How I Fared at the Siege of Plymouth. fight, though they were 2,500 horse and foot, and * * * * Since I wrote the above the scarcity which we even then feared has been somewhat felt. A Cavalier diligent Colonel, Digby by name, has kept such a survey of the district that for weeks he has prevented the entrance of all supplies to the town. This might be put a stop to, surely, by some vigorous measures If I were Generalon our side meeting his. No sooner had I written these words than Ensign Tonkin looked over my shoulder and laughed heartily, "If I were General," he repeated mockingly, "what then, Ben Holbeck?" I coloured, for though he is my dear friend, and his mirth can never be deemed offensive, yet few people like to be laughed at. I did not answer him for a minute, while I reasoned with myself that men should not take offence readily; and, before I spoke, Dick said, "You don't admire my manners, Ben, to read your writing without leave, and then laugh at what you have written, but do tell me what you would do if you were General. treated me just as frankly and kindly as my mother We walked down from the Castle to Southsidestreet, where in one of the many handsome houses built in the Elizabethan style, with projecting gabled upper stories and black beams, my friends dwelt. Mrs. Tonkin, as her son has taken pains to inform me, belonged to a family of much account in Cornwall, the Robartses, and has property in her own right, and this dwelling-house is her own. When we entered the capacious dwelling-room of the family there was no one in it save Mrs. Tonkin, and beside her a young lady whom I had never seen before. I had but time to notice her fair countenance and what a graceful and even timid manner she had, before she rose to take leave, and as her hostess did not attempt to detain her, my wishes that she might stay were of course very useless. I thought Mrs. Tonkin acted strangely unlike her usual cordial manner, that she did not even introduce her to her son and myself, and though Dick attended her to the door of the house, I could hear no word exchanged between them, and there had been no involuntary sign of pleasure on his face when he saw her, but rather a look of surprise and some annoyance. "Isn't it a mistake, dear mother, to encourage her coming?" he asked, as he re-entered the room; "my father would not welcome the child of Robert Woollcombe." "Your father, Dick, knows well that I never refuse pretty little Miss the company of the troubled or the sorrowful." "What is the matter with Our appetites are already sharp, and are like to be sharper if we cannot soon satisfy Woollcombe ?" asked Dick, half tenderly, half doubtthem; so, if you have anything to suggest which a fully. fellow short of a General may do, be good enough to let me know." I laughed with Dick as I answered him that it would require authority to carry out my plans, far beyond what ensigns possess, so that I could not aid him. "Then I will aid you," he said good-temperedly. "My mother has plenty of provisions of some sort, if she does lack fresh butter and meat and eggs, owing to the sharp look-out of Digby and his Cavaliers; so come with me to her house, and you shall be sure of a supper at least, and our messmates won't grumble that we two are absent." It was not the first time that Dick Tonkin had shown himself thus friendly towards me, and I was well known to the members of his family, a lively household of fine young men and pretty lasses, whom it was agreeable to look at and converse with. Mr. Tonkin, their father, was a somewhat stern, sedate man of business, burdened with the present aspect of affairs. He was a ship-chandler, and saw serious interruption to his business if the war continued long. He was inclined to think that Dick and his other sons took matters too lightly, and did not trouble themselves enough to comprehend the religious aspect of the country's struggle. Mrs. Tonkin! No words of mine can do justice to her: the rooms seemed brighter for her presence; she came and went like sunshine; even when she left you, you felt warmed and cheered because she had been with you. I thought of grandmother whenever we met, and she "Her father is sick, and she is in doubt what to do best for his comfort, whether to stay in Plymouth or leave the town, and share the possible perils of those who escape from it." "Surely," I said impulsively, when I had better not have spoken, "every good Parliamentarian has a better chance of safety within the walls than outside of them. A sick man and a pretty woman shall be defended to the last drop of my blood." Dick looked at me, a little surprised, I thought, at the sudden heat with which I had spoken; and Mrs. Tonkin said kindly and gently, "Lucy Woollcombe and her father would not wish to thank a Parliamentarian officer for their safety, Benjamin.” "They are Royalists, Ben," added Dick, "and I don't wonder you are surprised at my mother, of such orthodox views, sheltering a malignant, even a pretty one." "I should be surprised if she could do other than help anyone in trouble," I said, looking at Mrs. Tonkin's gentle face. She smiled pleasantly at me, and we ceased to talk of the Woollcombes. The conversation then turned on home matters, and, in relating the various incidents which had happened previous to my departure for Plymouth, I Soon the other members of forgot for a while the young visitor who had so excfted my interest. the family returned from their walks or their occupations, and we supped cheerfully together. CHAPTER III.-Defence and Defiance. "Fortune has hours of loss and hours of honour, the country under the dawning light was in dreadful contrast to the sights and sounds that were so soon awakened. The sentries challenged as we And the most valiant feel them both. Take comfort; approached, and, perceiving we were enemies, gave at The next is ours, I have a soul descries it. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. I READ these lines one morning-that looks to me long ago, so much has happened since-out of a little book my sisters joined together to give me on my birthday. My mother laughed at their choosing such a book for me, but Lettice justified their choice by saying she knew I liked "words in measure," and so I do. I am not "poetic," as people call it, far from it, nor do I want to be, but words in measure march through one's brain with music, and the memory lingers longer upon them for the sweetness of the rhythm. Great things have happened here, and things to be sorry for. Sir Alexander Carew, who had the command of our fort and the island of St. Nicholas, has been suspected, only too justly, of tampering with the enemy, and we of the garrison narrowly escaped suspicion and censure-suspicion wholly unwarranted, not a man of us having imagined our commander was other than a true man. He was summoned to London, and there a dreadful, though not undeserved, doom awaited him, he being imprisoned and condemned to be beheaded as a traitor on Tower Hill. The next thing of moment that happened was the arrival of our expected reinforcements from Portsmouth, consisting at the outset of six hundred men, under Colonels Wardlaw and Gould. These officers landed at Torbay, but strengthened Dartmouth with a hundred of their soldiers, coming on to Plymouth with the rest-a timely increase to our numbers here, for there are many points to defend, and we are none too many in strength, considering the town gates, besides the outside fortifications. The enemy surrounds us now on every hand and food gets scarcer every day. I am better off than many, because of the kindness of the Tonkins, but I can't eat what they send or bring me so generously, when I see men almost faint around me for lack of nourishment. The poor fellows are wonderfully grateful when I divide a cake of bread, or a salted fish, or a plum-pudding, be it ever so plain, amongst them. I should not be sorry if I had a full basin of my mother's excellent porridge, at which I have often turned up my impertinent nose, when I desired eggs or rashers instead. But porridge is an excellent meat for silencing a craving stomach. Our reinforcements arrived on the 30th of September. On the 8th of this month (October) it was decided to make a surprise, and three hundred of us, amongst whom I was one, were put across in boats at night to the opposite shore to Mount Stamford, one of our forts, which we were well persuaded would be first attempted by the malignants. Dick Tonkin sat beside me in the boat; he was bright and playful, as always, but I think his heart was aching for his mother's trouble. My mother was too far away to know that her lad was running any risk. At daybreak we were ordered to march to Hooe, less than a mile away and close under the forts, to surprise the enemy's guard there. The beauty of once the signal for attack. Our blood being up, all compunction quickly vanished, and we made a fierce fight of it, and though only two of our men were killed, we managed to take a captain of theirs, whose name I afterwards learned was Slawley, and an ensign called Grenville, and fifty-two of their common soldiers, besides two of their colours and three barrels of powder; whereupon, though they were stronger in numbers than we, but not in the goodness of their cause, they fled, and we came off to our fort in the boats with prisoners and booty. We were joyously received by the good townsfolk of Plymouth, some of whom were rather cast down concerning the siege, the provisions now being low; and there is nothing, as even I in my short experience have discovered, to make a man's heart more dejected than an empty larder. But disaffection had so much crept into the town, that Colonel Wardlaw, who was now first in command, thought it best to act with firmness and promptness, in which all said he but imitated that great man and friend of my father, Oliver Cromwell. And it can be no kindness I do heartily believe to play shilly-shally with traitors, inviting others thereby to turn traitor. Three malignants of the town were sent up to the Parliament, and several more were carefully watched and guarded and cut off from their fellows, like men with a pestilent disorder, whom it is dangerous to mingle with, for fear of contamination. A man, a sergeant, amongst our reinforcements, after this skirmish at Hooe, was pleased to notice me for my forward bravery," as he called it, I having succeeded in capturing the ensign and their colours, wherein I had some difficulty, lest when I looked after my man the colours should be again recovered from my grasp by a malignant, or when I looked well after the colours I should lose my man. Upon hearing my name, Benjamin Holbeck, he seized my hand cordially, and exclaimed, “Art thou a son, brave lad, of that trusty Ironside, Benjamin Holbeck, out of Yorkshire ?" Indeed I am." I replied, and his words set my heart aglow and my face tingling with honest pride, and my mother, if she reads this, may know well I had a score of questions to ask the man, and I learned much of the doings of the eastern association, into which the armies formed in the eastern counties of England had banded themselves. The motto of the Ironsides, says this old sergeant, is to have the fear of God, and know no other fear; and my father is one. Brave resolve! He spoke to me on adopting it as my motto, and advised me seriously. But I will not say I believe what I don't believe, to please any man. He smiled when I said this, and told me the Lord could break down all stubborn pride of man's natural carnal heart, and that he was glad I was at least fighting on the Lord's side, and brave at that. Amongst other questions I put to him was this, whether there had been news out of Yorkshire of late for my father, and this he could not tell; he could only report that my father wore a cheerful countenance, and looked hale and hearty, and was, in the sergeant's estimate, a very handsome man, tall, erect, and every inch a soldier, while his prayers were, he said, as good as his looks, and full of power and unction. Since this conversation, Sergeant Gurney has himself taken quite a fatherly oversight of me, yet without any offensive freedom. I can but feel the good fellow a link between my father and myself. "My ensign," as I and others call him, because I captured him, is a pretty, delicate youth, in whom I take a great interest; he is very proud that he is connected with a great family of these parts; and would sooner lose his head, he says, than disgrace his name. Our next adventure from this garrison was by no means successful, but as I was not in it, I cannot describe so well what happened. The enemy had been victorious at Dartmouth, and taken that town, and Prince Maurice, nephew of the king, was advancing upon us. So a sally was made, while there was time, to Knackersknowle, and at first success attended the party, for, advancing upon the enemy's guard there, they took more than twenty prisoners, but then our horse, who pursued the rest of the guard that fled away, went too far, even on to the edge of Roborough Down, where they were surrounded by the enemy from their quarters on Roborough, who took Lieutenant Chasing and fourteen men. Our major, Searle by name, dashed through the enemy, and escaped to this town; but the rest were made prisoners. Now the enemy closely surrounded us, and things looked black enough, especially because the other places in the west had mostly surrendered to the malignants, and because the hearts of many in this town failed through fear. I saw less than I had done of the family of my friend Dick Tonkin, for we were more intent upon our work, and, as it were, in closer discipline, ever on the alert, and girded up in constant preparation for whatever the next movement might be. Mr. Tonkin, I gathered from Dick-and this less by direct speech than by hints he gave me was tired of the siege, and fearful that, if it continued much longer, business would be ended and his fortune exhausted. Mrs. Tonkin, on the contrary, was brave and bold, only troubled in her mother's heart about the ill-luck that might befal her son. She would not say ill-luck: she would call it "a permitted dispensation of Providence." I wonder whether she is happier for this belief in a constant over-ruling of God in all our human affairs? The head-quarters of Prince Maurice are at Widey Court, on the north side of this town, and the troops of the King narrowly surround us, they having erected works over against our forts. Their next action was of the utmost importance to the town; for they had designs, as we too plainly perceived, on Stamford Fort, a fort which, inasmuch as it stood on a height and commanded Sutton Pool and the shipping, and even the town, we were as anxious to keep. In the night of October 21st the malignants raised a square work within pistol-shot of this fort, and from thence drew a line with half-moons to surround it, thus to hinder our reliefs from coming into it. Our men had a hard day's fighting with their cavalry to destroy the works, but we fought bravely, and repulsed them after three hours' conflict, getting first their half-moon and then their close work, and taking their captain, a gentleman called White, and fifty more prisoners. A guard was put there by us, consisting of thirty musqueteers and an ensign. But the next day we had the work to do over again, and, though it is never an agreeable task to record the treacherous nature of our comrades, it must be confessed it was owing to the cowardice, or worse, of the commanding ensign, who will pay dearly for it with his life, he being adjudged guilty by the military authorities. The next day, I, having come over with some additional troops, Sergeant Gurney among them, was amongst those who made a second assault on their works, but our victory over them was attained with the loss of so fine a soldier that it seemed to me more like a defeat. Our Captain Corbett, the most popular captain amongst us, was cheering us on in the midst of our stiffest task, and we were obeying him whom we loved, gladly and cheerfully, when he fell, shot in the forehead, and had it not been that we silently vowed to revenge his death, the heart to fight would have been utterly gone from us, through our grief. Three more of our captains were wounded, in these two days of hard fighting, and twenty of our men killed, while more than a hundred were wounded, so that it was a greater slaughter and damage than I had yet seen, and my heart ached at the groans and shrieks and sobs of some of those suffering comrades, as well as of the dying men amongst the ranks of the enemy. We find from our prisoners that six of their commanders, high in position, were killed. But our work at Fort Stamford was by no means at an end, indeed we have had a stiff job for three weeks in all before this matter was settled. After we had gained the enemy's work this second time, we slighted it, but to prevent the like approaches in future, because Mount Stamford was small and difficult to be held, we drew a line of communication east and west of it with half moons at either end, which we defended stiffly for some days-a hard task for our men; and we had many skirmishes with the malignants. Sergeant Gurney distinguished himself ever by a silent, direct, quiet heroism, that I hope it much profited me to observe, and I could but reflect that if all the Ironsides watched and fought like this one of their number, the Parliament had in them a force of no common order. He looked as if his motto were ever in his heart, nerving his arm "to fear God, and know no other fear." A breach was made at last by the enemy, for on the 3rd of November they planted their batteries within pistol-shot of our forts, and on the 5th they battered our works with 200 demi-cannon, and whole culverin shot, besides other smaller cannon that flanked our line and played upon us continually from Oreston Hill. In this breach, Lieutenant Carew, a fine, healthy young fellow, was slain, and some gunners. By working all night we repaired this breach, thickened our ramparts as well as we could, and strengthened the weakest part with woolsacks. Dick Tonkin and I were together in this business, but the loss of the Lieutenant made us solemn over it; it was a dark night, and the wind sighed mournfully from over the sea, bringing with it a hint of fog and moisture, that made the air chilly and oppressive to the senses. The next day no further breach of any size was our small strength more closely for the defence of the town, and offering an opportunity to us to seize upon the fort and island of St. Nicholas, the most considerable strength in the kingdom, which had been neglected. The first action taken by our made, but they battered away till noon. By this time our troops were faint, and our guns must soon be silent, for provisions were run out almost to the last loaf, and ammunition was fast failing. We believe the enemy either knew or suspected as much, and so felt it was a good opportunity. Much blame commander-in-chief, Colonel Wardlaw, after our attached to the people in the town for not making some effort to help us. However, about one o'clock the Royalists fell on us with horse and foot, that is on our half-moons and lines, where we had a reasonable guard, but our men had had eight days' duty and anxious watching, and after an hour's skirmishing were forced to retreat, and were taken by the enemy's horse, who came on the backs of them. Our captain having now but seven men left out of thirty-six gunners, and, seeing he could no longer defend himself, yielded at last, being without provisions, and having only two barrels of good powder and a small quantity of case shot. We kept the enemy at bay, Sergeant Gurney largely helping to do this successfully, till he had signalled to the town by a flag that he was in distress, and no answer came. Still, we marched out honourably, the enemy being glad enough to get rid of us at any price. This was about four o'clock, with our colours flying, matches lighted, bullets in mouth, and a demi-culverin the best in the work, with all our bag and baggage, and this further condition, that the enemy should exchange all the prisoners they had taken of ours that day, being about forty, for the like number of their prisoners with us, which the next day was effected accordingly. I did not know till afterwards how great reason I had to rejoice respecting this arrangement concerning our prisoners, for Dick Tonkin, my dear friend, whom I had missed without being able to learn what had become of him, was amongst them, having been slightly wounded, and so taken. But the next day, greatly to my joy and his, he arrived in one of the boats, and, because of his wound, was taken to his home in Southside-street. His mother's delight, after many days of terrible anxiety, I need not describe, because my mother when she reads this can as readily imagine it. By degrees, the loss of Mount Stamford was discovered to be rather an advantage than a real loss to the strength of the town, for though the enemy supposed he had got the key to the place by this fort, such is by no means proved to be the case. Yet not only has he obtained this fort but also some new works of ours on a somewhat lower level of the same hill, called Haw Start, or Mount Batten. To this place we first marched after we left Fort Stamford, and we were ordered to keep it through the night. Sergeant Gurney openly declares that all may see the loss of Fort Stamford was the wonderful providence and goodness of God towards us, for had we kept it we must necessarily have lost the best part of our strength in the defence of it. And he also gives these reasons: the ships were beaten out of Cattewater before we lost it by the enemy's cannon planted at Oreston, and on the other side by a battery from Mount Edgecumbe, from riding between St. Nicholas Island and the main, so that they were fain to take Mill Bay for a sanctuary. This loss is advantageous to us, by our uniting loss of Fort Stamford, was, indeed, as this wise old man had suggested, to send Colonel Gould, now better of his wound received in the skirmish of October 21st, to take possession both of the fort and island, and put in them both stronger garrisons and more ammunition and stores of all sorts. The four deputy-lieutenants who had had the command of this fort and this island, of whom the townsmen had great suspicion, believing them to be unfaithful to the State, were secured, and a new feeling of confidence immediately sprang up in the town, and a greater degree of unanimity between the people and the garrison. But the malignants were jubilant when they secured Fort Stamford, and no longer doubted their ability to take the town. Indeed, they issued a proclamation which showed how little they knew our hearts, for while we determined that we would burn the town to ashes rather than surrender it to them, they looked upon things as already in their power, as my mother will see, when she reads these words, which I will transcribe for her : "That you may see our hearty desire of a just peace, we do summon you in his Majesty's name to surrender the town, port, and island of Plymouth with the warlike provisions thereunto belonging, into our hands for his Majesty's use. And we do hereby assure you, upon the power devised to us from his Majesty, upon the performance of a general pardon for what is past, and engage ourselves upon our honour to secure your persons and estates from all violence and plunder. We have now acquitted ourselves on our parts, and let the blood that shall be spilt in the obtaining of these just demands (if denied by you) be your guilt. Given under our hands at Mount Stamford, the 18th day of November, A.D. 1643. John Digby, Thomas Bassett, Peter Killigrew, John Wagstaffe, J. Trelawney, R. Prideaux, John Arundell, Thomas Marke, William Arundell, John Downing, Thomas Stucley." As an answer to this manifesto, which caused no small consternation and discussion at first both in the town and through the garrison, a covenant was entered into. I have a strong suspicion that the dauntless Ironsides sergeant, Gurney, was the one to propose this, with all reverence to his superiors The man, from his honest, simple, straightforward goodness and singleness of heart, has obtained a great influence over us all, from our commanding Colonel Wardlaw to the meanest, youngest drummerboy. I cannot help myself when I am with him, from looking at this war quite in another manner to what I had at first regarded it. Liberty to do rightly is a sacred thing to Sergeant Gurney, and not to be given up at any king's command; if we yield to the King, who is himself a traitor to the constitution of England and to the truth, having gone from his word grievously at many times, we have fellowship with darkness, and are on the side, not of God, but of the devil. So a solemn day of humiliation was proclaimed; and as many as possible of the troops, and almost all the townsfolk, attended Divine worship, and took this vow and covenant, an engagement such, as I hear, has been entered into, in many other parts of England; all the inhabitants were ordered to subscribe to it: "In the presence of Almighty God, I vow and protest that I will to the utmost of my power faithfully maintain and defend the towns of Plymouth and Stonehouse, the fort and island, with all the outworks and fortifications to the same belonging, against all forces now raised against the said fort and island or any part thereof; or that shall be raised by any power or authority whatsoever, without the consent of both Houses of Parliament. Neither will I by any way or means whatsoever contrive, or consent to the giving up of the said town and fortifications aforesaid, or any parcel of them, into the hand of any person or persons whatsoever, without the consent of both Houses of Parliament, or of such as are authorised thereunto by them. Neither will I raise or consent to the raising of any force or tumult, nor will I, by any way or means, give or yield to the giving of any advice, counsel, or intelligence to the prejudice of the said town and fortifications, either in whole or in part, but will, with all faith, fully discover to the Mayor of Plymouth and to the Commander-in-Chief there, whatsoever design I shall know or hear of, hurtful thereunto. Neither have I accepted any pardon or protection, nor will I accept any protection, from the enemy. And this vow or protestation I make without any equivocation or mental reservation whatsoever, believing that I cannot be absolved from this my vow and protestation, and wishing no blessing from God on myself or my posterity if I do not sincerely and truly perform the same. So help me God." [I desire to express my indebtedness to the authors of many works, consulted in connection with this tale, from whom, in several instances I have quoted, and more especially to Mr. Worth, author of "The History of Plymouth," and "The Siege of Plymouth," a chapter of Plymouth history re-written, whence I have gathered the most prominent facts. The works consulted have been Carlyle's "Life and Letters of Cromwell," Warburton's "Prince Rupert," Miss Strickland's "Lives of the Stuart Princesses," Hallam's "Constitutional History," Vaughan's "Protectorate of Cromwell," Gardiner's "England under the Duke of Buckingham and Charles I.," Milton's prose works, "Fairfax Letters," Correspondence of Queen Henrietta Maria," "King Charles in the Isle of Wight," &c., &c.-M. A. PAULL.] 66 A LIFE PRESERVER. ES, he saved my life once," said the old soldier, he did, the brute, just as well as if he was one of Miss Nightingale's women; and that's saying something, I can tell you." "Tell us about it, grandfather!"" "Well, my children, you've heard it all before." "That's the reason why we like to hear it all again," said the children. you Well, it was after that regular hot fight beforeremember how I've told you about that long day's work. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, when I got a bullet into me, a shave so near the heart that it must have been a tough one to go on beating, while I was lying as unconscious as a dead man. I must have lain there many hours, for the first thing that brought me back to myself was something warm on my chin, and I opened my eyes to see the little white moon in the skies, looking as peaky as if the sight of blood turned her pale. Well, I was stark cold and all numb, save for the horrible pain eating up my side, and a mercy it was I could feel the pain, for otherwise they'd have taken a dying man to the hospital, with mortification creeping up me. But the bit of warmth I felt was Dago's breath all fuming over my chin, and his tongue licking my face. Such a light came into his eyes when he saw me look at him, and he licked his mouth as he always did when he was mightily pleased, and I can tell you he wasn't mightily pleased easily, like some people who go into fits of delight if you only say, "How d'ye do ?" to 'em. Dago was a fine creature, a sheep-dog, pure-bred, and as faithful as me to my baccy. He was a great pet with our men, and followed us up from Basutoland, took to the regiment at once, and never would have anything to say to another regiment. His collar had the regimental badge on it, and he was a prime favourite, I can tell you. But though he liked all the men in a general sort of way, anyone could tell the man he liked best. He used to behave to me just as he did to nobody else, and show as much as if he was a Christian, and perhaps more, that he didn't think there was a man fit to sound a trumpetcall beside of me. He knew the tone of it, and used to sit down facing me, and howl for company, though not just on the right note, I must say. I do believe he would have enjoyed being a trumpeter, though he did uncommonly well as a dog. Well, there he was, licking me, and pawing me, and begging me not to give up, but to stick to life a little longer until help came. They say those as mean to live have more chance than those as don't want to. Well, if he'd poured a bottle of brandy down my throat, he couldn't have put more spirit into me. I couldn't move a muscle, and I couldn't call up a voice out of my chest, anyhow. So I just pursed up my lips, and gave the wheeziest whistle as ever you heard, and he wagged his head so joyfully, that I do think my heart went a bit better for it. He had the sense to know I was cold, and he just settled himself on different parts of my body for a few minutes at a time, and presently I began to feel my blood warming. I had fallen in a part of the field where there had been a rush, and there was not a |
