1655 ROYALIST FAILURES 285 many of them with charged pistols in the holsters, a barrel of powder and a suit of armour in the barn, and bullets newly cast in the study. The arrest of Sir Thomas followed as a matter of course. Subsequent examinations showed that the rendezvous was to have been held that night and an attempt made on Shrewsbury. Had this failed the conspirators were to ride off to join any Royalist band which elsewhere had been more successful than they had been themselves. 1 Mackworth to the Protector, March 8; Crowne to the Protector, March 10; examinations of Evanson and Bultry, March 21, Thurloe, iii. 208, 215, 288, 289. Mackworth makes Boreatton only five miles from Shrewsbury, whereas it is at least eight. I have said nothing of the confessions of Ralph Kynaston (Thurloe, iii. 209–211), who gave information that six soldiers, of whom two were to be disguised as women, were to procure an entrance into Shrewsbury Castle, at 4 P.M. on the 8th, on pretence of sight-seeing, and were to block the gate on leaving, giving opportunity to men concealed in alehouses near to rush the Castle, as it is not easy to understand why this attack should be made at 4 P.M., whilst the supporting force was not to rendezvous in Boreatton Park till II P.M. The following explanation may, however, be suggested. Prior to March 7 Mackworth had but twenty men at the most to garrison the Castle. This is shown by his own estimate of seventy foot and a troop of horse on the 10th (Thurloe, iii. 218). Fifty men had been put in by Crowne on the 7th (Crowne's Petition, S. P. Dom. xcix. 91), and the troop sent by the Protector had subsequently arrived. May we not, therefore, conjecture that the plan revealed by Kynaston was one made before the garrison was strengthened by Crowne, as the proposed scheme for overpowering the garrison would then appear feasible, and it would be unnecessary to bring up the horse from Boreatton to help in what could be done without them? As Kynaston's business was to raise a troop in Montgomery, it is not difficult to imagine that he had not heard that the reinforcement of the garrison had led to a change of plan. 286 1655. in Wilt shire. CHAPTER XXXIX PENRUDDOCK'S RISING IN Wiltshire alone were the insurgents rewarded even by momentary success, and that merely because they contented themselves with attacking an unwalled and unA movement defended town. In spite of their failure in February the Royalists of that county continued hopeful, being encouraged by the presence of Sir Joseph Wagstaff, who had been sent from London to take command of the forces to be raised in the western counties. Of the local gentry, the most prominent were Colonel John Penruddock of Compton Chamberlayne, and Hugh Grove of Chisenbury. Penruddock's ancestors had emigrated from Cumberland; and he himself, having served with his father in the King's army during the Civil War, had been driven to pay composition for his estates.1 Of Grove's earlier life nothing appears to be known. It had been at first proposed to signalise attack on the appointed 8th of March by an attack on the judges of assize at Winchester, a plan which was soon abandoned, in consequence of news that a troop of horse had appeared in that city. The conspirators appear to have had a special grudge against the judges as the representatives of the Protector, and, as their commission was to be opened at Salisbury on the 12th, the night of the 11th was fixed Proposed Winchester. 1 Mr. Ravenhill, in the Wiltshire Archæol. and Nat. Hist. Magazine, xiii. 125, gives an entry written by Penruddock in his account-book of 1,300l. paid for composition. This includes his father's fine of 490/. 2 Thurloe to Pell, March 16, Vaughan's Protectorate, i. 145. 1655 SURPRISAL OF THE JUDGES 287 for a rendezvous in Clarendon Park, about two miles from the city. Mar. 11. in Clarendon Park. Mar. 12. The Accordingly, some sixty horsemen gathered on that historical site, where they were joined by forty more who came out of the city under John Mompesson, and later on by A gathering about eighty from Blandford. Being thus some 180 strong, they entered Salisbury before dawn, placed guards at the inn-doors, seized the horses in the Royalists in stables, flung open the doors of the gaol, and Salisbury. arrested in their beds the two judges, Chief Justice Rolle and Baron Nicholas, together with Dove, the High Sheriff of the county. When the three were brought out, the judges were forced to hand over their commission, and Wagstaff, rude soldier as he was, called out for the hanging of them all. This cruel counsel having been rejected at Penruddock's instance, Dove, who was especially obnoxious as a purchaser of Royalists' estates,2 was asked to proclaim Charles II. On his refusal he was subjected to ill-treatment, receiving on his side a blow from a carbine. Ultimately the proclamation was made by one of the company, whilst the Sheriff himself was carried off as a hostage.3 The insurgents, finding that the townsmen refused to join them, marched off to Blandford, where, finding the town-crier as obstinate as Dove, Penruddock was reduced to proclaim, with his own lips, Charles II., ... The examination of Arthur Collins, Wagstaff's servant (The Perf. Diurnal, E, 831, 1) begins by stating 'that on Sunday, being the 11th instant, the said Sir Joseph Wagstaff met at Clarendon Park, where were mustered 60 horse, Mr. John Mompesson bringing from Salisbury to their aid 40 more, from whence they immediately marched towards Blandford, where about 80 more joined with them; thence they marched to Salisbury.' From Clarendon Park to Blandford and back to Salisbury was about 46 miles, and it is incredible that the party, with all their work before them, should have added this to their toils. I suspect that they merely wheeled round Salisbury to the Blandford Road, and were there joined by the reinforcement. 2 In the Dictionary of Nat. Biog. he is improperly styled a regicide. He sat only once on the court, and did not sign the death-warrant. 3 Clarendon, xiv. 132; Merc. Pol., E, 830, 11, 23. the true Protestant religion, the liberty of the subject, and privilege of Parliament. Then, sending out parties to right and left to sweep the country in search of recruits, the main body pushed on hurriedly through Sherborne to Yeovil, where March 13. they halted till daylight on the morning of the 13th, having covered 47 miles since leaving Salisbury. By this time their hopes of gathering a large force had died away, and Dove was set free, perhaps as a mere incumbrance to a march which could hardly be distinguished from a flight.3 The insurgents at Yeovil. March 12. March 14. It could not be long before the forces of the Government would be on the track of the fugitives. By the evening of the day on which they entered Salisbury, the Protector, Desborough alarmed at the news, appointed Desborough MajorMajorGeneral of General of the West, and despatched him to the the West. scene of action. On the evening of the 14th DesHis arrival borough was at Newbury, intending to effect a at Newbury. junction at Amesbury with Major Butler, who, having half a cavalry regiment under his orders, had promptly marched to Salisbury, as well as with some troops which had been pushed forward from Chichester." Long before this the supporters of the Government in the neighbouring counties were astir. At Bristol guards were enlisted and a troop of horse raised." At Gloucester 400 of the citizens agreed to undertake the defence of the place, leavassistance. ing the garrison free for service in the field.7 In Somerset, which was more directly threatened, no less than 3,000 men rallied to the Government, and but for a dispute Local offers of 1 Perf. Proceedings, E, 831, 6; State Trials, v. 775. 2 Bishop to Thurloe, March 14, Thurloe, iii. 242. 3 Dove appeared at Salisbury on the morning of the 14th, which fixes. the 13th as the day of his liberation at Yeovil. 4 The Protector's instructions, March 12, Thurloe, iii. 221. 5 Desborough to the Protector, March 15, ib. iii. 247. 6 Aldworth and Powell to Thurloe, March 12, 15, ib. iii. 233, 248. 7 Wade to Desborough, March 14, ib. iii. 239. Details are to be found in the Gloucester Corporation Books. 1655 THE ROYALISTS IN RETREAT 289 about the command would have taken the field at once.1 Colonel Copplestone, with a newly levied regiment quartered in Devonshire,2 was ready to bar the way of the retreating Royalists. misses the Honiton. They push on to the It was, however, to none of these bodies that the overthrow of the Royalists was due. On the morning of the day on which the Royalists were hurrying out of Yeovil Captain Unton Croke, the officer who had vainly attempted to arrest Sexby earlier in the year,3 started from Exeter with a party of soldiers in the hope of being able to intercept the march of the insurgents. Unton Croke When he reached Honiton he found that they had insurgents at already slipped past, and were pressing on in the hope of reaching Cornwall, where there were Royalists enough to welcome and assist them, and whence, West. if their enterprise proved hopeless, escape to the Continent was easy. Croke, indeed, had but sixty men under his orders, whilst the enemy, in spite of having lost a considerable number by desertion, were reported to be two hundred. They were, however, depressed in mind, and both they and their horses were weary from want of adequate rest. Avoiding Exeter, lest they should fall into the hands of Copplestone, they struggled on through Cullompton and Tiverton, only drawing rein in the late evening at South Molton. While the night was still young, Croke, who had not slackened in pursuit, came up and surrounded them in their quarters. The Royalists, surprised as they were, defended themselves gallantly, firing out of the windows at the troopers. Yet, perhaps because they had been long unaccustomed to the use of arms, they did little execution, not a man of Croke's little force being slain. Knowing that their case was hopeless, some made their escape, Wagstaff himself being one of the number. Others, like Penruddock and Grove, together with Jones, who had been joined to the The fight at South Molton. 1 Thurloe to Pell, March 16, Vaughan's Protectorate, i. 151; Gough to Malyn, March 14, Thurloe, iii. 237. 2 Copplestone to the Protector, March 10, ib. iii. 219. 3 See supra, p. 270. VOL. III. |