entred ground upon the hill called the Warren and placed a strong guard there the night following and so every night broke up fresh ground in severall places which they thought most advantagious running their line by degrees from one Redoubt and Fort to another This gave us just occasion to believe that they intended to plant themselves before us for a longer continuance then before we had imagined and to block us up by which we were invited to consider of our own future security which then consisted in the greatest care of victualling and fortifying the only two things to be first thought on in such a case especially in a town so much defective in the one and the other A place I suppose as little ever supposed as before by us intended for what it was afterward ordered to no man I think that had surveyed it with the judicious eye of an experienced souldier could be so weak as to suppose it a place fitting to be mantled or maintained for a garrison it was our intentions only to take it as a present quarter for a night or two But this ingagement having forc'd us to it enlivened every man with an active and cheerfull diligence to forward an advancement of all requisites To march away now we could not for we had no way to march but that we must within a day fall into a champian country where the enemy being so very strong as we were weak in horse would have cut us off at an instant our Foot being no such experienced souldiers as to maintain a charge of themselves both against Horse and Foot where there were no hedges to guard and shelter them from Horse though some have judged otherwise of the design and the conduct of it Now by this incomparable diligence on all parties no man at the first knowing where to find provision of any sort more then belonged to every private family for ordinary sustenance we found in a short time in severall places of the town and a place called the Heyth adjacent many private stores of corn and wine of all sorts with much salt and some fish and a good quantity of powder the want whereof would suddenly have thrown us into absolute ruine having very much exhausted our magazine by the last dayes businesse It is said that he that will picture War must first begin with the belly so we according to that policy having many bellies to feed and not knowing how long it should please God to continue us there were the more inquisitive after provision by which means at the Hieve for so it is more vulgarly called we found a greater assistance then indeed we could have hoped for which was conveyed into the town as conveniently as time would permit the Enemy being so favourable as never to endeavounto cut us off from that place till we had almost dreyned the honey from the comb which they might easily have done had they ever enterprised it A providence almost as great as that of the Israelites in the Wildernesse For it is reported that in the memory of man there never was known such plenty of all things in that place as accidentally then Whilest we were thus active for prevention of all dangers that might happen by strengthening the walls of the town and fortifying where no wall was by casting up rampires and counterfcarfs as a very great part of the town required the Enemy was as busie without in running their trenches making their approaches and casting up Forts and Batteries against us still earthing themselves and we as diligent and laborious within as in truth not without much necessity on our part the Towne being in all places very weak neither had it any more then one Flanker about it and that very bad too which was called the Old-Fort Now if it shall be objected why in this time not being certain of any timely reliefe we did not draw out and fight with them as it hath been often urged They that will judge discreetly of our condition will easily be satisfied of it had we had no hopes at all of relief which we then had both from the Scots and divers other places at the same time in action besides it was conceived the greatest piece of policy by keeping the enemy in a lingering action to give a remora to their designes and so ruine them by delaies by which meanes especially we should give liberty and all opportunity to others that intended any action to work their designes without interruption and not to run the hazard of an immediate ruine by giving them battell for had we fought with them it must have been upon infinite disadvantages as I said before first in the inequality of the number of Infantry And secondly in that we had no considerable party of Cavalrie in respect of theirs whose greatest strength consisted in horse And it was not a rash or fond supposition to think that could we hold what we had till the rest of the Kingdome should rise we should then do as good service as in the immediate victory we supposed we might possibly hold out a moneth and were resolved on it though it concluded in our own ruine yet by that time if not sooner we could not but expect in all probability a relief By this design also we were 〈◊〉 to give liberty to the Scots to march 〈◊〉 into the Kingdome being then as we most assuredly understood upon their march and neer the borders Neither was this all the hopes we cherisht by this resolution but there remained a possibility of a victory over that Army by delaying to fight with them till some more fit opportunity should offer it self or the tediousnesse of the service weaken them by hard duty constant action unseasonable lying in the field in respect of the weather we have many gallant examples in this kind Pompey was well advised for a while when he refused to fight and gave Caesar ground But when by the importunity of his Captains he adventured the battell at Pharsalia he lost the battell the freedome of Rome and by it his own life The Constable of France made frustrate the mighty preparation of Charles the fifth when he invaded Provence by wasting the Countrey and forbearing to fight so the Duke of Alvaria by that policy wearied the French King in Naples and dissolved the boysterous Army of the Prince of Orange in the Low Countries One 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall insert to touch more 〈◊〉 upon those hot-spur Politicians that shall so violently criticize upon that point and accordingly refer the application by looking into that battell of Pavy as tragicall as fatall to France where the King was taken prisoner and the French frustrated of their main hopes of Italy The day before this overthrow the King summoned a generall Councell of War and desired the opinion of his Officers whether he should give a Field to the enemy or not Whereat an old Captain began exceedingly to perswade the King to
but they at first refused to open the Gates till after some parley with them an Officer asked him if Sir Rich. Hardres were there or not who was one of the Deputy Lieutenants for the Parliament who comming to them and demanding entrance the Recorder of the Towne came out and told him that the Mayors orders were that if he came the Gates should be opened but not else So immediately they were and marching quietly in they drew up in the Market place and first changed all the Guards about the Town before they engaged in any other businesse it being then almost night Then the Commissioners being together they sent for the Mayor of the Town and demanding his subscription to the Petition gave him orders immediately for the raising of Moneys for the forwarding the businesse but he proved very slow in that service pretending that the Town was very poor and could by no means raise any The Excise officers were also called in but their stores proved very poor also insomuch much that there remained little hopes of any good to proceed from that place In the evening came in a Gentleman that had been formerly a Divine and a Chaplaine at Sea and a Major in the service of the Parliament as it seemed by his deportment very penitent for that he had engaged himself in so unjust a Cause and Horrid Employment and proffered the best and utmost of his service to the furthering the Petition and the Engagement of the Country if he might be employed in any thing that might give him opportunity Whereupon they knowing him to have been at Sea and well acquainted with the Navie being both Chaplain there to the Earl of Warwick and Minister of Deal thought it could not prove amisse to employ him having signed to the Petition before and so had Letters drawn up for him that night to every Ship one and in every Letter a Copy of the Petition making this absolute result that some happy successe might follow however if it did no good yet it could no way endamage them which indeed proved a most happy and fortunate designe as all the Kingdome are witnesses of The next morning being Thursday the Mayor and Aldermen were againe called upon to know what moneys they had raised or would advance to that Service being solely for the Re-enthronement of the King as they told them and the speedy redemption of the most Turkishly enslaved Subjects of England to their true ancient and native Liberty But they were then found as tardy as before dull and unwilling to endeavour pleading the great necessity and inability of the Towne as nothing touch'd with any consideration of Loyalty or Conscience to their imprisoned King or the bleeding 〈◊〉 of their enslaved Country Whereupon the Commissioners thought it neither 〈◊〉 nor fitting to intrust them with a Military Power but took away the Comissions from the Mayor who was Captaine of a Trayned Company in the Town and the other Trained Captains and disposed of the Companies to other Gentlemen in the Town such as for their Honesty and loyalty were thought worthy the trust cutting to pieces that Commission of the Captaine of the Auxiliary Company then seized on the Magazine of the Towne and having loaded a Waggon with powder Match and Ball for the present occasion made ready for a March towards Dover But ere they March'd the Souldiers being againe drawn up to their Colours in the Market place the Commissioners went together to give a Visite to a stripling Imposture that lodged by order of the Mayor and his wise Brethren at Captain Forstalls house one of the Jurates who pretended himself to be the Prince of Wales and that he was forc'd to fly out of France because the Queen his Mother had endeavoured to poyson him Which notable phancy he had seriously insinuated into the generall opinions both of Towne and Country by his often asseverating it with impudent Oathes and damnable imprecations Insomuch that many Gentlemen and Women came dayly to kisse his Hand and many Presents he had made him Rich Cloathes and Accommodation in every kind provided him by the Mayor and Jurats of the Town who were so serious in it that Sir Thomas Dishingto a Scotish man being upon a Message from the Queen and Prince into England and at Dover in his journey back againe hearing the report so generally in the Country of the Princes being at Sandwich was much startled at it and to satisfie himself went to Sandwich to be informed where he found him indeed a Welch Prince but not the Prince of Wales and comming to him after some discourse as asking him who was his Gentlemen Usher who his Pages and other Servants where the Queen was when he left her and the like questions he not being well provided with answers to either and those questions so unexpectedly proposed to him could give him no account at all which was enough to satisfie any reasonable opinions that he was an Impostor whereat Sir Tho. being much incenst call'd him Villaine and Counterfeit Rogue the new-coyn'd Prince immediately shewes his power and Commands the Mayor to clap Sir Tho. up in prison for his Treason The Mayor presently obeyes his Command and Sir Tho. instead of going back to Dover is carryed to prison where he lay about two dayes ere he could be set at liberty Master Carter was also the Sunday after Sir Tho. was confined to see him too to satisfie not only himselfe but some Deputy Lieutenants in the County whether it were he or not comming in so strange a manner as on foot and in an old black ragged sute without any Companions but Lice being acquainted with some of the Jurates who knew that he could satisfie them well too but would not be convinc'd of their foolish confidence although he not only assured them amongst the rest Captaine Forstall at whose house he lay that he was an Impostor but affronted him upon the beach before the Mayor and Jurates who with a Guard of Musquetteers were walking there with him So highly did this young Prince of Sandwich bear up his businesse in as high a raunt as can possibly be imagined above a week Trumpets sounding his Meat to the Table most commonly and as some say most nights drunk ere he was acquainted with his Bed But the Commissioners having had this account and understanding of him intended to carry him away with them believing he was sent by some who have too long enjoyed a power of marring Princes though not of making any upon some designe on the County and finding the hearts of the people much inclined to him as believing what he had said to be true spake nothing at all of him over night nor of their resolutions but just as they were ready to March as to give him a civill visit went to see him having an empty Coach of Sir Richard Hardreses in which they intended to Invite him to March with them as to free him from that restraint he
had by a Declaration which he had published pretended to be in lest by violently taking him away they might cause a Mutinous Hubbub in the Town and Country But this would not take for when they came to the House this precious Prince and his confederates surmising their intentions as guilty of their reall Knaveries refused to let them in Captaine Forstall shutting his doores told them the Prince had commanded him to keep them out and he durst not disobey him This they took as a high indignity and affront and upon their desires Master Carter immediately drew up sixty Musquetteers before the house to force an entrance the rest of the party loading their Musquets and lighting their Matches stood all to their Armes expecting some suddaine service for now the whole Town grew into a Mutiny and Distraction so that the Commissioners were forc'd to prepare themselves for to fight too for they did expect it every minute and commanded all Houses and Shops to be shut up Mean time this young Impostor raunting in his new invested Authority waves his Hat and Plume out at the window calling out Raise the Towne Raise the Towne Seamen stand to me Seamen throwing out handfulls of Money into the Streets among the people which began to swarme up and down in throngs and tumults women weeping for the violence they feared would be done to their Prince and men swearing they would all die rather than suffer the Prince to be injured any way or violently taken away Almost every one either certainly believing him to be really the Prince of Wales or else undoubtedly confederates in the same designe raised so high a Tumult as would have ended in much mischief had not the Gentlemen bestirr'd themselves resolutely and undauntedly in the quelling them But whilst they were thus forcing an entrance into the House those Confederates who were within privately conveyed him through the Back-side and some Seamen waiting purposely at the Water-side transported him immediately over into the Isle of Thanet where a party being sent after him found him that night at Master Crispes house at Supper where he was entertained like him that he pretended himself to be from whence he was conveyed to Canterbury Master Crispe being so courteous as to lend him his Coach thither also and from thence to Newgate This passage being over he escaped for the time they took Captaine Forstall and would have carryed him away prisoner for refusing to let them enter his House and by that meanes expressing his confederacy in the designe of that Mock-Prince and so being the cause of the Hubbub in the Towne which was so dangerous as might have caused much Bloud But pretended he did really believe him to be the Prince and he had commanded him to it and he durst not disobey him Then the Town Clark engaging himselfe for his appearance when he should be called to answer for his default he was left behind Then the Gentlemen leaving some of those men they brought with them and an Officer with them in the Town for the securing of it and Orders to the new Captaines to call their Companyes to their Armes they Marched away with the rest towards Dover where they found Colonell Hammons Regiment encreased by that time to five hundred and upwards and Colonell Hattons of Horse to be about 200. according to their former Orders drawing up to face the Castle with some Trained Companies of that part of the County and many people with Cartes of Scaling-ladders Spades Shovels and Pickaxes according to the former dayes Warrants Here they found the Town in a joyfull posture to receive them with much alacrity where Captaine Bethels Fort resigned to them and all the Towne unanimously betook themselves to their Armes Trained men which were two Companies and others to joyn with them in so hopefully-happy a designe as by all appearance that must of necessity be In the afternoon diverse summons were sent to the Castle for Surrender of it to the service of the King and Country but all denyed Sir H. a grand Independent and Parliament man being then in it pretending no power at all there as by his Letters indeed appeared yet bearing the only sway commanding all privately by whose command those in the Castle had made incursions up on the Country a night or two before and drove in many Sheep for to Victuall it resolving to make out his own Interest as it seemes under the notion of the Parliaments for it was without any Commission from them as if it were an axiome amongst them every one to act his phansie for the propagating the generall Calamity of the Kingdome no matter at what rate so their interest were secured So large an extent hath their arbitrary Prerogative and unlimitted illegall Jurisdiction as to abhor as destructive all conscience or thought of affection to their Countryes peace which easily discovered it self by the answers he made to the Letters and Propositions which were sent into the Castle to him from the Commissioners As if that burden of intollerable guilt of innocent bloud and unparallel'd misery of this gasping Nation had over-whelm'd his Conscience with a cloud of dispaire of any other safety than the old Roman Rule Per 〈◊〉 semper sceleribus tutum est Iter knowing indeed himselfe to have been as zealous a promoter and accessory to the generall Calamity as any confederate in the grand Juncto what ever to whom indeed the name of Peace is as odious as the Punishment they know themselves guilty of and if given over to the hand of Justice and the Law of the Kingdome they must unavoidably perish under Of which I doubt not but though their resolutions be with Cataline yet their end will be as the thirty Tyrants of Athens whose proceedings have not much deviated from theirs Now they sent not only summons to the Castle but also civill Letters to Sir Hen H. to invite him to a compliance or at least to a cessation from his Engagement with all promises of their Engageing for his security and fafety either for his staying in the County or passing to London or where he pleased But he was farre enough from hearkning any whit to their civill Treaty and by his meanes and one Lieutenant Swans who had before betrayed the Princes Commission after he had engaged his faith for the acting according to it and indeavoured the taking away the lives of some Gentlemen that himselfe treated with about it those in the Castle withheld from any rendition though often summoned and the greatest part as often willing to deliver This night Major Keme that went to the Fleet returned assuring that those Letters he carryed to the Commissioners were not onely received with extraordinary cheerfulnesse but answered with as industriously reall action relating that the Mariners had no sooner read them but immediately declared one and all for the King the liberty of the Kingdome and the Engagement of the Gentlemen of Kent Boldly disputing the