12 
Mr. M. H. Bloxam, of Rugby, then read an interesting 
paper on ‘‘Warwickshire in August, 1642, before the 
raising of the Royal Standard at Nottingham.” 
It may not be difficult to trace the causes which gradually led to the 
great civil war’ of the seventeenth century, but the actual commence- 
ment of the war, that is, the first contest between the King’s forces 
and those of the Parliament, in which blood was shed, is left in some 
obscurity. In the spring of 1642 the King was in Yorkshire. On the 
23rd of April, attended by a guard only and some of the gentry of that 
county, he was denied admission into Hull, then fortified, and con- 
taining a magazine of arms and ammunition, and held by a garrison 
for the Parliament. The King and the Parliament now prepared for 
the inevitable contest; there was no standing army, but on each side 
money was raised by voluntary contributions of money and plate, with 
which soldiers were levied and paid. The troops on the side of the 
Parliament consisted chiefly of the trained bands of London and the 
musters from different counties, mostly from the towns. The King 
had on his side a majority of the country gentry, who armed their 
tenants and mounted them as far as circumstances would allow. The 
old feudal system was to a certain extent still existing. It was hardly 
till the end of July that either side was able to take the field. In the 
month of August actual warfare had commenced. On the 12th of that 
month the King issued a proclamation, and shortly after, being in- 
formed the Parliamentary forces were on the route from London and 
the south to garrison Coventry, he determined, if possible, to prevent 
the hostile occupation of that City. | Warwickshire lying in the centre 
of the kingdom seemed destined to be the trysting ground in which 
the first blow was to be struck, for it is difficult to find earlier incidents 
involving bloodshed than those which took place in this county. 
There is in the British Museum a collection known as ‘‘ the King’s 
Pamphlets,” haying been collected or purchased by George the Third. 
This collection contains an innumerable number of publications, news 
letters, &c., estimated at notless than 30,000, all relating to this 
period, many of them printed in a small quarto form, and written by 
parties who were present at the occurrences, and at the time they 
happened. From one of these scarce publications it appears that one 
