House they concluded 't was their best course to call and drink there because it shew'd well to the Eye and People all along were very kind to the Souldiers and would make them drink and in many Places eat Hereupon these Straglers went to the House and asked for some Beer and the People there made them eat and drink freely saying Their Master had provided for them After they had eat and drank they hastned towards their Regiments lest the Enemies Party should happen to meet them Being come a little more than a quarter of a mile from the House they grew suddenly so weak and faint that they were not able to go any farther so they lay down under a Tree not suspecting what was the matter As they were in this desperate condition by meer Providence there came a Surgeon-Major that way who espying some Souldiers supposed they were some of the Prince of Orange's Men he went to speak with them and seeing them look so fearfully their Eyes being prodigiously swell'd he ask'd presently What was the matter with them or what did ail them they told him they knew not only they had eat and drank at the Gentleman's House behind pointing to the House The Surgeon having heard of their evil Preparations prepared immediately an Antidote and gave directions what they must do whereupon they presently began to vomit and after some time they waxed a little better and made shift to get to the Waggons which carried sick Souldiers and were under the Surgeon-Major's Hands for some time At the very next Town called Yetminster one Souldier died in the Night and none could tell what was the matter with him being very well when he went to bed which Souldier I buried there according to our Liturgy The others that were poisoned were strangely altered their Eyes being swell'd after an odd manner Now the Army being advanced near Sarum and the first Line being in the City the second at Wiltion and the Towns adjacent and the Rear Line at Tevent and Dinton one Line about two or three miles off the City and the other about seven or eight The Prince of Orange with his Highness the Prince of Denmark his Grace the Duke of Ormond Mareschal Schomberg Count Solms Count Nassau Heer Zulustein Heer Benting Heer Overkirk the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Viscount Mordant the Earl of Macclesfield Lord Wiltshire Lord Cornbury Lord Colchester and sundry other Lords Sir Will. Portman Sir Rowland Gwynn Col. Sidney and many other Knights and Gentlemen rode into the famous City of Salisbury The manner of their Entrance into this City was far more glorious than that of Exeter For here the Mayor and Aldermen met his Highness the Prince of Orange in all their Formalities First of all marched the Regiment of Foot Guards belonging to Count Solms with their Colours flying Drums beating Hoitboys playing the People thronging in the Street and making great Acclamations Next some Troops of Horse with their Kettle-Drums beating Colours flourishing Trumpets sounding the Officers shewing their Courtesy to the People Then came his Highness the Prince of Orange with the Prince of Denmark on his right Hand and the Duke of Ormond on his Left. Never were Windows more crowded with Faces of both Sexes than here never were Bells ringing more melodiously than now at Sarum never were People shouting and ecchoing forth Huzza's in the Air more than now The Bishop's Palace there being the best and most meet place both the Princes rode thither altho afterwards his Highness Prince George went to the Quarters assign'd him The Princess Ann of Denmark was gone into the North with the Ladys Churchil and Berkley and the R. R. Bishop of London to those Forces there in Arms for the Prince of Orange And hearing that the Army was advanced to Sarum she came unto the City of Oxford where Prince George met her Royal Highness and conducted her safe to London having a Dutch Guard appointed them by the Prince of Orange The late King James's Army was now much broken most of the Protestant Officers and Souldiers come away and join'd his Highness's Forces So 't was apparent to all Men there would be no Field Battel Whilst the Prince of Orange remained in this City there was great resort from all the Country round about to see him who was the Nation 's Joy and the Peoples Delight because he had done so great Things for our Land And such was his exceeding wise Conduct that the the effusion of much Blood was prevented After some stay here the Prince of Orange went to Amsbury attended with the Duke of Ormond and many of the English Nobility and Gentry besides Dutch Scotch and French The first Line was advanced towards the most renowned City of London a considerable way the Roads here being good for marching And as the Regiments marched over the Plains they made pleasant Figures sometimes marching in Battalia and sometimes in a Line The Weather now was very favourable and the way very good And being to march near one of the Wonders of the World called Stonehenge most Regiments made an halt to view this strange Sight none that saw it could render any satisfactory Account concerning it Certain Officers ask'd the Minister of Amsbury what was his Opinion because they presumed 't was within the Bounds of his Parish who told them that he supposed it to be a Trophy or Monument erected in token of some notable Victory which was obtain'd there I must confess this is the general Opinion of the greatest Antiquaries of our Nation The Custom of erecting a Trophy or Monument in token of Victory is of great Antiquity and first began among the Greeks who used in that place where the Enemies were vanquish'd to cut down the Boughs of great Trees and in the Stocks or Bodies of them to hang up Armour or other Spoils taken from the Enemy Others argued strongly that these prodigious Stones were brought out of Ireland by Merlin's Magical Art and so curiously fram'd and put together To corroborate this Opinion they assured us that a piece broken off from these Stones and put into the Wall of any Well or cast into the Water shall for certain kill and destroy all the venemous Creatures therein To proceed the Army moved daily according to the Motion of his Highness who rode from Amsbury unto a certain Gentleman's House near Collingburn The late King James being almost past all hopes sent the Marquess of Hallifax Earl of Nottingham and the Lord Godolphin as Commissioners to treat with the Prince of Orange immediately and a Trumpeter was sent down to know his Highness's pleasure Whether he would admit of them as such And his Highness was pleased to grant them leave The place appointed them was Hungerford His Highness with all his Nobles c. went to Littlecott December 8 and remain'd there the Morrow being the Lord's Day for the Army never march'd on that Day but once in case of Necessity that the Souldiers should
An Exact DIARY OF THE Late Expedition OF His Illustrious Highness THE Prince of Orange Now KING of Great Britain From his Palace at the HAGVE To his Landing at TORBAY And from thence To his Arrival at WHITE-HALL Giving a particular ACCOUNT Of all that happened and every Day 's March. By a Minister Chaplain in the ARMY LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin near the Black Bull in the Old-Baily M DC LXXXIX Licens'd April 23. 1689. JA. FRASER AN Exact Diary of the late Expedition OF HIS ILLUSTRIOUS HIGHNESS THE Prince of Orange INTO ENGLAND TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM Earl of Bedford WILLIAM Earl of Portland HENRY Viscount Sidney of Sheppy AND Sir JOHN MAYNARD One of the Lords Commissioners of the GREAT SEAL My LORDS WHen I seriously reflect upon the stupendious Providence of the Almighty in bringing to pass the late and unpresidented Undertaking of his Highness the Prince of Orange now King of Great Britain I cannot do less than Commemorate those Noble Persons that both favour'd and joyn'd in so good a Work among whom your Honours had a considerable share which made me prefume to lay this short Compendium of that Expedition at your Feet humbly craving your candid Acceptation and Patronage of it tho' not varnish'd with quaintness of Phrase or Elegancy of Wit and Rhetorick but in a lame and plain Stile Your Honours are not insensible how near we were to Ruine nor how his Sacred Majesty King WILLIAM hazarded all that was dear for our good which should oblige the most ungrateful to make some answerable returns of Gratitude and Loyalty Your Honours have fully convinced the World of your uprightness and steadiness in this Cause All that I can say cannot add to but will rather detract from your Honours innate Worth and Goodness I heartily wish this good Work so far already advanced may be fully compleated so that we may have no reason to fear a relapse And that the God of Heaven may preserve our gracious King and Queen and prosper their good Intentions with suitable success and convert all their Enemies or make them fall before them is the daily Prayers of May it please your Honours your Honours most Humble and most Obedient Servant JOHN WHITTLE AN Exact Diary of the late Expedition OF HIS ILLUSTRIOUS HIGHNESS THE Prince of Orange Now KING of Great Britain HIS Illustrious Highness the Prince of Orange who is of a truth another Joshua in his undaunted Spirit and Magnanimity for the Lord's Cause and prosperous Conduct of his People Israel Another good Josiah in doing that which is right in the sight of God destroying Idolatry while he was yet young Another David or man after God's own heart and a zealous Defender of that Faith which is truly Ancient Catholick and Apostolical receiving an account of the exceeding great Cruelty and Barbarity of Roman Catholicks in France towards all them that professed the true Reform'd Religion or the Protestant Faith in that Kingdom and that indeed without any regard to the Hoary head thô found in the way of Righteousness which is a Crown of Honour without any respect to Sex or poor innocent Babes which could not discern between their right and left hands and not only hearing of their unheard-of Cruelty but even beholding daily at the Court and about his own Sacred Person not a few who had sometime been the Objects of their Direfulness and undergone to their great sorrow their Barbarity among many others a pious aged Minister of the Gospel whom for adhering to the Truth and holding fast the profession of his Faith without wavering these Sons of Belial took and bound fast unto a large Spit and turn'd him as a Pig at a great Fire after a direful manner until he was near half roasted alive insomuch that his Eyes were almost ready to drop out of his Head his Bloud in the Veins much dried his Sinews not a little scorch'd and the poor man a meer Cripple at this very day as may be seen by the curious Inquisitors althô God who is faithful did not suffer him to be tempted above what he enabled him to bear and in his appointed time made a way for him to escape their cruel Hands so much embrued in the Bloud of the Saints and in the Bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus And besides this Minister many of both Sexes who had been tormented by their cruel Hands Men who had been bound fast with Cords while their own Wives were most immodestly used and entreated and then assassinated before their sorrowful eyes Women who had been violently held while the tender Bowels of their own dear Husbands were ript out even before their faces running down with tears and the sucking Infant cruelly murdered in the arms of its Mother that bear it to the breaking of many womens hearts Nay so exceeding great was the Cruelty and Barbarity of these Bloud-thirsty Papists towards the Protestants there that no Pen is able to delineate it or any Tongue express it and very few English hearts capable of conceiving it our Nation God be praised being unacquainted with such abominable Practices Now as was said the Prince of Orange hearing and beholding their cursed Facts was exceedingly concern'd for Jerusalem because he had a real love for her and therefore this good Josiah's heart did even melt within him and he harbour'd and succour'd very many of these poor and deplorable Protestants who were under so sore a Tryal How did he long to have these Sons of Satan vanquisht and the Walls of Jerusalem rebuilt and therefore did not count his own Life dear to him that he might cause the true Spouse of Christ to rest securely And verily we may hope that Babylon's fall draws near and that the Kings of the Earth who have committed Fornication with her shall partake of her Misery and see her Plagues come in one day Death and Mourning and Famine Without doubt those many thousands of Souls under the Altar which were slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony which they held do cry continually with a loud voice saying How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth Nebuchadnezzar the Great may before seven times pass over him be driven to confess saying As I have done to the Saints so God hath requited me and the same measure that my cruel People measured to the Protestants in my Land is now meeted to my Popish Realm But for us of this Kingdom and Nation we may well rejoyce in God that made us in God that redeem'd us in God that sanctified us and all his Elect in God who hath so lately delivered us out of the hands of our implacable Enemies when we were as Sheep appointed to the slaughter We ought to extol him that rideth upon the Heavens by his Name Jah and rejoyce before him And well may our Nation be right joyful in our King and Queen by whom Jerusalem
France Governor who was a Prisoner there but a few days before His Highness the Prince of Denmark with the Duke of Ormond came and joined the Prince of Orange at Sherborn-Castle upon Thursday Novemb. 29. about four of the Clock in the Afternoon The Report of which made the Hearts of all the Country People to rejoice as well as our Army and many Person of Quality flock'd to the Prince to join him From Winncanton the first Line of our Army advanced to Mere and the adjacent Towns and Villages the second Line marched to Winncanton and the third or last came to Sherborn Now the Prince of Orange with Prince George of Denmark the Duke of Ormond and very many Lords Knights and Gentlemen came from Sherborn-Castle unto Winncanton and quartered there This was the place where the first Skirmish pass'd between the two Armies the manner of which I shall impartially relate to the candid and ingenious Reader as I received an Account thereof from the Minister Mr. Bulgin and from Mr. VVebb a Cornet of Horse belonging to the late King James who was shot there between his Back-bones and Reins and lay desperately ill when we marched by A Lieutenant having his Post at this Town with about four and twenty Souldiers belonging to the Regiment of the Honourable Major General Mackay hearing that a party of Horse belonging to the late King James were posting thither he was so magnanimous as to resolve to fight them and in order thereto posted his Men as securely as he could in a small Inclosure at the East end of the Town on the left side there was a good Hedg between them and the Road which was to defend them against the Horse and through which they were to fire upon the Enemy but there was a little Gate at one Corner and a weak dead Hedg In this Field he posted most of his Men and on the other side the way just opposite to this place he posted about six Souldiers in a little Garden who had a thick old Hedg to cover them from the Horse and through which they were to fire the Officer himself with four or five Men keeping the Road The Enemies Horse being now advanced within Musquet-shot the Souldiers would have fired upon them but the Lieutenant whose name was Cambel not knowing what they might be whether Friends or Foes would not permit them and the more because a Regiment of Horse belonging to my Lord Cornbury was come in and joined our Forces and so advancing each towards other our Officer first gave them the World saying Stand stand For who are ye To which the Enemies Officer at the Head of the Party of Horse answered I am for King James Who art thou for To which our Officer replied I am for the Prince of Orange God damn me says the Enemies Officer I will Prince thee Whereupon our Officer said Fire and went bodly up to this Popish Officer and shot him in at his Mouth and through the Brains so he drop'd down dead our Souldiers firing upon them through the Hedges on each side maul'd them desperately and kill'd several of them They carried off their Dead presently being ten to one for the Enemies Party was about one hundred and fifty and our Party but five and twenty They rode to find out a Place to break in upon our Men so some Horse broke in at the upper end of the Croft some at the lower Corner and others got in at the little Gate which as is said was open'd by a Towns-man that stood near the Place so that our Men charged as fast as they could to fire upon them but were now surrounded with the Enemy our Souldiers were divers of them kill'd They defended themselves as well as 't was possible for such a handful against so many and one or two of them being shot in five or six places were offer'd Quarter by the Enemy for their great Courage but they would not accept of it from the Hands of Papists and therefore chose rather to die Now the little Company in the Garden fired divers times and the Officer with his Men kept their Ground awhile and then got into the Garden to their own Party The Towns-people were much alarm'd by this Action and came thronging into the Streets and kind Providence having so ordain'd it for the saving our Men else no doubt they would all have been cut off being so mightily overpowred that a certain Miller came riding in at the other end of the Town and hearing of this Skirmish presently reported that he had overtaken a strong Party of Horse belonging to the Prince of Orange and that he believed they were now entring the Town This was brought to the Enemies Ears very quickly and moreover he call'd to them and said Away for your Lives save your selves the Enemies are at hand Now these Souldiers of the late King James seeing the People of the Town so thick in the Streets running here and there judged that it might be so and hereupon they retreated with all speed galloping away in a confused manner however they left more behind them kill'd on their side than they had kill'd of our Men for 't was the Judgment of all here that this handful of Souldiers appertaining to his Highness the Prince of Orange kill'd more of their Enemies than they themselves were in number There were about fifteen tumbled in one Grave together and about eight or nine of our Men the rest being of the Enemies Party Our Officers did most of them visit this Mr. Web Cornet of Horse to hear the manner of this small Action From Mere the first Line of our Army advanced towards Sarum about six or seven miles the second Line advanced to Mere and the third to Wincanton All along the West we dispers'd the Declarations and where we hapned to quarter on Sunday we read it there in the Church as at Beminster Collingburn Kingston and feveral other places Near unto Beminster there lived a Gentleman whose Name I shall forbear but a very rigid Papist and one whom I cannot quite forget because of his unkindness and cursed Intention towards the Army Hearing that some Regiments would pass that way he resolved to give some their last Meat and Drink as his own Neighbours at Beminster informed us when we were there therefore he caused a Beef or two to be kill'd and poison'd the Flesh making it into Pyes and poison'd also a Hogshead or two of Beer and as much of Sider for the hungry Souldiers as he call'd them against they came that way Some of his Neighbours hearing of this cursed Design spread it purposely about the Country to prevent any of the Prince of Orange's Men from being destroyed insomuch that every Regiment was timely warn'd hereof But as in all great Armies there will be some Straglers so there was some in ours tho not many and these not hearing of this Bait accidentally passed that way and as they approached near the