62 THE CIVIL WAR IN DEVON. 



precaution, were immediately put to death, " eacb 

 man dispatching his prisoners.'' 



The following night was employed by ihe rebels, 

 who in part broke up from before Exeter, in forti- 

 fying a position on Clyst heath ; in which they made 

 such progress, maskmg their ordnance and taking 

 other precautions, that it became necessary to use 

 circumspection in the attempt to force them from it. 

 Accordingly a body of pioneers was detached to 

 level the fences of the inclosed grounds near them ; 

 and on this being accomplished, the insurgents found 

 themselves assaulted in flank and rear : a short but 

 desperate conflict, which few or none of these mis- 

 guided men survived, decided the triumph of the 

 King's cause, and raised the siege of Exeter. Lord 

 Russel was now reinforced by a thousand Welsli 

 troops, under Sir William Herbert, master of tlie 

 horse ; " they came too late,'' Hooker observes, ^' to 

 have any share in the fray, but were very industrious 

 in pillaging the country." 



But while the commissioner was following up the 

 stern consequences of the insurrection, attaining or 

 executing such of the ringleaders as had fallen into 

 his hands, and rewarding his followers from the pro- 

 duce of the confiscations, his presence became 

 requisite on the original site of the rebellion. The 

 disorders of this warfare seem to have been violent 

 rather than numerous, but popular frenzy raged 

 highest at Sampford : this, the following instances 

 may help to evince. The reformed religion, the 

 King's proceedings as it was then called, had found 

 a zealous friend in William Hellions, a gentleman of 

 that place ; his exertions and remonstrances excited 

 so much the indignation of the insurgents, that he ■ 

 was seized and confined in the church house there. 

 While in this place the prisoner's loyalty induced 

 him to make a last appeal to them, in which his 

 spirit seems to have led him beyond the bounds of 

 prudence. The error cost him his life ; the mal- 

 contents became exasperated to that degree, that as 



