which Sir John Byron [30] had entered before him. The latter had 1642. collected five hundred horse in Oxfordshire, and was conveying some money to the king. He had not been in his quarters many hours, when Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes [31] appeared, despatched by Essex to take possession of the city. A London Journal [32] says, he sent for the Gloucester trained bands to join him; and it is known that his object was to block up Byron till Essex should arrive. A party of them, who went to meet him, withdrew, finding that he had retired; but he came back in a few days, with a strong reinforcement, and the volunteers of Gloucester were summoned again. A second time they failed to effect a junction, owing to the indiscreet haste of those with whom they were to have acted, but this circumstance probably prevented their utter extermination. On the morning of Thursday, the twenty-second of Sep- Sep. 22. tember, before the trained bands made their appearance, Prince Rupert [33] attacked Fiennes and the parliamentarians at Powick bridge, near Worcester; defeated them with considerable loss, and drove them back as far as Pershore. This was the first skirmish of any note that occurred; and though a mere affair of cavalry, produced a sensation that was highly advantageous to the king. Aware of the consequences of unfavourable impressions in the outset of military operations, the parliament not only endeavoured to suppress the exact truth of the tidings, but permitted accounts to be published and circulated, representing it as a victory; and the House of Commons desired the ministers at the next fast to give thanks to God for his blessing upon their forces; [34] an expression couched in ambiguous terms, but evidently intended to convey the notion of success. Charles also celebrated it with thanksgiving. Perhaps it was too highly magnified by the royalists; but, in the opinion of many, the terror that it inspired, contributed to the advantage obtained by Prince Rupert, over the enemies' horse, a few weeks after, in the first great battle. [35]

On the evening after the skirmish, the prince and Sir John Byron drew off towards Ludlow; and in the course of the next day the Earl of Essex made his entry into Worcester, where he established his head Sept. 23. quarters for upwards of three weeks. The whole neighbourhood was

filled with his troops, and they were disposed upon a line extending through Warwick, Coventry, and Buckingham; they had their brigades round about even to Gloucester. [36] The military preparations of the latter city continued to advance: arms and ammunition in small quantities were forwarded to them from London; [37] and upon an urgent representation of their necessity, the speaker's warrant was issued to a Mr. Dewxell, to convey with freedom, and without any let or interrup"tion, to the city of Gloucester, for the use of that city, four or six "small pieces of ordnance, ten barrells of powder, seven carabines, and "seven cases of pistols, and seven swords, with all possible speed " and diligence." [38] As the long expected cannon passed through their streets, the inhabitants regarded them with a mixture of curiosity and astonishment, little anticipating how soon they were all to be familiarised to the roaring of these dreadful engines of war. Reports were spread abroad that Gloucester and Tewkesbury were in great danger; that the former was taken possession of by Lord Grandison; and that the country was plundered. [39] It was also asserted in the public journals, that forty thousand pounds had been sent down for the troops in Gloucester. [40] These rumours, probably designed to answer a particular end, seem to have been altogether void of foundation.

While the Earl of Essex continued at Worcester, he settled the militia in that district, [41] and kept up a communication with the managers of affairs in Gloucester. [42] He despatched Lord Stamford [43] to Hereford, to hold Lord Herbert in check; to prevent his joining the king at Shrewsbury, and to harass the royalists in the marches of South Wales. [44] The chief reason of delay on the part of Essex, at Worcester, was said to have been the expectation of an answer from the king to a message from the parliament inviting him to withdraw from his army and repair to London. This proposition his majesty refused; but employed the interval in completing and arming his force; and having sufficiently accomplished his purpose to enable him to take the field, he marched from Shrewsbury towards the metropolis. Essex followed him; and they came in sight of each other at Edge Hill in WarwickOct. 23. shire; where on Sunday, October the twenty-third, was fought that

indecisive, but bloody battle, in which both sides were defeated, and both laid claim to the victory. The intelligence was received with horror in all parts of England. [45] Many peaceably disposed persons were now of opinion that the war would be ended, and that the first great field of blood, would also be the last; but their conclusions were rather those of hope than of reasonable expectation; and they little calculated upon the spirit that was abroad. The main strength of the armies withdrew into winter quarters.

Such were the first fruits of the civil war, and of the miseries that ensued during four successive years. The winter, indeed, did not pass away without a variety of military transactions, sieges of towns and castles, and affairs of posts and detachments; but as these were only of secondary importance, and do not fall within our limits, we shall pass them over to confine our narrative to the county to which the tracts in this collection more particularly appertain.

1642.

The whole of Gloucestershire having been exclusively under the controul of the deputy lieutenants, the city had hitherto been unprovided with a governor. But its situation and arrangements requiring such an officer, Colonel Thomas Essex, who had been governor of Worcester, [46] came to take the command in the month of November, and brought two Nov. regiments into garrison. [47] After remaining about a month, he was ordered to Bristol, where party spirit was at a great height. The royalists had obtained information of his coming, and endeavoured to oppose his entrance; but he got in by stratagem during the night, and gained that important post for the parliament without bloodshed. [48] A vague account of an attempt of Lord Chandos to secure Gloucester, appeared at London about this time: its authenticity, however, seems very questionable, though it was printed and published by the House of Dec. Commons. [49] After Colonel Essex had left them, the citizens were not long abandoned to their own means of defence; for the Earl of Stamford came up from Hereford on his way into the west of England, where he was destined to command those levies that were to act against the king. Two troops of cavalry and a regiment of infantry accompanied him; he continued his route towards Bristol with the horse, [50] and left the regiment behind under Colonel Edward Massey,

1642.

whom he appointed his deputy governor. Massey was a soldier of fortune, and a stranger to the place and people. But to those among whom he was to dwell as a military protector, it must have been a consolation to discover that he had not to learn the rudiments of the art of war. England, after a considerable interval of peace, disturbed only for a short time by the invasions of the Scots, had yet many soldiers practically acquainted with the profession of arms, who were worthy of command. Most of these had been formed under the celebrated Gustavus Adolphus and the Prince of Orange, in the campaigns of Germany and the war of the Palatinate. Such on the king's side were, the Earls of Lindsey and Forth, Sir Jacob Astley, Sir Ralph Hopton, and Sir Arthur Aston; and on that of the parliament, the Earl of Essex, Sir John Hotham, Sir Thomas Fairfax, and William Waller; such also, in a humbler rank, was Colonel Massey. The king had probably a greater proportion of them in his service. Hence, Ludlow, with reference to the parliament, tell us, "they were a generation of men much cried up at that time." [51]

The king excluded from London, had established himself at Oxford, where he fixed his head-quarters during the whole of the war. Many reasons rendered it expedient that a direct passage should be opened into South Wales. That country had generally declared in his favour, but Gloucestershire interposed upon the regular line of communication. Cirencester, the key of the county upon the frontier, was the first hostile town on that line; and the Marquess of Hertford, general of the royal forces in the west, representing that it straitened their means of subsistence, and hindered their supplies in that direction, is said to have advised an attempt upon it. [52] The town possessed many advantages of situation, and had been fortified to a certain extent, and garrisoned by the deputy lieutenants after the affair of Lord Chandos, already related; for they very justly concluded, that it would be the first object of attack. Excepting two weak regiments of infantry at Bristol, [53] and one at Gloucester, the chief of their strength was drawn thither to prevent the incursions of the royalists; and there also they had formed a magazine.

On Saturday, January the seventh, the marquess, with Princes Rupert 1642-5. and Maurice, Lords Chandos, Carnarvon, and others, appeared before it, and after refusal of a summons prepared to storm; but, probably, not considering themselves strong enough to attempt it, they retired on the following day to Oxford. [54] This gave the new deputy governor of Gloucester an opportunity of shewing his activity and spirit of enterprise. He sent off some ordnance to Cirencester; and on Thursday, January the twenty-ninth, with the concurrence of the deputy lieutenants, ordering Jan. 26. out the horse and canoneers, and bringing other troops from Tewkesbury and Gloucester, he laid siege to Sudley Castle, [55) the seat of Lord Chandos, and the strongest hold in that quarter. Captain Bridges the governor, at first refused to surrender, but Massey found means to intimidate him, and the castle was yielded on the third day. The chapel of this building was distinguished by the beauty of its architecture and many costly monuments. [56] The soldiers, in their hatred to Chandos, and contempt of the church, according to their general practice, brought miserable havoc and defilement into this sanctuary. The monuments were broken; the nave was converted into a stable, and the chancel into a slaughter-house; the carcases of sheep were suspended by pegs from the pulpit; and the communion table became a dresser. It were a violation of common decency to relate the whole. [57] But it is not likely that Massey sanctioned or witnessed these proceedings; as soon as he had effected the capture, and provisioned the place, he left the command to Lieutenant Colonel Forbes, and returned to Gloucester.

On Monday, January the thirtieth, Prince Rupert passed by Sudley and Jan. 30. quartered that night, at two miles distance, in the open fields. But it was not his intention to waste his time there, while he had an undertaking of greater importance before him, in the success of which the castle would be sure to fall. It was enough that his having shewn himself kept the garrison close, while he advanced once more to Cirencester; where, being reinforced with horse and artillery, on Thursday, February Feb. 2. the second, after a contest of two hours, he carried the town by assault. Two tracts in the collection contain the details of this event, varying a little, according to the bias of the writers, but agreeing as to the