Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

"to agree upon articles of furrender fo far beneath that overture? for the Articles of Surrender "were thefe:

First, that the Ladies and all others in the "caftle fhould have quarter.

[ocr errors]

Secondly, That the Ladies and fervants "fhould carry away all their wearing-apparel; " and that fix of the ferving men, whom the "Ladies fhould nominate, fhould attend upon "their perfons wherefoever the rebels fhould difpose of them.

[ocr errors]

Thirdly, that all the furniture and goods in "the houfe fhould be fafe from plunder; and to "this purpose one of the fix nominated to attend "the ladies, was to ftay in the castle, and take an "inventory of all in the house; of which the Com"manders were to have one copy, and the Ladies es another.

[ocr errors]

"But being on these terms masters of the "caftle and all within it, 'tis true they obferved "the first article, and fpared the lives of all the befieged, though they had flain in the defence "at least fixty of the Rebels. But for the other two, they obferved them not in any part. As "foon as they entered the castle, they first seized upon the feveral trunks and packs which they "of the cafle were making up, and left neither "the Ladies nor fervants any other wearing"clothes but what was on their backs.

در

"There

"There was in the caftle, amongst many rich " ones, one extraordinary chimney-piece, valued "at two thousand pounds; this they utterly de

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

faced, and beat down all the carved works "thereof with their pole-axes. They were like"wife rare pictures, the work of the most curious pencils that were known to thefe latter times of "the world, and fuch that Apelles himself (had " he been alive) need not blush to own for his. "Thefe in a wild fury they break and tear to pieces; "a lofs that neither coft nor art can repair.

Having thus given them a tafte what per"formance of articles they were to expect from "them, they barbarously lead the Ladies, and the "young Lady's children, two fons and a daughter, prisoners to Shaftesbury, fome four or five miles " from Wardour *.

[ocr errors]

"While they were prifoners, to mitigate their forrows, in triumph they bring five cart loads "of their richeft hangings and other furniture

[ocr errors]

through Shaftesbury towards Dorchefter: and "fince that, contrary to their promise and faith, "given both by Sir Edward Hungerford and Strode, they plundered the whole caftle: fo little

The learned and illuftrious Mr. Chillingworth was in Wardour Caftle when it was taken, having retired thither in very bad health. He was carried by the Parliamentary army first to Salisbury, and then to Chichefter; in the Bishop's palace of which city he died foon afterwards.

[ocr errors]

little ufe was there of the inventory we told

you of, unless to let the world know what Lord "Arundell loft, and what the Rebels gained. This "havock they made within the castle. Without

་་

they burnt all the out-houses; they pulled up "the pales of two parks, the one of red deer, the "other of fallow; what they did not kill they let "loofe to the world for the next taker. In the "parks they burn three tenements and two lodges; << they cut down all the trees about the house and grounds. Oaks and elms, fuch as but few places "could boast of the like, whofe goodly bushy ad"vanced heads drew the eyes of travellers on the

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

plains to gaze on them; these they fold for four

pence, fixpence, or twelve-pence a-piece, that "were worth three, four, or five pounds a-piece. "The fruit-trees they pluck up by the roots, ex

tending their malice to commit spoil on that "which God, by a special law, protected from de"struction even in the land of his curfe, the land "of Canaan; for fo we read: When thou shalt befiege

[ocr errors]

a city, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by

forcing an ax against them, for thou mayeft eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down and employ them in the fiege; only the trees which thou "knowest that they be not trees for meat thou shalt

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

defroy. Deut. xx. 19, 20. Nay, that which escaped deftruction in the Deluge cannot escape "the hands of thefe Children of the Apollyon the Destroyer.

VOL. I.

E E

་་

Destroyer. They dig up the heads of twelve great ponds, fome of five or fix acres a-piece, " and destroy all the fifh. They fell carps of two foot long for two-pence and three-pence a-piece:

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

they fent out the fish by cart-loads, so that the country could not fpend them. Nay, as if the prefent generation were too narrow an object for "their rage, they plunder pofterity, and destroy "the nurseries of the great ponds. They drive " away and fell their horfes, kine, and other cattle, "and having left nothing either in air or water,

[ocr errors]

they dig under the earth. The castle was served "with water brought two miles by a conduit of "lead; and intending rather mischief to the King's "friends than profit to themselves, they cut up "the pipe and fold it (as these men's wives in "North Wiltfhire do bone-lace) at fixpence a "yard; making that wafte for a poor inconfider"able fum which two thoufand pounds will not "make good. They that have the unhappy oc"cafion to fum up these loffes, value them at no "lefs than one hundred thousand pounds. And

[ocr errors]

though this lofs were very great, not to be pa"ralleled by any except that of the Countess of Rivers, yet there was fomething in these fufferings which did aggravate them beyond all example of barbarity which unnatural war till "now did produce, and that was Rachel's tears, « lamentation and weeping and great mourning, a "mother

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

mother weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were taken from her. For "the rebels, as you hear, having carried the two "Ladies prifoners to Shaftesbury, thinking them "not fafe enough, their intent is to remove them "to Bath, a place then much infected both with "the plague and the fmall-pox. The old Lady "was fick under a double confinement, that of "the Rebels and her own indifpofition. All were "unwilling to be expofed to the danger of the

infection, efpecially the young Lady, having "three children with her; they were too dear, too "rich a treasure to be fnatched away to fuch pro

bable lofs without reluctancy; therefore they " refolve not to yield themselves prisoners unless

they will take the old Lady out of her bed, and "the reft by violence, and fo carry them away. "But the Rebels fearing left fo great inhumanity

[ocr errors]

might incenfe the people against them, and ren"der them odious to the country, decline this;

[ocr errors]

and, fince they dare not carry all to Bath, they "refolve to carry fome to Dorchester, a place no "lefs dangerous for the infection of fchifm and re"bellion than Bath for the plague and the small<< pox. To this purpose they take the young

Lady's two fons (the eldest but nine, the younger "but seven years of age,) and carried them cap<tives to Dorchester.

[blocks in formation]
« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »