained no important ascendancy. Yet looking back for several years, during the progress of the ferment, before it had arrived at any notable height, a movement of this kind is observable. Sir Kobert Harley, contrary to the inclination of his venerable father, had taken care that the livings under the patronage of that family should be furnished with Puritan incumbents ; and thus it had been at Brampton Bryan and Leintwardine for a considerable time : but so unobtrusive were they for awhile that Archbishop Laud on the visitation of his province of Canterbury, which includes the diocese of Hereford, in 1637, reported thus to the King : 'For Hereford I finde not 1 It appears, however, from the account-book of .Mrs. Joyce Jefferies, that they Id be procured iu Hereford. — Archcso!o^ia, xxxvii. 205. cuu 1640] PURITAN CLERGY— SUNDAY SPORTS. 15 many things amiss, though y" often change of y e B p there, \v ch hath of late hapned, hath done noe good among them. But some pretencions there are to certain Customes, w ch I conceyve were better broke then kept, and I shall doe my best to reforme y em as I have opportunity, and humbly begg your Ma ts assistance, if I want power.' ' His next report sets forth that his Majesty's instructions are in all things carefully observed, and relates more to proceedings against Roman Catholic recusants than against disorderly members of the Church of England. 2 They began however gradually to show themselves. To Stanley Gower of Brampton Bryan, who had been chaplain to Archbishop Ussher, were added Green of Pencomb, and Tombes of Leominster ; 3 and all these became champions of the Parliamentary and Presbyterian cause. Gower and Green, called to the Assembly of Divines in 1643, left their cures, and were constant attendants on the sittings of that body at Westminster. But while the bulk of the clergy were little imbued with the Presbyterian mode of thinking and declaiming against the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, the principles and practices of the body of the people, at least in one respect, were rather relaxed than severe : they still loved their holiday and Sunday sports, which latter the King and Bishops had indeed sanctioned as allowable recreations, though the Parliament endeavoured to suppress them, and its adherents unanimously abhorred and protested against them as disorderly and demoralising remnants of Popery. Tombes, of whom we shall have much' to observe, boldly reprobated their inattention to religion, their vice and ignorance, their superstitious, charming of cattle, (even now resorted to,) their drunkenness and disposition to riot. Green, too, was one of the avowed opponents of their Sunday pastimes, and censured the Book of Sports. In a sermon delivered before the House of Commons, he alludes to this in the manner of his party, and points to what he believed to have been some of the consequences : 1 To this is added in the margin in the King's own hand, ' w cb . ye shall not want if you need.' 2 MSS.Harl. 787, 37 a, 23 b. 3 Tombes was the tutor of Bishop Wilkins : he was a great leader among the Anabaptists, and father probably of the Baptists who sprung up in Ross and Leominster about his time. He was sometime incumbent of Ross, and a great pluralist. He died in 1676. See Wood, and Calamy's Lives. 16 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- What evill tiling is this that ye doe and profane the Sabbath day — the profanation was by them that trod wine presses, and brought in Sheaves on the Sabbath day, yet the nobles not hindering it are charged with it, and all the evils brought on their fathers and the citie ascribed to this sin. They were my Meditations upon the comming forth of that book for that sinfull libertie on the Lord's Day, (and I did not forbear to express them) when I too often heard in neighbouring Parishes drums beating up for a Morris or a May poole on that day, we had just cause to feare, lest the Lord should punish that sin, with beating up drums for a march on that day ; and that the Lord hath brought our feares upon us, how many marches have been on that day since the beginning of these wars ; I have long thought it one of the highest provoking sins of this land, and rne thinks that the Lord would have us take notice of it (as I presume many did) that leading generall battell at Kineton on the Lords day, could it doe lesse than lead this Kingdom to take notice of that general leading sin, the profanation of that day ? Such well intended expostulations as Green addressed to his parishioners may have been far from general ; and if he prevailed upon them, their example seems to have had but little effect upon those around them. Though the mass of the population were untainted by the prevailing rage for alteration in Church and State, all thinking persons foresaw a coming storm. In process of time rumours of dissatisfaction from various quarters, and the apprehension of some approaching, undefinable calamity, the forerunner or attendant of great political convulsions, reached them. Pesti- lence visited them, one of those contagious fevers which had lurked so long in the island, and^ afterwards added its ravages to those of the war. Some fled from it to London. 1 It at- tacked in particular the town of Boss, and reduced it to misery and beggary ; it raged also in Linton and Yatton, Walford and Bridstow. A cross in the churchyard of Boss records the burial of 315 sufferers in 1637 ; but many more perished; and the survivors were so destitute that the charity of the place and neighbourhood was exhausted ; and a county rate of 551. was collected weekly during several months ' for the relief of the poor, and for their well government with watch and ward.' 2 1 Pengethly MSS. By a letter of Sir Edward Harley to Lord Scudamore, dated Sept. 10, 1668, it appears that a contagious disease prevailed in the county i a that year. " Send. MSS. 1641-2] WIRGENS. 17 The public mind was by degrees overawed to a state of painful expectation as the crisis drew nigh. Eeported signs in heaven and tokens upon earth were attended to with intense interest and dread. A singular circumstance that occurred near Here- ford in the year 1641-2 produced a strong impression. About three miles to the north of the city, in the pleasant meadows beside the river Lug on the way to Sutton and Marden stood two large stones, called the Wirgens ; the least of them weigh- ing many tons. They had been placed there, one as the base, the otber as the upright, either to mark a boundary in old time or point out the safer passage to a bridge, across the level in time of flood. About mid-day on the first Wednesday in February of the above year, a strong wind arose, and tore them up, and swept them to a considerable distance from their position and from each other. To anyone who had beheld these ponderous blocks before their removal, the probability of the fact might have seemed questionable ; but it is undoubtedly true, and has been mentioned by many writers. This un- common incident was popularly attributed to the agency of a Satanical power ; and filled the minds of the multitude with astonishment, alarm, and forebodings of disastrous times. It required nine yoke of oxen to draw the heaviest of them to its former situation, where they are both to be seen to this day. 1 Total height, 5 ft. 8 in. Breadth of base, 3 ft. 6 in. The landlords and tenants of every class, and even the yeomanry, which was not the case everywhere, being here, with very few exceptions, firmly attached to the royal cause, we may 1 See Original Pamphlet, Appendix I. VOL. I. ]8 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. ["1625- naturally be led to enquire who were the persons of chief eminence and authority among them. We look in vain for descendants of the ancient nobility : not one of them who possessed any landed interest in the shire resided there. Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, Viscount Hereford, and Lord of Fownhope, and the Dowa- ger Countess of Kent, owner of the castle of Goodrich and its demesnes in Archenfield and Wormelow, enjoyed the rents of their estates in absence. The only nobleman, one of recent creation, but the first upon various accounts on the list of resi- dents of any rank, was John, Viscount Scudamore. He was descended from a family that came in at the Norman conquest. His father, Sir James Scudamore, knighted at the siege of Cadiz with John Eudhall and John Scudamore of Kentchurch, all gentlemen of Herefordshire, was among the most renowned for chivalry in the reign of Elizabeth, — the ' Sir Scudamore ' of Spenser's Faery Queen. John the son, born at Horn Lacy in 1600, 1 had been educated under a domestic tutor till, at the age of sixteen, he became a member of Magdalene College in Oxford, and at seventeen obtained a license to go abroad. Having spent about three years in travel, he was appointed upon the nomina- tion of the Earl of Northampton, then Lord Lieutenant, to be Captain of the Horse in his native county ; and in the year 1621 was one of its representatives in Parliament. He was made a Baronet about the same time, and in the fourth year of Charles I. was created Baron of Dromore, and Viscount of Sliffo in Ireland. In his attendance at Court he contracted an ardent friendship for the Duke of Buckingham, and engaged to accom- pany him in his projected expedition for the relief of Eochelle, which was set aside by the desperate act of Felton the assassin. The untimely death of his friend deeply affected him ; he attended his remains to the grave, and retired to Horn Lacy. But his passion for study, even to the injury of his health, was as strong and uninterrupted within the alluring circle of a Court, as it was in his country retreat ; and wherever he was found, his pious and generous conduct endeared him to all good men. The at- tention that he paid to rural occupations, and especially to grafting and planting, rendered him peculiarly acceptable to his own countrymen. It is manifest that his notions in religion and politics ran very high ; his attachment to the Church of England, 1 He was baptized March 22.— Gibson, View of the Churches of Door, $c, 38. 1640] VISCOUNT SCUDAMORE. 19 the result of a thorough and deliberate acquaintance with her principles, being unbounded. He repaired and endowed the dilapidated Abbey church of Dore, and restored the alienated tithes of several churches, which one of his ancestors, a Eeceiver of the Court of Augmentations under Henry VIII. acquired when the monasteries were suppressed. He was intimately associated with Laud, who frequently visited him in his journeys to and from Saint David's, when he was Bishop of that see ; kept up a constant correspondence with him, and co-operated in his plans for repairing Saint Paul's in London. When Charles I. was pleased in 1635 1 to appoint him Eesident Ambassador to Louis XIII. King of France, he used his endeavours to promote Laud's scheme for uniting the reformed Episcopal Churches of the North of Europe. His letters to that prelate show also that he spared no pains in seconding his views for that costly collection of manuscripts which have since enriched the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; for in learning and the society of the learned was his delight. At Paris, with the dignity and courtesy that became his station, he received and patronised such Englishmen as were recommended to his attention, among whom were Hobbes and Milton : 2 the latter of these he introduced to the celebrated Grotius, ambassador from the Queen of Sweden ; nor was it the fault of Scudamore that the remaining days of that great scholar and statesman were not passed in England ; since he had asked and obtained permission to that effect from the King. After four years spent with entire credit in this honourable office, while the troubles here were thickening apace, he took leave of the Court of France and returned home in January 1638-9 with high commendations on either hand. As he approached his dwelling he was met by his friends and tenantry on horseback, and hearty welcomes and congratulatory addresses awaited him. Hereford looked up to him as a protector ever ready to interest himself in her welfare. He was High Steward of the city and cathedral, 3 — 1 His instructions are dated June 9. 2 Commendatum ab aliis nobilissimua vir Thomas (Johannes) Scudamorua vicecomes Slegonensis, Caroli regis legatus, Parisiis humanissime accepit ; meque Hugoni Grotio viro eruditissimo, ab regina Suecorum tunc temporis ad G-allise regem legato, quem invisere cupiebam, suo nomine, et suorum uno atque altero deducente, commendavit: Discedenti post dies aliquot Italiam versus, literas ad mercatores Anglos, qua iter eram facturas, dedit, ut quibus possent officiis mini prsesto essent. — Defensio Secunda pro Popido Anglicano. 8 His ancestors had filled this latter post for several generations c 2 20 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- trusts that were never more honourably filled or worthily dis- charged. He educated and employed the poor, and provided for the infirm and aged. How widely his personal respect and influence extended is seen in an account of presents and contribu- tions that, according to feudal fashion, he received from various quarters, when he kept the Christmas of 1639 already mentioned, at Horn Lacy, in antique and magnificent style. They poured in from Worcester, and Gloucester, and Hereford, from Ledbury and Eoss, Dore, Clifford, Leominster and upwards of 50 inter- mediate places. The festivities, held no less with his own open- hearted concurrence than by express proclamation of his Sovereign, who sent all persons of rank and fortune into the country to keep hospitable houses upon this occasion among their poorer neigh- bours, 1 began on the 23rd of December and continued two weeks and five days. This nobleman was now in the prime of life and maturity of experience, courtly in his address, upright and sincere in his actions. No one stood higher in the love of his friends, or in the esteem even of his political enemies. He would have been an honour to any party that he had embraced. Let these observa- tions seem, if it must be so, to belong rather to the eulogist than to the historian ; there can be no hazard in asserting that, to the eye of a dispassionate observer, so far as an estimate can now be formed of his character, for natural and acquired ability, piety, integrity, charity even to munificence, and most of the virtues that adorn a public or a private life, few persons of that age and this or any other countiy could be found to have surpassed Lord Scudamore. 2 The next individual in point of consequence, the leader of the opposite party, and an entire contrast in religion and politics to Scudamore, was Sir Eobert Harley. The stock of which he sprang was, according to Collins, undoubtedly more ancient than the invasion of the Normans. 3 He inherited from his father, 1 News Letter, December 3, 1639, Said. MSS. 2 Gibson's View of the Churches of Door, $e.—Scud. MSS. Lord Scudamore married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Arthur Porter, Knt., who brought him a large estate, and by whom he had one son and one daughter. He died May 0, 1671, in his 71st year, and was buried in the family vault at Horn Lacy, where, on its opening in August 1822, to receive the remains of the Duchess of Norfolk, his lineal descendant, his coffin was found curiously constructed in lead, so as nearly to fit the body, with a long inscription on a brass plate, recording his virtues and services. Bryan Harley, son of Sir Robert Harley, by Margaret, eldest daughter of f OLIVER, 16i °] SIR ROBERT HARLEY. 21 Thomas Harley, Esquire, an ample estate in the north of the county, together with the Castle of Wigmore, sometifn% the possession of the great Mortimers, 1 where in the year 1579 he was bom ; he was also owner of the Castle of Brampton Bryan, where he now abode. After a preparatory course of study under his uncle, Richard Harley, a man of talents and learning, he became a member of Oriel College in Oxford, and subse- quently of the Middle Temple in London. At the coro- nation of King James in 1603, he was made a Knight of the Bath, and afterwards received, among other appointments, that of Forester of Bringwood in Herefordshire. 2 In 21 James I. he was elected Knight of the Shire and put into the commis- sion of the peace ; and in 2 Charles I. was presented with the Mastership of the Mint in the Tower of London for life, with a salary of 4,000£. per annum. He was a stem and consistent Puritan ; and, persuaded of the advantage and necessity of re- forming at any cost the abuses in Church and State, seems to have been of the number of those who never allowed themselves to suppose that resistance might be driven on to rebellion and utter subversion of the constitution : or he might be one of the many who, once embarked in the quarrel, were for pushing for- ward to extremity, but not the very last fatal extremity ; for many there were, on both sides, who vainly imagined that, if the dispute came to an open struggle, it would soon be over ; 3 and that according to the satirist it was only Letting rapine loose and murther, To rage just so far, but no farther : Bryan de Brampton, distinguished himself so much in the wars with France under Edward III., that he received the honour of knighthood. Edward the Black Prince recommended him to his father to be chosen a Knight of the Garter, but he died before his election. 1 Mortimer Lord of "Wigmore was one of the nobles that attended imme- diately on Edward III. at the battle of Cre$y, August 26, 1346. 2 He held the office of the Pokership, the nature of which is involved in obscurity [though Mr. Briscoe's suggestion in Notes and Queries, that it was the office of porcarius, or keeper of the hogs, is probably correct], and the custody of the Forest or Chase of Prestwood. [The annual value of the Pokership was 11. 10s. 5^.— Collins, Peerage, Edit. 1741]. 3 Baxter observes, ' So wise in matters of war was I, and all the country besides, that we commonly supposed that a, very few clays or weeks by one other battel ' (after Edge-hill), ' would end the wars ; and I believe that no small number of the Parliament-men had no more wit than to think so to.'— Life, 1. i. 43. 22 THE CIVIL WAB IN HEKEFOKDSHIKE. [1025- And setting all the land on fire, To burn to a scantling, but no higher. 1 Harley lived long enough to change his mind, and lament the consequences ; 2 but now he was one of the most eager pro- moters of the measures of the Parliament. Especially in eccle- siastical affairs he showed upon all occasions a rooted aversion to whatever was thought to countenance Episcopacy, or savoured in the least of a vestige of the Church of Eome. He was the veriest iconoclast of his party. When churches were to be de- faced, and painted glass and sculptured ornaments were to be destroyed ; when surplices and copes and images were to be rent in pieces and laid in the dust, Sir Kobert Harley was selected in London for the work, and discharged it with unsparing severity. He was, however, a man of talent, and where his religious feel- ings did not interfere, a man of taste ; he had the merit of selecting the famous artist, Thomas Symonds, to be engraver of the dies for the mint, by which the coin was much improved. In his castle at Brampton Bryan was a fine collection of manu- scripts and printed books, successively augmented by himself as by preceding members of his family. By those who favoured his views be was considered a patron of sound learning, as ap- pears from many publications dedicated to him ; and he had been ever ready to protect the defenders of Puritanism against the violence of the Courts of High Commission and Star-Chamber. His party zeal would have led him to any exertions that had been required, but his course and time of life had qualified him rather for the labours of the senate than of the field. His countenance was acute and intelligent, with a remarkably penetrating ex- pression of eye. 3 Sir Eobert was thrice married, and thus became allied to 1 Hitdibras. z Perceiving how far things -were likely to be carried, when it was too late he declared fur an accommodation with the King, for which he and several others were with violence and ill-usage expelled the House of Commons, and after the death of Charles I. he was removed from his place in the Mint, because, the Parliament having ordered a new coinage, he refused to coin with any other stamp than that of the King. [When Bradshaw was Chief Justice of Chester, and being at Ludlow came to pay him a visit, he ordered the doors to be shut against him. — Account of Earl of Oxford by his Brother. MSS. Harl. 885, 2.] 3 Collins.— He died in 1656. It is singular that Dunster, the acute and agreeable annota f or on Phillips's Cider, should have been so little informed respecting the Harleys as to assert that Edward Harley ' raised a regiment at his own expence, for the service of the 1640] ADHERENTS ON BOTH SIDES. 23 several noble families. The children of his two former marriages died young. By his last wife Brilliana, second daughter of Edward, Viscount Conway, he had three sons and four daughters. To her he committed the care of Brampton Bryan during his long absence in London, and how well she discharged the trust will be related hereafter. The repairs and strengthen- ing of that castle were commenced in the spring of 1642. So truly had its master, for he was in the secret, anticipated the miseries of his country. These were the persons who might be looked up to as leaders in counsel at the beginning of the dispute. The King's friends wanted not advisers and actors of note ; but Harley had no one of equal consequence and energy to keep pace with him. Sir Eichard Hopton, Baronet, of Canon Frome, began by showing his attachment to the Parliament. Sir John Kyrle, Knight, of Much Marcle, his kinsman Kyrle of Walford, and Sir Edward Powell, 1 Baronet, of Pengethly, were on the same side, but these were men advanced in years, who either aban- doned their homes, or made to all appearance no very available exertions : some of them, indeed, took no very consistent part. The sons of Hopton of Canon Frome furnish an instance of the division that so frequently took place in families ; and, while it sometimes increased the honors of the war, helped usually in the end to rescue the fortunes of the house from utter ruin. His eldest son was a colonel for the Bang, another was a major for the Parliament. The two sons of Harley were officers on their father's side. It was more common for families to throw the whole of their weight into one scale. Mr. Lochard, who was killed at Goodrich Castle, was one of ten brothers and half- brothers, the children of one mother, Alice, daughter of Sir Roger Bodenham, some time the wife of Bradford, after- wards of Thomas Lochard of the Biletts in the parish of Pem- bridge : all of whom drew their swords for the King ; and three of them lost their lives in Ins cause. 2 King, and, commanding it himself, gave signal proofs of his valour at the head of it.' 1 He lent 1.000Z. upon the Poll Money, and when repaid continued to lend it for the service of Ireland. 2 Blount MSS-, art. Pemhridge. [A letter from that well-known antiquary, E. B. Phillipps of Longworth, Esq., to the author gives reason for questioning Blount's accuracy. It seems in his opinion more probable that Thomas Lochard's •wife was Magdalen Eaynesford, of Clifford, co. Gloucester ; and that tho supposed 24 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- It must frequently have happened that contiguous properties were held by those who differed in opinion. At Ledbury, Skipp > and the younger Elton, neighbours by position, were of adverse politics. The same occurred in the parish of Llangarren ; Scudamore of Treworgan, a Eoman Catholic, was stripped of his estate, while Kawlins of Kilreag, his neighbour, was one of the sequestrators. That the Houses of Lords and Commons had their secret well-wishers in the beginning among the smaller landed proprietors may be inferred from the employments which some of these afterwards accepted under them ; and the names of such as were appointed commissioners for the execution of their ordinances show who among all ranks, suited to that pur- pose, were the best affected towards them. But hardly any, of what station soever, had at first the resolution or ability to oppose the general current in favour of Charles. 2 Freeman, a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Ledbury, and the younger Harley, were the earliest to join the Parliamentarians, when they began to make their military appearance in these parts. In the case of obscurer individuals, it is not always possible, neither is it necessary, to determine when they first appeared upon the scene. Some gradually emerged, who were of more conse- quence, but reserved themselves, and were never very conspicuous in the quarrel. Of these were Hereford of Sufton, Hoskyns of Morehampton, and Scudamore of Kentchurch. In spite of the risks of delay, the reluctant, when they could escape being forced forward, would naturally linger for a favourable opportunity of showing themselves ; as Arabs are said to be seen waiting at a distance, spectators of an engagement, that they may join with the victors when the clanger is past. 3 Among cases of indecision the most remarkable is probably that of Baskerville, who possessed Alice Bodenham had no existence, not being mentioned in the pedigree at Eotherwas.] 1 John Skipp; baptized at Ledbury November 8, 1604; Sheriff of the county of Hereford, 1680; buried at Ledbury September 25, 1684. He wrote an account, now unfortunately lost, of the siege of Goodrich Castle, being one of the garrison at its capture by Birch. He was grandfather of Mr. John Skipp of Ledbury, who also lived to upwards of eighty years, and was one of the writer's intimate friends. 2 See Lady Harley's letters for the few on the Parliamentary side at the begin- ning of the dispute. 3 ' The neutrals,' says May, History of the Parliament, 3. ii. 29, ' had stood at gaze, in hope that one quick blow might cleare the doubt, and save them the danger of declaring themselves.' 1 640] PA RLIAM ENTARIANS. 25 a small estate at Canon Pion. 1 He shifted no less than three times from side to side. The annexed list made out by Allen, in his brief Collections for Herefordshire, 2 enumerates such of the gentry and others as, having attached themselves to the Presbyterians or Indepen- dents, were appointed by various Acts and Ordinances Commis- sioners for levying monthly exactions in the county and city, for sequestering estates, and other parliamentary affairs from the year 1643 to the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell in 1653. A trifling repetition of names occurs in the city list, but there is sufficient ground for showing that the greater part of these persons had little influence or power till after the tide had turned in their favour by the surprisal of the city. Their weight in the county must not be estimated by their numbers; for most of them were but of inferior consequence ; and some appear to have been strangers, who came in at the sharing of the spoil. Foe the Countt. Sir Robert Harley, K.B. Sir John Bridges, Bart. Sir Richard Hopton, Bart. Sir John Kirl, Bart. Col. Edward Harley. Col. Edward Broughton. Oapt. Thomas Blaney. William. Littleton, Francis Kirl, Robert Kyrl, James Kirl, William Scudaniore, John Scudamore, Thomas Baskerville, Silvanus Taylor, Richard Hopton, John Flacket, Ambrose Elton, jun., Thomas Rawlins, John James, Francis Pernber, Henry Williams, John Cholmley, Thomas Cook, Richard Dolphin, Ruddal Gwillim, John Herring, Isaac Seward, Richard Nicholets, Arthur Cockram, Thomas Harrison, Job Charlton, Richard Reed, John Birch, Robert Higgens, Wroth Rogers, Stephen Winthorp, William Row, Roger Lechmore, Bennet Hoskins, Robert Minors, Thomas French, John Wancklin, of Luston, John Patshal, of Leominster, Walter Kirle, Henry Vaughan, Richard Hobson, John Brocket, Martin Husbands, Henry Jones, of Maynston, The Baskervilles of Pontrilas were an illegitimate branch. Collectanea Here ordiensia, 15. 26 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- Thomas Davis, of Wigmore, Esquires. Miles Hill, Thomas Dannet, of Bosbry, Francis Hall, of Ledbery, Walter Merrick, Charles Durley, Francis Hill, Samuel Trettma, Gents. For the Cut. Thomas Seaborn, Mayor. Dr. Hartford, Mr. Cooper, Miles HiU, Mr. Philpots, Alderman. Dr. Boswood, Silas Taylor, John Hill, Gent. Thomas Holmes, Gent. Thomas Rawlins, Giles Saunders, Benjamin Mason, Walter Wall, Richard Hide, Thomas French, Esquires. We may now pass on to the resolute but ill-fated supporters of the Crown. In spite of the foregoing display there can be no question that the balance of wealth, interest and numbers in the county went originally with the King. Of those who will be mentioned many were never called upon, or were not personally engaged in military service. Yet as no overt neutrality was allowed, whoever assented to certain measures, or paid contribu- tions, or continued willingly in the enemy's quarters, in any place where his troops had control, was held to be amenable as an adversary. To remain quiet at home was found to be no security against invasion of property, requisitions and sequestra- tions, difficulties and distress. Few, however, of any eminence, who were for the King, delayed to declare themselves ; and they who first stood forward were, as might be expected, such as held public situations, magistrates or members of Parliament. Among these, in addition to Lord Scudamore, were Sir William Croft of Croft Castle, Baronet, and Sir Walter Pye of the Meend, in Much Dewchurch, Knight; Fitzwilliam and Humphrey Coningsby, father and son, of Hampton Court ; Wallop Brabazon of Eaton, near Leominster, son of one of the Lords Justices in Ireland ; Henry Lingen of Sutton ; William Rudhall, a younger brother of the ancient family of Eudhall, near Boss ; ' Kichard Seaborne, 1 It was current in that family from father to son that they had been planted at Rudhall, from which they derived their name, since the days of the Saxons. Commissioner Rudhall was the last male survivor of the line, and was but a younger brother, but such respect as antiquity of family could confer was attached to him, and he was faithful to his cause. The estates of the elder branch, after incurring hazard of sequestration owing to the marriage of a widow 164 °] ROYALISTS. 27 barrister, of Hereford ; and Thomas Tomkyns of Monnington, Esquires. These were prominently exposed in the foreground of action. Nor should the names of others be omitted, variously distinguished by their efforts, but alike partakers of adverse fortune. Aubrey of Clehonger ; Barneby of Brockhampton ; Barratt of Hereford; Berrington of Bishopstone; Burghill of Little Thinghill ; Cardiffe of Ewyas Harold ; Clarke of Cobwell; Cornwall of Berrington ; two Crofts, of Hereford and Yarpoll, brothers of Sir William Croft ; Dansey of Brinsop ; Kemp of Chenston; Llewellin of Barton; Lochard (already mentioned) of Canon Pyon ; Moore of Burghope ; Newton of Much Cowarne ; Powell of Dewsall ; Price of Wisteston ; Bodd of Bodd ; Skipp of Ledbury; Stallard of Boss; Style of ManseU ; Taylor of Ocle Pitchard ; Veynall of Hereford ; Unett of Hartesfbrd ; and Walwyn of Helens, Esquires ; ' — gentlemen who placed their lives and good estates upon the issue of the cast. The catalogue might be increased by many of humbler situations in life, whose circumstances and sufferings, as opportunity may arise in the course of this narrative, will not be forgotten. Adding to these the many who can be neither numbered nor named, and return- ing to the afore-cited assurance of contemporary observers, we may conclude without danger of admitting an exaggerated re- presentation, that the advantage in wealth and numbers at the opening of the strife was altogether with those who asserted the pretensions of the King. The approaching contest was likely to be the more virulent, inasmuch as it partook of a religious no less than a political character. As the heads of the Church, in the suppression of novel opinions, were not considered to have exercised their authority with moderation, they were exposed to the retaliation with Mr. Vaughan of Ruar Dean, a Roman Catholic, were divided, according to the will of the lust possessor, William Rudhall, who died September 21, 1651, by Mary Rudhall, his sister, among four co-heiresses, who married into the families of Aubrey, Price, Pye, and Westfaling. [Another branch of this family was established as bell-founders at Gloucester, where a, very extensive business was long handed down from father to son, and has only been discontinued in the present generation.] 1 A very imperfect list, as is evident from the accounts subsequently procured of those who were sequestered. Dring's list is very defective. The estates of the following proprietors were ordered to be sold, as forfeited for treason; November 18, 1652. Henry Morgan of Stoke Edith. Edward Slaughter of Bishop's Eromo. James Scudamore of Llangarren. Evan Jones of Stockton. Roland Scudamore of Treworgan. Robert Wigmore of Lucton. 28 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- of irritated opponents, who had long aimed at the overthrow of the whole establishment, and desired to follow the Scots in adopting the scheme and discipline of the Church of Geneva. A tedious struggle had been carried on, in which the Presbyterians seemed to be gaining ground. The loyal clergy of the city and county were not so immediately exposed to the first lash of persecution ; but their Bishop, Doctor George Coke, a prelate learned, pious, and of irreproachable life, could not long escape public censure. While the remembrance of what had occurred at the Eefor- mation continued fresh in the minds of the people, and the Puritans entertained a religious horror of the dominion of the Church of Rome, their feelings were heightened by the conduct of the Roman Catholics of Ireland, who in the insurrection of 1641 had massacred, according to estimation, nearly 200,000 Protestants ; 1 and were distracting that country by a bloody and exterminating war. Popeiy and Papists were held up to abhor- rence in pamphlets, senatorial speeches, and harangues to the multitude ; and, as if there were not sufficient causes of domestic disquiet, some writers have sought for interference from that quarter in the steps that led to the ruin of the Church. It has been also thought that the great architect of the troubles of Christendom, Cardinal Richelieu, that he might prevent Charles from showing his attachment to the house of Austria, to the prejudice of France, was busy by his emissaries to animate the seditious in Edinburgh and London. But the papal nuncio in England was strictly forbidden to pry into mysteries of state ; and all was studied silence or professed exculpation to inquisi- tive foreigners at the court of Rome. I understand nothing of them, says a correspondent to Hyde, afterwards Earl of Clarendon, but their civility, which is as much as can be imagined. Indeed from the highest to the lowest they are all so. The other day we were with the Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the Pope's nephew, and had a long audience of him, but not a word of England, though I sought all I could to put him into that discourse, of which he is very well informed, and at other times liberal enough. For Sir Walter Pye having been with him some days before, all his discourse was to persuade him that the 1 [This was the estimate of the Romish priests. Sir John Temple thought that 300,000 had perished in two years. At the trial of Lord Maguire the figures were sworn at 152,000. Sir W. Petty, followed by Carte, reduces them to 37,000.— Froude, English Rule in Ireland, i. 112.] 164 °] ROMAN CATHOLICS. 29 troubles of England and Ireland have never been fomented by any of the Pope's ministers ; and that they all wished the flourishing estate of our country. 1 Be this as it may, the English Eoman Catholics, if on no other account, at least for the sake of one who had hold on the hand and heart of him who sat upon the throne, were loyal almost to a man. Bitterly persecuted by the Presbyterians, 2 so united were they in every quarter, that as a body they might have challenged an enquirer to have produced any of real worth or note among them who stirred from the royal side. Obvious reasons might induce them to be grateful for the secret protec- tion they had received during the reigns of the present King and his father ; but it were unworthy to attempt to tarnish the lustre of a generous attachment like theirs by the imputation of mere selfish motives ; they loved their Queen, 3 herself a member of their Church, the young and beautiful daughter of Henry IV. of France, whom Charles himself regarded with an affection more than bordering upon uxoriousness, to which have been attributed many of the errors of his life. Of their loyalty the Eoman Catholics gave indisputable proofs throughout the 1 Clarendon, State Papers, ii. 142. William Aylesbury to Edward Hyde, March 29, 1642. It is more probable that the suspected intrigues of Cardinal Mazarin at Paris, on the other hjnd, had encouraged these rising troubles in hope, by weakening the power of England, to secure the ascendancy of Prance. See "Wren's pamphlet on the troubles. 2 [Not, however, exclusively by that party. Of the rigorous enforcement of the penal statutes of James I., which treated every Papist as excommunicate, an idea may be formed from the following memoranda in the note-book of Walter Powell, of Llantilio Cressenny, not far from Raglan. 1640. 19 Jan' ij Blaunch Prytherch widow died. 20 Jan r ij She was vnlawfully buried by night in the Church she being a Papist. 13 ffeb r W m Hughes of Killoughe died. 14 ffeb r he was buried in the night by 2 butchers, a papist convicted.] " In 1639, the Queen wrote circular letters to all the Eoman Catholics, to put them under contribution for the King's service against the Covenanters. Among the names of the collectors for gathering the recusants' money for this purpose, as given by Eushworth (2. ii. 824-828), are : — Herefordshire. — Mr. William Bodenham, Sir John AVigmore, Mr. William Moore of Burrop, Mr. John Harp. Glocestershire. — Sir John Winter, Mr. Wakeman, Mr. Benedict Hall, Mr. Atkinson. Shropshire. — Sir Basil Brork, Mr. Plowdon, Mr. John Harrington. Worcestershire. — Mr. William Abingdon, Mr. William Shclden. Brecknock.— Mr. Winter, Mr. Bevan, Mr. Maddock. Monmouth. — Sir Charles Somerset, Mr. Morgan of Lantarnam.-- Mr. Morgan of Itton. Radnor.— Thomas Crowther. 30 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1640 trial, in that they thought no sacrifice too dear to uphold the Crown ; and they fell at last under the heaviest scourge of the prevailing power. In Herefordshire they promptly and liberally lent their aid. The records of sale and sequestration in the cases of recusant Eoyalists present the names of Addis of Lyde Arundel ; Berrington of Bishopston and Cowarne ; Bodenham of Botherwas and Bryngwyn ; Bradford of Grarnston ; Goodyear of Lenthall Starkes ; Grwatkin of Llangarren ; Grarnons ; Harper of Amberley ; Kemble of Welsh Newton ; Loope of Grarway ; Monnington of Sarnsfield ; Moore of Burghope ; Street of Gatertop ; Wigmore of Fownhope, Kinsham, Llangarren, Lucton ; — and lastly Scudamore of Treworgan previously alluded to, related to those of Horn Lacy and Ballingham, a great sufferer, who incurred the forfeiture of the principal por- tion of his landed estate, the severer penalty of a recusant in arms. 1 They were, however, far more numerous in Monmouthshire ; but the individuals of that persuasion who attracted most atten- tion there, and upon whose proceedings the Parliament con- stantly kept an eye, were Henry, Earl, and afterwards Marquess of Worcester, and his son, Edward, Lord Herbert. The very advanced age of the Earl 2 might well have excused his personal appearance in public, and, setting aside the jealousy attached to the interference of Boman Catholics in the affairs of the Court, be a sufficient plea for his disinclination at first to de- clare himself. 3 It has been believed that he was more imme- diately determined to take this step by the unrestrained eager- ness of his son ; and this we shall be able in some measure to show. Withdrawn from the royal presence, and possessing the means and spirit of a prince, 4 he moved in a court of his own, and in his castle of Eaglan, a fortress capable of containing a garrison of 800 men, and strong and important enough to overawe a whole county, he lived in almost regal state. The 1 To these probably may be added Blount of Orleton, Harper of Tillington, Jones of Stockton, Slaughter (?) of Cheny Court. 2 [See this questioned, postea], 3 For the Marquess of Worcester's disinclination to interfere, see Clarendon, State Papers, ii. 144, 146, 147. One of the Parliament's propositions (Feb. 1, 1642) was that the Lord Herbert, son to the Earl of Worcester, might be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court. 4 'His whole estate ubique was esteemed 24 thowsand pounds per annum.'— Symonds, Diary, 205. Camd. Soc. 16+0] MARQUESS OF WORCESTER -LORD HERBERT. 31 officers of his household were numerous, his establishment well appointed and strictly regulated as to hours ; and among his attendants, according to ancient custom, were to be seen, as pages, the children of gentlemen. 1 His frank and liberal dis- position attracted respect and love, and his influence, like his estates, extended far and wide. He was plain of speech, and cheerful of temper even in his most trying moments. During more than 80 years 2 he had seen three sovereigns on the throne ; experience must have led him to anticipate much of what was before him, and have taught him to expect that loyalty and property like his would be attended with innumerable dangers ; yet having well counted the cost, he met the crisis and went through the task with a firmness and alacrity beyond his years, and his resolute and consistent bearing form an entire comment upon the motto of his family, ' Mutare aut timere sperno,' ' I scorn to change or be afraid.'— Lord Herbert was, perhaps, a more devoted Roman Catholic than his father, of a sanguine and ardent temperament, and a disposition that conciliated the good-will of all around him. His leisure had been honourably employed in philosophical pursuits, and his inventions have rendered him famous to posterity. His attachment to his Sovereign, with whom he was in frequent correspondence at the beginning of the troubles, had an air of romance. His letters display an eagerness to be of service to his master that can hardly be surpassed ; and a more than ordinary reverence and affection to his person. About this time he had strengthened his interest by espousing a second wife, the Lady Margaret O'Bryen, daughter of Henry, Earl of Thomond, related to many of the most powerful families of Ireland. But he looked upon the resources of his mind and fortune only as they might tend to advance the royal cause ; he was happy in this marriage since it might help him, according to his own words, ' to bring a fortune, as well as a life, to lay at the King's feet.' It has often 1 A young Scudamore was among them, probably one of the Roman Catholic Scudamores of Treworgan. So it was in the houses of Horn Lacy and Hampton Court. Young Henry Bard, afterwards the royalist commander, was with Lord Scudamore ; and Vaughan of Moccas, and Pytts of Eyre in the county of Wor- cester, were with the Coningsbys. See Symonds' Notes, and Coningsby MS. Letters. 2 [Dircks (Life $c. of Marquis of Worcester, 6, 153) asserts, on the authority of Anthony a Wood, that he was only bordering on 70 at the surrender of the castlo in 1616]. 32 THE CIVIL VfAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1640 been regretted that his fidelity had not been seconded by a sounder discretion. Charles, who had a strong regard for him, and was no mean judge of character, has left us this just esti- mate of him in a private communication to the Earl of Ormond, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland : ' his honesty or affection to my service will not deceive you; but I will not answer for his judgment.' 1 By these and their assistants the county of Monmouth was to be directed, and the resources of part of South Wales raised and applied. Monmouthshire contained some restless spirits, but none of pre-eminent note as to talent or power. In Brecon and Eadnor there was at first no prevailing disposition to agi- tate, and in Salop and Worcester the majority were attached to the King. Gloucestershire, of all the surrounding districts, was the only one that manifested a determination to side with the Parliament. Not that the inhabitants of Herefordshire, as we shall perceive, had been insensible to the grievances of the reign of Charles I. or had not remonstrated against them. But when they found these subjects of just complaint were to be redressed, and in some instances were actually removed, they were satisfied : they had no mind to bring into jeopardy the existing order of things, nor to endanger their domestic repose. In general throughout the North of England and in Wales, among the great landed proprietors, the King's cause was pre- valent, but against these were balanced the interests of the yeomanry, the artisans, and the commercial part of the com- munity. Within a given distance of a geographical line drawn from the mouth of the Severn to the estimated centre of England, which has been found in Warwickshire, the public disposition of the principal cities and towns would be found to have stood thus: Bristol, divided. Gloucester, and the clothiers connected with it, 2 for the Parliament. Tewkesbury, his honesty 1 It -was expressed in cipher thus : do . 81 . 38 . 44 . 48 . 50 . 1 . 57 . 78 . 67 . or affection to my ^^ 87 . k± . 14 . 8 . 10 . 2 . 11 . 79 . 30 . 45 . 40 . 82 . n\ . gb . 83 . 58 . 3 . 64 . will not deceive y ou . 74 . 31 . 12 . 4 . 84 . 03 . hi . 79 . 85 . 5 . 1 . 13 . 2 . 14 . 75 . 3 . 81 . 70 '. 46 . ft I wUl not answer for his judgment. 76 . 83 . 51 . 86 . 32 . 88 . 03 . hi . 80 87 . 94 . 89 . cb . db . 90 . 33 . 76 . 6 . 18 . 4 . 2i . 1 . 49 . 80 . 85.— Carte's Ormond, ii. Appendix 5, xiii. - For the disposition of the clothing parts of Somersetshire, seo Clarendon History of the Eehellkm, 2, i. 277. 1610] STATE OF THE COUNTY. 33 divided. Worcester and its dependencies, for the King. Coventry, the small town of Birmingham, and those in that neighbourhood that contained the mining and forging popula- tion, the workers in steel andiron, for the Parliament. Little remains to be here added to this cursory view of the circumstances, habits and feelings of the county of Hereford at the breaking out of this civil discord ; but though imperfectly sketched, it may be allowed to possess features that are now scarcely to be recognised, and not likely to be restored ; to pre- serve in some degree the remembrance of them has been thus far the writer's aim, as well as to prepare for the better under- standing of many things that will ensue. As we advance, the outline will be more filled up in this disastrous story, a variety of details having been reserved which hereafter will find their proper place, while statements and facts here brought forward will be referred to and amplified. Within itself the county appeared to contain few of the seeds of discord ; but that could be no security, when it was liable to be acted upon powerfully from without : and it appeared that it was not long to continue undisturbed. To trace by what means its tranquillity was vio- lated, it will be necessary to take a survey of previous political occurrences bearing upon the question ; for the spirit of discord that was working elsewhere, was gradually advancing towards this quiet land ; and this way, in spite- of wishes, and prayers, and earnest efforts to ward it off, the tide of war soon rolled, and awakened all the household anxieties, and called forth all the labours, sacrifices and perils of its defenders. VOL. I. 34 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1623- CHAPTER II. Brief review of the causes of mutual offence that led to the rupture between Charles I. and his Parliaments — Want of confidence towards the King and hatred of his advisers consequent upon abuses and grievances — Illegal and arbitrary modes of raising supplies — Compulsory Knighthood — Loans of Privy Seal — Monopolies — Coat-and- Conduct-money — Ship-money — Early popularity of the King and prosperity of the kingdom — Disturbances in Scotland on account of the Liturgy and service of the Church of England, and their conse- quences — After a long interval a Parliament called — Representatives of the county and boroughs of Hereford — Speech of Sir Benjamin Rudyerd on the state of affairs — Character and conduct of the Parliament — Reforms effected — Pitzwilliam Coningsby, member for Herefordshire, expelled the House of Commons as a monopolist — Authority and Courts of the Lords Marchers abolished — General satisfaction on the correction of abuses — Opinion of the Royalists on this subject, and of Judge Jenkins in particular — Death of the Earl of Strafford — Impeachment and imprisonment of Archbishop Laud — The King perpetuates the Parliament — Clamour against the Bishops and Church government — Origin and growth of the Puritans from the Reformation through the reign of Elizabeth — Their aversion to the Episcopal office — Presbyte- rianism fostered by the press and the pulpit, cherished by the Parliament — Popular outrages against the churches pass unpunished — Petition of Here- fordshire in favour of Episcopacy — Arts employed to obtain signatures to others against the question — Opinion of Waller the poet in the House of Commons as to this mode of addressing Parliament — Deans and Chapters and other officers of Cathedrals abolished — Bishops impeached — Mobs, demanding their expulsion from the House of Lords, encouraged by the Commons — Twelve of them expelled and placed under confinement, but after a while dismissed to their dioceses — Treatment of Coke, Bishop of Hereford — Assembly of Divines at Westminster — Lecturers — Tombes of Leominster and the brothers Sedgwick — Extracts from a sermon of Obadiah Sedgwick — Inter- ference of the preachers with politics— Their influence with the populace. The reign of King James had been distinguished by profound peace; and yet long-existing abuses and discontent, like a secret canker, were making gradual advances, and threatened not only the tranquillity but the existence of the Church and State. That monarch was aware of the dangers that he foresaw might arise ; though he was not a fit person to provide the remedy ; since in his zeal for extending the royal prerogative, he was 1640] CAUSES OF MUTUAL OFFENCE. 35 continually endeavouring to establish principles that tended to subvert the constitution. Charles the First, thus unfortunate in his predecessor, had inherited all the errors and evils of his government, and had imbibed his notions respecting the authority of the Crown. At first he had the same favourite, the same ministers, the same council. He called several Parliaments, but hastily dismissed them, when he found them opposed to him. The King ex- pected that they should grant him the necessary supplies ; and thought they paid too little attention to this point, or dealt them out with a niggard hand ; and when he applied to them for this purpose he found that they preferred the consideration of their own grievances, which, doubtless, were numerous, and pressed heavily upon the nation. This, however, was their course of proceeding from the beginning: and though he offered amply to correct what was amiss, if they would furnish him with the means to carry on the government, they manifested an unwillingness to accede to his necessities till they had received satisfaction for their own demands. Charles then considered that they were dictating to him, and was hurt by their want of confidence : though they still held the language of submissive reverence. Both parties professed themselves willing to concede, but neither for a time would be the first to give way. The mistrust on the part of the Parliament, out of which so many evils arose, seems to have been grounded on their experience of the notorious insincerity of the late King ; and thus were the offences of the father visited upon the son, on whose assurances they soon and plainly showed that they would not rely. It can be as little matter of surprise that this should have proved galling to a young and untried prince, and that he should have been disinclined to meet them, as that they should have looked with suspicion and aversion upon his advisers, and thought themselves additionally aggrieved at every dissolution of Parlia- ment. Many of them meditated retaliation, when a favourable hour should arrive. These altercations clouded the very morning of his reign ; and as it advanced he found himself embarrassed in his resources, and they lamented their grievances unredressed. If it be move than difficult, perhaps impossible, to treat such a subject with strict impartiality, yet none but a mere partisan will believe D 2 30 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- that in this calamitous dispute the fault ran all in one direction, or that both sides might not be to blame. However, as the measures of government could not be maintained without the means, his ministers advised him to have recourse to arbitrary methods of raising supplies. To some of these the people had already been unhappily accustomed, and others were the revival of obsolete claims and usages, or the imposition of new demands. Eelying upon their permanent and effectual operation he had threatened his Parliament that he could reign without them ; and for many years had ceased to call together the Great Council of the nation; and endeavoured to support himself by various exactions upon his subjects, which, as they were not levied with the consent of their representatives, were causes of growing and extensive dissatisfaction. Though the history of this period should be familiar to the reader, he will not probably be displeased to meet with an account of such of these imposts as more immediately bore upon Hereford- shire. Knighthood was a tax imposed upon every gentleman of a certain estate, 1 by which he was compelled either to take upon him that order, or pay a composition in money. It began at the Coronation, and continued to be called for at intervals during several years. A great many of the gentry declined this honour in the county of Hereford, excused themselves as long as they could under various pretences, or set at defiance the repeated summons of the commissioners, and refused, till tney were compelled, to discharge their fines. Loans of Privy Seal were raised by letters addressed to men of property throughout the kingdom under his Majesty's private signet, requesting to borrow a certain sum proportioned to their conceived ability or estate. 2 These were accompanied or fol- lowed up by an intimation that in case of delay or refusal they would be reported to the Exchequer, and compulsion would ensue. Sir Edward Powell of Pengethly, near Boss, is an instance of suffering under this arbitrary mode of raising money. 3 1 Blackstone, Commentary, i. 404, ii. 69. It was abolished by statute of 16 Car. I. c. 20. The estate was fixed at what may now seem a low rate, but was considerable at the time the rate was established ; the qualification was an income of iOl. — Rapin, History of England, ii. 18.3. 2 See a specimen in Appendix II. 3 He had made use of opprobrious expressions against Laud, for which he was fined in the Star-Chamber. — Send. MSS. News Letters 1610] ILLEGAL IMPOSTS. 37 • In the year 1640, he lent the King 3,000L, to be repaid out of the revenue of the Court of Wards in 1644. But the affairs of the country fell into confusion : that Court was abolished at the Restoration; Sir Edward died in 1652; and probably none of* the money was ever recovered by his hens. Monopoly was a license granted by Letters Patent to indi- viduals or companies, who had the exclusive right of buying, manufacturing, or selling at the first hand certain articles of traffic or consumption. 1 By this the liberty of trade was checked ; and the articles themselves were subjected to dete- rioration, or vended to the consumer at an enormous rate. In the monopoly of soap, 2 against which most clamour was raised, Fitzwilliam Coningsby of Hampton Court had a share. Coat-and-Conduct-money was imposed upon the different counties ostensibly for the clothing and marching expenses of such soldiers as each upon any emergency should be required to levy and send to their destination ; but, like the rest, it was appropriated in money to the use of the King. This method of raising a supply was first practised in the reign of Elizabeth ; it was instituted upon an understanding that repayment would be made by the Crown ; but that was never done. But what, more than others, dwelt upon the public mind was the tax of Ship-money, rendered famous by the resistance of Hampden. It was imposed under colour of providing a navy to guard the seas. Every shire, and the several cities and corporate towns were assessed in their proportions ; to each of them a writ was addressed to furnish at a fixed day and place a ship of war equipped and manned ; but these writs were coupled with instructions to the sheriff, instead of the vessel, to send the money so raised. In Herefordshire, in 1636, the last time it was collected, it amounted to 3,50 11. 9s. 4cZ., 3 and the then Sheriff Eoger Vaughan complained that the collection 1 BlacJcstone, iv. 159. 2 The annual produce of this impost was said to be nearly 30.000Z. — Scud. MS8. News Letter, June 25, 1639. 3 Duneumb, Collections, i. 103. [The inequality of the assessments of the several parishes in the sheriff's statement is quite unintelligible. The parish of Clifford, in no "way remarkable for extent, wealth, or population, is rated at bdl. 10s. 8^., the highest in amount in the whole county, with the exception of Here- ford and Ledbury, and above the towns of Leominster, Ross, Bromyard, and Weobley. Other similar parishes are set at a much inferior value.] 38 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1625- was ' a heavy service.' The two last of these taxes had been publicly presented as grievances by the Grand Jury in 1640. 1 Yet under all disadvantages Charles was long a popular ruler. If anything went wrong, the fault was usually attri- buted to his confidants and advisers, who were not equally the favourites of the people. For himself, an unprejudiced observer might have admitted that his person and manners were graceful, though the latter were somewhat tinctured by reserve of birth and education ; that his address and accomplishments, allowing for a trifling hesitation of speech, which did not pass uncorrected, were princely and engaging ; his natural and acquired abilities above the ordinary standard, and his private life without reproach. He had qualities which would have rendered him distinguished as a subject, if Providence had not destined him to be a King. Attempts have been made to depreciate what have been claimed as the benefits of the earlier part of his administration, and to show that it was rather productive of misery than happiness ; but such representations do not seem thoroughly borne out by the memorials of the times. If appearances be sometimes mistaken for realities, yet the nation that could draw forth the following opinion from a resident foreigner must not be imagined to have either worn the aspect or experienced the difficulties of universal distress. ' It is pleasant to reside in England where everyone lives joyously, without other cares than those of his profession, finding that prosperity in repose which others are compelled to look for in action ; and, divided as they are from the rest of the world, they take the least concern possible in its distrac- tions.' 2 Certain it is that a general, it might be a superficial, air of wealth and prosperity had been diffused over the land ; but experience proves that on refractory tempers even peace and plenty are insufficient to confer happiness; since these alone can never bring content. It is undeniable that luxury and its attendant vices were upon the increase ; and that a show of austerer piety in a large class of the community rather cherished than restrained the murmurs of the discontented. And withal a restless spirit was at work that exulted in bid- ding defiance to just authority no less than to the exercise of 1 See Appendix III. 2 Mercure Francois, KJ33, art. Angleterre. Disraeli, Commentaries, iii. 31. 1640] PARLIAMENT CALLED. 39 arbitrary power, and was giving birth in some to the desire of redress, in others of revenge. Times of tranquillity had passed away, and the Scots had set an example of open, national resistance : they were irritated by an injudicious attempt to impose upon them the liturgy and ceremonies of the Church of England ; they marched their armies upon two several occasions over the borders to assert their religious independence. As they succeeded in their attempt, they taught their brethren in the south of the island a lesson that was not forgotten. Having exhausted all inventions and resources, and un- fortunately and unwisely* dismissed a well-affected Parliament, 1 the King did at length call another of these assemblies, 2 and great expectations were formed that now all the evils under which the nation had laboured would be redressed, and all the rights that had been violated would be restored. In this Parliament Herefordshire, its city and boroughs were repre- sented by the following members. For the county, Sir Eobert Harley, Knight, and Fitzwilliam Coningsby, Esquire. For the city, Eichard Weaver, and Richard Seaborne, Esquires. For the borough of Weobley, Lord Viscount Eanelagh, and Thomas Tomkyns, Esquire ; and for that of Leominster, Walter Kyrle, Esquire, and Sir Sampson Eure, Knight, Serjeant-at-Law. Weaver, universally beloved and respected, deceased in May 1 642 ; 3 and all the rest, with the exception of Harley, 4 were ultimately adherents to the King. Few writers have been able to give an unbiassed representa- tion of this assembly and its measures : they achieved so much good ; and were the authors of so much suffering : they had so many just pleas; and pushed on to such unjustifiable extre- mities. Let us place ourselves in thought for a moment in the midst of this body, and attend to the sentiments of the most temperate among them, as they were vigorously expressed at the outset by Sir Benjamin Eudyerd, one of their members : ' When foundations are shaken, it is high time to looke to the building ; he hath no heart, no head, no soule, that is not moved in his whole man, to looke upon the distresses, the miseries of the 1 The 'Short Parliament,' which sat only from April '6 to May 5, 1640. ' November 3, 1 640. 3 He had served them in six Parliaments. 4 And perhaps Eyrie ? VOL. I. * D 4 40 THE CIVIL WAS IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1640 Common-wealth, that is not forward in all that he is and hath, to redresse them in a right way. The King likewise is reduced to great straights, wherein it were undutifulnesse beyond inhumanity to take advantage of him : Let us rather make it an advantage for him, to do him best service, when he hath most need, not to seeke our owne good, but in him, and with him, else we shall commit the same crimes our selves, which we must condemne in others. ' His Majesty hath cleerely and freely put himself into the hands of this Parliament ; and I presume, there is not a man in this House, but feeles himself advanced in this high Trust ; but if he prosper no better in our hands, than he hath done in theirs, who have hitherto had the handling of his affaires, we shall for ever make our selves unworthy of so gracious a confidence.' : What moving and manly eloquence is this ! Well had it been for the nation if such wise and conciliatory counsels had been adopted and uniformly acted upon to heal and restore. Of the talent of this assembly there could be no doubt ; of the singleness of aim of some among them, as regarded the mere reformation of abuses and nothing more, the friends of order and peace had soon reason to entertain suspicion ; in their mode of conducting business they were in most respects a pattern to national councils; in many, if what is alleged of them be true, they were a reproach to themselves. They began their work with the utmost eagerness, and carried it on with unwearied activity, nor were the hopes of re- formation disappointed. In the course of twelve months from their first meeting they had removed many of the diseases of the state. Bills had been passed to regulate tonnage and poundage, 2 to abolish the courts of Star-Chamber and High Commission, to forbid the levy of Ship-money, to remove all prosecutions concerning Knighthood, and to establish the boundaries of the royal forests. Scarcely had they come to- gether when they abolished monopolies, and the Commons after- wards voted that no one who had been engaged in them should sit in their House ; they reasoned justly that such persons could not be expected to remain independent in their votes, because 1 May, History of Long Parliament, j. 75. Though the frequent quotation may in some places give this attempt the air of a compilation, it will identify us more with the times to let the actors tell their own story. 2 A duty laid upon goods exported or imported by merchants, laid on by the King without consent of Earliament. It had been the subject of a remonstrances in 1628. 16411 LORDS MARCHERS. 41 their interests were interwoven with the power from which their patents had issued. By this decision Fitzwilliam Coningsby was expelled from the Commons ; ' and the vacant seat was filled by Humphrey Coningsby his son. Among other abolitions was that of the authority of the Lords Marchers, the effects of which had been vexatious, and a subject of complaint. 2 A bill was passed 3 July 14, 1641, which was carried up to the Lords six days after, though not fully sanctioned by them till May 9, 1642, to exempt the counties of Salop, Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, and the counties of the cities of "Worcester and Gloucester, from the jurisdiction of the President and Council of the Marches of "Wales. "While this was pending some persons in the county of Gloucester had resisted, and served a process out of that Court upon Stephens, a member of the House of Commons ; but this being reported to them, they immediately interposed and sent for the parties as delinquents. 4 The inhabitants of Ludlow, where the Court was held, suffered much from the abolition of it ; and had attempted by petition to procure its restoration. 5 This Court had existed from the reign of Edward IV. The President and Council held their usual residence in the Castle and town, 6 and it was a place of great resort by suitors and others engaged in the causes. But the public interest prevailed against these considerations, and this and other changes were hailed with general approbation ; re- dress iad been legally sought and constitutionally given ; and the royalist writers insist upon it, that the correction of abuses, the concessions that had been secured from the King, and the further offers that he had made, were sufficient to have satisfied every truly patriotic and reasonable mind, and to have estab- lished the kingdom in liberty and peace. 7 1 C. J. Oct. 30, 1641, April 23, 1642. Another member expelled upon the same ground was William Sandys; he sat for Evesham. — ft J. Jan. 21, 1640-1. 2 See Appendix III. 3 C. J. June 28, July 14, 20. 4 James Green and James Kitterminster of the county of Gloucester sent for and reprimanded for their contempt in serving .Mr. Stephens, a member of the House, 'with a process out of the Court of the Marches of Wales. — C. J. July 30, 1641. The Marches were governed by particular laws, which were neither common law nor civil law. — Sequestration Papers, 2. xxiii. 254. 5 See Appendix IV. 6 At one period, however, alternately with Tickenhall, co. Worcester. ' When the Star-Chamber and High Commission Court were abolished, the King had conceded all that he had a right to concede, and to attempt to strip him 42 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1641 We of the King's party, said honest Judge Jenkins, did and do detest Monopolies, and Ship-money, and all the grievances of the people, as much as any men living. We do well know, that our estates, lives and fortunes are preserved by the Laws, and that the King is bound by his Laws ; we love Parliaments ; — if the King's Judges, Council, or Ministers have done amiss, they had from the third of November, 1640, to the tenth of January, 1641, time to punish them, being all left to justice. Where is the King's fault ? While these things were going on, Charles had been de- prived of the services of two of his confidential advisers. The Earl of Strafford had perished on a scaffold, and Laud, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, had been impeached, and sent a prisoner to the Tower of London. On the same day that his Majesty signed the bill for Strafford's execution, he also signed one for the continuance of the Parliament, that it never should be dis- solved, till both Houses consented, and public grievances were fully redressed. 1 The popular clamour, furious against Laud, was now directed against Bishops in general ; and a disposition was shown to remove them from the House of Lords, and to seize upon their temporal possessions. It has been contended 2 that the majority of the members of both Houses were not at first disaffected to the episcopal mode of Church-government ; but, if this were the case, they yielded ere long to different sen- timents, to the cry of the populace, and an increasing faction without the walls. Ever since the Eeformation a party spirit had been fostered in the Established Church which divided the members into two classes; those who in strict obedience to acknowledged authority adhered to the forms and ceremonies of the institution, and those who deemed them mere forms in which the essence of religion was little concerned, and which might in conscience be abandoned or retained. Unhappily a contest had thus been long maintained as to what ought, or ought not, to be looked upon as essential to a Christian Church. While the supremacy of the Church of Kome was acknowledged, there existed the decided advantage of a sinole head and of general unity among the members ; and if the principle of that establishment could have admitted of self-reform, such advan- of a power which all acknowledged to be inherent in his crown, upon a mere con- tingent probability of his abusing it, was justifiable on no principle but that of barefaced tyranny. — Hartley Coleridge, Bicgraphia Borcalis, 204. 1 May, i. 100. 2 Neal, History of the Puritans. r j 16+1] PUPJTANS. 43 tage might still longer have been retained. But this, owing to the uncompromising nature of that Church, was found im- possible. Accordingly, when, at the revival of learning, the Scriptures were translated and published in various modern languages, the minds of men became alienated from her ; pri- vate judgment was exercised in proportion to her endeavours to oppose it, and manifold divisions ensued. Among others the Church of England had renounced the errors of that of Eome, retaining such of her doctrines as by pious, wise and temperate judges were found to be according to the Scriptures, together with a great part of those ceremonies which consisted with simplicity and order, and the acceptance and usages of earlier and purer times ; but removing the excrescences that in the lapse of ages had grown up and deformed her : and these points being strictly attended to, enough was thought to have been accomplished. Yet there was still a party in England who objected to what had been done, and considered that the Church, as here by law established, was not sufficiently purified, especially in rites and ceremonies ; and upon this account they assumed or received the denomination of Puritans. Their numbers and interference had provoked persecution, and this, as will ever be the case, served but to increase and confirm them in their opinions. Not a few had fied from the country, and taken refuge in America, or those parts of the European con- tinent that had shaken off the papal power, where they con- tracted a further dislike to that government by Bishops under which they had suffered at home. Holland and Geneva offered them an asylum ; these were republics, and had adopted a like form of government in their ecclesiastical affairs. Scotland had also embraced a similar discipline and mode of worship, and this the Puritans laboured to introduce into England. The reigns of Elizabeth and James had been disturbed by such attempts ; and it is well known that the latter was so much alive to the consequences, that in the spirit of true prophecy, and in allusion to these attempts and the legal connexion between Church and State, he asserted, ' No Bishop, no King.' l The contest was renewed in the present reign with redoubled vigour. Within the very pale of the Church a multitude dissented from her rules and ordinances, and braved her censures. The tutors 1 See Life of Milton. He calls this expression Jesuitical in its origin ; but this epithet does not invalidate the truth of it, which was afterwards proved. 44 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1611 of certain colleges and halls in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, in the education of young men for the ministry, and others in private families, availed themselves of their oppor- tunities to imbue their pupils with Presbyterian notions ; and some of the nobility and gentry imbibed them during their service of the States in the wars of the Low Countries. The press and the pulpit lent their united aid ; nor could all the efforts of the Episcopalians, mingled with some injudicious exercise of authority, avail to restrain the growth of this spirit. At length the common people had caught the flame. They openly stigmatised the Bishops as idle and luxurious drones, cruel and persecuting tyrants, the Common Prayer as the mass- book, the surplice as the rag of popery : the cry was, the whole must be swept away, let what would be substituted instead. In this, as in other matters, almost from the beginning of this Parliament, when once the blow was struck, and votes had been passed against the Establishment, the mob outran the legislators by daring acts of disorder; they burst into churches, rudely disturbed the service, or committed excesses in pulling down the communion rails, and destroying books and vestments ; — outrages, which the Parliament, by the admission of their own apologist, ' either too much busied in variety of affaires, or (per- chance too much) fearing the losse of a considerable Party, whom they might have need of against a reall and potent Enemy, did not so farre restraine as was expected, or desired.' * While the question of Episcopacy was agitated, petitions poured in from various quarters, some desiring only a reforma- tion, others insisting that the whole fabric should be destroyed ; and many in favour of its continuance. Among these was one presented from the knights, esquires, gentlemen, ministers, freeholders, and other inhabitants of the county of Hereford. 2 It professed to set forth their desire that the existing form of 1 May, 1, ix. 113. Pym and other members are accused by Clarendon of encouraging the mobs as their friends; History of Eehellion, ii. 336. 2 See Appendix V. The exact date of this petition is not determinable : it was probably presented between January and May 1641-2; but I hare considered it best to introduce the mention of it here. It appeared in a pamphlet published at York in May of that year. To keep up appearances, the Houses sometimes summoned printers before them, reprimanded and took them into custody for publications directed against the King. But this farce was gradually laid aside. The King, who once maintained that the press throughout his dominions was his own, discovered by experience the extent of his error. The Royalists found printers in London who at first would print for them ; but the danger of so doing 1641] PETITION FOE EPISCOPACY. 45 Divine worship, agreeable to the Scriptures and antiquity, and established by many acts of Parliament, might in these troubled times be re-established and confirmed. It recounted the claims, advantages and services of Episcopacy; and prayed that it might be maintained for the preservation of order, peace and unity ; and that Cathedrals might be restored. It expressed their fears that a sudden change of this system would tend more to disorder than benefit, and their conviction, founded upon the honour and justice of the legislature, that all en- croachments or imperfections, with which the Establishment itself was not chargeable, would be duly regulated and corrected. It was subscribed by 3,826 hands. 1 Nineteen petitions in favour of the Church have been recorded as having had 100,000 signatures ; and its opponents were no less active ; 2 though, if the Eoyalists may be credited, great disingenuousness was practised on this head, by procuring lists of names to one peti- tion of a moderate character and transferring them to another of a more hostile kind. 3 If indeed it cannot be denied, that there was a great deal of art and persuasion used to get hands to petitions, and many subscribed their names who were not capable of judging of the merits of the cause, the fact at any rate suggests a warning as to the liability to abuse of this boasted privilege of Englishmen ; and the little dependence that is to be placed upon it in seasons of trouble, when it is presumed to be declaratory of the sense of the nation ; since, as to activity and numbers in revolutions, they who desire to re- main as they are, habitually confident in their position and the protection of the law, are usually less forward to show them- was soon discovered : they became intimidated. The London press was restrained to the use of the Parliament, except a few publications surreptitiously got up, and sent forth without the printer's and publisher's name and abode. The King's press, having been for a time established at York, became for the most part con- fined to Oxford. 1 [One hundred and fifty ministers subscribed it. ' The Muster Booke of the Clergie in the Diosses of Hereford taken the 6th of October 1608,' among the Scud. MSS., gives 147, including the Bishop and Cathedral clergy, but not the Shropshire Archdeaconry. There are now about 210 incumbents in the Arch- deaconry of Hereford, exclusive of the Cathedral clergy.] 2 Neal, i. 676. An endeavour to get up a petition for Episcopacy in the county of Gloucester seems to have failed. From a copy of it in the writer's possession it appears to have been signed only by ten of the gentry, and to have been aban- doned. — Scud. MSS. 3 Clarendon implicates the Puritan preacher Marshall iu this dishonourable transaction ; i. 204. 46 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. ["1641 selves than they who would subvert and destroy. Upon the style of some of these addresses, and the tumultuous manner of delivering them, Waller the poet, member for Andover, thus expressed himself: — I see some are moved with a number of hands against the Bishops, which, I confess, rather inclines me to their defence : for I look upon Episcopacy as a Counterscarp, or outwork, which, if it be taken by this assault of the people ; and withall, this mystery once revealed, That we must deny them nothing, when they ask it thus in troops, we may in the next place, have as hard a task to defend our property, as we have lately bad to recover it from the Prerogative. If by multiplying hands and Petitions they prevail for an equality in things ecclesiastical, the next demand, perhaps, may be lex agraria, the like equality in things temporal. 1 There was more truth in these observations tban the majority of his bearers were then, perhaps, willing to believe. From this general view it may be seen that the alarm ex- pressed in the Hereford petition had not been groundless, as to the innovations that were contemplated in the Church, and the confusion that might be introduced thereby. Particulars may confirm it. A bill for disabling Bishops from intermeddling with secu- lar affairs, which would of course exclude them from sitting and voting in the House of Peers, had been brought forward in March 1640 -1, passed in the Commons, but thrown out by the Lords. 2 The authors of it, undiscouraged in their attempt, re- newed it in a more determined form, by bringing in another for their utter abolition, together with that of Deans and Chapters. Sir Benjamin Eudyerd spoke in defence of the latter, and Pury, a zealous Presbyterian, one of the members for the city of Gloucester, and others distinguished themselves on the opposite side. At length it was resolved, ' That all Deans, Deans and Chapters, Archdeacons,Prebendaries, Chanters, Canons and Petty Canons, and their officers, shall be utterly abolished, and taken away out of the Church.' 3 Besides the attack that bad been made upon Laud, other members of the bench of Bishops had been individually assailed. Informations of a grave nature were laid, not only separately against those of Ely, Bath and Wells, and Durham, but against all, thirteen 1 Old Parliamentary History, ix. 348. 2 May 1 Juno 3 1G41 3 0. P. II ix. 372. 1641] PROCEEDINGS AGAINST BISHOPS. 47 in number, who, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been concerned, at a Synod held in 1640, in framing the new Canons, which had given signal offence. Serjeant Wilde, one of the knights for Worcestershire, prepared and brought up their impeachment, 1 including Doctor George Coke, the Bishop of Hereford. 2 As yet they had not determined to deprive them of their votes ; but were proceeding eagerly against them, when a recess took place in September, during which the King went into Scotland. The state of affairs in the recess, says a contemporary and an actor, 3 seemed like a calm ; but soon broke out into hideous storms, which threatened the long-enjoyed peace of the kingdom. Both Houses met again, 4 and renewed their dis- cussions upon the Church. Soldiers from the army disbanded in the North came to Westminster demanding their pay. Just at this time too the Irish rebellion broke out, and added to the variety of distraction. The King returned from Scotland : 5 the city of London invited him to a banquet, where he was received with unusual splendour and demonstrations of attach- ment, the whole population vieing with each other, as he passed through the streets, in the most extravagant expressions of affection and joy. Charles was ready to think himself the happiest of princes ; but a few days were sufficient to put an end to the delusion. By lecturers and pamphleteers the public mind had been wrought into a high state of excitement, which at first took a loyal, but unfortunately not the only turn ; for, proceedings having been recommenced against the Bishops, and that order having been severely censured in the bitter Eemonstrance that the Commons presented to his Majesty, the mob again rushed forward, and were permitted to play their part ; and the same city that but just before had sent out its joyful thousands to bless and welcome their Sovereign, now poured them forth to dismay him with licentious uproar. The 27th of December was the day on which these irregu- larities reached to an alarming height. The city apprentices assembled in great numbers : the multitude obstructed the avenues leading to the Houses ; and it was with difficulty and hazard that the members could proceed to the discharge of their duty. The air resounded with cries of ' No Bishops ! — 1 August 4. 2 0. P. H. ix. 467. ' Whil eloclce. 4 OetoLcr 20. ' Novemkr 2o. 48 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1641 down with the Bishops ! ' Williams, the Primate of York, a man of a hasty turn, laid hands upon a youth who was foremost among the rioters, intending to have him committed to prison ; but he was rescued by his companions, and the attempt had nearly cost the Archbishop his life. A party of reformado officers, who had been serving in the army against Scotland, were lodging about Whitehall. Among them were Colonel Thomas Lunsford, and Captain David Hide ; these drew their swords, and some apprentices and citizens were wounded, Hide exclaiming that ' he would cut the throats of those round- headed, cropped-eared dogs who bawled against the Bishops ; ' but he was apprehended, and brought before the House of Commons, who sent him to prison. Of Lunsford accounts somewhat differ, though most have described him as a soldier of desperate character and profligate manners, once an outlaw ; and the pamphleteers transformed him into a bugbear devour- ing children, for nothing was too monstrous or absurd to be re- ceived by the people. Charles had appointed him Lieutenant of the Tower ; but the Commons had just procured his removal, as brutal and barbarous, and one in whom, according to their favourite expression, they could not confide. Hide was pro- bably less known, but we shall find reason to conclude that of him there could be only one unfavourable opinion, and with both of them we shall be better acquainted hereafter. Eioting continued at Westminster ; and it may seem hardly credible that the leaders of the Commons were rather gratified than annoyed by it ; though some of the members agreed with Waller in expressing their aversion to such illegal assemblies, and expatiated upon the danger of suffering them to continue. 1 The King would gladly have joined in suppressing them ; the Lords declared their disapproval of them, and invited the other House to unite in some method of putting an end to them : but the Commons returned at first no answer, then an indecisive one ; and, what clearly showed their feeling as to this matter, they even appointed a committee to enquire into the apprehen- sion of some of the rioters, with a power, should it be thought fit, to release them. And thus, under a system of connivance and encouragement rather than restraint, the mob revelled with more or less violence for several days. 1 Seo speeches of Smith and Hyde, October 18, December 29.— P II. x 22, 12G. 1641] BISHOPS IMPEACHED. 49 The Bishops themselves undesignedly helped to put an end to the outcry raised against them, and to procure their own ex- clusion from the House of Lords, when their presence for the maintenance of their disputed rights seemed most necessary there. As they were in fear of their lives from the assaults of those who watched and waited for them in their passing to and fro, they adopted in the hour of intimidation a hasty resolution suggested to them by the Archbishop of York, upon whose ex- perience in usage and precedent they implicitly relied. Eleven of them, and he the twelfth, withdrawing to his house, signed a document, wherein they stated that, being prevented by violence from attending in Parliament, they protested against any votes and resolutions that should pass in their absence as null and void. 1 The results of this measure were directly the reverse of what was intended. It placed a fresh weapon in the hands of their enemies ; and deprived them of the support of their friends. Hitherto the greater part of the Lords had been in their favour, but such was the surprise and indignation with which it was received, that even these pronounced it to contain matter of high and dangerous consequence, and communicated it imme- diately to the more irritable Commons. Thus within an hour and a half it was resolved to accuse the twelve prelates of trea- son for endeavouring ' to subvert the fundamental laws of the realm, and the very being of Parliaments ; ' and Serjeant Orlyn was sent up to the House of Lords with their impeachment ; desiring that they might be sequestered from Parliament, and put into safe custody. They were accordingly without delay sent for as delinquents by the Usher of the Black Eod, brought to the bar, and informed of the charge against them. Ten of them were committed to the Tower, two only on account of their age and infirmity being excused. More than a fortnight had elapsed when they appeared again to answer to their accusation. 2 - Each for himself now pleaded ' not guilty ; ' and all desired a present or a speedy trial, which was fixed for the 1st of February ensuing. On the 7th of that month a bill was passed to deprive them of the power of voting ; and Sir Eobert Harley, one of the chief patrons of Presby- terianism in the House of Commons, 3 was the willing bearer of a message to the Peers expressive of their happiness in the con- ' December 30. 2 January 17, - Neal, ii. !)7. VOL. I. E 50 THE CIVIL "WAR IK HEREFORDSHIRE. [1641-2 currence of both Houses, with a request that some Lords might be sent to the King, humbly to intreat him that he would be pleased to crown this bill with his royal assent, ' as one of the chiefest means of giving satisfaction to men's minds, and exceedingly conducing towards settling the distractions of the kingdom.' ' His Majesty complied with great reluctance as a sacrifice to peace, which altogether failed. It was almost the last bill that he signed ; and is said to have been the only law that he sanctioned to the prejudice of the Established Church. 2 Their trial being deferred, they were at length bailed, though not immediately liberated, 3 their sureties answering ' body for body' for their appearance. On the 19th of February it actually began, but after the proceedings had been opened, it was postponed to the 24th, and on that occasion they prayed that they might be heard by their counsel in point of law. The committee for managing the evidence against them had been directed to draw a bill of extreme rigour for forfeiting the profits of their estates temporal and ecclesiastical, and placing them at the disposal of the Parliament, for imprisonment of their persons during life, and disposal of all the livings that might fall within their gift. They could have stripped them of little more, saving their garments and their existence ; and all this was done before trial held or sentence passed. Little could be said in vindication of their political error ; 4 yet they might well think it hard measure for a questionable and hitherto unjudged offence arising rather, as it appeared, from defect of judgment than deliberate purpose. Their fate was, however, so far mitigated, that when put to the vote, it was determined that the Archbishop of York in particular should not forfeit the inheritance of his temporal estates ; but that all of them should be deprived of the profits and issues of their lands during their lives ; and it was hinted, by way of proposi- tion for consideration, that the annual allowance of that primate should be 100L 5 Upon another occasion more liberal allowances were proposed for the whole of them ; but they still lingered in confinement, and petitioned to be enlarged upon bail. 6 In the pressure and variety of weighty matters then in hand, they seemed as captives in whom those who had them at their dis- 1 0. P. B. x. 278. ^ Neali ; x 763 , FeK 16> Q p H x _ 2gs 4 Collier vindicates them, Eccl. Hist. viii. § 819. * March 31. « April 6. 1642] GEORGE COKE, BISHOP OF HEREFORD. 51 posal took little further interest, cast aside and for a while for- gotten. So that hardly any notice was taken of them for a whole month, till in May a bill was sent up from the Commons for the forfeiture of their lands and estates, and for their punish- ment. But a gentler feeling towards them returned ; a petition for their release was followed on the next day by their being admitted to bail ; l and after eighteen weeks' confinement they were dismissed to their respective dioceses. Such was the end of this affair, thus minutely detailed as showing the temper of the times, and more particularly as in- volving the Bishop of Hereford, to whose case the application of it is as follows. Unfortunately he was one of those who signed the protestation, and was therefore entangled in the whole process, an individual of an inoffensive character, to say no more of his higher qualifications, than whom no subject could have been more purely averse from thought of treason. Of him, as one instance out of the many, it might have been asked, in the words of the satirist, when the charge was pre- ferred, — Did not Serjeants Glyn and Maynard To make good subjects traitors strain hard ? But these were days in which language came to be strangely misapplied, and things themselves confounded. A scurrilous writer, who attacked all the reverend prisoners in an abusive, rhyming pamphlet, went still further, and placed the Bishop in the very core of the crime. I' th' heart o' th' Treason, now comes Geo. Hereford, No tongue or pen, his basenesse can record. 2 Yet that no more than such general undefined calumny could be raised against him, at a season when truth was so un- sparingly sacrificed to party fury, may amount to commendation of one whose good and honourable name has descended to his posterity in Herefordshire without a stain. 3 When brought 2 The Apprentices Advice to the XII Bishops lately accused of Treason Qc. 1642. This pamphlet was in imitation of a lampoon that had been published by the Scots against their Bishops. 3 Prynne in his Antipathic (ii. 237), bitter as he is against the Bishops, can find nothing to say against the Bishop of Hereford, except that he had a hand in the Canons. See an account of him in Lloyd, Memoires, 600 : ' a serene and quiet man above the storm.' e 2 52 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 upon his knees at the bar of the Lords on the night of December 30, he calmly answered in his turn, like a man unconscious of evil intention, but unwilling to commit himself by a vindication premature and unprepared, that * when the time was fitting he would make his humble answer to that charge, but desired to say nothing for the present ; ' and he was accordingly taken back to the Tower, and reproduced with the rest upon their several public exposures. In the discussions as to their future annual allowances it was proposed that his income should be 500Z. 1 The bail required for him was 5,000Z. ; his securities were Marmaduke Eoydon, of London, merchant, and Edward Slater, of London, gentleman ; the condition was, that within three days after summons at his house or lodging, he should appear before the Lords in Parliament ; 2 and this being settled, he was dismissed, like the rest of his brethren, to his diocese ; 3 where it may be concluded, so long as the city and county of Hereford were occupied by the King's troops, he continued for the most part to exercise his functions without molestation ; for there the loyal clergy for a time were exempt from those vexa- tions which fell to the lot of such as were under the more immediate grasp of the Parliament. Neither was Coke ever called again to London ; nor is he much alluded to till towards the conclusion of the war. 4 For the present the points of in- timidating and humbling the heads of the Church had been thoroughly attained; but though an inclination to interfere with its possessions had been manifested, the hour for laying hands upon the spoil was not as yet arrived. While the Bishops were thus disposed of, other reforms were rapidly proceeding in matters connected with the Establishment, and for this purpose they were preparing to call together an Assembly of Divines, at Westminster. In all these actings the influence of the puritanical clergy was most conspicuous ; 1 c - J - A P ril 6- ^ Lords j mrna i St May 6 9 I find also this instance of consideration towards him, which shows that he did not quit London immediately.— Ordered, That the Bishop of Hereford hath leave to go and see his wife, being sick. L. J. May 21. « George Coke, Bishop of Hereford, was fifth son of Richard Coke of Trusley, co. Derby, and Mary, daughter and sole heir of Thos. Sacheverell of Kirkby, co. Notts. He was of a knightly family, which had continued in the same house and in the same means for at least 400 years, haying often been Sheriffs, and matched to all the best families in the county. He was consecrated Bishop of Bristol, 1633, Hereford, 1636, died, aged 76, December 10, 1646, and was buried in the chancel at Eardisley, co. Hereford. 1642] TOMBES OF LEOMINSTER. 53 and a candid reviewer of their proceedings might remark that their zeal to remodel the Church to their own republican scheme of perfection would have been commendable, had it been more discreetly directed, or exerted in a better cause. These were of the Genevan school of doctrine and discipline, men who had for the most part set their hands to the articles of the Church, and sworn to conform to her ceremonies. Some had been displaced by the Bishops, but others had continued in their benefices, having changed their minds, dissenters in the Church, and setting its rules at defiance ; among them also were said to be characters of a still more questionable description, New Englanders, and such as had never been regularly ordained. John Tombes, Bachelor in Divinity, and Vicar of Leominster, born at Bewdley in Worcestershire, and educated at Magdalene Hall in Oxford, a scholar and of no mean talent, 1 had become an Anabaptist. From the pulpit he told his hearers that the Church was corrupt, and insinuated that his superiors and brethren were blind and evil guides, that the prelatical party were guilty of the sins of the Pharisees, and that nonconformity was no offence. He argued against altars, rails and crosses, organs, copes and surplices, the heartless worship of the service- book, Godfathers and Godmothers, the mode of administering Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, maintaining that cere- monies fostered popery, ignorance and superstition, and dis- couraged the profitable preaching of the Gospel. It may be conjectured what the state of that parish, as to unity, must be under such a guide. Tombes, however, though' an acute dis- 1 Such was the reputation of Tombes that he was patronised both by Lord Scudamore and Sir William Croft. To the former, as a patron of literature, he dedicated one of his works ; and the latter, one of the most sensible men in the county, was so pleased with his discourses that he is said to have built, or per- haps rather he occupied, a house in Leominster for the satisfaction of attending his church. But nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of these two persons than the cause which Tombes afterwards espoused. [And Tombes lived to modify some of his opinions. Anthony a Wood tells us (ii. 558) that after the Restoration, 'set aside his Anabaptistical positions, he was conformable enough to the Church of England, would frequently go to common -prayers and receive the Sacrament at Salisbury, and often visit Dr. Ward, Bishop of that place, who re- spected Tombes for his learning. Dr. Sanderson, sometime the learned Bishop of Lincoln, had a great esteem for him, and so had one of his successors, Dr. Barlow. .... He seemed to many to be a very pious and zealous Christian, and would never be violent, especially in his latter days, against any party that was opposite to his opinion, but be charitable and complaisant.' He died at Salisbury, 1676, aged 73.] 54 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 putant, was of a mild and gentle disposition, and had been much beloved among his people ; and at first urged these his opinions with a degree of moderation that was not to be found everywhere. Preaching to the times, as it has been called, was always more or less a favourite with the nation, and may be traced at least so far back as the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II. ; but now furious preaching arising out of the heat of the times was too prevalent on both sides. Yet this was not, perhaps, altogether so much the practice of the regularly beneficed clergy as of their assailants. The Lords and Commons had determined that a lecturer should be maintained in every church throughout England and Wales to preach on Sunday evenings, and once during the week, obviously to check the higher principles inculcated by the royalist divines; and to him the incumbent was to give way. In the days of Elizabeth the sagacious spirit of Hooker foresaw the probable consequences of this passion for lecturing, for the sermon rather than the prayers ; and anticipated the effects of certain doctrines pro- mulgated by these innovating instructors upon the minds of the community ; and lecturers were an object of dread and aversion to James the First. At this period the engine had arrived at its perfection, and was brought into full play. 1 For if an in- cumbent hesitated to admit such an one to teach his parishioners, probably contrary to what he himself had conscientiously taught, he was adjudged contumacious, voted a delinquent, fined or de- prived. So that numbers of them acquiesced, either through fear of losing their livings, or in the vain hope of temporary peace. It was not likely that the task of Church reform or sub- version could languish when such labourers were in the field. As the work advanced, in all quarters the attacks were fre- quently renewed in public by those who were selected to hold forth before large congregations on Fast and Thanksgiving days when the Houses assembled for solemn worship. Such oppor- tunities were not to be neglected ; and of the mode in which they were employed an idea may be formed from a discourse delivered during this crisis before the House of Commons by Obadiah Sedgwick, Bachelor in Divinity, eminent among them for his abilities and learning. He was contemporary with Tombes at Magdalene Hall, where they were both tutors ; and 1 Thomas Pierson of Brampton Bryan was the first that began to give lectures at Leintwardine, under the protection of Sir Robert Harley. 1642] OBADIAH SEDGWICK. 55 he had the honour of instructing Sir Matthew Hale ; he after- wards went with Sir Horatio Vere as his chaplain into Holland. On his return he became preacher at St. Mildred's parish in Bread-street, London, and was now vicar of Coggeshall in Essex. Obadiah was the eldest of three brothers, sons of the vicar of St. Peter in Marlborough, all divines and ardently devoted to the Parliament. 1 It will be borne in mind during the perusal of this specimen of oratorical vehemence that the delivery of Obadiah was proportioned to the energy of his expressions ; and it has been recorded of him that, when he preached at Saint Mildred's, it was usual with him to unbutton his doublet, that his breath might be the longer, and his voice the louder. 2 On May the 25th, 1642, he stood up before the Honourable House of Commons, at Saint Margaret's, Westminster, at a fast, and took his text from a passage of the prophet Jeremiah at the 4th chapter and 3rd verse, ' Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, breake up your fallow ground, and sow not among Thornes.' After expounding this, as inculcating in general the necessity of repentance and reformation, he applied the doctrine to his hearers, and proceeded thus : I have besides all this a particular errand from God to you, who are publike persons, and have summoned me this day unto this publike worke, me thinkes that the Lord speakes to you in some respect what once he spake to the prophet Jeremiah, Chap. 1. Verse 10. See, I have this day set you over the Nations, and over th& Kingdomes to roote out, and to full downe, and to destroy, and to throw downs. And blessed bee the Lord, and blessed bee your soules, and blessed be your endeavours, that notwithstanding the infinite difficulty of the worke, and the Malignant contrariety you meet with, yet your hearts are undaunted and resolved to finish the work, as Honour- able, as ever Parliament undertooke, and as profitable to Church and State, as ever Christians enterprised, your armes shall bee made strong by the blessing of the Everlasting Cod of Jacob, let 1 Obadiah was torn at Marlborough about the year 1600. He died June 9, 1657, and was buried at Ogbourn St. Andrew. — Collectanea Topographica, v. 262. For an account of him as well as of his next brother John who went with the Earl of Stamford to Hereford, see Wood, Athena, ii. 33, 217. 2 Mercurius Aulicus, Oct. 22, 1643. — Birkenhead, in this publication, asserts of the Sedgwicks that they had the personal peculiarity of only four fingers upon one hand. The scurrility which distinguishes that writer might render his statement more than doubtful, were it not admitted by a writer on the other side. 56 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 popish and malevolent and ignorant persons say or doe what they can : Give me leave. 1. To represent unto you some pub- like plots of fallow-ground, which, you (blessed be God) have begun to breake, neverthelesse they need yet a more full break- ing up. Secondly, to present in all humble fidelity unto you some few intimations and directions. 1. The publike plots of Fallow ground which need a further breaking up, are (especially) foure. 1. The first lies directly in the valley of Rhtnom : and it is Idolatry; a piece of ground which lies too much in every Shire of this Land, what County is there where much Popery is not ? Sirs ! you must breake this ground up, or it will breake our Land up : There is not such a God- pro- voking sinne, a God-removing sin, a Ghurch-dissolving sinne, a Kingdome-breaking sin as Idolatry, the soule of God abhorres it : down with it, down with it even to the ground. 2. The second lies neare to Beth-Aven, and it is superstition ; which is but a bawd to grosse Idolatry : As rife in practise (even now) notwithstanding all that you have said and done, as if a Parliament had never opened a mouth against it : If a due and carefull inquiry bee made, I question not but you shall find in too many Churches and publike places, as many Altars, and as many Crucifixes hanging over them, and as many Tapers on the Altars, and as much bowing towards the East, and Altar, almost as many, and as much, as when you began this Parliament. 3. The third lies just upon the coasts of Egypt that Land of darknesse ; And it is ignorance, a very large circuit of ground is this ; many, many places of this land there are which lie Fallow to this day, never any Husbandman, nor Plow have entred in, to breake up those grounds : A most lamentable thing, that since Jesus Christ came into the world and since the Gospell is come into this Land, after severall scores of yeares, yet how many parishes in Wales, and in the North, and in other Counties which scarsely have enjoyed this much mercy as to heare one solid soule-working Sermon concerning Christ and salvation by him ; O Sirs ! let your hearts bleed in pitty to these poore soules ; liberties (I confesse) are precious and so are our estates, and so are bodies and lives, then what are soules ? what are precious soules ; which did cost the most precious bloud of the Lord Jesus Christ ? 4. The fourth ill plot of ground lies on Mizpah, or if you please on Mount Tabor, for there the Priests were a Net, and a Snare. Hosea. 5. 1. And this is an idle and an evill Ministry: Sirs ! mistake me not, I speake not of our Ministers indefinitely, 1 know that wee have as godly, as learned, as painefull, as profit- able Ministers as any in all the Christian world, but I speake 1642] SEEMON OF OBADIAH SEDGWICK. 57 onely of such whose speoiall gifts consist in one of these two things, either quietly to read out of a booke and discreetly to gather up their Tythes, or malevolently to discountenance all godlinesse, and raile against the Parliament. Ah worthy Sirs ! It would amaze any ingenous man to travaile such a Country as England and passing through many Parishes, this (after all) is his Diurnall, the Patron is Popish, the Minister is an idle Dunce, or else a drunkard, or else a swearer, or else a scoffer, preaching all holinesse out of his pulpit, out of his Church, out of his family, out of his Parish, and his people are like unto him, and love to have it so : And thus what betweene the Idle Minister and . the Evill Minister, the poore people never come to knowledge, or (without which knowledge never comes to any thing) they never come to the love and practise of any saving good : these are the principal fallow grounds in this Land, which need your care and paines. Now follow the Intimations and directions which I humbly present unto you. 1. Breake them up : If ever you will quit your owne soules, and the trust reposed in you, and the whole land of Judgments spiritual and corporall, If ever you desire to gaine ground in your publike intentions for good, for the Lord's sake breake up these Fallow grounds. 2. But then in the next place, goe very deepe with your plow, or else you will never breake up these grounds : the deeper the better ; As all good is most strengthened, so all evill is most crushed in its causes : Take heed of shadow-worke, and surface-plowing : Gods eyes are upon you, and so are the eyes of judicious men, which can distinguish twixt scraping and breaking, our misery will be but finely laid asleepe a while if your plow goes not deepe. Doth a little cringing move you ? O then, let grosse idolatry heate and burne your soules ! Doth boldnesse in a questioned minister displease you ? then let his grosse wickednesse stirre you utterly to disburden poor peoples soules of him : let sad complaints have quicke and full redresses ! 3. And goe over the Fallow grounds which you have broken, goe them over againe ; Tea, and againe : Fallow grounds must be often broken up with the Plow. Even the actions of the most judicious receave more ripenesse by review • by often doing wee grow into a better acquaintance with what is to be done : our first doings are rather trialls and enterprises, the second doings ever prove the best worke : Besides that, our affections also are oftimes too quicke for our eyes, the desires of doing some good may out- runne the due search of much evill : Adde yet further, That in- grained diseases are not easily stirred, much less destroyed by one 58 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 potion ; evills long in gathering, and much baked into, and setled in a State or Church, are not so suddenly cured as vulgar people in their haste imagine : Shall I speake one thing more ? There is as much Art almost as sinne, as much guilt, as Guiltinesse : The Lawes are ingenuous but offenders are fraudulent and Subtile : Sirs ! you deale with bold offenders, and with cunning offenders too, which (if you looke not the better to it) will quite delude and frustrate all your Religious and pious intentions. Shall I tell you what I knowe, and what the Countrey sighes and sheds Teares at, that notwithstanding your Religious pittie to their soules, yet their soules are as much abused as ever : They have complained of some ill Ministers, you hearken unto them ; but in the meane time the Minister exchanging his living with another (perhaps) a far of, unknowne to the people, against whom there can bee (for the present) no legall exception, and thus they perish still for want of bread. Therefore Worthy Sirs ! Out with your plow againe, Tou are by all these after- workes much more directed how to manage and carry on your worke. 4. Lastly, Bee as earnest and active as possibly you can to send Labourers into the Field, I meane, to plant all the land with an heart-breaking ministry : All will come to nothing unlesse this bee done : Pluralities are voted downe, but what good will that bee, when all comes to but this, before that Order, one bad man had two good livings, and now two bad men have each of them one too good for them both : I will say no more unto you ; but be serious and couragious in this worke in setling of a good Ministery, with which joyne also an answerable Magistracie : This to doe, is your duty, this is your honour, this will bee our safety and happinesse, This will bee Tour great reward in Heaven. Goe on thus in this breaking-worke, and prosper : There is no man ever did any thing for God and lost by it, or to his Church but gained by it : If you will goe on with an humble and unwearied zeale, it shall shortly be said of this Parliament, These were Scot- lands Umpire, Ireland's guard and revenge, Englands preservation, The Churches safety, and religions glory. 1 If the complaints and remedies of this animated orator may have satisfied the reader that he was endued with the energies of the eagle rather than the mildness of the dove, it must not 1 Englands Preservation, or A Sermon discovering the onely way to prevent destroying Judgements : Preached to the Honourable House of Commons, at their last solemne Fast, being on May, 25, 1642. By Obadiah Sedgwieke Batchelour in Divinity and Minister of Coggeshall in Essex. . . . London, Printed by B. B. for Samuel Gellibrand, at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls Church- Yard. 1642. 16-12] POLITICAL PREACHING. 59 be imagined that he was a solitary instance of such a strain of teaching. Obadiah Sedgwick presents a lively portraiture of a large class of persons ; and though in ability he might be superior to many, in extravagance he stood not alone. What- ever may be thought of the asperity of his observations, or the real offences of those whom he would have chastised, his passionate statements and invectives convey the very impress of the principles and practices of the Presbyterians, and vigorously represent the objections and charges, under which great numbers of the ejected clergy were suffering and exten- sively to suffer. Nothing can be produced more expressive of the feelings under which they acted who advocated the cause. His discourse was much admired ; and the preacher received the usual thanks of the Commons for his care and pains. But ecclesiastical matters were not sufficient for the inter- ference of these persons : the transition was easy to political subjects, and they may naturally be thought to have had no common interest in taking this course. An acute but severe observer, giving an account of their rise and progress, affirms, ' they must preach such doctrines as may foment disloyalty, and instil such principles into their auditors as may first dispose them to and afterwards engage them in rebellion, or else they shall want bread. The truth is, military preparations had effected little, had not the fire been given from the pulpit.' Some had thought it seasonable to try what reception the doc- trine of taking up arms against the King would find among their disciples, and the experiment was made betimes. Doctor Calibut Downing, Vicar of Hackney, stepped forward to feel the pulse of the City of London. During the Scottish invasion he preached before the Artillery Company, and maintained that for defence of religion, and liberty, and for reformation of the Church, it was lawful to take up arms against the King. The Eoyalists held this doctrine to be treason, and as such language had not hitherto been deemed lawful, when Downing had kindled the flame, he withdrew to the house of the Earl of Warwick in Essex, whither preachers of this stamp were wont to resort. What he had thus thrown out was in the meantime warmly discussed, and at length, after some opposition, assented to by the rigid Puritans, as an evangelical truth. Marshall, Calamy, and Burgess, heads of that party, avowed and dissemi- 60 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 nated it ; and to this was attributed the temper of the populace during the tumults. Burgess had them so completely at his command, and was so conscious of his power, that he is reported to have boasted, pointing to the clamorous crowds, ' These are my ban-dogs, I can set them on, and I can take them off again.' 1641-2] 61 CHAPTEE III. The King attempts but fails to arrest certain members of the Commons — Multi- tudes of horse and foot bring up petitions — Style and character of these addresses — Another petition from the county of Hereford — Charles leaves London and goes to York : the Queen to Holland — He disputes about the militia with the Parliament, who vote that the kingdom should be put in a posture of defence — Notions of the Royalists as to the state and merits of the controversy — Orders and Ordinances of the Houses substituted for Acts of Parliament — Officers selected by them for the Militia — Men levied for the King under the Commissions of Array — Magazines and beacons — Sir John Hotham refuses to admit the King into Hull, and is justified by the Parliament — House of Lords prohibit their members from attending upon the King — Military preparations in London and at York — The King's guard — Resolutions of the two Houses, May 20, 1642 — Terms Malignant and Cavalier, Puritan and Roundhead — Conduct of individual members of Parliament, including those of the county of Hereford and its borough towns — Behaviour of Sir Robert Harley — Lord Keeper Littleton goes to the King — Speech of the Earl of Bristol — N-earer approach of rupture between the parties — Legal settlements and transfers in anticipation of civil war — Case of Lord Scudamore — Councils and bearing of the Royalists — Temper of the Houses — Declaration of the County of Hereford gives offence to the Commons — Picture of the distracted feelings of the moderate and impartial. It will be necessary now to return to the period of the tumults mentioned in the former chapter, to mark how the Parliament proceeded in their controversy with the King. The popular ferment had not been allayed by the committal of the Bishops to the Tower, and fresh materials were found to keep it in exercise : so that mobs had continued to assemble at West- minster, and threatened even the palace. In the King's apprehensions for the safety of the Eoyal Family he committed one of those capital errors which no future concessions could repair. Urged by a hint, perhaps insidiously conveyed to him, that a charge of high treason was preparing against the Queen, and excited, as is alleged, by some passionate expression that her Majesty employed, he went in person to the House of Commons accompanied by an escort of reformadoes, Colonel 62 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1641-2 Lunsford and others, to arrest Lord Kimbolton, Hampden, Hesilrige, Holies, Pym and Stroud, certain of their leaders, who had been formally impeached of high treason on his part, but were not so easily to be apprehended, and thrust, as the Bishops had been, unresisting into prison. They had with- drawn and hid themselves, having received intimation of what was meditated against them. It were vain to speculate on what might have happened had his Majesty succeeded, who, finding they had made their escape, withdrew baffled and confounded. Though the limits of the prerogative were not then accurately defined, hardly anyone has ventured to doubt that this was a gross infringement upon the rights of the Commons. Charles told them, when he entered among them and explained his intentions from the Speaker's chair, that there was no privilege in case of treason. The members, however, judged otherwise in this instance ; and the word ' privilege ' assailed his ears as he retired. The House highly resented the intrusion ; broke up immediately, and adjourned for several days. If in this act the Sovereign was not blameless, and paved the way to his ruin ; his friends thought, and impartial judgments have concurred in the opinion, that the fault might have been atoned for by a less penalty than the confusion and misery of a whole nation. Between this event and the King's departure from London only a short interval occurred. When the Parliament re- assembled, 1 they were greeted by organized processions and cavalcades out of the country ; and as in feudal times they who desired to strike terror and place themselves above the reach of the law surrounded themselves by crowds of retainers, so were the accused members and their associates environed by mul- titudes, their applauders and defenders, bearing humble peti- tions in their hands, and glowing defiance to opposition in their hearts. Four thousand horsemen arrived from Buckingham- shire to escort their popular member, Hampden, to the House, and they were joined by two thousand armed marines in boats, and bodies of the trained bands with eight pieces of cannon. They who had been so lately charged with treason were restored to their seats in triumph. From Kent came five or 1 January 11. 1641-2] PETITIONS. 63 six thousand petitioners in array ; J and Sussex sent up fifteen hundred with the sheriff at their head. Such strong appear- ances in their favour comforted and strengthened the House of Commons, who seemed most gratified when their table was piled by parchments brought in by these formidable bands, and they were carrying on their deliberations amidst the shouts of mobs and the tramping of horses. The subject of petitioning has already been adverted to. Historians have observed that the reign of James was one of proclamations ; that of Charles was no less remarkable for petitions ; and this period probably most fertile of all. They came from counties and cities, towns and villages, bodies incorporated and associations of all ranks and occupations, apprentices, women, porters, manufacturers ; and it has been affirmed, perhaps by way of ridicule, from beggars. In Worcestershircand Salop 2 were some who prayed that the kingdom might be put in a posture of defence, an expression of awful prognostication, which had been brought forward already in a resolution of the Commons ; but most of them rang changes upon prelates, popish lords, and wicked counsellors, ' the Achans of the Commonwealth,' to whom was attributed every difficulty of the State. All these addresses met not with the same favourable reception. If any thing- breathed a spirit of reasonable accommodation, conveyed indirect censure, however guardedly, or was couched in lan- guage that did not accord with the determination of the Houses, it was met by rebuke ; much more when any had the courage to admonish ; and in the instance of one that came from Kent, backed by influence and numbers, Sir "William Boteler and Captain Lovelace, who presented it, were placed under arrest. 3 They treated their own members with as little ceremony, when they had reason to suspect them of royalist inclinations, as in the case of Hopton and Hyde ; 4 though to 1 February 8. 2 March 2, 7. 3 [The petition, according to Clarendon (i. 486), prayed that the militia might not he exercised in that county, otherwise than according to the known law ; and that the Common Prayer Book might be observed. It was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman, and the printer punished, and the Earl of Bristol and Judge Mallet were both sent to the Tower for having seen it -while in preparation. The latter was afterwards illegally arrested while holding the assizes at Kingston, and imprisoned for more than two years on a general charge of fomenting malig- nancy.] 4 C. J. March 4, 1641-2; August 10, 11, 1642. 64 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1641-2 some, as to Ludlow and Marten, unflinching reformers, the Commons showed greater forbearance, when in their speeches they ran prematurely into violence. At the time thus fertile in petitions, one was sent up from the county of Hereford, 1 which is thus noticed in the proceedings of the House of Commons : — The House being informed, that divers Gentlemen of the County of Hereford were at the Door, who desired to present a Petition to this House ; — They were called in ; and did present the same. — And then they withdrew. — And their Petition was read. — The which being done, they were again called in : And Mr. Speaker, by the Command of the House, told them, that this House finds their Petition full of great Expressions of Duty to his Majesty, and of Love and Respects to this House and the Commonwealth (for which they give you Thanks) and full of great Concernments to the Commonwealth ; which, they command me to tell you, they will take into serious Consideration, so soon as may stand with . . . . 2 Here, whether the clerk did not catch the close of the sentence, or the entry may have experienced subsequent damage, the notice ends. Neither does it appear who the gentle- men were that presented it ; but had they been of any note, we might expect that, as usual, their names would have been recorded. It was perhaps intended as a balance to the Episcopal petition already noticed, and might have been framed by adherents and approvers of Sir Eobert Harley, to show that in a royalist county there were some who admired the conduct of the Parliament. 3 It is observable that it was sanctioned by the Sheriff, of whose politics nothing is known ; and it will be seen upon reference that it does not profess to be from a single baronet or knight. Though it inveighs against the clergy, the tone of it is moderate, compared with the usual warmth of these productions. It is addressed to the King and Parliament, but was presented only to the Commons ; and the way in which the Speaker's answer adverted to their duty to his Majesty accords with the professions of the Houses, who, in all their proceedings, however hostile, gladly sheltered themselves under • See Appendix VI. ' C. J. May i. 3 [From the letters of Lady Brilliana Harley, cxlii, cri (misplaced), cxlix, el, it appears that after some disagreement it was got up by ' Mr. Kirll and some other gentellmen,' but opposed by Sir W. Croft, and much ' mocked at '—no doubt from its want of influential support.] 1642] THE KING LEAVES LONDON FOR YORK. 65 the powerful appellation of the King and Parliament. It is remarkable also for the curious transition from matters of high public interest to that which, after all, they had uppermost in their minds, the encouragement of their staple article of produce. The petitioners applaud the successful efforts of their legislators in the correction of abuses, and are grateful for the many benefits received at their hands ; and therefore, having, as it appears, nothing next to their clergy more serious to complain of, in a conclusion that has somewhat of the bathos in it, they pray ' that they would hinder the importation of Segovia wool.' It may be seen indeed that after all this was but the main drift of the whole, though they could not make known their desires without some word of encouragement to the Parliament. Great doubts have been entertained of the necessity or good policy of his Majesty's departure from London, a measure which manifestly widened the breach, and proved a prelude to hos- tilities. Listening to the representations of the Parliament, who saw no harm in the excited state of the mobs, it must be believed that the reason he alleged was a mere pretext on his part to separate himself from them. Many who wished him well and blamed him for so doing, Sir Eichard Willis, Mr. Pierrepoint, Sir George Whitmore, Sir Henry Garraway, and the Lord Mayor, Gurney, used their utmost endeavours to dissuade him ; but he told them he was resolved. 1 The King in his manifestoes, and the greater part of his friends, have, however, uniformly asserted the risk of his continuing there. If the tumults were a sufficient ground for his retiring, it is no wonder that he should be unwilling to return. That these disorders were alarming, and that the parliamentary leaders encouraged them, seems true. For the rest we have nothing but assertions to guide us, and the problem remains unsolved to the present day. When Charles left the metropolis he went first to Hampton Court and afterwards to Windsor ; thence he accompanied the Queen to Dover on her way to Holland ; and, after her embar- kation, by easy journeys proceeded to York. There, in the month of March, he established his Court, and was attended by a great proportion of the nobility ; many of the gentry also 1 Echard, History of England, 2, ii. VOL. I. F 66 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 repaired thither from all parts of England, and some from the county of Hereford. As soon as the King had quitted London, it hecame evident that matters were verging towards a fatal issue. It is true that all communication did not immediately cease. Declarations and answers, petitions and complaints, charges and recriminations, painful to the eye and mind of the reader even at this distance of time, and into which it belongs not to our purpose to enter more minutely than mere illus- tration may require, were rapidly interchanged between the parties ; and harassed the public feelings for several months. Both sides were preparing for the worst, and wrestled hard with each other for the possession of the trained bands, forts and magazines, the sinews of the coming war. The Parliament having voted ' that the kingdom should be put into a posture of defence, the militia, the domestic force of the country, always called out under the apprehension of danger, was there- fore to be embodied and armed. The King laid claim to the direction of them as of right pertaining to the Crown ; he claimed also the forts and magazines as exclusively his own. The lawyers of the House of Commons argued apparently with more subtlety than strength against the first of these preten- sions, and with greater force against the last ; but, whatever might be the merits of these questions, his demands were resolutely opposed by the Parliament. The King openly affirmed, and the Eoyalists universally believed, and have handed it down to posterity, that this resist- ance, which they considered unreasonable and now all but rebellious, was kept up by a long-established faction that ruled the House of Commons, and the small minority of peers that co-operated with them ; the leaders of which faction Charles had attempted to arrest. They looked upon them as persons who would make little scruple of their means, provided they could gain their end ; and those means and that end were the subject of great alarm to them. They believed, and as they deemed upon no insufficient ground, that these persons stooped in secret to low arts and private intrigue ; and they had been disgusted with their open appeals to the populace. It has been seen that they were ready to admit the original merits of the parlia- mentary cause, and acquiesced or rejoiced in the fair advantages that its advocates had in the outset; but they thought the 1 March 4, 1641-2. 1642 ] OPINION OF ROYALISTS. 67 course now pursued was unjustifiable in any who really aimed at nothing but the steady, wholesome correction of abuses. They knew and acknowledged that the liberty of the subject had in times past suffered from the encroachments of the Court party ; but they apprehended that it was likely to suffer no less in new hands ; and that the opposition now on foot, if persisted in, would be satisfied with nothing short of the abandonment of Eoyalty and the overthrow of the constitution. After much concession on the part of the King they had waited with trembling anxiety for the turning point when some solid symptom of reconciliation should appear, and they observed with satisfaction how much his Majesty's compliances and show of moderation had strengthened the number of his adherents. Sometimes he offered such terms that it seemed impossible to them that his opponents should hold out ; but when the answer of the Houses came forth, framed with that species of litigious acuteness, which is expert in devices to put off the close of controversy, they saw to their mortification that some refined exception or legal evasion to a plain proposition, some difficulty newly raised, or fresh demand brought forward, some recurrence to old grievances, though amended or ready to be amended, seemed to remove accommodation to a further distance than ever. In all this they thought they discerned the purposes and practices of men who, for the most part from private and often individual causes, from ambition, or personal pique, or political and religious disaffection to the existing state of things, under the colour of patriotism, had resolved in common to run all hazards rather than rely on or come to an accord with the King ; that the object of the most designing and deeply-implicated was nothing short of revolution ; and that having already gone so far as to render it unsafe to return, sooner than give way or expose themselves to danger, they were ready to tbrow every- thing into bloodshed and confusion. They regarded them as determined at any cost or consequences to bring on such a rupture as might destroy the tranquillity of every family in the kingdom. 1 Whether in all respects their notions were correct or otherwise, and whether in many instances they might not have judged too harshly of motives and characters, has since been perpetuated 1 [An amusing illustration of the opinion which the Cavaliers entertained of the motives and proceedings of Hampden -will be found in Appendix VII.] f '1 68 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 matter of dispute. But wherever the hlame chiefly lay, among the faults on either side, there can be no doubt as to the consequences of what was now going on. And that such were the conclusions of most of the inhabitants of Herefordshire, who took an interest in these political scenes, and reasoned upon these public characters and this aspect of events, our narrative and the authorities upon which it is founded may furnish ample proof. To give any further the history of their opinions, independently of such particulars, were merely to repeat what the writers of their own side have handed down to us. But if the statement here made out should appear to lean too much to one part of the question, it will be recollected that we are recording the feelings and acts of a royalist population, none of whose representatives appeared to be now taking a prominent share in the debates and business of the House of Commons, except Sir Eobert Harley ; and his conduct certainly was regulated by his own affections and judgment rather than by the general sense of his constituents. The established method of legislating for the country by Acts, in which it was requisite that the King should concur with the Lords and Commons, was now laid aside, since his Majesty was at a distance from them, and little disposed to sanction their measures. 1 But they found a ready method of effecting their purposes by passing Orders and Ordinances, published under their own exclusive authority, for which they pleaded certain antique, doubtful and inapplicable precedents, and the expediency and necessity of the hour. These, framed occasionally with great rapidity, and attended with little delay in passing through the Houses, they issued abundantly ; still, though the King protested against them, where they could enforce them in places under their grasp, such ordinances ac- quired the vigour and effect of laws. 2 The note of preparation that had been sounded for putting the kingdom into a posture of defence was seconded, as we have observed, by taking steps 1 For the King's opposition to Ordinances, and his mode of expressing it, see L. and C. J. March 16, 1641. 2 As they never had the King's concurrence, it is plain that, though they might have the power and effect of a law over such as chose or were driven by hard ne- cessity to obey them, they were never invested with any constitutional authority. In this, as in many other instances, the Parliament violated the constitution while they professed to save it. See Warwick, Memoires, 168. One sweeping Act of Charles II. set them all aside. 1642] LORDS LIEUTENANTS. 69 for calling out the militia, which the Parliament determined to get into their own hands. For this purpose they had nomi- nated Lords Lieutenants and Deputies of their own, none of whom were officially recognised by the King. In the selection of these officers they seem to have acted with much sagacity; and if conjecture as to the motive be just, it looks like a stroke of minute but not unobservable policy, that the Lord Dacres should first be appointed Lieutenant for the County of Hereford, 1 who seems to have had no connexion with it ; and that Sir Walter Pye, of the Mynd, 2 resident and influential on his estates there, should be nominated a deputy-lieutenant for the county of Bedford, where his landed property, though ample, was of inferior consequence, and he might have been more easily balanced and controlled ; and lastly, that when Lord Dacres fell sick, the Earl of Essex should be fixed upon as Lord Lieutenant for Herefordshire, where he had less property than elsewhere, but from his stern opposition to the principles of the county would be likely to act without fear or favour among them. But all this, if actually the fruit of design, proved use- less. In many cases, where the influence of the Parliament was predominant, volunteers had early been encouraged to embody themselves ; and subsequently the militia were called out and armed by the Lord Lieutenant or his deputies ; and in such instances the royal Commission of Array, being anticipated, 1 C. J. Feb. 10, 1641-2. 2 In the continuation of this history it would have appeared that Sir W. Pye lived till about the Restoration in poverty and obscurity. In the church of Much Dewchurch, in •which parish the Mynd is situated, is a monument recording the death of the father of Sir W. Pye, Attorney of the Court of Wards, and his wife, and containing also a record of their children : but of the eldest of them, Sir ~W. Pye, the Royalist, no burial-place is there to be found. His estates passed into other hands, and no memorial or inscription exists to tell us where he is laid. Had other records been wanting, the epitaphs of the country at this period would have told the tale of civil fury. Few save those of the Royalists have descended to us from the Restoration, and these are fast diminishing. In them may be seen that, next to their Christian hopes, and first among their social virtues, they placed the record of their loyal duty upon these memorials of the departed. Not unfrequently they contained the history of their sufferings by war, and their death in the field. They held that obedience to their King was next to their fear of God: upon their deathbeds they comforted themselves with the recollection that they had fought on the right side : and as to mere worldly repu- tation, many a one thought it enough for his fair fame with posterity, if he was styled upon his monument AN OLD CAVALIER. 70 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 could hardly prove other than a failure ; but where the King's authority prevailed, as in Herefordshire, it was the ready means of bringing out the force of the county. Such commissions were addressed not only to the Lord Lieutenant and his deputies, but to the sheriff, and such of the gentlemen of the county as were declared supporters of the royal cause. 1 In this case Sir "Walter Pye declared for the King, and accepted his Majesty's commission ; and the Earl of Essex was soon otherwise em- ployed. It signified little who might be the nominal Lord Lieutenant or his representatives in Herefordshire, for the royal Commissioners of Array once appointed carried all before them. The county militia or trained bands, soon to be called forth under this commission, had been several times embodied and exercised during this reign. There had also been a troop of horse, furnished by those who held their lands by knight's service, of which for many years Lord Scudamore had the command: his first appointment is dated February 11,1619, and they were still kept together so late as 1634, or till their captain was sent ambassador to France. Of the foot, as they had been mustered at distant and irregular intervals, it could not be expected that many of those who had composed so variable a body would be much acquainted with military discipline, or that they could act at all as a whole ; though on former occa- sions they had the advantage already mentioned of being trained at the expense of the county, by soldiers sent down from the government, who had seen the service of the Low Countries, and were expert in arms. Every county of England contained a magazine, in some convenient and secure situation, wherein were deposited, if not the common equipments of these bands, at least the military stores for their use in case of training or emergency. Some- times the armour of their officers was laid up in them. The magazine at Warwick was in the castle ; 2 that of Worcester- shire partly in and about the cathedral, and partly at Droit- wich; those of Salop and Monmouthshire in their respective county towns ; and that of Herefordshire in Saint Owen's gate in the city. Upon an enquiry into its contents at the beginning of this reign, the armourer reported 3 that he had in his custody 1 Sanderson, History of Charles I. 538. * It had been in the city of Coventry, but was afterwards removed.— L. J. July 9. 1 The enquiry was from the Privy Council through the Lord Lieutenant, the 1642] CHARLES RESISTED AT HULL. 71 1,206 pounds of powder, 926 of match, and 3,928 of lead ; and this might be an average of what was usually deposited there. The state of the beacons was also examined. The principal Herefordshire beacon stood upon that eminence of Malvern Hills which still retains its name. The form of these ancient and simple instruments of alarm is well known> and may be seen in heraldic emblazonments. They consisted of a lofty post with a contrivance of rude steps to ascend towards the top, from which was suspended by chain and pulley a pan drawn up by a rope and containing combustible materials for firing. This Herefordshire beacon was placed under the care of the chief constable of the hundred of Eadlow, resident at Ledbury, whose office it was to keep the machinery in repair, and pro- vide the requisites for firing it, the expense being defrayed by the county. 1 But the principal magazines of the kingdom were those at the Tower of London, at Portsmouth, and Hull. In the latter had been laid up all the military equipments of the recent enterprise against the Scots, when the army employed upon that service was disbanded. The Parliament took timely care to secure the whole, and gave them in charge to governors of their own choice ; they also appointed the Earl of Warwick Vice- Admiral of the fleet. 2 When the King perceived that they had laid hands upon the royal navy he thought it time to look to his magazine at Hull. Sir John Hotham, a member of the Commons, and one in whom they placed great reliance, was governor of the place. Charles rode thither from York ; but Hotham closed the gates of the town upon him, and from the ramparts refused his Sovereign's command to admit him. 3 Upon this transaction a caricature appeared some time after in London, representing the Governor on horseback on the walls, and his Majesty on foot before them ; this print was noticed in the House of Commons, and prohibited ; and the inventors, if discovered, were to be subjected to condign punishment. 4 But they had themselves brought the King's authority gravely into Earl of Northampton. He waB Lord Lieutenant of Warwick, Worcester, Here- ford and Gloucestershires, and President of the Marches. His residence was in Ludlow Castle. The stock seems to have been apportioned between the city and county, by another document, but no such division is stated in this inven- tory. -Scad. MSS. (Feb. 14, July 10, 1626). 1 See Appendix VIII. 2 April 4. 3 April 23. * C. J. June 10. 72 THE CIVIL WAR IS HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 contempt by publicly justifying Hotham, 1 and by sending down the Earl of Stamford and the Lord Willoughby of Parham, with a committee of the Commons, to his assistance ; and where- as his Majesty had declared him a traitor, and by special messenger had complained to them that his own rights and dignity allowed him by the laws were violated, they voted in return that such declaration on the part of the King was a high breach of the privilege of Parliament, contrary to the liberty of the subject, and the laws of the land ; yet at the same time they excused themselves to him with show of humi- lity and reverence ; and pleaded that what had been done was not intended as any affront to him, but merely to preserve that town and the militia and navy from his wicked counsellors. They told him that his interest in towns, arms, or the kingdom itself was not of that kind that private men have in their goods to sell or dispose of them at pleasure, but only as entrusted to him for the good of all; and that they were the only judges, and should be the only advisers of what was dangerous, or useful, or lawful in such cases for him or them to do. It became evident that, unless he would submit to this reasoning, disputes were endless, and no good understanding could arise. The justification of the act of Hotham was, however, but a small step in the general encouragement held out to save harm- less all who would venture to oppose the King. Announcing his intention of keeping the festival of Easter and St. George's day at York, he had sent for the Earls of Essex and Holland, officers of his household, 2 and Knights of the Garter, to be present there. This, after consultation with the House of Lords, they declined, and when he expressed his surprise and displeasure at their refusal, and ordered them, if they should persist in it, to resign their posts, the Houses declared that the attendance of these noblemen among them was required for the service of the commonwealth ; and that their refusal was no disobedience ; that the command of the King, or his license to discharge them from attendance in the House of Lords, contrary to the orders of that House, was a high breach of privilege, and ' what person soever shall accept of either of these offices thus taken away, until satisfaction be given to both Houses of Parliament, shall 1 April 28. 2 Essex was Lord Chamberlain of the-Household : Holland, Groom of the Stole. 1( 542] MAJOR-GENERAL SKIPPON. 73 be accounted to do an ignoble act, and to offer an affront to the Parliament, and thereby to render himself unworthy of any place of honour or trust in the Common-wealth.' l So in the case of Captain Philip Skippon, an excellent officer, bred in a foreign school of war, and Sergeant-Major General of the forces of London, whom Charles attempted to detach from their service : 2 he had received a letter from the King commanding him, all excuses apart, to repair to York. Skippon refused, and com- municated the letter to his employers, and was taken under the immediate protection of the Parliament. Being examined in the House of Commons, he made answer in his plain way, ' I am not the King's sworn servant ; nor am I bound by any special service to his Majesty, that I know of: I never had the honour so much as to be admitted into his presence.' 3 They then re- solved upon the question, that for his Majesty, at his pleasure, to command any freeborn subject to attend his person, not being bound thereto by special service, is against the law of the land, and the liberty of the subject; that in this case it was contrary to the privilege of Parliament ; and that Captain Skippon should continue to attend their service according to the order of both Houses. When this was sent up to the Lords for their concurrence, they were startled with an apparent over- sight in it. They asked, 'How is it against the law of the land, and the liberty of the subject, for the King to command any subject to attend at his pleasure ? and, do not the words " but such as are bound by special service," contradict that vote, wherein it was resolved, that some Lords should not attend the King, though they were his household servants ? ' But the Lords, few in number, 4 were not now exactly their own masters ; the inconsistency, if such it were, was passed over ; and in this way, whatever may be thought of their interference with the Sovereign in his domestic concerns, they seemed to have taken the honour of the Peers into their own keeping, and to have made the subject's will the measure of his allegiance. The precedent was soon improved upon to an immeasurable extent among all classes of society, and under such patronage resistance flourished and abounded. These^decisive measures had been accompanied by repeated 1 C, J. April 13. * He was Commander of the Guards of the Parliament. 5 C. J. May 17. 4 Not a fifth part remained in the House. — Clarendon, i. 647. 74 THE CIVIL WAS, IN HEREFORDSHIRE. ["1642 declarations that they would put into execution their own ordinance for the militia, having rejected a bill offered them by the King, by which he would have divided his authority between them ; but they were satisfied with nothing short of the sole command. They taxed him with listening to wicked counsels, which had endeavoured to set the kingdom in a flame ; spoke of suppressing the malignant party, and called upon him to return to his Parliament. They also began to make show of military preparation. The exercises of the Artillery Ground in London, upon the revival of which the continuator of her historian congratulates the citizens, and which had often called forth much satirical mirth, 1 began to assume a formidable appearance. At the very time when the messenger from Charles was on his way to Skippon, that officer was at the head of 12,000 of the Londoners in Finsbury fields. 2 The display of that day was striking and significant ; and the members of both Houses attended to countenance and give life to the undertaking. It has often been questioned to which of the parties may be attached the blame of beginning the war, and both have wished to shift the odious burden from their shoulders. Whitelocke, one of those who voted for the ordinance to settle the militia, has insinuated that the greater part of the Commons were led into it by the solemn protestation of the most powerful and active members, that they had not the least purpose or intention of any war with the King, but to arm themselves for their necessary defence ; 3 and that this was the reason why so many consented to be deputy-lieutenants under them. But the Lord Keeper Littleton, who had also hitherto acted with them, and was well acquainted with their designs, in a conversation with Clarendon, told him, with reference to the progress already made, 'they would never do this, if they were not resolved to do more ; and that it could not be long before there would be a war between the King and the two Houses.' 4 So far as pre- parations are indicative of purposes, there appears to be little doubt that the Parliament took the lead in this direction, when they laid hands upon the militia. 5 The King, with his dying 1 Letter from Mercurius Civieus to Mercurius Eusticus, 1643, 6. 2 May 10. 3 Memorials, 56. ' 0. P. H., xi. 48. 5 [The commissions issued by the Parliament preceded those of the King by full four months. — Blakeway and Owen, Hist, of Shrewsbury, 416]. 1642 1 EOYAL GUAKD AT YOEK. 75 breath, disclaimed the guilt of being the immediate cause of so much misery ; and it is certain that their ordinance preceded by some weeks his Commission of Array. For a long time, during which his adversaries were accumulating arms, and exciting many parts of the kingdom, Charles had not even a guard, and only a slender retinue for his protection. But at length he sent his summons to the gentry of Yorkshire to attend him personally, for his better safety, and took measures for raising a guard. The Parliament, informed of it by a com- mittee despatched to York, who watched.- his every movement, immediately resented it ; 1 they again denied his right to command any subject to attend upon him but such as were bound by special service. ' There could be no use,' they said, ' of a guard to secure his person, considering the fidelity and care of his Parliament ; and if the trained bands, or any other his Majesty's subjects should, upon any pretence, be drawn together in a posture of war, the sheriff of such a county ought to raise the power thereof to suppress them.' Hutton, the sheriff of that county, reported, that he could find none who were assembled in a posture of war, or disturbers of the public peace. The manner in which the guard had been raised was this : the King sent his warrant to the Head Constable to summon the regiment, late Sir Eobert Strickland's ; and Captain Duneomb, who was then under the charge of delinquency, actually raised and had the command of them. Some of these were called to attend the Court as a guard for the King's person. The horse mustered about 200 strong ; about 50 were selected by his Majesty to remain with him, and the rest dismissed, to attend upon summons when required. 2 Shortly after the Houses voted, that the magazine of each respective shire in the realm of England and Wales should be presently put into the power of such Lords Lieutenants as they confided in. A declaration was set forth couched in stronger terms, with regard to the King, than any hitherto employed ; that he had broken his words and promises; had oppressed, violated the laws, coun- tenanced the rebellion in Ireland, and designed to bring up his northern army to overawe them. The words of certain resolu- tions of the 20th of May were remarkable : 3 — May 17. 2 Lord Howard's letter. — 0. P. H. xi. 44-46. The day before they boldly put forth this defiance, they had sent down 76 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 It appears, that the King, seduced by wicked Counsel, intends to make War against the Parliament ; who, in all their Consulta- tions and Actions, have proposed no other End unto themselves, but the Care of Ms Kingdoms, and the Performance of all Duty and Loyalty to his Person. Whensoever the King maketh War upon the Parliament, it is a Breach of the Trust reposed in him by his People, contrary to his Oath, and tending to the Dissolution of this Government. Whosoever shall serve or assist him in such Wars are Traytors, by the fundamental Laws of this Kingdom ; and have been so adjudged by Two Acts of Parliament ; l and ought to suffer as Traytors. The heavy denunciation of ' traitors ' had been previously applied to several of the King's advisers ; but was now more especially pointed at all the Lords who had abandoned their seats. Charles himself, as we have seen, had affixed this brand upon some of the popular leaders, though, among his numerous concessions, he had relinquished the formal charge. For him- self he disclaimed all knowledge of evil counsels and counsellors; and those around him denied all thoughts of treason or con- nexion with traitors. But neither party would give up their friends to the imputation and the punishment ; and the breach was hourly becoming wider. When once the term 'traitor' has been given and retorted by opposite parties in an extensive political quarrel, the law being not sufficiently powerful to interpose and determine the point, the sword is ready to leap out of the scabbard, and the last extremity is at hand. Seldom has it happened that any dispute of this nature can be long carried on, without the aggravation of satirical appellations, by which partisans are stigmatised and distin- guished. The followers of Charles received the title of Cava- liers, a term adopted from the Spanish, implying their affectation of gentility, their superiority in horses, and their pride ; they were also called Malignants from their opposition and the dis- tasteful character of their measures. 2 The Parliament itself did the knights and burgesses of Buckinghamshire to see their ordinance of militia there put in execution. About this time, they stopped supplies of arms or ammu- nition going to York.— G. J. May 26. ■ 2 Ric. II. 1 Hen. IV. 2 The writers of the Pari. Hist. (xi. 384) refer the rise of the words Cavalier and Roundhead to the month of July. The Parliament used the former word in their answer of July 30 to the King's charge of their appropriating 100,000£. 16-12] CAVALIERS AND ROUNDHEADS. 77 not disdain to brand them with these reproachful titles in manifestoes ; and it attracted the public observation of his Majesty. Their own adherents received the names of Puritans, and Eoundheads from the religious or political fashion of crop- ping their hair close to their ears. Neither the appellation of Cavalier or Eoundhead, whatever may be thought of the latter, was perhaps original ; but the application of them was novel, and the bitter feeling they engendered of no small importance. There was no obvious reproach in the words Eoyalist and Par- liamentarian, but there was a variety of others, often borrowed from the Scriptures, in which the popular writers indulged for the stirring up of hatred and strife. The Parliamentarians used the expression ' the cause,' as if there could be but one to which all just and honest persons could incline ; and in general when either party spoke of ' honest men,' they meant only such as were on their own side. They who had contended for mere reform, and had originally inveighed against the measures of the Court, and the abuse of the royal prerogative, being of opinion, as we have seen, that the King had gone as far as prudence would allow, perhaps in the eyes of the more uncompromising Eoyalists farther than justice could require — and observing that matters were about to be pushed to dangerous extremes, ceased or were gradually ceasing from opposition ; and many of them proved in the sequel the stoutest upholders of the Crown. The greater part of the Lords were with the King. That House was called ; and its members forbidden to go to York ; and those who had resorted thither were commanded to return ; but the King for- bade them ; and nine of them were afterwards impeached by Holies in the Commons. Many had lingered in both Houses under some faint persuasion that they might haply prove serviceable in moderating the rapidity of the torrent, while some had acted as spies for the Court. But during the months of April and May the seceders were very numerous : they withdrew either to their respective counties, as they thought it their duty, to aid the royal cause, or to mourn in secret over the approaching calamities of their country, and watch from the supplies for Ireland ; but they had previously employed it in their Propositions of June 10 : and notice is taken of a pamphlet called the Resolution of the Roundheads in C. J. Feb. 1, 1641, long before Hide used the word at St. James's. 78 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 and wait in hazardous neutrality for better times. More timid persons, who had not implicated themselves, obtained pass- ports from the Houses, and with their families sought refuge abroad. In the absence of minute record, it is hardly possible to point out, with detail and accuracy of date, the exact course adopted at this juncture by each of the representatives of Here- fordshire and its boroughs. Weaver was just deceased: a new writ had been issued out 1 for the election of a burgess to serve in his room, and the choice fell upon James Scudamore, 2 who espoused the King's side. It has been related that Fitzwilliam Coningsby had been expelled as a monopolist : his son 3 and successor in his seat was not long with them. Lord Kanelagh was on military service in Ireland. Tomkyns is among the contributors upon the propositions for subscribing money, plate, or horse to the forces then raising by them, and he gave two horses. 4 The names of Serjeant Eure and Kyrle occur inciden- tally, though rarely, in the Journals of the Commons. None of these members, indeed, appear on the list of defaulters upon a special call of the House (June 16) ; but how long each of them continued precisely to sit is uncertain, though the greater part retired as the fatal struggle advanced. 5 Yet there was one among them of more value to the Commons than all the rest that had been sent up from this quarter, — one who was always at his post, unrivalled by the most zealous and diligent of that assembly. The way in which Harley now interested himself in this controversy occasions the manifold mention of him in almost every page of this part of their Journals ; so that, to do him justice, could we be thus minute, he would not long be kept out of sight in treating of their affairs. Sometimes he appears as informing against delinquents, sometimes as an accuser of traitors. His address and self-possession rendered him a fit and frequent manager of conferences with the Lords ; and his acuteness adapted him for the business of committees. "Whatever he undertook, or was assigned to him, he pursued with energy, entering into that which he believed to be his 1 May 23. 2 Son of Lord Scudamore. — Letters of Lady B. Harley, 166. There was another of the same name, of Ballingham ; and probably another of Caradoc. 3 Then only 19 years of age. — Case of Thomas Earl of Coningsby, 46. * Scud. MSS. 5 And were at a certain period expelled for so doing. See Pari. Hist. 16 *2] EARL OF BRISTOL'S SPEECH. 79 country's cause with all the ardour of youth and the experience of age. 1 The numerous desertions from the Lords, and especially that of Lord Keeper Littleton, 2 who, having all along acted with them, unexpectedly went away with the great seal to York, 3 threw a damp upon their spirits, and moderate men on either hand were not without some hope of an accommodation. In a committee of the Lords the Earl of Bristol, who had often pleaded for reconciliation without success, took occasion to deliver a temperate and judicious speech, in which he urged the removal of misunderstandings and the application of re- medies before the season should be past. He reminded them of the superior advantages that England enjoyed. ' Wealth and plenty,' said he, ' which ever follow where trade flourisheth, are in a manner cast upon us.' He represented the tranquillity and prosperity that had prevailed under the two preceding mouarcbs, and in the present reign, until these unhappy inter- ruptions arose. This Kingdom never enjoyed so universal peace ; neither hath it any visible enemy in the world, either infidel or Christian ; our enemies are only of our own house, such as our own dissensions, jealousies and distractions have raised up. And certainly, when they are found, no other cause or uuhappiness of a state need to be sought after ; for civil discord is a plentiful source from whence all miseries and mischiefs flow. He alluded to the grievances that had been redressed, and the professions of both parties for the public welfare ; and since they were in general agreed as to what would make King and people happy, exhorted them to adopt such measures as would ensure that end. From his own experience upon the Continent he set before them the horrors and wretchedness of a civil war, and warned them against even the remotest approaches to it. If, he added, for the sins of this nation these misunderstandings 1 He gave as his share of the Parliamentary contribution 3501. in plate, and promised 1501. more and two horses. — C. J. Sept. 19. He and Tomkyns alone are set down in the list among the Scudamore MBS., at the end of which is added, ' divers others, besides such as are listed here, refused.' 2 He was a native of Munslow in Shropshire, and married the sister of Thomas Littleton of Frankley in "Worcestershire, the cousin and friend of Fitz- william Coningsby of Hampton Court. " May 22. 80 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1B42 should produce the least act of hostility, it is not almost to be believed how impossible it were to put any stay to our miseries. For a civil war admits of none of those conditions of quarter, by which cruelty and blood, among other nations, are kept from ex- tremities. ... If two armies be once set on foot here in England, either a sudden encounter must destroy one of them, or the keeping of them both on foot must destroy the kingdom. I hope therefore we shall make it our endeavour, by moderation and calmness, yet to put a stop to our approaching miseries. But these admonitions intermingled with gentle and salu- tary counsels, delivered, it is true, to a few, yet printed and widely circulated, seem to have escaped from the lips of the speaker as little attended to as if they had never been uttered. Both sides, while they interchanged messages for peace, re- garded nothing so much as to provide for the coming storm ; and it was no longer doubtful that the King would make a stand, when it was openly announced in the Commons 1 that military stores had been purchased in Holland by the sale of the jewels of the Crown. Charles continued at York attended by his small guard, which the Parliament still called upon him to disband, as a cause of jealousy and danger to the whole kingdom ; and threatened, upon his non-compliance, to employ their care and utmost power to secure themselves, and ' to pre- serve the peace and quiet of the realm ; ' a phrase expressing by contrary terms, and masking under the meekest vizard, that dire opposite which they well knew would inevitably come to pass. Butin their Eemonstrances, Protestations, Petitions, Declarations and Proclamations, there was forthwith little disguise : even in discourses from the pulpit the preachers began to speak out : fre- quent mention was made of a civil war, as a circumstance that could not be avoided ; the public ear became unhappily familiar- ised to the notion ; and recriminations were indulged in, which seemed to whet their appetite to engage. The King retained his guard ; 2 and the Parliament stopped all horses, arms and plate going to York, sent for the stores to Hull, and removed them to London. The mere anticipation of this appeared to rouse his 1 July 1. See G. J. for an account of the ammunition and officers coming over. 2 His guard in June consisted, as he says, of the prime gentry in fortune and reputation in the county of York, and one regiment of trained hands.— Clarendon, 658. 1642] TRANSFERS AND SETTLEMENTS. 81 Majesty's feelings above their usual pitch. When it was over, he remonstrated with them and complained of their conduct, — it was but loss of time and waste of words. Whether they were in the right or the wrong, it must manifestly have been but a vain thing to complain to such resolute adversaries of their own behaviour, or to seek redress from them against themselves. Amidst all the sad presages that were abroad, prudent per- sons, aware how, in the changes that would take place during an extensive convulsion, the private property of such as might be forced into action might be little respected, cast their eyes around to devise means of security ; and transfers and settle- ments were made by such as thought that some of their posses- sions might for a while be safer in other hands than their own ; and in the spoliation of a future time, when dates were closely looked into, and claims narrowly scrutinised, it was well with those whose protecting indentures bore date before June 10, the day on which the Commons voted their propositions for subscribers of money or plate, horses or arms, and from which they reckoned hostilities to have been actually determined upon. Lord Scudamore was now in London ; and so continued for eight months longer, probably in daily intercourse with members of both Houses ; for he was connected by relationship or ac- quaintance with actors on both sides, and was respected by all. Having the best means of information within his reach, and apparently in contemplation of the impending crisis, he seems to have made an attempt of this kind, to place his affairs upon a surer footing, by a deed demising large landed estates to trustees for payment of sundry debts, for securing the jointure of his wife, portioning his daughter, and providing for his son. 1 It might have been more fortunate for that family, if the in- strument had been executed before the period here named ; but so it happened, that it was signed and delivered just ten days too late to invest it with all the security that was intended. The dispute between his Majesty and the Houses went on with accelerated rapidity as the summer advanced, each laying claim to justice and the observance of law, and charging the other with the violation of them. If the King was prone to act from a feeling of personal offence ; his natural pride, or acquired gravity and self-command soon subdued it, or would 1 Thus too Lord Capel, before he engaged in the quarrel, settled his estate on Sir Edward Capel and other trustees. — Life prefixed to his Contemplations, 2. VOL. I. G 82 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 not allow him publicly to show it; except on one or two occasions when he gave way to some warmth of expression, which was industriously blazoned to the world. We can discover little of what passed in the Privy Chamber of Charles and his counsellors, so as to distinguish the tone and temper of their discussions ; ' but while to outward appearance their master in general maintained a dignified composure, those by whom he was surrounded too often carried themselves with fierce hostility, unbecoming contempt or daring defiance, whenever they came into contact with their adversaries. The defect of admittance into the details of royalist consultations is more than balanced on the other hand by the Journals of the Houses of Lords and Commons. The latter in particular about this period exhibit a melancholy want of that true dignity of spirit, — perhaps oftener a theoretical rather than an actual attribute of such assemblies, — that just and balanced pitch of soul that ought to animate the senate of a nation whose exist- ence is at stake. It may not be fair to sit too severely in judgment on those whose passions were so intensely heated : yet the eager suspicion with which they listened to idle tales, grossly fabricated plots and bare surmises, their captious, quick and vindictive disposition, tremblingly alive to censure or punish all who differed from them ; and their unwillingness to modify one iota of demand once propounded, can recommend their conduct to none but their too indulgent partisans of pos- terity. Many of them, in their private capacity, are known to have been amiable in all the relations of life ; numbers of them put forth serious pretensions to a strict observance of that religion whose practical essence consists in charity, reconcilia- tion and peace. But after all allowances that can be made, dismissing as calumny the secret arts of which their conductors have been gravely accused, and setting aside the question of their motives, which might variously be construed, it cannot fairly be disputed, since their open dealings are sufficient to confirm the belief, that they turned their backs upon more than one fair opportunity of bringing matters to a better, if not a 1 Clarendon, who might have informed us, deals in generals ; and no council took was probably kept ; though it will be found that afterwards, even in the most disturbed and difficult days of distress, the minutes of the royal councils of war were noted by the secretary, and have been preserved. The letters of the parliamentary committee at York, who saw things, however, through their own medium, lead us to the conclusion that the Koyalists were in a high state of irritation. 1642] TEMPEK OF THE HOUSES. 83 bloodless issue. Champions for conscience, law and liberty, and loudly asserting their own consequence, they hesitated not to do too much that was contrary to all of these. Upon the slightest information the Speaker's authority was granted to search private dwellings for arms, and they frequently talked of large magazines of powder and fire-arms, laid up for the use of papists and malignants. When complaint was made of offences against them, it was not always necessary that the party should be named ; the Speaker has been ordered to make out the warrant, leaving the blank to be filled up by the informer as he pleased. 1 They attached delinquency to the most trifling matters ; and sent out their officers to the most remote parts of the country, wherever they could penetrate, to "Wales and Cornwall, 2 even to York, and as it were to the presence of the King. In all quarters, like him, they had their spies : a word spoken in disrespect of them was enough to con- stitute a delinquent, before the party accused could be examined or heard in his defence. The messenger went forth and he was brought to the bar. Could it have been imagined that some slighting, coarse and contemptuous expressions employed in common conversation by an obscure person in an inn at Broms- grove in Worcestershire would be reported in the House of Commons, and that it should be thought necessary for the serjeant-at-arms to take a journey (by himself or deputy) to bring the utterer before them ? 3 that a sermon delivered at St. Paul's by a royalist divine 4 having been complained of, the censure of delinquency should have immediately been passed upon the preacher on the morrow, before his discourse had been examined, or he had been heard in his defence ? or that certain itinerant musicians singing a scurrilous song to their disparage- ment in the streets of London, should have occupied their attention, and been committed by their authority to gaol ? In this way while they increased the terror of their power they gave encouragement to informers, and scope to private pique 1 [Guthrie remarks upon this that the English reader, at this day, will, perhaps, have difficulty in believing such a fact, which is recorded in the Commons' Journals. — History, 2, t. 1039.] 2 A rector was sent for from Cornwall. — C. J. June 9. 3 C. J. April 15. * Mr. Frane of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.— C. J. May 16. [Franck, ibid. June 4, when he was ordered to appear at the week's end, or be expelled the University. The result, however, does not appear.] a 2 84 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 and revenge. Such their own records show them to have been ; and if their conduct has still its unqualified admirers, preju- dice in such a case has much to overlook. No enemy could more glaringly have traduced them in some points, than by their own existing and faithful minutes of proceedings they have exposed themselves. 1 Strange as it may appear that a grave deliberative body of Englishmen of a higher class should under any circumstances have been betrayed into a temper and acts like these ; it must still be admitted that their proceedings continued to give proofs of their talent, diligence, and steadiness of aim. There might be many weak, rash, self-interested persons among them, but this could in no wise be avoided ; they helped to sit in committees, and carry the measures of stronger minds. The capital movements arranged in private by wiser heads were managed with consummate skill. Such as had gone over to the King were expelled ; such as raised their voice for him risked their liberty ; but many things were excused by them on the score of zeal where staunch friends were heartily embarked in so hazardous a venture, and the more eminent among them at once guided, and suffered themselves to be carried down with the stream. While thus the Parliament pushed forward in their career with a high hand, their irritability received a sudden provoca- tion from a quarter whence it was little expected. Few public bodies had dared to offer their open dissent, and the conse- quences of certain expressions of opposite opinion had already taught the Eoyalists how little was to be expected from any usual mode of application that could be made either to indivi- dual members, or the Houses at large, by those who disapproved of their course of proceeding. 2 The severity with which they had treated such as ventured to present themselves as the abettors of a different set of measures was sufficient to deter any who regarded their personal welfare. 3 The fate of the 1 [A curious illustration of this statement is given in Appendix IX.] « The King, in his answer to the petition of the House of Commons on the subject of his refusal of the Yorkshire petition presented by Sir T. Fairfax, remarks with some asperity upon their receiving all petitions of ore kind, and not only refusing the petitions but punishing the petitioners of another kind. — 0. P. H. xi. 253. 3 C. J. July 21. Another petition from the county of Somerset was put a stop to, and those who were to have presented it censured. — 0. P. H. xi. 196. L. J. June 14. 1642] REJECTION OF PETITIONS. 85 Kentish petition burnt by the hands of the common hangman, and its bearers cast into prison, 1 was before their eyes. A petition from the county of Lincoln was preparing which met with an unfavourable reception ; and addresses to private members by letter were passed over in silence. One of a remarkable character from the sheriff and gentry of Nottingham- shire, numerously and most respectably signed by the principal constituents, couched in reasonable and respectful terms, and transmitted to their members Hutchinson and Sutton, was suppressed by them. 2 And as every avenue of direct access was closed, dissentients began to think of showing themselves more independently by framing declarations and protests. The first of these that appeared, even if it had not been attached to the county of Hereford, would have been too prominent to have been passed over altogether in silence, though few writers have taken notice of it. 3 Since it was of as little avail for a county to petition against them as it was for the King to make an appeal to them, it need not excite surprise that a different course should have been taken. They might have found that Sir Eobert Harley from aversion, and Humphrey Coningsby from timidity were disinclined to offer any representation they might desire to make ; 4 certain persons therefore had the boldness to undertake the affair, and to state their views to the Houses and the public through the press. On Friday the eighth of July 5 a message came from the Lords desiring an immediate conference by Committees of both Houses, concerning a printed paper, entitled ' a Declaration or Eesolution of the County of Hereford.' Harley, who was appointed to take a part in this conference, speedily returned and reported ' That the Lords had brought unto them a printed 1 April 30. L. J. A counter-petition highly approving of all parliamentary proceedings was got up in Kent and presented May 5. 2 0. P. H. xi. 256 et seq. It was published by the authors and promoters, and printed by Robert Barker at York, July 1, 1642. Mrs. Hutchinson in her Memoirs has not had the candour to tell us of this. Her husband perhaps treated it with contempt ; put it into his pocket, and kept it to himself. 3 The writers of the Parliamentary History alone, so far as I have observed, have made mention of it. 4 Petitions do not seem then as now to have been consigned to the hands of members, but to have been presented by persons from without the House. s The same day on which Pym having been reported to have taken a bribe of 301., the Commons passed a vote upon the rumour as false, scandalous, and malicious, and were in a state of high excitement. 86 THK CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Paper, which is a scandalous and infamous Libel, in the Name of the County of Hereforde ; and do desire, that this House will join with their Lordships, in desiring the Knights that serve for that County, to send down to know who in that County will avow the same : And, if any do, that they shall be prosecuted to the utmost, for setting forth such an infamous Libel.' The substance of the document thus condemned, and to be seen at large in the Appendix, 1 is as follows. It opens with the admission of past misgovernment ; but maintains that the Parliament, instead of curing, had increased the disease. It charges them with pursuing private ends by means of secret combinations ; that the Houses are managed by men who punish freedom of speech with imprisonment ; and reject all petitions but such as favour their own views; and receive informations and all sorts of rumours against the King and his friends. It sets forth that they have raised and encou- raged popular tumults ; and denies that to be a Parliament which is severed from the King. The Protestant religion and the King's just power have been attacked in the assaults they had made upon Church and State. It commends his Majesty in adopting, and the county of York in providing him with a guard, considering the tumults that have prevailed, and the usage that he has experienced from certain individuals within and without the walls of the Parliament. Both law and liberty have been violated with respect to the clergy and laity, the Magna Charta and the Bill of Eights, all which they hold themselves bound by the laws of God and of the land to main- tain ; and they profess that tbey will do so, unterrified into any obedience to such a disjoined part of a Parliament, whose debates are uncertain, and whose ordinances are no laws. They are not such slaves that, after the sufferings of their forefathers in the cause of liberty, they should bow to any arbitrary govern- ment, or shake off the yoke of one, to endure that of many tyrants. As the King is graciously pleased to uphold this reli- gion, these laws, and this liberty, they consider they have sufficient guarantee for the establishment of reform, and affirm that on their parts they are ready to uphold him with their lives and fortunes. The reader will remark that this production is penned in a 1 Appendix X. 1642] HEREFORDSHIRE DECLARATION. 87 lofty strain of Cavalier feeling, and in a bitter and- caustic style. 1 The allusions to their conduct and the contempt of their au- thority, debates, votes and ordinances ; the charges of tyranny and arbitrary power, must have proved more than ordinarily distasteful ; and, divested of the pungency of its expressions, there might be somewhat too much of truth, or the semblance of truth in it, that it should please.. It would indeed have been marvellous if its boldness of rebuke, and the insinuations it conveys had not excited them. The impression upon the House was electrical : instantly they replied by a resolution, ' that this is a most scandalous and infamous paper ; ' ordered two persons who were taken in the act of publishing it to be committed to* Newgate, and proceeded against according to law ; the printer to be sent for as a delinquent 5^, and Harley, who had received two letters from some of the gentry of the county respecting it, to produce them on the morrow. 2 But though they emptied the whole quiver of their indignation upon the concealed authors, and arrested all whom they could dis- cover to have been concerned in printing, publishing, selling, 3 or even commending it ; after all the attention that they could bestow upon it, they were unable to bring to light those from whom it proceeded, or having done so did not think it expedient to make them known. 4 What, perhaps, rendered it the more odious might be, that though, for obvious reasons, it was put forth anonymously, and therefore had the discredit always attached to a blow given from the dark, yet no advan- tage could be taken of this ; because it could not be denied that ' It emanated from some -who professed to have viewed the question with an impartial eye, and having formed an estimate of the faults on either side, deter- mined that the privileges of such a Parliament, as they were now exercised, would be worse than the prerogative of such a King. So they thought and fearlessly expressed themselves. 1 One of its effects was that they forthwith appointed the Earl of Essex to be Lord Lieutenant of the county in the room of Lord Dacres, who was ill. — ft J. August 8. 3 The vendors of it were released from restraint July 20. — 0. J. 4 [The Lords resolved, July 8, that the Commons should be desired to require the two knights of the shire to send down to know who would avow it, and if any did, they were to be prosecuted to the utmost for setting forth such an infamous libel. July 26. The Houses ordered that as no one would avow it, the Judge at the next Assizes should cause it to be read in open court, and require of the Justices of the Peace and Grand Jury a direct and positive answer whether any of them would avow it ; and he was to endeavour to inform himself what public proceedings had been taken about it at the previous Sessions.] 88 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 it was the genuine remonstrance of those from whom it pro- fessed to come. The contrivers of it might be many or few, but it was never questioned that it embodied the opinions of the county. Nine individuals were afterwards pointed out, who in contempt were called the Nine Worthies ; but the writer who tells us this has omitted to give their names. It is hardly necessary to add that as the challenge was never accepted, so was the threat never put into execution ; though the framers of it, if they had owned it, probably needed to have been under no immediate apprehension at such a distance, and certainly with sufficient facilities of escaping their vengeance. On the other hand it would have been easy for any who disapproved of it to have published a counter-declaration, had they been nu- merous enough to have stood forward with any effect ; and they might thereby have gained credit for their affection to the Par- liament. But unless the letters addressed to Sir Eobert Harley contained assurances of this kind, nothing is known to have been publicly done. What, therefore, proves it to have been at least tacitly adopted by the many was this : that when none were hardy enough to avouch themselves as the parents of it, hardly a single voice in the county seems to have disowned the sentiments that it contained. The example was afterwards followed in other places, 1 and by the gentry of Salop and Wor- cester ; but by none with more energy of determination and expression than in the county of Hereford. So far as their admission of this Declaration went, they were now committed to the royal cause : they had taken their side, and must abide by the consequences. The case soon became more general on either hand, and the separation more complete ; reluctant as many had been to show themselves, under a natural, but delusive notion, that there would be no necessity for their interference ; that the good sense of the country at large would interpose to hinder a collision ; and that the King and Parliament could never proceed to hostilities. But the distracted feelings by which even the moderate and 1 [O.J. August 8. Sir John Evelyn reported from the conference with theLords, the petition from divers Lords, Knights, and Gentlemen of the county of York, which was read. ' Then Sir Jo. Evelyn told the House, That the Lords Opinion of it was, that this was one of the highest and most insolent Petitions that ever came to Parliament ; and are resolved to have Justice done upon those Persons, that did thus challenge and defy the Parliament ; and did make no Doubt, but that a Party would be there found to make that Country too hot for them.'] 1(U2 ] DISTRACTED FEELINGS. 89 impartial were at length wrought up to this pitch of declaring themselves, cannot be better portrayed than in the powerful language of one of the royalist sufferers. I began to make a scrutiny, where the first breach was made that let in all these miseries. I found the whole kingdom now contracted into a Parliament which consisted of three Estates : a King, a House of Peers and a House of Commons ; by the wisdom and Unity whereof, all things conducible to the Weal publique were to be advised upon, presented and established. I found this Unitie disjoynted, and grown to variance even to Blood. The King and his Adherents on the one party ; and his two houses and their adherents on the other. The pretence of this division, was the true Protestant Religion, which both protested to maintain ; the Liberty of the Subject, which both protested to preserve, the privileges of Parliament, which both promised to protect ; Yet neverthelesse, the first never more profaned ; the second never more interrupted, and the third never more violated. Standing amazed at this Riddle, I turned mine Eyes upon his Majesty, and there I viewed the Lords Anointed, sworn to main- tain the established Laws of this Kingdom : I turned mine Eyes upon the two houses ; and in them I beheld the Interest of my Country, sworn to obey his Majesty as their supreme Governour. 1 heard a Remonstrance cryed ' from the two Houses : I read it, I approved it ; I inclined unto it : a Declaration from his Majesty ; I read it ; I applauded it ; I adhered to the Justness of it ; — the Parliaments Answer ; I turned to the Parliament : — his Majesties Reply; I returned to his Majesty. Thus tost and turned as a Weathercock to my own weaknesse, I resolved it impossible to serve two Masters. Another, and perhaps a less partial bystander thus passion- ately vents the anguish of his mind in a review of affairs, and the prospect of their consequences : After all this endeavour of both sides : after every one hath done his best, towards the great cure of this languishing state ; the disease hath been let runne so farre, That it will almost be beyond all hope, that we shall ever see a recovery : Into so desperate a Consumption are we fallen, partly by their fault, that should have had more care of our health ; in whose Power we all thought it 1 He means, cried by the Mercurys in the streets as soon as published. 90 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE, [1642 once lay, to prepare such Preservatives for us, that we might have been setled in such a healthfhll constitution, that none of these evills could now have vexed us, — Our sad Case is now such, That we have an Incensed God ; an angry King ; a thwarting Councell ; a heady Clergy ; a divided Nobility ; a discontented Gentry ; a dis- tempered People ; a distracted Religion ; an unhinged State ; a confused Government ; undermining Adversaries ; a Civill Warre ; an increase of Souldiers ; consumption of Treasure ; dis-union in united Kingdoms ; lost Reputation ; an universall Jealousie ; a defection from the principles of sound Policy ; a Parliament which should be the redresse of all these, made quite otherwise to us by some that have abused it ; and generally such a conspiracy ; such a complying of evill Symptomes ; that even Miracles must be wrought, or else we perish. In a word, Such is our doubtfull condition ; that even a Peace may destroy us ; But a Warre, must. 1642 ] APPROACH OP CONFLICT. 91 CHAPTER TV. Difficulties arising from the calling out of the Trained-bands and Militia to the Judges, Sheriffs, and parochial Clergy — Volunteers — Muster of Parliamen- tarians at Dunmow in Essex, and inflammatory language of their 'Resolution' — Contest about the levies in Leicestershire between the Sheriff, Henry Hastings and the Earl of Stamford — Struggles in other counties — Treatment of Lord Chandos by the populace at Cirencester in Gloucestershire — Levies in Herefordshire — Contributions and loans for the King — Transactions in Mon- mouthshire — The Earl of "Worcester and his son, Lord Herbert, their zealous and liberal efforts in the King's behalf — Marquess of Hertford, his commis- sion as Lieutenant-General of many counties in the West of England and in Wales — Anecdotes of the Earl of Worcester — Dispute respecting the magazine at Monmouth — The Parliament endeavour to stop the execution of the Commission of Array in that county — Scarcity of arms among the King's adherents — Collections of ancient armour brought into use — That of Lord Scudamore at Horn Lacy and Ballingham furbished and repaired — Tilting and equestrian exercises at Horn Lacy in the reign of Elizabeth described by an eye-witness. The time was now approaching when the contest was no longer to be confined to the tongue and the pen. From jarrings in the great estates of the kingdom we proceed to trace their effects upon all other classes of society, already prepared to entertain and act upon them by thoughts whetted to an incon- ceivable keenness, when the arming of the mind had so long preceded that of the hand. The disturbing impression wa,s progressively extending itself over the whole community, as the agitation produced upon the central surface of a lake is advanced and carried on from circle to circle till it reaches the shore. The signal for a general movement was the raising of the militia ; and in their plan for executing it, as we have already seen, the Parliament outstripped the King. This they were also enabled to do advantageously, having the bulk of the military stores at their command. Charles by proclamation 1 had forbidden obedience to the 1 Dated at York, May 27. 92 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 ordinance for the militia; 1 but the Parliament 2 directed all Deputy Lieutenants in the counties, who were not members of their Houses, to attend punctually at the days and places fixed for the musters ; 3 and the work had been seriously in progress from the beginning of June. On a proposition of paying an interest of eight per cent, they set forward a subscription for their intended armament, which was promoted in the metro- polis with excessive ardour ; so that the receivers were hardly able to find room for the plate that was brought in, and the women threw down their smallest articles of luxury or neces- sity, to their very thimbles, bodkins, and marriage rings. 4 The King relied upon the assistance of his wealthier subjects, but his supplies were not so rapidly forthcoming, neither were all his partisans equally zealous. Three classes of persons were put to a severe test, the Judges, Magistrates (including Sheriffs and inferior officers), and parochial clergy. The Judges were required to announce both the legality and illegality of the King's Commission and Parliament's ordinance at the Summer Assizes ; 5 and Judge Mallet having acted in opposition to the Houses was publicly taken from the Bench at Kingston in Surrey, and committed to Newgate. The clergy were harassed by contradictory re- quirements. Those who were within reach of the Parliament, and had respect unto their oaths of allegiance and supremacy, found themselves unable to obey with conscience or resist with safety. Their troubles on this score began in the March pre- ceding ; and even at a distance from London they were not secure. Smyth, vicar of Saint James, Deeping, in Lincoln- shire, objecting to read an order in his church, without his Majesty's consent, was transferred to the Gatehouse, a prison in London, fined 1001. to the King, and was not to be released till it had been paid. 6 Gwyn, vicar of Cople, in Bedfordshire, posi- tively refused to publish the Declarations of the Parliament, having also in his hands one from the King. He grounded his refusal upon the Scriptures. - Judge,' said he, ' whether I am to obey God or man ; by God's word I am commanded to obey the King ; I find no such command for the Parliament.' His 1 0. P. ff.xi. 177. 2 June 4. 3 Ibid. 137. " 0. P. H. xi. 194. 3 Order of Parliament to the Judges, L. J. July 20. 0. P. H. xi. 325. • See Smyth's case in G. J. May 18, June 3. 1642] MALTREATMENT OF CLERGY. 93 churchwardens, admitted in evidence against him, aggravated the offence by deposing before the Commons, that he was ' of a debauched, lewd, and contentious disposition,' that he was averse to the proceedings of the House, and had spoken op- probrious and scandalous words of them, and particularly of Mr. Pym. Such charges could not be passed over : he too was fined 100L and committed to Newgate during their pleasure. 1 These only are adduced as instances of the resistance and punishment of the clergy ; but great numbers underwent a severer fate, being thrust into the noisome holds of prison-ships on the Thames, where they suffered intolerable hardships, and were treated as though they were unworthy of the common charities of life. 2 No hazards were incurred as yet by any of the clergy in Herefordshire. The London newsbooks reported some time after, that the Bishops in the Dioceses on this side of the island wrote hortatory letters to all the ministers under their authority, to use their utmost endeavours in favour of the King. 3 The men, whom either party desired to get under their control for the formation of an army, were such as had been previously, however imperfectly trained, the old militia. In the instructions issued by Charles to the Commissioners of Array in Worcestershire about the middle of June, directing them to send out their warrants to the sheriff, he states to them, that 'being unwilling to bring any increase of charge upon the people, he hopes for the present it will be sufficient if only the ancient trained and freehold bands of the county be sum- moned and trained.' 4 Where the interest of the Parliament prevailed they anticipated him in securing them ; and besides these, they studiously gave encouragement to volunteers. 5 Special ordinances for their protection were issued, among other places, to Gloucester, Worcester and Shrewsbury, and these were followed by a general indemnity. 6 In Essex there was an early appearance of them ; when with the regular trained bands they put forth and sent to the Houses a manifesto, 7 in which their resolution, stimulated by the thirst of war, is couched in these energetic expressions : 1 G-wyn's case, G. J- July 26. 2 See Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy : and Kyrle's Pamphlet, Appendix XII. 3 Speciall Passages, September 9. * Habingdon MSS. Libr. Soc. Antiq. cxxxviii. 140. » C. J. July 8, 18. " C. J. July 26. ' June 10. 94 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 We thought it our duty most humbly to represent to your Houses the faithfull affections and inviolable resolutions of our soules to stand or fall, live or die together with you, according to our protestation. . . . Thus, with our hands upon our swords, we stand ready at your command to perform our vows to God, and oathes of fidelitie to his Majestie, in taking up armes against those false flatterers and traytors, who abuse his royall favour, intending under the glorious title of his name and standard to fight against the peace and honour of their Sovereigne, against religion and the lawes ; and to make a prey and spoile of these flourishing king- domes at once ; and to spend our dearest blood in defence of the lives and liberties of our Countreymen, the lawes, which are the life of our liberty and peace, and Religion more precious than both ; and the King and Parliament in whose lives lies bound up the life of all the rest. Whosoever is otherwise affected, wee hold him not worthy of the name of a Souldier, but a Proditor of his King and Country to all posterity. 1 These musters brought the parties more immediately into collision. There are few "who have not witnessed the disorder that occasionally takes place at popular elections, when the disputants have become irritated ; and some imperfect notion may thence be formed of the confusion that was now introduced into almost every township of the contested counties. It will, however, be borne in mind that in this case the rivals had for the most part some sort of weapons, and wanted not the inclination, at a signal given, to steep them in each other's blood. Amidst such a variety of strife, the contest in Leicestershire, perhaps, attracted most attention. Thither the Earl of Stam- ford, the Parliamentary Lord Lieutenant, hastened with eager expedition ; but found a furious opposition from Henry Hastings, the Sheriff, a spirited Cavalier, second son of the Earl of Loughborough, whom Charles had despatched into that county. A feud between the families of Grey and Hastings quickened their animosity. Fierce bickerings arose between them ; they 1 'This resolution was presented to the Trained Bands and Companies of Volunteers who appeared at Dunmow, June 10, 1642, and was received with uni- versal approbation, by holding up of hands, throwing up of hats, and acclamations professing, that they held him unworthy to live who should dislike it. And it was within three days after subscribed by ten thousand hands. London, printed by R. 0. and G. D. for William Larnat at the Signe of the Bible in Little East- Cheape.' Half sheet, small folio. It is also inserted in L. J. June 17. 1642] CONTESTS ABOUT LEVIES. 95 traversed Leicestershire with hostile threats ; beat the drum and unfurled the flag of defiance against each other, and scarcely abstained from coming to blows. The Earl, however, secured the magazine at Leicester, and conveyed great part of it to his house at Broadgate. 1 The King proclaimed him traitor, and commanded the apprehension of his person ; the Parlia- ment in like manner denounced Hastings, 2 and ordered him to be seized; but both of them remained at liberty for future operations. The Commissioners of Array met with less difficulty, though with some contention, in Shropshire. In Warwickshire Lord Brook, the Parliamentarian, was quickly on the alert, exerted himself with great effect, and made a report that he had brought together, on the muster days, a large number of the trained bands and volunteers. 3 The Earl of Northampton was equally indefatigable in collecting a force there for the King. 4 In Worcestershire the Parliament found little success, though Wyld and Salway, 5 the Members, went to the Assizes, to keep the peace, as it was delusively called, — that is, for the purpose of persuading the gentry and freeholders there assembled to declare for the Houses. The Commissioners had even the hardihood to assess Wyld for his contingent of horse and arms. 6 Sherington Talbot, the younger, 7 executed the commission ; and the sheriff who had assisted him, and Solley, the mayor, with Green one of the aldermen of Worcester, who had offended by their behaviour, were sent for to London, examined, and ordered into confinement. The sheriff having received an ad- monition soon returned home ; 8 but it was several weeks before the mayor obtained his release. 1 Or Bradgate. It was here that Boger Ascham found Lady Jane Grey occu- pied in the study of Plato, while the Duke and Duchess of Suffolk, with all the ladies and gentlemen of the household were hunting in the park. — Howard, Lady J. Grey, $c. 165. 2 0. J. July 6 and 7, and elsewhere. Sir Bohert Harley impeached Hastings and the Marquis of Hertford and Earl of Northampton. — C. J. August 13. » L. J. July 9. * Bulstrode, Memoirs, 73. See also Lloyd. 5 Or Salloway.— C. J. July 8. 6 Sir John Packington, Sir Henry Herbert, and Samuel Sandys were expelled the House for assessing "Wyld, and executing the Commission of Array. — C. J. August 20. Bpeciall Passages, August 16-23. ' Of Salwarp.— C. J. July 8. 9 C. J. July 21. 96 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 The people of Cirencester gave a specimen of the general temper of the county of Gloucester, when Lord Chandos offered the Commission to them. 1 The mob rising upon him, com- pelled him to forego his intention, and tore his carriage in pieces, and he escaped from them with great difficulty by the back door of an inn. Sir Ralph Dutton, who attempted to act for the King in another quarter, incurred great personal hazard. 2 Being opposed, and hotly pursued by Nathaniel Hill, the under- sheriff, he swam his horse over the Severn, and passed on into Shropshire, where, it is said, he raised 600 men. 3 In Herefordshire the royal levies went on prosperously, as might be expected, though not without some faint show of interruption. It appears that one William Gwatkin petitioned the Commons about this time, and that William Hill and Humphrey Dicary, the under-sheriff, were sent for in conse- quence, which probably refers to some dispute upon this occasion. 4 A more serious disagreement afterwards arose be- tween Priamus Davis 5 and the Commissioners of Array. They had issued a warrant to the High Sheriff requiring that officer to raise such force as he should think fit for his apprehension ; because he had been summoned by divers warrants from them and refused to appear. His offence is not stated, but it was evidently connected with their undertaking ; and they had resolved that he should be committed to gaol for ten days till he should compound for forty shillings according to the tenor of the statute. 6 Davis fled, and presented himself to the House of Commons, 7 who listened to his tale, and took him under their protection, ordering that Brabazon, Croft, Coningsby, Price, Lingen and Rudhall, the Commissioners, should be 1 C. J. August 20. 2 Special/ Passages and Perfect Diumall, August 1642. He failed to raise 500 men in Herefordshire, though he employed several agents for that purpose. The Commissioners had been before him. 3 For his beating up a drum in the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, see L. J. August 12. 4 C. J. July 14. It relates perhaps, as the following paragraph indicates, to some publication of orders at the assizes. 5 Q,u. Davis of Wigmore, a Harleian ? Six years after, Captain Priamus Davis was a commissioner for the Militia, and the Commissioners of Array were dispersed and ruined. See the Act of Philip and Mary, a 3 and 4, and the penalty for non-attend- ance at musters. ' September 21. 1642] ARRESTS— LEVIES. 97 forthwith sent for as delinquents. Whether and to what extent this order was acted upon cannot be ascertained. If the mes- senger of the Commons went down, they knew too well what usually happened to those who were thus taken from the country, to surrender themselves into his custody ; they would know also how much the Declaration of the county had irritated the Houses ; so that these may be concluded to have been but empty threats that were never put in force. Herbert, the Sheriff of Brecon, set them sternly at defiance by withholding certain monies that they claimed, and refusing to send up four delinquents transmitted to him for that purpose from the Sheriff of Caermarthen ; he treated their summons with con- tempt. 1 Arrests were at length so multiplied, that, it is said, an association was at last formed in the counties of Montgo- mery, Salop and Hereford, to oppose the apprehending of such as were threatened to be seized by Parliamentary orders. Thus the Herefordshire Commissioners meeting with no serious impediment embodied and armed the trained bands, and held the magazine at their command. At a council of war in York, 2 the minutes of which were published, it is observable that the county had levied, fitted out, and undertaken to pay for six months, 200 horse, and sent in a contribution of 3,000£. Yet, if the whole of the contributions set forth in that docu- ment had been all that the King had to trust to, they make but a humble display preparatory to a campaign, and in com- parison with the flow of wealth poured into the lap of his adversaries. But it is well known that these were only the beginning of free gifts. Large sums were obtained by loan, and secretly conveyed to him from time to time ; and the two Universities sent him their plate, a part of which from Cam- bridge was in vain attempted to be intercepted by Oliver Cromwell. 3 The transactions in Monmouthshire were of so marked a character, and in their results so much connected with the operations of the adjoining counties, that they require a par- > G. J. July 25, 28, August 3. 2 August 5, in the Chapter House ? 3 In the Life of John Barwick, 26, it is asserted that the plate was conveyed away, hut in L. J. August 20 is a statement that a part of it was seized as it was going to the King. This was probably done in Cambridge, and the accounts may be thus reconciled. [And that such was the case, appears likely from the Querela Cantabrigiensu, 4, 18.— See also C. J. August 16, 18.] VOL. I. H 98 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 ticular relation. There the influence, if not the authority of the Earl of Worcester, among a numerous train of dependents and tenants, was all but supreme ; and the Parliament watched both him and his son with a jealous eye. Monmouthshire, dissevered from Wales by the statute of Henry VIII., partook, as it still continues to partake, of Cambrian feelings and customs, nor was the ancient devotedness of the natives to their superiors then obliterated ; it abounded in Eoman Catholics strongly attached to the house of Eaglan, and the heir of that house was enthusiastically attached to the King. Engaged by strong personal regard, and a deep sense of loyal duty, Lord Herbert had excited sentiments of grateful friendship in his Sovereign which were warmly expressed upon several occasions ; and at a very early period, when Charles was looking out for those who would range themselves on his side, and when he was in distress for money, Herbert had come forward with large supplies. The press had taken great liberties with the cha- racter of both father and son, and its penmen tried to write them down. In one of his letters to this latter nobleman the King thus expresses himself: I requyre your repaire hither with all conuenient diligence ; & the rather that you may the better fynde out the authors of those lying and scandalous Pamflets concerning your Father and you ; touching w ch , I not onlie promis you protection to your innocencie, but justice against those offenders ; asseuring you lykewais that I shall bee so myndfull of you that if I live you shall nether be a looser in, nor repent you for, the services ye have done me ; & so 1 rest your asseured frend. ' In others written after he had left London, he says : Herbert, your services are expressed to me in so noble a way that I cannot but acknowled it to you under my owen hand, & that I should thinke myselfe verrie unhappie if I did not live, by reall testimonies to express my gratitude to you. 2 . . . I esteem your servises such, as my words cannot express them, but, by show- ing my selfe at all occasions to be your most asseured constant frend. 3 1 Dated Whitehall, December 11, 1641.— MSS. Harl. 6988, 66. TheHoueeof Commons passed a Declaration against Papists, January 13, 1641, and ordered it to be sent into all the counties. 7 Dated Roiston, March 6, 1641. Ibid. 67. 1 Dated York, Hay 9, 1642. Ibid. 67. 1642] LORD HERBERT — EARL OF WORCESTER. 99 The substantial proofs of Herbert's liberality may be col- lected from his own words : It was I furnished his Ma tte with money to goe to Theobalds, to goe to Torke, when the then Marquis of Hambleton refused to pay three hundered pound for his Ma tie at Theobalds, only to deliver him to the parliament. It was I carried him money to sett up his standard at Torke, and procured my father to give the then Sir John Byron five thousand pownd to rayse the first regiment of horse, and kept a table for above twenty officers at Torke, which I underhand sent thether, to keepe them from taking conditions from the Parliament ; and soe were ready to accept his. It was I vittled the tower of London, and gave five and twenty hundered pownd to the then lieutenant Sir John Byron, my cousin german by my wife's side. 1 And these are but a portion of his services, — for he recounts more, — and they extend only to the time now in question. His father, either reluctant to embroil himself at his advanced age, or believing, as he well might hope, that some accommodation might take place, was less forward to take a decided part. Ties of friendship or affection might retard him ; and a sense of public duty made him hesitate for a while to forsake the Par- liament, so long as he could well remain among them ; but the struggle between his notions of honour and obedience to his Sovereign did not last long. After the outcry that had been raised against the votes of Eoman Catholic peers, 2 and when he observed that the proceedings of the Houses were what he thought an insult to the throne, and tended to no less than a rupture with the King, he withdrew, as we have noticed, into the country, still averse to open war. Not that he wanted loyalty or courage to stand the trial ; but he seems to have acted with the caution of his age. The feelings of these parties, and their consciousness of power are well developed in certain 1 Hough's Ragland, 32, 33. 2 [This perhaps had much to do with the Earl's reluctance. He would natu- rally foresee that the earnest partisanship of so powerful a Roman Catholic might prejudice his master's cause ; and from a letter of Sir Edward Nicholas to Prince Rupert, dated April 10, 1643, it appears that beyond his own circle of influence, his religion placed him at a disadvantage. ' The "Welshmen (wee heare) would not rise in Munmothshire because my Lo. Herbert had the Command of that County & professed that they had rather perish than be under the power of a papist.'] H 100 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 passages of a correspondence between Lord Herbert and Mr. Hyde :— Scruple of honour is the sole impediment that detains my father from waiting upon his Majesty, and not any inclination either to their designs or proceedings ; which he will manifest to the world by retiring on Monday next into the country. And I am most confident that if he will be well plied there by some discreet person, authorised by his Majesty, he will be both bold and active in giving publik assurances both of his faith and loyalty to his service. And I do with confidence assure you that if the King in person come into those parts, he may easily make my father an instrument of his own heart. This I write, because I know he intends not to return any more to London. And he bids me tell you, if the King would declare unto him by any body the depth of his desires, he would undertake they should be granted, or else he would forsake the Parliament. And, for the former demands of the Houses, did in particular to me inveigh against them as things dishonourable to the King's dignity to condescend unto. In short, he will do any thing but come abruptly to the King. Therefore, pray find out some way for him to make good his professions ; and let me speedily have some answer of this ; for my Father expects you should impart this to the King, and send me word what impression it makes. We hear the King intends to come into Wiltshire ; if he doth, my Father will wait upon him ; and I am certain, if his services may be acceptable, never part from him, till he see him placed in his throne of dignity. My Lord of Powis is gone this day into Wales ; by whom T have written as effectually as I can to those which have relation to me ; and I shall think myself most happy, if they may further his Majesty's service. Reserve the Commission of Array, if you can, and let it not be disposed of; for I am confident, if a prudent person be sent with it after my Father hath been awhile in the country, he himself will execute it. 1 The rumour of the King making his appearance in Wiltshire was not realised ; but the Marquess of Hertford was destined to repair to the West of England, with an extensive Commission of Array, 2 as Lieutenant General of all forces 1 He adds, ' I am the unfortunatest man in the world not to be able to appear in this service.' (He was ill ; and had been ordered to Tunbridge for a month by his physician, Sir Theodore Mayerne ) 'I have got 500?. If I could tell how, I would send it to his Majesty I cannot for my life turn it into gold.' — Clarendon, State Papers, ii. 146. Lord Herbert to Sir E. Hyde. 1 See his commission in Bodleian pamphlets. 1612] EARL OF WORCESTER ARMING. 101 raised by virtue of it, within the counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Southampton, Gloucester, Berks, Oxon, Hereford, Monmouth, Radnor, Brecknock, Glamorgan, Caer- marthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, the cities of Exeter, Bristol, Gloucester and Oxford and the counties of the same, and the cities of Bath and Wells, New Salisbury and Hereford, the towns of Pool, Southampton, Haverfordwest, and the counties of those towns. Much dependence was placed upon the Earl of Worcester for bringing together men and arms. To the latter, if reports were true, the Earl had, indeed, long paid some attention ; and to a certain extent he might reasonably have done so, by way of precaution and self-defence, but he could not stir without strict observation from spies, and information conveyed to London. Though he resided in a quarter where no manufactures were established, save those of rude iron, the communication by water between Bristol and Chepstow would render easy the transportation of the materials of war from that commercial city. Chepstow Castle was his own, in sufficient repair, and capable of receiving and protecting them when landed ; and their transportation up the river Wye, a tidal river, 1 to Monmouth, would not be attended with insuperable difficvdties. The conveyance thence to Baglan by land- carriage was easy — as easy as the wretched state of the road would permit ; in any case it was short as to distance. But the apprehensions of those who wished to keep him in check might have magnified the quantity of arms and stores that he had in his possession. The capabilities of Raglan Castle were no secret. The cellars and subterraneous chambers were numerous and capacious ; and have been ascertained to amount to upwards of thirty still remaining. 2 In the preceding winter one of those silly rumours, to which the Houses and the London public in the excitement of the moment were ready to lend an eager ear, and which the Royalists charged certain of the Parlia- mentary intriguers with fabricating, while they laughed at others for believing them, had exaggerated the danger to be dreaded from the Earl's preparations. John Davis, a servant to Mrs. Lewis, an innkeeper at Ross, gave information to the House of Commons that the Earl had large stables under 1 At Chepstow the tides reach 50 feet, and sometimes 69 and even 72 feet. — Lyell's Principles of Geology, ii. 3. 1 Hough, 17. 102 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 ground, and a number of light horse in them ; arms for 150 horse, and 2,000 men ; and that he had 700 in pay, with ammu- nition proportionable. 1 As the Parliament claimed a right by law as well as privilege to search all recusants' houses, certain persons whose rank and ignorance might excuse the Earl's displeasure at their errand, were commissioned to undertake this and to disarm him. He met them at the gate of the castle ; and asked them sharply, whether they came to take away his money as well as arms. They answered, No ; but their reason for coming was that he was a recusant. He replied, that he was a Peer of the realm, and no convict recusant ; therefore on that account not amenable to the law ; and after receiving a reproof they gave up the point. But the cheerful old Earl, laying aside his vexation, was unwilling, however, to part with them without amusing himself at their expense. He led them through his spacious and strong house, showed them the court of the fountain, the statues of the Caasars, and the stout bulwarks, and at length brought them upon a lofty bridge that spanned the moat between the walls and the great tower, in which Lord Herbert had erected his powerful 'water-commanding engine.' There as they stood gazing in rustic astonishment around them, the engine began to play, and the wheels and water to roar within the keep. In the midst of their amazement and confusion, placed as they were upon an elevation over a deep trench, and probably expecting every moment to be drenched by a deluge from above, the common trick practised upon strangers in the water- works of that day, 2 a man came running up with feigned alarm, and called out to them to look to themselves, for the lions had got loose. No second caution was necessary : their surprise was changed into consternation : they took to their heels ; rolled over each other down the stairs ; and without looking behind them made their escape. This incident was long a subject of merriment for the inmates of Eaglan Castle. 3 Searching for arms, however, had not been the only vexation to which he had been exposed. The justices of Gloucester, 1 Letter from Mercurius Civicus to Mercurius Rusticus, 11. 2 Surprises of this kind of coarse practical jest were a favourite part of such contrivances. There was one in the Henrietta Waterworks constructed by Mr. Bushell in this reign at Enstone in Oxfordshire, and many more might be enumerated. 3 Witty Apophthegms, #c. 100, 101. 16+2] MAGAZINE AT MONMOUTH. 103 Hereford, Monmouth, and all port towns in England and Wales had been ordered to tender the oaths of supremacy and alle- giance to all persons passing through their towns ; ' and this, if insisted on, would hinder the access of his friends. Insinua- tions thrown out against the dangerous designs of the family were converted into more direct charges, which might not be without foundation, that there were actually considerable quantities of arms in his house. 2 Yet there was great difficulty in undertaking any opposition against one who had so strong a party in his favour in the country and the town, where the authorities were for the King. When the time arrived that magazines became objects of contention, the Parliament pre- pared to lay hands upon that of Monmouth. Originally it had been under the custody of Sir Percy Herbert, son of the Earl of Powis, who employed a person to take care of it. Latterly Sir Percy had incurred a charge of delinquency, and was under restraint ; and the magazine was in the keeping of the Mayor, yet, so it was reported, as much under the command of the Earl of Worcester as if it had been in his own possession. 3 But as all these storehouses were to be consigned to the several Parliamentary Lords Lieutenants, and as they had nominated Lord Philip Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, to that office in the counties of Monmouth, Brecon and Glamorgan, an order was sent down to remove it to the town of Newport, where the castle, though out of repair, belonged to the Pem- brokes ; 4 and where they conceived it would be more under his and their control when occasion should require. This order, addressed to some magistrates who favoured their views, being presented, Mason, the Mayor, seconded by others of the inhabitants, refused to give up the stores. He said it was an ill time to deliver the arms, since there was a difference between the King and Parliament ; and for this contempt he was carried to London. 5 A second order and application was made in his absence, and Guillim, the Deputy mayor ; Taylor, one of the Bailiffs, and a Justice ; and Packer, one of the Alder- men, gave the same refusal. The magazine had then been secured by a new door, with powerful locks ; and they said that they knew nothing of the keys; for which they were all sent for by the Serjeant at Arms. These prisoners were detained ' C. J. January 20, 1641. 2 C. J. April 30, 1642. 3 L. J. May 10. 1 Symonds, Diary, 206. 5 C. J. March 29, April 14, 28. 104 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1612 several weeks in London ; and, when dismissed, not fully dis- charged from any farther contempt till the Houses should understand they had obeyed them ; the Lord Keeper had besides been moved to exclude from the commission of the peace Probert, Kemp and Lewis, three magistrates who refused to assist those Justices that had attempted the seizure. Upon the strength of these movements the Parliamentary party brought up a petition to the Commons ; and the Speaker answered the deputation, that it contained ' particulars of great consequence. ' As for the removing of your magazine to New- port,' he observed, ' there is effectual order taken in it. They have likewise taken into consideration that particular com- plained of, of the number of Papists that flock about the houses of recusants in that county, and of the great numbers of Papists that are inhabitants of that county.' Then with pro- mises to provide against their fears, and consider of their relief, he dismissed them, heartily thanking them for the care they had expressed of his Majesty's safety, and the affection they had shown to the Commonwealth, the House of Commons, and the liberty of the subject. 1 These promises, however, failed of performance. The Lord Lieutenant fell sick ; 2 and in spite of the exertions of Sir Samuel Morgan, Mr. Henry Herbert, and others of the Deputy Lieutenants, 3 the tide of affairs set in against them. To Herbert, who was a member of the Commons, his fathe" wrote from the country, that at the summer assizes the order of both Houses to be published by the Judges, declaring the illegality of the Commission of Array, was delivered to Baron Henden, who paid no attention to it ; that many Justices of the peace were put out of the commission, and others, mere creatures of the Earl of Worcester, appointed in their room ; and that neither the Earl nor his son were yet dis- armed. 4 Herbert was therefore sent down with blank instruc- tions for raising the militia, and power to disarm the Earl of 1 C. J. May 17. 2 He was succeeded in the post by the Earl of Pembroke his father. 3 The names of Deputy Lieutemants for the county of Monmouth in the instructions for preservation of the peace are : Henry Herbert, Esq.; Rich. Herbert, Esq. ; Sir Samuel Morgan, Knt. ; Sir "William Morgan, Knt. ; Thomas Morgan, William Herbert, Edward Morgan, and "William Morgan, Esquires. Edmund Morgan, "William Baker, John Parry, Hen. Baker, William Jones of Usk, Esq. ; Thomas Williams, Gentleman. L. J. Oct. 12. * Considering their mode of travelling on horseback, the bill of Mr. Maxwell, 1642] STATE OF MOJNMOUTHSHIEE. 105 Worcester, his son, and all other papists or suspected persons, whose wives and children are papists. The Lords delayed passing this order till August 20, and the Earl in the mean time came into the country, where the Commission of Array was executed under his ascendancy. 1 Military preparations rapidly advanced; and, though Lord Herbert had the mis- fortune to lose seven great horses, that were stopped by the vigilance of the Parliamentarians on their way through Gloucester, most of their undertakings were continued with success. 2 It was known that great endeavours were used to unite the counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Caer- marthen, Brecknock and Eadnor in an Association against the Parliament, and the Earl of Worcester was summoned to return to the House of Lords ; but he had left London with an inten- tion to come back no more, and might be glad to find himself beyond their reach. Not only was his Castle of Eaglan not stripped of arms, but it became by degrees an arsenal, and the resort of soldiers, and Lord Charles Somerset, his fourth son, was in due time made the Governor. 3 The condition, which they would have imposed upon the Earl, fell to the lot of his adversaries ; and the best evidence of the fact is contained in the ensuing order of the House of Commons : ' Ordered, That Sir Thomas Morgan, Sir Nicolas Keniis, Sir Trevor Williams, Sir Wm. Morgan, Philip Jones, and Henry Povert, shall be forthwith sent for, as Delinquents ; for executing the Commission of Array, and for disarming the well- affected Party of the County of Monmouth? 4 — Such, when the war broke out, was the state of this county prepared to uphold the King. The royal levies complained in general of the want of arms. the Gentleman usher, for sundry extraordinary expeuses, including, among many others, the following, exhibits no very heavy charge : To Monmouthshire for the Magazine and disarming the Earl of "Worcester, Two several Journies 9. 08. 06. And most of the items are equally moderate, compared with what might be incurred by riding post in the present day. L. J. August 13. 1 In July 1642 Lord Herbert was in London and not in arms. — 8. P. 1. lxviii. 23. 2 C. J. July, August, September. * Walter Powell, a faithful retainer of my Lord of Eaglan, has in his Diary a note to this effect, that Eaglan was a garrison after Bristol fell into the hands of the Parliament, though he does not exactly specify the time. 4 C. J. September 27. 106 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1612 The doors of the greater national repositories were shut upon the King, and many of the country stores were held against him. Part of the purchases that had been made by the Queen in the Low Countries had been detained on their way to him. Gunsmiths, sword-cutlers and saddlers in London were strictly watched and forbidden to transmit any of their manufactures to York, and even the makers in Birmingham refused to vend their swords to the royal agents. Private dwellings in and about the metropolis were entered and narrowly searched ; many seizures were made, and horses were in constant requisition. A contemporary historian 1 may have expressed himself somewhat too hyperbolically, when he says that the Parliament had more great guns at the beginning than the King had muskets ; but could the statement be inquired into, or were it worth investigat- ing, it might appear to be-not very remote from the actual reality. The Royalists were therefore obliged to collect arms where they could find them. 2 In the halls of the nobility and gentry the antique corslet, head-piece and sword were taken down and scoured from the rust of many generations ; collections of armour were not uncommon in the venerable mansions of the country, where the possessors had as little thought that the harness of their ancestors would be brought into requisition, as that the bodies which it had once defended should be called forth to bear it again. Trophies of this kind were suspended in many churches over the monuments of the dead. The private accounts of Lord Scudamore, kept with great accuracy and minuteness, show that, in 1641, horsemen's petronels, brought from Cradock, 3 near Ross, to Horn Lacy, were put in order. But from June to September, 1642, his preparations of arms and ammunition were of a more serious kind. Arms were sent for from Llanthony, his seat near Glou- cester, and powder in considerable quantity from the latter 1 Brevi coaluit exereitus ad viginti circiter hominum millia, antequam Rex in sui defensionem quingentos conscriberet : illi etiam plura possiderent tormeuta, quam hie sclopetos. Bates, Elencki Motnum, §c. i. 74. Londini, 1661. Clarendon also affirms, that the King had not formed one regiment when they had raised an army. 2 Those who were bound by their rank to furnish horse and arms would pro- bably keep their furniture by them ; for they were required of old to attend or Bend their substitutes to the musters sufficiently equipped and armed. 3 [Properly Caradoc. It has been supposed that this may hare been the site of the final defeat of Caractacus ; but no vestiges or tradition of a camp are to be found here.l 1642] ARMING OF LORD SCUDAMORE. 107 place. Armourers and saddlers were set to work for several days. Muskets, rests, and bandileers, a carbine, and a petronel, the great saddles, and the coats of mail were fitted up and re- paired : a pistol, spanner, and belt, and a bit with a gilt boss were added to the list of equipments. All these are entered under the head of ' Monies disbursed by your Lordship's extra- ordinary directions,' and indicate as though he was about to resume the command of the County Horse. He seems to have been fond of remarkable horses ; ' it has been briefly related that Horn Lacy had been famous for equestrian and military exercise. The masters of this house from father to son had a passion for fine horses, and were skilled in the art of controlling them ; and that the testimony of this may not be omitted in these scattered notices of so memorable a Herefordshire family, it shall be given from the ' Institutions ' of William Higford, Esq., a gentleman of Gloucestershire then living, whose son had married the sister of the present Lord. Eegarding this nobleman, his father and grandfather, with great veneration, and alluding to the two last, perhaps some of the most ac- complished and latest filters in England, he thus fondly calls them to mind while he is recommending to one of his descen- dants (his own grandson), the noble exercise of riding the great horse as among the comeliest ornaments of a gentleman : A knight on horseback is one of the goodliest sights in the world. Methinks I see Sir James Scudamore, your thrice noble grandfather, a brave man of arms, both at tilt and barriers, after the voyage of Cales and the Canary Islands, (wherein he performed very remarkable and signal service under the conduct of the Earl of Essex) enter the Tiltyard in a handsome equipage, all in com- plete armour, embellished with plumes, his beaver close, mounted upon a very high-b junding horse (I have seen the shoes of his horse glister above the heads of all the people) and when he came to the encounter or shock, brake as many spears as the most, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth with a train of ladies, like the stars in the firmament, and the whole court looking upon him with a very gracious aspect.' And when he came to reside with Sir John Scudamore, his father (two braver gentlemen shall I never see 1 .Mention is made of his white nag, «, flea-bitten nag, a grey gelding and a chestnut. Mr. James, his son, was mounted more humbly upon a mare, whose colour is not expressed ; but he was provided with a case of pistols to meet the times. 2 "Whitelocke saw an exhibition of this kind when he was at Upsal on his 108 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 together at one time, such a father, such a son) himself and other brave cavaliers, and some of their menials and of his suite, to manage every morning six or more brave well-ridden horses, every horse brought forth by his groom in such decency, order, and honour, that Holme Lacy, at that time, seemed not only an academy, but even the very court of a prince. 1 Some horses that Lord Scudamore presented to the Duke of Buckingham before he went upon his unfortunate expedition against the French were probably of this gallant breed. Great horses were still in use, for all heavy armour was not yet abandoned ; but the kind that Higford eulogises, as so excel- embassy to Sweden, in May 1654. — Journal of Swedish Embassy, ii. 209. Edit. 1855. ' Whitelocke being informed that now at the Court, among other solemnities and entertainments to welcome the Prince, the gallants used the exercise and recreation of running at the ring, a pleasure noble and useful as to military affairs, improving horsemanship, and teaching the guidance of the lance, a weapon still used by horsemen in these parts of the world, this generous exercise having been in use in England in Whitelocke's memory, who had seen the Lords in presence of the King and Queen and a multitude of spectators, in the tilt-yards at "Whitehall and at St. James's House, where the King, when he was Prince, used also that recrea- tion : it made "Whitelocke the more desirous to see the same again, and whether, as they used it here, it were the same with that he had seen in England. He went incognito in the coach of General Douglas, without any of his train, to the place where the running at the ring was. . . ' The Senator Vanderlin, Grave Tott, and the Baron Steinberg were the challengers to all the rest ; and of the other part were Marshal Wrangel, Grave Jacob de la Gardie, and nine or ten others. All were well mounted ; "Wrangel upon an English horse, given him by "Whitelocke. Their clothes, scarfs, feathers, and all accoutrements, both of men and horse, were very gallant. They ran for a prize which the Queen (Christina) had ordained, and they comported themselves with much activeness and bravery ; and it was the same exercise which "Whitelocke had formerly seen in his own country.' The following lines from Lord Buckhurst's Gorboduc, said to be the first attempt in dramatic blank verse, are beautifully descriptive of a similar scene : Ah, noble prince, how oft have I beheld Thee mounted on thy fierce and trampling steed, Shining in armour bright before the tilt, And, with thy mistress' sleeve tied on thy helme, There charge thy staffe (to please thy lady's eye) That bow'd the head-piece of thy friendly foe ! How oft in armes on horse to bend the mace ! How oft in armes on foot to break the sword ! Which never now these eyes may see again ! 1 Institutions or Advice to his Grandson, in three parts, by William Higford, Esq. London, 1658, 75-77. Erom a story related by Aubrey it may be inferred that Horn Lacy fur common purposes of security was a moated mansion, though it had no pretensions to the character of * defensible house. [The story is as 1612] HOM LACY. 109 lent for the tournament, were, perhaps, such as might now have been found in the four that are recorded to have drawn the coach of Lord Scudamore. 1 But we have been dreaming of courtly recreations, — the shows and semblances of war, — when we should have been con- templating the realities of ruder strife. Let us return. follows : — ' He ' (Mr. Thomas Allen, the best astrologer of his time, and commonly reputed a conjuror) 'was generally acquainted, and every long vacation, he rode into the CDuntrey to visitt his old acquaintance and patrones, to whom his great learning, mixt with much sweetness of humour, rendered him very welcome. One time being at Home Lacy, in Herefordshire, at Mr. John Scudamore' s (grandfather to the Lord Scudamore) he happened to leave his watch in the chamber window — (watches were then rarities.) — The maydes came in to make the bed, and hearinge a thing in a case cry Tick, Tick, Tick, presently concluded that that was his Devill, and tooke it by the string with the tongues, and threw it out of the windowe into the mote (To drowne the Devill). It so happened that the string hung on a sprig of an Elder, that grew out of the mote, and this confirmed them that 'twas the Devill. So the good old gentleman gott his watch again. Sir Kenelm Digby loved him much, and bought his excellent library of him, which he gave to the University.' — Lives of Eminent Men, 203.] 1 In that part of the accounts which refers to the period immediately preceding the opening of the troubles, entries are found respecting several horses of noble breeds ; but from the time that man and horse were in request, and troops had entered Herefordshire, ' Bay Barbary ' and the others of that stud occur no more. 110 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 CHAPTER V. Speeches of Whitelocke and Rudyerd, members of the Commons, in favour of accommodation — The Earl of Essex appointed General-in-Chief of their army ; the Earl of Bedford General of their horse — The King leaves York, and at Leicester proclaims the Earl of Stamford traitor ; appoints the Earl of Lindsey his Commander-in-chief, and sends the Marquess of Hertford into the "West to execute his Commission of Array — 111 success of that nobleman — Last and fruitless attempts at reconciliation — The Earl of Essex, the Parliament and all their adherents proclaimed traitors — Indignation of the Houses of Lords and Commons — Their Declaration that the King had commenced hostilities, and that all who should assist him were guilty of treason — Royalist view of the question of disobedience : illustrations from Bacon's Life of Henry VII. and Latimer's Sermons — Richard Baxter's representation of the motives on either side— Royal standard set up at Nottingham — Supineness of many well- affected to the royal cause — Abusive language between Cavaliers and Round- heads in the streets— The clergy insulted : the gentry watched — Attack upon Sir Charles Lucas and others in Essex and Suffolk — Injurious effects upon trade — Messages between the King and Parliament — Earl of Essex holds his rendezvous at Northampton — Excesses of the soldiery — Mutual accusations of plundering — Princes Rupert and Maurice described — Early career of Rupert — Letter of Sir Thomas Roe respecting him — Anecdote of his attack on Caldecot in "Warwickshire — State of the King's army at York and Nottingham : their insecure condition at the latter place — He draws towards Coventry, summons the place, and is refused — Both armies approach each other — Skirmish near Southam — Essex leaves London in great state — His courtesy to a Cavalier nobleman — Joins his forces at Northampton, while the King marches to Shrewsbury. The Parliament having sufficiently matured their plan, and keeping their eye upon the King's motions, proceeded to strike a more decisive blow. They had voted (July 12) that an army should be forthwith raised ' for the safety of the King's person, the defence of both Houses, and of those who had obeyed their orders and commands, and for the preservation of the true religion, the laws, liberties, and peace of the kingdom.' But the whole of those who composed the Commons were not so fat- gone in their determination towards hostility, that the votes thus propounded were passed without show of remonstrance or 1642 J SPEECH OE WHITELOCKE. Ill stem debate. Opposition, among so irritated an assembly, •was hazardous, and these who ai - e known to have lifted up their voices in endeavour to ward off the consequent calamity were manifestly upon their guard. Whitelocke was one of them, and in his Memorials has given us the substance of what he advanced. He addressed them in a persuasive and pathetic strain. Deprecating the approaching crisis, and reciting the progress of affairs that had brought them to it, in which he blamed the interference of the Roman Catholics, but ascribing also the present state of things to the just indignation of heaven against an unthankful, dissolute, and sinful nation : It is strange to note, said he, how we have insensibly slid into this beginning of a Civil War, by one unexpected Accident after another, as Waves of the Sea, which have brought us thus far : And we scarce know how, but from Paper Combates, by Declarations, Remonstrances, Protestations, Votes, Messages, An- swers and Replies : We are now come to the question of raising Porces, and naming a General, and Officers of an Army. But what, Sir, may be the progress hereof, the Poet tells yoij Jusqve datum, sceleri Canimus, populumque potentem In sua victrici Conversum viscera dextra. We must surrender up our Laws, Liberties, Properties and Lives into the hands of insolent Mercenaries, whose rage and violence will command us, and all we have, and Reason, Honour and Justice will leave our Land ; the Ignoble will rule the Noble, and Baseness will be preferred before Vertue, Profaneness before Piety. Of a potent people we shall make ourselves weak, and be the Instruments of our own ruine, perditio tua ex te, will be said to us ; we shall bum our own houses, lay waste our own fields, pillage our own goods, open our own veins, and eat out our own bowels. Tou will hear other sounds, besides those of Drums and Trum- pets, the clattering of Armour, the roaring of Guns, the groans of wounded and dying men, the shrieks of deflowred Women, the cries of Widows and Orphans, and all on your account, which makes it the more to be lamented. Pardon, Sir, the warmth of my expression on this Argument, it is to prevent a flame, which I see kindled in the midst of us, that may consume us to ashes. The sum of the progress of Civil War is the rage of Fire and Sword, and (which is worse) of bruitish men. What the Issue of it will be, no man alive can tell, probably 112 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 few of us now Here may live to see the end of it. It hath been said, He that draws his Sword against his Prince, must throw away the Scabbard: Those Differences are scarce to be reconciled ; these Commotions are like th« deep Seas, beirig once stirred, are not soon appeased. This and much more he passionately urged ; and he ended by advising the renewal of overtures for peace. Let ns try yet again, and appoint a Committee who may review our former Propositions. And where they find the matter of them (as our Affairs now are) fit to be altered, that they present the Alterations to the House, and their Opinions ; and that, as far as may stand with the Security of Us and our Cause, we may yield our Endeavours to prevent the Miseries which look black upon us, and to settle a good Accommodation ; so that there may be no strife between us and those of the other Party, for we are Brethren. The speech of Rudyerd upon the same day is marked by his wonted sterling sense, and dignified energy, which some who read, making allowance for certain of his opinions, and setting aside the misery of the time, might almost wish they had been permitted to hear. The Houses believed that the concessions they had obtained from the King had been extorted by force from fear ; and one reason advanced for the course they had adopted after gaining so many points and effecting so many reforms was that redress for the past would provide no security for the future. This notion Rudyerd endeavours in a pointed manner to remove ; and the attempt is of itself a proof how much the impression had excited their apprehensions, cherished their perseverance, and kept them apart from the King. He addressed them in these words : — Mr. Speaker, In the way we are, we have gone as far as words can carry us : we have voted our own rights, and the King's duty. No doubt there is a relative duty between King and subjects ; obedience from a subject to a King, protection from a King to his people. The present unhappy distance between his Majesty and the Parliament, makes the whole kingdom stand amazed, in a fearful expectation of dismal calamities to fall upon it. It deeply and conscionably con- cerns this House, to compose and settle these threatening ruining distractions. 1642] . SPEECH OE RUDYERD. 113 Mr. Speaker, I am touched, I am pierced, with an apprehension of the honour of the House, and success of this Parliament. The best way to give a stop to these desperate imminent mischiefs, is to make a fair way for the King's return hither ; it will likewise give best satisfaction to the people, and will be our best justifi- cation. Mr. Speaker, That we may the better consider the condition we are now in, let us set ourselves three years back. If any man then could have credibly told ns, that, within three years, the Queen shall be gone out of England into the Low-Countries, for any cause whatsoever ; the King shall remove from his Parliament from London to York, declaring himself not to be safe here ; that there shall be a total rebellion in Ireland ; such discords and distempers both in Church and State here, as we now find ! Certainly we should have trembled at the thought of it ; wherefore it is fit we should be sensible now we are in it. On the other side ; if any man then could have credibly told us, that, witbin three years, ye shall have a Parliament, it would have been good news ; that Ship- money shall be taken away by an act of Parliament, the reasons and grounds of it so rooted out, as that neither it, nor any thing like it, can ever grow up again ; that Monopolies, the High- Com- mission Court, the Star Chamber, the Bishops' votes, shall be taken away ; the Council Table regulated and restrained ; the Forests bounded and limited ; that ye shall have a Triennial Parliament ; nay more than that, a perpetual Parliament, which none shall have power to dissolve without yourselves, we should have thought this a dream of happiness ! Yet, now we are in the real possession of it, we do not enjoy it, although his Majesty hath promised and published he will make all this good to us. We stand chiefly upon further security ; whereas, the very having of these things is a convenient fair security, mutually securing one another. There is more security offered, even in this last answer of the King's, by removing the personal votes of popish Lords, by the better educa- tion of Papists' children, and by supplying the defects of the laws against recusants ; besides what else may be enlarged and improved by a select Committee of both Houses for that purpose. Where- fore Sir, let ns beware we do not contend for such a hazardous unsafe security, as may endanger the loss of what we have already. Let us not think we have nothing, because we have not all we desire ; and though we had, yet we cannot make a mathematical security : all human caution is susceptible of corruption and failing ; God's Providence will not be bound : success must be his. He that observes the wind and rain, shall neither sow nor reap : if he do nothing till he can secure the weather, he will have but an ill harvest. VOL. I. l 114 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Mr. Speaker, it now behoves us to call up all the wisdom we have about us, for we are at the very brink of combustion and confusion. If blood begins once to touch blood, we shall presently fall into a certain misery, and must attend an uncertain success, God knows when, and God knows what. Every man here is bound, in conscience, to employ his uttermost endeavours to prevent the effusion of blood. Blood is a crying sin ; it pollutes a land. Let us save our liberties and onr estates, but so as we may save our souls too. Now I have delivered my own conscience, I leave every man freely to his. 1 The discussion was concluded by their naming the Earl of Essex General of their army, and the Earl of Bedford General of the Horse, and they adopted a petition to be presented to the King. The Earl of Portland was the only dissentient from their measures in the House of Lords. 2 Essex was a nobleman in high repute for military experience, punctilious honour, and steady bravery, a sincere Presbyterian, whose cold temperament was warmed and his vanity nattered by the title of 'Your Excellency,' and the prospect, at the head of a large army, of an actual power little inferior to that of the King. Both he and the General of the Horse accepted their appointments with professions of loyalty to their sove- reign, and of zeal for the public good. While the Earl was using all diligence to raise a force, Charles, as yet unprepared against the impending mischief, though he had good intelligence of their designs and actions, left York, where at the end of four months' residence his finances were so exhausted that he had hardly been able to maintain his Court, much less to levy an adequate army. He had however 1,200 men lying before Hull in vain expectation of its surrender. Attended by a retinue he made a progress through some of the neighbouring counties to encourage his friends, and invigorate their endeavours. From Beverley and Doncaster he went to Newark, Lincoln, Nottingham, and 1 0. P. H. xi. 303 et seq. Kudyerd was member for Wilton with Sir Harry Vane; an ordinance was passed, September 15, 1647, to settle some lands of the Earl of "Worcester upon him and others for reparation of their losses by taking away the Court of "Wards, of which he had been Surveyor : he died shortly after, having seen his anticipations too truly, though only in part, fulfilled. 2 For this he was committed to the custody of one of the Sheriffs of London : but in a day or two after, on suspicion of being concerned in the surrender of Portsmouth to the King, he was sent to the Tower. — 0. P. H. xi. 363. 1642] FIRST BLOODSHED. 115 Leicester, 1 which latter town the Earl of Stamford and his attendants had just quitted as his Majesty entered, who found it in a state of confusion. There on the following day Stam- ford was publicly proclaimed a traitor. Wherever Charles came he was received with expressions of affection ; as he moved from place to place he gathered forces, and drew people to his side, by his addresses winning the hearts of those who resorted to him in his trouble. He had appointed the Mar- quess of Hertford his Commander-in-Chief : this arrangement was soon altered, and the Earl of Lindsey being substituted in his room, the Marquess was despatched into the West to raise the array of those counties committed to his charge. That nobleman set out with sanguine anticipations of success, and wrote 2 a cheerful letter to the Queen then in Holland, which was intercepted, wherein he encouraged her with a prospect of the improvement of the King's affairs, and quoted a parody on the burden of a satirical ballad in vogue among the Cavaliers, ' Hey, then, down go they.' 3 But he found his undertaking a harder task than he expected. 4 He was met in Somersetshire by the adverse Deputy Lieutenants, members of Parliament, and others in arms ; and subsequently by the Earl of Bedford with 300 hone; the manufacturing population was brought against him and the commissioners acting under him ; and after some skirmishes in which his small party behaved with resolution, he was compelled to retreat to Minehead, where he took shipping and arrived at Cardiff. But, previous to these and some slighter effusions of blood, at Hull and other places, 8 — the first fruits of that tremendous waste of life that succeeded, — and speedily after the election of their General, the Parliament, conceiving themselves in a favourable posture for treating, sent the proposed petition to the King for peace. Such however was the temper or unhappiness of the framers and approvers of it, that they placed it for matter and manner in such a shape as rather to incur its rejection than acceptance. In all attempts of this nature 1 July 22.— Manley, Iter Carolinum. 2 July 11. ' O.P.H. xi. 365. 4 ' The West was prepossessed,' says Echard, 'against the Marquess of Hertford, so that he sent the small party that he had gotten together westward into Corn- wall, and passed the Severn into South Wales.' 6 A weaver, Richard Percival, killed at Manchester (or Wigan ?) July 1 5, by Lord Strange' s party, was said to he the first case of bloodshed.— 0. P. H. xi. 421. Neal, i. 64.5, says that Hotham shed the first blood. I 2 116 THE CIVIL WAK IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [164?! on both hands, besides customary mutual recriminations, there were certain points which gave offence ; and while these were afloat no actual approach could be made to reconciliation. This address then, as to substance and expression, seemed to the King to arrogate a sort of sovereignty over him. Coming, too, as he observed, from those who had taken from him his fleet and magazines, chosen a General, and were raising an army against him, and had committed the Lord Mayor of London to prison for obeying his commands, it roused his feelings. He returned a sharp answer, that no persuasion could induce him to modify, containing demands on his part which would have included a resignation of the advantages they held against him. At first they received it without any observation ; — none at least is recorded ; — but almost in the same hour they renewed that order to the Judges already alluded to, who were to declare his Commissions of Array illegal ; and they pro- nounced sentence on several of the nobles attendant upon him, depriving them of their votes and privileges, and dooming them to the Tower. A few days after they sent him a replication, 1 framed an ordinance for revival of tonnage and poundage, 2 which the}' applied to their own uses ; and published their grounds for taking up, what they styled, defensive arms. 3 Their reasons, pressed with somewhat of querulous vehemence, and ending with a pathetic appeal to all who had any sense of piety, honour, and compassion, to help a distressed state, and come to their aid and assistance, though they might be convincing and affecting to themselves and their supporters, produced no effect upon their antagonists ; who could not be brought to think that their cause, like their language, was that of injured innocence. Charles opposed them by a ' Proclamation for suppressing the present rebellion under the command of Eobert, Earl of Essex,' 4 offering a free pardon to him and his adherents, if within six days from the date thereof they should lay down their arms. It was transmitted to the Lords accompanied by a letter from his Majesty ; 5 and on the reading of it their ardour for resistance burst forth into a fresh flame. They received it as a threat addressed to themselves, and the Commons partaking of their indignation, a conference was immediately held, which was thus reported by Sir Eobert Harley in the words of Lord MandeviHe, who opened it. 1 July 26. 2 August 1. 3 August 2. 1 August 9. 5 August 11. !642] DECLARATION OF PARLIAMENT. 117 Gentlemen, My Lords desire this Conference, to acquaint you with a Letter, which they have received from his Majesty ; and a Procla- mation there inclosed. Here needeth no Addition of Language to it : Which if there had, my Lords would have chosen a better Speaker : But the Words give Advantage sufficient : which I am to read unto you ; and there deliver the Sense of the Lords upon it. After the King's Letter and Proclamation were read, his Lordship further said, Here needs no great Expression to make you sensible of this Proclamation : Tou hear the Earl of Essex is therein proclaimed a Traitor, and all Commanders under him, and all that do adhere unto him ; and, in Those, the Parliament and honest Party of the Kingdom are proclaimed Traitors. Here are big Words of Terror : But the Lords well considered the Grounds, before they entered into this Action ; which is for the Maintenance of the Law, the Religion, Liberty of the Subject, and Privilege of Parliament. Upon these Grounds, they have commanded me to let you know, that, with one Consent, they resolved to go on with more united Vigour than before. Sir Jo. Holland reports That Part of the Conference which was delivered by the Earl of Essex ; That he was not ambitious of this Employment : That he under- took it by the Commands of both Houses : That, in the Carriage of it, he did not doubt but he should shew as much Loyalty to his Prince as any of them : And that he should be as ready to adven- ture his Life for the Maintenance of the Law, as that other great General shall do for the Breach of the Law. Then it was resolved upon the question, That, whereas the Lords and Commons in Parliament did for- merly chuse the Earl of Essex to be Captain- General of such Forces as are or shall be raised for the Maintenance and Preservation of the true Protestant Religion, the King's Person, the Laws of the Land, the Peace of the Kingdom, the Liberty and Property of the Subject, and the Rights and Privileges of Parliament ; this House doth now Declare, That they will maintain and assist him, and adhere unto him the said Earl, with their Lives and Estates, in the same Cause. [And here a memorandum is inserted upon the Journal of the Commons] When this Question was put, every Man, in his Place, rose up, and gave his Answer unto it distinctly, one after another. 118 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 And they determined that such memhers as were absent should declare themselves, from time to time, at their coming to the House. Thus was the die cast, and the fate of the country, as to war, decided ; while all the peaceably disposed of the nation looked on with abhorrence and trembling. Less could hardly have been expected from the Houses than that they should publicly identify themselves with their General, when the royal proclamation had thrown them into the same scale. No time was lost in declaring that the King had commenced hostilities ; and therefore in their several instructions to their Deputy Lieutenants, as in those forthwith despatched into Monmouthshire, it was provided in the preamble that, instead of the original form that had been adopted, — ' the King intends to make war,' should be inserted, ' the King doth make war upon his Parliament ; ' and not to be behindhand with him, they had already passed an ordinance, in which, no longer fastening upon mere individuals, they pronounced indiscrimi- nately all who should assist him, traitors. 1 The high-notioned Royalists did not think that the King had gone too far in this proclamation. Looking to the steps that the Parliament had taken, who had all along spared not to vex a multitude of them as delinquents for adhering to their allegiance, they would on no account allow the validity of such measures as their opponents had gradually arrived at ; nor would they on any pretence admit of the lawfulness of taking up arms against the Sovereign. Their divines quoted the direct scriptural precepts of obedience ; their lawyers adhered to the plain construction of the statute of Edward III. relating to treason. 8 As to pleas of religion, loyalty, and public safety, liberty, law, and peace, and respect for the person of the King, they accounted them a cloak with which their adversaries endeavoured to hide their true sentiments from themselves, and those whom they could not otherwise have brought over to them, as well as those who firmly resisted them. They held it to be a monstrous absurdity, that any should Make war for the King Against himself. 3 1 See p. 76, ante. ' 25 Ertw. III. a. 2. » Hudibras. 16*2] EEBELLION JUSTIFIED. 119 The nice, or as South ! sarcastically calls it, ' superfine ' dis- tinction drawn between his political and personal character, they ridiculed and renounced. 2 To those who had an historical knowledge of the past, the professions of Essex and his asso- ciates were not new. It might be remembered that insurrec- tion had taken place, in which similar grounds had been taken of liberty, law, peace, and deliverance from evil counsellors. In the Cornish rising of 1497, Thomas Flammock, a lawyer, had maintained that duty might be reconciled with disobedience. Bacon, in his Life of Henry VII., has related the story, and given his judgment of such opinions. That sciolist, he remarks, would talk learnedly, as if he were in possession of a method by which a rebellion might be under- taken without a breach of the peace ; and he describes him as exhorting his followers, to take up arms so as to do no injury to any one ; only with a powerful force to carry up a petition to the King that he would take off the taxes ; and to punish his advisers, that others through fear might not presume to offend in like manner for the time to come. For his part he did not see how they could discharge the duty of faithful Englishmen, and good lieges, unless they set the King free from such pernicious counsel- lors, who would speedily ruin both himself and his people : and that they would be doing all this, if rightly understood, for the service and benefit of the King. Neither had the plea of respect for the royal person any novelty in it ; though it sounded like gross hypocrisy to the Cavaliers. They reasoned with old Latimer, when in 1536 he reproved the leaders of the Yorkshire insurrection, his fellow- prisoners in a far different cause, as in his homely style he has thus recorded : I have travailed in the Tower my selfe, by the King's com- mandement and the counsell, and there was Sir Robert Constable, the Lord Hussy and the Lord Darsy ; and the Lord Darsy was 1 Sermon at Whitehall, January 30, 1662-3. * This separation of the officer from the office which hath created bella plus- guam civilia, the King in this army fighting against himself in the opposite army, is made without all colour or shadow of reason. For though the authority of the King be sometimes where his person is not, yet his person cannot be where his authority is not.— Sir Dudley Digges, Unlawfulness of Subjects taking up arms &c. (1643) 148. ' If foreigners should enquire under what kind of government we live, the answer must be, We \ne over a King.'— Ibid. 120 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 telling me of the faithfall service that hee had done the King's Majesty that dead is : ' If I had seene my Soveraigne Lord in the field,' said hee, ' and seeing his grace comming against ns, I would have lighted from my horse, and taken my sword by the point, and yeelded it into his Grace's hands.' ' Marry,' quoth I, ' but in the meane season yee played not the part of a faithfull subject, in hold- ing with the people in a commotion and a disturbance.' It hath beene the case of all Traytours, to pretend nothing against the King's person : they never pretend the matter to the King, but to other. Subjects may not resist Magistrates. 1 Whether these instances were remembered or not, such was the doctrine to which the friends of Charles inclined; and under these impressions they looked upon Essex and his army, his employers and abettors, to be rebels and traitors. Many and tedious were the attacks and vindications that were published on either side respecting these armaments ; so that a writer who sits down with a determination to follow his own partialities might find enough in the controversial produc- tions of the day, if advocacy were the province of an historian, to make his own appear the better cause. Baxter, with as much candour as might be expected from one who had enthu- siastically embraced the opinions of the House, in his autobio- graphy runs out into copious statements of the motives by which the determinations of the opposite actors were swayed. But, without entering into the abstract question, which would be foreign to the limited nature of this subject, let what passed in the Parliament, as it has been briefly related, be sufficient to show somewhat of their designs and methods who determined to encounter the King in battle : while what has been adduced on the other hand may more than suffice to convey the general opinions of such as, with the leading men of Herefordshire, stood up against them. In all such questions, it is well known that a great portion of the community act merely upon a watch-word, leave others to decide for them, and hardly trouble themselves to reflect at all. The King, having taken his ground, followed up the pro- clamation, which had given such offence, by another, in which he called upon all his subjects, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, to repair to the setting up of his standard at Nottingham 1 Fruitfnll Sermons (1635), 56. ™*2l ROYAL STANDARD SET UP. 121 upon an appointed day. 1 Thither he went, and in his presence this event took place on Monday, August 22, 2 a rough and boisterous day. This awful signal of desolation planted on a high mound at the back of the Castle was blown down at night, and since melancholy men in miserable times seize upon and apply as prognostics what otherwise might pass unheeded, that incident with some others unusual, but not miraculous, oc- curring in this unfortunate reign, were looked upon as pro- digious and portentous of what might ensue. Though in some quarters the royal levies were said to have increased beyond expectation, Clarendon complains of the supineness of those who, while they wished well to the Crown, and might know that their own welfare, if not their existence, was involved in its security, were disposed rather to be spec- tators than actors in the quarrel. There were more than enough of fiery spirits eager to try the strength of parties, but hitherto a great proportion of those who were reckoned to be Eoyalists at heart refrained from declaring themselves. They concluded that they had done sufficient for his Majesty, if they had not yielded to persuasion or threats in appearing against him. The year would be shortly in the wane : they were loth to ex- change their quiet homes for privations, hard marchings, and fields of blood : or they had friends and connexions on both sides : or they flattered themselves that probably reconciliation might yet be effected ; if not, it would be better to wait, under all hazards and imputations, as long as they could : the struggle, though it might be sharp, would not last long, ' one quick blow might end all ' without their interference. Such negative ad- herents, such sleeping partners in his difficulties, were ill suited to his urgent exigencies, who wanted active sharers in them, with resolved hearts, open coffers, and armed hands, to rescue him, if possible, from them. Their dreams of neutrality were shortly to cease. But when supineness is laid to the charge of the King's friends, it cannot with justice be asserted of those who leagued themselves against him. Much of this backwardness in the Eoyalists was doubtless owing to intimidation in those parts where the Houses had the 1 In a letter from Lord Dunsmere to Sir Thomas Lyttelton, dated "Warwick, August 17, 1642, he says, ' to morrow we shall have the kinge w' b us att Killing- worthe [Kenilworth] to countinance his owne tmisnesse.' — Habingdon MSS. 140. 3 Rush worth, Whitelocke: according to Clarendon (i. 720), the 25th, 122 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [16J2 ascendancy. It was a new and fearful feature of the times that, no longer for vulgar curiosity, but for mischievous and cruel purposes, neighbours became spies upon each other ; neither was open aggression and abuse uncommon in the streets, and the Cavalier or Eouudhead received it as the people stood affected to them. Tombes, perhaps at a later period, experienced some such usage at Leominster. 1 Baxter suffered from this among the Boyalists in Worcestershire and complains of it. A gentleman stopped, as he passed him in Kidderminster, and without provocation exclaimed, ' There goeth a traitor.' At another time, as he was going through the suburbs of Wor- cester, he was recognised and saluted with the outcry, ' Down with the Eoundheads.' 2 Indeed their looks, dress, and the fashion of their hair were sufficient to point out the Puritans to a casual observer. 3 The same in many respects was the case with the clergy of the Church on the other hand ; and wherever they went abroad in a disaffected neighbourhood, as the lower orders are little tender in their expressions of liking or aversion, they ran the risk of repeated vexations. 4 The gentry also were closely watched lest they should go to the assistance of the King ; and such as resolved upon it, did so in many instances at the peril of their property or their lives. The county of Essex furnished a forward example of this kind of popular per- secution. Its towns abounded with parliamentary adherents, 1 "What Tombes has said of the violence of the people of Leominster against him may -well be credited from the accounts that Lady Harley has given of the conduct of the inhabitants of Hereford. If any of her men "were recognised there, they were insulted in the street. Peter, a domestic of her house, was saluted with the appellation of ' fresh Roundhead ; ' and Davis, one of the preachers out of her neighbourhood, being requested by some of the inhabitants of the city to preach, found a most indecorous and unwelcome reception. Thus was all order and discipline disturbed as well by those who defended, as those who would have changed the system of things. 2 Life, 1, i. 40. Col. Hutchinson complains of similar ill-usage. — Memoirs, 83. s [' When puritanisme grew into a faction, the zealotts distinguisht themselves, both men and women, by severall affectations of habitt, lookes, and words, which, had it bene a reall declension [declining] of vanity, and embracing of sobriety in all those things, had bene most commendable in them ; but their quick forsaking of those things, when they were where they would be, shew'd that they either never tooke them up for conscience, or were corrupted by their prosperity to take up those vaine things they durst not practise under persecution.' — Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson, 98.] 4 See the case of Symmons, the friend of Marshall, in Merc. Rust. 15. — Clarke the Vicar of Andover was imprisoned for having refused to admit Symonds the parliamentary lecturer into his church. — C. J. August 24. 1642] RIOT AT COLCHESTER. 123 imitators of the populace of the metropolis. At Colchester, Sir John Lucas ' intended on August 22 to set out towards his Majesty, and knowing the temper of the townsmen, had secretly prepared his attendants, horses, and arms to depart between sunset and break of day. But his intentions were betrayed by a servant. No sooner had he issued from his postern gate than he found an ambush laid to interrupt him ; a gun was fired for a signal, and the whole of the rabble was raised : himself and all that were in his house were seized amidst revilings and uproar, and dragged to gaol ; some were stripped, others beaten ; his premises utterly robbed, wasted, and spoiled. The Commons upon this intelligence sent down a committee to enquire into the affair, who thanked the people for their good service in arresting such traitors as would assist the King ; but hinted that their plundering was against the sense of the House, and admonished them to do it no more ; but on their departure they conveyed Lucas and a clergyman, his friend, under arrest to London. In the course of a few days an order was made, says a royalist writer, 2 that none should plunder but those who were authorised by the House. But the mob, emboldened by their security, went on triumphantly, committed various acts of violence upon the persons and goods of the clergy ; and totally ransacked two richly furnished houses, one in Essex, the other in Suffolk, both belonging to the Countess of Eivers, a Koman Catholic, whose losses were estimated at 100,000£. 3 One of these spoilers, caught while he was selling a part of the booty, was committed to Newgate as a felon ; but discharged without paying his fees by order of the Commons. Such were the dis- orders that prevailed in this quarter at the time when Charles called upon his subjects to repair to his assistance ; but they reached not into Herefordshire, where the majority, with little exception, were directing their energies and resources to bring help to the King. The Harleys stood resolutely aloof. During the absence of Sir Eobert in London, Lady Harley continued close within Brampton Bryan walls, provided with everything for security and defence. The consequences of these agitations 1 One of the best gentlemen of that county, of the Privy Chamber to the Prince of Wales. — Clarendon, ii. 21. 2 Merc. Rust. 5. 3 So Merc. Bust. But they are laid at 50,00(M. in her petition. — L. J. August 29. [Such were the ' abuses ' committed under the ' general ' search-warrants of the champions of liberty ! (see p. 83, ante) that they themselves were obliged to interpose. — C. J. August 26.] 124 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 soon began to be felt. Commercial confidence was interrupted, and trade at a stand ; if he who had money was not loth to part with it in the payment of just debts, he might find many that were disposed to withhold it. If we descend to humbler views of private feeling, this fact will be illustrated by the following letter of an honest dealer in iron, who thus writes to William Scudamore of Ballingham near Ross, cousin of Lord Scudamore, and possessor of a forge at Gary [Caerau] upon the Wye, the place whereof knoweth it now no more : — Bristoll 2\ Septembr 1642. Wors 11 : To r lett s I have received but cannot furnishe you with the money yo u desier, & untill I am out of debt forbeare to give order to send any more Iron, it being better in y r hands than in any mans as the tyme now goeth, w ch I praye the Allmighty God to amend. But for mortallity sake I confes vnder my hande that I owe you one hundred fortye eight pounds ffif fcye (sic) shillings twopence as by the account vndemeath will apeare & will in few weeks paye it yo u in London if yo u hath theare occasion so yo u wright me to whom it shalbe paid theare. I asseure yo u In regarde of the Marquis of Hertford beinge att Sherborne, & the number of souldiers that are gatheringe out of theise neare Countryes about vs, wee cannot have any man will bringe us money, althoughe long dew, and thearfor I cannot do as I have donn, These tymes havinge dried up my small springs that helped me, And this w th my best respects vnto yo u do rest Yo r lovinge frinde to command Geo: Helliees £ j & s d Aug 1 21. Rec d 9 ton Iron att 16 : 15 p ton 150 : 15 p d for waving this & Lof (?) parcel 000 : 5 . p d Lewes Evans Custome at Chepstow "1 & for a Cockett [permit] heare — J 148 .15.2 To the Wor* my very good ffrende "William Ski dmor Esq' these present — att Ballingham. It was soon found that the hoisting of the royal banner had not produced the effect that was anticipated ; and considering 1642] CHAELES OFFERS TO TREAT. 125 the mighty preparations, the numbers and excellent appointments on the opposite side, it was clearly perceived that though many came in, 1 there were not as yet sufficient supporters in the field to make up a balanced cause. The King's counsellors saw that he was in a powerless and a perilous state, in which it was difficult to advance or retreat. Charles himself, mortified by the lukewarmness of those who, he thought, would have flocked together to defend him, no less than piqued at the conduct of his enemies, could not but have observed how small his numbers were ; yet he desperately resolved, as the Parliament had done, though with less judicious reference to the means than they, to go on with increased vigour. The earnest representations, how- ever, of some of the nobility induced him at length to set aside his private feeling, and consent to the renewal of proposals for an accommodation ; and having once determined upon this, whether from a real sense of weakness or, as his enemies would say, to gain time, or from an ardent desire to avert the horrors of war, nothing could be more urgent or impassioned than his appeals to them for reconciliation. In the substance of several messages he propounded that a time, place, and persons should be appointed for a treaty : he denied that he intended any imputation against his Parliament, or had set up his standard against them. If they would by a certain day revoke their declarations against all who had assisted him, he on his part would cheerfully revoke his proclamations and declarations, and take down his standard. But it was too late. They whom he addressed were conscious of their strength, and were unwilling to resign it ; nor would they run the risk of giving him leisure and oppor- tunity for trying to increase his powers. Besides, every member affected to feel himself personally dishonoured and scorned by the charges of treason and rebellion. In a reserved, offended tone they coldly declined his offers, retorted accusations upon him, and tendered such propositions as could not be ex- pected to meet with his assent. He must first abandon his advisers to their justice, to be dealt with according to their 1 Baxter says not above 2,000. Sir Ralph Dutton's was the second regiment that was raised for the King, and came in to his Majesty, eight hundred complete, with flying colours, at the setting up of his royal standard at Nottingham. His Lieutenant-Colonel was Stephen Hawkins. — Memorial to the King in vindication of his claim to precedency. MSS. Harl. 6852. [A curious entry in 0. J. May 5, 1643, refers a little book, entitled A Manual of Prayers for Sir R. Dutton's regi- ment, to the committee appointed to prepare the General Declaration.] 126 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFOKDSHIEE. [1642 demerits, disband his levies, take down his standard, recall his proclamations and declarations, and return to his Parliament. There should be no way to agreement save this ; but then he would meet with all fidelity and duty. Finally, they protested that they would never lay down their arms till he should withdraw his protection from such as had been voted to be delinquents. While these messages were passing, and towards the conclusion, that not a day might be lost, their General was directed to advance his forces with all possible speed. Nothing now remained thoroughly to widen the breach, but the execution of the soldier's sword. The Earl of Essex had ordered his army to rendezvous at Northampton, whither large bodies of military were in motion from London ; and the neighbourhood of that town, and after- wards of Nottingham, presented the appearance of a country under expectation of invasion. The raw and undisciplined soldiery were guilty of many excesses against such as were known or suspected to be unfavourable to them, and grievous complaints were laid before the Houses, both of the King's men and their own. Mutual accusations of cruelty and rapacity were brought forward, and the Parliament would fain have persuaded the nation that the original and chief, if not the sole blame, rested with the Cavaliers. But it is of little importance who first, by a few days, set on foot the practice of plundering, into which they both eagerly ran ; and it required more control than could be exercised by any of the officers to prevent that which after a time grew into a relentless habit, in defiance of every prohibition. Open indiscriminate pillage does not seem to have been their first object, and they sheltered themselves in general under the pretext of visiting and searching the houses of reputed traitors for arms. Had money been scarce among the troops (it certainly was not among the Parliamentarians), they might be thought to have acted upon the plea that Shakspeare has put into the mouth of Falstaff, ' Young men must live;' but there was something more in this case than the mere provocation of want ; they were goaded by feelings of party-hate and revenge. Lord Brooke with a strong detach- ment rifled the mansion of Sir Eichard Mynshull who had gone northward to Charles. 1 It was at Bourton in Buckinghamshire. No such outrage had yet been committed in that county, and 1 August 18. 1642] ARRIVAL OP GERMAN PRINCES. 127 very few elsewhere ; l and one of their first acts of violence, after forcing an entrance, was to thrust their swords through the portrait of the King. But in such transactions the Cava- liers must take their just share of reproach. Before the time of Charles's final departure from York there arrived from the Continent 2 two German princes, his nephews, sons of his sister Elizabeth, and of the deceased Prince Pals- grave of the Rhine. The family, from their misfortunes in- curred through attachment to the Protestant cause, had long been favourites with the English, and even now were pensioners upon their bounty. Rupert, the elder of the two, was but three and twenty years of age, and his brother Maiu'ice one year younger : the former had recently obtained his release from military captivity through the mediation of Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador at the Court of the Emperor of Germany ; and the latter had been prosecuting his studies at the University of Leyden. Both from their rank and dignity were erroneously advanced by Charles to high commands, though in most respects they were only fitted to obey. From a combination of their opposite best qualities one good commander might have been formed ; Maurice, though brave, being of a cautious and saturnine temperament, Rupert haughty and impatient of advice, and in battle all impetuosity and fire. 3 Him nature and circumstances had stamped a warrior from his cradle, and gifted with quick talent 4 and a healthy frame ; but he seems to have been spoiled by the fond indulgence of his mother; and yet from his thirteenth year he had been inured to the disci- pline of arms. Flattered by the poet, toasted at the carousal, and doted upon by the young hot-blooded Cavaliers of the army, he was at once an object of awe and admiration to his enemies, who by turns dreaded and respected, hated and applauded him; ' The Cavaliers had pillaged some houses in Yorkshire, August 7 and 1 0. Sir Henry Cholmeley's house near Selby was one of the first : and even before this Sir John Hotham's men sallied from Hull, and plundered and burnt houses ( 0. P. H. xi. 336, 383). Col. Sandys, one of the Deputy Lieutenants for the county (L. J. August 19), plundered Sir William Boteler's house in Kent, August 24 (Merc. Bust. i.). Boteler had been imprisoned for carrying up the Kentish petition. He was killed at Cropredy. Sir P. Warwick married his widow. Wellingborough in Northamptonshire was miserably plundered, December 1642. 2 About the beginning of September. — May, 3, i. 1. 3 In his last battle on the Continent, where he was taken, he fought with the utmost desperation against overpowering numbers. * See Cleveland's Rupertismus. 128 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 but the sentiment that he chiefly inspired into them was fear. When once he had shown himself, his movements were noted with great anxiety, and industriously made known. Even a white poodle dog, 1 the faithful companion of his campaigns, attracted observation ; verifying the old proverb, it shared in the abuse or ridicule lavished upon its master; and was thought of sufficient consequence to be announced among the slain in one of the great battles. 2 The character of this prince has frequently been drawn ; and the prominent features and faults of it are strongly impressed upon the events of the war in Herefordshire : and in the result they had reason to understand and appreciate them ; wherefore we shall dwell upon him somewhat the more. One who was always about the Court, and knew him well, has, with some fairness, observed of him, Had he bin as cautious, as he was a forward Fighter, and a knowing Person in all parts of a Soldier, he had most probably bin a very fortunate one. He shewed a great and exemplary temperance, which fitted him to undergo the fatigue of a warr ; so as he deserved the character of a Soldier ; U estoit tousjours Soldat : for he was not negligent by indulgences to his pleasures, or apt to lose his advan- tages : yet his eagernes to fight, and that with a well-armed Army, who afterwards grew to be well disciplined, turned to prejudice. And a little sharpnes of temper of body, and uncommunicablenes in society or council, (by seeming with a pish to neglect all another said, and he approved not) made him less grateful, than his friends wished ; and this humor sowred him towards the Counsellors of Civill affairs, who were necessarily to intermix with him in Martiall councills. 3 It cannot be questioned that he was the occasion of much more injury than benefit to the cause of his uncle ; for, while his valour was beyond all common daring, and he achieved such things as few could have performed, his incorrigible defects both in council and in the field brought on such disasters as never could be repaired. About a fortnight after his arrival he took the command of the horse at Leicester, infused resolution into the officers and 1 [The gift of Lord Arundel, named Boye, ' of a breede so famous that the Grand Turk gave it in particular injunction to his ambassador to obtaine him a puppie thereof.' — Warburton, Prince Rupert, i. 99]. 2 Marston Moor. — Vicars, God's Ark overtopping the World's waves, 277. 3 "Warwick, Memoires, 227. 1642] EARLY CAREER OF RUPERT. 129 privates, and gave proof of his education in the foreign wars. May relates the impression that he produced in London, and apparently means it should he inferred, that he was a robber without distinction of friend or foe. With ... a small party of those Forces which the King had at that time gathered together, which were not of so great a body as to be tearmed an Army, ... he marched into divers Counties, to roll him- selfe like a snow ball, into a larger bulke, by the accession of Forces in every place : Through divers parts of Warwick-shire, Nottingham- shire, Leicestershire, Worcester-shire, and Cheshire, did this young Prince fly with those Troops which he had, not inviting the people so much by faire demeanour (for such was the report to the Houses of Parliament) as compelling them by extreme rigour to follow that side which he had taken. Many Townes and Villages he plundered, which is to say robb'd (for at that time first was the word plunder ' used in England, being borne in Germany, when that stately Country was so miserably wasted and pillaged by forraigne Armies) and committed other outrages upon those who stood affected to the Parliament, executing some, and hanging up servants at their Masters doores, for not discovering of their Masters. Upon which newes, the Houses of Parliament fell into a serious debate, and agreed that a Charge of High Treason should be drawne up against him, for indeavouring the destruction of this State, which was voted a great breach of the Kingdoms Lawes, and breach of the priviledge of that great Councell, representing the whole state of it. 2 And one of the news-books announces the receipt of letters, stating that he and his troops had committed cruel outrages, that ... he is a loose and wild gentleman, and that in Leicester- shire and other places, ho has shewn no more mercy to any that oppose him than to a dog. 3 1 ' The word plunder,' says Puller, ' some make of Latin originall, from planum dare, to levell, or plane all to nothing. Others make it of Duch ex- traction, as if it were to plume, or pluck the feathers of a bird to the bare skin. Sure I am, we first heard thereof in the Swedish wars ; and if the name and thing be sent back from whence it came, few English eyes would weep thereat.' — Church History, xi. 196. 'A new name for an old theft.' — Merc. Bust. August 29, 1642. May, the historian, is the great authority of writers who have attributed the introduction of the word to these German Princes. Perhaps they might contribute to give the expression greater currency in England ; but it is most true that the Scots had adopted it before. See Monro's Expedition. [It also occurs, as a well-known word, in an order by Essex, March 7, 1642. — MSS. Com- mission Report, ii. 115]. 2 History, §c, 3, i. 3. 3 The news-books do not, however, treat him as yet with the scorn and severity VOL. I. K 130 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 In the whole of this there may have been much truth with a mixture of exaggeration ; yet it seems undeniable that this eager spirit over-acted his part, and forgot that those whom he commanded, and those against whom he led them, were Britons born. It was reported of him that having ordered something to be done which was contrary to the law, and being informed of his mistake, he said, 'Tush ! we will have no law in England henceforward but of the sword.' ' How like the leader described by the poet, Impiger, iracundus, — Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat armis ! Yet these things, false or true, diligently spread abroad, increased his unpopularity and the terror of his name. Sir Thomas Roe, lately returned from his embassy, and fixed against his will in the Parliament's quarters, heart-sick at the impending miseries of his country, was so distressed at what was related of the impetuous opening of his career, though he formed a more dispassionate notion of it, that he wrote to his eldest brother the exiled Prince Elector, as head of that family, together with his mother, to unite their influence in restraining him : ISTo innocency can now escape the liberty of malice, but especially agaiDst Pr : Rupert, whom they report hath done some outrages, and threatened, firing, plundving and forcing contributions accord- ing to the war in Germany. The whole I do not beleive : but I feare the freshnes of his spirit, and his zeal to his Unkle, may have drawne from him some words, if not deeds, that have begott a very ill odor : insomuch that nothing is so cryed out against as his actions, which doth reflect upon yo r whole family, and cause ; and perhaps there that they let loose upon him hereafter. All men do not take the spoiling of their goods with the patience of the early Christians. Rupert's plunderings damaged the temper of the country even where it was not irritated before ; and many, it may be feared, returned to their rifled habitations to lie upon straw with curses on their lips and revenge in their hearts. 1 Lilly, Life and Death of King Charles I., 183. — This speech had its parallel in a saying of the Duko of Cumberland after the battle of Culloden. When the humane and generous President Forbes paid his respects to that nobleman at Inverness, he took occasion to hint to His Royal Highness that the laws of the country should be observed by his army ; but the Duke, who entertained very dif- ferent ideas, not relishing such an intrusion upon his authority, cut the worthy President short with this exclamation, which he clenched by an oath, 'The laws of the country, my lord I I 11 make a brigade give laws.' — Browne, I.istory of the Highlands, iii. 271. 1642] RUPERT'S ATTACK ON CALDECOT. 131 may be more neede of a bridle to moderate him, than of spurs ; for it hath bene sayd, though I should be innocent of all false accusations, yet they will never forgive me the ill fortune to have procured his liberty. I wish that you and the Queene would write to him ; yet the case is very tender ; and I know not what to advise ; for all things are in extreames, and must be guided w th much wisdome.' ' Among all these extravagancies and evil rumours, Rupert was not insensible to the nobler feelings attributed to the heroes of chivalry. Caldecot in Warwickshire, and near the edge of Leicestershire, was the seat of William Purefoy, 2 Esquire, member of the House of Commons for Warwick, and an officer in their army, inferior to few of his associates in the diligent prosecution of their designs. His manor house was strongly built with stone, and the Prince marked it out for an example. On Sunday, August 28, a little before the hour of prayer, he appeared before it with 500 men, and summoned those who were within to open the gate and surrender. The party who determined to oppose them consisted of Mrs. Purefoy, her son- in-law Abbot, one or two of her daughters, three men and three women servants. Abbot produced twelve muskets, showed the females how to load them, and as fast as they could be made ready, he and his men discharged them upon the assailants. Three captains and fifteen men who made their way into the court were shot ; and as an entrance could not easily be forced, the barns, stables and outbuildings were fired. When the little garrison saw that they could no longer hold out with any probability of success, and that their powder failed them, the mistress of the house threw open the door, and rushed to the feet of Rupert imploring quarter. The Prince questioned her as to the extent of her petition, and learned that she begged the lives of herself and all those that were with her ; and when he heard how few they were who had made so brave a resistance, be raised her from the ground, courteously saluted her, and im- mediately granted her request. Then entering the house, he saved it from plunder ; commended Abbot for his valour ; told him he was worthy of a high command, and offered him promo- tion if he would have served in the royal army. 3 If this hasty 1 MS. Letters of Sir Thomas Roe, September 20, 1642 ' He signs his name Perfoy upon the warrant for the execution of the King, but upon their tombs it is spelt Purefoy. 1 Vicars, God in the Mount, 155-157. This writer, one of the most unreason- 132 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 youth under the loss of his men and officers before a private dwelling was capable of such generous forbearance, it leaves room at least for surmise, that he might not be the monster unredeemed by the common qualities of humanity that he was usually represented to be ; and that the severities attributed to him upon other occasions were sometimes magnified, or drawn in too deep a shade. Upon the king's coming to Nottingham in the middle of August he had found there, besides the trained bands of the county, not more than 300 foot ; about 600 were present at the raising of the standard. His horse quartered at Leicester were not above 800, few better armed than with swords. At York he had not left infantry enough to guard his few cannon and the ammunition there remaining ; neither had he force about his person sufficient to protect him from surprise. Sir Jacob Astley, his Sergeant-Major, whose nerves had been well exercised in rubs of war, and who was therefore not a man to take alarm at trifles, was so struck with the insecure condition of his Majesty, that he made an earnest representation to him concerning it ; for he said he would not answer for his being taken out of his bed, if the enemy should make a brisk attempt for that purpose. But the King's numbers gradually increased, and each allowed the other unmolested to pursue their several designs. Once indeed two bodies of considerable strength had well-nigh come into contact at no great distance from Coventry, a city altogether aljly bitter and abusive of his class against these ' mighty Nimrods and hunting furies of the times,' could not forbear qualifying Rupert's behaviour to Mrs. Purefoy with this remark: he ' raised the Gentlewoman from her knees, saluted her kindly (the greatest act of humanity, if not the onely, that ever I yet could heare he expressed to any honest English) and granted her request fully and freely, notwithstanding the slaughter of so many of his men.' There seems no doubt as to this story, since the account of Rupert's behaviour comes from an enemy ; and the particulars of the resistance are attested by a monumental in- scription in the church at Caldecot, an evidence how highly the family prided them- selves in the event: but which in applauding the bravery of the defenders ought at lea6t in justice to have recorded the generosity of the Prince. See Dugdale, War- wickshire, art. Caldecot. George Abbot was member for Tamworth. Their lives were forfeit by the rules of war. See the capture of Hopton Castle hereafter. Mon- taigne in his Essays reprobates the defence of private dwellings, and with admirable brevity and simplicity acted upon an opposite plan ; remained in his house, and left his doors unbarred during the civil commotions of France in his days. With him it succeeded ; though on one occasion it had nearly cost him his life. But every man in this respect is not a Montaigne ; and few have moral and physical resolution and management equal to so difficult an undertaking. 1042] FIGHTING AT COVENTEY AND SOUTHAM. 133 disaffected, filled with artizans and strangers from Birmingham and elsewhere, pre-occupied by the Warwick family, and strong in its defences, arms, and ammunition. 1 It was plain that the occupation of such a place would be very desirable for the King, who hearing that some regiments were marching thither by order of the Earl of Essex, came as far as Stoneleigh Abbey, and sent a summons to it by the celebrated Rouge Croix Herald, Sir William, then Mr. Dugdale. This however was as unsuccessful as his former demand at Hull. The entrances were closed against him ; and some of his servants killed and wounded from the walls. 2 On the day following the Parliamentarians from North- ampton, 1,200 men, with a troop of horse advanced to relieve the place. They came in sight of the Eoyalists near South am upon an open champaign. 3 Here Colonel Hampden with his regiment for the first time was in the field. A few shots were fired, and men and horses slain ; and in the end the Royalists, superior in cavalry, of which they now showed 1,200, but with only 300 musketeers, retired before them. 4 Both parties acted with caution ; and the Parliamentarians continued their march. Wilmot commanding the Bang's cavalry was 'blamed for having lost an opportunity of charging them, for it was thought he might have done it with advantage, and produced an impression favourable to his Majesty's affairs. Without impeachment of his courage, which, though not of a fiery cast, had been thoroughly proved in foreign service, he, who throughout rather affected peace, 5 might be restrained by that undefinable awe which any- 1 Hamper, Life of Dugdale, 17. The Commons had ordered 4,800 foot and 11 troops of horse to be sent towards Warwick and Coventry. — C. J. August 15. 2 Among the wounded was Barnabas Scudamore, the future defender of Hereford in the Scottish siege. He was shot in the right hand, and left behind as a prisoner, but effected his escape, and served afterwards with Hastings. [It was immediately represented to the Houses that the ordnance (or perhaps two apothe- caries' mortars adapted to serve as petards, see Warburton, i. 110) had battered the gates open, and that the town was in great distress (C. J. August 22). Lord Nugent, in his Memorials of Hampden, has given a very different version of the story, following chiefly, as it seems, the unscrupulous exaggerations of Vicars ; but that account he seems to have partly misunderstood, and his reference to Dugdale's Warwickshire has no foundation]. 8 August 24. — Despatch to Earl of Essex, dated Coventry, August 27, O. P. H. xi. 397. Clarendon, i. 719. 1 For an account of this skirmish, see Letters of a Subaltern, Archseologia, xxxv. 316. 5 ' He that marks Wilmott's whole progress thro' this warr, shall find him much affected to be an umpire of peace ; which had bin well done, if he had quitted the King's army, and gone into his Council.' — Warwick, Memoires, 230. 134 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 one who had at all given himself to reflection might have been allowed to feel at finding himself nearly the first in so unnatural a war to give the word to Englishmen to imbrue their hands in the blood of their brethren. So the hour, as keener soldiers thought, passed unimproved. Another leader of cavalry soon found an equally favourable occasion, which he took care not to throw aside. But the sword had not altogether gone forth through the land, until Essex took his leave of the Parliament and city of London, marching out in great pomp on the 9th of September, accompanied by numbers of both Houses, many armed gentle- men, and the trained bands, and taking the road to Saint Alban's. A circumstance that occurred on this day showed the punctilious ceremony of that nobleman, and how much he was then disposed by courtesy to mitigate the evils of hostility. Near Barnet he met the Lord Mountague of Boughton in Northamptonshire, a very aged 1 but stout-hearted Cavalier, who had endeavoured to execute the royal Commission of Array in that county. For this he had been arrested, and reviled by the Northampton mob, and was now on his way to die a prisoner in London. 2 Essex discerning his coach stopped his own, and would have alighted to pay his respects to him ; but the other, refusing to have any intercourse with one, however high in rank, whom his master had adjudged a traitor, observed that this was not a time for compliments, and ordered his coachman to drive away. 3 At Northampton the Lord General found his army 20,000 strong. His taking the command seemed to be the signal for Charles to depart from his quarters; and on the 13th of September, receiving no interruption from the rival force by which he was so far outnumbered, though he had obtained latterly a great accession of strength, he despatched the last of his aforementioned messages to the Parliament, collected his guns and baggage, and broke up northward for Derby. As he expected reinforcements from Cheshire, Lancashire, and the whole of Wales, but especially from the southern part of it, where the Marquess of Hertford, and Earl of Worcester and his 1 Clarendon says, above fourscore, ii. 20. 2 Edward, Lord Mountagu of Boughton, died a prisoner in the Savoy, June 16, 1644.— Dugdale, Diary, 69. ' Warwick, Mcmoires, 224, 225. 1642] CHARLES MARCHES TO SHREWSBURY. 135 son had been indefatigable in collecting them, he took his course towards Shrewsbury. And now that the first campaign is about in earnest to open, and a multitude of armed men on the North and East are drawing towards our borders, it may be worth while for the better understanding of what is to ensue, to relieve this story by some cursory enquiry into the character and composition of the armies on foot ; that we may see sufficiently for our present purpose, what were their means of offence and resistance, by what rules they were directed and governed, who were some of their leaders, and what sort of warriors they were who must face each other in the day of battle. 1 1 [A chapter is passed over here in the author's fair copy, and the unfortunate omission cannot be now supplied from materials which, interesting and valuable as they are, are too imperfect and unconnected to be woven together by another hand.] 136 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 CHAPTER VI. Shrewsbury described — The King arrives there — State of his feelings — His address to his army — Annoyance of the Houses — Essex marches towards Worcester — His speech to his forces — ' King and Parliament ' — Approach of hostilities — ■ Goring deserts to the King — Byron arrives with a convoy at Worcester— State of that city— Nathaniel Fiennes, despatched to intercept Byron, is overthrown by Rupert in a skirmish at Powick — Col. Sandys wounded — Panic of Essex's Life-guard — Lord Falkland's pamphlet — Parliament offended by it — Rupert withdraws towards Ludlow — Essex enters Worcester — Pnritan preaching — Outrages of soldiery and desecration of Cathedral — Controversy over Sandys : his death — Essex receives instructions — Neighbourhood spoiled — Parliamentary committee appointed — Royalist movements in South Wales — Essex resolves to occupy Hereford. Sheewsbuey, standing upon the Severn, seemed favourable for the reception of the King. It secured one of the great passes into Wales, and formed a part of the line of communication upon its frontiers, between Chester on the north, and Ludlow, Hereford, and Worcester to the southward, all destined to receive garrisons in the course of the war. The town was surrounded by a wall that had been well repaired. 1 At its three gates, recently provided with chains and portcullises, and defended by cannon, as well as in its suburbs, four-and- twenty able men with muskets and halberts kept guard in the day-time, and double that number during the night. Parties were very equally balanced in the place ; but the authorities had adopted this mode of defence for the general safety ; besides which every man fit for service was ordered to provide himself with arms ; 1 The walls of the cities of England, and there was no city or town that had been of ancient consequence that had them not, were dilapidated, and had been in many places suffered to fall to decay, since the War of the Roses. From the reign of Henry VII. our cities for the most part had looked only to the arts of peace. The office of 'murer' had grown into disuse, and their bulwarks and gates were little capable of resistance. So it was at Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester. It often happened at the close of the war that, after the town was taken, the castle held out, as at Bridgnorth and Aberystwyth. 1642] THE KING AT SHREWSBURY. 137 and all suspicious characters were commanded to withdraw. The common people, whom emissaries had prejudiced against the character of the King, were overawed at first by apprehen- sions of his coming among them, but afterwards acknowledged they had been deceived. 1 As to the gentry they were for the most part decided in their attachment to him. Thither Charles directed his march. On Thursday, September 20, he arrived there and took up his residence in the council- house, his officers and army being quartered in and about the town. He had written to the Sheriffs and Commissioners of different counties in North and South Wales to hasten the trained bands and volunteers, and was employed in disciplining his reinforcements as fast as they arrived. Attended as he was by those who had resolved with immovable fidelity to adhere to him, yet when he looked at them, and at the condition of his affairs, the comparative scantiness of his numbers and back- wardness of his preparations, he could not but know that many of his well-wishers earnestly and reasonably desired to see an end put to the dispute : and as he had not shown himself a man of blood 2 (though his enemies gave him ample credit for it by anticipation), neither was as yet inured to blood, those who observed him believed that he still entertained thoughts of re- conciliation. Conflicting feelings must have occasioned many melancholy hours to Charles at Shrewsbury : yet at times he appeared with a cheerful air amidst a Court at least too heedless and dissolute for its state of adversity, where jest and ribaldry would force its way ; and the troubles of him who presided might render him more than usually inadvertent of that which he was wont to meet with a frown. It was whispered among those who were not in the inner circle, that the persuasions of certain favourites and the influence of the Eoman Catholics were the principal, if not the only obstacles to peace. 3 1 Before the King came to Shrewsbury there had been disputes about the militia, and the magazine had been removed from that town to Bridgnorth and Ludlow as places of greater security. — S. P. 2. ii. 727. Echard, History of England, 1, ii. 3, 545. 2 After the taking of Birmingham, and when at the siege of Lichfield, Rupert received an admonitory letter from the King, to have a care of shedding innocent blood. ' Mercy,' he told him, ' is the highest attribute of a king.' — Echard, 2, ii. 111. 3 See Lord Spencer's letter in Collins's Sydney Papers. Spencer does justice to the King's inclination to peace; but being secretly inclined to the Parliamentary 138 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 To supply the soldiery with pay, Bushell, master of the royal mint, established five years before in the castle of Aberystwyth, was sent for, and plate was coined into money. A press was also set up to print declarations and such papers and pamphlets as might be issued with advantage. Already the King had printers in his service in Oxford and York : those in London that were favourable to him were gradually seduced or put down ; or if after a while any continued to work for him, they could only do it in the most secret manner ; and the pub- lications went forth without the printer's or vendor's name or abode. The paramount importance of this engine was well understood and industriously employed on both sides. Before the King entered Shrewsbury, he had drawn up his army, in a field near a little town called Wellington, 1 where, after the reading of his book of Military Orders, he placed himself in the centre of them, and addressed them in the following manner : Gentlemen, You have heard these Orders read : It is your Part, in your several Places, to observe them exactly : The Time cannot be long before we come to Action ; therefore, you have the more Reason to be careful : And I must tell you, I shall be very severe in the punishing of those, of what Condition soever, who transgress these Instructions. I cannot suspect your Courage and Resolution; your Conscience and your Loyalty hath brought you hither, to fight for your Religion, your King, and the Laws of the Land ; you shall meet with no Enemies but Traitors, most of them Brownists, Ana- baptists, and Atheists, such who desire to destroy both Church and State, and who have already condemned you to Ruin for being loyal to Us. That you may see what Use I mean to make of your Valour, if it please God to bless it with Success, I have thought fit to pub- side, and of an amiable domestic character, forced into arms by a sense of honour and the part that he thought his rank and station called upon him to take, like all who leaned to the Houses, he attributed the warlike counsels that prevailed to an influence behind the throne. And this may not be held improbable ; for it was ever a failing of the Stuarts, by the admission of their admirers, to lend an ear to the suggestions of favourites, and in many instances the Parliament were not wide of the mark when they described the King as being governed by counsels not his own : and it has been observed of him that when he acted by his own unbiassed judgment he was generally most successful. Spencer represents the King at Shrewsbury as putting a cheerful face upon things ; the nobility gay and dissolute ; the royal forces increasing in strength, several thousands being expected from "Wales : some of these were coming up under Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's in Glamorganshire, and were men whom Lord Herbert had helped to raise. 1 September 19. 1642 ] THE KING'S PROTESTATION. 139 lish My Resolution to you in a Protestation, which when you have heard Me make, you will believe you cannot fight in abetter Quarrel, in which I promise to live and die with you. I do promise, in the Presence of Almighty God, and I hope for his Blessing and Protection, That I will, to the utmost of My Power, defend and maintain the true Reformed Protestant Religion estab- lished in the Church of England ; and, by the Grace of God, in the same will live and die. I desire to govern by the known Laws of the Land, and that the Liberty and Property of the Subject may be by them preserved with the same Care as My own just Rights ; And, if it please God, by His Blessing upon this Army, raised for My necessary Defence, to preserve Me from this Rebellion, I do solemnly and faithfully promise, in the Sight of God, to maintain the just Privileges and Freedom of Parliament, and to govern by the known Laws of the Land, to My utmost Power, and particularly to observe inviolably the Laws consented to by Me this Parliament : Tn the mean while, if this Time of War, and the great Necessity and Streights I am uow driven to, beget any Violation of those, I hope it shall be im- puted, by God and Man, to the Authors of this War, and not Me, who have so earnestly laboured for the Preservation of the Peace of this Kingdom. When I willingly fail in these Particulars, I will expect no Aid or Relief from any Man or Protection from Heaven : But in this Resolution, I hope for tie chearful Assistance of all good Men, and am confident of God's Blessing. 1 This speech and declaration were speedily printed, and received with great approbation by all who believed he had a righteous cause ; even such as hesitated about the sincerity of the speaker might admit the dignity and moderation of the sentiment couched in the language of princely justice ; but at some of the expressions the Parliament, as a body, were highly offended, and thought it so prejudicial to them, that the Lords proposed it should be met with an antidote. They resolved that a conference be held with the Commons, in order to appoint a committee of both Houses, to consider of somewhat to be printed by their authority, along with the said Protestation, to vindicate the reputation of those persons concerned : and that somewhat may be expressed in it, That it is not the intent of Parliament utterly to take away the Common Prayer Book, as is rumoured therein. 1 L. J. September 29. 140 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [164:2 Two daya after the King had abandoned Leicester and Nottingham, Essex broke up from Northampton, and led his army through the county of Warwick into that of Worcester, — an army altogether a contrast to the ill-appointed and imperfect force with which it was to contend, complete in every depart- ment according to the requisites and furniture of that age, each regiment full in numbers and amply equipped as to clothing and arms, well fed, well paid, and wrought up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm by the exhortations of their preachers. This, rather than a strict discipline, 1 seems to have been a present bond of union among them. As they were marching upon Worcester their veteran leader drew them around him, and harangued them upon their duty and his own in a manly and soldierlike strain. 2 Gentlemen and Fellow Soldiers, Te are at this time assembled for the defence of his Majesty, and the maintenance of the true protestant Religion, under my command ; I shall therefore desire you to take notice what I, that am your General, shall, by my honour, promise to per- form toward you, and what I shall be forced to expect that you should perform towards me. I do promise, in the sight of Almighty God, that I shall under- take nothing but what shall tend to the advancement of the true protestant Religion, the securing of his Majesty's royal person, the maintenance of the just privilege of Parliament, and the liberty and property of the subject ; neither will I engage any of yon into any danger, but (though for many reasons I might forbear) I will in my own person, run an equal hazard with you ; and either bring you off with honor, or (if God have so decreed) fall with you, and willingly become a sacrifice for the preservation of my country. Likewise I do promise that my ear shall be open to hear the complaint of the poorest of my soldiers, though against the chiefest of my officers ; neither shall his greatness, if justly taxed, gain any privilege, but I shall be ready to execute justice against all, from the greatest to the last. Tour pay shall be constantly delivered to your commanders, and if default be made by any officer give me timely notice, and you shall find speedy redress. This being performed on my part, I shall now declare what is 1 They were great plunderers. — Letters from a Subaltern. Archaeol. xxxv. passim. 2 September, 1642. 1642] ESSEX'S SPEECH TO HIS FOKCES. 141 your duty toward me, which I must likewise expect to be carefully performed by you. I shall desire all and every officer to endeavour, by love and affable carriage, to command his soldiers ; since what is done for fear is done unwillingly, and what is unwillingly attempted can never prosper. Likewise it is my request that you be careful in the exercising of your men, and bring them to use their arms readily and expertly, and not to busy them in practising the ceremonious forms of mili- tary discipline ; only let them be well instructed in the necessary rudiments of war, that they may know to fall on with discretion, and retreat with care ; how to maintain their order, and make good their ground. Also I do expect that all those, who have voluntarily engaged themselves in this service, should answer my expectation in the performance of these ensuing articles. 1. That you willingly and cheerfully obey such as, by your own election, you have made commanders over you. 2. That you take especial care to keep your arms at all times fit for service, that upon all occasions you may be ready, when the signal shall be given by the sound of drum or trumpet, to repair to your colours ; and so to march upon any service, where and when occasion shall require. 3. That you bear yourselves like soldiers, without doing any spoil to the inhabitants of the country ■ so doing you shall gain love and friendship, where otherwise you will be hated and complained of ; and I, that should protect you, shall be forced to punish you according to the severity of law. 4. That you accept and rest satisfied with such quarters as shall fall to your lot, or be appointed you by your quartermaster. 5. That you shall, if appointed for centries or perdues, faith- fully discharge that duty ; for, upon fail hereof you are sure to undergo a very severe censure. 6. Ton shall forbear to profane the Sabbath, either by being drunk, or by unlawful- games; for whosoever shall be found faulty must not expect to pass unpunished. 7. Whosoever shall be known to neglect the feeding of his horse with necessary provender, to the end that his horse be disabled or unfit for service ; the party for the said default shall suffer a month's imprisonment, and afterward be cashiered as unworthy the name of a soldier. 8. That no trooper, or other of our soldiers, shall suffer his paddee l to feed his horse in the corn, or to steal men's hay ; but 1 [This word, which is occasionally met with in the records of the period, has not been explained. It seems to mean a horse-boy.] 142 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 shall pay every man for hay sixpence day and night, and for oats two shillings the bushel. And lastly, 9. That you avoid cruelty ; for it is my desire rather to save the lives of thousands than to kill one, so that it may be done without prejudice. These things faithfully performed, and the justice of our cause truly considered, let us advance with a religious courage, and willingly adventure our lives in the defence of the King and Parliament. : This rival oration was widely circulated and much admired for its plain expressions of honour and humanity ; a Cavalier might have admitted that it wanted nothing to ennoble it but the King's commission ; and the style of it seems to show that a great number of those under his command were volunteers, a class of persons undesirable to deal with, unless they could be subject to strict control, and neutralising the effects of their enthusiasm by the difficulty of reducing them to subjection. 2 To them and to all he therefore recites certain heads of military discipline ; the reason of which appears to be, that he had not hitherto, like the King, promulgated an official Book of Orders. 3 Essex was no great penman ; 4 he had looked to the Governor of Portsmouth for assistance in framing his rules of war ; but Colonel Goring, after amusing him and his employers for a time, went over to the King ; so that this military body 1 0. P. H. xi. 436-7-8. 2 Fairfax, before the New Modelled Army began to move, issued a set of Orders which are an echo of those of Essex, which again resembled those of the King : — orders with difficulty enforced, and not very punctually obeyed. The orders published by Leslie in the Scottish war were modelled upon those of Gustavus Adolphus. 3 [And after they were promulgated, they were very imperfectly enforced, as appears by C. J. November 9, 1642 : when the House ordained that they should be more strictly executed.] 4 A defect of this kind was not uncommon in educated persons ; but in the mere formation of letters and the spelling Essex wrote with as little freedom and accuracy as a mere schoolboy, and as though composition and the mechanism of writing were a task. /" 1642] 'KING AND PARLIAMENT.' 143 seem to have been as yet without their regular code of laws. In the speech of the General the King is still coupled with the Parliament ; and long continued to be so ; because this verbal combination was of no slight benefit to the cause : it reconciled doubtful, and assured unthinking minds. And so far as asser- tions were concerned, each actor in this eventful tragedy was now studying and contending who should best display his duty and attachment to his Sovereign : for they who professed to defend his political person, while they were actually about to fight against his real one, no less than they who were to fight for him and by his side, were all, and every one, in their own estimation loyal men. 1 To listen to their representations, none were to be vexed or hurt in the quarrel save the enemies of the public peace. However, it was now evident that an engagement must speedily ensue ; and indeed, Essex had it in charge, among his earliest private instructions, to march towards the army raised in his Majesty's name against the Parliament and King- dom, and with them or any part of them to fight at such time and place as he should judge most conducive to the peace and safety of the Kingdom ; and he was ordered to use his utmost endeavours by battle or otherwise to rescue his Majesty's person 1 0. P. H. xi. 418. — The ' poesy ' in Hampden's jewel was : — Against my king I never fight But for my king and country's right. This distich, like that fatally celebrated passage in the letter of Adam de Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, involves an equivocation according to the manner in which it is pointed. A semicolon at ' fight ' would give the expression never an absolute, the insertion of a comma in the same place, a limited sense. Hampden's ornament, represented here, a cornelian set in silver, was bequeathed to the University of Oxford by the late Thomas Knight, Esq., of Godmersham Park, Kent. 144 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 and those of the Prince and Duke of York out of the hands of the desperate persons who were about them. 1 Sir John Byron, a colonel of horse, had been sent by the King to bring some money from Oxford. On his way he had met with obstruction and difficulties from the country people, and had attracted much observation ; but at length he arrived safely with his charge at Worcester. To secure this convoy, as well as to watch the motions of Essex, had Eupert been de- spatched in this direction with the gross of his cavalry. We have seen that in Worcester, as well as Shrewsbury, there had been some painful civil dissensions ; that Wyld and Salway had ineffectually opposed the Commission of Array, 2 and that Packington, Herbert, and Samuel Sandys, who had promoted it, bad been expelled from the House of Commons. Orders had been successively made in Parliament to prohibit the transport of artillery thither from Bristol, for raising horse and men there for the King and Parliament, for putting the city into a posture of defence by an association of volunteers, and for the security of the magazine. But amidst all these precautions little had been done for the actual safeguard of the city. Its ancient walls were in a very ruinous condition ; the weak and rotten gates, neglected as in days of peace, had neither lock nor bolt to render them secure. While Byron reposed for a few hours, Nathaniel Fiennes, colonel of the 36th troop of horse (the commanders of troops had the rank of colonels), and second son of Viscount Say and Sele, sent forward by Essex, was at hand to surprise him and occupy Worcester. He approached one of the gates at an early hour in the morning, when the wearied and unsuspecting watch had fallen asleep ; but finding it closed, and not being aware of its unfitness to resist a trifling assault, after disturbing the guard, he withdrew in such haste that some of Byron's jaded horse, sent out in pursuit, were unable to find him. He returned, however, and took post with additional strength on the road between Worcester and Malvern, at a distance of about two miles from the city, with a view of blocking up Byron till Essex should arrive, or of cutting him off, if he should attempt to leave his quarters. The morning of Friday the 23rd 3 of September found the 1 0. P. H. xi. 429, 430. 2 See p. 05, ante. 8 [This follows Lord Falkland's contemporary pamphlet, a letter quoted by 1642] POWICK FIGHT. 145 Parliamentarians drawn up in Powick Ham, a level meadow between the village of Powick and' the bridge over the Teme. The advantage of this position consisted in their being behind that river, and able to command the road to Ludlow and Shrewsbury. Nathaniel Fiennes had there with him John Fiennes, his younger brother, colonel of the 60th, Edwin Sandys of Kent, colonel of the 33rd, 1 Edward Wingate, a member of the House of Commons, commanding the 55th, and other officers, among whom were Sir William Balfour, lieutenant-general to the Duke of Bedford, and Colonel Brown, veteran Scots, a race of men whose services, in the dearth of soldiers who had seen a battle, were highly prized. Their collective numbers of horse and dragoons were about 500. 2 Baxter, who went to look at them out of curiosity, relates, that as soon as he reached the spot, a messenger came secretly out of the town with informa- tion that Byron was mounted and ready to move. Upon this a consultation was held among the commanders, and most of them, suspecting some treachery, were disposed to wait till the Lord General should arrive : but N. Fiennes and Brown prevailed upon them to advance. Thus they quitted their vantage ground ; and without sending on a single scout, took their way over the narrow bridge leading towards Worcester. 3 The road lay for a short distance up a hollow lane ; and the head of the party had scarcely entered an open field when to their utter astonishment they found Eupert with the JRoyalists in front of them. The Prince, who had come out to watch them, was himself taken by surprise ; his numbers were inferior, for many were left behind in Worcester; all were fatigued with a long march; and he and his brother Maurice, with Warburton, and Vicars. Rushworth gives Sept. 22. Such discrepancies are not -uncommon in the annals of this period. See a remarkable instance, p. 121, ante.'] 1 Sandys had raised a troop of 60 arquebusiers under the command of Captain Edward Berry. — L. J. August 20". 2 [So Clarendon. But Ludlow, who was in Essex's army, says about 1,000. They were completely armed both for offence and defence : the Cavaliers had little more than swords.] ' Vicars, who seems not very accurate in his account of this [or any other ?] affair, says they stopped to sing a psalm before they advanced ; which is not very probable (though frequently iheir practice) because, unless the wind had carried the sound of the voices of 500 men in an opposite direction, they were so near that Rupert's party must have heard them, and would have been on the look-out for them. VOL. I. L 146 THE CIVIL WAR IK HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Lord Digby and other principal officers, were reposing on the ground. 1 Nothing shows his impetuous courage more than his conduct on this occasion. As soon as he saw them, while they were endeavouring to extricate themselves from the defile, and form upon fairer ground, he sprang upon his horse, and gave orders to charge. His example was followed by those about him ; and before the rest could be' marshalled, they were at hand-strokes with the enemy. The shock was severe, and the encounter bloody for the time that it lasted, and it was decided entirely by the sword. Sandys aud his quarter-master Douglas, Wingate and N. Fiennes behaved bravely, but nothing could prevent a general discomfiture. Those who were entangled in the lane turned their backs and rode over each other in the utmost con- fusion ; some were drowned. They are estimated to have lost about 50 in all. Sergeant-Major Grunter was said to be slain; 2 and Sandys and Douglas, unhorsed and severely wounded, lay bleeding on the ground : these the Cavaliers bore back with them into the city to die there. No officer and very few privates fell on the side of Rupert, though many were Wounded. Bulstrode, then a young Cavalier, who has left an account of this action, 3 had a narrow escape, being carried headlong by his un- ruly horse into the thickest of the flying throng ; but all were too much occupied with their own safety to notice him, and he came back unhurt. 4 Whoever has observed the ancient, inconvenient ' The relative positions of the parties might some years since have heen easily traced. There was the meadow where Colonels Brown and Sandys lay ; the old bridge over which they passed, the slope up which they led their men to the top of the bank where the Cavaliers were concealed, the cherry orchard on "Wick Field over which they advanced to the struggle were evident; the spot where Rupert was awaiting when they came on them was long shown. Many years ago (1838) I saw all there. In a garden I met with an intelligent person acquainted with the tradition : he pointed to a thorn and told me what exactly corresponded with a passage in Clarendon, that under that tree, renewed lately, and from time to time as oft as it decayed, the Prince was reposing ere he leaped upon his horse and called upon his followers to charge. But here, as in many other places, we must no longer look for the footprints of the past. Time has swept over them and planted the site with buildings, removed the bridge, and altered the land-marks : the engineer with his iron horse has trampled out the vestiges of the skirmish of Powick. 2 This was not true. Gunter, who was, it is believed, at Edge Hill, was after- wards (June 1 8, 1 643) killed in the skirmish at Chalgrove where Hampden received his death- wound. — Two letters Sfc. from his Excellency Bohert Earl of Essex. ' Memoirs and Reflections, by Sir Richard Bulstrode. 8vo, 1721, 74. * A Check to the Checker of Britannicus, or the Honour and Integrity of Collonel Fiennes revived, restored and cleared. London, printed by Andrew Cos, 1644. 1642] FLIGHT OF ROUNDHEADS. 147 bridge at Powick, may form some estimate of the inevitable disorder of the fugitives rushing over it after their defeat. Balfour, N. Fiennes, and his brother drew up there with some dragoons, and were the last to quit the place. But the rout was complete ; and they found no security till they had passed the Severn, into which the Teme discharges itself not far below. Statements have differed as to the length of the pursuit, 1 there is no variation as to that of their flight. Whether they passed the greater river by fording about the Bhyd, or Kemsey, or still farther below ; or crossed the bridge at Upton ; certain it is that they ceased not running till they reached Pershore, nine modern miles on the road to London. The van of their army was then just arriving there ; and Ludlow, who was riding as a private among the hundred cuirassiers of the General's life-guard 2 appointed that night to quarter in Per- shore, shall tell us what occurred : ' As we were marching into the Town, we discovered Horsemen riding very hard towards us with drawn Swords, and many of them without Hats, from whom we understood the Particulars of our Loss, not without Improvement, by reason of the Fear with which they were possessed, telling us, that the Enemy was hard by in pursuit of them : whereas it afterwards appeared, they came not within four Miles of that place. Our Life- Guard being for the most part Strangers to things of this nature, were much alarm'd with this Report ; yet some of us unwilling to give credit to it till we were better informed, offered our selves to go out upon a further Discovery of the matter. But our Captain Sir Philip Stapylton not being then with us, his Lieutenant one Bainham, an old Souldier (a Generation of Men much cried up at that time) drawing us into a Field, where he pretended we might more advantageously charge if there should be occasion, commanded us to wheel about ; but our Gentlemen not yet well understanding the difference between wheeling about, and shifting for themselves, their Backs being now towards the Enemy, whom they thought to be close in the Rear, retired to the Army in a very dishonourable manner, and the next Morning rallied at the Head-quarters, where we received but cold Welcome from the General, as we well deserved.' 3 1 Baxter {Life, I. i. 42) says it was no farther than to the bridge. /He stood near enough to see the whole. 2 Ludlow enumerates several of his companions ; Fleetwood, Harrison, Eich, &c. : one whom he has not mentioned was Benjamin Mason, a name well known afterwards in Herefordshire as that of a sequestrator. ^ 3 Memoirs, i. 45. j. 2 148 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Colonel Arthur Goodwin, the friend of Hampden, is equally ashamed of this transaction, and mentions the panic of the whole army, in a letter to his daughter, Lady Wharton. The sight and report of those who fled from the skirmish hegot such an apprehension in the guard, ' That they presently cryed faces about, and soe came in I will nofct tell you in howe disorderly a manner back to the quarters, I know you will heare of it, I thinke there was killd, so farr yett as I can learne in this skirmish about 40 or 50 men, many of them nott yet buryed, Colonel Sandys lyes heere sore wounded, Duglas his Sergeant Maior hurt then, and now new dead, and nott any of quality as we know of else dead. . . . We had such a terrible report of this last night at the Army, that I knowe nott how many of our men weere kild, and howe many of our officers and cofiianders, that we weere all comanded to stand to our armes and watch all night in the feild. ... I write this to yon, that you might not be caryed away w th a false report, butt may know the truth.' ' The particulars of this affair of cavalry are thus detailed, because it was the earliest encounter of any note that occurred between a part of the two main armies. The first stroke in a campaign, however apparently trivial in itself, is often important as to its consequences in raising or depressing the spirits of those who are engaged. Essex had proof of the inferiority of his horse ; and that Eupert had infused a spirit into his followers that was wanting to his own, even to the gentlemen who had undertaken to form his guard. 2 Baxter sheltered his mortification at seeing his party beaten under his habitual piety : ' This sight,' he observes, ' quickly told me the vanity of armies, and how little confidence is to be placed in them.' 3 But the Parliament were at once aware of the injurious effects that might follow. They knew the evil results > Carte, MSS. Bill. Bodl. EEEE, 42. 2 Cromwell and Hampden took a lesson from it, upon which they afterwards improved. As soon as the King had got together and trained a sufficient body of horse they were known to he superior. The cavalry of the Earl of Essex were throughout admirably appointed both in horses and arms ; but the others, made up of the nobility and gentry and their tenants, far better officered and nobly mounted, were soon discovered to have the advantage. This seems to have been greatly owing to Prince Rupert, his zeal for the service, and the spirit and valour of his example. Stapylton was an excellent officer ; and after a time Cromwell outstripped all competitors ; but nothing in point of discipline and vigour could for a long time match the administration and services of the German Prince. Then he was like a thunderbolt in battle. Life, ut supra. 1642] EUPEET WITHDEAWS TO LUDLOW. 149 of unfavourable rumours in the present state of their affairs ; and whereas a pamphlet soon appeared purporting to be from the pen of Lord Falkland, descriptive of this event, and con- taining many slighting expressions derogatory to their arms and cause, they took their usual remedy by fastening upon the printers, publishers, and venders ; and ordered it to be publicly committed to the flames, having previously passed an ordinance, that thanks should be given in the churches to Almighty Grod for their success. The Eoyalists taxed them with an open act of solemn disingenuousness and prevarication, when they at- tempted to cover the defeat of their horse under the successful advance of their army to Worcester. 1 It was enough, however, for Eupert, that he had accom- plished his object in driving back this party and clearing the road. He marched off with Byron and the treasure in his charge at midnight towards Ludlow ; and the intelligence travelling with rapidity into every quarter increased the terror, and added to the reputation of his bravery. Sir Thomas Eoe, who watched him anxiously, as still feeling involved in what might arise out of his liberation from captivity, no longer com- plained to the Elector that his brothers were traversing the country as freebooters. ' Ton will have heard,' says he, ' they were upon a party where they did that which became their condition, and though some have bruited some actions of Pr. Rupert as too full of fury ; yet I cannot hear any thing credibly averred, which can he blamed by those who know the liberty of wars ; and I tope, hoth he will preserve his own honour, and that no mistake can, or shall reflect upon the Queene yo r mother, or yo r Highness.' 2 But those who hated Rupert and his men could find no words too expressive of their detestation of such as they styled ' the mighty Nimrods and hunting furies of our times.' 3 The Lord General, as we may believe, in no good humour from this first essay of his soldiery, made his entrance into 1 Any one who wishes to see a curious specimen of what the moderns haTe termed mystification in the concealment of a reverse should read May's account of the skirmish at Powick. He was a well-informed and is in most respects an apparently candid historian ; but in this he knew not how to conceal or to tell the whole truth. 2 Sir T. Eoe, MSS. Letters. MSS. Karl. 1901, 48 a. • , Vicars, Jehovah Jireh, 273.' 150 THE CIVIL WAR IK HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Worcester like a victor, the following day at noon. The place was filled to overflowing, and insufficient to contain the thou- sands in his train. Horse and man, unaccustomed to cam- paigning, and wearied out with this short trial of watching and marching, were glad of repose : but cause of complaint was found in the disposition of ' this base town and country.' ' Base they termed it, for it favoured not their designs ; and had little reason to expect favour from them in return. The householders of England in general, dreading the billeting of soldiery, had now a gloomy prospect before them. The King from the first assembling of his force had adverted to this unwelcome subject, in his addresses to the principal people of those parts that he visited. He told them the residence of an army was not usually pleasant to any place, and his might carry more fear with it, since it might be thought (being robbed and spoiled of all his own, and such terror used to fright and keep all men from sup- plying him) he must only live upon the aid and relief of his people. Bat he bid them not be afraid, and said he wished to God his poor subjects suffered no more by the insolence and violence of that army raised against him, though they had made themselves wanton by plenty, than they should do by his ; and yet he feared he should not be able to prevent all disorders ; he would do his best ; and promised them, no man should be a loser by him, if he could help it. 2 The Parliament in a de- claration set forth that the Royalists by great violence and oppressions had so exhausted those parts that his Majesty could not stay long about Shrewsbury ; and that the Cavaliers earnestly desired to march forward towards London, in the wealth of which they would find a full satisfaction of their hopes. As for their own army, after claiming for it a superiority over that of the King, they gave the public to understand that it was ' full paid, restrained from disorder and rapine as much as may be, well pro- vided of all outward necessaries, but above all, well instructed in the goodness of the cause by the labour of many godly and painful divines.' 3 How this theory, these promises and assurances on either part would be verified, remained to be seen ; the citizens 1 Goodwin, Letter. Carte's MSS. ut supra. 3 Clarendon, ii. 37. 3 0. P. H. xi. 449. About October 15. But this declaration was not put forth till just after the circumstances occurred which are about to be recorded. [An order had been made to restrain the excesses of the soldiers, ft J. August 29.] 1642] DESECRATION OF WORCESTER CATHEDRAL. 151 of Worcester had presently learned what might be expected, as soon as the Parliamentarians came among them. Great reverses were to take place. The magistrates and inhabitants who had given offence by showing a preference to the royal Commission of Array must now anticipate no tender treatment. The com- missioners and chiefs of the King's party withdrew. The mayor and others were put under arrest; and the parochial clergy were obliged to surrender their pulpits to the chaplains of the several regiments, who from the tenor of their teaching, and the part some of them are said to have afterwards acted at the first battle, were called by the Cavaliers, Military Levites. Baxter enumerates most of them ; praises the famous preaching there to be heard, and which detained him in admiration several days ; and commends the civil conduct of the troops in general, but overlooks their treatment of the Cathedral. Part of the magazine was lodged in and about it. One of their first operations was to repair thither, and to wreak their ven- geance upon the books, vestments, organ and windows, every- where objects of their detestation. They burst into the beau- tiful chapterhouse ; scattered about and tore the college records and evidences ; brought their horses into the nave ; lit fires and established their courts of guard in it ; and defiled the choir and aisles in the most unseemly manner. Some of the dragoons came forth in surplices, and paraded with them in derision through the streets. 1 Where, it may be asked, was the authority of the Lord General, or of the officers in his army, when all this was allowed ? Could none of the clergy whom they brought with them make some effort to prevent the desecration of this venerable building? The truth was, that this violence offered to the Episcopal Church was but a type of what they wished might be inflicted upon the Establishment itself, and was as little dis- tasteful to the officers as it was to their presbyterian chaplains. It appertained to the office of Essex, as his employers in their instructions afterwards told him, carefully to restrain all im- pieties, profaneness, disorders, violence, insolence and plundering 1 Dugdale, Short View, &c. 357. — The Cloisters still show that horses have been attached there by the marks of the insertion of rings or staples soldered in with lead between the stones. These are popularly attributed to Cromwell's soldiers, after the battle of "Worcester ; but it seems to have been the deliberate work of loDger sojourners. 152 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 in his soldiers ; but though the subject had been discussed and a form prepared, 1 as yet he had not received these instructions; 2 it appears that the whole army from the Commander-in-chief to the private went upon this service without regular restraint or directions how in such cases to proceed in general, or correct irregularities that might arise. He thought proper, however, to report in a letter to Mr. Pym, dated the 29th of September, and read in the House of Commons Oct. 3, that some insolences and pillagings had been committed, though they had been restrained as much as may be, 3 and by his directions severely punished ; and this seems to have been the foundation for that passage in their declaration already quoted, and which soon appeared. But, after all, the conduct of the Parliamentary troops at Wor- cester in this respect was not singular. Disorderly as it may appear, such came to be the practice whenever they entered Cathedral towns. Neither was this the first that had thus suffered, though no town of this class had before been entered by their whole army. At Canterbury a party of their troops had violated that ancient church in a most disorderly and de- structive manner, but a few weeks before, 4 and it could not have been forgotten by those whose feelings had been outraged by such behaviour, nor by any others who were acquainted with the transaction, that those spoilers had been under the direction of that unfortunate Colonel Edwin Sandys, whose life was now in jeopardy from the wounds he had received. When the Parliamentarians came into Worcester they found that officer lying in a deplorable state. Prince Eupert's chap- lain had been in attendance on him, to whom he had confessed with great warmth that he had done wrong in taking up arms 1 0. P. H. xi. 429. [September 22, C. J.] 2 Nor when they appeared did they contain any article upon the reference due to Cathedrals. It might not be convenient at that hour to notice such harmlesB irregularities and amusements among honest men. They were not to be dis- couraged who had taken up arms for liberty and a purer worship, even if in their zeal they ran into little venial excesses. So Waller probably thought when he afterwards stood by and witnessed the defacing of the monuments of the dead at Chichester Cathedral, though with singular inconsistency he reprobates with abhorrence the sacrilegious conduct of the New Modelled Army (Vindication, 29). 8 ' In all this hurly burly their General or Officers durst manage no other instrument of correction in their hands, than their hats.' — A. Trevor to Marquess of Ormond. Carte, Letters, i. 14 [where their abominable impieties, which it would be impossible to detail here, are described on undeniable evidence]. 4 In the latter end of August. — Merc. Rustic. 207. 1642 J DEATH OF COLONEL SANDYS. 153 against his Sovereign. To a friend he had also made an avowal of the same nature ; and he had given leave that his repentance should be publicly made known. But such a declaration must not go uncontradicted. Obadiah Sedgwick, chaplain to Colonel Holles's regiment, was sent to bring him back to his former sense of things ; and seconded by a lecturer of Worcester, named Halsetor, in spite of the efforts of Cottrell, the clergyman of St. Andrew's, they succeeded. Statements were published on both sides : and a vindication was drawn up, purporting to be signed by Sandys, and witnessed by some of the principal officers of the army. They disputed over him as the warriors of old over a fallen hero: neither side was willing to give him up; but the Parliamentarians carried their point. Whatever might have been bis misgivings and confessions, it is more than probable that be died in the belief that he had actually drawn his sword for the King, and had found his death in the path of duty ; he lingered for several weeks, and during great part of that time had received diligent attention from the most skilful surgeons of Essex's army : but it proved of no avail. His wife too, who with her child had hastened to him in his distress, caught the smallpox in her anxious attendance upon his death-bed, and of that loathsome disease expired. They were buried in the Ca- thedral of Worcester, where an inscription still points out their graves. And thus was Colonel Sandys received at last by that Church, which denies not a place among the repositories of her dead to those who in their lives have vilified, oppressed and spoiled her. The Earl of Essex, once settled in his quarters, 1 made a judicious disposition of his troops, if not for the relief, yet for the occupation of the country, forming a line of observation of considerable extent. He pushed out his brigades to Kidder- 1 As a last effort, or to throw the blame of hostilities upon the King, a message from the Houses was despatched to him from Essex at Worcester. It was carried to Bridgnorth, where the King had his head-quarters, by Fleetwood, afterwards a Major-General, but then only a private cuirassier. Charles refused to see him, or to receive such a proposition from a, horseman whose sword was against him. Such a message for peace, couched in the shape of a petition, might reconcile certain minds who were reluctant to go to the last extremity. But to common sense it would appear to be anything rather than a petition, despatched to a Prince from one whom he had designated a rebel, at the head of an army levied against him, and delivered by a single soldier in arms. It serves to bring to mind the request of the Spanish beggar made to a traveller with his hand upon his sword. 154 THE. CIVIL WAR IN HEKEFOKDSHIKE. [1642 minster and Bewdley on the northward, and to Tewkesbury and towards Gloucester below. He exerted himself in endeavouring to settle the militia and secure the magazine, and caused sus- pected dwellings to be searched for arms. An order to this effect upon a recusant Papist or malignant Eoyalist was but a license for pillage. 1 Thus one of his parties ransacked the house of Mr. Eowland Bartlett 2 at Birts Morton, under Malvern Hill, the earliest instance upon record of private plundering in these parts. He was a Cavalier yeoman, and had already been visited by a set of plunderers • from Gloucester, who boasted at their departure that they had reduced him to beggary ; 3 and he was doomed to undergo the process several times before the war was ended. In most of his measures the Lord General was at first com- pelled to act solely from his commission ; his post was a novel one ; and he would naturally look around for a precedent or guide in many things that would be forced on his attention. Towards the end of the month, however, he received his in- structions, as well as the form of appointment of a military committee of twelve noblemen who commanded under him, and rules for the government of their proceedings in managing the affairs of the county, so as to bring it into thorough sub- jection to the Parliament. These appear to have been brought down by Wyld and Salway and Nash, members for the county and city, who, as influential and acquainted with local circum- stances, were sent to assist in advising and executing where they could be of service ; and Sir Eobert Harley, who had been con- cerned in passing the aforesaid documents through the Houses, came to Worcester with an intention of penetrating into Here- fordshire. He with others had been for some time officially charged to look to the defence of the counties of Salop, Hereford, Worcester, Lancaster, Chester, Monmouth, and those of North Wales. A news-writer informs us that they came to maintain the peace in case his Excellency with his main force should march towards Shrewsbury. 4 But he, as it presently appeared, had no such design. 1 September 27, the soldiers of the Earl of Essex, 'by commission from his Excellency, marched seven miles to Sir William Russell's house, and pillaged it unto the bare walls.' — ' Letters from a Subaltern,' Archaol. xxxt. 330. 2 He was a Roman Catholic : the last householder of any consideration in those parts who retained that once important appendage of a respectable mansion — a professional fool. 3 Merc. Rust. 150 et seq. * Perfect Diurnall, October 14. 1642 ] LEVIES IN SOUTH WALES. 155 While Charles and his antagonist were watching each other's movements, and the latter was seeking an opportunity to strike a blow, the Marquess of Hertford, the old Earl of Wor- cester, and Lord Herbert continued to exert themselves in South Wales, and had established a line of communication upon the frontiers of the Principality, by which they kept up their intercourse with the King. Their views were zealously pro- moted by gentlemen of wealth and consequence in the parts where large estates and feudal feelings prevailed. Several regiments were raised and armed. Sir Edward Stradling, in particular, in whose veins flowed the blood of one of the original conquerors of that territory, and whose seat was that noble castle of Saint Donat's in Glamorganshire, overlooking the Bristol Channel, and still magnificent in decay, 1 led up three regiments to the King. The owner of Eaglan and his son were indefatigable in arming and training under experienced officers; and such were the efforts made by the Royalists, and so great the supplies they drew from Bristol, that the Parliament sent an order to the mayor and searchers and officers of the customs, strictly forbidding them to suffer any ammunition, arms, or other warlike provision to be transported into Wales and employed against them. 2 The route that new-raised levies setting out from this quarter would have to take towards Shrewsbury would be through Hereford. It would be nearer and more secure than that of the line of the Severn, which the Parliamentarians occu- pied midway in force. It seems as though Essex had well chosen his point, and knew how to use his advantages : he might see that he could interrupt this remoter line of communication also by detaching such a number of men as would not materially weaken him, and yet might effectually hinder the supplies thus forwarded from the South to the North ; the further effects of such a plan would be the interruption or suppression of the Royalists in a dis- affected county ; and, in the event of his making a movement, it would serve remotely to protect Gloucester and the West of England from any incursion of these united Welsh and English Cavaliers. 3 He determined therefore to occupy Hereford. 4 1 [Always inhabited, however, and of late partially restored by the present owner, Dr. Carne.] 2 L. J. October 11. 8 May, 3. i. 16. — Speech of Lord Wharton to the citizens of London, 0. P. H. xi. 473. 4 On Friday, September 30, in consequence of an application from some parties in the county of Hereford who came to him at Worcester, a forlorn hope of 900 156 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1612 foot, 3 troops of horse, and 2 pieces of ordnaDce was sent forward by the Lord General to Hereford. It rained and snowed, and the cold was so severe that one of the soldiers died on the march. The party in advance found the gates shut against them, and stood in dirt and water to the midleg for two hours before they could obtain admittance. The inhabitants of the city, ' all malignants,' says the narrator, ' save three,' shut their doors and removed their children : the Marquess of Hertford had promised the authorities that he would bring a force to protect them ; but none had arrived. They had but 3 pieces of ordnance in the city ; the Parliamentarians threatened to force their way. The mayor and aldermen except three were Royalists ; one of the three, named Lane, persuaded Price the mayor to let them in ; they made their entrance by the Byster's Grate ; wet and weary as they were, the Parliamentarians stood their guard that night, and on the evening of the morrow, Sunday October 2, the Earl of Stamford, appointed Governor of Hereford, marched in with a regiment of foot and some troops of horse and took up his quarters at the Bishop'6 palace. Tuesday 4th the forlorn hope returned to Worcester. Their couduct in Hereford on the Sunday had given the city a specimen of what was to be expected under its new masters. At morning prayer some of the soldiers repaired to the Cathedral, where while the organ was playing they danced in the choir, ' whereat the Baallists were sore displeased : ' and when the anthem was ended, at the Lidding Prayer for the King and others in authority, one of them exclaimed aloud, ' What ! neiver a bit for the Parlia- ment ? ' John Sedgwick preached on that day 'two famous sermons, which much affected the poore inhabitants, who wonderinge, said they neiver heard the like before ; and I,' says the writer, ' believe them.' It seems that though it was Sunday, shops were open, and people at work. — ' Letters from a Subaltern,' Archtzologia, xxxv. 332. 157 CHAPTER VII. The Earl of Stamford sent by Essex to occupy Hereford — That city and its defences described — Stamford's officers — He enters unopposed — Dr. Rogers, a Royalist divine — Misrepresentations of News-books and Pamphlets — Charles marches from Shrewsbury : Essex from "Worcester — Battle of Edge Hill — Sir W. Croft appears for the King — Reconciliation on the field — Memoirs of a Cavalier quoted — Speech of Lord Wharton at Guildhall — Prince Rupert's reply. Among the noblemen in the army at Worcester was one, who, for his early and resolute opposition to his Majesty's authority, had been the first who was publicly proclaimed a traitor. Since that time he had relaxed none of his hostility to the King, or those who obeyed his commands, and among his own party he had acquired the character of 'a stout gentleman.' Henry, Lord Grrey of Grroby, was descended from an unfortunate family, that had paid the forfeiture of treason under Elizabeth, but had been restored in the succeeding reign. By his marriage with Anne, third daughter and co-heir of William Cecil, Earl of Exeter, he became possessor of the Castle, borough and manor of Stamford, from which he derived the title of Earl. He had stirred up violent resistance in Leicestershire, where his house, at Bradgate, had been searched for arms, and plundered by Eupert, Hastings, and their Cavaliers. He appeared eager to be in action ; and yet, excepting his rank and zeal, it is difficult to conjecture what could have recommended him to selection by the Lord General for this service : from his state of excitement it was manifest that he would be ready to vex and curb a royalist population ; but as yet he was an untried soldier. He was one of the commissioners appointed to form the military council, and held the command of a regiment of foot, and a troop of horse, which he had raised. To these Essex added the 68th troop under Colonel Robert Kyrle, son of Kyrle of Walford Court, near Ross, and ordered the Earl of Stamford to advance with them to Hereford. 158 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Hitherto we have travelled in part through beaten paths of history; our next step will bring us into tracks more unattempted and retired. It may be of little importance to a general his- torian following the route of the main armies to ascertain what the Earl of Stamford, with a regiment of infantry and two troops of cavalry, did in so remote a place as Hereford, but this must be our next enquiry. The place that this military expedition was destined to occupy was not altogether without antiquated means or 2 /U THE CITY OF HEREFORD. 1. Widemarsh Gate. 2. Widemarsh Street without the Gate. 3. Eye Street and Gate. 4. Eigri Street and Gate. 5. Friars' Gate. 6. Cathetlral. 7. Bishop's Palace. 8. St. Owen's Street and Gate. 9. Wye Bridge, Street, and Gate. 10. Castle. 11. Biver Wye. materials of defence, if they could upon the spur of the moment have been restored or properly employed. From time imme- morial, at least as far back as the era of the Saxon heptarchy, it had been looked upon as a defensible town. By its ancient constitutions, some of them exceedingly curious, and then continuing in force, it had been used to hold itself prepared against assault or surprise. There were walls and towers, gates, 1642] ANCIENT HEREFORD. 159 drawbridges, a moat and a magazine ; ' but probably it was as yet unprovided witb guns, and certainly had no well organised defenders. The bulwarks of Hereford from the western quarter, where they began beside the water of Wye, to the eastern, where they ended at the Castle-Pool, were strengthened at intervals by about 16 semicircular towers and expressed a form approaching to three-fourths of an irregular oblong, rather than a circle, cut off and hollowed out on the south by the river, so that in maps the whole bears no unapt resemblance to the skull-cap of an armed man. The straightest front of the walls looked westward, and near the lower extremity stood a bridge over the Wye, surmounted by its tower with the necessary accompaniment of a drawbridge, leading to the Ross and Aber- MONNOW BBIDGE GATE, MONMOUTH (FROM A SKETCH IN 1823). gavenny roads. Bridge-heads of the same kind existed in every considerable town upon the border streams, at Shrews- bury, at Ludlow, at Worcester, Gloucester and Monmouth, and the latter of them, erected in 1272, is to be seen, with but few alterations, to the present day. A fosse, supplied with water 1 It appears by instructions given from the Privy Council to the Lord Presi- dent of the "Marches in 1612, that a certain quantity of powder, match and bullets was directed to be kept in the Shire towns or such other towns as might be thought meetest for keeping it : and that the beacons long neglected and decayed might be repaired. 160 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 from a brook called Eign encompassed the whole city save where it was more substantially protected by the Wye. In the reign of Henry VIII. the fortifications are described by Leland as kept by the burgesses in good order, and he enumerates its six gates, some of whose iron-studded doors continued to move on their hinges till the latter end of the eighteenth century. 1 But many years of internal peace preceding the period of which we are treating had probably reduced these once strong defences into mere standing condition, rather than continued them in serviceable military repair, or placed them by additional works in a capability of resisting cannon. The Castle, whose lofty keep upon an elevated mound still rivalled in some degree the more ornamented Cathedral tower, had long been in a state of decay. Princes had formerly been its inmates, and it was con- sidered impregnable, but the site and ruin had been sold by the Crown in the present reign, and was in the hands of an individual of the name of Page, who held it of the King of his Manor of East Greenwich in chief: useless it was for any purpose of immediate protection till it could be in some measure restored. 2 The general effect of the whole to the eye of an intelligent observer has been thus described : ' This City of Hereford is cituate'd not much unlike to Yorke, & in some parts resembles it very much ; for it hath a round tower mount'd upon a Hill, like to Cliffords tower, & y e mills near it, w th some little works about, having y" river Wye running close by ; but 1 It appears from the Corporation and other records that the gates of the city had been suffered to go to decay in the reign of King James. In the autumn of 1614 the south-west corner of Eign Gate and the cracks and crevices of it were repaired by an assessment; and in 1619 St. Owen's Gate was restored by the city for the purpose of containing the magazine. 2 No mention is made of the Castle in any account of the military operations. Leland says of it that it had been one of the fairest, largest, and strongest castles in England : it had two wards, each environed with water, and connected by a great bridge of 3 arches with a drawbridge in the middle, but this was then down. The dungeon was high and very strong, with 10 semicircular towers in the outer wall, and a great tower in the middle. Some part of it was fitted up by Col. Birch after the capture of Hereford in Dec. 1645, stone for that purpose being taken from Aubrey's ruined mansion at Clehonger, and lead from the Chapter-House of the Cathedral ; and it afterwards was inhabited by the Governor Col. Moore. But the whole was tending to ruin ; and when surveyed for the Parliament in 1652 it was in a very decayed state. In the E. part were three houses, one called the Governor's lodge, and two others in a ruinous con- dition ; and in the N. wall a ruinous gatehouse. 1642] STAMFORD ENTERS HEREFORD. 161 y e Walls tho' they be high, yet arc not mount'd upon a Rampeir as York walls are.' l Such were the aspect and defences of Hereford, seated upon an almost imperceptible rise from the water, in a rich and champaign country, and well supplied with an abundance of the common necessaries and exuberances of life. A cordial recep- tion from the inhabitants was the only requisite to complete the comfort of quarters in a place like this, a consideration tb at few of the new levies had as yet learned to despise. But unless the Earl of Stamford's soldiers were disposed to take things as they should find them, and help themselves to that which would not very cheerfully be furnished them, they could not calculate upon a satisfactory sojourn here. That nobleman, however, pushed forward without delay, and his men, having received their arrears of pay, marched on with novel expecta- tions of chastising or overawing the obstinately superstitious and malignant of an ignorant and prejudiced county. The foot regiment was one of the best disciplined in the service, 2 and might indeed upon this account have been singled out rather than for the merits of its leader. There might be many old soldiers in the ranks, but as a body, except it had been m the skirmish near Southam, they had never stood in battalia, nor exchanged a shot with an enemy. They were, however, excel- lently officered. Edward Massey, Lieutenant Colonel, was an admirable soldier, in the early prime of life, but a veteran in arms, just returned from the Continent, where in the armies of Holland he had risen, as was reported, from the lowest rank of pioneer ; and he was to advance still higher at home with universal applause. Constance Ferrar, Sergeant Major, had held a Captain's commission under the King ; and many among the officers are known to have proved themselves fully entitled to the appellation of brave. 3 Of the horse, Boza, commanding the 9th (Stamford's own) troop, was a foreigner ; the other, Kyrle, the very grandfather of the celebrated ' Man of Ross,' > Diary of Sir Henry Slingsby, 1645, 154. 2 These were the soldiers who afterwards performed great service for the Parliament in the siege of Gloucester. Many of them were slain at Cirencester. The regimental colour was blue. — Bibliotheca Gloucestrensis, 164. 3 [Among them was Captain Hammond, afterwards well known as the Governor of Carisbrook Castle at the time of the King's imprisonment there. — ' Memoir of Mrs. Joyce Jefferies,' Archaologia, xxxvii. 207.] VOL. I. M 162 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 was fresh from the German wars. Sir Eobert Harley 1 and his eldest son appear to have been with them ; and they were joined on the road by Sir Eichard Hopton of Canon Frome, a magistrate, 2 and either through summons or out of curiosity by some of the constabulary force : with this union of civil and military display they made their entry into the city. The motto that floated upon their commander's azure banner was expressed in three lines ; the two first in Eoman capitals, the last, the family motto, in Italian letters, all of gold. Foe Religion. King and Counteey. A Ma Puissance. 3 The fringe was argent and azure. He brought with him what he calls ' a trail of artillery,' sufficient, it may be pre- sumed, to enforce submission, and keep the refractory in awe. Nearly a thousand of these unwelcome visitants passed without opposition through one of the eastern gates on the last day of September, 4 and William Price, a mercer of respectability and influence among the townsmen, who must then have been about to enter upon his mayoralty, if not at first officially, yet after- wards both by virtue of his office, and from a secret leaning to 1 Harley, who had been appointed (C. J. Aug. 29) one of a committee for considering for a, speedy defence for the counties of Salop, Hereford, Monmouth, Worcester, Lancashire, Cheshire, and the counties of North Wales, was sent down (C. J. Oct. 3) into the county of Hereford to attend upon the Lord General. When Essex had arrived at Worcester, it would be a convenient time for Harley to go down : he might then visit his castle of Brampton Lryan under an escort, which it might not be well for him to attempt without such protection. 2 This gentleman, now far advanced in life, was probably more moved by anxiety for the preservation of his property from lawless encroachment than any desire to engage in the dispute. His sons were divided in their political feelings ; their father began by leaning toward the Parliament; but if afterwards he endeavoured to preserve a distant neutrality, it only subjected him to the censure and chastisement of both parties. 3 The military mottos were often sarcastic, sometimes grave, and occasionally profane. They were sometimes couched in Latin. Essex had adopted ' Cave Adsum : ' the Royalists laughed at it as signifying ' When I come, look well to your money and horses.' The Scotch captains employed, under the arms of their country, ' For Christ's crown and covenant' A parliamentarian regiment fought under a flag representing a hand with a sword thrust through a crown ; and a colonel on the same side, with that bold familiarity common to those religionists, adopted the scriptural sentence, ' Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.' •' Powell, MS. Diary. 1642] ROYALISTS ABSENT THEMSELVES. 163 their cause, was one of the few who exerted himself for their ac- commodation. Sir Robert Harley was of great service to them. Now, that the Royalists were thoroughly aware of his coming, though they could not prevent it, is more than probable. 1 For not one of those who had been busiest in preparations, in levying, training and arming the bands, was there or elsewhere found or taken. The Commissioners and other active persons, Brabazon, Coningsby, Croft, Lingen, Price, Pye and Rudhall, all were absent upon his arrival. Croft was with the King. There were others who had reason to dread the influx of such strangers : considering what had happened from the wantonness of the soldiery at Worcester, the clergy would tremble for the security of that hallowed Cathedral where the bodies of so many confessors reposed. Some of them, and particularly Doctor Rogers, Canon Residentiary, and Rector of Stoke-Edith, a strenuous champion of the Church, would boldly inculcate loyalty to the King and obedience in the subject, in a very different sense from that in which these duties were held by the Parliament. Stamford's men were as disorderly on the subject of religion as any in the whole army ; 2 and had no disinclination to have repeated the scenes that had been acted at Worcester ; but either from the way in which their General had checked such acts for the present, or from some other cause, no injury at this period seems to have been inflicted upon the Cathedral. It was soon rumoured that Hereford, which had taken so high and provoking a tone for the King, was to be secured for the Parliament ; and as the conduct of that county had brought it, perhaps, more into notice than its size or actual consequence might seem to challenge, it became an object of much interest to the writers of newsbooks and pamphlets, who now laboured for the Houses with greater energy than ever, and rapidly increased in number. 3 In the event above related, and the game that Essex was playing, they found the seeds of invention 1 ["Mrs. Joyce Jefferies, of whom a most interesting and characteristic account, by the writer of these Memorials, will be found in Archmologia, xxxvii., had taken the alarm in time, and left Hereford for safer quarters on Sept. 23.] 2 See KyrUs Pamphlet, Appendix XIII. 8 They who live in times when political writers cut and thrust at each other like gladiators, and the public look on with approbation and encouragement, have no occasion to congratulate themselves as to the days on which they have fallen. This is something worse than the mere prevalt-nce of a, bad taste : it often runs into political barbarism, and an abandonment of those principles which would M 2 164 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 and food for their deluded readers. All were upon the look-out for the least fragment of intelligence from the army. But the manner in which their publications excited and misled the public mind is well illustrated by the specimens to which we refer as applicable to this point of time and this county. Besides the minor fabrications of paragraphs of news repeated in the different journals, there are some of more pretension in the form of set narratives well calculated to produce strong impressions upon such as were ready to receive them, to the disadvantage of the Eoyalists, and the encouragement of the Parliamentarians. 1 Very early in October it began to transpire in London that the Lord General intended to secure Hereford. The public are all at once informed that the King had appeared before the place on the first of that month, and had been refused admit- tance after a speech from the Eecorder full of verbal submis- sion, but actual opposition, directed against his Majesty through his attendants. Another account places this transaction a week later, and states that the city had received the parliamentary regiment of Lord Saint John with open arms on Friday the 7th of October, but had on the next day rejected the King at the head of 2,000 men. Charles was at that time at Shrewsbury, from which town he drew out his forces four days after ; 2 but the clue to these stories, so far as he is concerned, is to be found in the denials that he had received at Hull and Coventry. Then again to gratify the craving for intelligence there appeared an account, the basis of which may be true, though the particulars of it are highly suspicious, in a letter from Hereford dated on the 14th, that Prince Eupert and his followers had made an attempt to plunder Draiton (erroneously said to be in Hereford- teach better things. Too much of it was visible in these unhappy days ; and in patronising it both parties merited the sternest reprobation. If it be true that the Royalist divines, so far as their printed discourses are evidence, were sur- passed by their Puritan antagonists in coarseness and severity, the hireling writers of newsbooks and pamphlets in prose or verse as to scurrility and ribaldry came to be much upon a par. Their satire, mixed with more than common hatred and un charitableness, like the remedy of some diseases, created one set of evils while it destroyed another. 1 DTsraeli says that, from 1 640 to 1 660, of these leaves of the hour and volumes of a week, about 30,000 appear to have started up. Charles was such an attentive observer of these pamphlets, that he once paid ten pounds only for the perusal of one, which could not otherwise be procured. — Commentaries, iv. 146, 147. 2 October 12. 1642] FALSEHOODS OF NEWSBOOKS AND PAMPHLETS. 165 shire), and relating his discomfiture. At length it was announced, as from despatches, that a party had been sent forward from Worcester, and that Hereford was actually possessed by a garrison for the Parliament ; but still the infor- mation was apparently mixed with fable. Three hundred and forty Souldiers were come out of Herefford- shire to his Excellency to serve the King and Parliament. And the City of Hereford had sent to his Excellency signifying their good affection to the Parliament, and their desire to have that City secured against the Cavaliers, which they much feared would come thither and there being a malignant party in the City, those that were well affected durst not shew their forwardnes so much as they would, whereupon his Excellency sent one thousand f oote, and foure Troops of horse to disarme the malignants, and likewise ordered that a sufficient garrison should be left there for the safety and peace of those parts, which was done accordingly. 1 Other particulars, more or less accurate, were made known at intervals, as the Earl continued from time to time officially to report his proceedings ; 2 but the knowledge of a few facts not being sufficient for the overheated state of the public mind, the fertile imaginations of those who cared nothing for the truth, provided they could cater for their parliamentary readers, produced two pamphlets in which the success of the Earl of Stamford is highly magnified. 3 Having settled every- thing to his satisfaction, he is traversing the country in pursuit of his enemies ; and in two pitched battles, one near Kidder- minster, the other on the fatal field of Tewkesbury, in both of which vast numbers of combatants were present, and many fell, he is represented as victorious. These are mere inventions, too gross to impose upon any who are acquainted with dates, transactions and distances ; but, like many other productions on both sides, they betray the most undisguised vindictive feeling, and savour of an irritated appetite for blood. The falsehood of them never seems to have brought any rebuke upon 1 Perfect Diurnall, Oct. 15. 2 Stamford's first letter from Hereford is dated Oct. 19. — L. J. Oct. 22. » The Royalists amused themselves with his foibles, and some of these were too serious for his own party to endure; the consequence of which was, that after a while they laid him aside. But now he was in the height of his career, fresh, vigorous, and most ardent. But we shall see how he conducted himself, since his actions speak intelligibly enough for themselves. 166 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 the writers and printers from those who were well acquainted with it ; and in other cases could deal severely with such parties, when they thought proper to interfere. Turning from these melancholy and exasperating delusions we shall not be materially relieved by lifting the veil to see what really did occur. Though the position of these forces in Hereford had inter- rupted the communication between the King at Shrewsbury and his agents in South Wales, their intercourse had for the present been suspended from another cause. His Majesty had marched from that place, as it was thought, in the direction of the metropolis. Essex too had followed him, though somewhat tardily, from Worcester ; and after certain military evolutions, characterised, in the opinion of some, by a remarkable ignorance of their relative nearness to each other, they came to that sad, but undecisive encounter ' on the hill near Keinton in Warwick- shire, which has often been described. The number of the slain was greatly over-rated for invidious purposes, but the cloud of horror and apprehension that it cast over all England can be as little exaggerated, as it can now be vividly impressed upon our minds. 2 There are several particulars relating to the affair which fall properly under our notice. In this fight, so we are told by one who saw them, the half-armed Welsh (those of North Wales in particular) rushed down the slope of Edge Hill to meet the enemy with all their wonted ardour ; but were soon put to the rout. 3 Three of their regiments ran from the field. But this disgrace was not attached to them alone. Four regiments of the other army, together with the whole of their left wing of horse, turned their backs and fled ; 1 October 23. 2 Let not the reader think little of the contest because of the insignificance in point of numbers of the parties that met in the field. The conflict was often upon that account so much the more mortal, where man was pitted against man, and the fight was a succession of duels, each singling out his adversary and fighting ' to the utterance.' 3 ' Most of the Regiments, which were raised in Wales, were very ill armed. However, they were brave and resolute to serve their King, with such Arms as they had, or could get in their March .... some Hundreds of Welchmen were so brave, that they had no Arms but Pitchforks, and such like Tools, and many only with good Cudgels ; yet they went down the Hill as eagerly to fight, as the best armed Men among them.' — Bulstrode, Memoirs, 75, 86. [From Clarendon's account (ii., 40) of the deficiency of arms among the royal soldiery, it is perhaps surprising that they kept their ground so well at Edge Hill.] 16 *2] BATTLE OF EDGE HILL. 167 and Oliver Cromwell himself, whose sword seems not as yet to have been tinged with blood, — for he with Colonels Hampden and Grantham only came up in the rear as their horse were driven out of the field, — has not escaped the imputation of cowardice from Holies 1 iipon that occasion. The failure of some of the South Welshmen was disastrous to their bravei officers. Colonel Sir Edward Stradling was taken prisoner; and his Lieutenant Colonel Herbert, of Pill Coggan near the sea in Glamorgan shire, was slain. It is of some importance to note that Colonel Sir Thomas Lunsford, 2 and Sir William Vavasour — the latter commanding the King's regiment of foot- guards under Lord Willougbby of Eresby, were made prisoners. Lord Saint John, falsely reported to have established himself in Hereford, was the only nobleman who fell on the side of the Parliament. Henry Hastings, the King's Sheriff for Leicester- shire, and the antagonist of the Earl of Stamford there, charged this day at the head of his own troop. In this fight also was Sir William Croft, of Croft Castle near Leominster, a gentle- man of excellent ability and gallant and noble bearing. Could any doubt have been ever entertained of the cause which he would espouse, it was most satisfactorily dispelled on this occasion. It may never have been a serious question, except in the conscience of the King himself; neither is Croft 3 believed to have wavered from the breaking out of the troubles ; but the words of Lloyd, always quaint, are in this, as in many of his prosing riddles, at once obscure and plain. King Charles I. when he saw him put on his armour at Edge- hill, admired it first, and afterwards was very glad of it, being, he said, the only man in England he feared ; being looked upon as able enough to be Secretary of State always, and as the fittest man at that time, being a man inured to great observations ; and constant business from his childhood. 1 Sir W. Dugdale and Sir Robert Manley unite in their testimony to Oliver Cromwell's cowardly behaviour at Edge Hill. The account of the latter is suffi- ciently amusing. ' He had observed from the Top of a Steeple in the Neighbour- hood, the disorder of the right Wing of their Army, wherewith being greatly terrified, he slipped down for haste by the bell-rope, and taking Horse, ran away with his Troop ; for which Grime he had been cashiered, had it not been for the powerful Mediation of his Friends.' * Stradling and Lunsford were sent prisoners to Warwick Castle. — Ludlow, i. 51. 3 Mr. Mead writes to Sir Martin Stuteville (20th September 1628) ; ' Sir .Ralph Clare and Sir William Croftes, ever since they were turned out of their 168 THE CIVIL WAR 15 HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 He has also hinted at that of which others have more fully informed us : that being a gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and having expressed his dislike of the great Court-favourite, he was suspended from his office ; and after the murder of that favourite was dismissed from his situation and banished from the royal presence. The above writer, who has furnished this extravagant eulogium upon Croft, closes it by adding, he .... had left the Court, 1626. for some words against the Duke of Buckingham in its prosperity ; and being of great Integrity, came to help it, 1640. in its adversity. 1 There had been an enmity of some standing between the families of Croft and Coningsby, 2 which, if it had not been already extinguished at the beginning of the war, the same excellent feeling to all appearance prompted him to lay aside in co-operating with the rival of his house, when the service of his master so required. This was no time for petty disputes. The Scropes were reconciled upon the hill by the King himself before the battle, of which we have spoken, joined ; and on the following morning the life of the father was singularly pre- served by the care and affection of the son. 3 It was a season in which to generous minds on either side all but the common animosity would be annihilated. Such indeed was the pressure that it had been sufficient to have suspended private discords even in those of baser mould ; as creatures naturally hostile to each other are known to herd together in mutual forbearance upon the plot of dry land around which the inundation -of a mighty stream is raging. Yet on the other hand, at Edge Hill, by one of those afflict- ing incidents to which civil contests are liable, the Earl of places in the Privy Chamber for opposing the Duke in the second Parliament of King Charles, have lyen within his Majesty's House at St. James ; now since the Duke's death, his Majesty hath banished them thence also.' And again, November 1, 'Sir Henry, the Duke bosom friend is sworn gentleman of the Privy Chamber in Sir William Croftes his place, who hath stood suspended therefrom any time this three yeare, ever since he spake against the Duke in Parliament.' — Ellis, Original Letters, I. iii. 262, 271. 1 Memoires, 673. 2 Coningsby MSS. 3 Bulstrode, Memoirs, 79. — Sir Gervase Scrope of Cockerington, in the county of Lincoln, Knight, and Adrian Scrope, Esq. his son. His estate before the troubles was worth 2,0892. 5s. id., out of which were several charities paid to the poor. His fine was set at 6,0862. lis. id. or, settling 1202. upon some church, reduced to 4,9662.— S. P. 2, sxxi. 619. 1642] MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER. 169 Denbigh appeared in aims for the King ; and his son for the Parliament: and many of those who had been endeared by hardships and perils in foreign campaigns were mortal adver- saries here. Certain reflections upon this and subsequent events of the same kind, made by the author of one of the most interesting sketches of this period, who lived near enough to the times to catch the spirit of them, are so graphic and impres- sive, that the insertion of them will surely be allowed. His personal narrative, contrived with such skill as long to impose upon the world, is purely a fiction ; but a part of the senti- ments attributed on this occasion to his principal Cavalier character is fresh from the mirror of nature and truth. 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 it 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 ' 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 comrades 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 much religion in me at that time ; but I thought religion, rightly practised on both sides, would have made us all better friends. 1 It has always been held that this battle was lost to the King by the incorrigible impetuosity of Prince Eupert, who pursued the wing of parliamentary horse opposed to him so far, and suffered his men to waste so much of their time in plunder- ing the baggage at Keinton, that he was absent from the field when his presence might have decided the victory. This gave Lord Wharton a fair opportunity of reflecting upon his conduct in a speech made at Guildhall, 2 where he formed one of a 1 Defoe, Memoirs of a Cavalier. * October 27. 170 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 deputation sent by the Houses to tranquillise the affrighted citizens of London. He explained to them, with an air of great candour and veracity, that at the beginning of the battle, ' before there was any execution, three or four regiments fairly ran away. I shall name you the particulars,' said he ; ' there were that ran away, Sir William Fairfax's regiment, Sir Henry Cholmely's, my Lord Kimbolton's, and, to say the plain truth, my own.' These formed part of the foot. He then proceeded to inform them of the behaviour of the King's horse, after their own 'had the worst of it,' and how, going to the town, where the baggage was, they pillaged the carts. After other speakers had been heard, he again rose to correct an omission. ' One cause of our preservation, and of the success of that day, was the Barbarousness and inhumanity of Prince Rupert and his troops ; who, while we were a-fighting, not only pillaged the baggage (which was a poor employment !) but most barbarously killed the Country men that came in with their Teams, and women and children that were with them. This I think comes not amiss to tell you, because you may see what is the thing they aim at, which is pillage, and baggage, and plundering ; and the way which they would come by it is murdering and destroying. 1 These observations called forth a reply from the Prince in a Declaration published at Oxford, some passages of which will be found descriptive of the feelings and temper of this high- bom soldier, and show what charges and recriminations were passing between the leaders, while the country was complaining that it was torn in pieces by their armies. He begins as if, to use the playful language of Spenser, He never meant with words but swords to plead. It will seeme strange (no doubt) to see me in print, my knowne disposition being so contrary to this scrihhng Age ; and sure I had not put my selfe upon a Declaration, if in common prudence I could have done otherwise. I need not tell the world (for it is too well knowne) what malicious lying Pamphlets are printed against mee almost every morning, whereby those busie Men strive to render me as odious as they would have me, against whom doubtlesse I had sooner declared, but that I well knew this mutinous lying spirit would be easily convinced, but never silenced, which as it ceaseth at no' time, so it spares no person. . . . > 0. P. H. xi. 487. 1642 1 PRINCE RUPERT'S DECLARATION. 171 But since it hath pleased my Lord Wharton to tell the whole City of London openly at Guildhall, and to tell to all the world in print, that one great cause of their preservation at Edge-hill, was the barbarousnesse and inhumanity of Prince Rupert and his Troopers, that we spared neither man, woman, nor child, and the thing which we aime at is pillage and plundering, and the way which we would come by it is murthering and destroying ; since such a charge as this comes from such a mouth, I hold my selfe bound in honour to speak and tell that Lord, that as much of his speech as concernes mee, is no truer then the rest of it, which for the most part is as false as any thing that hath been spoken or printed in London these two yeares : and had I knowne his Lordships intention, I would have asked his reason, either before or now at Keinton, if his Lord- ship had but stayed so long as to be asked the question. . . . Now for barbarousnesse and inhumanity to women and children, where- with his Lordship and those impudent unpunished papers cried daily in the streets do continually slander us, I must here professe, that I take that man to be no Souldier or Gentleman, that will strike (much lesse kill) a woman or a child, if it be in his power to doe the contrary ; and I openly dare the most valiant and quick-sighted of that lying Faction, to name the time, the person, or the house, where any child or woman lost so much as a haire from their head by me, or any of our souldiers. In a battell, where two Armies fight, many one hath unfortunately killed his dearest friend, very often those whom willingly hee would otherwise have spared ; and whether any woman or child were killed in this fight is more then I can justly say : I am sorry if there were. He then retorts upon them their cruelty to females — Countess Rivers, Lady Lucas — and to others only for speaking against them ; and turns to their plunderings : — What house have we ransacked, as they did the Earl of Nor- thampton ? mangling and cutting in pieces rich chaires, beds, stooles, and hangings ; drinking as much and as long as they were able, then letting the rest run out upon the floore, when as the very Earle of Essex his house at Ghartley suffered not the least damage by us. What Churches have we defaced, as they did at Canterbury, Oxford, Worcester, and many other places ? Next he reminds them of their imprisonment of the loyal nobility, magistrates, gentry and clergy, and their encourage- ment of ignorant and seditious teachers, whom he exposes ; and answers the charge of loose and uncivil conduct in his men by a reference to the behaviour of their own. 172 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 For my selfe, I appeale to the consciences of those Lords and Gentlemen who are my daily witnesses, and to those people where- soever our Army hath been, what they know, or have observed in my carriage, which might not become one of my quality, and the son of a King. To meet the slanderous appellation of Popish Cavaliers, there are his sufferings and perils and captivity in the protest- ant cause, enough to satisfy any reasonable man : he ardently desires that Englishmen were at union among themselves, and is ready to venture his life against the rebels in Ireland. Though I will never fight in an unrighteous quarrell, yet to defend the King, Religion and Lawes of a Kingdome against Sub- jects, who are up in Armes against their Lord and Soveraigne, (and such all good wise men know this and that of Ireland to be though the pretence looke severall waies ;) such a cause my conscience tells mee is full of piety and justice : and if it please God to end my daies in it, I shall thinke my last breath spent with as much honour and religion, as if I were taken off my knees at my prayers. I thinke there is none that take me for a Coward ; for sure I feare not the face of any man alive, yet I shall repute it the greatest victory in the world to see His Majesty enter London in peace, without shed- ding one drop of bloud. . . . And so, whether peace or warre, the Lord prosper the worke of their hands who stand for God and King Ohakles. 1 1 Prince Rupert His Declaration. Oxford. Printed by Leonard Lichfield. 1642. 1642] 173 CHAPTEE VIII. The Earl of Stamford in Hereford — His despatches to the House of Lords— His proceedings against Papists and Royalists — Goodrich described — Merciless plundering of Swift, the Vicar — Revenues of Dean and Chapter seized— Cathedral Service : pulpit occupied by John Sedgwick, Stamford's chaplain — His sermons at Marlborough quoted at length — Preachers among the soldiery — State of Radnorshire : execution of Commission of Array — Royalist meeting at Presteign surprised by a party of Stamford's soldiers — Prisoners brought to Hereford, and forwarded to Gloucester and Coventry — Seizure and restoration of public documents. The Earl of Stamford had scarcely established himself in Hereford, and looked about him, before he perceived that the Lord General with his whole army was gone, he knew not whither. Upon the discovery of this, for which he was, how- ever, in some measure prepared, instead of attempting to keep up a precarious correspondence with his superior officer, or wasting time in fruitless enquiry after him, he addressed him- self at once to the Speaker of the House of Lords ; and gave regular reports of his proceedings. It is to this circumstance, and to the care of that assembly in registering every thing connected with their daily deliberations, that we are now indebted for his own account of what was done here in those early days of abuse, vexation and robbeiy, the petty accompani- ments of bloodier and more extensive hostilities that had begun in other quarters. They are particularly valuable for the insight they offer into his character, and the local information they convey. The subject of his first despatch, which, includ- ing the day of its date, and that on which it was read in the House of Lords, was four days in reaching its destination, exhibits in a remarkable manner the growing distractions of this lately peaceful county ; and, indeed the whole of them are worthy of attention, if we would rightly estimate the distress occasioned only by the opening of these troubles. 174 THE CIVIL "WAK IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 One ground of objection, with the greater part of those over whom he exercised unbounded control, was the contradiction of his actions to his professions. He had declared that no wrong should be done to any man. By this of course he meant no one whom, in his sense of the word, he considered ' an honest man ; ' and this he presently proved, when in the way of mili- tary interference, he singled out certain parties for the exercise of his displeasure. The Eoman Catholics were among the first to feel it. Towards these, in common with the rest of his political associates, he entertained no ordinary aversion ; and in him it might be increased by the cruel treatment that his mother had endured during the insurrection in Ireland, where, besides personal sufferings, she had undergone such hardships and losses, that she had been glad to accept from the Parliament a grant of two hundred pounds. Therefore the words ' Irish ' and ' Papist ' would grate harshly on his irritable ear. The new levies of Lord Herbert and the Marquess of Hertford he affected to look upon as a Popish army, a stigma not uncom- monly applied to the King's troops in general, to render them odious among the people. These being rendezvoused about Eaglan, and drawing towards him, had committed some excesses upon the unwilling householders among whom they were billeted ; and such as had been provoked by their inso- lence repaired to Hereford, where they could make their com- plaints heard, and hoped to find redress. 1 Some persons had also disputed with the Commissioners of Array, and been forced to take up arms against their will. To these, and all who had any grievances to present, he lent a ready ear ; and when any fled to him, as some did out of Monmouthshire, houseless and destitute, with wives and children, he placed them in the dwellings of Eoman Catholics or offensive malignants, who, if they had withdrawn or concealed themselves, could neither hide nor remove their houses, and must of necessity have left part of their goods behind them. He encouraged these new-comers to help themselves to anything that they found at their plea- sure, and set them at free quarter. Acting, as it appeared, upon the spirit of the instructions sent down from the Parlia- ment while he was in Worcestershire, he searched the habita- 1 John Harper, Esq. of Tillington, had his house plundered in 1642 by soldiers, who took out of it many goods and writings of value which were dis- persed and lost. — S. P. I. lxxxv., 419. 1642 ] GOODRICH AND ITS VICAR. 175 tions of the suspected for arms ; and a warrant to search was a permission to plunder. The clergy who had obeyed the King's commands were objects of his dislike ; and none of tbose who had stood forward to inculcate objection to the principles upon which he was acting could consider themselves safe. One there was, who had given him special offence ; and the mode in which he was dealt with will show how Stamford and his men could plunder. About three miles to the south of Ross, on the right bank of the Wye, and in a sort of isthmus formed by that winding stream, 1 stands the village of Goodrich. Hardly does the river in all its mazes visit and help to form landscapes of more picturesque beauty than here. So pleasing are the scenes pre- senting themselves in varied succession, that were it not for that Castle frowning in its ruins from the steep, and the un- doubted evidences that have descended to us from earlier times, he, who has visited these shady banks and undulatory slopes, green meadows and rippling waters, might be unwilling to believe that their tranquillity had ever been invaded by the disorders of war. Here in retirement lived Thomas Swift, the vicar, occupied with the duties of his pastoral care. He had a numerous family, and was by marriage allied to the Drydens of Northamptonshire, one of whom was also Dryden the poet. He was, moreover, destined to be the grandfather of the celebrated Dean Swift of literary and political memory. Besides his pre- ferment in this place, which he had held eighteen years, he was vicar of the parish of Bridstow, near Ross, and had an estate in Goodrich called ' the New House,' which is inherited at this day by a gentleman who bears his name. He was in the number of those who gave no assent to the resistance that was offered to the royal commands ; and, while these intruders were at Hereford, with more zeal, perhaps, than prudent respect to his personal security, had been preaching in the church of Ross, as he thought became his office, upon the obligation of ' render- 1 The distance from Goodrich ferry across the isthmus to that of Huutsham, though not quite the narrowest part of the neck, is nearly 1£ mile. The -wind- ings of the river bet-ween the two points by measurement of the Ordnance Map amount to upwards of 8. The lofty peninsula at Symond's Yat lower down is still narrower ; and the view from the rocky top of the Yat of a very extraordi- nary kind. The river seems on both sides almost at the feet of the spectator ; such is the diminution and contraction effected by the height, and such the wild windings of this romantic stream. 176 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 ing unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's;' he was also suspected, though he denied the charge, of having purchased and assisted the Monmouthshire levies with arms. It was enough, however, that reports of this kind had reached the Earl of Stamford. The father of Colonel Kyrle resided upon his own estate at Walford Court on the side of the Wye opposite to Goodrich Castle, and from him the information might proceed. But Swift's character was one of simplicity, boldness and perse- verance, and spies and informers were abroad. Be this as it may ; since the Eoyalists had thrown 900 foot and a troop of horse into Monmouth, and it was deemed advisable to seize upon the Castle of Goodrich ; ' that measure might be coupled with the chastisement of the refractory vicar, and it was determined upon accordingly. In one of the comparatively few publications that then appeared on behalf of the Cavaliers, entitled ' Mercurius Rusti- cus, or the Country's Complaint,' and containing accounts of outrages committed by parliamentary officers and soldiers, is a narrative of the plundering of Swift's house at Goodrich. It has frequently been printed in extracts or a separate form ; 2 but is here given as an integral part of our story. Warned to betake himself to a hiding-place, this husband and father found himself compelled to abandon his wife, ten children, household, and all that he had therein, to the mercy of a hundred of Stamford's soldiers, who, coming to occupy the Castle, rifled the neighbouring vicarage under circumstances of unnecessary cruelty ; and showed their skill in rapacity, and pleasure in tormenting, unmoved by man's remonstrances or woman's tears. Twice the distracted wife hastened to Hereford to entreat the Earl's forbearance, and to meet with rough denial. Kyrle 1 There were many strong houses and castles of the older nobles upon the borders. None of them had however been used as fortresses probably since the "War of the Roses : a great number had fallen to decay, unless they continued to be the seats of wealthy proprietors ; but abundance of them were still in suffi- cient order to form strongholds ; and they were put into more complete repair or strengthened and stored according to the apprehensions of the owner. The border Castles of Grosmont, White Castle, and Skenfrith in Monmouthshire, Longtown, Snodhill, Stepleton, and Huntington in Herefordshire were in a dilapi- dated condition. The Castle of Goodrich was strong by nature on two sides, and on the others had been rendered so by art, and had been well adapted to the warfare of olden times, being capable also of containing a considerable garrison. About 170 gentlemen and soldiers marched out of it at its surrender in 1646. 2 It will be found entire in Appendix XII. 1642] VICAB, 0£ GOODRICH PLUNDERED. 177 affected some show of compassion when after the first robbery he made her pay for a nugatory protection, and permitted her to repurchase her own horses, which were carried off again. But no one would interfere to stay the hands of the spoilers. In five visits of open violence, and sundry manoeuvres of fraud and extortion, their commander one while flatly refusing the petition of this defenceless female, and at another time affect- ing to disapprove the conduct of those whom, if he had strictly kept his promise, he would have restrained from wrong, Colonel Kyrle, and the captain commanding in the castle, with their followers, in the end stripped the loyal incumbent of this parish of property to the amount of 3007., cleared out his home- stead even of lumber, left his children and servants at the beginning of winter with hardly a garment to shelter them, and threatened any who should show them mercy. Let those who read this story doubt, if they can, that civil hostilities had indeed begun, or that they were likely to be carried on with bitter hatred and malicious abandonment of the common sym- pathies of human beings. The narratives inserted in the collection of which this is a part seem to have been furnished to the editor, Doctor Bruno Ryves, at Oxford, by sufferers and eye-witnesses ; and this in question contains touches going far to point out the injured vicar of Goodrich as the author. In this way did the Earl of Stamford express his dis- pleasure against a defenceless clergyman of the Established Church, 1 who had the hardihood to oppose his principles and his cause. Reminded of his responsibility for such doings, that nobleman might well be ready to reply, that he was account- able to no man for his actions : for it was a natural sentiment in him, who was conscious that he had been openly proclaimed a traitor by one party ; and was just now in highest estimation with the other. All persons in his situation, who served the Parliament, must be for a while and to a certain extent left to act for themselves, and were backed by an assurance that they would be saved harmless as to any vexation they might inflict upon the enemy. No proof has however occurred of his having personally molested the already persecuted Bishop of the Diocese ; that prelate could have removed to Whitborne, where in his moated 1 He acted indeed sometimes as if he had a personal dislike to that order of men : see his conduct to Dr. Cox at Exeter.-Mw. Bust. Tii. VOL. I. N 178 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [164?. palace on the confines of Worcestershire, and out of the scene of action, he might remain without annoyance so long as retire- ment could ensure him from intrusion : but it is certain that Stamford seized, and appropriated to his men, a part of the rents and revenues of the Dean and Chapter at the season of their yearly audit in November. The Dean at that time was Doctor Jonathan Brown. The Cathedral might remain uninjured ; yet the Puritans were decidedly opposed to those devotional exercises, in which it is essential that — The pealing organ blow To the full- voiced choir below, in that noblest style of music, the best that England has to boast, so effectively provided for and kept up by the peculiar constitution of the Church of Hereford, and the ability and attentions of those who have successively ministered there. Within those walls, under various modifications, with more or less effect, it had been advantageously cultivated, and had ascended and died away among the arches of its roof for ages. Having deprived them for a season of their resources, it had been no great stretch of power to have forbidden them to assemble. It is not to fill these pages with mere inference, surmise or conjectures, but to suggest such circumstances as may be illustrative of the times, that it may be mentioned as a probability that ' service high, and anthem clear,' might have been suspended under apprehension or positive command ; for such things as, to use some of their own coarse expressions, ' the tooting and roaring of the pipes, the grumbling of the bass, the squeaking of choristers, and the bawling of singing- men ' or vicars choral, were abominations to those whose ears were ready to be rather attuned to the roaring of artillery and dying groans. 1 But if the doors of this Church were not closed 1 . . . Repertuni est trux hominum genus, Qui tenipla sacris expoliant choris, Non erubescentes vel ipsas Duritia superare cautes .... Tun' oMis aures, grex nove, barbaras, Et nullus audis ? Cantibus obstrepens, Ut, quo fatiges verberesque Pulpita, plus spatii lucreris ? At cui videri prodigium potest Mentes, quietis tympana publicae, 16 *2] JOHN SEDGWICK. 179 nor the regularly established preachers silenced here and through- out the city; as an antidote to the tendency and effect of High-Church doctrines, and as a specimen and exposition of the principles adopted on his own side, and maintained by argu- ments true and commendable in his sight, Stamford had brought •with him a man, his own chaplain, 1 than whom no advocate more zealous ever ascended a pulpit to plead for the Parlia- ment. This was John Sedgwick, younger brother of Obadiah, with whom we are already acquainted. He was of a turn well suited to the occasion, as bold an assertorof Presbyterianism, and as hostile to the Royalists, in his department, as any who were bearing arms against them. Like his Colonel, he held them to be the crudest of tyrants. But a short time before, when they visited and rifled the Earl of Stamford's mansion at Bradgate, he had been forced to fly half naked for his life. And not being one of those whose lips were habitually governed by the law of gentleness, and who are tender in giving and backward in receiving provocations, in his public ministry he spared them not. Vicars 2 relates of him with some approba- tion that he was in company with Marshall, Ash, Morton, Wickins, and others, including his own brother, when they rode about through the ranks at Edgehill, and exhorted the regi- ments in the field. It might be wished that the information of that author as to all these Parliamentary divines 3 had as Discordiis plenas sonoris Harmoniam tolerare nullam ! Geojrge Hekbekt, Epigrammata Apologetica. 23, De Musica Sacra. [To this may be added, from the same source, 24, Cantus saeros, profane, mugitus vocas ? Mugire multo mavelim quam rudere.] > [Or, more probably, the chaplain of his regiment (as indeed Baxter states), for in the satirical 'Last "Will and Testament of Philip Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery,' attributed to Butler, is the following hit — ' Item, I give my chaplains to the Earl of Stamford, in regard he never used any but his son the Lord Grey,' &e. This severe production would lead us to believe that the Earl had no domestic chaplain. The insertion here of another clause, though irrelevant, may well be pardoned — 'Item, I give nothing to the Lord Say, which legacy I give him because I know he'll bestow it on the poor.'] 2 Jehovah Jink, 200. 3 [There was at any rate but too much grave and serious reason for the stigma which a Cavalier writer attached to some of these men, describing them as ' our N 2 180 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 little foundation upon this point as that which includes this individual among them. None of those who went upon the Hereford expedition, it is presumed, could have been in that battle. It has been Sedgwick's misfortune that little can be collected respecting him from his friends, while much has been alleged against him by his enemies. Wood says of him ' he was a violent preacher to the soldiers to bring them into miseries and confusion, and at length in civill warr.' ' And an officer, who was serving under the Earl of Stamford, disgusted at his conduct, affirms that he shared in the plunder. 2 But it is chiefly as a preacher that he will be now considered. He was greatly surpassed in the polished eloquence of the day by Obadiah, who in college and camp had mixed with men of education and manners ; but he had a coarse and fervid style that suited the prevailing taste and those among whom his lot was cast. From the beginning of this reign he had appeared before the public as a writer, had ministered in London and the neighbourhood, was a Bachelor in Divinity and pastor of Saint Alphage, near Cripplegate, and was well known among the Puritanical divines. He had given to the world some dis- courses still extant; and very lately at Marlborough, his native town, had twice held forth to a willing people upon the prospect of affairs, and the necessity of pulling down all who opposed the Parliamentary cause. These two addresses were fresh from the press in the beginning of September, and as they contain his opinions deliberately recorded in his own words, however extreme they may appear, there can be no dispute as to their authenticity ; neither will there be any unwarrantable stretch of imagination in transferring some such expressions as they contain to a pulpit and congregation in Hereford, mingled, it may be supposed, with such occasional severity of rebuke as a very different class of hearers might call forth. According to his own account, his labours at Marlborough had not been fruitless. In the dedication to these discourses, he observes : — I wish them in tbeir printing their happie successe in their preaching, they were words in season to the best, and words of militant Evangelists, Dr. Bayes, Dr. Downing, Mr. Marshal, and Sedgwicke, whose consciences start out of the way at a white surplesse, but never boggle at garments rolled in blood.' — Honest Letter, 1642.] 1 Athena Oxon. Edited by Bliss, iii. art. John Sedgwick. ' Kyrle. Coppy of a Letter, §c. See Appendix XIII. 1642 1 JOHN SEDGWICK'S SERMON. 181 vexation to the worst. ... It is my comfort that by the happie successe of the Gospell in the hearts of the people, Marlborough is a Towne honouring and cleaving fast to the Parliament. But he totally failed to produce any such effect at Hereford. The outline of this preacher will be more complete, and his words may appear more forcible, if we look to his mode of delivery, which was altogether suited to his language. If in thought and expression he was not equal to Obadiah, he came up to him, and perhaps exceeded him, in action. He was in' truth a most energetic beater of the .... drum ecclesiastic, and upon one occasion has been described by no very refined metaphor to have ' thrash 'd such a sweating lecture that he put off his doublet.' ! In his prayer before the sermon, accord- ing to the manner of that school of divines, he was bold and familiar in his addresses to the Divine Being to a degree of irreverence that distressed uninitiated hearers. He lashed the Cavaliers in a lofty and overstrained pitch of voice, but sunk into softer breathings at mention of the Parliament. Some extracts from one of the above discourses will enable us to form an estimate of that style which overcame all oppo- sition at Marlborough, but proved quite unacceptable here. It is well to understand rightly what ground of complaint there might be against him. The words of John Sedgwick, as a religious teacher, shall therefore speak for themselves. His text is taken from a passage in Jeremiah (xxx. 7) — ' Alas ! for that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even the time of Jacob's trouble ; but he shall be saved out of it.' And in adapting it to the occasion he observes, ' Times are and will be troublous when Dagon & Baal is to goe downe. . . .' I conceive this much, that England hath many bad tenants who having gotten possession and can plead prescription (though no Scripture title) for themselves are resolved not to goe out without blowes and bloud ; neither can it be imagined (unlesse a miracle be wrought by God, as was in the case of the Scots) that so many proud Prelates, so many idle scandalous Non- Residents, and so much Rubbish of humane invention crept into God's worship, "will ever bee cast downe or carried out without troubles ; can you conceive that 1 Letter from a Spy at Oxford to Mr. Pym, &c. 1643, 4.— Grey, Notes on Hudibras, Canto 1. 1. 11. 182 THE CIVIL WAE, IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 Satan will loose a kingdom and never wag his taile ? believe it, brethren, there are many thousands in the Kingdom so set upon Idolatry, Superstition, and the wayes of formality that they cannot bee quiet if these things be taken from them. After denouncing the Episcopal clergy, he attacks the royalist laity : — We have lodging and lurking among us men of no Religion (swarmes of Atheists) men of a false Religion (a great Popish party) men of no rank and quality whose mouths are full of scoffes and hands full of blond, unworthy and base Cavaliers ; . . . what meaneth the countenancing and maintaining those vermine and of-scouringe of the Land, but that troublous times are at hand ? certainly the kingdom cannot vomit out these frogs or quit it selfe of these Locusts without much adoe. Thus also he awakened the alarms of his hearers, and, like too many of his brethren, was one of those prophets who helped to create the misery that they foresaw and appeared to deplore. Affect not a life of ease and delicacy ; could wee now use our selves to hardnesse, wee should the better endure troublous times : .... Good Christians consider, how will you be able to runne before a bloudy Cavalier without stockings and shooes for tenne, twenty, or thirtie miles together to save your lives, if you use now your feete to that nicenesse, that you can scarce endure to tread upon a stone ? how will you bee able to make the field your bed, or a stone your Pillow, if that you do not now use yourselves to hard lodgings ? I pity most of you who now put your heads in a bagge and must have hoodes for your faces, and what not for bravery and pleasure ; Alas ! should God bring many of you into the condition of your poore sisters in Ireland what would you doe ? How could you endure to be stript of your clothing, to hide yourselves in dennes and caves, to drinke up puddle water, and to make acornes a feast unto you ! O that I could prevail with you, now to inure your-selves unto hardnesse ! .... I thinke God hath made this kingdom the miracle of the world for standing peace, and may he not make it as miraculously miserable by times of trouble ? And what if God should doe so ? Oh ! the misery of England, my heart bleeds to thinke of the greatnesse of that day, as warres and troubles come in ; all outward mercies and comforts would goe out ; the withdrawing of the Sunne makes the night ; the absence of a good temper (temperament) casts the body into weaknesse, and if our peace bee gone, then the high waies will be unoccupied, the traveller 1642 1 JOHN SEDGWICK'S SEBMON. 183 will -walke in bywayes ; Townes will be (un)inhabited, Cities will pe left desolate, and the wayes of Sion will lament, because no man commeth to the solemne feasts, now the Church will be under a cloud, scarcely visible, and Religion will runne inward, as the juice and sap doth into the roote in the times of winter ; now Parents shall be deprived of Children, Children of Parents ; Husbands will be scattered from Wives, and Wives from Husbands, the enemy will sacke, and spoile, rob and slay, ravish and defloure ; nothing shall bee our owne but heavinesse, and distresse ; with Germany we shall bee a field of blond, and with Ireland a spectacle of misery : Oh what mournings will bee in our streetes, and what sadness in our hearts, what blacknesse in our faces, and what desolations in our kingdomes, you may thinke more than I can speake, a sad Tragedie will be acted, Oh that we would feare these troublous times before wee feele them, and that now we would take that course which might prevent the falling downe of this bloudy cloud hanging over our heads.' Then pointing out the authors, in his opinion, of all these expected calamities he draws a contrast between his friends and their adversaries ; and recommends strong measures in fearless language. Brethren learne to cast out the endangering Enemies of our Kingdome, if you shall suffer men of bloud and cruelty, enemies to God and Religion and not doe justice upon them, the kingdom cannot but be ruined. . . . . It is no small crime to be a troubler of Israel ; and here give me leave to acquaint you with y e truth, for I find that you are abused by the false suggestions of some who beare no good will to the Parliament or the welfare of Sion. There are some who are said to bee the troublers of the States of the Church and Kingdome among us, some who are no more guiltye of the charge then holy Elijah was ; it's not those Worthies now assembled in Parliament who seeke to their utmost to preserve God's religion and all your liberties, and estates, that have troubled the state of our times : was it ever knowne that right Protestant English spirits did ever repute their chosen Knights, Burgesses and Citizens, (who are the repairers of their breaches, and the restorers of pathes to dwell in) troublers of Church and state ?- Did you know but the fidelity and Loyalty of their hearts to the King and kingdome, and behold their constant paines and diligence for the good of us and all our posterity, you would blesse God for them, and account (as they doe indeed deserve) worthily of them. There are others who are reall and actuall disturbers and troublers 184 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 of our times, namely, 1. Proud and discontented Prelates, together with, their idle and scandalous followers, whose spirits are swolnq so bigge that they scorning reformation have throwne Peters Keyes into Tibur, and have taken Pauls sword in their hands, setting on that warre in the Land which may truly be called Bellum episco- pale ; 2. Papists and popishly affected persons, who having received the marke of the beast doe seeke to maintaine Idolatry among us, and for their Idols resolve to fight, tanquam pro aris et focis ; be- lieve me that it is the smoake which commeth out of the Pope's Kitching, thats ready to choake the Church, and doth make so many aking hearts and weeping eyes among us, and our Warre is bellum papale. 3. Gruiltie and convicted persons, who having formerly by unjust courses, illegal patents, and other wayes of oppression deceived us in our meates, drinkes and apparell, doe now feare the Sentence and lash of the Law and seeke rather to imbroile the Subjects in war then to yeeld them a just satisfaction. 4. And in a word many endebted and upstart Nobles with other beggarly and discontented Cavaliers ; men without callings and conscience, even birds of prey who flutter up and downe, drinking healths to the Divell and their owne damnation, if they overthrow not the Parlia- ment, and hang up the Roundheads, by whom they meane the truely godly of the Land ; these and the like are the malignant and mo- lesting party, into whose secret, let none of your soules come, with them have no confederacy, nay rather, discover their plots, resist their persons, and according to your protestation joyne with those (who are ready to live and die to doe you and your's good,) to bring them to condigne punishment. . . If you will be safe, be of the true religion ; be with such who have the promise with them : I know that every man wisheth his own and his families safety in these times : Now our safety is by cleaving to the Parliament, not by joyning with the Cavaliers ; the former are men of piety, fidelitie, gravitie, goodnesse, and loyaltie ; the latter a base, swearing whoring, stealing and murderous com- pany, who stinke in all places where they come, being the abomina- tions and burdens of all the Northerne parts ; can you imagine that the safety of you and your posterities is bound up any where then within the walls of the Parliament ? Loose this Parliament, and all is lost, Religion is lost, Liberty lost, Estates lost ; yea, and the glory of England lost. There is not a man and woman among us, but they may doe something for the Churches safety, though we cannot doe alike, yet something we may do ; will our riches and Estates deliver bleeding Churches ? part from that, you honour (God) with your riches, when you lay them out for the Churches securitj-. Will your persons further the salvation of Jacob ? goe out in your might and 1(H2 J MILITARY PREACHERS. 185 help the Lord against the mighty. Have you no Silver or Plate, or bodies that are serviceable ? then helpe the Church with your prayers and tears. Go to God and mind him of his promise : put him to it : give him no rest night nor day till hee establish and till hee make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. O let none of us be Neuters ; let none of us sit still ; let us up and be doing, and no doubt but God will be with us, and for his Churches. 1 Language of this kind, for such we are assured it was, vociferated from their cathedral pulpit, in which Dr. Eogers had recently been advocating the cause of the King, astonished and grieved the citizens of Hereford ; the impression produced upon them, as they themselves will inform us, was that of aver- sion rather than of edification ; and its stings and arrows were remembered with displeasure. It might have been supposed that the regiment, of which John Sedgwick had the pastoral care, was not slack to profit by his teaching, when he laboured with so hearty a zeal in up- holding the principles for which they were hazarding their lives. And yet his doctrines and ministry were not such as they exclusively adhered to. There might be many piously disposed individuals among them, but they had abandoned themselves to the exercise of private judgment, which, however flattering to self-sufficiency, requires the check of a sounder under standing, and the aid of more correct information, than all who lay claim to it can presume to command. His capri- cious military hearers were not content with one chaplain. Besides him they had many gifted comrades, who considered themselves equally competent judges of sound Christian doc- trine ; and could not only criticise whatever he advanced, but believed they could preach and pray as fluently and fervently as he. Some in the parliamentary regiments would prefer the divinity of the corporal, and account him a better expounder of the Word of God than their chaplain. ' The officers of no one company were of the same opinion what religion they fought for.' 2 Thus they contained within them the germ of 1 England's Condition Parralleled with Jacob's, For Troubles, Salvations, Hopes, Laid open in two Sermons lately preached at Marlborough in Wilts, By John Sedgwick, Batchelour in Divinity and Pastor of the Church at Alphage nec-re Cripplegate, London. London : printed by R. B. for Samuel Gellibrand, at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls Church Yard. 1642.— MS. Note of publication, 7. b " 6. 2 Kyrle's Letter, Appendix XIII. [A correspondent of the Earl of Denbigh, ■writing from Bristol, December 19, 1645, states that great offence is taken by the 186 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 that Independency, which afterwards established itself through- out their whole army; when 'Captains and Colonels and Knights in arms,' and even Cromwell himself held forth to military congregations at meetings of gathered churches, — so they termed them, — for preaching and prayer. But now the Pres- byterians were becoming lords of the ascendant. John Sedg- wick, to do him justice, was averse to all sectarian feeling but his own ; he harangued against the numerous denominations of heresy that were arising, and wrote a treatise against the Antinomians, who were greatly on the increase : but he seems to have forgotten that, having himself departed from the estab- lished form of doctrine and discipline to which he had at first agreed, he was not in a position to secure others to his own mode of dissent, whose fickle minds, or what was sometimes miscalled and mistaken for tender consciences,'- would cause them to insist upon the same right that he had claimed, and might carry them to greater lengths than he would think justifiable. The county of Eadnor had obeyed his Majesty's commands, and the Commission of Array had been executed by their sheriff Hugh Lloyd, and their member, Captain Charles Price, whose personal consequence was so great among them, that he was called ' the Prince of Eadnorshire.' 2 These had mustered the trained bands, and secured them for the King ; for which service they had received the wonted censure of the Parliament, and Price had been expelled the House of Commons. At Presteign, the principal town, the Cavaliers had agreed to meet about the end of October to concert measures for the expulsion of the invaders of Hereford. Their scheme, however, was not managed with such secrecy as to conceal it from the Earl of citizens ' at a leiftenant that goes up dayly and preacheth in a skarlet coate w th .silver laee and w lh his sword by his side and delivers very strange things. He alsoe houlds the mortallity of the smile.' — Fourth Report of Historical MSS. Com- mission, 273.] 1 A tender conscience, as the words were understood and applied in those days, was hut a convenient shelter under which all sorts of approaches at innova- tion were made upon legal authority, approved, established usages, and the un- questionable rights of others. The tender part was usually turned to the holder, and the rough to those whom he opposed, and under this mask it would often happen, if what is recorded of many such be true, that those who professedly carried on the cause of liberty and Church reform could show themselves greater tyrants and oppressors than those whom they had overthrown. 2 Stamford's Despatch, November 1. K542] ROYALISTS SURPRISED AT PRESTEIGN. 187 Stamford, who discreetly resolved to take advantage of it. His soldiers were ready for enterprise, and his officers knew how to conduct such an expedition as he meditated. For himself it cannot be denied that, where there was any risk, he was rather a commander than a leader, and in all future operations and under any circumstances preferred to address them with the phrase ' go forward,' rather than ' come on.' In this temper he planned and sent out a party. He selected 40 horse from his two troops, and 20 mounted musketeers as dragoons ; and placed at the head of them Fleming, Kyrle's lieutenant, well acquainted with the town of Presteign, and the country ad- joining. Having left Hereford about three o'clock in the afternoon they reached the scene of their destination about ten at night. The distance was estimated at 15 miles ; and it may be laid down as a general rule in all computations of this kind to be met with in documents of the times, that they may be reduced to the modern standard sufficiently for general purposes, by adding in round numbers about half as much more to the reckoning. The application of this rule will bring the distance to something more than 22 miles, and their rate of marching to rather more than three miles an hour. The friends of the King had assembled in this place of seeming security. Hither had come Lord Herbert of Eaglan, Fitzwilliam Coningsby, and other eminent persons, who being from distant quarters, had dispersed homeward as the evening drew on. Several, however, remained in close consultation or festive intercourse, unconscious at that hour of the evil that was about to befal them ; for war had not as yet produced habits of vigilance ; when on a sudden they were surprised by the appearance of one whom they sup- posed to be a royalist officer of horse. After brief salutation and the exchange of a few sentences, he produced his pistols, and made as though he would discharge them at the end of his march. But no sooner had he fired one of them than a tumult arose in the town, the clamour of voices and the roar of mus- ketry were heard ; and the royalist council taking the alarm attempted in vain to escape ; while Fleming, who had thrown off the mask, with his other pistol secured the door of the chamber and the head of the stairs, and five of his horsemen guarded the gate. It was then found that the place was in possession of the Earl of Stamford's men, after a slight skirmish at the main guard, where three Welshmen had fallen, and the 188 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 rest had saved themselves by flight. The captors sustained no loss ; but several prisoners of note and some arms fell into their hands. They took Charles Price, the expelled member, one of the numerous Eoman Catholic family of the Wigmores, two brothers, Eodrigo and Captain John Gwyn, — Pattye, a gentle- man attached to the service of the Marquess of Hertford, and Francis Eiccards, clerk of the peace, in whose house, it appears, they had assembled. All these they tied together and brought to head quarters, according to the usual practice of war, at the tails of their horses, to the great joy of the Earl, who hastened to send up intelligence of this success to London, and received the thanks of the House of Lords for his zeal and acceptable service. There were at least two places of confinement in Hereford, the gaols of the city and county. The former was in the Bye- street gate, and the latter stood upon the site of the present Shire-Hall and Courts of Justice. The Bishop had also of old a prison somewhere within the precincts of his palace; 1 this was still in existence and under the charge of his porter. By a peculiar and popular act of grace, adapted to the most dis- orderly times, the Earl had on his coming set free all whom he found shut up, whether debtors, felons or political offenders : and had substituted in their room such Eoman Catholics and others as he thought unfit to be at large. He was now doubly anxious to secure the Eoyalists brought in from Presteign, and requested instructions how he might best dispose of them beyond the risk of escape through connivance or rescue. He was accordingly directed to send them to .prison at Gloucester, there to continue during the pleasure of the Houses. 2 Eiccards was placed in custody at Coventry, and recovered his liberty by petition at the latter end of February ensuing. 3 At the time of his capture he had in his official keeping a quantity of records relating to the counties of Glamorgan, Brecon and Radnor, a horse-load of which had been carried off from his house. The 1 Rees {Hereford. Guide, 48) says it -was within the Palace walls. [And it appears that the Bishop's porter was accustomed to charge xiic?. a night for a bed in it. — S. P. 1. xcrii. 355. — A similar but far less endurable place of confinement was connected with the Episcopal palace at Ross: for a notice of which see Ap- pendix XI.] 2 L.J. Not. 16. 3 L. J. Jan. 9, Feb. 24. 1642] DOCUMENTS ABSTRACTED AND RESTORED. 189 removal of these to Hereford having put them in jeopardy, and interfered with a variety of legal proceedings, Thomas Ken, 1 one of the clerks of the House of Peers, and clerk also of the great Assizes to the counties ahove-mentioned, petitioned and ohtained an order upon the Earl of Stamford for the restoration of these documents. For, though on the verge of confusion, things were still in that intermediate state, in which the machinery of legal forms and the administration of justice were not brought to a total stand. 1 [The father of Bishop Ken.] 190 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 CHAPTER IX. Marquess of Hertford's levies in South Wales — Opposition in Pembrokeshire — Parliamentarians apply in vain to Stamford — His position in Hereford becomes difficult — Country people oppressed — Gwithin carried prisoner to Raglan Castle — Romanists in both armies — Earl of Newcastle's declaration — Stam- ford writes to Lord Herbert : his reply — Parliament offended by it — Plunder- ing by parties from Raglan — Sufferers petition Stamford — Harold's Ewyas described — Surprise and dispersion of Royalists there by Kyrle — Failure of County Meeting and leTy of dragoons — Battle of Brentford — Its unfortunate effect — The King addresses the "Welsh there — Perjury of Roundhead prisoners — Royalists advance towards Hereford — Correspondence of Lawdey and Ferrar — Motives of the latter in refusing a bribe — Stamford's difficulties increase : his situation becomes critical — Garrison recalled from Goodrich Castle, after plundering the Vicar for the last time — Commission prepared for Stamford — He withdraws from Hereford to Gloucester, and proceeds to the West — Ma«sey left in charge of Gloucester — His soldiers plunder the Bishop's country house — Lawdey occupies Hereford — Retaliation on Parliamentarians — Canon Frome plundered — Marquess of Hertford arrives in Hereford — His disagreement with Lord Herbert — The King retires to Oxford — He nominates High Sheriffs : Fitzwilliam Coningsby for Herefordshire — Account of his family, and the house at Hampton Court — Coningsby of South Mims im- prisoned and fined — Fitzwilliam Coningsby made Governor of Hereford. The Marquess of Hertford, in fulfilment of his duty as Lieu- tenant-General of South Wales, proceeded in his work of raising the counties of which that half of the principality is composed, and all were obedient to his summons, except Pembrokeshire. 1 He had called upon them to muster on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the town of Caermarthen ; but a party in this westernmost county was formed in opposition to him, headed by three persons named Phillips, Swens and Wogan, 2 who on the day appointed, instead of obeying the order, garrisoned the towns 1 Pembrokeshire was the most disaffected county in Wales, which was attri- buted (Merc. Aid. July 18, 1644) to the difference between certain of the popula- tion sprung from a colony of the Flemings, and the ancient Welsh. 2 Phillips of Picton Castle. Wogan of Whiston. [The other name in L. J. may possibly be intended for Owens.] 16 *2] STAMFOED'S DIFFICULTIES. 191 of Haverfordwest, Tenby and Pembroke, and sent a private messenger to the Earl of Stamford for assistance. Their de- spatch, penned by the bearer upon their own instructions, omitted all mention of their rank or pretensions among their countrymen, but it stated their affection to the Parliament, and the measures they had adopted ; and pointed out to him the difficulty into which they could draw the enemy in that nook of land which they occupied at the extremity of "Wales. Unaided they could hold out but for a short time ; but with a reinforcement of 2,000 foot and 300 horse they reckoned confi- dently upon driving the Eoyalists into England. They, how- ever, reminded him of the consequences of a failure ; and that if the Marquess of Hertford should subdue them, the whole of that part of Wales would be reduced, and his own situation at Hereford rendered insecure. But they asked help of one, who himself was well-nigh helpless. He could do no more than forward their application to Bristol and London, instructing the people of Bristol to send some ships to their coast, and entreating the Parliament to issue their commands for the execution of this plan. 1 Neither in money, men, nor warlike munition was he able to furnish any assistance. He had difficulty enough in maintaining his own ground. Powder and match began to be scarce ; and his men felt the want of regular pay. Meanwhile he had received intimations and threats that his treatment of the prisoners of Presteign would meet with a return, such as, whatever he might affect, he knew ought not to be despised. Mutual vexation went on ; and the Eoyalists imprisoned many persons in Monmouth and Eaglan ; 2 for now the dungeons of castles were to be restored to their ancient use, and to be occu- pied by captives during the progress of hostilities. The severities exercised upon other families, besides that of the vicar of Goodrich, might have been prompted by the injuries that Lord Herbert's soldiers had from the first inflicted upon the householders who opposed them ; and their behaviour still furnished the Governor of Hereford with ground of complaint, and pretext for retaliation. Here, as elsewhere, it little mat- tered now who first began. Which of the contending parties 1 L. J. Nov. 10. * Eaglan -was not however regularly and permanently garrisoned till after Bristol had been secured to the Parliament early in the winter of 1642. Walter Powell's MS. Diary. 192 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 did not exercise in turn severity upon the distracted country people ? Communication -with an enemy, supplies granted, or favourable opinions expressed towards him, provoked arrest, imprisonment or plunder. Some such favour shown, some resistance to their demands, or abuse of their cause and persons, if not a graver reason, had prompted Herbert's men to lay hands upon one Grwithin (or Grwithian), who was taken out of his bed by a party of horse, and carried off to Raglan. Grwithin himself asserted that the sole reason of his being made prisoner was because he was a Protestant : they who took him insisted that he had been guilty of treason, and should be brought to trial. When the royal levies were first forming, his Majesty had taken the precaution to exclude Roman Catholics from entering into his service. Yet the Parliament had openly charged him with encouraging them, and he for a time had as openly re- butted the charge. But when through his multiplied dilemmas he discovered what he thought to be the impolicy or impossi- bility of excluding them, he gave way ; and wrote to the Mar- quess of Newcastle, in whose northern army they abounded, that he should reject the services of none who offered themselves; and when the Parliament, who were not exactly scrupulous on this point, repeatedly held up the popular and convenient com- plaint, the Marquess after a time put forth this challenge of inconsistency against them : Let the muster rolls of that army which is named from the parliament be perused ; and then it shall appeare plainly, that the managers of that army do exactly and distinctly know, that they now have, and for many months have had under their pay, both English, French, and other nations, whom at the time of their enrolment, and ever since, they did know to have been professed Papists. 1 1 Declaration of the Earl of Newcastle, 5 et seq. printed by "W. "Webb, 1613. Clarendon says that the King did not employ many Roman Catholics in the army under his command, but that the Earl of Newcastle did. See Warwick, Memoires, 265. [Secretary Nicholas writes to the Marquess of Ormond (Aug. 1, 1643), 'It is most certain truth, that at this instant they (the Parliament) have a troop of "Wallons that serve them, who are all Papists, and have priests with them that say masse to them wheresoever they go. This is a real truth.' "Whatever may be thought of some part of this assertion, the existence of such a troop seems unquestionable. They were commanded by Major-General Behr. Salmonet speaks of two companies of "Walloons and other Roman Catholics : and asserts that they omitted no endeavours to gain over Sir Arthur Aston. Neal states that there were Papists among Cromwell's officers.] 1642] HERBERT'S REPLY TO STAMFORD. 193 The fact, however, of his being opposed to a body of troops raised by a Eoman Catholic nobleman gave Lord Stamford in this instance a seeming advantage of which he instantly availed himself. Informed of what had happened to Grwithin, he interfered in his favour by addressing a letter to Lord Herbert, in which, taking the prisoner's plea as the real ground of his arrest, in the style of his own chaplain, he tauntingly told his Lordship this was a Papal war. Herbert's reply, the only part of the correspondence preserved, is temperate, and contains a mere denial of the truth of the assertion, since Eoman Catholics were employed on either hand. The King in a late manifesto had asserted the same ; and he knew that if the measure were unpopular or unconstitutional, the fault did not attach to him alone. My Lord, Tour Letter in the Behalf of one Qwithin, justly arrested of Treason, mentions a War between the Protestants and Papists in England, which I understand not, finding that both are received on both Sides : The Quarrel (God knows) is otherwise ; our lawful Prince requires due Obedience to the just Laws of his Kingdom ; and if your Lordship follows the Way to resist it, that cannot release mine Allegiance, which Ghvithin'ts Trial by the known Laws shall confirm ; and, when I may see those flourish with your good Liking, I stile myself, My Lord, Your most affectionate Cousin and Servant Edw. Herbert. Bagland the 6th of November, 1642. For the Right Honourable the Earl of Stamford, These, at Hereford. The House of Lords were offended at the assertion that any should have been admitted into their service, whom because of their religious principles they could not countenance; by a resolution they referred it to a committee of the Lords and Commons to clear the imputation laid upon both Houses of Parliament in a Declaration of his Majesty, and in this objec- tionable letter; and an answer was to be prepared. 1 Their newsbook reporters, however, carried out this matter still further. In his letter ' the Earle of Worcester's sonne .... 1 L. J. Nov. 14. VOL. I. ° 194 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 taxeth the Parliament with the entertaining of Papists, and saith that there is more Papists in their army than in the Kings .... which aspersion by all probahilitie was at first raised by the said Lord.' ' It is due to Herbert's sense of justice or to his forbearance to add that the obscure individual who gave rise to this discussion obtained his release ; but such was the strictness of Stamford, that not one of those who had been forced by him to quit their homes in Hereford, according to his own showing, ventured as yet to return. 2 Herefordshire felt every day more and more heavily how disastrous is the pressure of ill-fed, unpaid, unrestrained soldiers in actual war- fare. During the first fortnight in November the troops on the Monmouthshire border augmenting their numbers, and drawing up towards the invaders for observation, attack, or cutting off their resources, had shown themselves in foraging and reconnoitring parties along the course of the river Worm, working their way into places seldom visited by strangers, and where they were most unwelcome. Among scattered or solitary dwellings the appearance of such rapacious visitants was viewed with terror. Thus they vexed Kilpeek, out of whose retired castle came of old the Champions of England under the Norman kings, 3 before their sword and gauntlet descended to the Marmions, and from them to the Dymocks, with whom their office now remains ; — Kilpeek, whose church, a beautiful relic of the taste and piety of the earlier owners of that lordship, survives their warlike mansion and their names, and is still the admiration of travellers, still devoted, as it was originally dedi- cated, to the mysteries of religion and the teaching of things eternal. Thus they penetrated still further towards Hereford, to Aeon bury, in the hundred of Wormelow, where amidst lonely woods that have enriched the banks from the days, at least, of King John — some there are at hand that have not lost the appellation of the ancient British chieftain Elystan 4 — stood the 1 Continuation of certain speciall and remarkable Passages, No. 19, Monday, Nov. 14. 2 Stamfords Despatch, Not. 12. * This is the statement of Camden, i. 686. [See an interesting account of the Champions of England, by the Rev. J. "Webb, in Archasologia, xx. 207.] 4 [Aylston "Wood, a large wood on the S. of Aconbury Hill. The same name appears at Aylston Hill, close to Hereford. Elystan Grlodrydd, who was head of one of the Royal Tribes of Wales, is said to have derived his appellation from his godfather the Saxon King Athelstan.] 1642] PETITION TO STAMFORD. 195 vestiges of that priory, the last of whose heads was a daughter of the family of Scudamore ; to these, and other such remote places the lawless, armed bands of Raglan had penetrated, and left by pillage and exactions an unfavourable impression behind them. There is little doubt, however, that in these visits they went principally in quest of those who favoured the garrison of Hereford. A few of the clergy and inhabitants, who had suffered and fled from them, addressed a petition to the Earl of Stam- ford, which as justifying his proceedings and strengthening the outcry against the Papists, he transmitted to the House of Lords. 1 To the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Stamford, Governor of the City of Hereford. The woeful Complaint and humble Petition of divers well affected to the King and Parliament in that evil evil (sic) affected Country ; Humbly shewing, That, since the Beginning of this present Month of November, we whose Names are subscribed, and some others, have been con- strained to flee, with our Wives and Children, for our Lives and Safety, from our Habitations and Estates, and have had our Houses rifled of all our Goods and Stuff, our Cattle driven away, our Corn and Grain threshed and carried from us, by the barbarous Cavaliers of the Welsh Parts, who are under the Command of a dangerous Papist, the Lord Herbert, Son and Heir to the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Worcester ; so that many of us are wholly deprived of all present Maintenance ; wherefore we commend our miserable Condition to your Honour's pious Consideration, and rest, Tour Honour's in all Observance, Ric'd Dew Gent. Wm Newport, Minister of Render Tho. Thompson. Church. Tho. Gwithain, who was carried Jo. Ttrer, Minister of Comebury. Prisoner to Ragland for no Martyn Husbands, Gent, other cause, as is conceived, Tho. Rawlings, Gent. but for being a Protestant. Jo. Saise, Gent. Ric'd Greeneleafe. James Perrin. Tho. Husbands. Tho. Price. Roger Prichabd. The internal evidence of the document, and some of the signatures, stamp it as the production of parliamentary ad- ■ L. J. Nov. 21. n 0. 196 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 herents ; and their being such, considering the vindictive spirit of the hour, accounts for, though it could not justify the authors of the maltreatment they had endured. After all, however, these sufferings must be taken as exceptions to the general case, for we have undoubted proof from Stamford's own repeated confession that this evil-affected county, as a whole, was devoted to his adversaries. They who set their faces against the Eoyalists were few in number, and fewer still were the friends who complained of them. The place from which some of these tormentors of the peti- tioners had issued, and where they had fixed their quarters, was Harold's Ewyas (or Ewyas Harold) a village embosomed in one of those beautiful valleys, that on the south-western edge of the county are drawn out obliquely from the tract at the base of the Hatrel Hills. Camden's graphic description of the adjoining, but more expanded vale of Dore, is in many respects not inapplicable to that of Dulas : ' The hills that encompass it on both sides, are cloathed with woods ; under the woods lie cornfields on each hand ; and under those fields lovely and fruitful meadows. In the middle, between them, glides a clear and crystal river.' l This territory is in truth a land of brooks, green pastures, and wooded slopes. Dulas coming down from the west, and joined here by another rivulet, falls into Worm, which has just received Dore, and bears them all away into Monnow, a little below Pontrilas. The neighbourhood is inte- resting to the antiquary as well as to the lover of picturesque beauty, for it is graced by the vestiges of an abbey and border castle. Harold, a Saxon, was lord of Ewyas at the time of the Conquest, and the remains of the fortress once inhabited by him and his descendants, but long fallen to decay, were visible upon a lofty summit at the end of the village. The place itself, containing many houses, was large enough to hold a considerable body of men, ;md was advantageous as a post of occupation or observation, being within twelve (modern) miles of Hereford. A road, tinning out of the highway between that city and Abergavenny, divided itself into two branches, — one leading to Longtown, and across the Black Mountain to the nuns of Llanthony Abbey ; .the other over the wild uplands, Maescoed, Vagor and Cusop, at the base of the Black Mountains, towards the town of Hay. 1 Camden, Britannia, i. 686. 1642] SKIRMISH AT HAROLD'S EWYAS. 197 Late on the evening of November 12 the Earl of Stamford called a council of war upon advice that 350 foot of the enemy were posted within five miles of the city ; and it was resolved that a party commanded by Kyrle should be sent to surprise them. After this he sat down and penned a despatch in which he hinted at his design, and enclosed Lord Herbert's letter. He magnified his services in having with so small a force kept possession of so important a city, and silenced a host of malig- nants so effectually that the wavering had turned to his side, and the obstinate been forced to hide their heads. He had called a county meeting for the following Tuesday to try the affections of the gentry and freeholders, and ascertain what assistance might be expected from them ; he promised to report their proceedings ; and, as if he had not already more men than he could provide for, he announced a project of raising 500 dragoons, by which he hoped to render himself more useful, and personally to be more secure. The expedition, having gone out further than had been contemplated, returned without the loss of a man, but also without bringing in a single prisoner. The Eoyalists intended as near an approach as had been reported ; but the information proved merely a lure to draw Kyrle and his party to a greater distance. When they reached the place that had been pointed out, and where they thought to have surprised these new-raised soldiers in the negligence or habitual repose of a Sabbath morning, they found that they had been deceived ; but learning that they were at Harold's Ewyas, and being keen from their late success, they were unwilling to return without an attempt to dislodge them. If the Cavaliers had not been thoroughly prepared to receive them, it would not have been the fault of the country people, who showed great goodwill and alacrity in giving warning of their approach. Arrived at the scene of action, the commander, with his lieutenant and three privates, advancing before the rest found six Raglan soldiers at the en- trance of the village. The challenge and reply usual at such meetings was sharply given and returned. ' Who are you for ? ' they cried: ' For the King ; and the plague take the Parliament.' Both sides then fired ; and, as we are told, all the Welshmen fell, while not one of their assailants was wounded. This was succeeded by a rush of the whole party into the place, where they killed 15 men, the rest escaping to the nearest hilly 198 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1642 ground. As Kyrle and his officers might reasonably expect some ambush, they checked all pursuit ; and having contented themselves with sounding a defiance to them to come down, and hanging upon a tree the body of one of the slain, who had rendered himself odious to the villagers by wrong and robbery, they marched back to their city quarters. Should there have been any misrepresentation in this account, it cannot now be corrected, were it of consequence ; for all tradition of the fact is lost upon the spot where it occurred ; though it might have been sufficiently memorable for the first blood known to have been shed in Herefordshire by combatants during this un- natural war. 1 Tuesday, November 15, the day of the appointed meeting, came and passed away. On the day following the Earl wrote an account of this skirmish, and repeated his expectation of having 500 dragoons under his orders in the course of a week ; but not one word of the gentry and freeholders : it were better to be silent than to say what would be unacceptable : his scheme on that point had been as much a failure as his attempt to keep back the forces of Lord Herbert. But now the wide-spreading calamities of war, neither confined to petty bickerings in remoter parts, nor ended by the blow at Keinton, approached so close to the metropolis as to make it shudder at the near discharge of cannon, and the spectacle of the wounded. Never since that hour, during all the convulsions that in the interval have agitated Europe and disturbed so many cities, has a battle been actually fought by Englishmen so near to the capital of their country. May that dread Power, with whom is the disposal of empires, grant that no harsher sound be heard around her walls than those which arise from the strivings of commerce — the daily roll of intercourse — the nightly hum of peace. On the 15th of November was fought the battle of Brent- ford, than which nothing could have been more unfortunate to the two parties in the eye of a lover of peace ; since it rent asunder an apparently approaching reconciliation between the King and the Houses. The blame of this has been also laid upon Rupert, who, as a soldier, might have deemed that in attacking, while as yet there was no cessation of arms, he was 1 [This skirmish is doubtless referred to in the following entry in the Diary of Walter Powell, — ' 13 Novemb r the men slaine at Pontrylas,' — an adjacent hamlet.] 16 *2] BATTLE OF BRENTFORD. 199 taking no more than an allowable advantage. Be this as it may, it dispirited the hopes of the moderate ; and as it oc- casioned the parliamentary part of the city of London to exert increased energy, it only rendered all of them more confident and implacable than before. Here the Welsh were again engaged; and the King reminded them of their recent be- haviour. It was midnight when their regiments, — those of North "Wales, under the command of Sir Thomas Salesbury of Lleweny in Denbighshire, 1 — marched over Hounslow heath before him. An eye-witness has described him minutely on that occasion, attended by horse and foot, sitting on his charger, his sword by his side, and addressing them as they passed in few, but poignant words, ' Gentlemen, you lost your honour at Edge Hill ; I hope you will regain it again here.' 8 Stung by the merited reproof, they hastened to mingle in the fray, and that night, where they fought by the river-side, being better armed, they did good service. The battle in some parts was so closely joined, that it was as Lilburne said, 3 ' almost to handy-gripes, and to the sword-point, and to the but-end of our muskets ; ' seven hundred men for a long time resisted the efforts of the King's whole army ; the regiment of Holies, consisting chiefly of butchers and dyers, shattered in the last fight, was almost annihilated : those of Hampden and Lord Brooke — the former had come up at Edge Hill too late to be engaged — behaved with great bravery ; they stood up for several hours against the efforts of a superior force till they were all but surrounded. Of the many prisoners taken by the Boyalists, such as refused to bear arms for his Majesty were dismissed upon an oath never more to serve against him. Yet when the Parliament wanted men, certain of their divines are said to have remedied the defect by declaring publicly that it could be no sin in them to break that engagement ; and they did so. We need not seek to be acquainted with the argu- ments by which such teachers k made the worse appear the better reason.' Those soldiers were under no duress, so as to have been compelled to take the oath : and they were bound 1 Lloyd, 661. [He says the arming of his men cost the family 2,00. Rudyerd added to their number.] 2 July 12. 1643] PLACARDS IN LONDON. % 311 Cavaliers in disguise, and without weapons to avoid suspicion, were observed walking about London and the suburbs inspect- ing the fortifications. Among the placards that appeared upon the walls are two betokening perplexity and agitation : All sorts of well-affected persons, who desire a speedy End of this Destructive Warre ; are intreated to meete at Marchant-Taylers- Mall to Morrow ; being Wednesday the 19. of July, 1643. At any hour of the day, from 4 of the Clock in the Morning, till 8. in the Evening, there to heare, and subscribe a Petition to the Parliament (to which Thousands have already subscribed) for raising the whole People of the Land as one Man, against those Popish-blood-thirsty Forces raised, to Enslave, and Destroy Us, and our Posterity. The Wednesday above mentioned, is the Last, and onely day appointed to Compleat the Petition. Wherefore all Gentlemen that have any Copies thereof in their hands, are Desired to bring them in, at the Time and Place above said. All that wish well to the safety of this Kingdome, in this Citie of London, and parts adjacent, which did not appeare on Tuesday last, are desired to meet at Grocer's Hall to morrow, being Thursday the 20. of this instant July, between the houres of eight in the morning, and eight at night (to which place a Committe of the House of Commons doe purposely adjourne) to receive such Propositions as concerne Sir William Waller, the present state of the Western parts, and welfare of the whole Kingdome. Shew this to your Friends. If it be stuck up, let none presume to pull it downe. 1 The King's marching army was at length to be put in motion, and upon mature deliberation was directed towards Bristol. Having formed an union with the victorious forces under the Marquess of Hertford and Prince Maurice they sat down before the place. 2 On the following day Eupert arrived, and after a general council of war issued orders for an assault 1 King's Pamphlets, No. 118.— To these may be added, though of an earlier date, the following, — It is desired by the Clerks and Gentlemen belonging to the Members of both Houses of Parliament, That all Clerks belonging to any of the Inns of Court, Chancery, Guildhall, Civil Law, Custome house, Justices of the Peace, or any Office in and about London, would be pleased to meet them on Thursday next by Seven of the Clock in the Morning, at the Piatze in Coven- Garden, with Spades, Shovels, Pickaxes and other necessaries fit for the Digging of the Trenches, &c. Dated at Westminster the sixt of June. 1643. 2 July 24. 314 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 arms were roving abroad. The time was come that Brampton Bryan Castle, inviolate from the beginning of the troubles, and affording an asylum to Parliamentarians in the heart of a loyalist county, should be seriously attempted. It had not remained altogether unnoticed, having received and rejected summons of surrender from the Marquess of Hertford, and Coningsby, and, it is said, from others ; but its present cir- cumstances exposed it more than ever. There was no friendly power within reach that could hold out a helping hand in case of distress. Neither Brereton nor Middleton from the north- ward, nor Massey from Gloucester could come to their relief. Hemmed in by enemies on all sides, in Shropshire, Eadnorshire, and their own county, they stood unprotected and alone. They had, however, need to look well to themselves ; for a royalist force was coming against them estimated at 4,000 men. Accounts disagree as to the condition of the garrison ; while some affirm that it consisted of regularly trained soldiers, others, that it was composed only of tenants, domestics and partisans who fled thither for protection. The probability is, that it was made up both of regulars and irregulars, but they seem not to have had any experienced officer at their head, Lady Harley being sole castellan and prime defender, — true scion of a military stock, a woman of rare resolution, fit to command, and to ensure obedience. Several females of rank, chiefly Eoyalists, distinguished themselves by refusal to sur- render, or by defending the houses of their absent lords in these troublous times. 1 Brilliana Harley appears to have been inferior to none of them. It has been already related to whom she owed her birth. Edward, Viscount Conway, whom Lord Scudamore delighted to call his friend, was universally admitted to have been one of the greatest men of that age both in camp and state, — her mother, a Tracy of Toddington, in Gloucester- shire, was by a sister's marriage connected with that renowned general Sir Horatio Vere, whose noble intercourse and favour Sir Eobert Harley had himself enjoyed. She had the entire 1 Blanche, Lady Arundel, daughter of the Marquess of Worcester, defended the Castle of Wardour with a few men against Sir Edmund Hungerford and Col. Ludlow in May, 1643, during the absence of her husband at Oxford. The lady of Sir John Wintour maintained his house against the summons of Massey ; Corfe Castle was defended by Lady Bankes ; and above all the renowned Countess of Derby baffled the assaults of Fairfax and Rigby at Latham House till the siege was raised. LADY BRILLIANA HARLEY. FROM A PORTRAIT IN THE POSSESSION OFTHE R T HON LORD RODNEY. 1643 1 LADY BEILLIANA HARLEY. 315 benefit of whatever advantages could be drawn from converse like this, born while her parent was Governor of the Brill in Holland, from which she drew her name ; and doubtless accus- tomed in her earliest days to tales of martial valour, sights and sounds of war. She had been married nearly 20 years, and her elder son was in arms, but serving at a distance ; three of her younger children were with her in the castle. To the character of this lady, whose name should never be extinct among us not only so long as there is a Harley, but while there is a wife or mother among us to record her praise, it is difficult to do adequate justice. In whatever light many may view the bias of her religious or political sentiments, it is unquestionable that in her private life she was as exemplary as she became distinguished in the public part that she took in the local transactions of this eventful period. Her creed was that of Calvin, and with the puritan teachers of that school she looked upon Episcopacy as an institution to be done away ; and in this and all other matters she followed implicitly the opinions of her husband : but the severity of her principles was in all this tempered by feminine gentleness. The cause in which her family was engaged, she concluded to be that before which everything must give way, considering that it was the cause of Grod : she was an enthusiastic admirer of all the proceedings of the legislative body in which her husband acted so conspicuous a part, pitied and prayed for the King, applauded the expulsion of the Bishops from the House of Lords, and dreamed of glorious changes yet to come. In her letters still extant, which she addressed to her eldest son Edward, at first a youth at the University of Oxford and afterwards a parliamentary officer, whom 'she loved with an affection that bordered on fondness, she has left a full-drawn portrait of her mind and heart ; and in many respects they are inferior to none that have ever been published. 1 Among a thousand anxious cares for his welfare she strove to fortify him against the evident approach of evil days ; and when his father sent for him from Oxfoid to be present at the scenes then acting in London, from him she obtained information, and in return communicated her domestic and country news. This correspondence is most expressive of her piety and resolution of obedience; but during the increase of civil strife and hatred, her situation was such as 1 [For some additional remarks on this subject see Appendix XV.] 316 THE OIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 should have entitled her to compassion. She could not conceal from herself the danger and loneliness of her position. Sir Eohert Harley was far away at London, in the Parliament, promoting or seconding such measures as would tend to diminish the authority of the royal Commissioners in the county : her eldest son, the delight of her eyes, was afar off ; he had entered into a regiment of horse under Sir A. Hesilrige, and in one of that leader's unfortunate encounters had received a wound. Shut up with the rest of her children and such servants as were personally attached to her within the walls of her strong habitation, she lived in growing dread of opening her doors, and suspicion of those who dwelt around her. Were tenants and servants to be depended upon, those with whom the family had been connected by mutual acts of friendship and alliance turned the cold look upon her, if they noticed her at all : so sad are the effects of civil animosity that chills the heart of social charities, and separates chief friends. A greater instance of solitude surrounded by enemies cannot be readily conceived. Her neighbours and those of her own rank in society with whom she had had pleasant and cheerful intercourse, pledged to the other side, had gradually deserted her. Croft Castle, hard by, had been the abode of one whose friendship had gone hand in hand with the Harleys ; and to Sir William Croft she seems at first to have looked for some countenance. Their long inter- course and his gentlemanly feelings must have tasked him severely. He made an effort to call upon her, but his manner was cold, and stung her to the quick. In one of her letters she touchingly expresses her mortification at the change. ' I neuer hard of a man so changed as they say S r William Croft is. He gaue me a slight visit .... he neuer asked how your father did.' ' No : for Sir William had become the active Commissioner for raising and maintaining a force for the defence of the King : Sir Eobert was doing all he could to oppose him : they had become mortal antagonists, and were to be friends and companions no more. Edward Harley had been a great favourite with Croft; the youth was much attached to him. When Mr. Weaver the member for Hereford died in May, 1642, the fond wishes of a mother inclined her to solicit votes for her son : Sir William was applied to, but declined to interfere. Sir Eobert and his son, after they had accompanied 1 Letters of Lady S. Harley, Camden Society, 173. 1643] SIEGE OF BRAMPTON BRYAN CASTLE. 317 the Earl of Stamford on his incursion into Herefordshire, returned to London, and it is doubtful whether they ever saw Lady Brilliana or the Castle of Brampton again. It is believed that no detailed relation exists of this locally celebrated siege ; — that none was ever given by the Cavaliers, for it was on their part a failure, — none by the London Par- liamentarians, who were too much occupied in consulting for their own safety to allow it any more than a casual notice in their printed news. A few particulars are collected from scattered sources. As far back as July, 1642, threats had reached her during the calling out of the militia. In December she received a message from her chivalrous enemy the Marquess of Hertford, to the effect that she need not fear him, as he was going away, but cautioning her to fear him that came after him, meaning probably Lord Herbert. Her son had then left her for the last time, and her position was truly desolate. My comfort is that you are not -with, me, least they should take you ; but I doo most dearly mis you. I wisch, if it pleased God, that I weare with your father (Dec. 13). . . . My deare Ned, I pray you. aduis with your father wheather he thinkes it best that I should put away most of the men that are in my howes, and whea- ther it be best for me to goo from Brompton, or by Gods healp to stand it out. I will be willing to doo what he would haue me doo. I neuer was in such sorrows, as I haue bine sence you left me ; but I hope the Lord will deleuer me ; but they are most cruely beent against me (Dec. 25, 1642). In February Lord Herbert designed an assault from the Eadnorshire side, but was diverted to the neighbourhood of Gloucester. March 1 , she writes about the bringing of water into the moat, or perhaps for domestic supply, which was effected to her great satisfaction ' quite into the greene court ' before the end of May. Shortly after she received a hostile summons, from whom it does not appear. In June Massey sent her an able soldier to take the command nominally exer- cised by one of her sons. The danger was daily drawing closer around her, for Sir W. Vavasour, newly appointed by Prince Eupert Governor in those parts, found it necessary to his credit and influence with the Eoyalists to attempt the extirpation of this stronghold. He writes to the Prince from Presteign, July 26 : 318 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 I found that I had henn lost in the opinione of thease Coun- tyes, neither should I gett half the contributions promisd mee, unles I made an attempt upon Bromton Castle, S r Robert Herloes Howse, w ch I have ventured upon, it is a stronge place, but I am lodged very neare itt (three pikes lengths from the portes) I haue been disapointed of ordnance for the present, but shall I hope sudenly be provided, for I want onely Cariadges, but this will ingage mee the longer before it. Thus the capture of Brampton Bryan was resolved upon : but before proceeding to extremity the Royalist would fain have recourse to courtesy rather than force. He summoned the lady to surrender, and was admitted to a parley within the walls ; what passed in the interview that was held in the base court between them is now unknown ; but the lady refused the summons, and the Cavaliers had recourse to arms. The anonymous author of the lives of the incumbents of Brampton Bryan relates that on the day and at the time of their approach (July 25), she, with her children, was actually engaged ' in Prayer and Humiliation for the Mercy of God to avert the dreadfull Judgments then Justly feared.' ' Her gar- rison was composed of about 100 men completely armed. They had only two drakes mounted upon the walls ; but there was ample store of bullet, powder, and other requisites for two months. The investment began on the 26th of July, the morrow after Bristol had yielded ; and on the 27th Lord Molyneux, who had been raising men for his Majesty, appeared at the head of several troops of horse, with foot and battering cannon proportionable for a siege, and his formidable array and preparations had been sufficient to overpower a less resolute mind. Their first exploit might show how little was to be expected from their generosity or humanity. For as they passed through the street of Brampton Bryan there met them a poor blind man, whom without provocation they murdered, and thereby merited the failure of their enterprise. From a letter of Vavasour's to Prince Rupert we find that on August 6 or 7 he drew off with 1,200 foot and near 300 horse to the neighbourhood of Gloucester, but left forces enough to continue the siege ; these, as it appears from the only letter which Lady Brilliana was able to send during this period of straitness, were placed under the command of Colonel Lingen. Seven weeks they lay around the walls, and exhausted all their resources of force or art in ' Speciall Passages, Aug. 2. 1643 J SIEGE OF BRAMPTON BRYAN CASTLE. , 319 endeavouring to reduce it. But they were met by corre- sponding address and vigour. Collins says that they were * after many attacks obliged to raise the siege, meerly through her skilful management of treaties with the adversaries, and exemplary courage which animated the defendants : ' but another statement attributes the abandonment of it to their being commanded away to reinforce the King's army engaged in a more important siege — that of Gloucester. The application of poison to water or weapons, unbefitting even the hostilities of pagans, has surely been oftener surmised than proved ; and it is to be hoped that such an atrocity imputed in this instance to the Cavaliers had its origin only in vulgar suspicion. The cook in the Castle, was, however, thought to have been shot ' by a poisoned bullet, which murdered him with great torment, and noisomeness to the whole family ; ' and the same authority assures us that ' a running spring that furnished the town was poisoned at the fountain.' While the foragers went round among the farms and hamlets, the goods and persons of the tenants and others attached to the domains of Wigmore and Brampton Bryan Castles, excepting such as had found shelter in the latter, could be in no wise secure. That great spoil was made in these parts may be concluded from the losses of the principal sufferer now and some time before. Sir Robert Harley had a flock of 800 excellent sheep, 30 fine cows, oxen, and other cattle in proportion, together with a stud of about 30 brood mares, and young horses, the whole of which were swept away. Add to this the wanton devastations of the licentious soldiery. His two parks and warren were laid waste. Brampton village, justly admired for its beauty, was reduced to ruins : 40 houses, the mill a quarter of a mile distant, all the outhouses belonging to the Castle, the parsonage, and the church itself were pulled down, burned or destroyed ; ' and while Sir Robert was committing havock upon certain parts of the churches within his reach, they sacrilegiously went beyond him by altogether demolishing that of Brampton. By the ordinance under which he acted, he was forbidden under certain 1 ' Lives of some of the Incumbents of Brampton Bryan,' MSS. Lansdowne, Brit. Mus. 721. — Collins {Historical Collections, 199) refers these outrages to the second siege, and indeed mixes up the losses incurred at both. — The parish register at this period contains the following entry : ' Edward the son of John & Margret Taylor was baptized the 11 th . of June 1643. which was the last was baptized before the Church and Town was burnt the siege began at Brampton the 26 th . of July and lasted seven weekes, in which time most of the Town was burnt. 320 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 restrictions to meddle with the memorials of the dead ; but they, indulging in no scruples, defaced the venerable monuments of his family, and in particular those of John and Kichard Harley, father and son, Yorkists in the Civil War of the Eoses. When all annoyance was at an end, and her adversaries had disappeared, Lady Harley overworn by fatigue and excitement sickened and died. 1 This took place in the month of October following. They who objected to her principles should have remembered that, in the resistance she had made, she but followed the fortune, and obeyed the will of her husband ; and deserved on this account to have met with generous consider- ation. But the Oxford paper comments upon this incident with even less feeling than might have been expected, exulting at the same time in the death of another whom these civil troubles had brought into notice in Herefordshire ; and whose pecu- liarities would revive in the minds of many at the mention of his name. A fragment referable to this occasion places the writer and his patrons in no very amiable light : — But, (which is heavy newes) this day we had certaine intelli- gence that the most pious, charitable, vertuous chast Lady, the Lady Harley (wife to Sir Robert himselfe) hath left this world ; for her Ladiship understanding that the young Garrison of Rebels at Wigrnore Castle, were all dispersed by the Gentry of Herefordshire, she presently conceived that her Castle of Brampton would suddenly follow ; this begat a disease upon her, through the skilfull physicke of Doctor Wright (one of Hastwick.es disciples) which wrought so violently, that she took the Covenant and departed this life, leaving her Castle in Doctor Wrights hands, who now is Governour there, and will keepe it as well as his father Bastivicke hath done the Castle at Yorke. 2 And to make the story yet more lamentable, John Sedgwicke (one of the three brothers with foure fingers on a hand) hath spent his lungs & caused Master Thomas Case to exercise his : which he did very mournfully in his funerall sermon this last weeke.' 3 1 Her last letter, dated Oct. 9, speaks of a renewal of Vavasour's threatenings ; she was then ill of a ' very greate coold,' which terminated fatally a few days afterwards : and never surely was at once a firmer or a gentler spirit released by the stroke of death. — As to her son, he shared in the change which passed over the sentiments of other of the leaders in the senate and in the camp — Waller, Massey, and Fairfax. There was not a man of them who did not live to regret the part he had taken, and some of them endeavoured to repair the mischief they had done, when it was too late. 2 Bastwick was at this time in confinement in York Castle. 3 Merc. Aul. Thursday, Nov. 9, 1643. 1643] RUINS OF WIGMORE CASTLE. 321 Less sympathy could not have flowed from the pen of the journalist ; it appears, however, from this expression of vexation at the ill success of Molyneux, that a baffled attempt was made after the siege to plant an auxiliary garrison at Wigmore, the older mansion of the Harleys, once a place of great strength, as its ruins prove, but long fallen to decay, and slighted, in the military sense, — so a well-informed observer tells us, — by Sir Eobert Harley himself at the breaking out of the war. 1 The incredible tradition still firmly adhered to by the inhabitants that this fortress was battered down from the too distant height of Croft Ambrey may have had its origin in the part that the owner of Croft Castle might have taken to annihilate the last attempt made to render Wigmore a post of military occupation. 2 Pitched midway up on a romantic chine of rock, on the lower point of which stand the church and straggling village, it is severed from the upper portion of the ridge by an apparently artificial escarpment, available only against the missiles of earlier times : but since it might evidently be commanded from above, the Castle of Wigmore, as a hold against modern artillery, were of no account. Even in the days of Elizabeth it was falling to decay, but its massy fragments are slow to yield ; fifty years have made very little visible alteration in these remains, which stoutly resist the siege of time ; and as, in the sunset of an autumnal evening, it flings the broad shadow of its desolate towers across the valley up to Bringwood Chase and the borders of the county which it once protected, it exhibits to the traveller no faint nor feeble emblem of the departed grandeur of those chieftains who, with their retainers, once occupied its courts and chambers ; and except that they have given their deeds to history, and a portion of their blood to the blood royal of England, have left nothing behind them but the name of Mortimer. 1 Collins {Historical Collections, 199) says that "Wigmore Castle was burnt by the Royalists in 1643, and so the remains of it might be, but certainly according to the evidence of Symonds (Diary, 262) he had previously demolished or slighted it when he shut up his family in Brampton Bryan. It appears afterwards to ave been made a post of the Parliamentarians. Sir Robert Harley was born here in 1579. 2 The church was more probably occupied than the Castle. VOL. I. 322 THE CIVIL "WAR IK HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 CHAPTEE XV. Ill effects of the commission granted to Prince Rupert — Disputes respecting the appointment of Governor of Bristol — Clamours for peace in London — Gloucester besieged by the King, gallantly defended by Massey, relieved by Essex with forces from London ; pursued on his return by the royal army — First battle of Newbury — Duelling among the Royalists — Scots invited into England by the Parliament — Solemn League and Covenant taken — The King brings over troops from Ireland — Lord Stamford besieged in Exeter surrenders to Prince Maurice. It was one, and not the least among the various misfortunes of King Charles that he was surrounded by too many masters, ambitious of authority, and alive to the profits of command. The high nobility, who were staking their revenues, and, as it proved, their estates to support him, might fairly presume themselves entitled to his special favour : but all, however disinterested, were not qualified by ability or experience for the posts to which they aspired. On the other hand there were soldiers whose talents claimed advancement, and their services reward, and from the impossibility of satisfying every one in this disjointed state of affairs, jealousies and heart-burnings soon arose, which wanted but an opportunity to unfold themselves ; and, when they broke out, occasioned great trouble to his Majesty, and prejudice to his cause. By a fatal error the commission of Prince Eupert contained an article which ex- empted him from receiving command from any one but the King. The Prince would not abate a tittle of his consequence : he was rough and imperious ; his humour was not to be crossed, and his word, however rash, not to be recalled. Factions of which he was the centre or the butt appeared in the Court and army. Culpepper and Ashburnham, courtiers and councillors, caressed him without success, and liked him not. Lord Digby sided with them, disgusted at being passed over when a senior Colonel was appointed to escort the Queen from Bridlington 1643] DISPUTES AMONO ROYALISTS. 323 with the reinforcements, arms and stores brought by her from the Continent. 1 Other discontents sprang up among the officers out of the trial and sentence of Colonel Fielding for the sur- render of Reading, and had been carried on with an animosity that was likely to revive. The reduction of Bristol was followed by a declaration on the part of the King. His council had met ; and by their advice an invitation to allegiance was addressed to all his subjects upon the prosperous state of his affairs. But this tide of prosperity did not run smooth. A few days brought intelligence of disputes respecting the appointment of a Governor to the newly-captured city, and a painful appeal to his decision. The Marquess of Hertford and the King's nephews could not agree. The elder was not well pleased that his brother should be but a Lieutenant-General under that nobleman, and both of them occasionally thwarted him. Hertford, who had appointed Coningsby Governor at Hereford, before that county and South Wales had been withdrawn from his charge, was still Lieutenant- General of the West ; and asserted his right of giving Bristol a Governor by nominating Sir Ealph Hopton. But Rupert standing upon the precedency of his commission, because he could not select a more deserving or popular officer among his followers, sent to Oxford requesting that the place might be conferred upon himself. The dispute ran high ; and as the King wished to conciliate both parties without delay, his only course was to go thither. The Marquess yielded to his private persuasions, and was taken into his immediate and personal service : the Prince was gratified by carrying his point ; and unobtrusive Hopton, reluctantly mixed up in the quarrel, but conforming in every time and place to a consistent principle of obedience, having in his heart the motto that he bore upon his banner, 'I WILL STRIVE TO SEKVE MY SOVEKAIGNE KlNG,' hushed his private feelings, and consented to hold the office of Lieutenant-Governor under Rupert ; and thus the heat of the contention was for the present allayed. The arrival of the King among them was a signal for public exultation, and 1 2,000 foot, 1,000 horse, 6 pieces of cannon, 2 mortare, and above lOOwagons. Clarendon, ii. 292. Y 2 324 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1G43 their sorrows found a respite for a season. The streets were crowded as though it had been a festival of peace, and bells and bonfires gave tokens of returning joy. By the laws of war the bells of any place captured after refusal of summons were for- feited to the master of the artillery ; ' Charles issued an order 2 permitting the churchwardens and parishioners to redeem them ; but the property of certain persons, who had persecuted his friends and adherents and fled, was placed under sequestration on the same day ; and the Mayor and others concerned in the death of Yeomans and Boucher were not permitted to appear abroad. The gloom that hung over London grew darker upon the loss of Bristol. To raise the spirits of the multitude Sir William Waller had been received with military honours when he returned from his defeat ; 3 and all the trained bands marched out to meet him ; but the general depression was not relieved ; and when the certainty of the capture of a city at that period only inferior in resources to their own had transpired, they could not shut their eyes to the true state of a case, that to reflecting minds, not deprived by party-spirit of the power of thinking for themselves, seemed almost desperate and incurable. The word ' peace ' was again in the mouths of the people ; the women came to the Houses and clamoured for it, neither were they dispersed without difficulty by a troop of horse ; but the city-council petitioned against it ; and while the Lords were in favour of it, the Commons rejected it, and their pulpits sounded the note of war. The fate of Bristol seemed to involve that of Gloucester ; and the inhabitants of the latter city at once perceived the danger of a situation, which their first amazement would have rendered remediless, but for the presence of a resolute garrison, and a Governor whose firm deportment gave assurance that all was not irrecoverably lost, and whose officers entered into mutual compact never to see the face of a conquering enemy within their gates. The Common Council also agreed to refuse any 1 [This claim was admitted at the siege of Copenhagen by the British in 1807, but resisted by the Mayor and Corporation of Flushing at its capture, Aug. 16, 1809, and disallowed on the ground that it was merely a relic of the old law of pillage, quite irreconcileable with the usages of modern warfare. — Duncan, History of Royal Regiment of Artillery.] 2 Aug. 7. MSS. HaH. 6842. 3 July 25. 1643 ] GLOUCESTER RESISTS THE KING. 325 overtures of peace. All who were fainthearted had leave to depart ; but none were permitted to remove their valuables or treasure. The King's friends importuned those whose welfare was dear to them to offer no show of resistance. The country that expected to suffer, if the royal army should be drawn that way, forsook them, and endeavoured to persuade them to make timely submission ; and many in Gloucester exulted in the hope that the King was coming to restore his seorned authority, and receive those proofs of loyal affection from which they had been so long restrained. A few days served to allay the agitation, and determine the greater part to resistance. Massey rode about with an air of tranquillity ; the women and children laboured at the fortifications ; and all but the Eoyalists were encouraged by a rumour that relief was at hand. The defences were im- perfect ; but they had the benefit of low and marshy grounds, and water to inundate the sounder lands, and fill the ditches ; and ancient walls dammed up with earth on the inside encircled a great part of the city. Their artillery procured from Bristol and London was barely sufficient for them ; their stock of gun- powder 40 single barrels; their strength about 1,500 men; but all were not well armed. The neighbourhood was harrassed by the Governor's excursions to bring in cattle, provender and corn. Those who, like Hall of High-meadow, were near the King's quarters, might drive their stock, if necessary, into security, but the country was exposed to a considerable distance on both sides of the Severn. The King had resolute partisans in the secluded town of Newent ; * Edward Clarke, father and son, and John Wilse, the Vicar, who was also incumbent of Sarnsfield in Herefordshire. While Massey was gathering provision in and about Taynton, Tibberton, and the adjoining parishes, they contrived a design of surprising him and his detachment ; and had so nearly put it into execution that the Governor, informed of their plot, was forced to march away, and leave his provisions and carriages behind him. Clarke the elder, during the occupation of Highnam by Lord Herbert's forces, had procured and paid teams to bring them supplies ; and, when Prince Maurice was in these parts, was admitted to more familiar intercourse with him than any other countryman 1 A little town on the extreme western edge of Gloucestershire, in a retired situation and so deep a country that within the memory of man on some sides it was extremely difficult of approach. 326 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 of his rank and quality ; and was much valued by his Highness for the information and advice that he gave. It was owing to this individual that Sir "William Waller had been waylaid in the Forest of Dean, as he was retreating from Monmouthshire. At another time when the Governor of Gloucester sent out his warrants to Newent and the places adjacent to furnish neces- saries for the relief of the garrison, and the township of Newent refused to obey, Clarke brought a party of soldiers into the town commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Winter, and protected it from being plundered. He was tenant of a very valuable estate belonging to Sir John Wintour, was in close corre- spondence with him, and partook of the activity and ardour of his landlord, than whom no subject could be more zealous for the King. Wintour, a Eoman Catholic, though descended from the Vice-Admiral of that name, whose gallant services in resisting the Spanish Armada had earned for his successors the manor of Lydney, where he built a substantial dwelling-house, called the White Cross, had been long at Court ; and because he was secretary to the Queen, and enjoyed, as doubtless he deserved, the confidence of the Eoyal family, was looked at with no little suspicion by the Parliamentarians for some time before he openly declared himself. Eenting under the Crown the coppices, mines and quarries of that wild domain, and having his home in the heart of the Forest of Dean, his forbearance was rather to be courted than his enmity provoked ; and as at first he dissembled with the party who might have annoyed him, his house remained untouched when they could easily have destroyed it. But his preparations were secretly going on : after the reverse of Waller he threw aside the mask, and was presently ready with a fortified house, sufficiently manned and stored to defy common assailants, and serve as a rallying point to all the neighbouring Boyalists. The foragers of Gloucester, when they ventured so far, could do him little harm. These, however, had time to lay in their stock, they had cattle for the present in abundance ; and their granaries were replenished with corn from the stores of those whom they called malignants. We left his Majesty at Bristol allaying the heats of private contention, and devising plans for the further prosecution of the campaign. The two armies that had there joined were once more to be divided ; and, after grave deliberation, it was re- solved that Prince Maurice should march with one of them into 1643] EEASONS FOR SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER. 327 the West, and that the King should himself lead the other to Gloucester. This latter measure was not without objection ; for it was urged that the enemy having no sufficient force to make an effective stand in the field, the weakness, disagreements and alarms of the parties in London indicated the quarter for striking a heavy blow. Both those who thought and acted on the King's side, and those who reasoned and fought against him have recorded their judgment, that if, concentrating his strength, he had then gone up to London, flushed as he was with victory, and mighty in the opinion of the invincibility of his troops, which whithersoever they turned at that season cast their overawing shadow before them, he might have dispersed the senators of the two Houses ; and by gaining their stronghold have defeated all their projects and crossed all their enterprises, while he would have given his own friends an opportunity of raising their heads. Several ill-starred decisions have been remarked in the counsels of Charles at times when, had he taken an opposite course, success had in all probability awaited him. But it is the lot of those who greatly fail, to be censured, however judicious may have been their plans ; and writers following in each other's track determine too rashly in favour of some untried alternative, which could not, according to their notions, have been attended with disappoint- ment ; few, however, looking to the consequences of the delay incurred by this determination of advancing to Gloucester, have been hardy enough to defend it. Among the reasons given for it by Clarendon are, the advantages of the command of the Severn, — the control of large rivers being of serious importance in the generalship of those days. If Gloucester could be reduced, no forces would be wanted in the part of the Principality imme- diately beyond it, and all those soldiers might be drawn to the standing army. An entire portion of the kingdom would be gained to contend with the rest in arms and resources ; for no hostile garrison of importance existed between Lancashire and Bristol; and free intercourse would have been established throughout the borders of Wales. If Gloucester could be re- duced without great loss of time and men, it would be of essential benefit to the royal cause. 1 1 It has never been ascertained by whose counsel the siege was undertaken. A general opinion has prevailed among historians that the King was persuaded to it by some individual. Warwick has named Lord Culpepper (Memoires, 261); and Aubrey, Lord Falkland (Letters of Eminent Men, 2, ii. 349). Guthrie, refers 328 THE CIVIL WAK IN HEREFOEDSHIBE. ["16*3 The die was cast ; and that which they dreaded at Gloucester came to pass. Kumour preceded the King's march and on the 10th of August he drew nigh. It was a day long memorahle among the citizens when they witnessed the gradual approach of so powerful a force before their walls, directed against them by the King in person, — his summons and their rejection of it, — the closing of the gates, — their flaming suburbs, set on fire by the Governor's command — the manning of those walls, whence could be discerned that multitude of armed men encompassing them and shutting up every avenue of relief, plying their en- trenching tools and pitching their tents, — rich pastures and gardens spread around them broken up and destroyed, — lands on the eastern side, where harvest waved in the morning, before sunset trodden to a mass of clay. The Welsh and Herefordshire levies under Vavasour, who had received orders to that effect, came down to the right bank of the river on the following *day, and took possession of the Vineyard and Maisemore ; Highnam House, the seat of Sir Robert Cooke deceased, had been destroyed by Massey, lest it should afford them shelter ; ' the bridges on that side were broken down ; and it required no great strength to keep in the besieged or hinder any from resorting to them. The garrison failed not to turn the Welsh into ridicule ; and discharging a demi-culverin at them as they drew up on the side of a slope, amused themselves by watching through their glasses how some removed the dead or maimed, and others examined where the bullet had grazed the ground. 2 Two days after, Vavasour leaving a guard at the Vineyard crossed the Severn on a bridge to the pressing instances of the Marquess of "Worcester and other noblemen and gentlemen in those counties. The Queen, in a letter to the Marquess of New- castle, dated Oxford, Aug. 13, says : ' Le Eoy est alle a glocester luymesme en per- soiie qui ne donne pas peu de mescontantement a tout le nionde jsj : et avec raison : de luy voir prandre des conseills sy subits : et tout seux qui luy ont conseille eux mesme le desavoue.' — MSS. Harl. 6983. Her countryman Bossuet's words on this point are : ' Si la reine en eut ete crue, si, au lieu de diviser les armees royales, et de les amuser, contre son avis, aux sieges infortunes de Hull et de Glocester, on eut marche droit a Londres, l'affaire etoit decidee. — Oraison Funebre dela Reine d'Angleterre. [A letter in the Bupert Correspondence (Warburton, i. 504), dated Aug. 3, asserts that the garrison are deserting, and that the town soldiers are resolved not to strike a stroke against the King.] 1 Cerlaine Informations, Aug. 7 to 14. [It was on this occasion that an irre- parable loss was sustained in the destruction of the MSS. of George Herbert, whose widow had married Sir Eobert Cooke, the proprietor of Higbnam.] * Bibl. Glouc. 212. !6!3] SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER. 329 of boats, and joined the Worcester forces, taking post with them at LoDgford and Kingsholm on the north side of the city, whither the garrison on the afternoon of the 12th had pene- trated in a sortie, and caused them some loss. The investment was now complete. Euthven was on the south, between Llanthony Abbey and the walls, and Sir Jacob Astley with the King on the east. The experience of Astley commended the leaguer and line of communication formed by the Welsh under the direction of Vavasour as the best he had ever seen. 1 The Governor of Gloucester, who had been previously solicited to give up his trust by an offer of promotion in a letter from Colonel William Legge, an officer in the royal army, and one of his former companions in war, had rejected it with seeming disapprobation in the presence of witnesses, but privately in- sinuated to the messenger that he would not hold out against his Majesty in person, so that there had been some hope of his sur- rendering ; and this hope had its share in drawing the King that way. 2 But it was soon found that Massey was of another mind ; and since courage and vigilance like his were neither to be intimi- dated nor surprised, the town must manifestly be reduced to submission by the gun and the spade. The siege of Gloucester has often been described from materials furnished chiefly by two original writers, actors and eye-witnesses, who published their accounts in the forms of narrative and diary. Their fears, their hopes, their vigorous sallies, advantages and rebuffs are depicted in a lively manner by Dorney, the town-clerk, and Corbet, chaplain to the Governor. All that could be expected from skill and intrepidity were found in Massey, and his spirit pervaded the whole of those whom he directed, even to the females and boys : he calmed the apprehensions of the timid, and heightened the resolution of the brave. Had not his name been ' rebel ' in the royal camp, they who sought his life must have admired and applauded him. Versed in the arts of de- fence, he gave them repeated alarms, and permitted no dead silence for more than a certain time, lest it should be rumoured that the town was lost: but if the artillery of the besiegers 1 Lloyd, Memoires, 676. 2 Richard Dowdeswell of Poole Court who had procured Tewkesbury to be delivered up to Sir W. Russell endeavoured by himself and his agents to procure the surrender of Gloucester while it was besieged. — S. P. 1, xs. 767. [See also Rupert Correspondence, in Warburton, i. 506.] 330 THE CIVIL WAR IS HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 ceased from playing, he fired at intervals to show that he still held out. The excitement produced by this undertaking acted upon the Eoyalists throughout the country beyond the river. Those who had the means of showing their attachment by rendering assistance resorted to the leaguer : a soldier's life was the fashion of the hour. The idle and the curious came down to see the dispositions at Over and Maisemore, if they went no further ; and to hear the roar of the guns across the western plain, or be witnesses to the daily expected reduction of the rebellious city. The military stationed to the westward of the Severn rendezvoused at Taynton and Newent. Lord Herbert's horse were quartered at the latter place : l he had brought thither his eldest son, a youth of thirteen, that, though of an age too tender to wield a trooper's sword, he might sit his horse with confidence in the ranks, and inure himself to sights and sounds of war. 2 The Clarkes of Newent rode armed in Lord Somerset's troop, and Wilse, the military Vicar, abandoning the peaceful character of his office, was conspicuous among them, with his petronels and pole-axe, equipped for battle. 3 It appears by the papers of Powell of Llantilio Crossenny, that his eldest son at this time left his house, repaired to the siege of Gloucester, and, having enlisted in the King's army, returned no more till the war was at an end. 4 1 These were no doubt a part of that horse that escaped from the surrender at Highcam. 2 After a lapse of many years it was remembered to his disadvantage in the question of sequestration, that he was seen placed the first right-hand man in a troop of horse in a meadow near Gloucester. — C. J. May 21, 1651. 3 Hall of Highmeadow was there in arms, with 6 servants. — S. P. 1, xcvi. 305 et seqq. 4 The rustic pertinacity of the following scene related in evidence in the case of the two Clarkes and Wilse {8. P. 1, xcvi. 193 et seqq.) is amusingly graphic and characteristic of the spirit of party that possessed all ranks, and could find its way even into the breast of a clown. — Examination of John Webb of Churcham in the county of Gloucester, aged 40. — ' Old Tipper that was slain ' (one of Wintour's confidential servants killed afterwards at Westbury, Sibl. Glouc. 94), & S' W ra Vavasour's soldiers gave him a piece of paper to deliver to any commander of the kings party at the Siege of Gloucester through [in consequence of ] which hee went to one as the souldiers tould him was Prince Rupert, and gaue him the paper, and Prince Rupert shewed him to the king & gave him the paper, whether it came frjm Clarke Senior he knew not. But the soldiers abused him and compelled him to goe after they had threatned him to hange him, because he said he would be for the Parliament if there did but 6 men stand for them, he thinks they had hanged him, if said Edward Clarke had not been [there,] who said that if they let 1643] SIEGE OF GLOUCESTER. 331 The main attack was at the south-eastern angle of the wall : against this they planted their heaviest artillery brought for the purpose from Oxford ; but whatever breach they made was promptly repaired. Shells were also thrown in, and red-hot shot fired, which did no considerable damage. Two mines were sunk, and countermined by the besieged. Warned by the loss they had sustained at Bristol the King's officers were cautious of exposing their foot to a hazardous attempt, and waited for the completion of a third mine to prepare for storming. The scholarship and ingenuity of Chillingworth, the theologian and controversialist, had revived certain obsolete engines of ancient warfare to facilitate their approach to the walls. But six weeks had now passed away, and much valuable time and opportunity had been lost that never could be repaired. This siege in fact proved the turning point of the war. The King had never assembled a finer body of men ; yet to feed them was a heavy burden to which his finances were not adequate. The cavalry were excellent; 8,000 at least in number, and some of them admirably appointed. Glancing an eye over his own troop of guards, his Majesty could have counted among them a yearly rental of 100,000Z. But the whole body of horse was comparatively useless as to immediate service. While the infantry discharged the duty of the trenches, and skirmished with the besieged, these were occasionally called in against the sallying parties ; their chief employment, however, was in collecting provisions, and in this the bounds of strict necessity and rules of right were often overstepped, and great waste and rapine exercised. In the article of sheep alone, thousands were carried off, besides those that were regularly levied by the commissaries ; and many persons were detained as prisoners without warrant, till money to a great amount had been extorted from them. 1 Thus they treated the neighbouring him go and did not impiison him he would come again. Vavasour's soldiers compelled him sore against his will to carry the note the contents of which he knew not.' 1 At this period Herefordshire was at rest, covered by the royal army at the siege of Gloucester. For some time they were rather like men who in security behold from a distance the fury of the tempest, than those who are conflicting with the winds and waves. The cannon of Gloucester could hardly be heard beyond the borders of its vale. The' farmer surveyed his harvest undisturbed, and the shepherd tended his flock in safety. The garrison of Hereford were chiefly drawn out to the siege, and occupied a position on the north of the city. 332 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 parts too rigidly and indiscriminately as an enemy's country, brought great clamour upon the discipline of the army and justice of the officers, and alienated the hearts of those who might have been better disposed; while they were injuring themselves as a body for future military service. 1 Among these plunderers were the men whom Lord Molyneux marched hither from Brampton Bryan. Baxter, touching upon otber excesses of the Cavaliers, says, probably with as much truth as simplicity, what may be applied in this ca?e : ' I suppose this was kept from the knowledge of the King, and perhaps of many sober Lords of his Council : (for few could come near them ; and it is the fate of such not to believe evil of those that they think are for them, nor good of those that they think are against them.) ' 2 The perilous condition of Gloucester excited the liveliest apprehensions in London : they hardly knew whether to be more alarmed for themselves or for their friends, who seemed to be lying within the grasp of an irresistible power, and whose subjugation might be the forerunner of their own. It was an overwhelming consideration that if no effectual stand could be made in this instance, and far off from them, the struggle must in all likelihood be made ere long to greater disadvantage under their own works and lines of communication ; and this deter- mined them to extraordinary steps for recruiting their army. For the speedy raising of a weekly contribution during two months to maintain their present force, they had issued an ordinance assessing the whole of England and Wales. Bristol, and Worcester city and county, Salop, Monmouth, and various places, where they had no power, were included and nominally rated ; and Hereford county and city were set down at437£. 10s. The censors of Oxford laughed at this impotent display : ' If the worthy Members,' said they, ' will come to these places, the 1 Clarendon, ii. 341. — The conduct of the Parliamentary horse at Reading was the object of similar complaints. ' What did the Horsemen ? The answer "was, they sweep out the moneys, beggar the Countreys, take up the best quarters, hoyse up the rate of provision, vapour it about, and stand still when they should fight.' — Speciall Passages, Apr. 25 to May 2. Col. Arthur Goodwin writes thus to his son- in-law Lord Wharton, under date of 'Newberry Sunday Morninge 11 Dec:' (1643) 'I thinke I shall run away, and be amongst you shortly for we are all most abominable plunderers, as bad as Prince Robert and shalbe as much hated soe as when complaints come I am ashamed to looke an honest man in the face, truly it is as bad to me as a bullett.' 2 life, 1, i. 44. 1643] DIFFICULTY OF BELIEVING GLOUCESTEB. 333 money lyes ready for them.' * But more than this was behind. Tasked to the utmost of their invention in providing for it, they still saw that in its existing state they were but burdened with the mere skeleton of an army, powerless and ready to fall to pieces ; greater exertions must be put forth, or all that had preceded would be of no avail. They had ventured so far, that according to their proverb, they must ' win the horse, or lose the saddle.' Men must be procured ; and press-warrants were employed with the strictest rigour. Persons of all conditions were taken, but members of Parliament and their immediate servants ; and substitutes at a heavy cost were difficult to be found. Cavalry must be sent into the field, to look in the face, and awe or dissipate the royal squadrons ; and every corner was again and again searched for any serviceable animal. The rude, unvarnished murmur of the agriculturists against their oppressors is still in being : The friends of the Parliament are much troubled about taking up of Horses, it being left to the discretion of a Quarter-master, or his man, to take what horses he please, and if he account a man a malignant, he takes away his horses, and if he be drunk, or have but a crosse word, he takes all that a man hath, not leaving him any to Inne his harvest ; these are sad things, and so much the sadder, when a little care might prevent them. There is another inconvenience that the poore countreys undergo, and that is, they know not a true warrant from a counterfeit, my Lord Grenerall's name being easily counterfeited ; 2 and you shall have a fellow come with never a cover to his taile, nor boots to his legs, with a pistoll hanging in his scarffe, his sword by his side, and he shall fright the poore countreyman, and take what he please from him : and besides all this they that have warrants take many and make money of them, and besides take bribes instead of horses : this is not the way to have meu long able to afford reliefe to the war. 3 Amidst the pressure of complicated difficulties extreme remedies were proposed. Their public speakers had called upon them to rise as one man ; their political writers recommended them to turn upon and persecute the unfortunate Eoyalists resident among them. One violent pamphleteer, remarkable for the fierceness of his expressions, challenges all, young and old, master and servant, to help in the great work of defending 1 Merc. Aid. Aug. 12. 8 That might well be ; for he wrote like a schoolboy : see p. 142, note 4 . » Parliament Scout, Aug. 17 to 24. 334 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 London, and to stand firm to their cause, representing their danger and misery should they be forced to yield ; and thus he comforts them : ' Our pens have beene too busy, and our swords too sloe. . . . What is the matter, noble Citizens, that your hearts are downe, doe you give the day for lost ? doe you thinke England is lost because Bristol is lost ? Alas ! Bristoll is not all our strength, nor all our forts, nor all our garrisons, we have the better cause, the greater side, and the honester men ; the passage to heaven is cleere for us, so that we can goe thither and fetch what we want ; but 'tis shut to them. Our Parliament is standing, our Forts are well managed ; we have a pound for their shilling, twenty peeces of Ordnance for their one. We have the Seas to ourselves, and all honest Christians with us ; and as for knaves and traytors going from us, lets never be sorry, for much better is their roome then their company.' He then exhorts them to prayer, and to petition for a weekly fast : the times are extraordinary. ' The wicked grow worse and worse, and therefore let us be better and better ; . . . Strive to set yourselves in order, for order is the strength of an Army, and of a City, but disorder is the confusion of both ; take therefore away the causes of disorder, Malignants are the onely cause of disorder in a City or Army ; strive therefore to find them out, give them the Covenant, if they refuse to enter into Covenant with you, let them not live in the City with you, be they rich, be they poore, secure them and banish them : never dispute this man is poore, and that man hath children — cast them out, spare none ; unmercifull and bloody is that pitty that causeth the downfall of a City.' 1 But no preparation that could be made came up to what was required, till by working upon their fears the city of London had been persuaded to lend their militia to make up a sufficient force for the relief of Gloucester. Essex then laid aside his ill humour, and consented to undertake it. An ordinance was passed (August 23) authorising the committee for that body to order six regiments of foot, 8,000 men and 1,500 horse, to march immediately. The effect of this was like the waving of some enchanter's wand ; and men poured in to the musters from every ward, anxious for the expedition. All the shops were closed. The rendezvous was at Bayard's Green near Brackley in Oxfordshire : thither the brigade, consisting of the Red and Blue regiments of the trained bands, and the Blue, Red, and 1 A strange fect this greate worke, All loyall subjects slay & Bringe the Kinge againe to y e Towne. The cleane contrary way Tis for religeon y e wee fight. And for the kingdomes good Though wee rob churches plunder men. And sheed y e guiltles blood. 1 [A whiffler means one who clears the way for a procession, either by brandish- ing a real or wooden sword, or a flag, or by playing on a fife. Notes and Queries, 4. xii. 397.] 2 This may be a ' double,' alluding not only to a bow at taking leaTe, but to the circumstance of his haviDg had the gout, to which he was subject, in his first visit to Exeter. — Merc. Bust. 3 Character of a London Diurnall. 1643] CAVALIEE SONG. 345 Downe w th the Orthodoxall men all Loyall subjects slay When this is Doone wee shall be blest the cleane contrary way Tis to defend his Ma tie . That wee against him fight To u see we neuer gett the worst bee cause o r cause is right if any make a question ont ; our Declarations say, Who fight for ns fight for the king the cleane contrary way Att Brainford Plimmouth Redding Torke & many places more W victories haue we obtaind was heard of neu r before how oft haue we Prince Robert slaine. & brauely wonn the day & made the Cauelleers to run the cleane contrary way When Charles a bancront wee haue made And of his crowne berreft him And all his Loyall subjects slaine And none but Rebbells Left him When wee haue beggard all y e Land, & shipt our Trunks away Then weele make him a Glorious Prince The cleane contrary way. 346 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 CHAPTEK XVL Parliament vote supplies of men and money for Gloucester — Sir William Vavasour appointed Commander-in-chief of the counties of Gloucester and Hereford — Difficulty of levying contributions— Case of Abrahall of Mountbury Court, parish of Yarkhill — Seizure of cattle and horses —Gloucester blockaded: activity of the Governor — Vavasour occupies Tewkesbury : his men desert him — Lord Molyneux beaten up in his quarters at Campden by forces from Warwick — Successful operations of the Parliamentarians in Shropshire — Sequestration of the Royal revenues — The King retaliates on the rents of the Earl of Essex in Herefordshire — Warrant for the arrest of Sir Richard Hopton, recalled by his Majesty — Sir Edward Powell's rents sequestered — Establishment of gar- risons in Gloucestershire by Lord Herbert and Vavasour — Regiments brought over for the King from Ireland, commanded by Colonels St. Leger and Mynne. — Character of the latter— State of the army at Oxford and parties there — Failure of a plot for the recovery of Gloucester — Civilities between Vavasour and Massey — Operations of the latter in Monmouthshire : his narrow escape — Parliament summoned at Oxford. The defence and relief of Gloucester had rendered its Governor and the Lord General the themes of parliamentary applause. A letter of thanks was written to Massey by the Speaker of the House of Commons with promises of supplies and further assistance ; for the Earl of Essex had given his opinion that the garrison', as it now stood, could not be main- tained during the winter with less than a speedy remittance of 8,000Z. or 10,000£. The sum might appear large, but it would not have left a remainder of more than 2,000L after payment of their present dues. He also stated that they would neither be able to bring in provisions from the country, nor keep off the enemy from their gates with any reinforcement short of 1,000 men. Massey applied in a despatch sent up by some of the brave defenders : the men and money were voted by the Commons, and the officers present complimented from the chair ; but no immediate help could be obtained. 1 Could those 1 Five hundred enlisted for the service had dwindled to fifty, and these did not arrive till Vavasour was drawn off (Corbet, 59, 90). Powder and muskets, 1643] VAVASOUR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. 347 upon whom he depended have gratified the reasonable desires of that approved Governor, the cities and counties of Hereford and Worcester would have been quickly exposed to renewed and serious alarms. Such succours sent in time would have en- couraged him to act at once upon the offensive : but the opportunity of making an important retaliation or a terrible impression soon passed away. On the other hand, Herefordshire was not neglected by those who were interested in preserving it, and Vavasour with a strong party and the authority of a special commission re-appeared among them. He was appointed, under Lord Herbert, Commander-in-chief of the counties of Gloucester and Hereford, with the title of Colonel-General of Gloucestershire ; but as the capital of this district was occupied against him, his headquarters, as before, were at Hereford. Having procured a passport from the Earl of Essex in the beginning of August, he brought thither from Cheshire his son, Thomas Vavasour, nine years of age, accompanied by his tutor, Mr. Francis Ford, 1 who instructed and attended upon him ; so that wherever Sir William Vavasour might be called out, Hereford for the present was his home. He had it in his orders to distress Gloucester on the Welsh side, and to garrison Tewkes- bury, 2 and for assistance he must look to the Commissioners of Array. Since the interruption occasioned by Waller in April and May, affairs seem not to have entirely recovered their original footing. Most of the Commissioners had unfortunately been absent ; neither had the contributions been punctually brought in. William Eudhall and old Thomas Price of Wisteston, a small remnant of the original number acting in that capacity, had issued warrants to such of the collectors as had been in fault ; but much irregularity appears to have taken place. The return of a regular commander and stronger military force was to bring with it the revival of dormant claims, and Vavasour found that a part of three contributions was in arrear. Warrants were therefore directed to the Chief Con- stables of Hundreds to raise and bring them in. They bore the pistols and carbines, were ordered to be sent ; some months elapsed before any ammunition was forwarded, and an adequate supply of money never reached him. 1 Ford was afterwards received into the house of Mrs. Lucy Smallman, widow, of Kinnersley, co. Hereford, appointed to be preacher to the committee of Here- ford, and placed by them in the living of Kinnersley. MS. note in Walker Bufferings of the Clergy, ii. 388, in Gloucester Cathedral Library, 2 Corbet, 59. 348 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1613 signatures of Vavasour, Lingeii, Pye, Croft, Kudhall, and Tomkyns ; and were very strict and urgent, directing the civil officers under pain of imprisonment or further punishment to distrain upon all who should refuse to pay, and in failure of distress to bring them to Hereford. The duty of a collector was most painful and unenviable. 1 The impost to be gathered in was new and burdensome ; and he might be reluctant to apply the screw of compulsory power against his friends or poorer neighbours, who either would not, or could not, comply. 2 The case of Abrahall of Mountbury Court in the parish of Yark- hill illustrates these difficulties and vexations. Though a Eoyalist at heart, yet as Chief Constable of part of the hundred of Kadlow he shrunk from the employment of com- pulsory means in gathering the contributions, till urged on by threats of personal punishment, when he could no longer stand between the garrison and those individuals who had refused to pay. He then distrained, among others, upon certain defaulters of Ledbury, Weston Begard, and Tarrington ; and in the latter parish seized the cattle of Thomas Vickres. William Garret, another of the inhabitants, was ploughing when Abrahall came to him in the field and demanded his arrears. Garret pleaded that he hoped the expense of their having quartered soldiers would be taken into consideration both for Vickres and himself, and excuse their further payments. But Abrahall cut short the argument by seizing his mare, and telling him she would serve the Cavaliers : the mare being sent to Hereford, Garret followed her thither, was himself apprehended and imprisoned, and paid a fine upon his enlargement. 3 Military requisitions, in whatever way they might be levied, were ever odious to the farmer, though he might be well affected in other matters to the side that enforced them ; and incidents like these would not enhance the popularity of the royal cause. Some of the royalist gentlemen began to be tired of hostilities. Wallop Brabazon, Esq., of Eaton Gamage, not far from 1 They were allowed one shilling in the pound for their trouble. 2 [The following extract from a letter of an earlier date (May 26), from the Earl of Crafurd to Prince Rupert, is a striking illustration of the difficulties of constables. ' In my returne I was at Cicester, where I understood Waller had sent out his orders for bringing in of contribution, but I gave the constables strict orders to the contrary, threatning fire and sword if they payed him a penny, and if they did not collect it and pay it to me.'] 3 Depositions in the case of John Abrahall. — S, P. 1. xcyii. 335 et seqq. 1643] ACTIVITY OF MASSEY. 349 Wigmore, and within reach of the garrison of Brampton Bryan, abandoned his office of Commissioner of Array, which he had not exercised with energy, and brought his family for protection to Worcester, where he remained till the first war was ended. His jeason for quitting his house was that he was ' living in a place exposed to the fury of Souldiers on both sides.' ' William Cartwright also, of Stoke Lacy, and John Style, of Mansell, laid down their arms. After all the blame that had been attached to the late fruitless attempt upon Gloucester, it appeared in the residt that to have gained possession of it would have been of the highest importance to the King ; for there alone, throughout a wide extent of country, was opposition cherished in the hope of future enterprise. Under this conviction, while they could not again formally close upon the city by constructing and manning works around it, they endeavoured to straiten those who held it by a species of remote blockade, in cutting off resources, planting small garrisons at convenient distances, and making occasional incursions with stronger detachments up to the gates. Enclosed within very narrow limits, unsuccoured, unsupplied, here beset by the complaints of the oppressed peasant, there by the murmurs of the unpaid, unshod and ragged soldier, Massey displayed new powers with the increase of fresh difficulties, as one who was not in the list of ordinary men. Concerning those under his command, he knew that there is no better remedy for restless mutinous spirits in arms than to give them full employment against an enemy. A march of a few miles would often effect this ; and besides distributing many in counter-garrisons to protect parts on which they were forced to depend, he was always on the watch to break out and engage them in some distant expedition. The small portion of the country that he was able in any wise to protect, rich in itself, and supplying him with money, corn and cattle, according to its extent, was not sufficient for the active maintenance of his force ; and had not the granaries of Gloucester been filled by foraging parties of the cavalry of Essex after the siege, the city must soon have been reduced to want. While the officers commanding at Cirencester and Bristol, in Sudley and Berkeley Castles, co-operated in Vavasour's scheme of observation upon Gloucester, he made it his care to repress ' S. P. 2. xviii. 301. 350 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 incursions westward along the right bank of the Severn ; and to protect the borders of Hereford and Monmouthshire from Mal- vern Hills to Chepstow. Tewkesbury was essential to him. To this town, seated at the confluence of the Avon and Severn, open and unfortified, ever desirous of neutrality, yet frequently com- pelled to change masters, Vavasour marched from Hereford with about 700 horse and foot. As Governor he promised to conduct himself with moderation, invited assistance, and was counten- anced by such of the gentlemen of the country as were favourable to his cause ; but a party sent up in a small vessel from Gloucester gave him an alarm soon after his arrival. His men collected newly from the Associated counties, and chiefly from Wales, became as disobedient as those of Lord Herbert upon a former occasion. Their plea was want of pay ; and having quarrelled with their superiors and driven them out of the town, they hastened away over Upton bridge, each to his home. Aban- doned of all but his officers, what remedy had Sir William Vavasour but to retrace his steps to Hereford ? ' This disappointment, however, furnished rather a subject of ridicule against the Associated counties, their Lord Lieutenant, and other commanders, than permanent advantage to the Gover- nor of Gloucester. After a unfavourable delay a part of his promised assistance was upou the road ; but impediments almost insurmountable opposed the secure passage of even a single sumpter from London. Cirencester and Oxford still closed the readier track ; and none was left but a by-way already noticed, circuitous and impassable but by stronger escorts than could be 1 He might easily, indeed, console himself as not being the only officer who suffered from their insubordination and desertion. It is to be attributed to a thorough knowledge of this infirmity that when the Royal army marched from Evesharn, a party was left about Broadway Hill to intercept such as should tarn homeward : but soldiers from "Warwick came out and made them all prisoners. ' The "Welshmen may now,' says the relator, ' returne backe when they please, without any interruption.' (Certaine Informations, Oct. 2 to 9.) Others amused themselves, as usual, at their expense : — ' We will allow you all the Welsh you have, provided her bring not her great Mountaines along with her for breast workes, and provided that her trouble not the Armies too much when they are fighting, but run out of the way and make roome for ap Rupert ap Maurice, ap Ruthen, ap Essex, ap Waller to fight in.' {Mere. Briton. Oct. 3.) ' Since the time of Sir William Waller's taking advantage of her aeere unto Dean Forest and killing 600 of her Countreymen ; one of the Ghosts of her aforesaid Gountreymen did send a Letter to her, advising her in any Case, not to take up Armes against the Parliament, and her doe intend to follow his Counsell.' {Welsh Mercury, Oct. 21 to 28.) 1643] BRIDGES SURPRISES MOLYNEUX. 351 then procured. If all other hazards could be escaped, Sudley Castle so narrowly watched that part under its charge, that not a scout could travel without extreme danger. Between this fortress and Warwick, below the Cotswold hills, stands Campden, a small ancient place, near to which was a spacious and cele- brated mansion, built by the deceased Baptist, Lord Hickes, capable of containing a garrison, and some time a favourite post of the Cavaliers. Lord Molyneux, with his regiment of horse that had helped to beleaguer Brampton Bryan, came here and took up his quarters. Whether it were by appointment for a season, or only on his route from Oxford, he remained long enough for the intelligence to be conveyed to Warwick Castle, where Sergeant-Major Bridges, a valuable officer, remarkable for his successful excursions, commanded during the whole of the troubles from the time of the battle at Edge Hill. He, who knew that this occupation of Campden must disturb a necessary line of communication, made haste to dispossess them. With a strong party he beat them up in the night, took 100 horses and many prisoners ; and some of them who made a stiff resistance he routed at the second charge. 1 Since the Castle of Wigmore had not been allowed to retain a garrison, and that of Brampton Bryan by the death of Lady Harley had fallen under the command of a stranger, no front of opposition could be reared in that quarter from which the Eoyalists would entertain immediate apprehension. But the general ferment that agitated parts with which they were in any way connected, would lead their eyes and thoughts abroad when they were not too painfully fixed at home ; and intelligence occasionally reached them in Herefordshire that brought more anticipations to the discerning than met the public ear. Brereton in Cheshire and Mytton in Shropshire more than maintained their ground. The latter had gained possession of the town of Wem in August, and successfully foiled all Lord Capel's efforts to recover it ; 2 and Whitchurch had been won by surprise in June. Sequestrations made fearful inroad upon private property. On the 21st of September, to secure the autumnal payments, came out an ordinance for seizing the 1 Perfect Diurnall, Oct. 16. They went thence into Hampshire, and were afterwards (Not. 9) ordered into the North. MSS. Earl. 6852. Lord Molyneux was with his regiment about Audley, in Cheshire, in Jan. 1644. S. P. i. lxxxv. 423. 2 Baxter, Life, I. i. 45. 352 THE CIVIL WAK IN HEKEFOK.DSHIRE. [1643 King's, Queen's, and Prince's revenues ; and on the 25th of the same month his Majesty's proclamation forbidding rents to be paid to any in rebellion against him. The perplexity and tor- ment arising out of such contradictory claims, where they could be brought to bear, may easily be conceived. Want began to find its way into families where hitherto privation had been un- known : sources of secret charity were dried up ; the bond of landlord and tenant was rent asunder ; legal obligations yielded to necessity or knavery ; rent-rolls became mere parchment ; and ownership an empty name. In Herefordshire, still subject to the King's authority, and comprising few estates upon which his own processes would be served, it is some satisfaction to obtain proofs that rash and indiscriminate severity was not exercised ; and that neither pleas of justice nor clemency were disregarded in the case of adversaries as well as friends. Mrs. Bridget Croft, a maiden sister of Commissioner Sir William Croft, had an annuity charged upon the estate of the Earl of Essex. From Evesham amidst the bustle of military operations the following warrant was despatched in her favour : — C. E. ' Trusty and welbeloved we greete y u well Whereas we have given y u order to seise upon the rents and Revenewes of Robert Earle of Essex in that our County of Hereford in respect he is and still continueth in Actuall Rebellion against us And understanding that there is an Annuity of one hundred pounds p Ann payable out of the same unto M™ - Bridgett Croft, We are gratiously pleased And doe hereby signify our pleasure unto y u that out of such of the sayd Rents and Revenews as y u have or shall receave for our use y u pay unto the sayd M™- Bridgett Croft her annuity, or such part thereof as shall be due and payable at Michelmas next, and to continue the same unto her as long as y u shall receave the sayd Rents. Ffor w ch these shall be to y u sufficient Warrant and Authority. Given under our signe Manuall at our Court at Evesham this sixteenth of September 1643. ' To our trusty and welbeloved Henry Lingen Esq r High Sheriffe of our County of Hereford.' ' His favour, however, was not limited to those who had de- clared themselves for him. Sir Richard Hopton, as an avowed partisan who had made no secret of his predilections by joining 1 Smdamore MSS. Endorsed, Copie of his Ma"'" Warrant for paym' of M' ls Bridgett Crofts afiuitye dat. 16: Septemb. 1643. 1643] ROYAL PROTECTION. 353 the Earl of Stamford, and was named one of the commissioners for distressing the Eoyalists, had little reason to expect indul- gence. A warrant had been issued to the Sheriff for seizing the persons and property of Sir Kichard and his sons, but probably through some friendly interference the execution of it had been stayed, and a fortnight allowed for procuring the royal pardon and protection, which is thus proved to have been obtained. Trusty and welbeloved &c Whereas wee haue lately seene an Order or direction under the hands of three of the Comissio™ of o r County of Heref : directinge the high Sheriffe of that our County to forbear the execution of a former warrant from them for so much as concerned S r ' Richard Hopton kn 4 - or his Sonns, in respect of o r gratiouse pardon and protection to him and them graunted if the same S r Richard could procure o r pleasure to be signified touchinge the same w th in 14 daies. Wee haue therefore thought fitt, and doe hereby signifie o r expresse pleasure to yee, and all other our officers & others whatsoev r that wee intend the said S r ' Rich : Hopton and his Sonnes shall haue the benefitt of o r said gratiouse pardon, and of o r said protection, and shall not bee p r iudiced molested or dis- turbed in his or their, or any of their persons, lands, tenem* 8 rents revenues goods chatles cattle or other estates. And that the same shall not be seized or sequestred, nor the said S r ' R. Hopton or his Sonns or any of them in any wise attached arrested or questioned for any Act by him or them or any of them donne or comitted against us o r Crowne or Dignity before the date of that o r pardon, Wee beinge fully resolved y* the S d - S r - Ric. Hopton and his Sonns haveinge submitted themselves to us, and obteyned favour that none und r any p r tence or Cullour whatsoever shall p r sume to Enfringe the same. Wherefore to this o r ' pleasure wee expect and require full obedience shalbe given, by all o r Comissio r8 ' officers & others whom it may Concerne Given &c 13 November 1643. To o r high Sheriffe 8 of o r County of Heref. S r ' W m Croft & S r - Wal : Pye knt 8 - W m ' Rudhall Esq. & the rest of o r Comissio 18 of y e County and to all other o r Shiriffs Comissio" Gov'nors officers & others whatsov r whom the same may concerne, & to ev r y of them. 1 Neither were the proceedings against such as were exposed to the proclamation forced on with irregular haste ; nor was the period at which rents became due, anticipated. The old cross- rent as it is familiarly called, of Candlemas, alternating half- yearly with that of Lammas, — terms of payment common in these parts,— was next in order after the proclamation. Sir Edward 1 Papers of Sir Edward Walker. MSS. Bad. 6852. VOL. I. A A 354 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 Powell of Pengethly 1 had left his home, being far advanced in years, and had taken up his abode in Dean's Yard, Westminster, and willingly or unwillingly was fixed in the Parliament's quarters : his continuance there was enough to place him among the disaffected. In February 1643-4, the officers of the parish, in which part of his estate was situated, received a notice that exemplifies the method observed in levying this kind of seques- tration. To the petty Constables of Sellwicke (Sellack) and to eu r y of them These are in his Ma fa name straitly to chardge, and comaund you, and ev r y of you furthw th vppon receipt heereof to give speciall somons and warninge unto the late, and now Ten e nts and servants of S r Edward Powell Baron* wthin yo r pish that they, and eu r y of them be, and psonally appeare before us his Mat 8 Comission's at M r Normans house in Heref uppon munday next the 12 th day of this instant ffebruary by IX en of the clocke in the morninge to give us an accompt of the rents of the said S r Edward Powell And what rent shall appeare to be due from any the said Tenants They are then to pay us accordingly. And be you then there to make retorne heereof w th a note in writing of the names of the said Ten e nts and servants, as you, and ev r y of you will aunsweare the Contrary at y r pill. Given under o r handes at Heref this 10 th daye of ffebruary 1643 2 Hen. Ling en : vie W Croft The Association of which Lord Herbert was Lieutenant- General under the Prince of Wales consisted of the counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Brecknock and Eadnor. That nobleman received fresh instructions in the month of November. On the Welsh side of the Severn in Gloucestershire were some who had incurred the King's displeasure by assisting the Parliamentarians of Gloucester. Lord Herbert was em- powered to add those parts of the county of Gloucester to the Association ; and to admit to favour such as had been least to 1 [Pen gelli, the top of the hazels, -a gentleman's house, formerly protected by a tower, about three miles from Ross towards Hereford.] 2 It is somewhat outrunning the order of our dates to advance to February. But the fact of this order having been delayed till the Candlemas rents became due, fixes the date of the first sequestrations to September ; admitting that this is the first time on which Sir E. Powell's tenants were called upon. 1643] VAVASOUR— WINTOUR — MASSEY. 355 blame ; and he and Sir William Vavasour under him were to proceed against the rest according to their demerits. He had also authority to collect and apply the monthly contributions already settled for the maintenance of the forces under his com- mand. The warrant intimated that it might be expedient for the King's forces to advance into those parts ; they were there- fore to fortify such places and furnish them with such garrisons and Governors as in their discretion they should think best for the service, summoning, if necessary, the High Sheriff and all other officers to their aid. 1 This care to protect the counties of Hereford and Monmouth on a portion of their frontier where they were most exposed, arose from no imaginary apprehension. Had Vavasour's original plan of fixing himself at Tewkesbury succeeded, much might have been done by way of check or diversion for those who were acting in the Forest of Dean : but this the late mutiny rendered abortive, and the Colonel- General and Sir John Wintour were driven upon their own re- sources. Wintour seems to have made up in caution what he might have wanted in military skill and experience, or he never could have maintained his ground against the crafty and the bold, men at once desperate and well commanded, giving daily proofs how dangerous it is to cope with such as are both miser- able and brave. In daring and dexterity and clear gallantry they achieved wonders, courting all perils, and closing with their enemies wherever they could find them. Upon the whole the Gloucester men enlarged their range, though they led a mutin- ous, marauding life, spent with fatigue, and fighting, not only for their lives, but for their bread. 2 Pay they had none ; and even their powder was almost exhausted. Wintour, with a regiment of horse belonging to Lord Herbert, fixed himself at Newnham, where he had a passage over Severn : they crossed to the other side, and quartered themselves below Berkeley castle, which a Scottish captain held for the King. But Massey found them out and in a skirmish occasioned them some loss. Laying aside at length his usual wariness, the royalist Colonel ventured out from Newnham to within three miles of the city, plundered some villages, and drove off many cattle, when the Governor ■ Dated Oxford, Nov. 10, 1643.— MSS. Harl. 6852. 2 fit was probably from the irregular habits naturally resulting from such a state of things, that ' Massey's brigade ' obtained a very evil reputation at a later date, and were 'seriously complained of by Fairfax, as will be seen at the surrender of "Worcester.] A A 2 356 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 roused by the intelligence pounced upon them with an inferior number of horse, and some of Herbert's men were slain and taken prisoners. 1 But during an expedition undertaken by the garrison of Gloucester against Tetbury, Beverstone Castle, and Wotton-Underedge, Wintour and Vavasour, upon intelligence from the Clarkes of Newent, 2 drew together all the strength they could raise in the counties of Monmouth and Hereford, and had nearly surprised the city. Coleford was afterwards made a ren- dezvous from its convenience as a point of observation, from which Gloucester could be threatened ; and a request was for- warded to Oxford, that Colonel Charles Gerrard might be sent down with his brigade, an officer of whom great expectations were formed ; but the hint conveyed in Lord Herbert's instruc- tions was about to receive confirmation from another source ; and their hopes were raised by the expected arrival of succour from Ireland. About 1,000 foot and 100 horse of the army that had been serving in that country landed at Bristol with eight pieces of ordnance early in November. Their commanders were Sir William Saint-Leger and Nicholas Mynne. Saint-Leger had seen foreign service, having eighteen years before accompanied the expedition to Cadiz with the rank of Sergeant-Major-Gen- eral. They had recently endured every extreme of privation and peril incidental to a military life, having formed part of the brigade of Lord Inchiquin, President of Munster. Mynne's was in every respect a capital regiment, and their Colonel a perfect soldier. He had been in Scotland with the ] 3th regi- ment as Lieutenant-Colonel, under the command of Sir "William Vavasour, 3 and his reputation had since been more fully estab- lished in Ireland, where it was said, by one who served with him, that ' the world could not fit Lord Inchiquin better with field-officers ' than two whom he named, and the first of these was Mynne. 4 Few were better skilled in the art of securing the affections of those whom he commanded, whether citizens in garrison or warriors in camp. As to sufferings from privation, he could remember the time when leading his men against the wild natives in Munster, their sole subsistence was the ripening corn, cut, burnt, and dressed on the same day by their own hands ; 5 and 1 Corbet, 64. 2 Case of Clarke, S. P. i. xcvi. 193 et seqq. 3 Bushworth, III. 1248, in 1640 —William Vavasour, without the adjunct of ' Sir.' * The other was Captain Chndleigh, who distinguished himself so much under, and afterwards against, the Earl of Stamford. • The passage from a letter of Lord Inchiquin to Sir John Powlet descriptive 1643] ANGLO-IRISH REINFORCEMENTS. 357 of cold and nakedness it was manifest that they had all endured their full share. They came out of the vessels clothed in rags ; and every hand in Bristol that could be employed to remedy their necessity was put in requisition, and worked for them night and day. Thus refitted and invigorated they advanced to Thornbury, bringing their guns with them. Some of the common soldiers, who had been tampered with before they came over, listened to invitations from Massey, refusing to serve against the Parlia- ment : they appear to have been chiefly of Saint-Leger's regi- ment ; that of Mynne seems to have been well kept together, for it was strong to the last. They moved on to Wotton, where an attempt to surprise them was repulsed with loss ; thence having taught Captain Backhouse and the Gloucester men to respect their soldiership, they drew on to Tewkesbury, and after a while crossed the river to Newent and the parts adjacent. 1 The Oxford army in less than a month's relaxation from the campaign having thoroughly repaired its losses, could bring out of its quarters on any required occasion 1 5,000 fighting men. 2 Great attention continued to be paid to the cavalry ; and their efficiency under the eye of the King, his elder nephew, and the nobility, who prided themselves upon this point, would require increased care, since that superiority which they had hitherto asserted had been doubtfully maintained in the late encounters. The cost of this branch of the service was not trifling, as the weekly reduced charge of some of the regiments and the rates of allowances to officers of rank will show. ' At a Council of War held at Oxford Oct. 13, 1643, the pay of certain Regiments of Horse was thus regulated. of this fact runs thus (enumerating his difficulties as President of Munster he says) : ' After advice taken of what was fit to he done, we found our wants, and the scarcity that was in all places, would make it impossible for us to keep the field with an Army, part whereof, to the number of 1200 men, were with Colonel Mynn in the West; where they had no food, but what corn they cut, burnt, and drest the same day to eat.' — Carte, Life of Ormonde, III. 330, ccexvii. 1 The townsmen were reluctant to admit a garrison, though it was a protection to them, hut Clarke the elder was very peremptory in this little place, and, going to one of the respectable tradesmen, threatened with an oath that if he knew any one who would not open his doors to Mynne's soldiers, he would burst it open him- 6e ]f. — Case of Clarke. He received the colonel into his own house. * The same strength that the King had when he was lying at Evesham in Sept.— Secretary Nicholas to Marquess of Ormonde. Carte, Life of Ormonde, III, 173, cbcx. 179, clxxvii. 358 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 Every Colonel, Lieut.-Col., Serjeant Major and Captain of Horse as Captain per diem Lieutenant ..... Cornett ..... Quarter Master .... Corporal ..... Trumpet, Surgeon and Smith each Every Trooper per week l For every Horse allowed to the Officers General Horse and foot of the Army each per week . 0-.15-- . 0--10-- . (>•• 8- . ()■• 5-- . 0-. 3- . ().. 2.- . 0--12-- of •0 •0 • •0 • ■ 6 •0 0-. 7-0 50 Prince Rupert. 80 15 Lord Wilmot . 40 40 Q r Master Gereral . 12 20 Provost Master General . 1(3 16 4 Serj'Majors of Brigades . 16 16 4 Lieut ts of Brigades 16 12 . Lord Bernard Stuart 60 4 Lord Wentworth 20 8 The Scout Master General 20 9 Adjutant Gen 1 of Horse 10 30 Adjutant of Dragoons 4 30 5 Commissary of Victuals 8 Pay of Horses allowed to every one of the Officers General, at 7s. per week. Lieut General . Earl of Lindsey General of Artillery Sergeant Major Gen 1, Lieut : Gen 1 ' of foot . Muster Master General . Colonells of Tertias,each4. Quarter M r General . Commissary of Victuals . Major of Tertias each 3. . Governor of Oxford. Colonel Hurry . Col. Kyrke . It is probable that the full number of horses upon the list was not kept, and that the allowance was not very punctually paid. It was, however, charged upon the weekly contribution of the county. But the disputes between Prince Eupert, his adherents, and others of the chief commanders threatened to cast the whole of this machine into disorder. With reference to the state of parties at Oxford, a gentleman at Court writes thus to the Marquis of Ormonde : — ' The contrariety of opinions and waies are equally distant with those of the elements, and as destructive, if there were not a special Providence, the moderator of States, that keeps men in one mind against a third person, though they agree in no one thing among themselves. The Army is much divided, and the Prince at true distance with many of the Officers of horse : which hath much danger in it, out of this that I find many gallant men willing to 1 The pay of a trooper -was at one time 17s. 6d. per week. 1643] BACKHOUSE'S PLOT. 359 get governments and sit down, or get employments at large, and so be out of the way. In short, my Lord, there must be a better understanding amongst our great horsemen here, else they may shortly shut the stable door.' ' The contest lingered on both sides of the Severn, while to the intrepidity and restlessness of Massey Vavasour systemati- cally opposed a Fabian caution, which left no room for a decisive encounter. Indeed, he could do little more than this ; for he had no men who could safely be trusted in front of such an enemy. He attempted to possess himself of Upton, and his party once more took the alarm, and hastily retired. With such imperfect materials aggression was hopeless ; and even under more favourable circumstances experience seemed to prove that little was to be gained by force. The effect of artifice remained to be tried. Captain Robert Backhouse, commanding the few cavalry in Gloucester, an attorney by profession, but a brave and excellent officer, had been acquainted in earlier life with a Roman Catholic gentleman named Stanford, a lieutenant- colonel in the King's service. From him, then at Worcester, he received (Nov. 19) a letter with an offer of pardon and promotion and a liberal reward, if he would deliver up the city. Backhouse disclosed this proposal to the Governor, and obtained his sanction to continue the intrigue, which he managed with so much address and such appearance of sincerity that he secured the entire confidence of Stanford, together with an earnest of 200Z. The Cavaliers were as much overmatched by the wary Captain in secret treaty as they were by the Governor in the open field. But a favourable respite was gained ; Wintour ceased from his hostilities ; Lord Digby wrote a letter of promises from Oxford, and Rupert came down to Newent for observation and enquiry ; while Vavasour hovered about to fix himself within convenient distance ; and 6,000 or 7,000 troops were posted within speedy summons. Thus were they amused during ten weeks of delusive expectation, towards the close of which, had not the officer commanding in Berkeley Castle hesitated to obey Vavasour's 1 Arthur Trevor, a gentleman of good family in Cheshire or Wales (Carte, Life of Ormonde, III. 208, cxcviii.). Lloyd speaks of him as a Templar, but says nothing of his origin or family connexions. In his pass under the articles of Oxford he is described as a servant of the Duke of York, but he seems to have been attached to the service of Prince Rupert in 1614. His letters are remarkable for their esprit. 360 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 orders for evacuating it, that stronghold had been lost to the King. It was in this interval of negotiation that Vavasour once more (Jan. 6) possessed himself of Tewkesbury without molest- ation, accompanied by those on whom he believed he might rely ; l they made good their defences, and the wintry land-floods rendered them more secure. Sir Walter Pye was there with his own regiment, and Colonel James Wroughton commanded the horse. When the Colonel-General had been so far duped as to order the evacuation of Berkeley Castle, he proposed, by what seemed to his companions an extraordinary infatuation, to withdraw the greater part of his garrison from Tewkesbury to Pershore. 2 Blind to the artifices of those craftier politicians who urged him to such dangerous pledges of his sincerity, Vavasour, according to his own account, met with opposition from Sir Walter and his fellow-commissioners when he divulged to them in council his strange but inexplicable intention. It happened, too, about this time, and doubtless was a part of their scheme of deception, that a messenger from Massey brought him a lampern pie, the peculiar delicacy of Gloucester, and a present fit for those in high estate, together with several of what were thought to be the most learned and solid treatises lately published in defence of the Parliament. In a complimentary letter accompanying them the Governor expressed his regret that Vavasour should have left Ireland, after having served on the Protestant side, to join the Papists in England ; and re- quested him at his leisure to read those books, and return them with his opinion. Vavasour, not to be outdone, sent them back with half a butt of metheglin, and replied that, having perused them and seriously examined the subject, he could not be convinced that he was fighting against the Protestant religion, though as soon as he should be truly persuaded of it, upon the word of a gentleman, he would never draw sword again in England in the cause he now defended. 3 These courtesies, his message to the Governor of Berkeley Castle, his intention of falling back upon Pershore, or all of them together, begat such 1 [It appears from the Rupert Correspondence (155, 158) that in the early part of December he was at Bristol, endeavouring to raise men and money, and pro- posing to march by Painswick to Tewkesbury, both which places were to be forti- fied, with the intention of blocking up Gloucester ] 2 Bill. Glouc. 303. * Merc. Civic. Feb. 29 to March 7. ! 643] FAILURE OF BACKHOUSE'S PLOT. 36l a suspicion of his fidelity in the minds of the attendant Com- missioners, that Sir Walter Pye in his simplicity set out for Oxford to lodge a complaint against him. So at least Vavasour told Backhouse ; but the latter believed, or affected to believe, them all acquainted with the plot, expecting its issue in their favour, and one with another equally dupes of his artifice. The night of the 1 5th of February was fixed upon for their admission into Gloucester, and the accidental delay of a messenger alone prevented a large body of horse from being drawn in, and, as it were, impounded upon the causeway in the island, between the old bridge at Over and that at the western gate of the city ; where all of them must have been slain, taken prisoners, or drowned. When they arrived there it was broad day, and no attempt could be made. Suspicions soon after arose, all intercourse was broken off, and the mask thrown aside. Backhouse, though disappointed, gloried in the stratagem, and published a vindication of it, under the sanction of the com- mittee of the House of Commons for the garrison of Gloucester. 1 An affair of the same kind upon a smaller scale left them less room for exultation. Captain Thomas Davis accepted a bribe from Wintour and put him in possession of the garrisons of Huntley and Westbury. This they took seriously to heart : it was a loss of eighty men with their arms. Davis was posted in military form on the gallows at Gloucester as a villain and a traitor ; and the Lord General was requested that his name might be published with equal ignominy in all the parliamen- tary garrisons. The same was done soon after in the case of a person of higher note, Sir Eichard, brother of that renowned Sir Beville Grenville, whose monument is on the height of Lansdown where he fell. 2 Sir Eichard had returned from Ire- land, and after feigning to engage for the Houses, went to the King : the defection of several of their commanders seemed to call for some public animadversion according to their articles of war ; and the instances of Fortescue, Urrey, Kyrle, Chudleigh, and others provoked them to make an example. After long forbearance they pitched upon Major Brookbank, one who turned his back upon them at Edge Hill ; tried him by a court- martial and shot him. 3 1 True Relation of a Wicked Plot, &e. Bibl. Glouc. 283 ct seqq. 2 [He did not, however, die on the spot, but in the rectory-house at Cold Ashton, hither he was removed from the field.] 3 Perfect Biurnall, Jan. 11, 1643-4. This was before Grenville left them. 362 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 During the whole of this winter the Governor of Gloucester by stratagem or force kept his opponents fully employed. We have hut faintly traced his exploits on the side with which we are immediately concerned, for to exhibit them all in their due proportion would require an ampler canvass than we can com- mand or they have ever found. His chaplain and historian, Corbet, has faithfully executed his task, so far as he has gone ; but even he, judicious as he is, presents us rather with a stiff and hasty outline than a finished portraiture ; his narrative has caught the hurried spirit of the incidents before him, leaving us to desire a more exact enumeration of dates, and those minor touches of occurrence and character which must have presented themselves abundantly, and would have sparkled in his story. Almost every day brought some event of importance, some new situation of difficulty to one towards whom all brave men con- tinued to look with admiration, and who was watched and beset by more thousands than he had hundreds to oppose to them. His well-known diligence and the uncertainty of his movements kept many a sentinel on the alert throughout the dreary nights of a bitter season. Mynne was strong at Newent, Highleaden, and Taynton, petty out-garrisons to Newent, 1 and Wintour had re-occupied Newnham, and fortified the church with four pieces of ordnance, so that the West seemed closed against inroad. But as Massey delighted to make his power felt where he was least expected, he had built and launched a vessel on the Severn, capable of containing a sufficient number of men to disturb and plunder at their pleasure upon the opposite bank ; and having manned it with seamen and musketeers, sent it down to Chepstow. The soldiers rushed on shore, and, ere the town could recover from its surprise, seized and carried off most of the officers of a regiment of horse 2 raising by Lord Herbert, to be commanded by Colonel O'Neale, and took a vessel from Bristol laden with vari- ous articles of which they were in the utmost need. It became evident how little had been effected by the Cavaliers worthy of their strength ; and as the example and success of Massey pro- duced a magnetic effect upon his followers, so the caution or Sir Richard Grenville came from London to Oxford with thirty-six horse. Dug- dale, Diary, March 3. 1 There was another at Dymock. 2 In the parish register of Chepstow is an entry referable to this transaction. 1643. Capt"' Carvine who was killed in his Chambers in the George Inn by certain Souldiers which came from Gloucester was buried 20"' Jan y . 1643] MASSEY'S ESCAPE. 363 timidity and failures of Vavasour increased the discouragement of those aroundhim. He invested Boddington House near Tewkes- bury ; and the mere rumour of a force marching from Gloucester was sufficient to relieve it. And yet at one time he had, in and around Tewkesbury, no less than 1,500 horse and foot. Mynne, an abler master of his art, enjoyed far higher confidence ; but as yet he held only a subordinate command. He had been heard to say that he would take Gloucester with 200 men ; and he was a leader against whom Massey could act with least effect, and from whom he expected annoyance : indeed, he had a narrow escape from falling into his hands. Having led 200 musketeers and 100 horse 1 towards Taynton House, and succeeded in luring the enemy forth upon this kind of challenge, as he was departing last of the rear-guard, they charged him, when by one of those accidents which Montaigne enumerates among the disadvantages of horsemen, he was brought into jeopardy. Closely pressed he had wheeled his horse about, and was in the act of charging home in return, when his curb snapped asunder, and he was carried headlong among the Cavaliers : a trooper who followed him shot the soldier with whom he had grappled, and effected his rescue. 1 The garrison of Taynton was in the house of one "William Cundall, and was planted there by Mynne, who said he could not be secure at Newent without it. S. P. xcvi. 193 et setft. 364 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 CHAPTER XVII. A new Great Seal adopted by the Parliament — Account of the Scottish army — Rupert's warrants and quarterings — "Waller's warrants — A pause in hostilities — Lord Mayor of London feasts the two Houses of Parliament — Scots cross the borders — Landing of other regiments from Ireland, and their defeat at Nant- wich — King's speech on the assembling of Pa-liament at Oxford — Proceedings of the Houses — Affairs in "Wales ; barbarity of Captain Swanley there — Colonel Mynne at Oxford— King's troops in the counties of Worcester and Gloucester — Vavasour retires from his command — Rupert declared General of the royal forces in Salop and the neighbouring counties, and President of North Wales: his letter to Colonel Ottley, Governor of Shrewsbury; takes up his head-quar- ters there ; relieves Newark — State of Ludlow and the Court of the Marches — Colonel Woodhouse Governor of Ludlow, his capture of Hopton Castle and massacre of the garrison. While to the general reader the petty disputes that have been recorded, compared with public transactions of greater magni- tude and interest, may appear, according to an expression of Milton, but as ' the combats of kites and crows,' it will not be forgotten that the provincial historian has set himself within a circle, from which, though he should occasionally make excur- sions, he may not too frequently or widely depart. An occasion of so doing, however, now presents itself, since a part of the period through which we have passed was distinguished by incidents of such importance as to draw on the gravest con- sequences. The more prominent of these shall be briefly enumerated. As the rulers at Westminster had hitherto assumed the authority and designation of ' King and Parliament,' but had found much inconvenience from the absence of the Great Seal, they resolved to go on no further without that important ensign of the regal office. All letters, patents and grants which had passed since the 2nd of May 1642, the day on which the Lord Keeper had left them and carried the Seal down to his Majesty at York, they declared void and of none effect ; and hence 1643] PARLIAMENTARY GREAT SEAL. 365 many titles and honours conferred upon the Koyalists during this interval were unacknowledged by the Parliamentarians. Scrupulous about legal forms in many things while they owned no restraint in others, they justified what they were about to do by reciting the several mischiefs to which this deficiency rendered them liable : they alleged that it obstructed the course of justice : no writs, no proclamations could be issued : no elec- tions could take place to fill up vacant seats in Parliament. The Lords, who had hesitated, gave way ; and on the last day of November a new Great Seal was carried in state by the Speaker of the House of Commons attended by all the members to the House of Lords, where he delivered it to Lord Grey of "Wark, their Speaker, who, in presence of both these assemblies, placed it in the hands of commissioners ordained to hold it in custody. 1 Charles was troubled at this their additional assump- tion of power ; but could it be expected that, having so often opposed him in the field, they would abstain from any other species of defiance ? His own prohibition of intercourse between his head-quarters and London they retorted upon him. John Scudamore, purveyor of wheat to his Majesty's bakehouse, with others, was commanded to go to Oxford to make up his accounts, and petitioned for permission ; but the Commons enjoined these parties not to go upon their peril ; 2 and one of the King's messengers 3 who was the bearer of some declarations was hanged as a spy. But among his increasing causes of disquietude none, perhaps, sat more heavily upon him than the making of the Great Seal, and the calling in of bis own country- men to act against him. As for the Houses they were reviving from the temporary disorder into which they had been thrown ; for the misery of the Lord General's army had been relieved, and the variance between him and Waller, which had threatened evil consequences to their party, had been composed ; and the public were upon the tiptoe of expectation for the coming of 1 These were two commoners and four Lords, one of whom was Henry Earl of Kent, Lord of the manor of Archenfleld and its dependences in Herefordshire : who, upon the death of Anthony his father, had just taken his seat upon his succession without, a writ from the King. — {L.J. Nov. 22 ) When the Queen soon after was formally impeached of high treason, he was on the committee to consider the most parliamentary way of bringing her to trial. By his mother's side he was nephew to the noted Parliamentarian, Colonel Purefoy. 2 C. J. Sept. 29. a Knireton. — He was executed at the Royal Exchange, Nor. 27. 366 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 those Scots, who, like an arrow upon the bowstring ready to be loosed, waited but for the signal to speed their way. That nation became altogether in high esteem with their Southern allies : everything relating to them acquired a double interest, and the reputation of their virtue and valour was magnified. The hireling writers find no theme more profitable : journals are set on foot to bring them into notice ; and rude horns and shrill voices proclaim in the streets of the metropolis ' the Scottish Dove,' ' the Scotch Mercury,' and ' the Scotch In- telligencer,' to gratify the expecting citizens with news from the Tweed. One of the numbers of the Intelligencer 1 taunt- ingly describes the general proceedings and state of these Northern auxiliaries. The Scottish army hath a very able traine of artillerie, and many pretty engines for war, & devices for killing Cavaliers & Papists, the noble & able general Lisly hath continued (qu. contrived ?) these, & many other excellent utinsells for War. They are setting out orders of discipline for the Army, which will be very strict, & severe ; for it is one of our best principles, to keepe our souldiers at comand ; & I dare say a proud word, never was there a better disciplined Army in the Christian world than ours ; we have no dangerous mutinies, nor repinings nor complaints, but an universall cheerfulnesse in o r whole body ; you will not believe how peacebly we marched with our Army when we came last into England, & how we kept them in order ; never did Army make less spoile, commit less violence, fewer plunderings, 2 unlesse he were a bad man indeede, and a very enemy to the cause ; & then we borowed something of him till our returne. Our Army is very hardy too, & can endure all heates & colds ; & a small victailing will serve the turne, a little paste well kneaded in the palme of their hands is there usuall dyet, & they are not so tender as your english Cavaliers, who love ease & eating & ca- rousing ; they will find wee are too hard for them in o r marchings, wee never scruple att winter, nor bad weather, if the way will but fit for the Carriage of ordnance we shall travail ourselves well enough, we can trott over the mountaines & forrests of snow when y c Cavaliers sett . . . over a fire. 3 1 Oct. 19 to 25. 2 [There seems no doubt that Lesley exercised strict discipline over the soldiers ; but that some of the officers did a little business for themselves in this way appears from a very amusing and most impudent demand, made by Major-General Sir John Lessly, Knight (!) on Sir Thomas Riddell of Gateshead. — Fairfax Correspon- dence, by Johnson, ii. 14.] 3 ['The Scots marched (in August 1640) with a very sorry equipage; every 1643] OXFORD PARLIAMENT SUMMONED. 367 The Scots are advanced in a body up to the borders & there they stay a little to compleate themselves and then are to come on for England. The name of a Parliament habitually coupled with senti- ments of confidence and respect in the breast of every well- wisher to his country having proved so mighty against him, the King resorted to the experiment of enlisting it in his favour by summoning that portion of the representatives that dissented from the councils of those who continued to oppose him. Money and military stores were urgently requisite to keep up his condition, and maintain his garrisons and armies ; and he had dearly learned the unpopularity of attempting to raise supplies unconstitutionally, unsanctioned and alone. He be- lieved that the peers and commoners on whom he could rely were numerous enough to form two Houses to confront the London Parliament, to show that his misfortunes had not driven him into the hands of mere Court favourites, and that he was not bereft of public counsellors and friends. Accordingly by proclamation, dated December 22nd, he calls upon all who were expelled for performing their duty to him, and in whose room no persons had since been chosen by the country, as well as the rest, who being conscious of their want of freedom should be willing to withdraw from the rebellious city of London, to assemble at the city of Oxford upon Monday the 22nd of January, and he offers a pardon to all members of either House who should then and there appear. While, as part of the system adopted against Gloucester, the Cavaliers watched the whole line of communication through which the long-expected supplies were to pass from London, but had been halted at Northampton and could make no progress on their way, Eupert had secured Towcester. 1 Early in November Skippon from Newport Pagnell reported that eight soldier carried a week's provision of oatmeal, and they had a drove of cattle with them for their food. They had also an invention of guns of white iron, tinned and done about with leather, and corded so that they could serve for two or three discharges. These were light, and were carried on horses. And when they came to Newburn the English army that defended the ford was surprised with a dis- charge of artillery. Some thought it magick ; and all were put in such disorder that the whole army did run with so great precipitation, that Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had a command in it, did not stick to own that till he passed the Tees his legs trembled under him.'— Burnet, History of His Own Tims, i. 38.] 1 The Towcester garrison was drawn off to Bruckley, Jan. 19, 1643-4. 368 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 or ten regiments of the King's horse with a body of foot were about that town : the Prince fortified it, and made it his head- quarters. If any reliance can be placed upon the version of one of his warrants to the country printed in the Perfect Diurnall, 1 the strain of them was sufficiently vigorous. By "Vertue of the Authority and power given to me from our Soveraigne Lord King Charles, under the great Seale of England, as Generall under his Majesty of all his Maiesties Forces of Horse already raised or to be raised within His Maiesties Kingdome of England or Dominion of Wales, for the defence of the true Protes- tant Religion, his Maiesties Person, the two Houses of Parliament, and their iust Priviledges, the Liberties and Proprieties of the Subiects. I doe strictly charge and command you and every of you, whom it may, or shall concerne, all delayes, pretences and excuses what soever set aside, immediatly after the sight hereof, to send into Thomas Jay, His Majesties Commissary Generall for the provision of his Horse forces, lying at Ambrose Bartons house in Tocester, over against the Talbot, all posible provision of mans meat and horse meat ; And I doe also hereby strictly charge and command you in the like manner to send into Leivtenant Colonell Green his Majesties Engineere, lying at the Signe of Betty Bridges, or the Running Mare in Tosester aforesaid, as many lusty and able Pioneers or labourers with shovels, spades, pickaxes, mattocks, and crows of iron, band- barrows, bags, and baskets to carry earth in, as you can possibly find and provide within your Constablery, in the punctuall performance of these my commands for his Majesties present service, you and every of you, whome it may or shall concerne, must in no wise faile, as you will answer the contrary at your utmost perill ; as the totall plundering and burning of your houses, with what other mischiefes the licenced and hungry Souldiers can inflict upon you ; And for so doing this shall be to you, and every of you sufficient warrant. Given at Eastern Park under my hand and seale at armes, the first day of November. Anno. 1643. Ropetit. To the Constable, Officers, and Inhabitants of Ratherthopen in Winnershly Hundred in the County of Northampton. The complaint of another news-editor '* upon ths same subject, himself a furious assailant of Royalty, may provoke a smile. ' Hopton, they say, sends out his Warrants in his own 1 Monday Nov. 6. " iLarchamont Nedliam, in Merc. TSritan.. Nov. 30 to Dec. 7. 16 43] A TRANQUIL CHRISTMAS. 369 name for the Countrey to come in, and in such a high stile as if he had forgotten who is King this yeare.' To meet exposures of this kind the Oxford Mercury puts forth a warrant of Sir William Waller : » To the Constables of Singleton and Westbourne and the Tything- men thereof. Whereas I am imployed by the States for the service of the King and Parliament, and to save the Countyfrom the Enemy, these are to will and command yon, that immediately npon the sight hereof you warn all Barronets, Knights, and tfeomen, and all other within your Liberties to appear before me at Arundel to-morrow the 20th of this instant December, then and there to declare them- selves, whether they will joyne with me or not, and you are likewise to let them know, that if they fayle in their appearance, I shall take them as enemies accordingly, and hereof fayle you not as you will answer the contrary at your ntmost perils. Given under my hand this 19. of December. 1643. William Wallee. It has been remarked by an accurate observer, 2 and consider- ing the number of angry swordsmen dispersed throughout the contested counties, it is not unworthy of record, — that from Christmas 1643 to the 26th of January following no action took place of any general importance : — a pause longer in its dura- tion, and, though only once occurring, not less acceptable than that periodical ' truce of God ' introduced by the Church in darker ages to sheathe the weapons of barbarians : it also well accorded with the hallowed season that commemorates the ap- pearance upon earth of the Great Messenger of peace and good will towards men. Not that this season received much attention from one of the parties ; for it did not escape observation that the Houses in London held their public sittings on Christmas- day. The people in their attachment to time-honoured usages that had obtained ever since the Christianising of Britain, and were too deeply incorporated with their habits and institutions to be at once obliterated, were scandalized at the disregard manifested by the opening of shops in some of the principal places of resort ; and they showed a disposition to tumult. The royal proclamation for assembling at Oxford was encountered in the scanty House of Lords at Westminster by an exhibition of defiance or intimidation. 3 When the clerk had 1 Friday, Dec. 29. 2 Rushworth, 3, ii. 299. s Jan. 2. VOL. I. » B 370 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 read it, they ordered him to lay before them on the following day an account of all the impeachments against delinquents brought up from the Commons, that it might be ascertained how far they had been proceeded against, and that further course might be taken to bring them to trial ; and they revived the impeachment of the Queen, appointing a committee to con- sider the most parliamentary way of prosecuting her. Some uneasiness had lately been shown by the leading persons of the city of London ; their trade languished ; their poor increased ; they reminded the Commons of their burdens and distresses, and the protracted employment of their regiments without pay and far from their homes. The representation was not without its effect : the Eed, Yellow, and Green regiments that had been with Waller at the siege of Basing House and surprise of Alton, where that General had gained an advantage over part of the forces of Sir Ralph Hopton, returned in triumph escorting 400 prisoners taken in the fight. In critical seasons when political managers depend upon excitement, the public mind has often been successfully divided between the attraction of a show and the rumour of a conspiracy. Here they were well connected, the latter leading the way. A plot having been announced for effecting a breach between the Parliament and the city, in proof of their attachment and unanimity, the Chief Magistrate and citizens invited the members of either House, with the Lord General and other distinguished personages, to a banquet in Merchant-Taylors' Hall. The order of the festival was, that it should begin by prayers and a sermon at Christ Church in New- gate Street. The Earls of Essex, Warwick, and Manchester, 16 peers, many military commanders, nearly 200 members of the Commons, their Speaker having his mace borne before him, with the Scottish Commissioners and Assembly of Divines, were joined by the Mayor, Aldermen, Common Council and militia, the whole walking in procession by pairs through the streets. Stephen Marshall was the preacher of the day ; and the orator iu the fulness of his heart laboured hard to convince his hearers of the bond of unity among them, while he held them up to observation in a style not very dissimilar to that of a showman addressing a knot of boors and children at a fair. His words, reported with approbation by a chronicler of their own, 1 are these : — 1 Vicars, God's Ark, 12C. 1643] ADVANCE OF SCOTS— LANDING OF IRISH. 371 Heer in this Assembly you may first see the two Houses of Parliament .... here you may also see his Excellency my most honoured Lord, and neer him that other Noble Lord the Commander of our Forces by sea .... here also you may behold the representa- tive Body of the Citie of London .... here you may likewise see a reverend Assembly of grave and learned Divines .... all these of our own Nation, and with them you may see the Honourable, Reverend and Learned Commissioners of the Church of Scotland, and in them behold the wisdom and the affection of their whole Nation willing to live and die with us : all these you may behold in one view .... Oh Beloved, how beautifull is the Face of this Assembly ! verily, I may say of it as it was said of Solomon's Throne, that the like was never to be seen in any other Nation. ' No noisy drinking of healths attended this feast : that practice, as reprobate, they left to the Cavaliers ; but the historian in- forms us that ' at the godly motion of the Assembly of Divines,' it was closed by singing the 67th Psalm. News from the North brought fresh cause of exultation : their brethren, the Scots, had crossed the borders. 2 The march of these veterans was an exemplification of the account given of them. In two nights the Tweed was frozen so hard that the army passed over dry-shod : sometimes they were up to their knees in snow ; within a week a thaw came on ; and the foot were forced to wade, now up to their middle, and now to their armpits, through the swelling waters. Another important article of intelligence followed hard upon it. Part of the Anglo-Irish army had landed at Mostyn in Flintshire and taken several small places. Those who were most interested in their success had serious apprehensions from the state of North "Wales and Cheshire lest some disaster should befal them. Lord Byron marched with 1,000 horse and 300 foot to join with Lord Capel and open a passage to them through a difficult country. 3 At last they 1 [With much more fulsome adulation, not worth extracting, however character- istic of the spirit of the Puritan pulpit at that time.] 2 Jan. 15, 1643-4.— Bushwort h. 3 fit was during this march that Byron put to death all the defenders of the church at Barthomley, with this barbarous and inhuman comment, ' I put them all to the sword, which I find to be the best way to proceed with these kind of people, for mercy to them is cruelty.'— (Phillips, Civil War in Wales, i. 189.) It may however be observed that his brother Robert, though writing in a most un- feeling strain, states that they had refused to surrender. At Basing House, Crom- well suffered his men to slaughter a large number of the garrison, after they had offered to parley.'] BB 2 372 THE CIVIL "WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. H643 invested Nantwich, 1 where they were attacked by Sir Thomas Fairfax and entirely routed. Of 3,000 foot, more than half were taken prisoners or slain ; but the horse to the amount of 1,800 chiefly saved themselves by flight. 2 This action, while it lasted, was as severe as any that had been fought ; and the fact, that 120 Irish women, wives and camp-followers of the soldiery, were found to be armed with long knives, awakened much popular disgust and indignation. King Charles met his Parliament at Oxford on the day appointed, 3 when a far greater number of the peers than were then left at Westminster, and nearly 200 of the Lower House, made their appearance or were reckoned upon the list. In the magnificent hall of Christ Church, an apartment not unworthy of a national solemnity, bereft of much of his wonted circum- stance and pomp, the Monarch addressed this Council, great part of whom had obeyed his summons through perils of infested roads, and at the risk of proscription in their liberty, and con- fiscation in their estates lying within the reach of their enemies. He called upon this self-devoted band to bear him witness with what reluctance he had resorted to defensive arms, not until he was almost in the power of those who in two set battles had informed the world how tender they were of the safety of his person ; 4 and he dwelt upon the miseries induced by these hostilities. 1 Jan. 25. 2 Sir Robert [nephew of Sir John] Byron says they rallied about 1,300. — Carte, Letters, i. 42. The fault that led to this catastrophe was their undervaluing of the enemy ; and the singular manner in which the cavalry were separated from the infan- try, and the latter caught as it were in a trap, would be interpreted as though they had been given to them as a prey, and had a tendency to heighten the religious confidence or presumption of the Parliamentarians. Sir John Byron, in relating this defeat to the Marquess of Ormonde (Jan. 31, 1643,) and asking for supplies, says, 'I could wish they were rather Irish then inglish, for the Inglish that we haue allready are very mutinous, & beeing for the most part this country men, are so poisoned by the ill affected people here, that they grow very could in this Seruice, & since the Ecbells heere call in the Scotch I know no reason why the king should make any scruple of calling in the Irish or the Turcks if they would serue him.' — Carte's MSS. E, 6. Sir Michael Ernie, made prisoner here, was ex- changed in June. The Marquess of Ormonde had a high opinion of his judgment and experience. — Carte, Life, iii. 318. [Monk was also taken at this time.] 3 Jan. 22. 4 [Since the businesse at Edge hill .... Believe it you will never more be able to persuade them (the country), that so many Canon and Musket shot were made at him for the safety of his person.- -Letter from a Country Gentleman to a Friend, 1642.] 1643 3 OXFORD PARLIAMENT. 373 I foresaw (said lie) not only the rage and oppression which would every day break out upon my subjects, as the malice of these ill men increased, and their purposes were detected, but also the great in- conveniences my best subjects would suffer even by my own army raised and kept for their preservation and protection ; for I was not so ill a soldier, as not to foresee, how impossible it was to keep a strict discipline, I being to struggle with so many defects and necessities, and I assure you, the sense I have of their sufferings, who deserve well of me, by my forces, hath been a greater grief to me than any thing for my own particular. He complained heavily of the invitation given to a foreign power to invade the kingdom in their names ; and that this invasion was challenged from them as a debt to the Common- wealth. In this assembly every customary form was observed : each House sat apart and had its Speaker. Sergeant Sir Sampson Eure, member for Leominster, filled the chair of the Commons, and the attendance of Herefordshire members proved the continued attachment of their county to his Majesty. Humphrey Coningsby and James Scudamore, Eichard Seaborne and Thomas Tomkins, Esquires, were present, and Arthur, Lord Eanelagh, and Walter Kyrle, Esquire, appear among the names of those who are mentioned as employed in service, or absent by leave or sickness. And thus Sir Robert Harley is demonstrated to have been the sole representative of the then small minority in Herefordshire who set their faces against the King. They commenced their proceedings by endeavouring to prove that they had a sincere desire of obtaining peace. The Lords wrote to the Scots Privy Council ; and a letter was addressed to the Earl of Essex signed by 43 peers and 1 1 8 commoners, among whom were Eure, Lord Eanelagh, Coningsby, Seaborne, and Tomkins. Charles sent a message to both Houses at "Westminster : but none of these overtures met with any con- currence. Both parties would have peace, but each upon their own plan, a sad proof of that object being unattainable at which all professed to aim, but none apparently knew how to approach in the only feasible way, by throwing distrust aside. 1 The Oxford Houses voted a censure against the Scots as having by invasion declared war, and they denounced all Englishmen who should assist them enemies to the State. They voted that the Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster, for having 1 [See letters of Sir T. Roe, in Appendix XV.] 374 THE CIVIL WAE IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 raised forces under the command of the Earl of Essex, and aided and abetted the coming in of the Scots in a warlike manner, were guilty of high treason ; 1 and they invited all good men who desired peace to join with them in suppressing these enemies of peace. On the other hand their proposals as well as their denunciations were treated with contempt, their charge of treason was never forgotten by the London Houses, and on the first opportunity they visited it with their heaviest censure. 2 They never acknowledged ' those of Oxford,' — so they were wont to describe them, — to be any more than a 'junto' or 'conven- tion.' Their overtures of peace were ' a pretence, an attempt destructive to the kingdom and people ; ' the King's adherents who had assembled round him, were ' unnatural monsters, who like vipers, to make way for their own safety, would destroy the womb that bare them ; and because themselves are justly cut off as rotten and destructive branches of the representative body of the kingdom, would therefore pluck up the tree by the root, and destroy both Parliament and kingdom.' 3 Could any that were not totally enamoured of discord, contemplate these mutual frowns and revilings without a shudder of despair ? ' All things tend to ruyne,' remarked an aged statesman 4 on the continuance of hostilities, and in the prospect of his own approaching end, ' and I shall desire, with Castruccio to be buryed with my face downeward, not to see, or comply in the graue, with the univer- sall disorder.' Foreign and rival nations laid aside, at least in appearance, their political jealousies, and offered to interpose ; but the French and Dutch ambassadors, though accepted by the King, found mediation impossible. There must be another and a deeper plunge into this sea of blood. Not a few would gladly have been excused from advancing any further. Of the Eoyal- ists split into factions, Trevor says, 'I find both sides very weary and willing to go to bed, and be out of harmes way, and especially they that are in authority over us. 5 The Oxford 1 This vote of treason was not unanimous : some protested against it and others absented themselves not to concur in it. Seaborne afterwards protested that when he heard it was resolved upon, he quitted Oxford without leave. — S. P. 2. vi. 366. Lord Camden also refused to concur in the vote. 2 One of those (Tonikins) who had consented to all that had passed in Oxford, having ere long fallen into the power of the Commons at Westminster, they brought him upon his knees at their bar, where he received a severe rebuke from the Speaker, and was committed to a common prison. (Jan. 7, 1645.) » 0. P. H. xiii. 82. 4 Sir Thomas Eoe. 6 Carte, Ormonde, iii. 232. 1643] DELIBERATIONS OF OXFORD PARLIAMENT. 375 Parliament, set in the gap, had the hard fate not only of being detested in London, but regarded by the King himself, Ms counsellors and soldiers with suspicion ; by him under a doubt more natural, perhaps, than justifiable, lest they should vexa- tiously thwart him by taking too much upon them, — by those around him, lest certain abuses, of which many of them were conscious, should become the subject of enquiry. They attended however with great affection and unanimity to the despatch of necessary affairs, 1 and having ascertained that no reconciliation was to be effected, during the remainder of their session of about three months their deliberations were in general confined to the war, and the circumstances attendant upon it. They voted supplies to the King, and endeavoured to correct some of the military evils under which the country laboured ; and they so far interfered with the army as to provide a check to disorders of which his Majesty had himself complained. The question of supply was one of their greatest difficulties : their mode of disposing of it was by subscription and excise. Writs of Privy Seal, formerly so offensive when issued under royal authority alone, it was thought might now less objectionably be employed by advice of Parliament. They were framed in moderate and con- ciliatory expressions : the occasion of them, the hostile invasion of the Scots, and the obligation upon subjects of England and Wales to resist it, were set forth : they were addressed to those whose personal services might have been required, but who, instead of this, were invited to assist with a certain specified sum in money or plate : the example of the members of both Houses at Oxford was pointed out, they having advanced a con- siderable proportion towards a levy of 100,000?. for the pay and recruiting of the army, that there might be no suffering from free quarter or the unruliness of soldiers : the sheriff of the county in which the parties resided was appointed the receiver ; and a pledge of repayment was annexed. These instruments were issued about the middle of February. The excise, a tax previously unknown in England, had been adopted by the London Parliament nearly two years before ; and in this the legislators at Oxford, so much at variance with them on other points, imitated their example. Yet both sides seemed at first ashamed of the discredit of such an impost, which was to have, 1 Letter of Secretary Nicholaf.~Ca.vte, Ormonde, iii. 279, 376 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 continued only during the war ; but, as the never-to-be-for- gotten fruit of the quarrel, has not been taken off to the present hour. So far were the Oxford Parliament faithful to those whom they represented, that they petitioned the King before their separation, that the present burdens, submitted to as exigencies of war and necessity, might not be drawn into example, nor ever be mentioned as precedents : and they re- quested his assent to a law for that purpose. The pressure of contributions upon the counties and townships for their garrisons was not forgotten : a part of this petition was, that he would cause the contracts to be so observed, that there might be no just cause of complaint against the military for taking money, horses or cattle, provisions or other goods, timber or wood, and that offenders might receive exemplary punishment. All that was in his power the King promised to do. 1 General orders were in consequence despatched into various parts : and an abstract of those circulated in Monmouthshire is offered to the reader. 2 To Oxford, during this assemblage, from every quarter where the royal authority was not suppressed, nor the roads entirely obstructed, a crowd of strangers necessarily repaired. From North Wales arrived Williams, Archbishop of York, and Lord Capel from Shrewsbury. Williams, after his expulsion from the House of Lords, had retired to his Palace at Cawood, near York, whence being driven by the fury of young Hotham, who sought his person, if not his life, he had taken refuge in Conway Castle. By influence of kindred and good-will, unassisted by soldiers or Commission of Array he had exercised a sort of moral control, 1 0. P. H. xiii. 144, et seq. 2 [The rate was to be apportioned by the chief constable and the majority of the parishioners in the same "way as other public imposts, with an appeal to the commissioners. Collectors to be appointed : part to be paid in money, part in provision, to be accounted for by the commissary. Deficiencies of those unable to pay to be made good by the parish ; those refusing payment to be charged double. Soldiers not to intermeddle except upon default. In case of billeting, 10s. per week to be allowed for captains and superior officers, 7s. for lieutenants and cor- nets, 3s. 6d. for inferior officers and troopers, 2s. 6d. for foot soldiers and pioneers. Eree quarter not allowed where contribution was paid, nor without the consent of the constable and parish officers. Horses and oxen not to be pressed for more than one day, without great necessity ; 2d. allowed for a horse, ^d. for an ox, per mile. Treasurer to repay all loss and damage. Robbery or wrong done by soldiers to be proceeded against by common law, and no protection to be given by commanders. These orders to be published in all fairs, markets, churches, &c. — Powell MSS.] 16i 3] LORD CAPEL RECALLED. 377 and helped to keep his native town in its allegiance. There, however, he saw things gradually becoming worse, and Denbigh- shire plundered by the Parliamentarians without a check, while Lord Capel remained inactive in Shrewsbury, not daring to take the field, lest he should be shut out from that place : for according to the account given by the Archbishop to the Marquess of Ormonde, 1 the citizens and inhabitants of the county held not only a mean but malignant estimation of him. To what extent this representation was just, or what portion of blame, if any, could be attached to the Lord Lieutenant is very uncertain. Noblemen selected as military governors from their rank or fidelity, were not therefore best qualified for their office, especially where they were not at home, and perhaps least of all, as we have seen, in Wales. Other reasons might be given for his failure; his conduct was probably too upright to be popular, and he might be too little of a soldier to suit such an appoint- ment in the present crisis. 2 These are fair presumptions in favour of his integrity, and no more than seem to be his due. The Crown could not boast a more disinterested servant, nor the country, in his station, many a better man. His ' Contempla- tions Moral and Divine,' published after his decease, are a triumphant refutation of the calumnies of his adversaries. Having in vain endeavoured to curb the insurgent spirit that openly and secretly was spreading through his government, 3 either at his own solicitation or by special command he was recalled, arrived at Oxford on the 19th of December, and as if to avoid coming into contact with the Archbishop of York set out with his private retinue for Bristol on the day 4 on which that prelate made his appearance there. Lord Herbert and the Earl of Carbery also came up from the lower part of the Prin- cipality, whence they were bearers of no welcome news. Eichard Vaughan, Earl of Carbery, of Golden Grove in the county of Caermarthen, had been constituted Lieutenant-Gene- 1 Nov. 12, 1642. — Carte, iii. App. 199. 2 [Lord Byron writes to Rupert concerning Shrewsbury, Jan. 14, 1643, ' It is a disaffected town, and has only a garrison of burghers, who will be ready enough to betray it to the rebels, and an old doting fool there is for a governor, who hath no command at all over them.'] 3 [Sir John Mennes, and Woodhouse, who was sent by Rupert to command till his own arrival, made great complaints of the disloyal and negligent spirit of the townspeople. — Correspondence, Feb. 2 and 9.] 1 Jan. 15. 378 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 ral of the counties of Pembroke, Cardigan and Caermarthen, 1 where through great interest and exertions he had been endea- vouring to maintain the King's authority in a doubtful struggle. It will be recollected that the Earl of Stamford had been in- effectually applied to for assistance by those who declared them- selves for the Parliament ; but, though they could obtain none from him, they had made good their ground, and kept up a successful opposition to the Lieutenant-General and his Com- missioners of Array ; for they had prevailed against him on many occasions, under the command of a servant of the Earl of Pembroke, to whom his Lordship gave a commission at the commencement of the troubles. 2 It is not my province to enter at any length upon this cruel episode of the war, or to relate how from small beginnings a band of 60 foot and 30 horse increased in the spring of 1643-4 to an host of 1,200 foot and 300 horse, subsequently reduced the county of Pembroke, and had a Major-General 3 appointed over them. If they had not early attracted the formal notice of the Houses, they had been succoured by one of their naval officers, Captain Swanky, 4 whose seamen had served with them resolutely by land as well as by sea. This commander must be reckoned among the unbridled aggravators of these civil miseries, and the lively applause bestowed upon a barbarous deed of Swanley stamps inhumanity upon his character, and is a trait of increasing ferocity in his party. Cruising off Milford Haven he took certain vessels belonging to the King in which were a number of Irish, whom he mercilessly tied back to back and cast into the sea. 5 The 1 The Earl of Carbery's Instructions as Lieutenant of all the King's forces raised or to be raised in the counties of Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Cardigan, the Town and County of Haverfordwest, and the County and Borough of Carmar- then in South Wales bear date March 25, 1613.— MSS. Harl. 6852. 2 C. J. April 8, 1644. [As far back as July, 1643, Colonel Sir Richard Slough- ter wrote to Rupert that Pembrokeshire had declared for the Parliament, and possessed more arms than all the Associated Counties under Vavasour ; of whose remissness (except at Raglan) both he and Vavasour made great complaint. — Cor- respondence, 91.] 3 Rowland Laugharne, of St. Bride's, in the county of Pembroke, Esq. ' [This man had brought the contested magazine from Hull to London, and had been active in seizing the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth for the Parliament. — C.J. Aug. 30, 1642.] 5 We have the authority of the Marquess of Ormonde for the fact that the men drowned by Swanley were part of the Anglo-Irish army. In a letter to Sir John Mcnnes (then at Shrewsbury, and Master of the Ordnance to Prince Rupert there) he mentions his intention of sending over 300 men who were to be forwarded as 1643] DISTRIBUTION OF ROYAL FORCES. 379 news-books sported with his novel mode of making them, as they said, ' water-rats ; ' and when he appeared at the bar of the House of Commons to give an account of his services and the state of South Wales, he was highly applauded, and invested with a medal and a chain of gold. To Oxford among others came Mynne from Newent during the treacherous quiet procured by Vavasour's treaty with Back- house. His errand at the Court was to prefer a suit to the King that he might be continued in a post that he had enjoyed before he quitted Ireland. 'There is one Colonel Nicholas Minn here,' says Lord Digby in a despatch to the Viceroy, ' who brought a regiment out of Munster, who hath had formerly the govern- ment of Halboling-Castle. It is his Majesty's pleasure, if your Lordship approve of it, that that Government should be past to him under the Great Seale of that Kingdom.' To which Ormonde replies, ' There shall be forthwith a grant to Colonel Mine as his Majestie commands.' ' At the beginning of March the troops that had been dis- tributed throughout Worcester and Gloucestershire, watching the Governor of Gloucester, between the King's head-quarters and the County of Hereford, were thus stationed. Earl of Northampton 6' colours in all 300 foot Colonel Gerrard 150 horse Colonel Washington 400 foot Colonel Vavasour 700 foot Colonel Mynne 1000 foot, and some Irish horse . Colonel Veel 500 foot Sir Walter Pye, Colonel Price Colonel Coningsby, Mr. Finch and others 600 horse Lord Chandos 100 horse . Quartered at Stow-in-the-Wold. Evesham. Tewkesbury. Newent. Painswick. Edgbury, Per- shore, and other places. Sudley. soon as their passage might be safe : ' for I would be loth to expose them desper- ately to their mercies, who shewed so little Christianity of late to a many of those that went with Colonel Willoughby, which soldiers they cast over- board, because Irish, although the most of them had faithfully served the King against their own Countrymen all the time of those troubles.' May 29, 1644, Dublin Castle.— (Carte, Ormonde, iii. 310.) In another letter to the Archbishop of York, he gives the number seventy men and two women, and says that all of them had lived during the war in the English quarters. 1 Carte, Ormonde, iii. 244, 256.— [Hawlbowling, or Hawlbowline, is a small 380 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 All these might have met at any rendezvous within four or five miles of the city. 1 Though the plot against Gloucester had failed, the men were not immediately withdrawn, and it might be thought that Vavasour had enough at his disposal to have executed some important service ; 2 but either from hesitation or want of actual talent he effected nothing worthy of record : only at the end of the month and close of his career, Painswick being once more in the hands of Massey, he marched upon it with a strong brigade and some artillery, forced the church, into which a lieutenant with 40 men, officers and soldiers, had thrown themselves, and took most of them prisoners. 3 Here ceased the exploits of Sir William Vavasour, and his command in the counties of Hereford and Gloucester. 4 To the last he adhered to his scheme of compelling a surrender by straiten- ing and distressing the city ; this he had executed at best but imperfectly ; and he seems to have been capable of little more. island in the harbour of Cork, fortified by Sir G. Carew after the defeat of the Spaniards in 1602, and taken by Cromwell in 1619. It is now the naval arsenal of Cork.] 1 MS. Note-book of Sir Samuel Luke. 1 [He complains, however, bitterly (March 1.) of being kept so low ; and fears he shall be unable any longer to hinder the long-expected convoy from reaching Gloucester.] 3 March 29. — [In his own account to the Prince he claims 200 prisoners : 30 Irish horse dismounted among the enclosures, routed 200 foot, and killed and took 60. This was his second success at this place. From his own account in the Rupert Correspondence, he had sent 550 horse and 700 foot to fetch in contribu- tions in the neighbourhood of Painswick, where they were attacked by 1,200 foot and 150 horse, but defeated them with a loss of more than 100 killed, and 30 prisoners, including two lieutenants, Massey's brother being severely wounded and himself escaping with difficulty. This was on Feb. 5. — Vavasour subse- quently (Feb. 17) writing from Newent, claims to have freed all the Forest from the rebel garrisons, and occupied four strong houses with troops. He was marching with the Irish to intercept the convoy from Gloucester, which was a source of constant anxiety to the Royalists.] 4 [For the time at least. The warrant for his recall is dated April 2 : but the. main object seems to have been the transfer of his men to Hopton's ranks, enfeebled by the heavy loss at Alresford : for he complains to Rupert on April 13, that the King had ordered away most of his troops ; and he evidently possessed or affected command for some time afterwards. He complained much on April 6, of an injurious influence exerted against him at Court by Lord Herbert: but, Aug. 29, we find from a letter signed by the Herefordshire Commissioners Lingen, Croft, and Rudhall, that after Mynne's death, Prince Rupert had appointed him Field- Marshal and Governor of Hereford City, without any mention of the county, or those of Monmouth or Gloucester: an omission which they had mentioned to the King and which he was willing that Rupert should supply.] 1643] RUPERT PRESIDENT OF NORTH WALES. 381 The emergency called for more active men and measures. Before Lord Capel retired it was in contemplation to have made the Marquess of Ormonde Lieutenant-General in North "Wales : hut further consideration determined that it would be most advisable that he should continue in Ireland. If the landing of the Anglo-Irish troops and their earlier operations had cleared the upper part of the Principality, their subsequent defeat revived the hopes of those who had run away to hide themselves. The disturbers of Cheshire and Shropshire were gradually gaining strength ; and the alarm communicated to the Eoyalists throughout the country from Chester to the south- ward might in some measure be allayed by the advancement of Prince Eupert to the command of that district with ample power of appointing subordinate officers at his pleasure, from his known zeal and ability to maintain his Majesty's cause. To grace his new office, and as some reward for his past services, he was created Duke of Cumberland and Earl of Holderness. He is indeed seldom mentioned by these titles. Plunderland was the punning version of the first of them bestowed by some who thought to bring him into ridicule : for a reason already as- signed his graver opponents never admitted these honours, and plain ' Prince Eupert ' by common consent was his style and title best known to all, which, whenever it was announced, brought confidence to his friends and dismay to his enemies. From the first week in January of this year he must be looked upon as ' Captain-General under his Majesty of all the forces now raised or being raised within Salop and the neighbouring counties and all North Wales ; ' and on him was conferred (Feb. 5) the title of President of North Wales. This appoint- ment was speedily announced in a despatch from the Prince to Sir Francis Ottley, Governor of Shrewsbury. S r . His Ma tie is pleased to entrust to my care his army in Shrop- shire and the countreyes adjacent, together with his interests there. In which comand I cannot but with very much apprehension thinke uppon Shrewsburie in your Government, and the safetie thereof. Especiallie since I understood of a late designe for the betraying thereof to the Enemy, for which you have divers persons in prison, but I doe not here they are brought to justice by any proceedinge against them, soe that the punishment may goe to some, the Exam- ple and Terro r to all. I must strictly require from you an accompt of that place, which is the Head quarter of those Countreyes, and 382 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE." [1643 where I intend to make my owne residence duringe the time of my stay in that comaund, and therefore must recomend to yon the par- ticulars followinge ; and require you to call together the Gentlemen and Townesmen to assist you in such charges as will be requisite for the coveringe of the Castle of Shrewsbury, and the dividinge and disposinge thereof into Roomes capable and fittinge to receive the stores : soe as such amunicon as from time to time shall be sent into those parts for his Ma ties service may lye drye and safe. I de- sire this be done with all possible speed, for I have this day sent away -50 Barrels of Powder to begin yo r . stores. Other proportions of that, and all other kind of amunicon, will bee speedily brought thither, and for the better security of the stores, which are the sinewes of the King's busines, I pray you, by the advice of Sir John Mennes, to consider of an accommodacon for such as shall be the Guard of that place, by erecting of a Courte of Guard and hutts for the Souldiers, for such numb r of men, and in such manner as you and S r John Mennes shall thinke best for his Ma ties service. I have no more to say to you at present, but shall willingly receive yo r Letters from time to time concerninge yo r affaires, and you shall be sure of all possible assistance and encouragement from mee Your very Loviiige friend, Rupert. Oxon, this 25 th day of Januarie 1643. The Gorerao r of Shrewsbury. For Sir Francis Ottley, K*. G-overnor of Shrewsbury. 1 This announcement was the more seasonable, inasmuch as it was addressed to them on the day of the disheartening event at Nantwich. To the best of the gentry in point of wealth and numbers the Prince would be most welcome as a diligent pro- tector. Since the loss of Whitchurch and Wem the Parlia- mentarians, previously low in strength and consequence, had occasionally been aggressors ; and from the latter place, Mytton, before the Prince's arrival, surprised a party at Ellesmere, 2 and carried off Sir Nicholas Byron and Sir Richard Willis ; and he repeated the same experiment immediately after it by seizing Sir Thomas Eyton at Buildwas. 3 A plot also, to which Rupert alludes in his letter, had been concerted to deliver up the county town to the Parliament. Garrisons were seldom alto- gether free from spies and informers. Hence on both sides the 1 Blakeway and Owen, History of Shrewsbury, 439. * Jan. 1643-4. » Feb. 22, 1643-4. 16*3 J RUPERT'S VICTORY AT DRAYTON. 383 loss of many places, and the failure of many military projects ; and no precaution could correct the evil. Such secret corre- spondences meet with peculiar facilities in civil wars. Salop furnished informers against the ruling power. Sir William Owen of Condover, a Commissioner of Array, while he was sign- ing warrants in that capacity, and chiefly resident in Shrews- bury, kept up a constant communication with the parliamentary commissioners from their earliest establishment in Wem ; * and divulged the intended movements of the Eoyalists. Eupert arrived at his head-quarters about the middle of February, 2 where he found only the trained bands and Lord Capel's weak regiment of horse : but he brought with him his whole brigade of cavalry, amounting to 800; and seven colours of foot, 300 men. His carriages went by water. Under the sanction of his presence and authority Sir Francis Ottley and his officers were enabled to arrange with the mayor and corporation for their arrears of pay. From their entrance into the service, their just demands had been slighted and deferred till the amount of a year and a half had become due ; and yet they were glad to accept of one month's pay as a composition for the whole, with the promise of weekly settlements in future, — an engagement forced upon that impoverished body which was very imperfectly observed. On Monday, March 4th, the Prince went out with 1,400 fighting men against Drayton occupied by Lord Denbigh, Colonel Mytton, and Sir Thomas and Sir William Fairfax with their cavalry. His intention was to have taken them by sur- prise ; but they had been forewarned ; and he found them at eight o'clock the following morning ready to receive him. The action was sharp ; but they fled from the town, leaving behind them 120 slain and 140 prisoners: Sir Thomas Fairfax lost his colours inscribed ' For Eeformation ; ' and the whole was effected, as the victors affirmed, without their loss of a siDgle man. The garrison of Nantwich were relieved from their apprehension of his paying them a visit, by his being in a few days called off to a remoter undertaking. 3 1 He offered them his house, ' a strong stone building within three Myles dis- tance of Shrewsbury.'— S. P. 2, xxxi. 169. 2 Feb. 18. — Short Account of the Rebellion, &c. — Cambrian Quarterly, i. 60. 3 He went thence to Chester, as is shown by the following copy of a lettor announcing his coming. S r You are hereby desired to take order that provision & other necessaryes bee speedyly provided & made for the entry of the Prince his Iiighnes (Who is ex- 384 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 The Scots having advanced into England so occupied the attention of the Marquess of Newcastle that he found it sufficient employment to keep them at bay. While he was endeavouring to put York into a condition to endure a siege, his line of communication with the King was threatened by Meldrum, a Scotch officer in the employ of the Parliament, who for that purpose had invested Newark. The town, reduced to imminent danger, sent to Charles for relief, who had no one upon whom he could so well rely for effecting it as Prince Eupert ; and although time and other obstacles threw an air of impossibility over the thought of it, he, whose romantic daring was not easily deterred, would grapple with difficulties to ordinary apprehension impossible, and outriding all common report, succeed in them because it was concluded the attempt could never be made. He was at Chester on the 12th of March 1 when he received his Majesty's commands to proceed to the relief of Newark with 4,000 foot and 2,000 horse and dragoons. 2 Collecting a com- petent force, he sent a part of it down the Severn to join him at Bridgnorth. They moved thence through Wolverhampton and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and having passed the night in a field about 8 miles from Newark, about two o'clock on the morning of the 21st, their drums beating, they marched to the scene of action by the light of the rising moon. Their impetuous leader, with his van of horse upon the spur, outstripped the foot and remainder of the cavalry ; and as soon as he saw the Parlia- mentarians, lest they should escape him, gave command to pected heare to morrow) at the howse wheare Dco r Bisham lately inhabited dat' 5 Maroij 1643. To the Maior of Chester. (no signature attached) — MSS. Harl. 2135, 67. [No sooner however was he gone, than as appears by a letter from Sir John Mennes, dated Shrewsbury, March 26th, ' the rebbells begann to swarme,' and took Wellington and Apley Castle ; but the Royalists, being joined by Vaughan's horse, recovered them, and routed Mytton with considerable loss at Longford. About the same time, Kirke writes from Bridgnorth that Colonel Fox had occupied Stourton Castle, but Sir Gilbert Gerrard from Worcester, with his aid, intended to dispossess them ; in which he succeeded.] 1 On March 13th he gave order at Chester for a new prison ; and was pressing the sequestration of delinquents' estates within five miles of the city, to be applied fco the improvement of the fortifications. — MSS. Harl. 2135, 29. 2 Colonel Broughton had a regiment at Shrewsbury which had come out of Ireland. 1,000 men were picked out of this and Colonel Tillier's regiment to go with Rupert. 16 *3] SIEGE OF NEWARK RAISED. 385 charge, and hold them in play till the rear could come up. The share he took in this was marked by his usual contempt of personal risk. The fight began about 9 o'clock, and after a while grew sturdy, especially on Rupert's right wing ; the other doubling their files from three to six deep, charged two outmost troops upon the flanks so hard, that Captain Martin came timely in to help to beat them off; the Prince himself, having pierced deep into the enemies, and being observed for his valour, was dangerously at once assaulted by three sturdy persons, whereof one fell by Rupert's own sword, a second being pistolled by Master Mortaigne, one of his own gentle- men ; the third now ready to lay hand upon the Prince's collar, had it almost chopt off by Sir William Neale ; he thus disengaged, with a shot only in his gauntlet, with Sir Richard Crane and his own troop, charged quite thorow that body, pursuing them in rout home to their very works. 1 A rally, and another charge ensued ; the rear came up, and the enemy capitulated on articles, by which they were allowed to march away, giving up above 4,000 arms, 1 1 brass cannon, 2 mortars, and more than 50 barrels of powder. 2 In this struggle ' to the utterance ' the Prince was opposed to several very brave parliamentary officers, among others Eossiter and Thorahagh, the latter of whom is said by Mrs. Hutchinson 3 to have charged the Prince himself, and made his way through the Cavaliers with much gallantry, receiving two desperate wounds, one in the arm, the other in the belly. He is probably the third person mentioned in the narrative above cited. Thus as Sir Thomas Fairfax from Yorkshire had raised the siege of Nantwich in Cheshire, Rupert from Chester, at about as wide an interval, raised that of Newark in Nottinghamshire ; but the success of the Parliamentarian was more profitable in its consequences to his own party, than this advantage proved to the King. 4 1 The same hand may be traced in this account as appears in the narrative of the capture of Cirencester, Bibl. Glouc. 159, and that of Auburn Chase battle. The former of these has been attributed to Rupert's chaplain, Dr. Watts. 2 Sanderson, Eeign of King Charles I. 67S. Clarendon, ii. 466. 3 Memoirs, 195. * In this expedition, the Prince saw how the remnant of the Irish army could march and fight : he admired their resolute bearing, and lamented their disaster the more. [Sir John Byron, in congratulating the Prince on his victory, tells him 'there hath lately beene a solenne thanksgiuinge both at Namptwich & Middlewich for a greate ouerthrow y* Highness lately receaued wherein yo' Horse- VOL. I. C C 386 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1643 While fierce contentions disturbed the midland counties, Herefordshire had of late seen few men in arms but her own defenders : her outskirts were protected where they were most threatened, and the operations of husbandry had been carried on unmolested, except by the collectors of contributions, or quarterings of soldiery, or occasional issuings of the garrison of Brampton Bryan. Ludlow kept open the intercourse between Hereford and Shrewsbury, and was considered a place of security. Its Castle was a receptacle for prisoners of war and State delinquents, as least exposed to the hazard of a rescue ; and when during the past summer certain offenders had been committed to the Castle of Beaumaris in the isle of Anglesey, and ships were expected to attempt their release, their destina- tion was changed, and they were transferred to the porter's lodge in Ludlow Castle, which by reason of the commission of Oyer and Terminer in all the counties of Wales had heretofore been a prison for traitors. 1 The Court of the Marches, so long threatened with abolition, 2 does not appear up to this period to have been totally extinct ; as was the case in many other matters yet unsettled, it was discountenanced by the Parlia- ment, but protected by the King. Attorneys still claimed a title connected with it, and vesorted thither ; and two Judges of the Council, Sir Thomas Mill ward 3 and Sir Adam Littleton, were ordinarily resident with retainers. John Younge, of Pimbley, states that he was chosen steward for the King's house in the Castle during the war, and as it was his office to provide things necessary for the Lord President and council, their officers and attendants, he took thither his family and was killd vnder you, & y r Highness forced to gett vpon yo r dogg Boy, & swimm ouer a great riaer, all "w ch is more firmely beleeued amongst the Roundheads then any part of the Gospell.' ] 1 Ottleiana. — ' I hope,' adds the writer, R. Lloyd, who signs himself Attorney of the King in the Marches of Wales, ' the Councell will direct their safe Custodie, w*' 1 will occasion both the Kings allowance to the house and a pmission for guarde of towne and Castle.' June 14, 1643 : which seems to indicate the period at which the place reoeived a Governor and regular garrison. The Earl of Lanerick, brother of the Duke of Hamilton, arrested in Oxford in January, 1643, on a charge of treason, was to have been sent hither had he not the day before effected his escape. 2 The House of Commons had commenced proceedings against it, April 30, 1640. [Its laws were peculiar; neither common nor civil law.] 3 Sir Thomas Milward, of Eaton, co. Derby, Chief Justice of Chester. [He was taken prisoner at the surrender of Ludlow Castle, and fined 360?.] — S. P. 2, xxxv. 879. 1613] COLONEL WOODHOUSE — HOPTON CASTLE. 387 personal estate to be out of the reach of plunderers. 1 When the Queen looked around for a suitable retreat, where she might pass the month of childbirth, Ludlow and Bristol were both proposed, though she finally determined upon Exeter. 2 Ludlow had a sufficient garrison, the command of which was given to Colonel Sir Michael Woodhouse, whose care appears to have been to observe the southern part of Shropshire, and the northern of Herefordshire, for at the town bridge is the separation of the two counties. Woodhouse, who had been sometime page to the Marquess of Hamilton, 3 had served in Ireland; whence returning early in 1643 he was preferred to be Sergeant-Major-Greneral of the army of Prince Charles, and to the command of his life-guards. Within a few weeks after this the enemy found him at Whitchurch, and beat up his quarters, where his men, ' thinking one volley enough for the first time,' 4 ran off towards Wales ; but the officers maintained their reputation, and a captain was taken prisoner. The vigour that his new superior sought to infuse into every department, the continuance of Woodhouse in his post, and his immediate destination to a service of some local importance, are proofs that the Prince entertained no mean opinion of him. There were two places within a short distance of Ludlow that defied all commands but those of the Parliament — the Castles of Hopton and Brampton, the hiding-places of refugees throughout an extensive district. The latter, we know, had been attempted without success; the former was but just established as a garrison. While both existed under these circumstances, situated respectively on the edge of the confines of Hereford and Salop, at little more than four miles apart, they countenanced and comforted each other. Indeed, the smaller was but recently formed at the request or with the consent of the owner ; the endeavour to secure a friendly garri- son at Wigmore having been crossed. Hopton Castle was the more assailable, and if that could be reduced its more important neighbour might be brought to yield. In other respects it might be thought of little consequence ; but its owner, Mr. Wallop, was an attached Parliamentarian, concurring with Sir Eobert Harley in all questions of opposition to the King ; and 1 S. P. 2, ii. 446-453. * Carte, Ormonde, iii. 259. 3 Symonds, MSS. Hart. 944, 68. * Carte.— A. ff Connor to the M. oj Ormonde, June 7, 1643. c-o 2 388 THE CIVIL WAR IN HEREFORDSHIRE. [1613 though the house was small and- could hold but a slender gar- rison, it was injurious, if on no other account, as it tended to cramp and eat up the resources of Ludlow to the westward ; and a rival, though a petty, garrison was always a thorn in the side. Its position, in a singularly sequestered valley entirely commanded by surrounding hills, seemed in all reasonable calculation to render any defence of it hopeless : yet, every chance against him, and in the face of an overwhelming force, a brave man was found to hazard it, and a little band as resolute or rash to stand by his side. Samuel More of Linley, whose elder brother Eichard was a member of the House of Commons, 1 came thither and took the command of 14 men within it on the night of the 18th of February. 2 He applied to Brampton for a reinforcement ; and 1 2 soldiers were sent ; but meeting with the enemy half of them turned back : in all, however, he collected 31. In a week's time the Eoyalists made their appearance ; and, after an attempt at escalade, which was re- pulsed with loss, sent him word that the Prince required him to surrender. Upon his refusal they departed ; and when they returned, after upwards of a fortnight, their drum brought him a formal summons, subscribed by Sir Michael "Wbodhouse, demanding the Castle in the name of Prince Eupert, and offering hostages if he would enter into treaty. More replied, that he kept it by authority of the Parliament, with consent of the owner, for the service of the King and Parliament. A second and more formidable assault having failed, with heavier loss, they again withdrew ; but returned ' in a full body,' about 500 horse and foot, after a week's time. A parley proved fruit- less, the gallant Parliamentarian maintaining that ' it was not fair, nor like an honest man to betray a trust ; ' and a final summons sent in two days afterwards was accompanied with a warning that, if they did not yield before the discharge of one piece of ordnance, they must expect no quarter. Ignorant of the severe rules of war and the consequences of obstinate refusal, they persisted in it, because they imagined that in the worst event they should only be made prisoners ; till, spent at length with watching and fighting, 3 while the building was ' For Bishop's Castle, Salop. 2 He was afterwards joined by Phillips, who was an officer in Brampton Bryan. " [' Some persons pretended the Garrison shot poisoned balls & a Ludlow Man who remembered the siege, told me he remembered Waggon loads of wounded Men 1643] MASSACEE AT HOPTON CASTLF. 389 battered to ruins around them, and they expected the imme- diate springing of a mine, they endeavoured on the Wednesday (March 13 1 ) to capitulate upon condition of marching away with arms and ammunition ; and the rejection of this proposal brought them to sue for quarter only ; when they received no other answer than that ill-omened phrase, that they should be referred to Colonel Woodhouse's mercy. Why should I be constrained, however briefly, to record the rest? Every mother's son, except the Governor and Major Phillips, was stripped, tied back to back, and put to death with circum- stances of the utmost barbarity. Woodhouse kept aloof in a house at some distance, and left the prisoners to the vengeance of his men, many of whom, it is fair to state, are said to have been Irish. More, when brought before him, wondered why his men had not followed, and never learned till three hours afterwards their miserable end : on which he pathetically adds, ' I said, I hoped they were happy.' Two maidservants were wounded, and hardly permitted to escape the butchery. 2 More was carried off to confinement in Ludlow. A just and indignant outcry was raised against so barbarous a deed, and the newsbooks spread it with aggravation through- out the whole theatre of war. 3 If, which is uncertain, Wood- came into the towne, & in two or three days, they all dyed of their wounds.' — MS. notes to More's Journal, communicated by Mrs. Stackhouse Acton.] 1 [This date is certain, from the contemporary journals; More in his very interesting and graphic account, the substance of which is here given, writing from memory, has lengthened out the siege by a whole fortnight. But, to show the difficulty of obtaining reliable data in these matters, it may be mentioned that Dugdale, in his ' Short View,' has fixed the surrender a whole month too early.] 2 Accounts differ as to "whether both did escape with life. One was told to go to Brampton and report what she had seen : and one, possibly the same, leaped out of a window and injured her back, and was ever after distracted from the fright. She was living in Ludlow in 1695, and so was one man, who had con- cealed himself in a vault at the surrender. [Gregory, Mr. Wallop's steward, about 80 years of age, 'being weak and not able to stand, they were so compassionate as to put him in a Chair to cut his throat.' The narrator of these anecdotes says, 'After this Massacre the King's affairs never prospered, & whenever his soldiers craved quarter, the reply was we'll give you none but Hopton Quarter.' — MS. Notes, ut supra.'] 3 The Oxford Mercury could neither refute altogether, nor did it dare to vin- dicate what was known to be as true as it was enormous ; but it faced the accu- sation by a disingenuous subterfuge and partial falsehood, which would rather confirm than remove it. ' They tell us that the Cavaliers went to Master Moore's house, and put all his family to the sword, sparing neither man, woman, nor child Master Moore will tell you, neither woman, child, nor himself received the least hurt.' — Merc. Aul. March 23. 390 THE CIVIL WA.E, IN HEEEFOKDSHIRE. [1643 house did not direct their execution, he did as much when he gave up those captives to the brutality of his infuriated fol- lowers. Though they had resisted to the last with the sentence of mortal punishment before them, it did not necessarily follow that all of them must die. He might plead that he acted under higher orders ; ' but this would not exonerate him from the disgusting mode in which those orders were put in force. The case has been thus argued by the late amiable and intel- ligent historian of Salop : ' Though it is impossible upon such an incident not to execrate the horrors of civil warfare, and deplore the untimely fate of the gallant little band, yet Mr. More does not venture to deny that the surrender was wholly unconditional ; 2 and it is a known provision of military law, 3 instituted to prevent the unnecessary effusion of human blood, that the defence of a fortified place with numbers so entirely disproportioned as in the present instance, entitles the captors to punish the garrison with death.' An earlier authority has stated the ground of this severe rule, and summed up its bearing in one of his usual practical conclusions. ' Valour hath his limits : ... in such sort, that unlesse a man know their right bounds, which in truth are not on a sudaine, easily hit upon, he may fall into rashness, obstinacie, and follie. From this consideration grew the custom we hold in warres, to -punish, and that with death, those who wilfully opiniate themselves to defend a place, which by the rules of warre, cannot be kept. Otherwise upon hope of impunitie, theVe should be no cotage, ' [According to the author of the Lives of Incumbents of Brampton Bryan, "Woodhouse alleged ' orders from Oxford.' It is hardly conceivable that they could hnve been dictated or sanctioned by the King; but an intimation, of which the ■writer was probably not aware at the time, but which will be noticed at the sur- render of Brampton Bryan Castle, goes far to implicate Kupert in this guilt of blood.] 2 Journal of the Siege, published by Blakeway, Sheriffs of Shropshire, 246. 3 Which it is clear that neither More nor his men were acquainted with. The commander, who might have been expected to have known this, in point of justice was alone amenable : and yet he alone was spared. He who permitted so dreadful an outrage on humanity as a man, can never escape condemnation by the common law of compassion, though as a commander he may find his acquittal when tried by the code of war. Nevertheless if this was justice according to the existing rules of war, it was more like heathen than Christian hostility. He who follows the highest example will spare those whom he might destroy. Christianity has done much to soften the rigid justice as well as repress the atrocities of war; and whenever its dictates shall receive full and final acceptance among men, that art will be learned no more. 1643] CLOSE OF THE YEAR. 391 that ought not entertaine an Armie. . . . Above all, a man who is able should take heed, lest he fall into the hands of an enemie judge, that is victorious and armed.' 1 With this fatal instance of the effect of sword-law shall be closed this act of the drama of England's misery for the year 1643. 2 1 Montaigne, Essays. * The gloomy aspect of the ruin recalls to mind the dire event. It is square, with massy walls, its interior filled with a heap of rubbish, its exterior injured by violence as much as time. It stands in a meadow uneven in its surface : a chimney on the west side was the point of attack, and the breach is now to be seen. There is the mark of that porch which was fired — there is the depression of that moat — there is that pool in which the bodies of the murdered garrison were thrown. To those who are acquainted with these facts and shall visit Hopton Castle, no place more graphically suggests its story. KUINS OF HOPTON CASTL.K. END Or THE FIRST VOLUME. LONDON : PRINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STEEET 8QCAEE AND PARLIAMENT STREET . .;..■> wvitfiw^'^wiv-.