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A91306	A true and full relation of the prosecution, arraignment, tryall, and condemnation of Nathaniel Fiennes, late colonell and governor of the city and castle of Bristoll, before a councell of war held at Saint Albans during nine dayes space, in December, 1643. Touching his cowardly and traytorly surrendering of this city and castle, with all the canon, ammunition, arms, magazines, prisoners and colours therein to the enemy, in lesse then three whole dayes siege, before any outwork taken, or the least battery or assault agains the city or castle walls; to the ineffable losse, danger and prejudice of the whole kingdom. Set forth at the earnest desire of many persons of quality, to vindicate the verity of this much disguised action, prosecution, tryall, sentence, and some subsequent proceedings; ... / By William Prynne and Clement Walker, Esqs;	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.; Walker, Clement, 1595-1651.	1644 (1644)	Wing P4111; Thomason E255_1; ESTC R210055	195,553	170

it before Souldiers in such an honourable Councell of Warre as this for what need was there either of a Garrison or Governour at Bristoll or of such a Commission to keep his Souldiers there in obedience and order but only to preserve the City This was the only end why he and his Garrison were there placed maintained by the Parliament and his Excellency to keep the City which else would have as well or better kept it selfe without them Secondly That hee was confident his Excellency never granted any such Commission to any Governour nor any other Prince or Generall in the world only to keep his Garrison in order but not to defend the Garrisoned place whereof hee was Governour such an absurd Commission was never yet heard of nor such a nonsence distinction made by any Souldier and thereupon he desired the Commission might bee produced to the end it might appeare whether it warranted this distiction That it was only to discipline his Souldiers but not to hold the Town against the Enemy Thirdly That their Lordships now saw the true reason why Col. Fiennes so soone delivered up Bristol to the Enemy he pleads he had or would have no Commission to keep it therefore it was he thus surrendred it up to the Enemies almost as soone as they came before it who doubtlesse would keep it better defend it longer then he though they wanted a Commission for it Fourthly That this pretended disobedience of Col. Pophams Regiment was long after his Commission received and that upon this occasion Col. Fiennes and his cowardly plundring Major Langrish would have taken from Col. Pophams Regiment that little plunder they had gained at Sherburn with the hazard of their lives at the Countreys charge without any direction from Fiennes who sent them not on that service which injurious avaritious act of his they justly opposed by standing on their guard and so kept that booty he would have carried from them into Bristol Castle This occasion then being subsequent to his Commission could not bee the ground of its procuring but rather that which himselfe unawares confessed his desire of independency and exemption from Sir William Wallers commands The Colonell thus drive to the wall and worsted on every hand used two pleas more for his last reserve First That hee received his Commission only upon this condition and with this intention to keep his Souldiers in order but not to make good the Town and Castle therefore he could be no further chargeable by it then as hee received it To which Mr Prynne replyed First That every Governour must receive his Commission at his perill as it is granted and intended by him that granted it as Tenants doe their Leases and Donces in taile their Lands and hath no power to annex any conditions thereunto his Commission then being absolute to keep the Town for the Parliament that being the sole use and end thereof his conditionall accepting of it being repugnant to it was voyd and idle Secondly that the Common and Martiall Law of the Realme annex this condition to every Governour and Officer of trust that he ought to discharge his trust and Government and keep that safe which is committed to his custody to his utmost power though it bee not expressed in his Commission And therefore it pretended conditionall acceptance directly against his trust and Government was most ridiculous Secondly he alledged That he never sought after the Governouship of Bristoll but really desired not to accept it and to be acquitted from it to which end hee produced and read divers Letters of his own to the Lord Say his Father and one or two to his Excellency which took up neare two houres time in reading and tyred all the Councell who with much patience heard them all read though Mr Prynne to husband time excepted against them as no evidence at all nor sitting to be read And in the reading of these Letters the Colonell casually desired the Councell to observe that many of them were written before he had his Commission for Bristol which was not till the first of May 1643. This Mr Prynne taking present hold of desired their Lordships in the first place to observe his voluntary confession with a speciall Nota of that Commission which at first he so obstinately denyed To these Letters read many of them being printed with his Relation Mr Prynne gave these short Answers First That all these Letters were either his own or his Fathers and not above two or three of them proved true Coppies and that by Mr Sprig the Lord Say's Secretary Therefore no evidence at all to justifie or excuse him himselfe and his own Letters being no compotent witnesses in his own cause and his Father but tests Domesticus at the best if present Secondly That the substance of the chiefe Letter to his Excellency was only a modest excuse of his own insufficiency for that charge a common complement in every ingenious mans mouth that is preferred to any great place of trust who in words at least pretends insufficiency for that place which he perchance desire just like our Bishops usuall answer Nole nolo to vis Episcopari now used as a formality for fashions sake only even when they come to be consecrated when in truth they make all the friends and meanes they can to compasse that Bishopprick which for fashion sake out of a dissembling modesty they pretend and twice together answer solemnly when demanded openly before the Congregation that they desire by no meanes to accept of Therefore this Letter of his can bee no proofe that he was unwilling to undertake this Government since his subsequent acceptance and actions disprove this pretended refusall Thirdly he observed that in one of his Letters dated the 4 of April he writ earnestly to his Father To procure and send him his Commission Therefore he was so farre from refusing that he sought the Government and sent Captain Bagnall twice to his Excellency to procure his Commission as was after attested upon Oath Fourthly That by divers of his Letters then read it clearly appeard himselfe was the chiefe informer against Col. Essex and the chiefe Actor in his removall to intrude himselfe into his place so that wee had now his own hand against his words and Answer Fiftly that the scope of all his Letters was only to complain and cry out to the Parliament for more moneys from London or to get more Authority to raise moneys in the Countrey to pay the Garrison without which moneys he writ he could not long hold the Town But there is not one clause in all the Letters that he wanted Armes Ammunition powder men provision or that the Town or Castle was not tenable If then he complained only of default of moneys with which if hee were furnished hee made no doubt of keeping the Town and it is cleare he lost not the Town for want of money for he hath not hetherto either in his

two dayes before and by a Letter from Colonell Warnloe from Plimoth attested by Master Nichols who writ that they spent forty barrels of Powder there in one day when they beat the Enemy out of their works The City and Castle being therefore untenable in all these respects and no succours neare to relieve them in due season his surrender could not be deemed cowardly but discreet and honourable to preserve both the Citizens goods and the Garrison consisting of above 1500. foot and horse to serve the Parliament which then wanted men in other places of advantage To which particulars Mr Prynne gave these ensuing Answers First that the works about the City and Castle were very strong defenceable tenable against all the enemies power which he proved First by the judgement and opinion of the Defendant himselfe who never once complained of the weaknesse or insufficiency of the Works or Castle till the surrender but oft affirmed the Works to be very strong sufficient and tenable before the seige and that he doubted not to make them good against all the enemies power as Colonel Stephens Colonel Strood Captaine Bagnal Master Powel with others depose And he publikly confesseth in his printed Relation pag. 10. that himselfe and some others too had a great opinion of the strength of the Castle before it was surrendred though now upon a sudden he would make your Honours beleeve and endeavours to prove it the weakest most untenable peece in the world having spent one whole dayes time in demonstrating its severall weaknesses or rather in them his own who notwithstanding all these imbicilities had so great an opinion of its strength And indeed did not the Defendant deeme the works sufficient the City and Castle strong he must discover himselfe guilty either of extraordinary folly in putting the Parliament Countrey City to so great costs to fortifie garrison furnish the City and Castle with all necessaries to hold out a siege if it were not really tenable and of no considerable strength at all in the upshot Or else of extraordinary treachery if he knew it not tenable and yet gave it out to be very defensible on purpose to induce the Gentry and Countrey in those parts to bring their money plate estates provisions thither as to places of strength and security as we know they did upon his promises to defend them to the last that so they might become a prey to the enemies who had all the Ammunition Provisions Armes of those parts delivered into their hands at once which they could have never gained had not the Defendant fortified the Town Castle and affirmed them to be strong and tenable Besides his own many liberall promises to defend the Castle to the utmost in case he was forced to retreat into it and there to secure the best affected Citizens and their goods argues its tenability in his owne apprehension Secondly as the Towne but Castle especially was tenable in his owne judgement so likewise in the opinion of others First of the Gentry and Countrey who repaired thither as to a most secure sanctuary against the enemy towards whose fortification and defence they liberally contributed Secondly of the Citizens who all deemed the Towne but the Castle especially to which they carried their estates and above three moneths provisions to be defensible against all the enemies power as appeares by the Depositions of Iames Powel Able Kelly William Deane Mistris Hassard others and by the Tragedy of Bristoll lately published by Captaine Birch Mr. Powell and other Citizens of it who write thus of the Castle pag. 5. The Castle being strongly fortified and victualled as being the last place to retreat unto if the Towne should be taken being ASSVRED we should be able to keep it till reliefe came as a sanctuary for the persons and estates of such as were most active for the Parliament divers of us accordingly brought in our goods with provisions for our selves and to help victuall the Souldiers that were to be entertained in it c. Thirdly by the opinion of divers Souldiers of our owne party as Colonel Stephens Colonell Strood Lieutenant Colonels Paleologus and Andrewes Major Wood Major Allen Captaine Bagnall Nicholas Cowling Mr. Hassard Richard Linden Edmund Wathorne Thomas Munday and Richard Butler attest Fourthly by the speeches of the enemies owne commanders who viewing the Works of the said Castle soone after its surrender swore God damme them all the Devils in Hell could not have taken the Castle it was so fortified had not the Governour cowardly surrendred it that they might thank Fiennes for it and that they could not have taken the Castle had it not beene yeelded up to them beyond expectation as Mary Smith Ethelred Huddy Ioane Battin Thomas Thomas and Michael Spark senior witnesse And whereas he alleaged that Sir William Waller and Sir Arthur Haslerig deemed Bristol not tenable which he endeavoured to prove by this passage in their Letter to him dated Iuly 1. 1643. attested by Mr. Iohn Ash and printed in his Relation pag. 27. We think the enemy will fall on this night if not to morrow morning and if so what good will this Regement doe Bristoll if we perish It is a wonder to us to see our friends delay help where there is safety c. Mr. Prynne answered 1. That this letter declares not their opinion conceruing the intenability of Bristoll but their importunity to have speedy supplies from thence Secondly it expresseth that Bristols greatest security consisted in their Armies successe there being no danger of a siege as long as their Army were masters of the field Thirdly it proves nothing that either the City or Castle might not have held out till reliefe should arrive from his Excellency or that it could not hold out above three dayes longer Fourthly the Defendant confesseth that had Colonel Pophams Regiment continued in the Towne it had not beene lost and that his sending of them to Sir William Waller was the losse of the Towne therefore the Castle and Towne in respect of the fortifications were both tenable and had no want at all but of Colonel Pophams men which he supplied by his new raised Regiments before the siege Secondly whereas he alleaged that divers Gentlemen left the Towne and went away with Sir William Waller and Sir Arthur Haslerigge because they deemed it not tenable It was answered that the reason of their departure as themselves have confessed was the feare and assurance they had the Defendant would not hold it out to the last whereas Colonell Strood Colonell Stevens and others who had his promise to hold it out to the utmost continued with him still Fourthly it was answered that the objected weaknesses and defects of the works and Castle were meere inventions of the Defendant since the surrender not thought or spoken of before nor once propounded at the Councell of Warre when the Parley was in agitation where the debate of this particular

in evidence even in capitall crime That the high Court of Parliament hath upon just occasion allowed of Paper-depositions in such cases That in all Courts Martiall both in England and elsewhere they have been constantly allowed and particularly in the late famous case of Tomkins Chaloner and other London Conspirators whose Examinations were read and given in as evidence one against the other upon which they were condemned and executed Besides there was both very great reason and necessity that such Depositions should be admitted in this case and in all Martiall proceedings of this nature because divers of our materiall Witnesses being Officers or Souldiers now in actuall service and dispersed upon severall occasions into divers Brigades and parts of the Kingdome remote from Saint Albans could not without great danger dis-service to the State inconvenience to themselves and excessive costs to us who had lost our estates and prosecuted onely for the publike on our owne expences be drawn together personally to attend this Triall which had been so frequently adjourned not onely from week to week but place to place That we severall times petitioned both the Commons House and his Excellencie that the Councell appointed for this Tryall might be held at a certaine day and place within London or Westminster before our Witnesses were dispersed and where we could with lesse trouble and expence to our selves and them have produced all or most of them viva voce but yet we could not through the Defendants procurement as we conceive obtaine this reasonable request Therefore himselfe being both the cause and president of these our Depositions and of removing the Triall to this place for our greater incommodation and expence ought not to take advantage of his owne wrong against a Maxime of Law the constant practice of the Court Martiall and his owne leading example which we did but imitate Which point the Councell causing us to withdraw did upon solemne debate among themselves clearly over-rule against the Defendant upon the premised Reasons To the second Exception concerning Sir William Waller Mr Prynne most solemnly protested for himselfe to the Councell that it was a most false and malitious slander That neither Sir William Waller nor his Ladie nor any other in their behalfe did ever directly or indirectly excite advise or encourage him in this prosecution that the Delinquent himself was the onely man who unadvisedly put himselfe upon this Triall as appeares most evidently to all the World by the close of his printed Relation in the Parliament House where Pag. 13. he desires the House of Commons that they would be pleased to let the truth of what he had then affirmed to them concerning the surrender of Bristol be examined at a Councell of Warre that so he might be cleared or condemned as they should finde the truth of falshood of what he had delivered By his and his Officers Petition to his Excellencie and his Excellencies Proclamation upon their Petition posted up at Westminster and the Exchange wherein he summoned Mr Walker and Mr Prynne by name in the most publike manner that might be and after that by private Notes and sundry other publike Adjournments to be his Prosecutors Which thanklesse office he was not altogether unwilling to undertake when thus openly engaged by the Defendant not out of any private malice to the Delinquent whom he formerly honoured and to whom he never bore any particular spleen having never received the least injury from him much lesse out of any degenerous respects instrumentally to wrecke the private malice or revenge of any others upon him it being below his spirit and most averse to this genius his conscience to be subservient or instrumentall to any mans malice or revenge whatsoever but meerly out of a reall desire to doe his Countrey faithfull service and vindicate the truth of this unworthy state-ruining Action under which the whole Kingdome now lay languishing from those false disguises which the Defendant in sundry printed Papers had obtruded on the World to salve his owne irreparable dishonour The prosecution therefore proceeding thus meerly from himselfe as all the premises infallibly demonstrate he had laid a most scandalous imputation upon Sir William Waller a noble well deserving Gentleman then absent and on himself in the forementioned exception for which he demanded justice against him from that honourable Councell unlesse he could make good this calumny for which he was most certaine the Defendant had not the least shadow of proofe the testimony of Dowet the ground of this aspersion referring not to him but onely to Mr Walkers Relation published long before any Impeachment of or prosecution against the Defendant which charge Mr Walker himselfe there present was ready to answer as to that particular Hereupon Mr Walker informed the Councell that he acknowledged in the Epistle to his Answer to the Defendants Relation that it was but a collection out of the severall reports of divers Gentlemen and Commanders in that service before and whom Bristoll was besieged which when he had drawn up having occasion to goe to Southampton he left it in the hand of a friend desiring him to show it to whomsoever he should think fit and especially to those Gentlemen out of whose mouths he compiled it to see if he had hit their sense aright and that this party as hee was since informed shewed it to Sir William Waller He said further that the written copy was shewed to the Defendant himselfe and therefore he doth not wonder if it were shewed to Sir William Waller and that Sir Williams objected speaking to his Officers onely to declare what they knew touching that businesse with reference simply to his Answer could not be intended either malice or combination or prosecution of this impeachment not then so much as though of nor any prejudice to the truth since no man can know a falshood because it is a non-entity and can be no object of mans knowledge That therefore this could be no just exception to Sir William as a Commissioner the rather because Colonell Carre a man indifferent was joyned with him much lesse any legall exception to any Officers or Souldiers testimony then under his command who did but testifie what they knew for truth Besides Mr Prynne added that Colonell Fiennes himselfe had examined divers of Sir William Wallers Officers by commission before we examined any of them and some of those whom we examined and why we should be deprived of the benefit of their Examinations for the Kingdomes advantage when himselfe had examined them onely for his private defence there could be neither reason nor equity alledged it being a meere artifice to deprive us of our most materiall Witnesses and to suffocate the truth To the third of his wanting notice to joine in commission and crosse examine our Witnesses Mr Prynne answered First that himselfe had begun the President in taking forth severall commissions to Sir William Wallers and the Earle of Manchesters Army

any where rather then at home in his owne bosome Secondly that no man much lesse a Christian and Souldier too ought to despaire of Gods providence and protection in a just cause even where he can see no humane probability of succours but ought to wait and trust on God to the utmost extremity who many times sends reliefe exceeding abundantly beyond all men can aske or thinke as he did to Jerusalem Samaria of old and to Rochell of late Andaces fortuna juvat was the Heathens observation Fortes Deus adjuvat the Christians his causlesse despaire then of timely reliefe from God or man the Parliament or his Excellency argued not onely want of Courage but Faith too both in God and men Thirdly valiant Massie if this plea might be admitted had far more cause to despaire of timely reliefe then the Defendant for both Fiennes and Clifton his Lievtenant professed openly after the surrender of Bristoll that they would be hanged if Glocester could hold out two dayes if the Enemy came before it and Colonell Pury and Captaine Parry deposed that the Walls and Works about it were weaker then Bristols their Garrison not above 1500 Club-men and all their Powder not above 32 single barrels besides what they made during the siege their provision not so plentifull as Bristols their Cannon but seven or eight whereas Bristoll had 55 Canon besides Sir Francis Pophams Peeces the Enemies before Glocester almost 10000 more then those that besieged Bristoll and likewise accompanied with the Kings personall presence Besides his Excellencies Army by reason of sicknesse was now far weaker and more unable to relieve Glocester then it was when it should have marched for Bristols reliefe yet notwithstanding all these discouragements and the great dammage and discouragement the sudden unexpected losse of Bristoll strucke into all mens spirits Massie and Glocester men did not basely yeeld up the Towne to the Enemy as soone almost as they came before it but relying on Gods providence and the Parliaments care to the uttermost received timely reliefe from both in lesse then three weeks after they sent for succours as Bristoll doubtlesse would have done had Colonell Fiennes had so much true Faith and Valour as Massie had Now that Bristoll would have been relieved far sooner then Glocester Mr Prynne undeniably proved by these Arguments First because my Lord Generals Army was in a far better condition almost by halfe to march when Bristoll was besieged then it was at the siege of Glocester the number of it being much decreased by sicknesse in the interim and their courage spirits much daunted by Bristols unexpected surrender in so short a time upon such dishonourable termes which hee doubted at all the whole Councell present could experimentally attest Secondly the Parliament his Excellency London and the whole Kingdome looked upon Bristoll as a place of the greatest consequence of any in England next to London as the Metropolis Key Magazine of the West which would be all indangered and the Kingdome too by its losse as a Town of infinite more consequence then Glocester by the gaining whereof the Enemy would be furnished with all manner of provisions and Ammunition by land with a Navie and all Merchandize by sea and enabled to bring in the strength of Wales and Ireland for their assistance therefore being of so great concernment the Parliament his Excellencie London and the Kingdome would have been far more carefull to relieve it in due time then they were or would have been to relieve Glocester of which they had yet a speciall care Thirdly Bristoll was a Towne of far greater commerce with London then Glocester many Londoners having a great part of their Trading and estates too in it Therefore this particular interest would have made the Londoners more forward to march to relieve Bristoll then Glocester Fourthly Colonell Fiennes and the Citizens of Bristoll had more powerfull active friends in both Houses and about his Excellency as his Letter to the Lord Say imports to solicite and expedite their reliefe then Massie or Glocester had therefore though the Parliament and his Excellencie were very ready to have sent timely reliefe to both yet in all probability Bristoll in these respects had been sooner relieved had it held out then Glocester was or could have been the rather because the losse of Bristoll made many men fall off from the Parliament more to stand as Neutets and damped the activity and spirits of most men Fourthly it was answered that the Defendant produced no proof of his despaire but onely his Excellencies Letter written and sent to the Lord Say not to him and dated two dayes after the surrender made this therfore could be no ground no cause at all of the surrender which so long preceded it To supply which over-sight and defect Colonell Fiennes next day produced a Witnesse to prove that the day before the surrender there came one into Bristoll who reported that the Lord Generals Army was very weak and in no posture to march but who it was or whence he came or how he came in thither the Towne being beleaguered or whether the Governour ever had any certaine information of this report there was not the least shadow of proofe Fifthly It was replyed That if a Govournours groundlesse surmise of an improbability of timely supplies might be a good excuse to surrender a Town the strongest best furnished Townes and Forts in the Kingdome might be betrayed surrendred to the Enemy in a moment under this pretence Col. Massie might have then upon farre better grounds have surrendred Glocester to the King the first day the Earle of Stamford Exeter and Col. Warnlow Plymmouh the second day they were besieged then the Defendant Bristoll on the third day since there was a farre greater improbability of relieving any of these in time then of Bristoll And by this reason had Col. Fiennes been furnished with men Ammunition Victuals to have kept the Town five or seven weeks longer yet by this way of arguing hee would certainly have surrendred it when hee did in lesse then three dayes space and not have kept it to the fifth or seventh weeks end because he conceived an improbability of reliefe in eight weeks time out of a pannick feare or out of a meere design to colour his surrender Hee should have therefore held it to the uttermost extremity and God or ourvigilant Parliament no doubt by that time would have sent reliefe as they did to Glocester or if none had come hee had then discharged his duty and been excused But since hee kept it not to the last but prejudged Gods the Parliaments and his Excellencies care to relieve him in due season his fault is inexcusable and capitall Fourthly He alledgeth That he did not surrender the City Castle Armes c. Trayterously and that no treachery was proved against him To which Mr Prynne Answered First that though there were no direct proofe of

contrary to his advise and then againe presently after the sally Sixthly by the forgetfulnesse of all his former promises and of the very Castle it selfe formerly accounted by him the strongest Rampart and last Retreat where he would lay his bones which was not now so much as thought on although the Magazine Ammunition and Provisions lay therein whereby he betrayed cheated and undid the best affected Citizens Sevently by his own confession in his Relation p. 10. he writes That all the conditions they desired were yeelded to yet had he not then so much heart or brain left within him as to demand or make more honourable conditions then to deliver up the Town and Castle with all Artillery Armes Ammunition Cannon Victuals Prisoners and Colours too which was all that could be lost or given away from the State or to demand convenient time or Carriages to convey away their goods from thence Eightly by accepting Articles in the Commissioners names when as they should have been in Prince Ruperts then present who else was not obliged to observe them and not exacting an Oath or due sufficient caution for performing them after so many experiences of their treachery and truce breaking Ninthly by suffering one of the Enemies Hostages to depart the Town as soone as the Articles were concluded and giving liberty to the other to doe the like but that Major Allen comming casually into the roome withstood it by meanes whereof they had all been wholy exposed to the Enemies mercy and sudden assaults having no security for himselfe his Soldiers or the City whereas both his Hostages continued still in the Enemies hands Tenthly by his not publishing the Articles after they were concluded till Captaine Bushell a Prisoner of the Enemies party put him in minde thereof and published them at his request Eleventhly By suffering his men to fall off their Guards the Prisoners to get loose the Enemies to enter the Town and Castle before the time appointed for the surrender Whereby many rapines and violence were committed both on the Souldiers and Townes-men in the very streets and Castle which the Enemy could not prevent and the Colonell never endeavoured to see righted Which caused Col. Gerrard foreseeing some complaints would be made to desire Major Wood who in these disorders suffered three dayes imprisonment there to carry a letter from him to Nath. Fiennes which hee shewed to Major Wood to this purpose That whereas many outrages had been committed contrary to the tenor of the Articles which might happily be imputed to the Kings Grace he gave him to understand that the fault was in himselfe who had most unsouldierly neglected to look to the performances of them upon his party and if this Declaration did not gave him satisfaction he should bee ready for further clearing of himselfe to waite upon him with his sword in his hand Your friend whom you call Cavalier Charles Gerrard Which Letter Major Wood delivered Twelfely by his leaving Captaine Blake and Captaine Husbands with their Souldiers in Windmil-hill and Brandon-hill Forts when he marched out of Bristol and giving them no notice of the Articles of surrender not Warrant under his hand to deliver up these Forts according to the Articles the first notice they had both of the Articles and the Defendants leaving the Town being given them by the Enemy who demanded the Forts which they held after the Governours departure from whom they received no Order to quit them which might have endangered their lives Thirteenthly By his taking no care to march away with his men in a Body which they could not well doe because their Colours and Drummes were surrendred by agreement whereby they might have been kept together for the service of the Parliament And yet the preservation of his men and horse in a body for their present service is the best and only reason he gives for the surrender of the City and Castle both in his Relation Letter and Answer to the Articles Fourteenthly By his cowardly and unadvised speeches concerning the intenability of Glocester for three dayes space if the Kings Forces came before it and his discourse to Mr Pury after its reliefe his feare transporting him into such an uncharitable opinion as to judge brave Colonell Massie as pusillanimous and cowardly as himselfe Fifteenthly By his very printed Relation Letter Replies and Answer to the Articles in all which the intelligent Reader may palpably discerne a spirit of trepidation and cowardize to have seized both on his braine and pen which made him invent so many unworthy shifts untrue surmises as of close decked botes prepared by the Enemy a resolution to storme the Castle and take it in two dayes at most c. And utter so many strange Paradoxes yea contradictions unworthy a man of honour and deny not only Col. Essex but himselfe to be Governour of Bristol or of the Castle there of which before If all these evidences may be credited against his bare prooflesse Allegations the surrender must needs bee cowardly and unworthy at the best Upon this Col. Fieenes very confidently affirmed That the Report that Bristol was cowardly and unworthily surrendred was first raised by Mr Prynne the Prosecutor in his Book intituled Romes Master-Piece p. 35. published as he said the first of August 1643. within five dayes after the surrender of Bristol and that before the publishing of this Book it was not so reported reputed by any To which Mr Prynne replyed That this was a most false calumny without the least shadow of truth For first though the Title of his Romes Master-Piece was written and licensed for the Presse by a Committee of the Commons House who earnestly desired him to translate and publish the Letters and Plot therein comprised with such observations as he thought meet and they should approve on August 1. 1643 yet the Book it selfe was not compiled nor fully printed off till the end of August or after the publication being neare a Moneth space after the licence before which time not only Mercurius Aulicus had enformed the world in Print That Nathaniel Fiennes by name whom I named not had bestowed Bristoll on the King c. which words were read out of Aulicus but likewise many London Mercuries and namely that from Munday the 31 of Iuly till Aug. 7. p. 17 had divulged in Print That Bristoll was cowardly delivered to the Enemy that if Col. Massey had been Governor in his place it had not been surrendred at all but held out still c. And in truth the surrender thereof to the Enemy in so short a space was so far beyond all mens thoughts or apprehention that the very first tydings of it made most men openly aver in every place it was most cowardly and unworthily at least if not treacherously surrendred to the Enemies This was not only Vox Popult in London Westminster and elsewhere but Vox Parliamenti the opinion