Bell 1646 the wondering of the whole Christian world, insomuch that the Papists wished they had left me at home. Herbert 1648 Captain Henry Bell. I A PRIVATE BRAWL HAD not been long in London, when a violent burning fever seized upon me, which brought me almost to my death, though at last I did by slow degrees recover my health. Being thus upon my amendment, the Lord Lisle, afterwards Earl of Leicester, sent me word that Sir John Ayres intended to kill me in my bed, and wished me keep a guard upon my chamber and person. The same advertisement was confirmed by Lucy, Countess of Bedford, and the Lady Hoby shortly after. Hereupon I thought fit to entreat Sir William Herbert, now Lord Powis, to go to Sir John Ayres, and tell him that I marvelled much at the information given me by these great persons, and that I could not imagine any sufficient ground hereof; howbeit, if he had anything to say to me in a fair and noble way, I would give him the meeting as soon as I had got strength enough to stand upon my legs. Sir William hereupon brought me so ambiguous and doubtful an answer from him, that whatsoever he meant, he would not declare yet his intention, which was really, as I found afterwards, to kill me any way that he could. . . . Finding no means thus to surprise me, he sent me a letter to this effect: that he desired to meet me somewhere, and that it might so fall out as I might return quietly again. To this I replied, that if he desired to fight with me upon equal terms, I should upon assurance of the field and fair play give him meeting when he did any way specify the cause, and that I did not think fit to come to him upon any other terms, having been sufficiently informed of his plots to assassinate me. After this, finding he could take no advantage against me, Herbert then, in a treacherous way, he resolved to assassinate me in 1648 this manner: hearing I was to come to Whitehall on horseback, with two lackeys only, he attended my coming back in a place called Scotland Yard, at the hither end of Whitehall, as you come to it from the Strand, hiding himself here with four men armed on purpose to kill me. I took horse at Whitehall Gate, and passing by that place, he being armed with a sword and dagger, without giving me so much as the least warning, ran at me furiously, but instead of me, wounded my horse in the brisket, as far as his sword could enter for the bone. My horse hereupon starting aside, he ran him again in the shoulder, which, though it made the horse more timorous, yet gave me time to draw my sword. His men thereupon encompassed me, and wounded my horse in three places more; this made my horse kick and fling in that manner, as his men durst not come near me; which advantage I took to strike at Sir John Ayres with all my force, but he warded the blow both with his sword and dagger; instead of doing him harm, I broke my sword within a foot of the hilt. Hereupon some passenger that knew me, and observing my horse bleeding in so many places, and so many men assaulting me, and my sword broken, cried to me several times, 'Ride away, ride away;' but I, scorning a base flight upon what terms soever, instead thereof, alighted as well as I could from my horse. I had no sooner put one foot upon the ground, but Sir John Ayres, pursuing me, made at my horse again, which the horse perceiving, pressed on me on the side I alighted, in that manner that he threw me down, so that I remained flat upon the ground, only one foot hanging in the stirrup, with that piece of a sword in my right hand. Sir John Ayres hereupon ran about the horse, and was thrusting his sword into me, when I, finding myself in this danger, did with both my arms reaching at his legs, pull them towards me, till he Herbert fell down backwards on his head. 1648 One of my footmen hereupon, who was a little Shropshire boy, freed my foot out of the stirrup; the other, which was a great fellow, having run away as soon as he saw the first assault. This gave me time to get upon my legs, and to put myself in the best posture I could with that poor remnant of a weapon. Sir John Ayres by this time likewise was got up, standing betwixt me and some part of Whitehall, with two men on each side of him, and his brother behind him, with at least twenty or thirty persons of his friends, or attendants of the Earl of Suffolk. Observing thus a body of men standing in opposition against me, though to speak truly I saw no swords drawn but by Sir John Ayres and his men, I ran violently against Sir John Ayres; but he knowing my sword had no point, held his sword and dagger over his head, as believing I could strike rather than thrust; which I no sooner perceived but I put a home thrust to the middle of his breast, that I threw him down with so much force, that his head fell first to the ground, and his heels upwards. His men hereupon assaulted me; when one, Mr. Mansel, a Glamorganshire gentleman, finding so many set against me alone, closed with one of them; a Scotch gentleman, also closing with another, took him off also. All I could well do to those two which remained was to ward their thrusts, which I did with that resolution, that I got ground upon them. Sir John Ayres was now got up a third time, when I, making towards him with the intention to close, thinking that there was otherwise no safety for me, put by a thrust of his with my left hand, and so coming within him, received a stab with his dagger on my right side, which ran down my ribs as far as my hip, which I feeling, did with my right elbow force his hand, together with the hilt of the dagger, so near the upper part of my right side, that I made him leave hold. The dagger now sticking in me, Sir Henry Cary, afterwards Lord of Falkland, and Lord Deputy of Ireland, finding the dagger thus in my body, snatched it out. This Herbert while I, being closed with Sir John Ayres, hurt him on the 1648 head, and threw him down a third time, when, kneeling on the ground, and bestriding him, I struck at him as hard as I could with my piece of a sword, and wounded him in four several places, and did almost cut off his left hand. His two men this while struck at me; but it pleased God even miraculously to defend me; for when I lifted up my sword to strike at Sir John Ayres, I bore off their blows half a dozen times. His friends, now finding him in this danger, took him by the head and shoulders, and drew him from betwixt my legs, and carried him along with them through Whitehall, at the stairs whereof he took boat. Sir Herbert Croft (as he told me afterwards) met him upon the water, vomiting all the way, which I believe was caused by the violence of the first thrust I gave him. His servants, brother, and friends being now retired also, I remained master of the place and his weapons; having first wrested his dagger from him, and afterwards struck his sword out of his hand. This being done, I retired to a friend's house in the Strand, where I sent for a surgeon, who, searching my wound on the right side, and finding it not to be mortal, cured me in the space of some ten days, during which time I received many noble visits and messages from some of the best in the kingdom. Being now fully recovered of my hurts, I desired Sir Robert Harley to go to Sir John Ayres, and tell him, that though I thought he had not so much honour left in him that I could be any way ambitious to get it, yet that I desired to see him in the field with his sword in his hand. The answer that he sent me was, that . . . he would kill me with a musket out of a window. Lord Herbert of Cherbury. Drummond 1649 WHIL FLODDEN FIELD HILEST the King stayed at Linlithgow, attending the gathering of his army, now ready to set forward, and full of cares and perplexity, in the Church of St. Michael [he] heard evensong (as then it was called). While he was at his devotion, an ancient man came in, his amber coloured locks hanging down upon his shoulders, his forehead high and inclining to baldness, his garment of azure colour somewhat long-girded about him with a towel or table napkin, of a comely and reverend aspect. Having enquired for the King, he intruded himself into the prease, passing thorow till he came to him; with a clownish simplicity, leaning over the Canon's seat where the King sat: 'Sir,' (said he), 'I am sent hither to intreat you for this time to delay your expedition, and to proceed no farther in your intended journey: for if you do, ye shall not prosper in your enterprise, nor any of your followers. I am farther charged to warn you, if ye be so refractory as to go forward, not to use the acquaintance, company, or counsel of women, as ye tender your honour, life, and estate.' After this warning he withdrew himself back again into the prease; when service was ended, the King enquired earnestly for him, but he could nowhere be found, neither could any of the standers by (of whom diverse did narrowly observe him, meaning afterwards to have discoursed further with him) feel or perceive how, when, or where he passed from them: having as it were vanished in their hands. After his army had mustered in the Borough-moor of Edinburgh (a field then spacious and delightful by the shades of many stately and aged oaks), about the midst of the night there is a Proclamation heard at the Market Cross of the town, summoning a great many Burgesses, Gentlemen, Barons, Noblemen to appear within forty days before the |