1849.] Proceedings at Bristol. 149 it is but implicit (inferred?), I send again to know a more positive answer from yourself, which I desire may be such as may render me capable of approving myself your highness' humble servant, Tho. Fairfax." The trumpeter was detained all that day and night. Everything was prepared for a storm; the general was in the field to that end; the soldiers had their faggots on their backs and leaped for joy, that they might go on. Lord's day, Sept. 7, in the forenoon, the trumpeter returned with the following: "Sir, Whereas I received your letter for the delivery of the city, forts, and castle of Bristol, and being willing to join with you for the sparing of blood, and the preserving of his majesty's subjects, I have upon those grounds, and none other, sent you the following propositions." (These are long, and sixteen in number.-E. D. N.) He concludes with these words: "By this you may evidently perceive my inclination to peace, and you may be assured that I shall never desire anything more than the honor of the king, and safety of the kingdom, and that I may become, sir, your servant, Rupert." Several other letters passed, without producing an agreement, which we cannot extract; and, on Wednesday, Sept. 10, to resume the narrative: "The signal was given to fall on, at one instant, around the city and works, which was by setting on fire a great heap of straw and faggots, on the top of a hill, and the shooting off of four great guns against Pryor's fort, from the place where the general was to reside during the storm. * * * [The light] was terrible to the beholders." Here follows a succinct narration of the conflict, and the articles of surrender. Among the officers killed was a major Bethel, of whom our author says: "Tired through want of sleep, he is gone into the bosom of the Lord Jesus, whom he loved so dearly while he lived. I wish he may not go unlamented to his grave, who was so full of God, and the fairest flower of the city amongst us. He lived without pride and died full of faith." Determined that Bethel shall not go unlamented, the warm-hearted Sprigge, on the 142d page of his work, inserts a sort of elegiac and acrostic, with this title: The Army's Tears over Major Bethel. "Thou gallant charger! dost thou wheel about To Bethel, there to make a shout Of the great triumphs of a scorned host? Or, blessed soul, was it unworthy we, That made thee weary with such dust to be? Or, tired with our new, reforming pace, Tasting some sips of Heaven, dost thou therefore haste Fearing thy spirit may be here embraced? Farewell, dear soul; thy great deserved arrears Only let all ages, when they tell The unexampled tale of Forty-Five, Yea, when these records to their glory swell, And be completed by the saints alive; When Naseby, Langport, Bristol, names they hear, Let them all say: Sweet Bethel, he was there. Bear a part in these laments, Every soul that longs for peace; Enters with himself a war: As a rhymer, the composer of the above is surely of the school of Sir Francis Rouse. Thursday, Sept. 11, Rupert left the great fort. "A great appearance there was of the country, to see the marching away of the prince, and extremely cried they, Give him no quarter! Give him no quarter!" As a confirmation of the story of the storming of Bristol, Cromwell's letter to the speaker of the house of commons is appended. Inasmuch as it is inserted in "Carlyle's Cromwell," and numbered letter fifteenth, we shall but extract one noble sentence, that we always love to read. Speaking of the army, he says, "Presbyterians, Independents, all have here the same spirit of faith and prayer; the same presence and answer; they agree here, have no names of difference: PITY IT SHOULD BE OTHERWISE ANYWHERE." Hugh Peters' Relation of the Taking of Winchester is found in Part 3d, Chap. 2d, and is in these words: "My commands from the lieutenant general are, to give this honorable house a further narrative of the castle of Winchester, being upon the place, and a spectator of God's good hand in the whole work; as also to present his humble request to the house in some particulars. And before I speak to either of them, if gratitude itself were not sometimes unseasonable, I would in my own name, and in the name of many thousands, return this honorable house most humble thanks for our lieutenant general, in that you suffer with patience the vacancy of his place in this house. 1849.] Castle of Winchester. 151 My wish is, that his spirit, and that public English spirit of Hampden, Pym and Stroud may be doubled upon your new elected members. "For our lieutenant general this I may say, that judgment and affections are in him striving for the mastery. I have rarely seen such heights and depths concentrated in one man. When I look upon the two chiefs of our army, I remember Gustavus Adolphus and Oxenstiern, and I wish that our hopes may not be so short-lived as the Germans' hopes in them were. More I might say concerning him that sent me who is so far above the world, and lives so little upon the State's pay, and minds himself so little, but that he hath enjoined silence to all his friends, in anything that might turn to his own praise. "For the castle of Winchester, we began our batteries on Saturday morning, which wrought so effectually, that a breach wherein thirty men might go abreast was made. The enemy sallied out and beat our men from the guns, which were soon recovered again. We played then with our grenades from our mortar pieces with the best effect. I have seen, which brake down the Mansion house in many places; cut off a commissioner of theirs by the thighs, the most austere and wretched instrument in that country; and at last blew up their flag of defiance into the air, and tore the pinnacles in pieces upon which it stood. Summons being sent as we entered upon this work, was refused by lord Ogle their governor; and another summons God sent them, in the middle of their battery. His lady, to whom our lieutenant general had given leave to come forth, and had gone some miles out of town, died, by whom the governor had during her life £1,000 a year, now lost by her death. "The chiefest street of the town the enemy played upon, whereby divers passengers were wounded, and some killed, in which street my quarters were, I have that cause to bless God for my preservation." Better had he died there, than to be jeered at and beheaded by a bloody executioner in 1660.1 To resume the narrative. "The Lord's day we spent in preaching and prayer, while our gunners were battering, and at eight of the clock at night, we received a letter from the governor for a treaty, which I have brought with me." Here follows the articles of treaty. "These articles being concluded on, I was forthwith sent into the castle to take a view of it before my departure, where I found a piece of ground improved to the best advantage; for when we entered by battery, we had six distinct works, and a draw-bridge to pass through, so that doubtless, it was a very strong piece and well appointed, as 1 See Graham's Colonial History of the United States. Lea and Blanchard's edition, Vol. I. p. 573. may appear by this ensuing note, of the ammunition and provisions." The note we must omit; among other items are mentioned three hogsheads of French wine, and one hundred and twelve of strong beer. "The castle was manned with 700 men, divers of them reformadoes. The chief men I saw there, were Viscount Ogle, their governor, Sir John Pawlet, an old soldier, Sir William Courtney, colonel Bennet, also doctor Curle, the bishop of Winchester who came forth to our quarters in the morning, with whom I spent an hour or two, who with tears and much importunity desired the lieutenant general's favor to excuse his not accepting the offer that he made unto him on his entering the town. He desired of me a guard to his lodging, lest the horse should use violence to him and his chaplain, who were in their long gowns and cassocks, and he was accordingly safely conveyed home. I do not verily believe that they will hardly bring to Woodstock 200 men. It did much affect us to see what an enemy we had to deal with, who themselves being judges, could not choose, but say that, "Our God is not as their God." This is the nineteenth garrison that has been taken this summer, through God's goodness, and he that will not take his share in this common joy, is either stupid or envious." We are forced for want of space to make the abstract of the last half of the work very brief. Preservation of a Jewel. In November 1645, while the army was at Antree, "a fair jewel set with rich diamonds of very great value was presented unto the general, by Mr. Ash and some other members of parliament, in the name of both houses, as a signal of that great honor which God had done him, in the great service which by God's assistance he performed for this kingdom at Naseby battle, and according to the commands of the parliament, they tied it in a blue ribband, and put it about his neck." Incidents at the Storming of Dartmouth. Lord's day, January 18, 1645.1 "Mr. Del in the morning, and Mr. Peters in the evening, exhorted the soldiers to their duty; for Mr. Bowles who had formerly attended the service of the army, being called to his charge at York, had taken leave of his excellency, . Mr. Del succeeding in his room. 1 Bear in mind, that previous to the act of parliament in 1751, the civil or legal year in England commenced on the twenty-fifth of March.-E. D. N. 1849.] Escape of Prince Charles and the King. 153 "The soldiers were all drawn out. About seven at night forlorn hopes were set. The evening very mild as at midsummer, the frost being newly gone. The word was given, God with us.' The signal of the soldiers was, their shirts out before and behind." 6 The Escape of Prince Charles. "Wednesday, March 4th, his excellency had certain intelligence that the prince was embarked, and set sail for Scilly with his lords and gentlemen, giving up all for lost. So evidently irrecoverable did their condition appear to all, that their refuge of lies failed them, and they did not stick to say in desperation, at their departure, that all was lost. The prince's flying much disheartened the enemy; and what a work should it have upon us? It might become us here to stay and pause awhile. I cannot but run upon that Scripture in my mind, Who art thou, that thou should'st be afraid of a man, that shall die, and of the son of man, which shall be as grass and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, or that his bread should fail.' Isaiah 51: 12, 13. The poor Cornish, like the captive exile, hastened to be delivered lest they should die in the pit, and therefore took up arms on any side to make an end of the war, and restore a peace of any fashion for the fury of the oppressor; and where is the fury of the oppressor? A ship hath embarked them, a strong wind hath carried them away, Scilly hath opened her arms and received them." Escape of the king from Oxford, 1646. "Sunday, April 26, the general rested at Andover [reminding us of our own general Washington's rest at Andover, New England, on the Sabbath]. Monday, 27th, he marched to Newbury, where the next day, he received intelligence of the king's being escaped out of Oxford in a disguised manner, with his lock cut off, or tied up at least, his beard shaved, and in the habit of a serving man. "In a distressed time "Tis safe like kings for poorest men to seem; Safer than kings."-Lucan's Pharsalia, Lib. VIII. Also with a cloke-bag, behind him, waiting upon master John Ash |
