to leave off his Pottage and to follow him Mr. Losse intreating him in that sacred work but to have patience until he had finished what he had began Patience me no patience replied the Groom my business is of greater importance than to admit of any delay come away therefore or I will pull you out by the ears thereupon not knowing whose Soldiers they were nor of what consequence their business might be or if he had known both yet not able to make resistance he obeys his command and followed him into the Church-yard Being come thither Mr. Losse demands what he would have with him the Groom tells him that he must go along with them to Northampton Mr. Losse demands again by what authority and by vertue of what Commission The Groom replies that he should know that when he came to Northampton Mr. Losse entreats that he may be excused alledging that he had lost Twelve or Thirteen Horses taken from him by the Parliament Soldiers and that he had never a Horse able to carry him two miles out of the Town one of the Troopers swears Wounds and Blood that he would carry him behind him and if that did not like him he would drag him along with a halter at his horse tail Mr. Losse abominating so great insolency from Grooms boldly told them That he would never be a Slave to slaves and so rushing from them took Sanctuary in the Church and shut the door upon him and perceiving the door on the other side of the Church open the People having unbarred it for their speedier passage out he hastens thither and tho he made what speed he could he was like to be prevented by one of the Troopers who was come about and was ready to enter the Church on horseback which Mr. Losse observing took up the bar of the door and resolutely ran at the Trooper to unhorse him This unexpected resistance so valiantly made put the Trooper to a retreat whereby Mr. Losse gained time to bar the door fast against him Having shut both the Church doors upon himself and the remainder of the Congregation some being fled for fear the Clerk at a hole gave him the Key of the Belfrey Mr. Losse not thinking himself secure enough in the Church gets up into the Belfrey and locks the doors fast after him being come to the place where the Bells hang he discovers over head a little hole only big enough for a man to creep through and a ladder standing there which led up unto it Mr. Losse goes up the ladder and through the hole gets upon the Leads and with great difficulty draws the Ladder after him being massy and very heavy by which means he did not only deprive his pursuers of the means to come at him but with the Ladder laid over the hole baracadoed the passage against them and now being here had he had any weapon to defend himself he had been impregnable While Mr. Losse was up in the Belfrey securing of himself the Troopers are at the Church windows endeavouring to wrench out the Iron bars but without any success at last with their Pole-axes and great Tombstones impiously taken from the Graves of the dead they break open the Church doors having thus forced their entrance they ride into the Church not remembring they were in Gods House from one end of it to another spurring and switching their Horses purposely to endanger the People These barbarous outrages did much affright the People but especially Mrs. Losse and her poor Children whom it most concerned Mr. Losse being the only man aimed at Mrs. Losse fell into a swoon in the Church and had no shew of life in her for a long time at which the People moved with compassion interceded with the Troopers and desired them to desist putting them in mind of the place where they were a place where God met with his People and they with their God It seems this Congregation had been better taught than to subscribe to Doctor Twist the Proloquutor of the absurd Heterogenious Synod his Interpretation of that Text of Scripture Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary in his Preface to Mr. Meads Book of the Apostacy of the latter times as if this Text enjoyned no reverence to be used towards the places of Gods publick worship they were much scandalized at this prophane Irreverence and made it an argument to awe them to civil demeanour at least because of the place and withal they objected that they did much abuse themselves and dishonour their cause by such outragious carriages all this would reflect on the cause they pretended to maintain And lastly they alledged that if they had any shame in them they might be ashamed in the Lords House on the Lords day to abuse a Minister in his own Congregation who besides the honour and reverence due to his calling might challenge some respect from them being a Gentleman of good Birth and Descent In reply to so good reason being indeed but Pearl cast before Swine one breaks out with a great oath swearing Wounds and Blood so that all the Blasphemy is not on the Cavaliers side and saying What do you tell me of Birth and Descent a Plague take him and his Gentility I hope within this year to see never a Gentleman in England you remember the Proverb Children and Fools tell truth having thus despised all wholsome admonition they go to the Belfrey they break open the door and come to the place where the Bells did hang and from the top of the Frames of the Bells endeavoured through the hole but now mentioned to get upon the Leads where Mr. Losse was but he having stopped that passage with the Ladder and making the best use he could of his hands and feet being all the weapons either offensive or defensive which he had made good the place against them yet notwithstanding in the Resistence he was in very great danger to lose his life for they discharged their Pistols at him at least eight or nine times but by the good providence of God they missed their mark with their Swords they wounded him in three several parts of his body yet God be blessed the wounds were not mortal at last having received a hurt in his hand having a vein pricked with one of their Swords his blood flowed so fast upon the Troopers underneath him that as they bragged there and in other places after they were gone thence they thought they had dispatched him and therefore thinking him to be a dead man they left him yet to imbalm him to his funeral they pour out a flood of reproachful names upon him calling him Rogue Rascal Slave Villain Dog Devil making no stop till their Master the Devil and their own memories could suggest no more names of the same stamp At last to seal up all for fear they had not murthered him they protest with many Execrations upon themselves that if they had not now sped him which yet
Prison for a private revenge ON Monday the 15 of August 1642. Sir Richard Mynshul of Bourton in the County of Buckingham Knight furnished with ten Horse and Arms began his journey into the North to wait upon the King as in the duty of a Servant and Subject he was bound This being discovered for they have spies in every corner to the Lord Brook Sir Peter Temple Sir Rich. Ingoldsby Master Goodwine and others then at Aylesbury leaders of an Army raised against his Majesty It fell under consideration to make Sir Richard Mynshul a precedent to deter others from serving the King since it was not to be done but by exposing their persons to Imprisonment and their Estates to Plundering for the Result of that deliberation was that since they could not secure his person they would seise on his Estate Nor do they stay long before they put the sentence in execution For on Thursday the 18 of Aug. the Lord Brook commanding a great part of the Army came to Sir Richard's House and in case he should find Resistance they bring divers pieces of Ordnance to batter the House but being come they find no opposition The first company that enters the House were under the command of one Captain Jones who either detesting the Oppression or yet not fleshed in the sin which but then found footing in this Kingdom for this was the first of this kind committed in Buckinghamshire and the second in England moderated the eagerness of the Soldiers sharp set on the prey so that they gleaned but a little here and there this moderation renders Captain Jones suspected for a Papist both to the Lord Brook and the rest of the Commanders Nay he is not only voiced for a Papist but a Rumour is raised that he was Bribed into this Moderation and had taken a reward to spare Sir Richard's Goods The Captain blasted with these reports the jealousie of him grew so high that they threaten to kill him To avoid the fury of the Soldiers he is fain to withdraw himself nor durst he appear before a Servant of Sir Richards had made Oath that he was Innocent of any such Contract And now the Lord Brook and his Company being masters of the House the first thing on which they express their rage is the Kings Picture which with their Swords they most traiterously pierce through in divers places And not content to wound him in that representation whose person God miraculously hath and we hope will preserve from them they whet their Tongues against their Sovereign using Traiterous and scornful Language against him By all which it is more than manifest to all the World what they would do to the Substance if they had him in their power that express such malice on his shadow Having at first entrance violated their Loyalty to their King according to his Majesties frequent predictions their fellow Subjects cannot expect Justice at their hands Now all is lawful prize that comes to hand Money Plate Jewels many suits of rich Hangings Linnen Bedding they plunder from the Cabinet to the Larder and make clean work as they go leaving no Booty for a second plunder And though that House were but one yet in that one they plundered three Sir Richard having disrobed two Houses one in Essex the other in London thinking to secure all in this third While these things were in doing the Lord Brook with other Commanders commands the Wine-Seller to be broke up But in a saucy imitation of greatness they will not drink without a Taster yet not being confident enough professedly to own Regal observances for prevention of danger a pretence was made that the Wine was poisoned and one of Sir Richard's Servants is compelled a Pistol set to his Breast to begin and lead the way that if there were any danger the experiment might be made in him he having gained a cup of Wine by their dissembled State they follow freely and drink very liberally to the good success of their designs without ever scrupling whether drinking so did not come within the nature of a a Health And indeed 't was an oversight that Casuist Prin was not consulted in the Case the Cup often gone round at last some inspired with the Spirit of Wine prophesied that Sir Richard's Treasure was buried in the Cellar presently they fall to digging and instead of Treasure find a Mine of Bottles they drink up the Wine and in indignation break the Bottles From hence to cool the Wine they go to the Beer-Seller and in both what they could not drink they break the Vessels and let run on the ground After this they break open the Library and the place where he kept his Evidences They seise on all the Bills Bonds Deeds Evidences Writings and Books which they find whether Sir Richard's or his Friends some of these they take away with them some they tear in pieces some they bind in bundles and make them serve instead of Fuel both to heat Ovens and to roast Meat for their Supper and would by no means suffer any of them to be redeemed though large sums of Money were offered for them The House it self escapes not their fury wanting Ladders to come at the Lead they supply this defect with the Racks broken down from the Stables they rip up the Lead and carry it away they tear down the walls of the Houses with Spades and Mattocks they dig up the lower Rooms hoping there to find more Treasure They break the Windows Doors Wainscot Seelings Glass they take away all Iron Bars Casements Locks Keys and Hinges They break open his Wool-house and Barns and empty all They enter the Dove-house and like Vermine destroy the Pidgeons onely one of these Vermine falling from the Holes brake his Back and died thereof and because they could not carry away his House covertly they indeavour to fire it to this purpose they leave Matches burning in the Mats but were discovered From his House they issue out into his Grounds there they lay all common they break up his Rales and Fences Of his Sheep what they did not eat they sold Sheep worth 20 s. for 12 d. Lambs worth 10 s. for 6 d. and the reasons why the rates of their market were so low were first they were a Malignant and a Traitors Goods so they stiled Sir Richard Secondly They were sold to their Brethren and therefore must afford good Penniworths The rest of the Stock they run their Swords or Pikes into most of them and spoiled them Nor was Plunder the only thing they looked after Blood is in their thoughts First They send a Troop of Horse to pursue Sir Richard and threaten to cut him as small as Herbs to the Pot They clap a strong Guard on Sir Richard's Lady deny her a Bed to lie on though the Neighbours earnestly intreated to kill them if they can find them Who poor Souls affrighted with these barbarous Insolencies fled into the Field and hid themselves in
growing Hemp and there lay on the Ground almost 20 Hours without Meat or any sustenance so that what with fright and dampness of the Earth some of them contracted dangerous Sicknesses and hardly escaped with Life The Terrour which fell upon the Country thereabout was so great that the neighbouring Justice of Peace durst not grant his Warrant to search after any of Sir Richard's Goods though earnestly intreated to it And the Neighbours were so ill used and threatned to extort confession from them where Sir Richard was or where any of his Goods were conveyed that some swooned for fear some fell mad and some died Certain it is their carriage was so barbarous that it inforced Mr. Jo. Crew one of the Company to profess his dislike and to tell the Lord Brooks and the rest That they being Law-makers should not be Law-breakers nor make such precedents as would discover their intentions and render them odious unto the Country Since that knowing Sir Richard to have put himself for preservation of his Life under his Majesties Protection they have caused his Pond-heads to be digged down and have destroyed all his Fish they have cut down his Woods and seised on all his Lands or made them utterly unprofitable unto him for they will not suffer any Bayliff or Servant of his to take any care of his Estate but have often sent parties of Horse to seise on them or kill them At a place called Kings-harbour near Hounslow-heath three Soldiers under the Command of the Lord Wharton came into a House to drink going away they of the House demand Money for their Drink So unexpected an affront did so incense the Soldiers that one of them told his Companions he would shew them how they set Houses on fire in Ireland and so put his Carbine into the Thatch and discharged it set the House on fire and departed The General ESSEX returning from London came by as the House was on fire complaint is made unto him that the owner of the House was undone but all in vain his Excellency was not at leisure to do Justice The Countess of Rivers who as you heard in the second Weeks Relation was Plundered to the value of an Hundred thousand or an Hundred and fifty thousand pounds finding her abode here unsafe having lost her Goods and her Person in danger to secure her self resolved for a time to abandon her Country and rather expose her self to the hazard of Travel than commit her self to that protection which the contemned Laws now afford To this purpose she obtained a Pass to go beyond Seas While she was in preparing for her Voyage Mr. Martin Plunder-master General he that so familiarly speaks Treason and steals the King's Horses or doth any thing plunders the Countess of her Coach Horses notwithstanding a Warrant from the Lords House to secure them And when this Warrant was produced to stave off this Parliament Horse-taker he replied That if the Warrant had been from both Houses he would obey it as coming from the highest authority in England sure this man was born with Treason in his Mouth but since it came But from the Lords he did not value it When this Warrant could not prevail the Countess obtains a Warrant from the Earl of Essex to have the Horses restored unto her again but Mr. Martin to overbear all procures an Order from the House of Commons to keep them This Honourable Ladies Goods were seised on though Licensed to pass by the Lords and searched and allowed by the Custome-House At Pebmarsh in the same County of Essex on the Lords Day divers of the Parliament Voluntiers came into the Church while the Parson Mr. Wiborow was in his Prayer before Sermon and placed themselves near the Pulpit and when he was in his Prayer one of them struck divers times with his Staff against the Pulpit to interrupt him and while he was in his Sermon in contempt of the place where they were and the sacred action in doing they were almost as loud as the Preacher to the great disturbance of the Congregation No sooner was the Sermon ended and the Parson come out of the Pulpit as far as the Reading-desk but they lay violent hands upon him rent his Clothes threaten to pull him in pieces in the Church With much intreaty they spare him there and permit him to go into the Church-yard he is no sooner come thither but they assault him more violently than before Mr. Wiborow seeing the Constable who all this while stood a spectator of his hard usage calls unto him and charges him in the King's Name to keep the Kings Peace At his request they did a little forbear him But before he could get half ways Home they assault him again and demand the Book of Common-Prayer which he used in the Church That which was found by the Parish being torn in pieces before which he refusing to deliver up unto them they reek their fury on him They tug and hale him and vow to kill him unless he deliver up the Book of Common-Prayer to their pleasure he stoutly refuseth Hereupon they fall upon him strike up his Heels and take it from him by force and so carry it away in triumph Mr. Blakerby a silenced Minister heretofore preaching at Halstead in the same County told them That to bow at the Name of Jesus was to thrust a Spear into Christ's side and such Ministers as signed Children with the sign of the Cross did as much as in them lay to send such Children unto the Devil When the Earl of Essex and the rest went from Reading to London after the unhappy to say no more surrender of that town they left there a Committee consisting of none but City Captains and Tradesmen these according to the authority committed unto them summon all the able men of the Parishes thereabout to appear before them at Reading and Assessed them at their pleasure In Marlow they Assessed one Mr. Drue at 1000 l. they fell to 500 l. he refusing to pay was Imprisoned but the Prison being most nasty and loathsom denied the accommodation of Bedding was forced to pay 300 l. Mr. Horcepoole they assessed at 200 l. Mr. Chase a man plundered before at 40 l. 20 pound was offered but nothing will be abated of 30. Eliot a Butcher at an 100 l. and Imprisoned Cocke a Baker at 20 l. Mr. Fornace the Vicar not suffered to speak for himself because a Malignant at 10 l. and paid seven John Langley 10 l. Thomas Langley 20 l. William Langley 5 l. and Wilmot his Servant 5 l. John More 80 l. Hoskins a Shoomaker 5 l. Cane an Innkeeper 7 l. Rates so Illegal or had they been Legal so unequally proportioned to these mens Estates that had Ship-money been still on foot it would not have drawn so much Money out of their Purses in forty or fifty years as this Blew-Apron Committee at Reading removed some seven or eight Degrees from the Close Committee at Westminster
in these Sufferings which did aggravate them beyond all example of Barbarity which this unnatural War now did produce and that was Rachels Tears Lamentation and Weeping and great Mourning a Mother weeping for her Children and would not be comforted because they were taken from her for the Rebels as you hear having carried the two Ladies Prisoners to Shaftsbury thinking them not safe enough there intend to remove them to Bath a place then much infected both with the Plague and the Small Pox The old Lady was sick under a double confinement that of the Rebels and her own Indisposition all were unwilling to be exposed to the danger of the Infection especially the young Lady having three Children with her they were too dear too rich a treasure to be snatched away to such probable loss without reluctancy Therefore they resolve not to yield themselves Prisoners for that place unless they will take the old Lady out of her Bed and the rest by violence and so carry them away But the Rebels fearing lest so great Inhumanity might incense the People against them and render them odious to the Country decline this and since they dare not carry all to Bath they resolve to carry some to Dorchester a place no less dangerous for the Infection of Schism and Rebellion than Bath for the Plague and the Pox. To this purpose they take the young Ladies two Sons the eldest but nine the younger but seven years of age and carry them Captives to Dorchester In vain doth the Mother with tears intreat that these pretty pledges of her Lords affections may not be snatched from her In vain do the Children imbrace and hang about the Neck of their Mother and implore help from her that neither knows how to keep them nor yet how to part with them but the Rebels having lost all bowels of Compassion remain inexorable The complaints of the Mother pitiful cry of the Children prevail not with them like ravenous Wolves they seise on the Prey And though they do not crop yet they transplant those Olive Branches that stood about their Parent 's Table A barbarous fact and such as must look out of Christendom for a precedent and hardly find it though among the Heathen except among the unwashed Turks who take Christian Children from their Mothers Breasts either to make a Seminary for their Guards of Janizaries or by desolation to make them Eunuchs unsuspected Guardians of their Concubines or if in Christendom amongst none but the Jesuits their Brethren a Generation whom they would be thought most to hate yet are known most to imitate Exod. 21. To steal a Man was death by the Law of Moses nay the Romans that saw by no other Light but that dim Spark of Nature discerned the equity of this Law as is apparent in their Lex Fabia de Flagiariis And though these men blanch the Inhumanity pretending that they rob the Mother to inrich the Church to bring them up in the true Religion it were worth the while to ask if they would vouchsafe an answer what they mean by the true Religion if they mean the Protestant or to speak more properly the Religion of the Church of England it is apparent they persecute that but suppose which we do not grant that they did bereave Parents of their Children to that purpose to bring them up in the true Religion yet cannot a good Intention warrant an unlawful Act nor ought they to do evil that good may come of it Nor do we find ether that the Church was ever pleased with such Accessions or that God did give a blessing to such unwarrantable Zeal When Sesibutus King of Aragon in the Year 600. prevailed against the Saracens and in a better Zeal than this but not according to knowledg compelled his Captives to be Baptized he quickly found his error by the want of Gods blessing upon his endeavours nay Gods dislike was so visible in the success that the Church of God observing it determined That the Children of Infidels not having the use and exercise of right Reason should not be Baptized Invitis Parentibus contrary to the consent of the Parents And the fourth Council of Toledo Cap. 56. disallowing the inconsiderate zeal of Sesibutus forbad to compel any man to the Faith under the censure of Anathema and determined withal that to baptize Children without the consent of the Parents is all one as to compel men of full age to be Baptized The same determination is cited and approved by the Canonist Dist. 45. Cap. De Judaeis and were it but consistent with the nature of this work it were easie to decry this Jesuitical Turkish practice by most impregnable Arguments both in the Schoolmen and Casuists But I must leave this to Men of the sacred Function and only beg leave to infer that if it be noâ—â—â—â—ful to baptize the Children of Jews Infidels or Hereticks without consent of their Parents Though without Baptism when it may be had there is no entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven certainly it must be far more unlawful being baptized to take them from their Parents to season their tender years with dangerous principles leading to Prophaneness Brownism Anabaptism and Rebellion A just indignation against so barbarous practice hath transported me in this argument farther than I intended though not so far as the heinousness of the fact deserves therefore if any man desires to be more fully satisfied of the power and interest which Parents have over and in their Children being an Inheritance given them of the Lord as the Prophet David and the possession of their Parents as Aristotle in his Politicks and the great violation of Justice in relation of the Laws of God Nature and Men in despoiling their Parents of them let him have recourse to that Learned and Elegant discourse of Petrus Aerodius Chief Justice or President of Aniou in his Book de Patria Potestate who being robbed of his Son stoln from him by the Jesuits to plant him as a hopeful Imp in their Society and not able to rescue him out of their power though he implored and had the King of Spain's assistance for thither he was carried pursues his Son with Arguments and Labours to recal him to his Obedience by laying before him his duty artificially Collected and strongly applied from the Laws Divine Natural and Moral and therefore to him I remit him and turn my discourse into its proper channel On Friday the 12 of May 1643. Mr. John Bykar Son to the Vicar of Dunchurch was with his Father in Law one of the High-Constables of Warwickshire at the Market at Coventry Being in a House in the City he received some rude affronts from a Soldier of that Garison He being a very civil man of good Moderation and it seems well instructed not to answer a Fool in his Folly or being reviled to answer again withdrew himself from the place to decline the insolent madness of the Soldiers and free himself
continue the Spoil until the next Day-light failed them until Wednesday night In this time they carry away the Wealth of the Town to Northampton and other places sparing none but those whose Tongues are framed to Shiboleth men of their own Faction whether they were active against them or stood Neuters By which Essay those Luke-warm men who stand Pendulous equally poised between Rebellion and Loyalty and know not which side to lean unto may guess what measure they are like to receive from the Rebels hands if ever they come to have them in their power In the Town two men especially suffer under these Free-booters Mr. Gray and Mr. Fisher from the first being Clerk of the Peace they take away the Commissions of Peace the Sessions Rolls together with his own Evidences and Leases all his Houshold-stuff even to his very Bed-cords leaving but one Sheet for his Wife and five Children His Wheat and other Corn they give to their Horses what they did not eat they threw into the Streets and trampled it in the dirt From the other they took Goods and other things amounting to a very great Sum And to compleat their wickedness to their Oppression they add Scorn for having taken away all that they could in derision they affix Protections in writing under Colonel Norwich his hand at his and some others doors forbidding any man to Plunder Generally what they could not carry away they spoil so that the Loss sustained by the Town is valued at Six thousand pounds They took Mr. Neile Prisoner and some Forty more amongst them they took the Vicar Master Jones a grave and learned man but lame and very sickly and having Plundered him of all he had they mount him on a poor Jade with a Halter instead of a Bridle the rest they tie two and two together and drive them before them to Northampton Mr. Gray as I told you was the day before led Prisoner to Welby from thence to Northampton where his Prison cannot afford him protection from the fury and rage of the Soldiers to make way to his death they threaten to pull down the House where he was confined And the Commissioners finding that he could not remain there with any safety were constrained to send him away Prisoner to London Being come thither Articles are framed and exhibited against him which being examined at a Committee and no proof at all made he was Voted to be discharged his Imprisonment yet to delude Justice and the Petition of Right the Chair-man could never find a time to make his Report to the House so that he remained a Prisoner for a long time On the 28. of January 1642. the Castle of Sudely upon Composition was delivered up to the Rebels there were Articles agreed on and sworn to but as he spake truly Children were deceived with Apples and Men with Oaths the Rebels as they swear to Articles for their advantage so they break them as easily for their advantage and make Perjury an easie uninterrupted passage to Theft and Robbery for these Rebels brake as many Articles as they swore unto they plunder not only the Castle the Seat and House of the Lord Chandois and Winchcombe a neighbouring Village to the utter undoing the poor Inhabitants but in defence of the Protestant Religion and vindication of the Honor of God they profane his House There is in the Castle a goodly fair Church here they dig up the Graves and disturb the ashes of the dead they break down the ancient Monuments of the Chandoses and instead thereof leave a prodigious Monument of their Sacrilegious profaneness for each part of the Church they find a peculiar way to profane it the lower part of it they make their Stable the Chancel their Slaughter-house Unto the Pulpit which of all other places in probability might have escaped their Impiety they fasten pegs to hang the Carcasses of the slaughtered Sheep the Communion-Table according to their own Language they make their Dresser or Chopping-board to cut out their meat into the Vault wherein lay the Bodies of the Chandoses an ancient and honorable Family they cast the guts and garbage mingling the loathsom Intrals of Beasts with those Bones and Ashes which did there rest in hope of a joyful Resurrection The Nave or Body of the Church was all covered with the dung and blood of Beasts and which was if it be possible a degree beyond these Profanations in contempt of God and his holy Temple they defile each part and corner both of Church and Chancel with their own Excrements and going away left nothing behind them in the Church besides Walls and Seats but a stinking Memory that part of the Parliament Army raised for the defence of Religion had been there Let that railing Rabshekah or jeering Sanballet I mean the Author of the ridiculous Pamphlet intituled One Argument more against the Cavaliers read this Story and then tell me which are most guilty of prophanation of Churches the Cavaliers or the Round-heads which were most profaned either St. Mary Maudlins in Oxford or the Church at Sudly Castle and yet this Dog sticks not with Shimei to bark at his Sovereign and blaspheme his Piety as if the Rebels brought from Cyrencester had been Quartered in this Church by his approbation who to expiate that guilt gave an hundred an fifty pounds to adorn and beautifie that Church The truth is there was a fault in the Commanders for lodging them in Churches who if they had had their due had been hanged for Rebellion their carcasses exposed to the Fowls of the air and the Beasts of the field that the Ravens of the valleys might have had their due portion and never suffered them to come so near the Church as to have the priviledge of Christian Burial in the Church-yard So even so let all the Kings enemies perish O Lord and let all the people say Amen In Saint Maries Church in Warwick and the Chappel commonly called the Earls Chappel adjoyning to the Choire of that Church are divers fair Monuments of the Beauchamps anciently Earls of that place which Family long flourishing there had been great Benefactors and Beautifiers of that Church whereof Thomas Beauchamp Earl of Warwick and Earl Marshal of England and one of the Founders of the most noble Order of the Garter in the Reign of King Edward the Third built the Choire now standing in the midst whereof is his Monument and adorned the Windows with the Pictures of Himself his Wife and Children which were many upon the Surcoats of the Men were their Arms skilfully depicted the Women having the like and Mantles over which were the Arms of their Matches their Husbands being the prime Nobility of those times The like Portraitures in Glass but much more rich and costly were in that stately Chappel before-mentioned In this stood the Monument of Earl Richard being Brass gilt and in the Opinion of judicious observant Travellers esteemed the rarest Piece erected for any Subject
in the Christian World but such is the barbarousness of the pretenders to Reformation that upon Wednesday the 14. of this instant June the Souldiers by the appointment and encouragement of one whom in these degenerous Times wherein the dregs of the People are made Commanders for the advancement of Rebellion men call Colonel Purefey a man of a mean desperate Fortune but by the means of the late Lord Brooke chosen Burgess of Parliament for Warwick and who had the greatest Influence in seducing that unhappy Lord to this desperate Rebellion in which he miserably perished did beat down and deface those Monuments of Antiquity and not content with this by the same Command they break down the Cross in the Market-place not leaving one stone upon another Purefey all the while standing by animating and encouraging them until they had finished their so barbarous Work In which the World may observe that these men are the sworn Enemies not only of pretended Superstition but of the Ensigns of Nobility and Gentry that if their Diana I mean their Parity may take effect Posterity may forget and not read the distinction of Noble from ignoble in these venerable Monuments of ancient Nobility there being in these Windows something indeed to instruct a Herauld nothing to offend the weakest Christian. Mercurius Rusticus c. VII Doctor Cox barbarously used by the Earl of Stamford at Exeter contrary to the Law of Arms. The unheard-of Cruelties committed by the Lord Grey of Groby and his Souldiers on the person house goods and servants of Master Nowell in Rutlandshire Dr. Bargrave ill intreated by Col. Sands in Kent c. AFter the great and happy Defeat given by the Victorious Sir Ralph Hopton to the Devonshire Forces at Starton it pleased the Commanders of His Majesties Forces to entertain thoughts of Clemency towards the remainder of the Rebels To testifie to the World therefore that there was nothing more in their desires than a Thrift of Christian Blood and withal to heap coles of fire upon their heads to conquer them by kindness whom they had often conquered by the sword by their Letters they signifie their readiness to close up those wide rents between them by a Treaty And that a Message of Peace might be well suited with a Messenger they sent the Letters by Dr. Cox Doctor of Divinity who attended by a Trumpeter came to Exeter that Sunday in the After-noon The Trumpeter as the manner is gave the Town warning as soon as he came within sight of the Guard and presently an Officer came to receive him who blind-folding him with a Handkerchief pinn'd over his Eyes conducted him through the City unto the Earl of Stamfords House having admittance there the Doctor takes off his Handkerchief but accidentally did not dispose of the pin that fastned it but still kept it in his Hand the Earl had no sooner set his eyes upon the Doctor but presently he reviles him and calls him all the reproachful Names he could imagine and swore that he would hang him instantly but first to extort a confession from him he offers a Knife or Dagger to his Breast demanding an answer to some Interrogatories the Doctor not affrighted with such rough usage replies very discreetly That he had received commands to deliver certain Letters from the Commanders of the Cornish to those of the Devonshire Army but that he had no Commission to satisfie any different and by-demands this denial to answer together with after dinner inflamed the Earl and put him into a new fit of Railing and for variety sake he did intermix the opprobrious names with many menaces and offers of stabbing him In the end seeing that this harsh welcome could effect nothing nor awe the Doctor to make any discovery he demands the Letters the Doctor that he might clear his hands and so dive into his Pockets suddenly put the Pin which he held in his hands between his lips hereupon one Baxter a Serjeant-Major of the City observing the motion of his hand but not perceiving what it conveyed to his mouth cryed out What doth the rogue eat there he swallows Papers of Intelligence With this the Earl forgetting the Gravity and serious Deportment of a Peer of the Kingdom of England began in an antick manner to leap and skip and frisk crying out Treason Treason he comes to betray the City Courage my brave blades and so turning to the Doctor he set his Dagger again to his Breast and demanded what it was that he had put into his mouth The Doctor mildly and softly putting his hands to his lips took the Pin thence and shewing it to his Lordship said It is a Pin my Lord. The Serjeant-Major thinking to intercept the supposed Intelligence going down the Doctors throat instantly flies to him took him by the throat and griped him so hard that he had almost strangled him The Earl himself most unworthily crying out Cut the Villains throat cut it nor did he command another what he would not do himself for with his own hands he offered his Knife thrice at the Doctors throat to cut it but the Doctor still put it by God who is a present help in trouble restrained the Earl and delivered the Doctor out of his hands Nor was it his hap to suffer from Honorable hands only the standers by are not idle but follow so leading an example as if he had been sent for from Cornwall to Exeter on no other errand than to be made the City scorn and the subject whereon their wanton insolency should vent it self every one in the Room had a fling at him some with their fists beat him about the head others scratch his face one with his fingers boars his ears to his extream torment another with his fingers rakes in his mouth hoping there to find some Papers of Intelligence one tears his hair another forces his hand down his throat and the thing for which they make this strict search is Intelligence some scrole of Intelligence Sure there is much want of Intelligence in their own heads that made such strict inquisition for it in another mans Well this pursuit of Intelligence so long they continue and so eagerly that the Doctor fainting under so barbarous usage was ready to give up the Ghost and for fear he should dye under their hands they leave him a sad emblem of that entertainment which the Messengers of Peace find from the men of this Generation Let that rebellious City remember and tremble at that condolement of our Saviour over the like sin O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee I am unwilling to go on and read her destiny and therefore shall return to the story Having in this unchristian manner insulted long enough upon the Doctor they divert their rage and spend the rest of their Fury on the Trumpeter and having either before in part breathed out their madness or not thinking the poor Trumpeter so
they hoped they had they would return another time and have him either dead or alive At Bristow in Devonshire there dwells a Husbandman and though I cannot tell his name yet let it not weaken the credit of the Relation who not satisfied with the Parliaments proceedings in taking up Arms against their lawful undoubted Sovereign stood in a seeming Neutrality at last conceiving it time to declare himself he openly adhered to the Kings Party hereupon he was very diligently sought after and the Earl of Stamford sent a Troop of Horse to his House to apprehend him when they came thither they found not the good man at home but a Son of his about Ten or Eleven years old they ask him where his Father was the Child replied that he was not at home they threaten him and use all arts to make him discover where his Father had hid himself the Child being ignorant it seems where his Father was still persisted in the same answer that he knew not where he was hereupon they threaten to hang him neither doth that prevail at last they take the poor innocent Child and hang him up either because he would not betray his Father had he been able to satisfie their doubt or for not having the Spirit of Prophecy not being able to receive what by an ordinary way of knowledg he did not know having let him hang a while they cut him down not intending to hang him unto death but being cut down they could perceive nothing discovering life in him hereupon in a barbarous way of experiment they prick him with their Swords in the back and thighs using the means leading to death to find out life at last after some long stay some small symptomes of life did appear yet so weak that there they left him nearer the confines of death than life and whether the Child did ever recover is more than my Informer can assure me Only Courteous Reader observe from this short Narration that these Bloody Rebels spare neither the venerableness of the Sacred Function the infirmities of old Age or the tenderness of Youth Mercurius Rusticus c. XI The particulars of the first Siege of Corfe-Castle gallantly defended by the Lady Banks and Captain Laurence against the Powers Plots and Policies of Walter Earle and his Adherents c. THere is in the Isle of Purbeck a strong Castle called Corffe Castle seated on a very steep Hill in the fracture of a Hill in the very midst of it being eight miles in length running from the East end of the Peninsula to the West and though it stand between the two ends of this fracture so that it may seem to lose much advantage of its natural and artificial strength as commanded from thence being in height equal to if not over-looking the tops of the highest Towers of the Castle yet the structure of the Castle is so strong the ascent so steep the Walls so massie and thick that it is one of the impregnablest Forts of the Kingdom and of very great concernment in respect of its command over the Island and the places about it This Castle is now the Possession and Inheritance of the Right Honorable Sir John Banks Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and one of his Majesties most Honorable Privy Council who receiving Commands from the King to attend Him at York in Easter Term 1642. had leave from the two Houses to obey those Commands After the unhappy Differences between the King and the two Houses or rather between the King and the Faction in both Houses grew high it being generally feared that the Sword would decide the controversie the Lady Bankes a virtuous and prudent Lady resolved with her Children and Family to retire to this Castle there to shelter themselves from the storm which she saw coming which accordingly she did there she and her Family remained in peace all the Winter and a great part of the Spring until May 1643. about which time the Rebels under the command of Sir Walter Earl Sir Thomas Trenchard and others had possessed themselves of Dorchaster Lyme Melcome Weymouth Wareham and Pool Portland Castle being treacherously delivered to the Rebels only Corfe Castle remaining in Obedience to the King but the Rebels knowing how much it concerned them to add this Castle to their other Garrisons to make all the Sea-coast wholly for them and thinking it more feisible to gain it by Treachery than open Hostility resolved to lay hold on an Opportunity coming on to see if they could become Masters of it There is an ancient usage that the Major and Barons as they call them of Corfe Castle accompanyed by the Gentry of the Island have permission from the Lord of the Castle on May-day to course a Stag which every year is performed with much Solemnity and great concourse of People On this day some Troops of Horse from Dorchester and other places came into this Island intending to find other Game then to hunt the Stag their business being suddenly to surprize the Gentlemen in the Hunting and to take the Castle the News of their coming disperst the Hunters and spoiled the sport for that day and made the Lady Bankes to give order for the safe Custody of the Castle-gates and to keep them shut against all comers The Troopers having mist their Prey on the Hills the Gentlemen having withdrawn themselves some of them came to the Castle under a pretence to see it but entrance being denyed them the common Soldiers used threatning Language casting out words implying some intentions to take the Castle but the Commanders who better knew how to conceal their Resolutions utterly disavowed any such thought denying that they had any such Commission however the Lady Banks very wisely and like her self hence took occasion to call in a Guard to assist her not knowing how soon she might have occasion to make use of them it being now more than probable that the Rebels had a design upon the Castle The taking in this Guard as it secured her at home so it rendred her suspected abroad from thence-forward there was a watchful and vigilant eye to survey all her Actions whatsoever she sends out or sends for in is suspected her ordinary Provisions for her Family are by fame multiplyed and reported to be more than double what indeed they were as if she had now an intention to Victual and Man the Castle against the Forces of the two Houses of Parliament presently Letters are sent from the Committees of Poole to demand the four small Pieces in the Castle and the pretence was because the Islanders conceived strange Jealousies that the Pieces were mounted and put on their Carriages Hereupon the Lady Bankes dispatched Messengers to Dorchester and Poole to entreat the Commissioners that the small Piece might remain in the Castle for her own defence and to take away the ground of the Islanders Jealousies she caused the Pieces to be taken off their Carriages again hereupon a promise was
ordered the Parishoners to pay their Tiths Tillat a Linnen Draper one of the Citizens that was sued refused to obey the Lord Mayor's Decree and therefore the time limited in the Decree being expired the Lord Mayor according to the power given him by the Statute of the 37 of Hen. 8. committed Tillat to Prison without Bail or mainprize until he did submit to the sentence as the Statute gives him power But see the Justice of the great pretenders to the maintenance of the Laws of the Land Tillat had not stood committed many days before two of the House of Commons as the Keeper of Newgate sayes in the name of the House of Commons command him to be set at liberty which accordingly was done though he were in upon Execution and the Debt not satisfied every man wondring at but no man daring to question so illegal an action When this way took no effect they joyned their Purses to vex him with an Action of Ejectment threatning to spend five hundred pounds but they would out him of his Living but presently deserted those intentions as not seizable After this they slaunder him for Preaching Popery and Arminianism which unjust scandal so prevailed in the City that he could not pass the streets without affronts and jeers put upon him they disswade his Parishoners from hearing him telling them that they would be damn'd if they lived under his Ministery they branded them with the name of Malignants if they frequented their own Church and procured them to be deeply Taxed in all Sessments In a word that nothing might be wanting to their own malice and Mr. Chestlen's vexation they threw menacing Libels into his House laid wait in the Pewes of his Church while others provoked him to express himself in the great differences of the times hoping to intangle him in his words and examined his Conversation in the very places where he lived even from his Childhood to that time hoping to find something whence to frame an Accusation against him When all these malicious Courses would not effect the thing they aimed at they go from house to house for hands to a Petition against him to the House of Commons pretending that he had Preached false Doctrin and made it the subject matter of their Petition and if any man refused to subscribe as many did because they could not testifie the truth of the Petition in their Spirit of meekness they called them Malignants Papists and Enemies to Religion however it is too well known that two or three men though the very dregs of the People petitioning against Orthodox Ministers have in the judgment and acceptance of the Faction of the House of Commons out-poised the rest of the Parish though infinitely beyond them as in Number so in Quality their Testimony being rejected with much acrimony and sharpness when the other Libels have gained credit and reputation with them Therefore about March 1641. The Schismaticks of Mr. Chestlens Parish presented a Petition against him to the House of Commons in the name of the whole Parish though three parts of four protested against it under their own hands When it was presented Pennington and Venne earnestly urged that it might be read pleading in their drivelling railing Oratory that he was a very dangerous man fit to be looked after To satisfie their Importunity the Witnesses who as their manner is were never sworn and yet were both Witnesses and Accusers were produced and examined at the Bar and upon examination the Petition was thrown out as frivolous but like eager bloud-hounds not giving off the pursuit for being at one loss upon Easter Eve to shew the World that malice is part of a Puritans preparation to the Sacrament when the House was very thin the Protestants of the House being in their Closets close at their devotions to prepare themselves for the great Feast at hand and when all private businesses by order of both Houses were laid aside for as yet all opinion of the sanctity of the ancient Festivals of the Primitive Church those venerable anniversary memorials of Gods great blessings to mankind was not lost amongst them Pennington and Venne prevailed to have this foiled ejected Petition to be revived and read again in the House and the Patrons of Justice and Integrity being then absent the Petition was referred to the Committee for scandalous Ministers so they are pleased to call all Orthodox conscientious Ministers who abhor their Rebellion and refuse to comply with them in their seditious practices and that no time might be lost in Easter-week the Committee sate purposely for this business to which there was a full confluence of seditious Schismatical People from all quarters of the City that so nothing might be wanting to this Triumph while Mr. Chestlen was thus tied to a tedious chargeable attendance God to whom appertain the Issues of death smote Tillat the main promoter of Mr. Chestlens troubles with the Plague of which he died with whom also for the present died Mr. Chestlens trouble and vexation and though some that think that all acts of providence are aimed point-blank at them having such an oportunity as this would interpret this to their own Interest as a sign of personal favour to them yet not daring to press into the hidden will of God nor making our selves of familiar acquaintance with his Counsels I shall not make any inference from hence but leave every man to abound in his own sense only thus much we say Tillat being dead the hot prosecution of Mr. Chestlen for a while lay dead too when all these endeavours could not re-estate Burton in the Parsonage some of the Factious of the Parish combine to make him their Lecturer and perhaps better approved of him as their Lecturer than their Parson to this purpose cunningly and on feigned pretences they get some subscriptions of the Parishoners and annexing them to a Petition for which they were never intended preferred it in their own names and the names of the rest to the House of Commons that Burton might be their Lecturer which was no sooner proposed than granted and an Order presently drawn up to give Burton power to Preach in Mr. Chestlen's Pulpit which Mr. Chestlen resolutely opposing kindled such Coals against him as afterwards fired him out of the City for since Mr. Chestlen will not give way to Burton to be partner with him in his Pulpit they resolve to give him possession of the whole by removing Mr. Chestlen totally from his Cure To this purpose Mr. Case sends to the Faction in Mr. Chestlen's Parish to frame some accusation against him in obedience to so ghostly Counsel Mr. Chestlen is presently accused to the House of Commons for Preaching a seditious Sermon on Sunday the 23. of October that very day whereon the Battel was fought at Edge-Hill The subject of the Sermon in truth being nothing else but an earnest exhortation to his Parishoners to perswade them to constancy in the Protestant Religion
we spkae with our Tongue The Preface And now that the string of our tongue is untyed our earnest desire is that none of these its sorrowful expressions may be mis-interpreted by any And to that end we have perfixed this advertisement to prevent three mistakes which are all we can possibly imagin the malice of our greatest Enemies can any way fansie against this our Remonstrance I. The first is That perhaps it may be groundless because we have not therein set down the express words either of those Protections by which we might securely have expected an Indemnity or of those Orders by which we suffered To which we answer that the reason hereof was partly to avoid tediousness and therefore we gave onely some short hints in the margent And partly because being despersed we could not possibly have the true Copies of all of them by us And to publish any thing that was but supposititious could not consist with our constant endeavour still to maintain the truth notwithstanding whatsoever difficulties to the contrary But yet to prevent all mistakes as near as we can we have here inserted the true Copies of such as we had by us whereby the indifferent Reader will not onely guess at the rest but also easily imagin what rigour and malice there was used in the execution of them which we assure him are as much or more than he can possibly fansie For they being to deal with an Vniversity which then had a reverend esteem over the whole Kingdom must counterfeit Jacobs voice as much as possibly he could in their Orders though their hands were far rougher than Esau's in the execution of them And accordingly though now it is too apparent it was but only in mockery we had sent us these two following Protections Die Sabbati 4. Mar. 1642. THE Earl of Holland Chancellour of the University of Cambridge having this day represented in the House the present condition of the said University the Lords in Parliament apprehending that through the publick distractions and by reason of great multitudes of Soldiers resorting from several places to the Town of Cambridge some disturbance might happen to the quiet and studies of the Scholar For preventing therefore of any such mischief have thought fit to declare the esteem and care they have of that ancient and noble Seminary of Learning and have accordingly Ordered that no Person or Persons whatsoever shall presume to offer any outrage or violence either by themselves or others unto any the Colledges Chappels Libraries Schools or other buildings belonging to the said University or to any the Scholars or publick Ministers thereof Nor plunder purloin deface spoil or take away any the Books goods chattels or houshold-stuff of or belonging to the said University or any Col. there or to any Scholar or publick Minister thereof under any colour or pretence whatsoever as they will answer the contrary to this House at their utmost perils And that Divine Service may be quietly performed and executed throughout all the said University according to the settlement of the Church of England without any trouble let or disturbance until the pleasure of the Parliament be further signified Provided nevertheless that this Protection shall not extend to stop any due course of Law or proceeding of Parliament that may or might have had its course if this Protection had not been granted And herein ready obedience is to be given by all such whom this doth or may concern as they will answer the contrary at their perils Jo. Brown Cleric Parliamentorum THese are to will require and command you and every of you to forbear under any pretence whatsoever to prejudice or offer any dammage to the University of Cambridge or to any the Schools Colledges Halls Libraries Chappels or other places belonging to the said Universities by plundering the same or any part thereof in any kind whatsoever Hereof fail not as you will answer the contrary at your perils Given under my hand and seal the 7. day of March 1642. Essex To all Colonels Lieutenant-Colonels Captains and all other Officers and Soldiers of the Army under my command These indeed were our Protections but they were blasted in the bud by this following Warrant THese are to authorize you to enter into the houses of all Papists Malignants and other Persons whatsoever that have or shall refuse to appear at Musters or to contribute according to the Propositions of both Houses of Parliament or refuse to enter into the Association and to seize upon all such Horses Arms and Ammunition as shall be found in their custodies and to apprehend their said Persons and them to be brought before me or any one of the Deputy-Lieutenants of the County and in case of Resistance to force the same Commanding all Mayors Sheriffs Captains Trained-Bands and other inferiour Officers whatsoever to be aiding and assisting to Colonel Coke herein Dated Feb. 23. 1642. Gray of Wark To Col. Coke Lieutenant-Col Bryldon or any other of his Officers This Warrant was issued out the more suddenly and prosecuted the more violently in regard that our Protections were then in procuring But the rigorous prosecution of this made those to be of little or no use more than the name unless it was to shut the Stable door after the Steed was stoln For under pretence of Papists Malignants c. there was scarce a Scholar in all the Vniversity which escaped examination And lest our Colledge Chappels Libraries or Treasuries or even the privatest Cabinet therein or in any of our Chambers or Studies should perchance have been converted into Stables for Horses or Magazines for Arms and Ammunition they searched them all so strictly and plundered them all so throughly that nothing which they liked escaped their fingers our ancient Coins not excepted When we had seen their unparallel'd rigour herein and how we were slighted when we made our just complaints against it we did not much regard whether they had any Commission or not for whatsoever they did to us afterward But like Christian sufferers when they took our Cloaks we forbad them not to take our Coats also and when they took our goods we asked them not again For we did plainly see that we were destinated to ruin and that all these were but previous dispositions to take us down and fit us for the great stroke when they should please to lay it upon us And therefore omitting all the rest though we could insert some we shall here only add two other Warrants mentioned hereafter The one their general Summons the other their first form of their Writs of Ejection THese are to will and require you upon sight hereof to give speedy advertisement viis mediis modis to Master Fellows Scholars and Officers of your Colledge to be resident in your said Colledge the 10. day of March next ensuing to give an account wherein they shall be required and to answer such things as may be demanded by me or such Commissioners
him we may justly receive at his hands heavier Judgments than these yet our Innocence will plead Not Guilty to the face of any Man who shall object against us any Civil Misdemeanors whereby we can more justly be deprived of our Fellowships than any free Subject in England of his fee Simple if they please to say he is guilty of Misdemeanors And as it hath pleased our gracious Master whose Ministers we are to make us examples though but of suffering to the rest of our Brethren So we hope he will continue unto us his grace of humilation under his mighty hand as an earnest of his exalting us in due time And in the interim that he will lay no more upon us than he shall be pleased to strengthen our infirmities to bear And that he will still preserve unto us a good conscience that whereas our persecutors speak evil of us as of evil doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse our good conversation in Christ. FINIS Mercurius Belgicus OR A briefe Chronology of the Battels Sieges Conflicts and other most remakable passages from the beginning of this Rebellion to the 25 th of March 1646. Together with A Catalogue of the Persons of Quality slain on both sides CICERO Incerti sunt exitus pugnarum Marsque esi communis qui saepe spoliantem jam exultantem evertit perculit ab abjecto Printed in the Year 1685. The Preface Readers YOU have here a canded and impartial Epitomy of an unnatural War Subjects banding against their lawful Prince Brother against Brother and Father against Son Read but the said ensuing Story and therein consider the number and quality of Persons slain the destruction of Houses and Families the desolation of Cities and Towns the increase of Widows and Orphans the Tyranny and inhumanity of our new Legislators over their own Fellow-Subjects and you will easily conclude of these as Cicero did of Sylla's time Nemo illo invito nec bona nec patriam nec vitam retinere potueirt In earnest it may well be wondred whence these men have their minds God nor man nor Nature ever made them thus To be short the Reader may here see the flux and reflux of Fortune de la Guerre now this party flourisheth and that goes down anon that flourisheth and this goes down as if the guilt of our sins were drawing a heavy Judgment from Heaven upon this Land and these Rebels were ordained for the instruments of it But let us hope for better And particularly that God in the richness of his mercy will look down upon these macerated Kingdoms and periodize these distractions That Religion may again flourish in its purity maugre the Plots and impieties of all Seditiaries and Schismaticks That His Sacred Majesty may be re-established in His just Rights and Prerogatives that Parliaments may move in their own and known Centre the Ancient Laws of the Land re-inforced and freed from fellow-subjects Tyranny and Arbitration and the Subject re-estated in his Ancient Liberties freed from Murder Rapine and Plunder which that we may quickly see let it be the Subject of ever good Christian Prayer Memorable OCCURRENCES since the beginning of this REBELLION Anno Dom. 1641. IN December 1641. The House of Commons published a Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom therein setting forth all the errors of his Majesties Government a meer design to alienate the affection of his Subjects from him The tenth of January following his Majesty with the Queen Prince and Duke of Yorke left White-hall and went to Hampton Court to avoid the danger of those frequent tumults then hazarding the safety of his Royal Person February the 23 d. the Queens Majesty took shipping at Dover having been driven before from White-hall by the frequent tumults of the Rebels And soon after His Majesty went to New-market and from thence to Yorke where after the Rebels had Guards for three Months before the Gentry of the Country raised a Guard for his Majesties Person Anno Dom. 1642. MAY the 20 th it was voted by both Houses That the King intended to levie War against the Parliament which they did on purpose to excuse themselves for raising a Rebellion against His Majesty as appeared within few days after July the second the Kings ship called the Providence Landed in the Creek of Kenningham near Hull till which time His Majesty had not a Barrel of Powder nor any Arms or Ammunition whatsoever July the 12 th the pretended two Houses Voted that the Earl of Essex should be General of their Army and that they would live and die with him August the first the Earl of Essex caused all the men then raised being in number about 10000 to be committed to Officers and divided into Regiments which men had been raising ever since the 12 th of July 1642. at which time he was made General of the Rebels August the sixth the Earl of Bedford having fruitlessely besieged the Lord Marquess of Hertford in Sherburn Castle for four days before retreated to Yevell the Noble Marquess sallied after him and with a small number fell on that great body of the Rebels Kill'd above 140 whereof 9 Commanders took divers Prisoners and routed the rest so as he marched away and after divided his small Forces going himself into Wales and Sir Ralph now Lord Hopton into Cornwall of both which there followed so good an effect August the 22 d. His Majesty set up his Standard Royal at Nottingham for raising of Forces to suppress the Rebels then marching against him September the 23 d. Prince RUPERT with about 11 Troops of Horse gave a great overthrow to the Rebels in Wikefield near Worcester where Colonel Sands that commanded in chief received his mortal wound Major Douglas a Scot and divers other Captains and Officers slain and drowned Captain Wingate a Member of the House of Commons with four Coronets taken and two more torn in pieces This body of the Rebels was observed to be the flower of their Cavalry October the 23 d. was that signal great battel fought between Keynton and Edg-hill by his Majesties Army and that of the Rebels led by the Earl of Essex wherein the Rebels lost above 70 Colours of Coronets and Ensigns and His Majesty but only 16 Ensigns and not one Coronet The exact number that were slain on both sides in this Battel is not known But it is certain that the Rebels lost above three for one Men of eminence of his Majesties Forces who were slain in the Battel were the two Noble and valiant Lords Robert Earl of Lindsey Lord High Chamberlain of England and George Lord D. Aubigney Brother to the Duke of Richmond and Lenox Sir Edmund Verney Knight Marshal to His Majesty with some other worthy Centlemen and Soldiers but besides these three named there was not one Noble Man or Knight kill'd which was an extraordinary mercy of Almighty God considering what a glorious sight of Princes Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscounts Barons Knights and
above 300 of the Rebels were taken and kill'd at the least 200 more wounded abve 300 of their Horse taken four pieces of Cannon and a case of Drakes with some Ammunition here was the most Noble and valiant Earl of Northampton unfortunately slain with C. Middleton and some few others on His Majesties side March the 23 d. Grantham was taken in by some of His Majesties Forces under the Command of Colonel Charles Cavendish wherein were taken 360 Prisoners with all the Captains and Officers three foot Ensigns two Cornets together with three loads of Arms and Ammunition And afterwards the works demolished Anno Dom. 1643. APRIL the third Prince Rupert entered and possessed that seditious Town of Burmingham wherein was 300 Foot and two Troops of Horse who being gallantly charged by the Welch-men in less than half an hour forsook their Breast-works and retired to their Barricadoes within the Town wherein they found such slender defence that they took them to their heels and that so fast that though they were pursued as soon as the Prince had possessed the Town yet few of their Horse were overtaken only about 80 of the Rebels were kill'd and as many Prisoners taken together with about 150 Musquets and betwixt 4 and 500 Swords and three Colours In this service the Noble Farl of Denbigh received a wound whereof he afterwards died April the 11 th there was a fight near unto Ancaster in the County of Lincoln betwixt the Kings Forces under the command of Colonel Cavendish and the Rebels of that County under young Hotham their then General in which fight the most part of the Rebels were slain and taken Prisoners their General put to flight and their whole Body totally routed On the 21 st day being Friday the Close at Lichfield after three weeks siege and the loss of some men was yeilded up to Prince Rupert together with the Ordnance and Ammunition all sorss of Arms except the Horse-mens Arms and a certain number of Musquets and all such Treasure which had been formerly conveyed in thither and did not properly belong to the Soldiers there These Soldiers were part of those Forces under the command of the late Lord Brook a great Leader in this Bebellion and a maliciious enemy to the Church who was kill'd in his assaulting this Church by a shot into the eye on S. Chads day who was the first Bishop of this See in memory of whom this Cathedral was built and called S. Chads Church The last day of April his Excellency the Earl of Newcastles Forces encountered with and totally routed a whole Body of the Rebels consisting of above 3000 men which were going to relieve the Town of Leeds killed 150 of them in the place took 240 Prisoners three pieces of Ordnance together with all their Victual and Ammunition May the 6 th James Earl of Northampton the true Heir of his Fathers Loyalty and valour encountered with a Body of the Rebels in Middleton Cheny Town-field near Banbury consisting of about 700 Foot and five Troops of Horse where he wholly routed their Foot killed 217 upon the plain took above 300 Prisoners all their Ordnance and Ammunition 416 Musquets 150 Pikes and above 500 Swords pursued the fugitive Horse and killed and took many of them the rest made what hast they could to Northampton In this fight his Lordship lost but three men and those not of any note Nor had above one Officer so much as hurt Upon the 16 th of May the Lord Hopton assaulted the great Rebellious Body then intrenched near Stratton on the Borders of Devonshire fought with them full ten hours and having spent his Ammunition insomuch that he had not powder left to serve one hour longer fell upon the Rebels with Swords Pikes and Musquets stocks And with unexpressible valour wholly routed the Rebels Army killed many hundreds of them in the place wounded many more took 1700 Prisoners whereof above 30 Commanders all their Cannon being 11 pieces of Brass Ordnance and 4 of Iron 2 Morter pieces 75 Barrels of Powder with Shot and Match proportionable betwixt 2 and 3000 Arms and 3000l in mony there being not above 46 of the Kings Forces killed and hurt and amongst those not any one Commander or Gentleman of Quality May the 23 d. The Queen was most traiterously voted a Traitour for her love so exemplarily expressed to the King Her Husband May the 30 th Master Robert Yeomans and Master George Boucher two Citizens of Bristoll were there publickly Murthered by Colonel Nathanial Fines for their Loyalty to His Majesty June the 18 th 1643. His Highness Prince Rupert beat up the Quarters of the Rebels at Postcombe and Chinner in Oxfordshire killed some 50 of the Rebels there Quartered took about 120 Prisoners almost all their Horses and Arms and three of Sir Samuel Lukes Dragoon-Cornets obtained a great victory in Chalgrove field and utterly defeated the Rebels Horse-men and Dragooners slew divers of their Commanders especially Colonel John Hampden one of the five Members accused of high Treason who in this fight received his mortal wound in this very Chalgrove field where he first Mustered and drew up men in Arms to put in execution the Rebellious Ordinance for the Militia On Friday the last of June His Excellency the Earl of Newcastle obtained a great victory against the Northern Rebels under the Lord Fairfax upon Aderton-heath within the County of Yorke In which fight my Lord soon put the Rebels into such confusion that they could not be reduced again into any Order until he had gained all their five pieces of Cannon which he presently turned against them the sight whereof did so terrifie them that they made what hast they could towards Leedes But finding that his Excellencies horse had intercepted that passage their last shift was to recover Bradford which was done in such a disorderly manner that his Excellency in the pursuit of them killed and took above 2000 whereof above 1500 Prisoners As for their General Fairfax he with much adoe made shift with one poor Troop of Horse to get at night into Leeds leaving the rest to the mercy of the Victor July the 1 st The Earl of Essex being with his Army at Tame in Oxfordshire sent Colonel Middleton with 500 horse and Dragoons to Padbury to way-lay Prince Rupert and his Forces from returning from Buckingham to Oxford while Essex with his Army fell on the Prince but Sir Charles Lucas by his Scouts discovered the Rebels design and accordingly met them with three Troops of his own Regiment wherewith he routed all Middletons 400 horse and Dragoons pursued them to their pass at Werthillbrook followed them through the foard in despight of all their Musquettiers there slew above 100. took 40 Prisoners and prevented the Rebels hopeful design The same day the Marquess of Newcastle besieged Bradford bestowed upon it above 40 shot from his great Artillery and the morrow after made himself Master of the Town In which he
took 2000 Prisoners with all the Horse Arms and Ammunition which either the Rebels found in the Town or brought thither with them Hereupon the Rebels deserted the Town of Hallifax and presently after Sir Hugh Cholmely fell upon Beverly and took it for his Majesty July the 5 th Master Tomkins and Master Challoner were most barbarously Murthered by the Rebels in London for their Fidelity to his Majesty And the same fifth day there was a fight on Landsdown-hill betwixt His Majesties Forces under the command of the Marquess of Hartford and the Rebels under Sir William Waller who after 11 hours fight stuck their lighted matches in the hedges and ran quite away leaving behind them above 500 Musquets 14 barrels of Powder a whole Stand of Pikes with good store of all sorts of Arms. Their Foot were absolutely routed and all dispersed his loss of Officers and horse was great many hundreds of his men were killed His Majesties forces having the pillage of the field And here was that most valiant Knight Sir Bevill Greenvill unfortunately slain in the Front of his men with some others of less Quality The 13 th of July about four a Clock in the Afternoon the King and Queens Majesty met at Edge-hill where the Rebels had received their main overthrow and the same day and hour His Majesties Forces under the Command of the Lord Wilmot Lieutenant General of the Horse the Earl of Carnarvon the Earl of Crawford and the Lord Biron obtained another great and strange victory upon Round-way-down with 1500 horse and two smal pieces of Cannon only wherewith they totally routed the Rebels Army under the Command of the old-beaten Soldier Sir William Waller consisting of above 2500 Foot and 2000 Horse besides 500 Dragoons with 8 pieces of Brass Ordnance slew 600 of them in the place took above 900 Prisoners all their Cannon Arms Ammunition Waggons Baggage and Victual 28 Foot-Ensigns 9 Cornets and left not one Rebel but what was either killed taken Prisoner or narrowly escaped Upon the 24 th of July his Highness Prince Rupert having joyned his Forces to his Brothers and the whole body of their strength being brought together they sate down before Bristol and began their Batteries And the 26 day with unexpressible valour they gained the Out-works and the 27 day following the City and Castle was delivered up to His sacred Majesty with all the Ordnance Arms and Ammunition At this siege were slain on His Majesties part Sir Nicolas Slanning one of the Lunsfords with some few others and that valiant Lord the Lord Grandison did here receive a wound August the 3 d. Corf-castle in the Isle of Purbecke which had been so often before besieged by Sir Walter Earle but had always beaten off the Rebels and killed their Cannoniers was once more fallen upon by the Rebels who were so bravely received by Captain Laurence that 60 of them were kill'd in the place the rest hearing of the most valiant Earl of Carnarvons approach ran away Soon after the Earl of Carnarvon Summoned Dorchester which was thereupon delivered up to his Lordship with all the Arms Ammunition and Cannon which were disposed of for His Majesties use About the 9 th of August the Castle and Isle of Portland were reduced again under His Majesties command And the Town and Haven of Weymouth and Melcombe submitted to His Majesty August the 20 th Colonel Jo. Digby defeated the Rebels of Biddeford and Barnstable killed 100 of their Foot took 211 Officers and common Soldiers Prisoners most of which were miserably wounded two pieces of Ordnance six barrels of Powder 400 weight of Bullet 200 and a half of Match and above 300 Arms besides all the Foot-Officers horses Pursued their horse to the very works of Biddeford and returned victoriously without the loss of more than one man not one of the rest of his Soldiers being so much as hurt all that day Upon the 2 d. and 3 d of September the Towns of Biddeford Appleford and Barnstable delivered up their several Garrisons to His Majesty Upon the same 3 d. of September Prince Maurice gave a very hot assault upon the City of Exeter and battered the Walls whereupon the Rebels desired Parley but refusing the conditions the assault was afterwards eagerly pursued and the next day after won the great Sconce turned the Ordnance there against the Town Whereupon the Rebels craved to be admitted unto those conditions which before they rejected and obtained the same delivered up the Town and Castle to the Prince his Highness with all the Ordnance Arms and Ammunition after it had been blockt up and besieged about six weeks September the 17 th the Rebels Army stealing out of Gloucestershire towards London surprised part of a new raised Regiment of His Majesties horse at Cirencester but were overtaken by Prince Rupert with His Majesties horse near Auburne in Wiltshire where he gave them two charges the one by a commanded Party under Colonel Urrey the other by the Queens Regiment commanded by the Lord Iermin who performed it so well on the Rebels whole Army that many great bodies of Foot were routed and many of them slain in the place without any loss to His Majesties Forces save two common Soldiers killed and the Marquess de la Vienville taken Prisoner who was afterwards Murthered by the Rebels in cold Blood and the Lord Digby and Lord Iermyn lightly wounded by which two charges the Rebels Army was so retarded that His Majesty had time to overtake them with his Foot and on Wednesday after the 20 th of this month upon an Hill near Newberry and Enborne-heath His Majesty fought with the Rebels who were seated in the most advantageous place imaginable yet in despight of all their Cannon Foot and Horse His Majesty beat them from their ground gained the Hill and one piece of their brass Ordnance and quickly routed all their horse upon the Heath The most that were killed in this fight of His Majesties Forces exceeded not the number of 300 though above 600 of the Rebels were slain and a very great number wounded In this fight were slain the most Noble and valiant Earl of Carnarvon the Earl of Sunderland the Lord Viscount Faulkland Col. Morgan Captain William Symcots with some other Gentlemen and Commanders After this fight the Rebels were further pursued and routed again so as they fled into Reading where they durst not stay but left the Town for His Majesty September the 25 th That pernicious confederacy called the National covenant was taken by the Members of the House of Commons at Westminster in S. Margarets Church October the 18 th the Pince of Harcourt Lord Ambassadour Extraordinary from the French King and Queen Regent after he had been most barbarously used in his passage by the Rebels came safe into Oxford where he had entertainment more suitable to the worth of so great a Personage In this month of October His Majesties Forces under the command of the Lord Widdrington
Sir Charles Lucas Col. Porter and Col. Tillier Prisoners In this Battel were slain on His Majesties part the Lord Cary Sir Thomas Metham Col. Ewer Col. Townley with some others of note and about 1500 common Soldiers On the Rebels part were slain Sir Charles Fairfax younger son to the Lord Fairfax with many other of their Commanders and at least 3000 common Soldiers This done the Rebels rally and sit down again before Yorke which was valiantly defended for three weeks after by Sir Tho. Glenham and then delivered upon honourable conditions to march away with Arms Bag and Baggage which conditions were most persidiously broken by the Rebels July the 6 th The Lord Hopton routed 350 of the Rebels near Warmister which were pursued above 20 miles by Sir Francis Dodington July the 15 th The King came to Bath with his Army which day the Queens Majesty arrived safe at Brest in Britanny notwithstanding 50 great shot made at her by Batty the Rebels Vice-Admiral July the 23 d. The King made His speech to the Summersetshire men on Kings-moore who came in to His Majesties assistance very cheerfully July the 31 st Middleton the Scot furiously assaulted Denington Castle and received a most shameful repulse leaving dead behind him one Col. eight Captains one Sergeant Major with many inferiour Officers and Soldiers August the 1 st His Majesty with his Army passed into Cornwal over Tamar at Polton bridg in pursuit of the Earl of Essex whom he had now chased through Devonshire August the 25 th The King gained from the Rebels the Castle of Lestithiel where their Army lay strongly encamped and in it took Col. Butler and some others Prisoners August the 30 th The Rebels horse in the night passed between His Majesties Quarters and fled towards Plymouth August the 31 st The Rebels Foot making towards Foy were beaten from five pieces of their Ordnance September the 2 d. The Rebels being deserted by their General the Earl of Essex who with the Lord Roberts fled to Plymouth in a Cock-boat the night past this day yeilded up to His Majesty all their Train of Artillery viz. 49 pieces of fair brass Ordnance 200 and odd barrels of Gunpowder with match ball c. proportionable above 700 Carriages and betwixt eight and 9000 Arms. His Majesty out of his wonted Clemency granting them their lives September the 5 th His Majesty having obtained so compleat a victory over the Rebels did as formerly after the defeat of Waller from Tavestock send his second message of Peace to Wistminster In the beginning of this month His Majesties forces in Scotland under the command of his Excellency James Lord Marquess of Montrosse and General Major Mackdonald who not long before landed in that Kingdom with 1000 Irish obtained a great victory over the Rebels there upon Newbigging Moore near S. Johns Town where were kill'd above 1200 Rebels among which was the Laird of Rires and some others of note and seven brass Pieces taken this done His Majesties forces pursued them to S. Johns Town and took it and therein and in the battel took 2000 of the Rebels Prisoners with two pieces of Ordnance more all their Arms Ammunition and Baggage and this done with the loss of not above 60 men on His Majesties part The Rebels in this battel were commanded by the Earl of Tullibairne the Lord Drummond the Lord Elcho and Sir James Scot of Rossy their word was Jesus no Quarter And within a fortnight after this success his Excellency the Marquess of Montrosse and Major Gen. Mackdonald obtained a second victory over another body of Rebels in that Kingdom commanded by the Lord Forbes Burly and others near Aberdeen wherein the Marquess kill'd and took Prisoners at least 1000 with three pieces of Cannon and all their baggage without any considerable loss on His Majesties part among the Prisoners taken by the Marquess there was Sir William Forbes of Craigyvar and John Forbes of Boynly with others of note And soon after the Marquess took the Town of Aberdeen with all the Ordnance Ammunition and Arms and many of the fugitive Rebels therein September the 11 th The Garrison of Basing after 18 weeks siege wherein the Rebels lost many hundreds of their men was relieved from Oxford by Sir Henry Gage Septemb. the 12 th Ilfercombe in Devonshire rendered to General Goring for His Majesty September the 17 th Barnstaple in Devonshire that had revolted upon the Earl of Essex this approach submitted to His Majesty and obtained from him their second pardon September the 23 d. Col. John Fines having besieged the Castle of Banbury above a month before hired his men to storm it in five places in all which they were shamefully beaten off with great loss October the 7 th in the night Sir Richard Greenvile took the Town of Saltash by storming wherein 400 Rebels were kill'd and at least 300 taken Prisoners with their Arms this Town had been quitted by His Majesties forces not long before without any considerable loss October the 25 th The Earl of Northampton and Sir Henry Gage raised the siege of Banbury Castle fell upon Col. John Fines his flying Troops slew about 60 of them took above 100 Prisoners with about 200 horses one piece of Ordnance all their Ammunition and many Arms. October the 27 th The Rebels having thus lost two of their Armies called the third under the Earl of Manchesters command out of the Associated Counties and forced other Regiments out of London to withstand the King who was now advanced to Newberry with part of his Army where the Rebels apprehending a great advantage in regard that the rest of His Majesties forces were not come up fell upon His Majesties quarters but were beaten off with the slaughter of above 1000 of their men whereof Major Urrey with some other of their prime Commanders were part with the loss of Sir Anthony St. Leager and less than 100 others on His Majesties side who had the pillage of the field here the valiant Earl of Cleveland was casually taken Prisoner having his horse first kill'd under him November the 6 th His Majesty had his rendezvouz on Bullington-green betwixt Wallingford and Oxford November the 9 th His Army came to Dennington Castle which since His Majesties marching thence had been again besieged by the Rebels and raised the siege the Rebels not daring to withstand his Army November the 17 th The King having some days expected the Rebels who it seems were loth to hazard the last stake advanced towards them to Hungerford upon whose approach the Rebels left the field Whereupon His Majesty sent Sir Henry Gage with a party to supply the wants ef Basing that had been besieged all this Summer by five Colonels and their Regiments but the Rebels had raised the siege before his approach November the 19 th Monmouth that had lately been betrayed by Kirle was bravely regained by the Lord Herbert and Ragland wherein was taken the Rebels whole
willing to be too long is my self I was born and baptized in the bosom of the Church of England established by Law in that profession I have ever since lived and in that I come now to dye This is no time to dissemble with God least of all in matter of Religion and therefore I desire it may be remembred I have always lived in the Protestant Religion established in England and in that I now come to dye What clamours and slanders I have endured for labouring to keep an Uniformity in the external service of God according to the Doctrin and Discipline of this Church all men know and I have abundantly felt Now at last I am accused of High Treason in Parliament a crime which my Soul ever abhorred this Treason was charged to consist of these two parts An endeavour to subvert the Laws of the Land and a like Endeavour to overthrow the true Protestant Religion estabâ—â—shed by Law Besides my Answers to the several Charges I protested my innocency in both Houses It was said Prisoners protestations at the Bar must not be taken I can bring no witness of my heart and the intentions thereof therefore I must come to my Protestation not at the Bar but my Protestation at this hour and instant of my death in which I hope all men will be such charitable Christians as not to think I would dye and dissemble being instantly to give God an account for the truth of it I do therefore here in the presence of God and his holy Angels take it upon my death That I never endeavoured the subversion either of Law or Religion and I desire you all to remember this Protest of mine concerning mine innocency in these and from all Treasons whatsoever I have been accused likewise as an Enemy to Parliaments No I understand them and the benefit that comes by them too well to be so But I did mislike the misgovernments of some Parliaments many ways and I had good reason for it for Corruptio optimi est pessima there is no corruption in the World so bad as that which is of the best thing in it self for the better the thing is in nature the worse it is corupted And that being the highest Court over which no other hath jurisdiction when t is mis-informed or misgoverned the Subject is left without all remedy But I have done I forgive all the World all and every of those bitter Enemies which have persecuted me and humbly desire to be forgiven of God first and then of every man whether I have offended him or not if he do but conceive that I have Lord do thou forgive me and I beg forgiveness of him And so I heartily desire you to joyn in Prayer with me O Eternal God and merciful Father look down upon me in mercy in the riches and fulness of all thy mercies look upon me but not till thou hast nailed my sins to the Cross of Christ not till thou hast bathed me in the blood of Christ not till I have hid my self in the wounds of Christ that so the punishment due unto my sins may pass over me And since thou art pleased to try me to the uttermost I humbly beseech thee give me now in this great instant full patience proportionable comfort and a heart ready to dye for thy honour the Kings happiness and this Churches preservation And my zeal to these far from Arrogancy be it spoken is all the sin human frailties excepted and all incidents thereto which is yet known to me in this particular for which I now come to suffer I say in this particular of Treason but otherwise my sins are many and great Lord pardon them all and those especially what ever they are which have drawn down this present judgment upon me and when thou hast given me strength to bear it do with me as seems best in thine own eyes and carry me through death that I may look upon it in what visage soever it shall appear to me Amen And that there may be a stop of this issue of blood in this more than miserable Kingdom I shall desire that I may pray for the People too as well as for my self O Lord I beseech thee give grace of repentance to all Blood-thirsty People but if they will not repent O Lord confound all their devices defeat and frustrate all their designs and endeavours upon them which are or shall be contrary to the Glory of thy great Name the truth and sincerity of Religion the establishment of the King and his posterity after him in their just rights and Priviledges the honour and conservation of Parliaments in their just power the preservation of this poor Church in her truth peace and patrimony and the settlement of this distracted and distressed People under their ancient Laws and in their native Liberties And when thou hast done-all this in meer mercy for them O Lord fill their hearts with thankfulness and with Religious dutiful obedience to thee and thy Commandments all their days So Amen Lord Jesus Amen and receive my Soul into thy Bosom Amen Our Father which art in Heaven c. January the 11 th Sir Henry Gage Governour of Oxford marched thence with a party of horse and foot towards Abingdon with intention to raise a Fort at Cullom bridg but Brown having treacherous notice of the design was prepared accordingly which begat a hot skirmish wherein the Rebels lost Major Bradbury and at least 30 others slain and on His Majesties part not above 7 common Soldiers but by great misfortune Sir Henry Gage himself marching in the front of his men did here receive a fatalshot whereof within few hours after he dyed His Body was afterwards interred at Oxford with funebrious exequies and solemnities answerable to his merits who having done His Majesty special service was whilst living generally beloved and dead is still universally lamented His daily refreshed memory makes me trespass on the Readers patience with this ELEGY Upon the never-enough lamented Death of Sir HENRY GAGE the most desired Governour of OXFORD SO Titus called was The Worlds delight And straight-way dy'd The envious Sisters spight Still the great favourite The darling head Unto the Fates is always forfeited Our Life 's a Chase where tho the whole Herd fly The goodlyest Deer is singled out to dye And as in Beasts the fattest ever bleeds So amongst men he that doth bravest deeds He might have liv'd had but a Coward fear Kept him securely sculking in the rear Or like some sucking Colonel whose edg Durst not advance a foot from a thick hedg Or like the wary Skippon had so sure A suit of Arms he might besieg'd endure Or like the politick Lords of different skill Who thought a Saw-pit safer or a Hill Whose valour in two Organs too did lye Distinct the ones in 's ear th' others in his eye Puppets of War Thy name shall be divine And happily augment the number Nine But that the Heroes
and the Muses strive To own thee dead who wert them all alive Such an exact composure was in thee Neither exceeding Mars nor Mercury T was just tho hard thou shouldst dye Governour Of th' Kings chief Fort of Learning and of War Thy death was truly for thy Garrison Thou dy'dst projecting her Redemption What unto Basing twice successeful spirit Was done th' hast effected here in merit The Bridg was broken down The Fort alone GAGE was himself the first and the last stone Go burn thy Faggots Brown and grieve thy Rage Lets thee out-live the gentle grasp of GAGE And when thou read'st in thy Britanicus The boasted story of his death say thus The Valour I have shewn in this was Crime And GAGES Death will brand me to all Time In this month a fair new Ship called the John of London belonging to the East-India Merchants was brought to Bristol by the Loyalty of Capt. Mucknell and the rest of the Officers and Mariners of the Ship for His Majesties service wherein were 26 pieces of Ordnance mounted 17000. l. in Mony besides some other good Commodities For which good service the said Captain Mucknell had the honour to be the first Knight that ever the Prince of Wales made And within a few days after another Ship called the Fame of London of burthen 450 Tuns with 28 pieces of Ordnance mounted was by Tempest forced into Dartmouth where she was seised on for His Majesties service as lawful prize being bound for Dover or London The Ship had been abroad 4 years and was now returning homewards from the West-Indies laden with Bullion Oyl Couchaneille and other rich Commodities to the value of 40000 l. at least January the 30 th The Treaty began at Uxbridg wherein the candour of His Majesties reall intentions and desires of Peace was very perspicuous For His Majesty did not only Arm his Commissioners or any ten of them with a very large and powerful Commission to treat of conclude and settle a firm Peace in all His Dominions but did also by Proclamation appoint a solemn Fast on the 5 th day of February then next for a blessing on that Treaty with a Form of Common-Prayer set forth by His Majesties special Command to be used in all Churhes and Chappels within this Kingdom One of which Prayers drawn by His Majesties special direction and dictate I here afford the Reader The Prayer O Most merciful Father Lord God of Peace and Truth we a People sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War do here earnestly beseech Thee to command a Blessing from Heaven upon this present Treaty begun for the establishment of an happy Peace Soften the most obduarte hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those mens blood for whom Christ himself hath shed His. Or if the guilt our great sins cause this Treaty to break off in vain Lord let the Truth clearly appear who those men are which under pretence of the Publick good do pursue their own private ends that this People may be no longer so blindly miserable as not to see at least in this their Day the things that belong unto their Peace Grant this gracious God for his sake who is our Peace it self even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen February the 9 th Sir Walter Hastings Governour of Portland Castle for His Majesty took the great Fort at Weymouth and within two day after Sir Lewis Dives took the middle Fort and Town of Weymouth and in a skirmish there slew Major Sydenham a forward Rebel with some others This Town and Forts were not many days held by His Majesties Forces but were as unfortunatey lost as happily gained Februâ—ry the 15 th Rowdon house neer Chippenham in Wiltshire after 9 days siege was taken by His Majesties Forces and in it 120 good Horse above 200 Foot with their Arms and provisions Col. Stevens the Mock-sheriff of Gloucestershire six Captains and above 20 inferiour Officers all at mercy February the 20 th The Lord Macguire an Irish Baron was executed by the common hangman at Tyburn by command of the Members at Westminster In the History of which execution recorded in many of their own Pamphlets written then and upon that subject the Reader may observe two Questions asked by Mr. Gibbs one of the Sheriffs of London and answered by that Lord the very instant before his death The first was Whether he knew of any Commission the King had granted to the Irish Rebels for the commotion they had raised in their Country he answered That he never knew nor heard of any The second was Whether there was not some agreement made by the Irish Commissioners before the Rebellion first brake out with the Recusants of England He answered That to his knowledg there was never an one in England either Catholick or Protestant that knew of it but one and he was an Irish man and a Protestant and he came to the knowledg of it but by chance not at he was an actor in it Out of which and out of that delivered by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the Scaffold immediately before his death the World may evidently see His Majestly irrefragably cleared by two acts of the Rebels own cruelty from two of the most scandalous aspersions by which the malice of these forging Rebels hath from time to time endeavcured to make His sacred Majesty odious to His People Salutem ex inimicis nostris may the King well say seeing his Enemies actions turned to his justification quite contrary to their intendments The first was an imagined inclination in His Majesty to Popery The second a pretended commissionating of the Irish Rebellion In the first the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury In this the Lord Macguire both at their very dying hours have rendred His Majesty as innocent as the Rebels intended him odious I say innocent because we know the worst of Rebels cannot but credit those Persons especially testifying at such time when they were immediately after to give an account of all their actions to the knower of all hearts Nor can any one believe but the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who was daily conversant with His Majesty in matters of Religion must needs know the very depth of his heart therein And the Lord Macguire who was privy to the first motion of the Irish Rebellion must likewise of necessity have known of the Kings Commission if any such thing had been February the 22 d. The Treaty at Uxbridg was broken up though His Majesty sent a particular message and his Commissioners did earnestly desire that the same might be continued In this Treaty His Majesties Commissioners condescended much but those of Westminster would abate nothing of the rigour of their first unheard-of Propositions which was the cause the Treaty took no better effect February the 22 d. The Town of Shrewsbury was by treachery in the night delivered to Col. Mitton the Rebellious Governour of Wem Here you may see the Rebels Master-piece in hatching this treacherous Plot
was conceived not to exceed 400. but more wounded Above all the Rebels cruelty was remarkable in killing upon cold Blood at least 100 Women whereof some of quality being Commanders Wives and this done under pretence that they were Irish Women June the 18 th Leicester was re-taken by the Rebels upon Articles that His Majesties Soldiers within should march away the Officers with horses and Arms and the common Soldiers without which Agreement was most persidiously broken by the Rebels The same 18 th of June a party from Newark commanded by Capt. Wright routed 200 of the Rebels horse at Riby in Lincolnshire slew their Commander in chief Lieutenant Col. Harrington with some others and took 50 Prisoners with their horse and Arms. June the 28 th The City of Carlisle was delivered to the Scots after it had been gallantly defended 42 weeks by Sir Thomas Glenham and Sir Henry Stradling the Governour of the City and Citadel upon very honourable conditions to march away with Arms Bag and Baggage Colours flying drums beating c. July the 4 th Sir William Vaughan with a party of horse beat up the Rebels Quarters near Bramcroft Castle in Shropshire took 50 Prisoners and 80 horse And next morning July 5. having received some more supplies from His Majesties Garrisons in those parts marched to Higharchall then a second time besieged by the Rebels and behaved himself so gallantly that he totally routed the besiegers kill'd 100 on the place and took 400 Prisoners with all their Baggage and Carriages without any considerable loss July the 10 th A brigade of the Lord Gorings Army being put to guard a pass at Langport in Somersetshire were over-powered by the Rebels and so forced to a disorderly retreat with the loss of 300 men kill'd and taken but above all here that gallant and resolute Genleman Sir John Digby received a hurt whereof he not long after dyed July the 16 th Chippenham a new erected Garrison of the Rebels in Wiltshire was taken by Col. James Long and in it 100 Prisoners 300 Arms and about 20 Rebels slain The same day a Party from Newark surprised Welbeck house took 200 Prisoners in it 3 pieces of Cannon and above 300 Arms. July the 21 st Pontefract Castle after above three months siege and many notable fallies was delivered to the Rebels by Col. Lowder the Governour upon honourable conditions July the 22 d. Bridgwater was taken by Sir Thomas Fairfax by assault not without much loss of blood to the assailants and of goods to ther poor Towns-People July the 25 th The strong Castle of Scarborough after long siege was delivered to the Rebels by Sir Hugh Cholmley upon condition to march away c. August the 1 st A party of His Majesties Forces from Newark took Torkesey house in Lincolnshire by Scalado and in it 140 Prisoners and about 8 of the Garrison slain and but two men on His Majesties part Aug. the 8 th Capt. Allen a forward Rebel and his whole Troop were taken on the borders of Lincolnshire by a party from Belvoire Castle Aug. the 15 th Sherburne Castle in Somersetshire after much battery was won by assault and Sir Lewis Dives the Governour taken Prisoner In this action the Rebels lost Major Dove 5 Captains and many common Soldiers Aug. the 17 th The most noble and gallant Marquess of Montrosse utterly defeated an Army consisting of at least 12000. Rebels in Kilseith field near Glascow in Scotland slew 3500 on the place took their bag and baggage and Ordnance with 2000 Prisoners and the next day the Marquess received the submission of 9 Lords in behalf of His Majesty and in a manner became Master of all Scotland Aug. the 24 th His Majesties Forces took Huntington after a small skirmish wherein Capt. Bennet and some other Rebels were slain In this Town were taken 400 Horse 200 Prisoners and good store of Arms. Aug. the 31 st A party from Newarke marched as far as Barton upon Humber and there took Sir Alexander Hope a Scot with his two Brothers and some other considerable Prisoners with a good booty in mony and jewels and brought all safe to Newarke Sept. the 2 d. The Scots that had lain 5 weeks before Hereford suddenly raised their siege by reason of His Majesties approach with his Army into those parts During the time of this Siege were slain of the Scots Major General Crawford and Lieutenant Col. Gurdon with at least 600 common Soldiers At this siege was also slain Doctor Scudamore but on His Majesties part no considerable number nor any considerable person lost Sept. 6 th His Majesties Forces From Oxford beat up the Rebels Quarters at Tame kill'd divers took Prisoners Adjutant General Pride with divers other Officers and common Soldiers They also took 3 Colours and above 200 Horse and this done with the loss only of Captain Gardiner a gallant young Gentleman and some few more on His Majesties part Sept. the 9 th Master Stroud one of the five Members and one of the principal promoters of these troubles dyed of a pestilential Fever to say no worse of it Sept. the 11 th Bristol was delivered upon Conditions by Prince Rupert after about three weeks siege part of the City was won by assault which as the Rebels gained not without some loss so was their loss no ways equivalent to the importance of the place During this Siege in Sallies and in defending the Assault His Majesty lost four eminent persons viz. Sir Bernard Ashley Sir Richard Crane Colonel Taylor and Major Garneer a Frenchman Sept. the 13 th A Brigade of the Marquess of Montross his Forces received a defeat at Philip-haugh in Tividale in Scotland wherein the Lord Ogleby and some others of note were taken Prisoners and some slain This was the first clear defeat that ever that noble Marquess or any considerable part of his Army received since the beginning of this War September 22 d. The Castle of the Devizes in Wiltshire was surrendred to the Rebels upon Conditions c. Sept. the 24 th 5000 of His Majesties horse encountred a greater Body of the Rebels at Routon-heath near Westchester then besieged In this Battel His Majesties Army was worsted having lost that gallant Gentleman the Lord Bernard Steward Earl of Lichfield and some others The Rebels here as in most other places lost no men of Quality having very few or none in their Army to lose September the 26 th Barckley Castle in Gloucestershire was surrendred to the Rebels upon Conditions c. October the 1 st Sandall Castle in York-shire was likewise delivered to the Rebels after a long siege upon Conditions c. October the 6 th Winchester Castle was likewise delivered upon composition c. October the 14 th Basing house was taken by storm the defendants not having a sufficient number within to man their works the noble Marquess of Winchester that had so long and gallantly defended this his own house was here taken Prisoner with