THE CIVIL WAK IN DEVON. 61 



this failed, we find the rebels invariably retreated in 

 disorder, of which a single instance will suffice to show 

 the extent. An important position at a bridge near 

 Clyst had been left with no other defence than a so- 

 litary arqiiebuss, and although the rebel succeeded 

 in killing the first who attempted the pass, he was 

 slain in the act of reloading his piece by a bill-man, 

 who stole on him unperceived from behind. 



Next morning the army was marching in three 

 divisions to attack the rebels, who had entrenched 

 themselves in the village of Clyst St. Mary, when 

 Sir Thomas Pomeroy, knight, a captain in the in- 

 surgent forces, executed a stratagem which suc- 

 ceeded in throwing the royalists into disorder. 

 Concealing himself and a drummer in the line of 

 march, he beat an onset in their rear, on which Lord 

 Russel, thinking he had been surrounded, immedi- 

 ately gave orders for retreating ; this was done in 

 feuch haste, that a train of waggons, laden with 

 ammunition and treasure, was suffered to fall into 

 the hands of the rebels, by whom these things were 

 much wanted. The troops rallied however, and 

 advanced again towards the town, during which 

 service they lost Sir William Francis, a gentleman 

 of Somerset, who commanded the first division ; he 

 was killed in a hollow-way enfiladed by the enemy, 

 who crushed his helmet into his head, by throwing 

 heavy stones on him. The resistance was so obsti- 

 nate, that no advantage could be gained over them, 

 until the king's troops had fired the village, when 

 the insurgents made a precipitate retreat, having 

 lost, in slain, burnt in the houses, or drowned in 

 attempting to cross the river, about a thousand men. 

 In the evening, as they lay at Clyst-heath, Lord 

 Grey rode to a hill to reconnoitre the enemy, and 

 observed, as he thought, a strong body of men 

 marching towards the king's camp from Woodbury : 

 the mistake was attended with fatal consequences 

 to those taken or who had surrendered themselves 

 at the wind-mill, and in Clyst, who, as a matter of 



