"of the said city and county." L. J. January 14, 1642-3. Many proofs occur that they considered themselves amenable for the repairs of the walls and bridges of the city as well as for the pay of the garrison, though it is not so evident they were always able or willing to fulfil what is called their “ engagement" to the city. It was the same at Newcastle upon Tyne where they repaired the walls, bridges, keys, river and harbour. C. J. June 7, 1645. [ 24.] See the Tract in the following collection, p. 177. 178, which is corroborated by a letter read in the house of commons, August 20, and printed, by their order, August 22: yet it is remarkable that the following entry referring to a transaction of the same kind occurs in the Lords' Journals, Aug 19, 1642. A letter from Sir Robert Cooke, dated the th August, 1612, to the "Lord Viscount Say and Seale, was read; which intimated, that many of the "inhabitants of Gloucestershire assembled themselves at Cirencester, at the "coming of the Lord Dacres thither; and conceiving that his lordship came "into those parts to put the commission of array into execution, pressed "it very much upon him, who denied it; but the people being not satisfied, "caused him to set it under his hand; and being afterwards withdrawn, they "fell upon his coach and tore it in pieces."-Loyalist opponents to the deputy lieutenants in that quarter complained of in Tract, p. 185, are enumerated in the Commons' Journals, November 28. "Sir Richard Dacre, Bart. Sir H. "Fred. Glinne, Sir Robert Points, Thomas Veale, and Humphry Hooke, "Esqrs." Pointz and Veale were originally nominated deputy lieutenants; but acting for the king, the commons resolved to send for them and the others as delinquents. [25.] His majestie's proceedings in Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, &c. August 23, 1642. [26.] Fosbrooke, p. 54. [27.] Stewards' Accounts, MS. a. 1642. [28.] L. J. September 15, 1642. This order, originating in the commons, was drawn up by serjeant, afterwards Chief Baron Wilde. C. J. Sept. 13. [29.] Till after the battle of Worcester. Stewards' Accounts, MS. 23. Car. I. "7 halters for the 7 great horses." The keep of each horse per week amounted to 2s. 6d. in hay and 2s. in oats: besides these, they raised what are called, in the Records, " Subscription Horses." Eighteen are enumerated entered by inhabitants of Tuffley, Matson, Upton, Sandhurst, and Elmore, Id. [30.] Sir John Byron, of Newsted Abbey, county of Nottingham, made Lord Byron of Rochdale, Oct. 24. 19. Car. I. Dugdale. Baron. II. 469. He died an exile in France when the war was over. A person of a very ancient family, "and honourable extraction, and good fortune, and as unblemished a repu"tation as any gentleman of England." Clarendon I. 399. [31.] Nathaniel Fiennes, second son of Lord Say. Dugdale. Baronage, III. 247. Clarendon says he was "a man of good parts of learning:" he had spent many years at Oxford and abroad at Geneva, and among the Cantons of Switzerland, "where he improved his disinclination to the church, with "which milk he had been nursed." He became one of the chief leaders of the house of commons. Clarendon. I. 186. 233. [32.] Continuation of special passages, Sept. 21-24, 1642. One hundred and fifty of these and others from Tewkesbury, under the command of Captain Scriven, son of the mayor of Gloucester, when they could not find Fiennes, turned aside on the 21st. to Castle Morton, between Upton and Ledbury; where they amused themselves with plundering the house of Mr. Rowland Bartlet, an eminent royalist. And when the Earl of Essex possessed himself of Worcester, another party from the parliamentarian army plundered him again. Mercurius Rusticus, p. 184. et. seq. [33] Though Prince Rupert seems to have gone out of Worcester to observe them, he was taken by surprise; his men and horses were wearied with a long march; and himself and his principal officers were reposing on the ground. The parliamentarians also were close upon him before they were aware of it. But Rupert always entertained too great a contempt for his enemy. A party of them came up with him, and shot at him near Oxford, as he was exercising his men in sight of them without boots, in shoes and stockings. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva. 256 The skirmish at Powick is inaccurately reported by most of the contemporary historians. A pamphlet entitled " a letter sent "from the Lord Falkland, principall secretary to his majesty unto the Right "Honourable Henry Earle of Cumberland, printed at Yorke by Stephen Bulkeley," gives an interesting account of it. This publication so offended the parliament, that they ordered all the copies of a London edition of it to be publicly burnt, and committed the printer to Newgate. C. J. Oct. 8, 66 1642. [34.] Id. September 27. [35.] Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, 227. Clarendon, II. 26. 47. [36.] Sanderson. 582. But the arrangement of this writer is so confused that it is frequently difficult to discover and determine his dates. [37.] They also made purchases in Bristol. Entries occur of twenty muskets, of forty do. and forty bandaleers, a pack of match, and five hundred pounds of lead for bullets. The cost of the Demy Culverins amounted to 16/. 13s. 9d. Stewards' Account, MS. a. 1642-1643. [38.] Commons' Journals, October 8. [39.] Fosbrooke, 55. Mr. Fosbrooke has with great industry made a valuable selection from the News-Books on both sides relating to Gloucester at this period; but as many of the articles are clearly fabrications penned for the purpose of maintaining the confidence of the respective parties, though exceedingly curious as exhibiting the feelings of the time, they cannot in all cases be adopted as historical evidence. [40.] Among resources drawn from the county may be mentioned, 3375l. received for wood out of the Forest of Dean. C. J. Sept. 8, 1642. This was when the parliament interfered with the patent of Sir John Wintour, by virtue of which he felled and disposed of large quantities of timber annually out of the forest; more will be seen respecting this hereafter. [41.] Heath. Chronicle. Part I, 40. [42.] "Edward Greene and Edward Wheeler," went with messages to my Lord Generall," Aldermen Pury and Singleton also went to Worcester; and Mr. Steward Fowler was despatched to Lord Say, the Lord Lieutenant. S. A. MS. a. 1642. [43.] Henry, Lord Grey of Groby, Earl of Stamford. Dugdale. Baronage, I. 722. He was made commander in chief of the forces raised in the counties of Hereford, Gloucester, Salop and Worcester. C. J. December 13. [44.] Several gentlemen were surprised by him at Presteign; and Lord Herbert himself had a narrow escape. I. J. November 1. He sent them prisoners to Gloucester, where they were ordered by the commons to be committed to the prison, there to remain during the pleasure of the house. Commons' Journals, November 6. [45.] Whitelock. Baxter. With what heart-rending anxiety many anticipated the consequences of this sad dispute, is shewn by the will of a gentleman in the county of Lincoln, the preamble of which, in the language of the times, forcibly expresses those sentiments respecting war and peace that numbers, who were afterwards drawn into the quarrel, had entertained in vain. The instrument is dated April 3, 1645, and begins thus: "In the name of God, "Amen. I John Wincupp of West Laughton in the parish of Folkingham, "in the county of Lincolne, Gen. seeing with great greife and sorrowe of "harte the great and miserable condition of this kingdome of England, and of "these parts in speciall by reason of this civill and unnaturall warr, which I humbly and hartily pray upon the bended knees of my soule the God of all peace to prevent the further spreading thereof, and to establish a blessed peace throw all the king's majesty's dominions," &c. and in another place he makes a provision in case," by reason of these miserable sadd distractions "of warr," his estate of goods or lands should be wasted so that it will not hold out to pay debts and legacies. &c. 66 [46.] C. J. November 11. By order of the parliament he was instructed to bring two loyalists, Mr. John Houghton and Mr. George Streete from Worcester and lodge them in the gaol at Gloucester; or send them up in safe custody to London. The gaol at Gloucester soon became crowded with roya lists. [ 47.] When any new governor or officer of distinction arrived in Gloucester, it was customary for the civil authorities to receive him and his suite at the Tolsey with refreshments-sweetmeats, sack and sugar, or cake and ale, according to the rank or taste of the visitor. Thus Waller, Cromwell and the Scottish generals, were welcomed as they passed through. Thomas Essex was the first military governor admitted into the city. He dined at the quarter sessions and examined some of the approaches. At his departure he was presented with a silver and gilt bowl, worth about sixteen pounds, and in return made them a present of three horses, which were placed among the subscription horses." S. A. MS. Thomas was probably the brother of Charles Essex, a brave but perjured soldier, of a decayed family, who took an oath to the queen of Bohemia, upon leaving the service of the Prince of Orange, and coming over to England, that he would never serve against the king. He distinguished himself most eminently at the battle of Edge Hill on the parliament side, and was slain in the field; where his father, Sir William Essex, a private captain in his son's regiment, was taken prisoner. Clarendon. II. 53. 55. Thomas Essex afterwards fell into disgrace with his party, as will be seen, at Bristol; and seems to have been in distressed circumstances; for paying a visit to Gloucester in 1649-1650, he accepted of a gratuity of six pounds. S. A. MS. On May 25, 1649, the house of commons voted him a sum of money. C. J. 66 [48.] Commons Journals, December 13. " A letter from Bristol, dated on Saturday last, relating that Colonel Essex had entered Bristol with two "thousand men, and-It is ordered that Mr. Holles and Mr. Hill do prepare "a letter to the city of Bristoll to encourage them to go on in the defence "of the said city." The Tracts relating to Bristol are almost extensive enough of themselves to form a volume. As this is the case, and as the occurrences there belong in part to another county, the editor regrets that the limits of his work have not permitted him to include them in this collection. [49.] "Happy news from the city of Gloucester, December 22, 1642. A "true discovery of the practices of the Lord Shandoise to betray the city "of Gloucester to the cavaliers." The writer of the letter relates that this nobleman gathered together a great strength, and advanced near to the said city; "but that he was valiantly opposed by the inhabitants, who pursued "and took him, causing him to deliver up his commission and subscribe "with his own hand, that he would never more disturb the peace of the county, but maintain the privileges of parliament with his life and fortune." Not a word of this occurs in Corbet, who doubtless would not have omitted an event, which would have furnished him with so much cause of triumph. He is equally silent respecting the more important contents of another pamphlet, entitled "True News out of Herefordshire," but giving an account of an action fought, as is pretended, on Wednesday (Nov. 14, 1642)-no date of month or year is given, but this appears to be the time in question ;in which Lord Stamford is said to have routed the Marquess of Hertford and Lord Herbert, on the field where the last decisive battle took place, near Tewkesbury, between the houses of York and Lancaster, with the loss of 2500 men; this is coupled with an account of a panic that had just occurred in London; and there can be no doubt that it is a fabrication, intended to divert the attention of the people from an alarm, and to whet the appetite of revenge. Another instance of the inventive talent of the parliamentarians occurs in a pamphlet entitled, "A True Relation of late proceedings of part of his Majestie's Forces in Worcestershire, &c. London, printed for Robert Nicols, "1642," detailing a successful affair of the Earl of Stamford with Sir Lewis Dives and Colonel Lewis Kirke, at Kidderminster, on Wednesday Dec. 15. The earl was settling the affairs of Bristol in the middle of December, 1642, as appears by his letter addressed to the speaker of the house of peers, dated December 19, and inserted in the Lords' Journals, Dec. 22, 1642, and could not therefore apparently have been at Kidderminster on that day, considering that he returned to Hereford, and afterwards marched through Gloucester towards Bristol. But this was the way in which the London public were amused, excited, and kept in the dark as to what was going on in remoter parts of the kingdom, while all information that savoured of any advantage on the king's side was diligently and vigorously suppressed. [50.] The corporation presented him with a great gilt bowl and cover, with sixteen pounds. Steward's Accounts, MS. in anno. " [51] Memoirs I. p. 48. and in another place, p. 74, he calls "an old soldier a thing much valued by the parliament at that time." In the latter part of the war, when the army had been new-modelled, and Fairfax obtained so many advantages over the king's forces, Sprigge, his chaplain, asserts that "his "officers knew little more of war than our own unhappy wars had taught "them;" and that in the battle of Naseby the royalists had "not so few as "fifteen hundred officers, that were old soldiers, of great experience through 'long experience in foreign parts; when on the other hand, we had not ten "officers that could pretend to any such thing, as the experience of a souldier, "save what this war had given them." England's Recovery. pp. 41.323. The Scotch abounded in able and experienced officers, great numbers of whom had returned home upon the death of the king of Sweden. Howell. Letters. Sect V.. Letter XXIII. Such as had served under the Prince of Orange were distinguished by the appellation of "low-country-soldiers." Of this class was a veteran of the family of Kingscote, as appears by his epitaph on a tomb in the church yard of Kingscote in the county of Gloucester. "Here lyeth the body of Troylus Kingscote, Gent, who did service as a "commander for the Prince of Orange 40 yeares; and being 80 yeares old, "ended this life upon the 10th day of September, Anno Domini. 1656." Rudder. p. 512. [52.] See Tracts, p. 178. [53.] A letter to the house of commons, dated December 8, makes Colonel Essex's force to consist of two thousand men. Commons' Journals, December 13. The statement in the text is that of Corbet. [54.] See Tract, pp. 156. 179. [55.] Id. p. 180. [56.] Among others was that of Queen Catherine Parr. [57] Dugdale. Short View. p. 559. [58.] The royalist account was written by Prince Rupert's chaplain. Rudder. [59.] Paine, the clothier, who was killed with the colours in his hand, Tracts, p. 170, was buried in the south aisle of the church at Cirencester, with this punning epitaph upon a small brass plate. HERE lyeth buried ye body of HODGKINSON PAINE, clothier, who died ye 3d of Feb. 1612. The Poores Supplie his life & calling grac't 'till warres made rent & PAINE from poore displac't. |