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suppress the use of the surplice and other ornaments, the altar, and the book of 
sports, and took great interest in, and sympathised much with, the persecuted 
Protestants of Piedmont. His wife, Lady Brilliana, was the daughter of Sir 
Edward Conway, of Rugby, in the county of Warwick. She was the cousin of 
Lady Fairfax, and shared with her a very hearty sympathy with the Republican 
cause. They had both been brought up in Holland, which fact no doubt strength- 
ened their Puritanical opinions. Lord Clarendon has said of the latter that ‘she 
had not that reverence for the Church of England as she ought to have had, and 
so unhappily concurred with her husband entering into rebellion, never imagining 
what misery it would bring upon the kingdom.” However that may be, days full 
of sorrow were in store for this poor lady; and in a large collection of her letters, 
found in a garret of the house now attached to the castle, by the late Mrs. 
Stackhouse Acton, and which have been published by the Camden Society, a 
most interesting and touching record has been preserved of the domestic life of 
that troubled period. These letters reveal the mind of one deeply imbued with a 
religion which enabled her to bear up bravely against affliction, and to look at the 
brightest side of what was passing around her. Her constant desire was that no 
bitterness or revenge should be shown to their enemies, and, in an artless and 
simple manner, these letters describe the progress of events. They are chiefly 
addressed to her son Edward, who was then pursuing his studies at Magdalene 
College, Oxford, For this young man she entertained the most tender affection, 
and the letters are replete with a good mother’s solicitude for his temporal and 
eternal welfare. They describe from time to time the progress of the siege and the 
many household cares which occupied her mind. As the blockade proceeds, and 
the difficulty and danger of communication become greater, they are evidently 
expressed with more caution. They are sometimes written on pieces of cloth, 
and in several of them a peculiar device was adopted. In order to prevent 
detection, the true sense of the letter can only be obtained by reading it with a 
piece of paper perforated so as, when placed over the writing, to disclose only the 
words which were to be conveyed, the whole making up what she calls a nonsense 
letter. 
The siege of Brampton Bryan took place in the earlier part of the Civil 
Wars. For more than twelve months before it began there had been threats that 
the Castle would be attacked. In the winter of 1642 these became more distinct ; 
the farms were burned and the Castle blockaded. It was about this time that 
Lady Brilliana thus writes—‘‘ My dear Ned,—I know it will grieve you to know 
how Iam used. It is with all the malice that can be. Mr. Wigmore will not let 
the fowler bring me any fowl, nor will not suffer any of my servants pass. They 
have forbid my rents to be paid; they draw away the young horses at Wigmore, 
and none of my servants dare goas far as the town; and dear Ned, if God were not 
merciful to me I should be in a very miserable condition. J am threatened every 
day by soldiers. My hope is, the Lord will not deliver me nor mine into their 
hands, for surely they would use all cruelty towards me, for I am told that they 
desire not to leave your father neither root nor branch. You and I must forgive 
them. Dear Ned, desire the prayers of the godly for us at Brampton. July 28, 
